Haze Harvest - a few pounds of 1200w vertical weed

[Prawn Connery]

My cabinet is exactly 4' x 4' x 6' (high). A 10' x 10' room with four 1000-1200w vertical stations in each corner would work really well, as you would get the benefit of overlapping light from each station. The four-corner layout also allows you to walk between stations into the centre of the room for maintenance. I always have my cage around the floor fan for accessibility and so I can lean the plants into the light.

If you've ever seen a Krusty vertical grow, you'll know what I'm talking about. Those crazy Canadians invented vertical-style room grows with 1000w bulbs and recirculating hydro systems with massive results.

We also had good results. A couple of years ago I convinced a commercial friend to ditch his hoods and helped him do exactly what I've described. We ran 4 x 1200w (two inline 600s) with cages around each floor fan and four-five plants around each cage (whatever works best with your strain) in one 12' x 12' room using run-to-waste coco. He got his best yields ever, averaging 48-50oz per 1200w station growing an 8-9 week Sensi Star.

That's almost 200oz from 4800w in just over 8 weeks - I'm not sure how that compares with your current set-up. Unfortunately, he had to tear down the very next grow, so never replicated it.

The Sensi Star he used was the one below. It's one of mine - this photo's from a grow about six years ago in the same 4' x 4' x 6' style cabinet I have now. (Don't mind the Open Grow water mark - I've posted the same pic over there under my name. I prefer to keep my pix on servers - and not my own computer - for security reasons.)

That's a half-pound plant. Though by MrMeanGreen's calculation it's probably about an ounce . . .

 

[~Dankster~420]

Hell fucking yeah bro! No that's what I'm taking bout! Haha... My Dad had breed a strain back in the late 70's early 80's, he 4 got to put a name on it! Its a 100% pure Sativa. I went ahead & had some people help me give it a name & came up with Hubba Bubba Bomb.
I still have around 120 so beans off it. I had grew it out a few summers ago (outdoors) and when I took 3 plants down I harvested 9.1 0unces off her.! She is a super yeilder imo! I also did one that in the 1st few pg's of my grow thread, and she had got to around 6' foot tall (indoors). I was really pleased with the outcome of her aswell.
I just hope that all these 36 I am running now produce some good yeild for me. I have them "split" up and switch them through out the 12/12 cycle, so there going through a rotating system.. I believe I am going to give a "bagseed" a go.. A good friend had gave me like 4 strains to give a try & I picked the one he said had a 6 to 7 week flowering period.. so will see what's we get... I also plan on starting a few more from what all I've collected over the yrs.

Oh the plant is niceee!!

My cabinet is exactly 4' x 4' x 6' (high). A 10' x 10' room with four 1000-1200w vertical stations in each corner would work really well, as you would get the benefit of overlapping light from each station. The four-corner layout also allows you to walk between stations into the centre of the room for maintenance. I always have my cage around the floor fan for accessibility and so I can lean the plants into the light.

If you've ever seen a Krusty vertical grow, you'll know what I'm talking about. Those crazy Canadians invented vertical-style room grows with 1000w bulbs and recirculating hydro systems with massive results.

We also had good results. A couple of years ago I convinced a commercial friend to ditch his hoods and helped him do exactly what I've described. We ran 4 x 1200w (two inline 600s) with cages around each floor fan and four-five plants around each cage (whatever works best with your strain) in one 12' x 12' room using run-to-waste coco. He got his best yields ever, averaging 48-50oz per 1200w station growing an 8-9 week Sensi Star.

That's almost 200oz from 4800w in just over 8 weeks - I'm not sure how that compares with your current set-up. Unfortunately, he had to tear down the very next grow, so never replicated it.

The Sensi Star he used was the one below. It's one of mine - this photo's from a grow about six years ago in the same 4' x 4' x 6' style cabinet I have now. (Don't mind the Open Grow water mark - I've posted the same pic over there under my name. I prefer to keep my pix on servers - and not my own computer - for security reasons.)

That's a half-pound plant. Though by MrMeanGreen's calculation it's probably about an ounce . . .

 

[growingforfun]

That's a good looking plant but it doesn't look like it was woven into a cage, unless you very carefully removed it for the picture. Thanks for the reply it looks like ill really have to consider this for my next run or the one after that possibly. I've already got my next runs vegging plants trained for a traditional scrog. The numbers you say are well over my average yield, I'll have to make a note of it those for the future though because it sounds extremely similar to the number of watts I like to use and a more efficient use of floor space all with higher yield. It also seems possible to be easier to cool the area if there is space inbetween for cool air to flow opposed to a solid canopy that generally results in colder below and hot air above.

 

[Prawn Connery]

That one was a stand-alone indica. Strictly speaking, only the branchy sativas (like the Catpiss Haze) get "woven". The cage is really there to support any heavy branches that otherwise might break, prevent them from falling into the light, and arrange them in a way to maximise light.

This probably isn't the best photo, but you can see how large the holes are in the fencing wire I use for my cage, and how the heavy branches of the indica in the background are leaning on different levels of the cage to spread them out (and support their weight). That's what I mean by "weave".

You can also see how I stack my 600w bulbs, and how the floor fan blows directly up and over them. The extractor fan (leading to a carbon filter) sits right above and ducts the hot air away. The floor fan not only keeps the bulbs cool - forming a column of air - it circulates airs in the cabinet to prevent mould (I still get a touch of mould every now and then with heavy buds) and strengthen the branches as the plants are growing.

This setup is exactly what we replicated in my mate's room. When you put stations like this next to each other, the light overlaps on all sides and the plants grow very thick and round, as there is no "dark side" like there is in my cabinet.

My mate also used airconditioning in his room for ventilation and cooling. It gets bloody hot here in summer.

I've been meaning to put some more pix together, along with a "Vertical Growing Guide" thread, after this harvest when the flowering chamber is a little emptier and I can get the camera in better to show the drain-to-waste system etc.

 

[OGEvilgenius]

You definitely have to take out the big ass stem/roots, but I just leave the rest in there. It breaks down, provides some nutrition. I don't keep reusing forever, I've found though that plants do better the 2nd time in coco. I also have a lot of compost for my garden because I don't reuse indefinitely.

Generally in my 7 gallon containers I will re move about 1 gallon of large roots and whatever is attached and then plant from my 1 gallon containers back into the mix. Water with some enzymes for a while and it seems to do well.

Definitely have to watch for pathogens and such, but to me that's just a given. You never know when a fresh bag will have a shit load of gnats too ready to wreck havoc. NIce garden though man. And to reiterate what you're sayin, first time I ever hung a bulb vertically I hit 1gpw (using your measures). There are objective things to consider that cannot be replicated with a horizontal setup. It's why I'm pretty certain LEDs have no future as they aren't very efficient with their directed light. Some will argue otherwise, and yes, the PAR is excellent and when compared to inefficiently hung HPS bulbs they do well. When compared to efficiently hung HPS bulbs, not as well. I fail to see how a vertical LED setup would look. I've seen the one for those rotating gardens and what you end up with is plants getting less PAR on every side for the same power consumption as far as I can tell.

 

[~Dankster~420]

Good post! I have a 800 watt LED system that was gave to me all for the asking by a LED company in Amsterdam. I am using it with my HPS system, (600 watts). I had a 400 watt in, but when I go to mid flowering I switch over to the 600 watt. I am taking care of 34 strains right now, and thinking about doing somemore..

You definitely have to take out the big ass stem/roots, but I just leave the rest in there. It breaks down, provides some nutrition. I don't keep reusing forever, I've found though that plants do better the 2nd time in coco. I also have a lot of compost for my garden because I don't reuse indefinitely.

Generally in my 7 gallon containers I will re move about 1 gallon of large roots and whatever is attached and then plant from my 1 gallon containers back into the mix. Water with some enzymes for yes, the PAR is excellent and when compared to inefficiently hung HPS bulbs they do well. When compared to efficiently hung HPS bulbs, not as well. I fail to see how a vertical LED setup would look. I've seen the one for those rotating gardens and what you end up with is plants getting less PAR on every side for the same power consumption as far as I can tell.

 

[Prawn Connery]

Good points, OGE. I have another friend (I know a lot of commercial growers in my area, LOL!), who likes to reveg and reflower his plants in the same coco pots after harvest, so it gets used multiple times. He reckons yields are the same or sometimes better. I don't think revegging/reflowering is the most efficient way to grow commercially, but it's his set-up. He also uses horizontal lights and reflectors.

There are a lot of growers stuck in their ways, and while my friend loves to tell some of his own grower mates about how well my vertical set-up works (some believe him, some don't), he refuses to switch himself. He figures what works for him works for him. And you can't really argue with that - people have to use whatever system they feel comfortable with.

 

[growingforfun]

Oh how true that is! I went bak to dirt from hydro for that exact reasoning, there may be faster and larger yields, but for me at least, soil is very safe and damage is quickly repaired unlike when I was doing hydro and problems could worsen quickly. Im liking what I hear about coco though and wonder if I could just transplant like a 3 gal soil plant into a 10 gal coco container and if that would be a good way to go. I really like that ocean forest and the safety net soil provides but would like to see the rapid growth of coco

 

[Prawn Connery]

Coco pots can be transplanted into soil a little easier than the other way around, but it can be done. The only real concern is how much soil goes into the pot, how much nutrient it contains, how light or heavy the mix is, and whether you introduce pathogens or soil pests when you do it. Soil will compromise the draining and aeration abilities of coco, but if it's only a small amount of soil, it probably won't matter much. If it's a larger amount, you could have problems balancing your nutrients (coco is inert, so you have to supply all its nutrient requirements) and will probably have to water less to prevent overwatering the soil part of the roots, which could lead to root rot.

I have not done this myself - though I have done it the other way around (coco seedling pots into larger soil containers) - so there might be a bit of trial and error before you hit on the right regime. Ideally, to take full advantage of coco, you want to start your plants off in coco before transplanting them. You can use organic nutrients in coco, so you can also benefit from micro-organisims in the root zone. It's probably the most reliable organic-hydro system you can use, as coco shares some similar properties with soil.

 

[hyroot]

You can do 1 part coco 1 part perlite and 2 parts peat and that would be fine. That's the norm for soil mixes anyway. It will drain fine. The larger the pot the the less often you have to water. About a day per gal. So 7 gals should water once a week. 2 gals every other day.etc.... straight coco you have to water more often and no need for larger pots too.

If I was doing straight coco I would probably use blue mats

 

[drekoushranada]

This grow makes me want to break out in a vert grow again. I have an extra 600w hps that I can put in line with my horizontal lights.

 

[Cuebossa]

Looking good!

 

[Prawn Connery]

Haven't updated for a while. Here's the last plant that I cut down a few days ago. As mentioned earlier, it just kept on budding to the point where it started to throw bannanas very late in flowering. As soon as it did that, it got the chop. Despite the fact it is going to yield well and smells quite nice (a bit like strawberry tangerines), I can't afford to have hermies - even late ones - in my room. I'm guessing there are 6-8oz here once it is trimmed and dried. The last two have dried, but I haven't weighed them yet. The weather's been cold and it takes longer for everything to dry out.

 

[Prawn Connery]

And here's what the new grow looks like. The two rear plants and the two front ones are Schnazzleberry #2s, while the one on the far left is a Swiss Bliss and the one on the right is a SuperSkunk x Sweet Tooth/Sensi Star nick-named "Nite Nite" because it knocks you the fuck out and sends you to sleep!

You can get a better idea of my set-up in these pix, as you can see the way the lights hang and the cage sits around the fan, in-between the plants. You can also see two empty pots that may get filled in a couple of weeks, depending on how this grow goes. Seed grows are unpredictable, so I need to wait and see if the Schanzzes will stretch or bush out before I know how much space I have left. I always have 6-8 plants in each grow.

Note the feed lines haven't been put in place yet. These have only just been potted up and I've been hand-watering them the past few days until I set up the auto-feed today. I've been a bit busy the past week.

 

[ricky6991]

Not trying to thread jack at all! Have a question since your experienced with vert.

my friends first time growing vert and its my strain i know and havent seen this happen before and figured maybe cause its side lighting the leafs are not spreading out?

its just in ffof soil and been watered normally. They are all like that for new growth.

 

[Prawn Connery]

Looks like it could be lack of humidity. Being close to the lights and fan can lead to excessive evaporation - it sometimes happens to some of my strains at different (dry) times of year, but isn't a huge problem. Coco and hydro set-ups tend to provide extra humidity, but if you're growing in soil and letting it dry out, there would be less moisture in the pots in comparison. Your friend could try misting or watering a little more often (but not too much), which should help restore some moisture to the leaves.

 

[ricky6991]

Will do. Thanks

 

[ricky6991]

How much veg time do those have right now? Is that usual size before you switch to 12/12 for the last 3 lbs harvest? Also so you normally have 6 plants per station?

do you think with same veg time that putting 4 plants per station would benefit more or with 1 1200w station cover 6 plants just the same?

sorry for multiple questions but just getting a feel for this as it seems llke a more beneficial setup.

 

[hyroot]

How much area does one station cover? I'm thinking of trying a vert set up in my closet in the flower room with 2 330 allstart cmh's.. maybe try my hand at coco too. But that will be in 6 weeks or so at the least. I have to finish up the 2 batches I have going first.


Water those bitches.... they look thirsty.

 

[aknight3]

hey friend sorry i didnt read the whole thread but i wanted to ask, do u have pics of the entire setup and how much was your final yield with 1200 watts u said? 2 600s?