Vertigrow: Utilizing Vertical Space In Hydroponics

Clown Baby

Clown Baby

Well-Known Member
Hey dudes.
So I bought some of these vertigrow trays. Circular flood trays with a hollowed center, allowing you to light it from the middle... Pictures will explain it better. The system is pretty cool because its pretty versatile. You can have different numbers of trays, and space them differently. You can also run it as ebb&flow, RDWC, or aero. You could also probably rig up a drip with some 1/2" tubing.
bought them at www.vertigrowsystems.com

anyways..
Lighting:
open bulb in the middle of the trays. Actually it's positioned a little above the top tray...
It's an eye hortilux hps 600w bulb with a hydrofarm phantom ballast.

ventilation
I'm cooling the light with a 20" box fan positioned in the middle of the lowest tray, blowing air up. Again, you'll see it in the pictures.
The tent is about 3.5"x3.5"x6". I'm exhausing it right now with a 9" blizzard fan.
Passive intakes.

system:
I'm running 2 trays right now. filled with 5.5" pots.
I can cram 18 5.5" square pots in each level.

nutrients:
Currently running foxfarm 3part. might hit it with monopotassium phosphate for a pk boost in week 3 or 4.

im about 1.5 weeks into flower right now, with an EC of 1.2. bluelab truncheon.
I keep pH between 5.5 and 6.

strain:
odyssey.
Not sure about its lineage. Bought one mother plant from a dispensary and ripped 40 cuttings off of it. Was able to leave all of the tops. It's about 1 month into flower right now.
Anyways the cuttings went into this system and are looking alright.
I gave them a week or so of veg.
If anyone knows the genetics for odyssey (not odyssey kush), feel free to speak up.

So, I like this thing because you get good penetration with the vertical lighting in the center. And you can keep your grow to a smaller footprint. Less floorspace!
 

Attachments

Clown Baby

Clown Baby

Well-Known Member
Heres about a week into flower: Plants are stretching nicely.
Ideally, I'd like to have the plants stretch up and cover the inside of the tray above them, covering the whole cylinder with canopy.
Also I trim most of the lower shoots, UNLESS those shoots look strong, and are growing in towards the light.
 

Attachments

Neumann

Neumann

Active Member
Interesting. So, essentially it's a tubular sea of green? I'm wondering what the differences between trays will be in regards to their position at the light source. I've seen something *similar-ish* using several 4' VHO fluorescent bulbs mounted vertically but never with an HID.
 
Clown Baby

Clown Baby

Well-Known Member
Neumann said:
Interesting. So, essentially it's a tubular sea of green? I'm wondering what the differences between trays will be in regards to their position at the light source. I've seen something *similar-ish* using several 4' VHO fluorescent bulbs mounted vertically but never with an HID.
Click to expand...
Yea. Well, I bought 4 grow trays.
With a single light, I tinkered around and found that you can get solid lighting on about 3 trays if you keep them close enough together.
If you angle your plants inwards, and have the stems coming out closer to the inside of the tray, it's easier to keep the trays closer together.

The reason I opted to go for only 2 tiers is because I have 36 plants. And that is just enough to fill up 2 tiers in 5.5" netpots.
It's also less volume needed in my reservoir.

You could get super efficient with this if you could rig a single light to some kind of light mover, and have a bulb move vertically in the middle.
stack like 8 tiers with one 600w.... baller....
 
T

tommyo3000

Well-Known Member
Looking good still. do you know about the cannabis-specific GH Flora chart that Mel Frank wrote up in one of his books?
I just started it today..
 
T

tommyo3000

Well-Known Member
Clown Baby said:
I don't know about Mel Franks books, but I like GH!
Click to expand...
http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Growers-Insiders-Guide-Frank/dp/0929349008
Marijuana Grower's Insider's Guide [Paperback]
Mel Frank (Author)


download as a torrent file:
http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/6097569/Mel_Frank_-_Marijuana_Grower__s_Guide_-_Insiders_Guide_-_English.6097569.TPB.torrent

check it out first on here:
http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/fourtwenty/articles/profiles.htm

scroll down to the section "About The Published Nutrient Profiles" to see what I am talking about. Basically, it is a customized plan for using GH that is cannabis-specific.

I am downloading the book now... I started using this yesterday on some veg and seedlings..

Tommy
 
U

uhavealighter?

Active Member
Yo cowell, been following this thread and went to www.ezhydroshop.com where they sell it. You can purchase this system in so many ways. The cheapest is a one level ebb & flow system kit without lighting for $350 to a 6 level aeroponic system with everything(dual cool tube, phantom ballasts and sunpulse bubs, fan) for $3500. you can choose to buy it with or without lighting. I bought the white 3 level ebb and flow kit without lighting for $700. You can also buy the trays separately. I'm going to grow a plant every 4" with this to have 27 plants each level. That should get me at least 2 pounds(well worth the $700 if you look at that way). That gh recipe sounds interesting. always love master grower recipes.
 
T

tommyo3000

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I'm using the special GH recipe. To clarify (after reading the book): Mel Frank offers N-P-K ranges for each stage of life for the cannabis plant. This is done by tissue testing. The numbers are almost the same as the Lucas formula, but use all the GH bottles to mix up the right N-P-K.

I switched one rez over and it has seedlings and rootes clones in it.. If it is good after a few days, I'm gonna switch one ebb and gro unit over.. then I can do a side-by-side with the regular GH program...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top