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I have been running a 4000 watt grow for awhile now. Recently I tried an experiment by changing all 3 flower bulbs to MH. While I enjoyed the frostiest buds I have ever seen, my yields plummeted.

This led me to change the bulbs back to HPS and hit RIU for some research. I ended up reading whodat's thread and then all the other 6 or 8 vertical threads going. I realized my 3000 watts air cooled on a commercial mover covering a 6' x 8' canopy was a complete waste of a 1000 watt bulb and ballast.

I became inspired to turn this


Into this



It is a 6' x 6' x 9' 3" tall. I built it out of Styrofoam sheets with a reflective side, though that is not why I bought that material. I also used 3" deck screws, 2" x 2" long boards, duct tape, construction adhesive, tie wire, and black plastic. The plastic was only required because I did not buy the right styrofoam sheets and light would come through.




I borrowed whodat's hazy susan idea so I didn't need a 10' x 10' room around this. There's an 8" exhaust on the top and 2 x 6" intakes on the bottom. The wire screen measures 16' 3" around by 5' high creating just over 81 square feet of canopy space.



I put a 1000 watt MH in for now and I also installed a piece of light mover track so I can go down that road if I want to. I put a root ball from a recent harvest down first, and then a fresh 15gal ROLS pot on top for a total of 30gal of soil.

The root balls were left in darkness for a couple days and then when I opened up the room I got s great shot of the visible part of the micro-herd



I added a box fan in the middle blowing upward on low that is not pictured. I also had to cut in another 8" intake hole because the 2 x 6" holes were not allowing enough air in. The exhaust fan is a simple Active Air inline fan.

I almost forgot the strains! One is Kosher Tangie from fem seed and the other is a Sour Lemon OG clone. both were topped. I've already realized I should have vegged them quite a bit longer than I did, but I was too excited to get it going. Because of this progress will be slow, but if that's my worst mistake I'll be fine.

Updates to come, thanks for checking it out.

I'm very interested in the lazy Susan idea and how it's working out.

ttystikk said:

I'm very interested in the lazy Susan idea and how it's working out.

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So far it is working well. I purposely built it with as little as I thought I could get away with since I usually do it the other way around.

So far I see no reason it wont work all the way through, though I think I'd beef it up a little bit for the next run.

I also have to say again that it was not my idea, I got it from whodatnation.

WEEK 1

The plants are both growing well now. It took a few gallons of water go get them soaked to the bottom the first time.

The air flow was inadequate so I changed the back intake from 6" to 8". Now there is no negative pressure at all.
I also placed a humidifier at the intakes. The room runs about 9-10 degrees above intake temp and humidity is 50%.




Kosher Tangie


I'm guessing another 4-6 weeks veg at least. It will be worth the wait.

nice looking op you got going, captn. everything clean and well thought out.
my only criticism would be to ask, why only two plants? seems to me you would get alot more a lot faster if you had six or more girls in the circle.
with only two in the cage it looks like a thunderdome or ufc style mach up, next round you should make it a battle royal with a half dozen girls locked in the cage of bloom.

good luck with the rest of your grow, hope they fill up the screen fast.

pilsung said:

nice looking op you got going, captn. everything clean and well thought out.
my only criticism would be to ask, why only two plants? seems to me you would get alot more a lot faster if you had six or more girls in the circle.
with only two in the cage it looks like a thunderdome or ufc style mach up, next round you should make it a battle royal with a half dozen girls locked in the cage of bloom.

good luck with the rest of your grow, hope they fill up the screen fast.

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Thanks man.

I only put 2 plants in there because I can only have a total of 12 plants with no more than six flowering. My horizontal grow continues, so this is for learning. I wanted to see if I like this style of growing. I guarantee the next run will start with 4-5' tall plants.

WEEK 2

This week as I observed more, I noticed the temps hanging out around 80-81f. While not out of control that is just a couple degrees hotter than I wanted it, so I changed the 8" inline fan to an 8" centrifugal fan. I also brought the exhaust tube to within about 1 foot of the bulb. I took some old panda film and wrapped the white side out around my pots so the black wouldn't absorb and emit heat.
Now the room is running about 77-78f, perfect for me. The humidity is 35% yet the plants are growing well.



Kosher Tangie



Sour Lemon OG



Here's my horizontal grow.


I also moved the bulb up some more to about 1/3 down from the top of the screen.
Thanks for stopping by.

only thing i can say is they look heavy.. just from researching on RIU the plants look like they should be pruned a little. watering schedule might need to lax a little otherwise and should achieve similar results.. the leaves will get thinner like on a diet and will perk up all the way.

Soulkipper said:

only thing i can say is they look heavy.. just from researching on RIU the plants look like they should be pruned a little. watering schedule might need to lax a little otherwise and should achieve similar results.. the leaves will get thinner like on a diet and will perk up all the way.

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Thanks for your wise advice . have you finished your harvest yet?

Soulkipper said:

only thing i can say is they look heavy.. just from researching on RIU the plants look like they should be pruned a little. watering schedule might need to lax a little otherwise and should achieve similar results.. the leaves will get thinner like on a diet and will perk up all the way.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice friend. You are sure right about the pruning - I spent an hour and a half this morning un-tangling and doing a bit of pruning. I had fallen way behind and realized that shoots were heading the wrong direction and such. Now they are headed the right way, I chopped a few branches off and got the temps right.
There is definitely a learning curve here.

CaptainCAVEMAN said:

Thanks man.

I only put 2 plants in there because I can only have a total of 12 plants with no more than six flowering. My horizontal grow continues, so this is for learning. I wanted to see if I like this style of growing. I guarantee the next run will start with 4-5' tall plants.

Click to expand...

You'll like those results.

Meanwhile, don't be afraid to run lights above the ladies while they veg, as it keeps them growing in the right direction.

CaptainCAVEMAN said:

Thanks for the advice friend. You are sure right about the pruning - I spent an hour and a half this morning un-tangling and doing a bit of pruning. I had fallen way behind and realized that shoots were heading the wrong direction and such. Now they are headed the right way, I chopped a few branches off and got the temps right.
There is definitely a learning curve here.

Click to expand...

You're not kidding- I've been climbing the damn thing for years and there's no end in sight!

ttystikk said:

You'll like those results.

Meanwhile, don't be afraid to run lights above the ladies while they veg, as it keeps them growing in the right direction.

Click to expand...

Good idea man. I've already got the bulb up as high as I can get it. Seems like I should just put some shop lights on top and turn off the MH, but that might be a little too little.

ttystikk said:

You're not kidding- I've been climbing the damn thing for years and there's no end in sight!

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Yea, I'd better get some good climbing gear. Hahahaha

ttystikk said:

You're not kidding- I've been climbing the damn thing for years and there's no end in sight!

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my fear of heights has made made my progress very slow...

pilsung said:

my fear of heights has made made my progress very slow...

Click to expand...

I'm trying to network with this guy named Jack. I hear he's got an awesome beanstalk...

WEEK 3

Not too many changes this week.
I started letting them dry out a bit on top. One problem with this setup is it's pretty hard to figure out when they need water.
I think I'd be better off if I had put the 15g smart pot into a 30g instead of on another 15g. I also think the plant would like a wider pot more than a deep pot.

The kosher Tangie is growing well.


The Sour Lemon OG is not growing so well though I don't blame the plant, I blame my lack or pruning experience.
With my horizontal grow I don't prune anything except some really low shoots early in flower.
With this vertical grow they must really be trimmed right. I just chopped off 2 large branches off the backside that simply couldn't be worked into the spreading plant - they were just choking air flow and using the plant's power to grow.
Had these been removed 2 or 3 weeks ago all that energy would have been represented on the screen instead of as mulch.


At work the other day I found these at a moving company. They are for sliding furniture easily. They work great under these posts which had started grinding kinda hard and catching on a crack as I turn the screen.
The reason I didn't put another set of wheels under the posts as well was due to the slope of the garage floor - 4 wheels would have had the whole screen rocking back and forth a lot at the top. 2 wheels works well though.


Sort of lousy room shot.


That's it till next week.

WEEK 4

The plants are still filling in. Considering how low the humidity is I guess they're not doing too bad. I've realized that the only way to get the humidity up where I want it is to have the grow room inside a sealed room with an AC and humidifier. That is on the way but will sill be awhile.
I got frustrated this week and almost gave up on vertical because of the humidity issue and the slow growth, but then I decided to accept the challenge and I doubled down.
I tore out the tiny coat closet that was behind the couch and unused. It had a million nails and 3 layers of drywall. There's a shoulder high pile of wood and drywall in the backyard until I can get it out of there. Damn guys didn't even pour the whole garage floor so I did.
Now the area is ready to start building a second room next to the first one. I figure the best way to perpetually grow these is with one room more than I intend to flower - that way one has a long veg while the other flowers.



Kosher Tangie

Sour Lemon OG

I like this pic - it's starting to look like a wall of weed! It's about halfway to the top now.

It;s beautiful man!

MartaStuart said:

It;s beautiful man!

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Thanks Marta! Live long and prosper.

Week 5

This post is running late but better than never.
The plants are still growing well I'd say. It takes me about an hour to an hour and a half to go through both plants and untangle, tie down, prune, tuck and water these. I'm still learning technique and still need to prune more aggressively.

Kosher Tangie


Sour Lemon Og


I've realized the question isn't if this is possible, the question is if it is more productive than the way I was growing.

I read ttystick's post about how he thinks it'd be easier to clip the plants to the front of the cage instead of the traditional way of thinking about trellising with the plant underneath (or behind) the screen. The more I do this it seems he might be right and will try this on the next room.

The reason I had a circle that could turn was because I was copying another members design, though his used 600w instead of 1000w. I think my second room will be different. I want to have an opening in the screen about 2' wide so I can enter and work it from the inside.I'm also thinking about more like big soil planters 2' x 3' x 2'deep on either side of the room so I can still fit in the middle. I'm also considering 3 plants instead of 2 though I'm still undecided on that one, I need to produce and use better starter plants before I decide if 2 plants can do this or if I'd be better off with 3.

Oh yea, correction-


NOW it is ready to start building the second room.