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16kw RDWC tree grow

eburna

New member
excellent grow. it's nifty to be able to grow trees in states with tight restrictions on the number of plants permitted. :bow:


how long did you veg before putting your plants in the flower room?
 

lucky14

New member
Fantastic work, Stupid question but what does Tote side/brute side mean? Is it a US term as I've never heard it in the Uk, Thanks
 

gettogro

Active member
Veteran
NL day 47

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gettogro

Active member
Veteran
very nice that chemdog came out real good and the big bud was impressive...was she solid when cured up?

Funny thing about the big bud, I finally got the curing process down pat, and the big bud turned out awesome. Real dense buds those lbs were the first to go. I let that strain go because It didnt have the strong smell, but this time the slow cure really did it justice. I do still have 5 fem beans left if I want to bring it back in the future. So far it holds my record at 11.4.
 

Arminius

"I'm not a pezzamist, I am an optometrist"
Veteran
Hey Gettogro!
First off, not to sound redundant, but your op is mindblowing! I read the entire 10 pages 3 times, and took as many notes as I could.
I just finished a small test run in a closet, and am looking to kick it up a notch. I was looking to emulate Remo from Urban Grower, and his 2+ lb per light plan, and it looks like you nailed it.
I just finished framing up a new 10x12x8 room, which will be a "perfect" room, with co2 etc... I was planning on doing twenty 5gal RDWC bubble buckets, but now I plan on going Totes, or Brutes. I had a few questions if you dont mind.
  1. With my room being 10x12x8, is that enough height to go with Brutes, or should I stick with Totes? What is your preference?
  2. How tall are your finished plants from the top of the container?
  3. What level of co2 ppm do you maintain while lights are on? Most of what I read says ~1400, but Remo calls for 1800ppm.
  4. What temps/RH do you maintain with lights on and off? I understand that with co2, you can maintain higher temps, but once again Remo calls for 78 degrees.
  5. What do you feel about horizontal lighting? 4-6k would likely be enough horizontal lighting, but the best ops that I have seen are vert lighting. It just seems like a clusterfuck with all that ducting...
  6. I noticed that your plants in the corners are right up in the corner, I suppose that is the only way to do it, since getting lights behind those corner plants would be a pita, and likely a waste of lumens... Sound about right?
  7. I might not be able to get 8 plants in my room, since I will have to have room for my resivoir etc...
  8. What are the sizes of the feed and drain lines? Is there a gpm formula to follow? I know for example that doing RDWC you shoot for a full water exhange 7-10 times per hour, so that you can size your pumps according to the amount of water in your system. If not, can you tell me what size of pumps you use with the total amount of water in your system so that I can do the calculations please?
  9. Do you run your airlines through your pcv drain lines? That is what it looks like, and it would tidy up the room nicely.
  10. Where do you put the feed line? Just inside the container towards the top, or inside the net pots?
  11. Are those 10" net pots? Would 5-6" pots work just as good, or do you want more medium to allow for beneficials?
  12. I noticed you stated that you were at 1000ppm in your journal, is that throughout the entire flower cycle? What conversion rate is your meter?
  13. Do you drain and refill when your nute lineup changes, or do you just add the nutes and top off the water inbetween? Just doing napkin math, I guess that there is about 200 gallons of water in your system, that is a lot of water to be pouring down the drain...
I really appreciate the attention to detail, and would be honored if you could answer some of my questions before I assemble the hardware next week.
:smokeit:
 

Arminius

"I'm not a pezzamist, I am an optometrist"
Veteran
/bump for some answers hopefully.
Scratch the question about horiz lighting, I will defenitely be going vert...
 

Hydrosun

I love my life
Veteran
1. I have grown in 20gal brutes in a 8' ceiling, but totes are a lower profile and probably better.

2. When my trees are bit they are 5' from the top of the net pot, if you have taller ceiling you may get them bigger.

3. Strain specific, however Co2 will not hurt your plants so dial it in as you go.

4. Lights off you should get your babies to 68* if possible. The love cool temps and the O2 level in the water is best at 68*. I notice most of my growth / strech occurs overnight, so cool temps are important (or rather I get my best trees when I have cool nights).

5. Horz works great, I've run both types of gardens.

6. The goal of vert tree growing is to have 2 - 4 lights hitting each plant. A corner light only benefits the one plant in the corner. Some use a 600w or smaller for corner lights, others skip them all together.

7. 120sq' should be enough for 8 plants, that is 15sq' per. As for the res it should not take up much room because it will probably be just an empty brute or tote. Set it inline with the other 8 zones and party on. Since you will have 8 huge containers and a res, the PH should be stable and you should be able to skip a day between refills.

8. He had nice huge 3" pipes if I am not mistaken. He gave a link to the bulk heads he uses and I advised a google search on Uniseals. That is what the UC systems use. As for pumps and calculations someone else will have to chime in.

9. I would think air lines inside drain pipes would be a big pain in the ass.

10. Opinions vary, however you need to make sure that you don't drown your plant. The stem and top part of the roots need at least 12hrs a day dry IMO.

11. I swear by 10" and hate on all others for growing trees. Trees need huge stalks and huge root masses, I find that the 10" allows the tree to make a really strong stalk and huge root ball in the hydroton, this really adds stability to the plant.

12. I personally like to stay around 800, but PPM is always strain and grower specific.

13. I've never considered the amount of liquid down the drain "a lot". I am on a sewer system and just pump it into the toilet and it goes away. People drain bath tubs all the time. I personally only change the nutes once during flower (at around day 21 after I have PK boostered them appx day 16). Then I use those same nutes for the next 3 -4 weeks. I top off with my nute mix (appx 800PPM) and PH the system daily if needed.


Hopefully the OP will have some time to look this over and give suggestions. His grow is one of the best around for trees. Long live the forest!

:joint:
 

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