4 X 8 Beds With 2kw Over Top - Questions

[Lugen]

If I build or buy 4 X 8 flood tables,a nd fill them with dirt. I put 2kw over top and 16 plants under each 1kw, 2ft tall and begin to flower. Couple of questions...

How do you suggest I water the beds? I want to put them wiht some sort of irragation with a central reservoir so I can water the whole room at once, so I can have multiple beds and water easily. I plan on having PVC piping around the outside wall, then have lines coming off that for each bed, so it will be evenly distributed and each bed will receive the same amount of water.

During harvest I should remove the root balls, then what should I do with the dirt so that I can just reuse the same dirt each crop?

Also how many lights can a 12" vortex on a Carbon filter cool? Best way to set up would be air cooled reflectors but I might just go with 12" vortex's, and have one on all the time, one to kick in if temps climb above 80F and another one if temps go above 85F to cool the room in a hurry.

Thoughts?

 

[Lugen]

*BUMP*

 

[Mackawber]

Sounds like a good setup! Give them water from the bottom up using a perforated tube at the bottom of the bed. Have a central reservoir of water to feed into the tube heading down to the bottom of the beds. You should do some searches on this website to find what others have done. I've seen some threads describing flood table construction. One guy used the perforated tube feeding method and he didnt use drainage under the beds.

There are several threads about reusing soil. 3 Little Birds (3LB's) seemed to be the expert on reusing soil and mass plantings. From what I remember, 3LB sifted the soil to clean the roots out, then added ammendments back to the soil to properly condition and enrich it.

No telling about the ventilation setup as you describe it. I guess youre going to have 2 seperate thermostatic controllers set to 80 and 85 degrees respectively. Good plan--a primary and secondary controller for such a large grow. Sounds like your going to need a huge intake and intake fan too to suck in lots of cooling air. You're gonna need it running 2 kw lights. Perhaps you may want to consider 3 600 watters (1800kw) which may provide the same amount of light using less electricity.

You got one hell of a plan.

 

[Lugen]

Well actually the size will be bigger then 2kw, I was just using 2kw as a base line.

I'm a bit confused on the feeding from the bottom up with perforated tube. I was thinking of just having lines on the top, then I could have one tube on a measure cup, so I can turn on the pump and now exactly how much water each dripper is emitting. If I run pvc around the room it will create even pressure in the water lines, and all the drippers should emit approx the same amount of water.

I need to do some research on reusing soil, and what to add to enrich the soil. I know 3LB's uses soil beds, and I need to read through his threads.

I think 12" vortex on a carbon scrubber should be powerful enough to cool 8kw worth of lights.....or can it cool more?

 

[Guest]

http://www.advancednutrientsmedical.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=14216
http://www.advancednutrientsmedical.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=7348
http://www.advancednutrientsmedical.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=11803
http://www.advancednutrientsmedical.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=9531&page=3&pp=15

If these do not help you, I do not know what will...

 

[Lugen]

Thanks, I'll take a poke through those....

 

[Lugen]

Great threads!!

 

[Weed_Seed]

hey man,

I have no first hand experience but..... I've seen many grow shows and they resuse they're soil but not exactly sure of it.

In my opinion, you should look at other grows using soil beds and see if they re-use they're soil.

For the watering, a buddy of mine uses the same system and it should evenly water your plants. If you have tubes feeding to every plant it will water the plants equaly if it's a reliable product .

So thats that. Good luck and remember to check out some other grow shows using soil beds. You will learn a lot. Thats how I learned back in the OG days.

 

[Lugen]

Ya I'm from the OG days as well...

I'm doing reasearch on how to set everything up properly. I think soil beds is the best, then having irragation lines like I talked about so that way time is not an issue with watering, I can fit as many beds as my room allows me. The only other problem after that is figure what I can trim in the amount of time.

I will also need a Mother/Clone/Veg room...

 

[Neptune]

soil beds are labor intensive.
I would advise starting with an ebb and flow if using tables... 6-8" pots filled with coco, rockwool, or hydroton.

flood accordingly, couldn't be easier. no hassle..

 

[Lugen]

I have tried flood tables before, I find hydro not to be up my alley. I'm constantly having problems with root rot, or some other shit. Too many lost crops, too much lost money. Soil is more labor intensive, but more forgiving. If I automate the watering, the only hard part is inbetween crops, unless I can find out how to reuse the soil every crop...I'lll read 3LB's post's about his soil beds.

I dont want to lose 8kw + of plants cause of trying Hydro ONE more time....I'd rather be labor intensive.

 

[dan K]

Lugen.....are u sure waiting til 2ft to flower is your best option??? Obviously it's ur grow so you do wat YOU want....but IMO if u flower @ 24" your probly gonna end up with 4ft+ monsters....i'm not 100% sure if 1000wt is sufficient for 16 shrubs like that...I have 14 clones in my closet now under 800wt and i switched to 12/12 when they were 5".....now 9 days later they are all 15" or taller......im just wondering if you'll have problems with the light not penetrating enough for proper bud development if they get that big.....but again, just my opinion do whatever you want...i wish you luck either way!

 

[steveoi812]

sniff, sniff, I smell korean food, anyone else? Never mind...

 

[Lugen]

Well I'd like them to finish 38" + then I would trim up the bottom two feet of the plants, so you just have about 4-6 big colas off each plant.

Korean food? Shit, I smell kim'chi.....