Testosterone
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does growing vertical allow you to use less watts per sq foot vs growing regularly?
Does vertical growing need less watts
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rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
sounds like one of Heath Robinson's grows if you are familiar with his vert grows.
Testosterone
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Thanks man that's exactly what I thought...I think I'm going to get around 35 watts per sq ft with the set up I'm planning so il see how that goes
kiwipaulie
Well-Known Member
I use more 
. I'm running 1400w in my 4x4
. I'm running 1400w in my 4x4I'm not sure if it helps, but what I do is make my own cool tubes out of that insulating plastic that us Canadians put inside our window frames in the winter time. I use a sheet and just make a cylinder out of it between two buckets that I connect to my 6inch ventilation system, the pressure keeps it blown up like those dancing Giants at used car dealerships...
Thank you! When I fill that tube with all four lights and stack those boxes to the roof with plants I pull around half a zip per plant, total of 240 plants in a 4x4 footprint under 1600 watts. I think that is as efficient as it gets. Straw berry cheese cake, and my beautiful 5 yr old C99..they work wonders in vert. And if they start getting too tall...I
chop some bottom branches and sink her back in further in those boxes..I try to end up w 12-14" main cola. Roots are healthy..just dark from Bennies and good fungi..plants look scraggly here but I believe in the 7 and 21 day defoliation...and the 21st day was yesterday. ..then they blow up like crazy!
chop some bottom branches and sink her back in further in those boxes..I try to end up w 12-14" main cola. Roots are healthy..just dark from Bennies and good fungi..plants look scraggly here but I believe in the 7 and 21 day defoliation...and the 21st day was yesterday. ..then they blow up like crazy! 
Prawn Connery
Well-Known Member
Nice aero setup. 1g per w is a good yardstick.
I've grown 1200w vertically for years, with and without cool tubes, and you're better off without them. A good, 12-16" floor fan will duct heat away from a bare bulb just as efficiently as any cool tube - probably more so, especially with an extractor fan directly overhead. My plants grow inches away from the bulbs.
The problem with cool tubes is they get dirty - all that dust sucked inside, all that resin and other stuff on the outside - so unless you're keeping them sparkly clean each grow, they're simply a liability.
That's my experience.
I've grown 1200w vertically for years, with and without cool tubes, and you're better off without them. A good, 12-16" floor fan will duct heat away from a bare bulb just as efficiently as any cool tube - probably more so, especially with an extractor fan directly overhead. My plants grow inches away from the bulbs.
The problem with cool tubes is they get dirty - all that dust sucked inside, all that resin and other stuff on the outside - so unless you're keeping them sparkly clean each grow, they're simply a liability.
That's my experience.
I agree with you 100% there...the reason for the tube is that I collect the heat from the a/c and dehui where the intake of my fan is and extract all the heat sources in one shot, plus I don't have a choice since I run a sealed room. I inject pure O2 in the root zone when the pump kicks on at 2-3 cfm for 15 mins..and co2 at1500 during lights on..
I might not have explained my yields clearly earlier..I basically pull between 12-18 grams per plant depending on strain, x230-240 plants on a full room grow. Under 4 x 400 watt hps and mh 50/50.
Average of 15g per. X 230 =3450
3450 ÷1600=2.15gpw
I m not your average or conventional grower, and love to experiment! I have failed but learned many times..but I am super happy with my set up, I just throw what I know out there, and others can pick and choose what is convenient for their situation. I just loved learning from people that pushed the envelope, and knowledge is power...and in our case..killer yields! Cheers
I might not have explained my yields clearly earlier..I basically pull between 12-18 grams per plant depending on strain, x230-240 plants on a full room grow. Under 4 x 400 watt hps and mh 50/50.
Average of 15g per. X 230 =3450
3450 ÷1600=2.15gpw
I m not your average or conventional grower, and love to experiment! I have failed but learned many times..but I am super happy with my set up, I just throw what I know out there, and others can pick and choose what is convenient for their situation. I just loved learning from people that pushed the envelope, and knowledge is power...and in our case..killer yields! Cheers
Prawn Connery
Well-Known Member
My bad - that's a very impressive yield! You can't argue with a system that works. My yields didn't suffer when I used a cool tube, but they were no better - and it was an unnecessary hassle keeping it clean. It was always easier with the cylindrical cage around the fan and using it to vertically scrog. But I usually grow six, full-sized plants around 2 x 600w stacked for up to 1.3-1.4gpw.
In saying that, I need to take back what I said about your system, as I can see how a cool tube is actually an advantage in a stadium-style grow where you just let the plants grow into the tube without burning them (putting side the fact I now know you run a sealed room - positive pressure system?). The genius of using plastic, in your case, is I assume you can just throw it away if it gets dirty or when you've finished with it (which you'd never do with glass) - is that right?
I also assume there's another layer to your aero system that goes on top of the one in the pix: I'm counting 6x4 (6x5?) plants per corner with another layer stacked on top = 240 plants. That is an excellent use of space and an ingenious design, IMO.
Unfortunately, those sorts of plant numbers - small as they be - are not a legal option where I live. What I like about your system is it's a bit "ghetto" but you've obviously put a lot of thought into it and appear to have been very resourceful in how you've gone about things. I appreciate how much work is involved not only in setting up such a system, but in running it, too. Aero is a fickle beast . . .
What strain/s do you run? What type of nutes? And is it a PIA to maintain and clean after each grow? Have you tried running straight HPS instead of HPS/MH mix, or do you find the additional MH keeps the buds a bit more compact and manageable? Digital ballasts? Where's the aircon/dehumidifier?
So many quetions . . . 12 years ago, when I first started growing vertically, I wasn't that conventional either. I guess these days I am.
In saying that, I need to take back what I said about your system, as I can see how a cool tube is actually an advantage in a stadium-style grow where you just let the plants grow into the tube without burning them (putting side the fact I now know you run a sealed room - positive pressure system?). The genius of using plastic, in your case, is I assume you can just throw it away if it gets dirty or when you've finished with it (which you'd never do with glass) - is that right?
I also assume there's another layer to your aero system that goes on top of the one in the pix: I'm counting 6x4 (6x5?) plants per corner with another layer stacked on top = 240 plants. That is an excellent use of space and an ingenious design, IMO.
Unfortunately, those sorts of plant numbers - small as they be - are not a legal option where I live. What I like about your system is it's a bit "ghetto" but you've obviously put a lot of thought into it and appear to have been very resourceful in how you've gone about things. I appreciate how much work is involved not only in setting up such a system, but in running it, too. Aero is a fickle beast . . .
What strain/s do you run? What type of nutes? And is it a PIA to maintain and clean after each grow? Have you tried running straight HPS instead of HPS/MH mix, or do you find the additional MH keeps the buds a bit more compact and manageable? Digital ballasts? Where's the aircon/dehumidifier?
So many quetions . . . 12 years ago, when I first started growing vertically, I wasn't that conventional either. I guess these days I am.
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
That's boss, bro!
Frajola
Well-Known Member
how s the name of that plastic you used to made a cylinder ? thanks. and well done by the way,congrats.
Thanks boys!! I appreciate the questions and comments!!Prawn.. you're right in presuming that I threw away the plastic sometimes, when it does get dirty, I don't even bother to clean it on the inside, I just chuck it and then make a new one, it takes me about 20 minutes.
And for strains..it varies every month per new cycle. C99 is my go to...I have blue cheese, Strawberry Cheese cake, money maker, money bush, cotton candy, black domina, incredible bulk..I can deal with almost any strain, because if they stretch I can just pull them back a little bit more into the box because there is no media. But obviously some are better than others in vertical.
The system is fairly easy to clean, after I'm done I usually run a water and bleach solution through it for about 24 hours and then give it a small scrub and run it again. The boxes that the plants are in sit on the reservoir and drain into them constantly. I made them from one inch styrofoam so that they isolate from the Heat yet they sit on a cold cement floor and suck that cold right up.
I use mh/hps for 4 weeks and then go to only hps..I figured the sun was yellower later in the fall outside... but I have nothing to back that up.
My room is 4 feet wide by 16 feet long, I keep the AC right in the middle. Because at the opposite end of the room I have another set up that's exactly the same. the AC units heat dumps into a box or you can call it a manifold, where my fans pick up their air.
The boxes that the plants are in are 2 feet high and contain 20 plants per corner, and I can stack them 3 boxes High. It's less of an aero setup and more of a vertical nft because anything under the top row gets sloppy seconds haha..and I have a mix of digital and mag ballasts..
Frajola...the plastic is pretty common.. it's insulating window film, a lot of companies make it, I'm sure 3M makes it too. It's the stuff that you put over your window frame when it gets cold out. And then you use a hair dryer to shrink it and make it nice and clear. That's why when you make a tube out of it you have to make it 2 to 3 inches longer than you actually want it because it shrinks with heat. And don't use the two-sided tape that comes with the package, use a nice wide strip of packing tape inside and out.
Here s a few pics from today...tonight for my girls though...day 24 I think...
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I'm a little bit late to take my clones off of them now though... I will get at that today. I'm not sure if taking clones at 21 days has a positive an effect on final yield, Because of that monster cropping effect. Maybe that hormone that causes monster cropping helps in final yield even if you just run one main Cola.
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
I'm not seeing the watering mechanism or am I just not recognizing it in the pics?
Your numbers are impressive.
It s hard to say for sure..I have a total of 72" high x 44" inner diameter. X Pi = 9947sq" or 69sq'...
69sq' ÷ by 4 lights (like I have) = 17.25 sq'
In a flat grow, I presume it would be really hard to light a 17.25sq' area with just a 400 watt light.Plus get a 2.15 gpw average. That leads me to believe it takes less watts...but it can be just a matter of perspective OR my math is bad lol! But I'm always interested in learning or listening to somebody else's perspective, there is never anything to lose by doing that!
Cheers!
Here s a few pics that kind of shows how its setup. It's just 4 Aero cloner nozzles per box,screwed into some half inch pipe that are connected to my pump. They spray and it hits the roof of those boxes, then it trickles down onto the roots and drains back into the reservoir.
I have to admit that I used a lot of your advice, knowingly, and probably unknowingly. And I thank you for that.
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