Ideal way of growing in 6x4 space using coco+blumats?

1. How would you train to maximize canopy space in my situation? would you top? mainline? is scrog out of the question because of the implication of being perpetual (veg room)? Should I grow trees?
   
2. Can i get good lighting distributed across a 6x4 canopy or does it need to be more of a square-ish shape? (i can do 5x5 but my total grow room is 6x6 so that would leave a lot less space for vegging if i do 5x5 flower.)
3. Its time for me to start buying all my medium/watering equipment!

newguy41410 said:

Hey guys, I am planning to build about 1000 watts of DIY COB LED lights and will be asking the wonderful community here for COB build suggestions. Before I do that, though, I think I should thoroughly plan my setup so I can build my lights accordingly. With that being said, I'm leaning toward flowering 4 plants in a 6x4 room while 2 are vegging in a 2x6 space. My ceiling is 7 feet high. My goal is as much quality and quantity in a given amount of time as possible i should mention i am in a legal state with a 6plant limit and would like to stay under the limit for now.

So assuming 4 plants flowering in coco using blumats watering system, here are some questions:

1. How would you train to maximize canopy space in my situation? would you top? mainline? is scrog out of the question because of the implication of being perpetual (veg room)? Should I grow trees?
   
2. Can i get good lighting distributed across a 6x4 canopy or does it need to be more of a square-ish shape? (i can do 5x5 but my total grow room is 6x6 so that would leave a lot less space for vegging if i do 5x5 flower.)
3. Its time for me to start buying all my medium/watering equipment!

• Not sure what gallon-sized containers to use for my set up. HundredGramOz suggests NOT using pots bigger than 6.5L. should i just get 6.5 liter square pots?
• should i use smart pots? DIY smart pots to save money? net pots? regular pots?
  
• Reservoir size? do i simply add up all flowering containers and thats how big my rez should be?
  
• suggestion on what i should use to catch runoff (if i want to check ph for whatever reason)?

4. Any other suggestions for my grow will be greatly appreciated, especially on how i should be running my perpetual rotation. Anyway, here are pics of what i have done so far:
http://imgur.com/a/yD5th

THANKS IN ADVANCE!​

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verticalgrow said:

end goal

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newguy41410 said:

Sorry, end goal is basically trying to harvest as much quality as possible, given my space constraints and plant limit? Just trying to maximize as much as i can. Don't want to make purchases and jump into the grow and realize i should've maybe done something different in hindsight.. I think my biggest mystery is how i will be topping and training these plants as i have no experience growing yet. Ive read LOADS of info and understand what the different training techniques are and the effects they have on the plant. Just not sure what i should be employing in my setup (i was set on doing scrog for the past couple months but further research has shown me thats probably not my best option)

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Milliardo Peacecraft said:

You probably don't even need a solid thousand watts, go with meanwell 185H C1400A drivers, run 4 cobs per driver and run four bars evenly spaced. I wouldn't use reflectors with that ceiling height. Here's a picture of a 4x8 with a seven foot ceiling, plants are probably 5.3 feet tall untrained, that's about what you want. Pretty much this setup with one less bar. Could get away with a 13 gallon trash bin for a res, put a drain line in the bottom and put it up on a shelf for the gravity feed.

As for training, what I'd be shooting for is a plant topped twice. Top them once, let the two terminals establish themselves for about a week, then top again. Let those go for about a week and a half, maybe two weeks, and supercrop the two offshoots of the main stem between the bisection and the first node up. Before flipping, lollipop everything up to one node before the bisection from the first topping. Let those get about 3.5 feet tall in veg, flip them, and use a 3inch spaced trellis net to weave the tallest bits into slightly, just make sure everything is supported and don't go crazy, that should fill out that space pretty well. Those plants are going to get pretty chunky, you might want to use a seven gallon fabric pot, I'd recommend root pouch as a brand.

And your bars would be spaced closer together than these, you can get 1/8th inch angled aluminum at any chain hardware store that comes in 6 foot lengths that I'd cut down to 5 feet and space the bars evenly between. Hope that helps brotha.

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newguy41410 said:

Man, im super stoked you replied to this thread I was just reading your "1000 watt Citizen 1212" thread this afternoon and it had me wondering if i should get 1212s lol. Anyway, Im definitely taking your advice thanks a lot youve given me a much better idea of what to do. At the end of your thread you had mentioned "tl;dr 1212's meh" so im assuming you mean 3590s are probably better than 1212? I noticed that pic you attached says 3590 also so im guessing you are suggesting i should go with 3590. Thanks again. I hate to ask but if you have time i have some simple (i think) questions still, I'd appreciate you answering?

1) So 4 plants in 4x6 space i should top twice and super crop til about 3.5 before flower. Sounds like a plan! the topping twice part is basically aka manifold aka mainlining right? definitely doing that if you are suggesting that though
2) Would you suggest I build a seperate light for 2x6 veg room and run perpetual? if so, suggestion on veg light? or use the entire 6x6 room for single harvest cycles of 6 plants from seed and use one 1200 watt light (dimmed for veg)?
3) should i just follow this youtube CXB heatsink guide and build the same exact heatsink for your suggested build?

Thanks again man. I appreciate your time bro!

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Milliardo Peacecraft said:

Yeah man, you could really pump density with the 1212s but your wattage is going to wind up way higher than 3590s, I just think they're easier to implement even over the larger citizens due to current available driver voltages.

Yeah it's basically a mainline, I usually leave one node under the split though, you don't have to but the nugs are usually decent. Most of the mainlines I see are super stressed out, I like to let 3 or 4 nodes come in after each topping to let them bounce back.

I always advise perpetual, you can't really get batch quality control down until you're running clones that you've personally taken. Now the CLU1212 is great for veg, I run three bars of 5 4000k 1212s @ 700mA for my main veg 5x5. You could probably just get two 2 1/2 foot extruded heat sinks in the 5.7inch profile form heatsinkusa and run them passively. That's this configuration here (propagation light), mine have a fan on them but they barely get warm. Maybe just have a circulating fan or two in there.

I built all these before the pin fin sinks really hit the market, they're cheap enough to consider using now if you're more comfortable with that.

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newguy41410 said:

Alright, Im ready to take the plunge. About to order (16) CXB 3590s, (16) 120mm pin fin heatsinks, (16) ideal holders, and (4) drivers! Just one question im lookking to get answered before I purchase:

Can I get the 72 volt versions and throw them on 700 ma drivers instead? Would this be the same exact output in lighting and results/yield? I am enticed by the 72 watt 700ma setup because Id like to leave as much headroom for my circuits breakers as possible. Would I be sacrificing any kind of efficiency or performance or future upgrade capability by using 72 volts @ 700ma??

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