Low watt/Hi yield/Tiny vertical grow chamber

here's a short vid I made of the photos that didn't work....
gives you a good idea of it's innerds and it's construction, etc...

[video=youtube;fb1cnwKO1go]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb1cnwKO1go&feature=youtu.be[/video]

that's kindof a bummer that pop up ad cuts off the edge of the video screen on my video

So....anyhoo I'm considering using the other barrel I have in my shed and setting it up with cup holders....YES CUP HOLDERS!

A friend of mine has been growing top-grade under a 400w halide in little "kegger cups" (the red plastic ones you get at parties)
He takes clones from them at week 2 of flowering, then re-vegges the clones in rockwool starter cubes until roots appear, then he puts them in the kegger cups with some (NEUTRAL!) potting soil...(never use the stuff with food already in it).....once they are transplanted into the kegger cups, he vegges 'em until they are nice n' rooted, then flowers them under the 400w halide.
They double in size, and pretty much the whole plant becomes buds. No topping, only some supercropping.....and they are nice.

So I've been doing the same thing in kegger cups under a 24" 126w flouro....
I'm thinking evil thoughts again like "what if I could keep a constant rotation going of these kegger cups in that barrel"?

Hmmmm.....


So...
They would be arranged in a helix shape, with eight rows of 4-5 cups.
I'll just measure it and drill through the barrel, drill a hole in each cup holder, and use machine screws to secure them inside.
I would be using an 8-way drip manifold, with a dripper spike in each cup.
A minute timer would turn on/off at the appropriate cycle (like 2-3 minutes a day...they don't need much water in soil)
With 8 rows of 5 cups, I'm still getting 40 plants into a tiny space and utilizing all 8,600 lumens in close proximity to the girls
I'm not sure yet if 4 or 5 cups will fit in each row, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it...

I would utilize the same lighting I am using in the present barrel set up, I'll just stick the lid w/ the lamps, etc. on the new barrel.

I think I would probably veg them until they are 6-8" tall so I'm sure they've got a good root system going
Then I'd put them in the barrel and flower them out...they'll double in size...so I'm planning ahead for that too.

I will keep you all posted on the project as time permits, and any input or suggs is always appreciated!

peace,
pH.D

You might consider doing the kegger cup thing on the exterior of the barrel if that makes sense. Give you a little more room to operate.

I like that idea....thing is I've got 3 grows going in my tiny zen-hut of a cabin and humidity and I are presently at war.
So are space and I....space seems to think I don't need any space, and we just can't come to terms...so we're at war too.

Planning to move some of the grow op to a friend's place where there will be way more room for that kind of experimentation
I also need to score a few more barrels coz I'm gonna just keep experimenting with all kinds of designs and compare the yields/costs/maintenance, etc.....speaking of costs I've gotta chill for awhile on the spending coz there is a new tube amp on my horizon....they cost about as much as a friggen heart transplant ha ha ha...But I've gotta have a good amp...

(Laney if you are reading this, pH Downes used Laney amps exclusively and is open to sponsorship) ha ha ha ha

I've thought about doing the cups on the outside of the barrel and training them to grow through holes in the barrel, which would be lined with reflective material....someday I'm gonna try that

As always, thanx mega for the input because every idea is a good idea, and the ultimate goal here is to come up with something small, cheap to run, that pukes out the buds...ahhh that never-ending quest!! I'm sharing these builds with everyone coz I hope someday we'll all be able to have cheap, high output mini-grows.....

Here's a short vid of the barrel running last night....(hopefully no ads will obscure it)
I took the snail fan off so it wouldn't be clunking around while I was filming with one hand and taking off the lid with the other...
So far it's running great, there was a pH pHroblem because I used too much carbo load, but it's solved now...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVopCl3jM8o&feature=youtu.be

nice project! Keeps us updated as to how your yields turn out

Will do...

pH.D.

I like your vision brother.

I like what you have going! Keep it up.

Hey that 4 bucket set up is cool. What size are the buckets you have there?

+rep cuz I love the grow