Going Vertical - 4x4 Tent

kiwipaulie

kiwipaulie

Well-Known Member
So I have toyed with the idea going vert for a while and now after a bit of info from @ttystikk i think its time to give it a crack.

I'm going to grow them horizontally in veg and then switch to vert in flower.

Here's my gear:

Veg Tent - 3.5x3.5
400w mh, I also have a 600w mh if I need it instead.
Two fans to blow air around.
4inch extraction fan connected to air filter
6inch fan connected to cooltube

Flower tent - 4x4
1000w hps
6 inch extraction fan connected to filter
Big box fan to blow on the bare bulb

I have the below clones that I took from the last grow. There are three wwxbb and three super skunk.

Not sure how many ill ended up using. Might cut it back to 4 plants.

The clones rooted last week and are going well. Will be transplanting to 18l (5 gallon) bags to veg and flowering in 36l (9.5g) bags.

I like to grow in soil using some local stuff we have which normally works really well.

I like to take it pretty easy on the nutes these days and generally in veg none are required as the soil already has them and in flower I like to use a bit of canna terra when needed and some liquid lead in the last 4 weeks along with a hit of canna Pk at the right time.

Anyway this is my first time having a crack at vert so it will be interesting to see if there is much change in yield. I normally get a pound +- one or two oz each run.

The clones have another 5 1/2 weeks to veg as that's when the flower tent will be free, so I probably wont posy heaps until the real fun starts haha

Any advice / help welcomed!!
 

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lawlrus

lawlrus

Well-Known Member
edit- I'm blind as a bat, sorry -- just saw that the cooltube was in your veg setup, ignore me.


Cool that you got some advice from tystikk, he definitely seems to know his stuff...also check out the vertical forum on icmag, as some of the best pros and pro-ams in the business post there. Feel free to take a look at the thread in my signature as I was pretty open about mistakes I made or things I could have done better, so it might help you figure out what not to do at the very least. It's the second link, a 4x4 tent with a 600w bare-bulb HPS and a wall-anchored SCROG screen. Looking forward to seeing what you get here! Best of luck.
 
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kiwipaulie

kiwipaulie

Well-Known Member
lawlrus said:
edit- I'm blind as a bat, sorry -- just saw that the cooltube was in your veg setup, ignore me.


Cool that you got some advice from tystikk, he definitely seems to know his stuff...also check out the vertical forum on icmag, as some of the best pros and pro-ams in the business post there. Feel free to take a look at the thread in my signature as I was pretty open about mistakes I made or things I could have done better, so it might help you figure out what not to do at the very least. Looking forward to seeing what you get here! Best of luck.
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Cheers ill definitely check out your link.
 
kiwipaulie

kiwipaulie

Well-Known Member
lawlrus said:
Didn't see in the post, are you planning to put a screen in to anchor the plants to or just free-train them?
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Haha funny I was just about to post about this.

I am thinking of just building a simple frame out of timber and just attaching that same sort of plastic gardening netting like In your thread in that link. :) same stuff I've been scrogging with for ages.

Was thinking of basically making it so I have 4 walls that are 1m (3.5 feet) each, then it gives me 10cm to play with them behind?

How much clearance do I need from the screen to the bulb?
 
kiwipaulie

kiwipaulie

Well-Known Member
And is it better to have the screen infront or behind. I imagine its much easier in front, but then you block a little but of light? But surely that would be very minimal.
 
lawlrus

lawlrus

Well-Known Member
kiwipaulie said:
Haha funny I was just about to post about this.

I am thinking of just building a simple frame out of timber and just attaching that same sort of plastic gardening netting like In your thread in that link. :) same stuff I've been scrogging with for ages.

Was thinking of basically making it so I have 4 walls that are 1m (3.5 feet) each, then it gives me 10cm to play with them behind?

How much clearance do I need from the screen to the bulb?
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I would recommend just putting a screen with a slight gap against the wall and then anchoring the plants back onto the wall instead of putting a screen around the light and doing it the opposite way, if that's what you're saying. In that tent I just took the garden fencing and secured it via zip ties all the way around the screen except for on the door, where I just did basic free-training on that plant and tied the heavier colas that could not support themselves to the frame of the tent. It's much easier to train a proper canopy in this way, at least in my experience, and you greatly reduce your chances of light burns. This next run, I will be packing less plants in around the bulb and leaving that space empty to allow me more room to work in the tent.
 
kiwipaulie

kiwipaulie

Well-Known Member
lawlrus said:
I would recommend just putting a screen with a slight gap against the wall and then anchoring the plants back onto the wall instead of putting a screen around the light and doing it the opposite way, if that's what you're saying. In that tent I just took the garden fencing and secured it via zip ties all the way around the screen except for on the door, where I just did basic free-training on that plant and tied the heavier colas that could not support themselves to the frame of the tent. It's much easier to train a proper canopy in this way, at least in my experience, and you greatly reduce your chances of light burns. This next run, I will be packing less plants in around the bulb and leaving that space empty to allow me more room to work in the tent.
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Sweet. Come to think of it, it would be much easier to just zip tie they netting to each wall. May leave the front open for access. So that gives me three walls, which is still better than one horizontally. I was just thinking that it might be too far from the light. But u guess two foot at its closest either side should be fine.
 
lawlrus

lawlrus

Well-Known Member
kiwipaulie said:
Sweet. Come to think of it, it would be much easier to just zip tie they netting to each wall. May leave the front open for access. So that gives me three walls, which is still better than one horizontally. I was just thinking that it might be too far from the light. But u guess two foot at its closest either side should be fine.
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2 feet from the bulb to the plants, is that what you're asking? If so yes, that's pretty much what I went for to be safe and I could have probably gotten away with having them even closer as the air extraction, if done properly, is very effective in a vertical bare bulb setup. However, keep in mind that was a 4x4 with a 600w, not a 1000w as you're planning. The 600w runs a lot cooler...hell, with a 400w you can damned near have the bulb touching the plant and still be fine.

You may run into some heat or more likely light-bleaching issues with a 1000w in a 4x4 space, but I can't say for certain as I have not run that size light in that size space before myself. You may be better off with a 600w in the 4x4, and it's a more efficient bulb anyways. If you can keep the heat at bay, though, pack in whatever you can and blast those suckers.
 
lawlrus

lawlrus

Well-Known Member
On second thought, looking at how much extra room was in that tent, I could see a 1000w doing fine if care was taken not to let the vertical canopy get too out-of-hand in terms of leaning forward towards the light. When in doubt, run it with an electronic ballast and that way you can always dial it down to 750w or 600w if necessary.
 
kiwipaulie

kiwipaulie

Well-Known Member
lawlrus said:
On second thought, looking at how much extra room was in that tent, I could see a 1000w doing fine if care was taken not to let the vertical canopy get too out-of-hand in terms of leaning forward towards the light. When in doubt, run it with an electronic ballast and that way you can always dial it down to 750w or 600w if necessary.
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Cheers man. I've also got a 600w hps laying around if shit gets too much with the 1k.

How do you anchor yours to the wall?
 
kiwipaulie

kiwipaulie

Well-Known Member
lawlrus said:
Zip ties...I found that you can buy reusable zip ties for a bit more money that can be reattached or loosened as necessary. I definitely recommend these over normal ties if you can find them.
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Sweet. Yeah I have some stuff that will work fine. Its like chicken wire covered in a soft coating made for just this type of work.I use it on my cucumbers :)
 
lawlrus

lawlrus

Well-Known Member
kiwipaulie said:
Sweet. Yeah I have some stuff that will work fine. Its like chicken wire covered in a soft coating made for just this type of work.I use it on my cucumbers :)
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Yup, that stuff works as well, maybe even better than the flexible vinyl just because it has some rigidity to it and can support heavier buds a bit.
 
lawlrus

lawlrus

Well-Known Member
I'm excited for you man, my first "real" run with vertical was an eye-opening experience and an absolute blast. I still run horizontal occasionally as well (usually when I have extra plants that I don't have room for in the vert tent (as with that grow I linked you to as well as my current run) but for sheer efficiency it just can't be beat.
 
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