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Indoor Vertical Grow Systems 101

B

Bob Smith

wisco61 said:
You can not understand the law of inverse squares all you want. Your lack of understanding regarding a basic law of the universe does not make it cease to exist.

You keep asking this question and people keep telling you why you are wrong to even be asking this. But that is not the answer you want to hear so you keep asking.
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^^^^ This.

Do some more research on how light loses intensity exponentially and if you still have questions, we'll be here to help.

When you come in here claiming that "common sense" tells you that it doesn't matter how far a plant is from a light and that light doesn't lose intensity when traveling across a room, you make it fairly difficult to take you seriously.

Comparing an indoor grow light to the sun is pretty ludicrous.

As somone else said, grow two identical 4x4 gardens, one with a 1K watt 1.5' above and one with a 1K watt light 5' above and let us know if the distance from the light source matters.
 
bobblehead

bobblehead

Active member
Veteran
I think maybe vicious bee is asking how you would calculate the size of your vertical garden... like maybe he thinks are rooms are ridiculously big? If not, then you're just trolling... try speaking in plain english, b/c trying to sound smart is really just pissing us off. You're not fooling anyone.

One 1k lamp throws light about 3ft, 600w about 18"... So I try to keep all my plants within 18" of my lamps. They are all receiving equal light that way. The room doesn't just continue to magically expand... nor can it be too small, b/c then you're wasting light. The plants can only metabolize so much w/o other enhancements.
 
Marlo

Marlo

Seedsweeper
ICMag Donor
Veteran
vicious bee said:
I understand it perfectly.
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I don't think you do VB.

The advantages to growing vert are obvious imo. The questions you're asking lead me to believe you don't understand some basic concepts of growing.

It really is as simple as it seems.





MARLO
 
D

DHF

I pray for your deliverance VB.......Go buy a digital light meter and you`ll learn ALL you needta know bout why vertical bulbs are more efficient than air-cooled hoods......and.....you`ll also learn of the diminishing lumen effect on a plant the further away from ANY bulb it gets , be it vertical bare bulb sideways , or horizontal on a flat grow with air-cooled reflectors.....

Ask yourself this question..........Where is there more sq ftg/surface area in ANY room........the walls...4 times the amount of surface area compared to the floor ok ?......and yas can use the floor as well for that many more plants and increased yields at end of cycle......

A room 8 x 8 x 8 has 64 sq ft on the floor........it has 256 sq ft on the walls........more sq ftg/area provides for more plants exposed to 360 degrees of bare bulbs , and as long as environmental control is taken care of , there is not a more efficient system out there once dialed..........but......

Flat grows with air-cooled hoods runnin SOG tables are babyshit simple with crazy increased plant numbers and by far outyield most setups from rooted cut/no veg and crops per yr , including most vertical setups IME.....

Vertical setups allow the money spent on bullshit reflectors that store heat and eminate it back into the rooms to be done away with and up the a/c and airflow FTW , but SOG tables rule in as far as ease and expense goes as long as yas can keep up the clone factory ta feed the beast........

Trying to be diplomatic over here since it seems you`re not wrappin your head round this or just bullshit trolling , so I reserve the right to change my opinion real soon..........

Now......you were saying ?........DHF......:ying:
 
vicious bee

vicious bee

Member
Not trolling I promise. I finally talked to a buddy of mine on another board and he said his yield was maybe 10% better. This for me is not worth the change. I looked up the attenuation of light in the atmosphere and most of the links were for astronomers. It's not worth the effort to follow through on that. The loss of light is minimal due to the atmosphere. So I won't. You folks have used many examples to get me to understand. Here's one I came up with to explain what I'm saying. Let's say you have a light and a 10" square piece of cardboard. The board is one foot away from the light. You measure the total amount of light that falls on the cardboard. Then you move the cardboard to 3 feet away. At the same time you increase the size of the cardboard's size by the same r squared law. The total amount of light on the cardboard will be very close to the same. It may be diminished in intensity at any "say square inch" but the total amount of light will be the same if you add up all the light hitting the larger board. What I'm trying to get at, is it a big difference lighting plants vertically? Do plants grow faster due to the light hitting them to the side as opposed to the top? I don't believe vertical to get more square footage has any meaning. More square feet means more plants to cover the area. I can do this horizontally. Unless you believe light is destroyed by traveling say 3 feet as opposed to 1 foot. I don't believe this.
I'm not trying to dispute growing vertical as being better. I believe it is. We are in agreement on this. I wish to understand HOW much better. If it is not a lot better logistical problems make it not feasible for me. If it is WAY better I might could do something to make it work.
Also need to add I'm not trying to be a smart ass just trying to be precise. If you knew me you wouldn't think I'm a smart ass. I'm just an average guy.
 
wisco61

wisco61

Member
vicious bee said:
Unless you believe light is destroyed by traveling say 3 feet as opposed to 1 foot. I don't believe this.
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I also believe the world is round, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and that mass cannot be created/destroyed. I also don't believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Oh btw, from this link https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=127881

A 1000 watt light at 1 foot = 44,563 lumens
A 1000 watt light at 3 feet = 4,951 lumens

Is that enough loss for you?

And no, 4000 lumens spread out over a 3'x3' area is not going to give you the same growth as 44,000 lumens over a 1'x1' area. The lumens are too low at the distance of 3' to really do anything.
 
johnny butt

johnny butt

Member
Everyone always talks about the inverse square law when it comes to light and losing intensity...

The inverse square law works wonderfully in a vacuum..

Go out into the real world with dust and impurities in the air, and any extra traveling that light has to do is going to knock down the intensity. Especially when it is bounced off a hunk of metal we like to call reflectors... Everything from atoms to dust are trying to steal our light before it gets to the ladies...

Setting up a vert grow is just like setting up the horizontal bulbs. You have to find the sweet spot, and can't grow 3" from the bulb, just like it's inefficient to grow 4' from the bulb. Ya it's a different grow method, but you still need to use your brain....
 
Maj.Cottonmouth

Maj.Cottonmouth

We are Farmers
Veteran
redspaghetti said:
Second run ( current )

picture.php



Vertical all day everyday baby, if you're not getting the yield with vert, you're doing something wrong ;)

cheers,
red.
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Love that pic red, it looks like the definition of efficient to me
 
MyGreenToe

MyGreenToe

Member
statusquo said:
This is an epic thread just wanted to thank the OP and give it a bump!
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Thanks mate!

I've been obsessed with verts since the first time I saw one of Heath Robinson's creations.

I finally built a small one myself, and just placed plants in it as of last night. Here it is:
picture.php


It's a 6 site RDWC built into a 4x4 tent, and lit by a single 600w HPS. The plants are critical mass I started from seed. Can't wait to see how she does! There are still a few things to do before it gets overgrown, but it's runnin like a champ thus far! Wish me luck!

Keep it Green
MGT
 
D

DHF

Been thinkin boutchas MGT.......Hope all`s been well witchas....

Now....where`s the drains on them buckets that run back to the rez and pump back thru the wall to the tops we`re lookin at.......

Plants look healthy Bro......Handle it.......Lovin the manifold with the uniseals........

Peace....DHF......:ying:........
 
E

early4surely

Member
Highdy Ho to All,

Great thread, suggest we sticky this one straight away.:dance013::tiphat:

Could you please enlighten me on the benefits of multiple levels of plants vs. just one level, purely in terms of yield (not considering time)? Any insights much appreciated, for real :thank you:

Tag.......
Earl
 
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