# First time vertical grow



## El Duderino... (Nov 9, 2012)

Hi Guys just wanted to introduce myself here on the Forum. I'm a relative noob when it comes to growing, but have been helping out a couple of friends of mine for the past six months who are advanced growers. We have decided to setup and attempt a vertical grow and are looking for any feedback, tips and help on the setup we will be using. Here are some of the specs on the setup we will be rolling with:

Strain: is a cross Super skunk from sensi and Recon from DNA genetics Amsterdam. My friend grew SS for several years and crossed it with a make RECON.

PLANTS: 32, in a vertical two shelf set up. CURRENTLY Plants at *week 3 Veg* from seed

ROOM SIZE: 9 ft high x 9 ft wide x 11 ft long.

LIGHTS: 3 x 1000 watt HPS Sylvania bulb, Lumatek Digital ballast, in a vertical Cool tube setup intake blowing in and another is extracting. Will consider adding another 800 watts once we work out where its needed either to the top or bottom of vert.

FANS: 1x 8 inch intake centrifugal fan, Out take 2 x 6 inch fans with two filters attached, also one oscillating fan and will get another 16-18inch to push/move air from the floor upwards.

GROW MEDIUM: Clay balls, with 3 inch rock wool cubes

BUCKET SIZE: 4.4 gallons, 11 inches high

SHELF SYSTEM: two shelf sytem in an octagonal shape, first shelf at 14.9 inches, SECOND shelf at 54.3 inches from the floor. Built with 2.7 x 1.3 inch pine, shelf is made with ¾ inch chipboard, attached with 3 inch nails. Half of the octagonal has castors wheels on it so they can move.
FEED: every 3 hours top feed , flow is for continuous 5 minutes

FEED TYPE: Vegetative grow A and B, nitrozyme, (enzyme additive) regenaroot (root additive)

NUTRIENT TANKS: 4 x 20 gallon tanks, split into pairs feeding 16 plants each pair.
PUMP: initially started with two but they didnt have enough power so had to add another two... (sorry dont have the output of these)

Here are a few pics of the setup taken 2 weeks ago.


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## drekoushranada (Nov 9, 2012)

It looks damn good to me m8. I'm sure you will be having fun in the room soon enough.


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## bigbudahluva (Nov 18, 2012)

i like. +rep


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## smoke and coke (Nov 18, 2012)

good luck and post more pics as you go.


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## El Duderino... (Nov 19, 2012)

Hi y'all, just wanted to give you a quick update on how things are moving along in the room, and get a few updated pics of the room up. Now in week 5 Veg and hoping to attach a screen this week, I have purchased some 4x4 inch plastic wire. Does anyone know if this is a suitable size from there past experiences? I will be attaching wire screen from hooks on each bay around 8-10 inches from the lip of the buckets. As far as pruning goes was thinking about beginning to prune shaded bud sites that are not any receiving much light towards the back of the plants (back popping?). although I'm a little hesitant to start pruning as there is quite a mix of plant sizes as they were grown from seed. Anyone shed any light on when is a good time to start pruning and bending these girls. any feed back mucho appreciatedthe dude


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## El Duderino... (Nov 19, 2012)




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## OGEvilgenius (Nov 20, 2012)

Lookin promising, still vegging? A lot of your canopy has holes. I like the build though.


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## smoke and coke (Nov 20, 2012)

looks great. i would start some lst on them now since your only in week 5 of veg. this will help fill in the holes. i wouldnt prune anything right now because you should be able to tie some of the back to the front into the light. also when you tie your top over, it will also allow more light to the back. later on you may need to prune some of the lower back suckers and not have to take a whole branch out.


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## Blackhawk149 (Nov 27, 2012)

Report this fucker


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## El Duderino... (Dec 4, 2012)

smoke and coke said:


> looks great. i would start some lst on them now since your only in week 5 of veg. this will help fill in the holes. i wouldnt prune anything right now because you should be able to tie some of the back to the front into the light. also when you tie your top over, it will also allow more light to the back. later on you may need to prune some of the lower back suckers and not have to take a whole branch out.


Hey OG,


sorry bout the slow reply i ve been working lots and trying to get things done and taken care of. But im back 
Since the last post things are looking on the up ive builit the net which hangs infront of the whole octagon, the holes that were present have now been filled in, flipped to 12/12 last week and as i and my mate expected they have started to stretch.

we are thinking of backpopping and lollypopping at the end of week 2 flower once the stretch has finished, got more time on my hands will post some pics in the next two days 

thanks the help


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## El Duderino... (Dec 4, 2012)

OGEvilgenius said:


> Lookin promising, still vegging? A lot of your canopy has holes. I like the build though.


Hey OG, 


ended up veging to 6 weeks, they have filled out the canopy nicely. Planning to back pop and lollypop end of next week when they have stopped stretching! 

Thanks for the help!

Elduderino


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## El Duderino... (Dec 4, 2012)

Blackhawk149 said:


> Report this fucker


Haha had a bad day Blackhawk149?????????????? go smoke yourself to sleep buddy sounds like you need it!!!


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## DST (Dec 4, 2012)

Interested to see pics with the screen. I started using a screen behind the plants as they will all start to lean into the light as they grow. Tying them back provides more resistance and seems to enhance growth.
Good luck, nioce set up.

Peace, DST

p.s what size of cool tube are they?


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## kana (Dec 5, 2012)

im subd for this, a method i have been thinking about for a while, dont let me down and stop updating the thread! lol


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## miduswell1 (Dec 5, 2012)

hey how goes it?im new to the forum.my question is this,is vertical growing more cost affective?i have experience with outdoor grows,currently im working my own indoor,so im just looking for a cost efective option.


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## Grow4tho187 (Dec 5, 2012)

WHATS GOING ONN! !!!! where the pictures at ! I like the shelf design did you design it yourself ?


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## smoke and coke (Dec 6, 2012)

miduswell1 said:


> hey how goes it?im new to the forum.my question is this,is vertical growing more cost affective?i have experience with outdoor grows,currently im working my own indoor,so im just looking for a cost efective option.


here is a pic that could be very effective if done properly. i use a 400w for a vert. stadium but a 600w would be better. and for a vertical i would say a 1000w. maybe 2 if you have the ceiling height to grow trees or you have many smaller plants on shelves.

but you also need to factor in veg. time to be able to fill the room. much longer veg. to use less plants but taller to maximize the vertical height.


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## RonSwanson (Dec 8, 2012)

This pic is so awesome smoke and coke!


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## El Duderino... (Dec 8, 2012)

Hi guys so here are a few updated photos of the room. The plan is to start bending and training the girls in a couple of weeks when they have finished there stretch. hoping to bend the bottom half of the top plants down so they will be meeting the top half of the bottom to create that SOG. planning to use cable ties to attach to the net to hold those branches in place. Have also started removing smaller branches from the back side of the plants that have no chance of being bent through the net towards the lights. Sorry for the shitty quality iPhone pics, will try to use a digi for the next update. Also took around 40 clones from the stronger healthier plants before switching to 12/12, have all rooted nicely now. The canopy still has some holes in it, as the plants suffered an N-deficiency in week 4 veg, and took some time to recover. 


The Dude


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## El Duderino... (Dec 8, 2012)

DST said:


> Interested to see pics with the screen. I started using a screen behind the plants as they will all start to lean into the light as they grow. Tying them back provides more resistance and seems to enhance growth.
> Good luck, nioce set up.
> 
> Peace, DST
> ...


Hi DST just posted a few updated pics with the screen. what did you use to tie back your plants? we were thinking of using cable ties loosely attached to a screen square and branch. think this would be suitable? yeah they definitely reaching for that light now! The cool tubes are 800mm I think, we cut 40mm off each one so we could fit them stacked up on one another in the room. 

Dude


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## El Duderino... (Dec 8, 2012)

miduswell1 said:


> hey how goes it?im new to the forum.my question is this,is vertical growing more cost affective?i have experience with outdoor grows,currently im working my own indoor,so im just looking for a cost efective option.


Hi miduswell1 the thread that got us on the vertical bandwagon is over at ic mag. plenty of good info on its benefits. makes perfect sense when you think about it 

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=127881

Dude


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## Saldaw (Dec 10, 2012)

*

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to El Duderino... again.





*


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## OGEvilgenius (Dec 10, 2012)

El Duderino... said:


> Haha had a bad day Blackhawk149?????????????? go smoke yourself to sleep buddy sounds like you need it!!!


Probably was responding to a bot. Happens fairly regularly, bots come through, spam up a tonne of threads. Mods then come through later and delete the posts. I've seen a few posts like his where you're wondering what was being replied to, but then you remember the bots.


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## OGEvilgenius (Dec 10, 2012)

Your canopy has filled out nicely. I wouldn't stress a few holes, stretch will cover that and then some. Looking good, keep us updated.


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## whodatnation (Dec 10, 2012)

Subbed up like a mofo


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## Stomper420 (Dec 13, 2012)

Thats just awsome! Im looking to do something like this. Im running 1 1000w vert. How far from the lights are you? And how tall could I go with 1 bulb?


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## El Duderino... (Dec 18, 2012)

Grow4tho187 said:


> WHATS GOING ONN! !!!! where the pictures at ! I like the shelf design did you design it yourself ?


Hey grow4tho187, 
*

SHELF SYSTEM: two shelf sytem in an octagonal shape, first shelf at 14.9 inches, SECOND shelf at 54.3 inches from the floor. Built with 2.7 x 1.3 inch pine, shelf is made with ¾ inch chipboard, attached with 3 inch nails. Half of the octagonal has castors wheels on it so they can move.



​




*ALso the shelf angle is 22.5C this helps with water flow and so far it has also helped with tying the plants branches to the net. The net stands out at 8 inches supported by two pieces of pine which now run the length top to bottom. 

In one of my pics you can see the shelf from the side view, and four out of the 8 shelves have castors on them to move around when need be. So far i have not moved them around as i found that the WOG is filling nicely.


Cheers

elduderino


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## El Duderino... (Dec 18, 2012)

Stomper420 said:


> Thats just awsome! Im looking to do something like this. Im running 1 1000w vert. How far from the lights are you? And how tall could I go with 1 bulb?



Hey Stomper, 
if i had one 1000watt i would do one shelf, and veg them quite large so i can train them up and down. I guess this issues might be with 1 1000 you wont have a lot of top to bottom coverage... you would be better off with 2 x 600watt


The design i have is 6 inches from the lip of the shelf ( edge of the pots) to the net + 25 inches from the centre to my cool tube. The octagon width ....facing lip of the buycket on one side to the other side is 62 inches. I would have loved to take more pics but the room is now full of weed


SHoot some questions ill try and help as much as possible


El duderino


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## Stomper420 (Dec 18, 2012)

I havent set this up yet. I have 10 girls flowering up under it now. I totaly love this idea of growing as it saves space and uses the whole light. I suupose I would have to hang the light and see what my pattern is. Thanks and keep up the awsome work!


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## El Duderino... (Feb 12, 2013)

I have disrespected this journal over the last 2 months with christmas new years, house inspections and a bunch of other stuff. but i still thought i would fill you in on how my first attempt at vertical growing went.

Start by saying that i have learnt alot for the next crop and its mostly to do with the lollypopping backpopping, leaf picking and also tying down. These four factors will determine how big the crop ends up. as it all helps maximize the space available in a verticle grow.

So the final number after pull up was 5lbs 5ounces, this was with 28 plants (including 5 sick ones) under 3000watts. So im happy that with less lights and 4 more plants i still managed to pull more than my usual 20 plant 3600watt grow. This type of set up once mastered with 32 healthy plant im confident could achieve 8lbs, maybe more if im lucky.

All in all i would say vertical growing requires alot more work, the first 2 weeks of flower are not to busy, but from the completion of the stretch its go go go. 

Here are a few happy snaps of the girls the day before i pulled up. 

The Octagon






FLOWERS



























WALL OF GREEN (WOG)



































will add some dried bud photos soon.

I plan to continue this journal so people interested can follow and learn from my mistakes. and also for people to help me along the way. 

 


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## El Duderino... (Feb 12, 2013)

Here is a break down week by week what jobs need to be done and how long they take. These are not including normal tanks changes and daily check required for all growing just vertical maintenance. 

Week 1 - The net must installed
Week 2 - no vertical maintenance required
Week 3 - Backpopp/ lollypopp 2ppl approx 3hrs first tie down 2ppl approx 3 hours
Week 4 - Small de-leaf to expose bud sites, 2nd tie down 2ppl 2 hours, backpopp/lollypopp 2ppl 2 hrs,
Week 5 - Re tie plants to reach lower down net 2 ppl 2 hours
Week 6 - De leaf 1 hrs, re-tie 2hrs
Week 7 - Re tie for last time and massive de-leaf approx 2hrs for 2 ppl
week 8 - Relax and get ready for harvest.

will add to this as i learn more.


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## whodatnation (Feb 12, 2013)

Hell yeah duderino  Im glad it worked out for you. Im also converting to the vert side  this grow half is vert scrog, next all of my grow will be vert scrog.


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