Vertical first attempt

[Aerohead]

HD,
This is a tough one, the only problem with vert is that it does require width and depth to take advantage of height. That said, 2X2 is really tough to vert grow in because a decent radius needs to be maintained around the bulbs to get the yield advantage of vert growing. For a 2'X2'X5' space, I would flat scrog a 250w with a very bushy strain and overkill the air circulation for best results...

 

[hippydan]

HD,
This is a tough one, the only problem with vert is that it does require width and depth to take advantage of height. That said, 2X2 is really tough to vert grow in because a decent radius needs to be maintained around the bulbs to get the yield advantage of vert growing. For a 2'X2'X5' space, I would flat scrog a 250w with a very bushy strain and overkill the air circulation for best results...

Yeah I came to realize this after I ordered all my gear. I'm still going to give it a go! The only things left to arrive are my pH/EC pens and the seeds. When everything gets here I'll start a grow journal! I really want to try a small scale vert as there aren't many around and I love the concept. Thanks for your thoughts! Looking forward to see how your frosty your doughnut gets!

 

[Aerohead]

Still gonna give it a go, Thats the attitude that wins in the end, lovin it. I have no doubt you can pull off a great vert grow in your space, just gonna be tight. That said, more power to ya, and best of luck with tha grow, lemme know if I can help, I will follow your lead with this micro vert.

 

[gardenbug]

Looking good.
Thought I would throw in some tips on things I've learned from doing a similar setup for anyone else that is going to try this method.
I've used all kinds of stones and usually go back to the cheap 6" blue ones. The flat round ones are nice as well. I use a 1/4" feed line and 3/4" drain, I wish I had gone bigger like you did. More water flow is better. For an air pump I like the pondmaster ap 100. Much quieter than the crappy hydro store "commercial" air pumps and moves massive air. I've had over 20 stones hooked to it and still needed to leave a line part way open. It does make a little bit of heat. The advice on running a fan on your air pump is a good idea. I haven't tried the GH pumps yet. I run a sterile res for my dwc and use h202. Always keep water temps between 60-68f. Under 60 the roots suffer and start to die, over 70 and you are asking for algae.
When you are stacking bulbs you do definitely want stretch. I've had great results with topping but only in early veg so they have time to recover. With the vert bulbs and a cage the stretch seems to be almost cut in half from normal. Run the bulbs high the first few weeks to get some stretch if you need it. Indica dominate strains need to be stacked as they don't stretch enough. A stretchy hybrid seems to work best.
Canopy management can be tricky in vert and you seem to be doing pretty good there. I clear any leafs on the inside of the circle to allow better penetration. I also strip the back lower sides of the plants and remove leaves in areas that are too dense. If it's too dense they can hold condensation, which leads to mold/mildew.
If possible try to setup so you can move your buckets closer or farther from the light. I used flexible supply and drain lines to do this.
Air lines are 1/4 line from the hardware store normally used for evaporative coolers. 50ft roll is like $10. Not as flexible as fish store stuff but works great and is black. I found the black petco stuff to be a pain to get onto my manifold and air stones.

 

[Aerohead]

Looking good.
Thought I would throw in some tips on things I've learned from doing a similar setup for anyone else that is going to try this method.
I've used all kinds of stones and usually go back to the cheap 6" blue ones. The flat round ones are nice as well. I use a 1/4" feed line and 3/4" drain, I wish I had gone bigger like you did. More water flow is better. For an air pump I like the pondmaster ap 100. Much quieter than the crappy hydro store "commercial" air pumps and moves massive air. I've had over 20 stones hooked to it and still needed to leave a line part way open. It does make a little bit of heat. The advice on running a fan on your air pump is a good idea. I haven't tried the GH pumps yet. I run a sterile res for my dwc and use h202. Always keep water temps between 60-68f. Under 60 the roots suffer and start to die, over 70 and you are asking for algae.
When you are stacking bulbs you do definitely want stretch. I've had great results with topping but only in early veg so they have time to recover. With the vert bulbs and a cage the stretch seems to be almost cut in half from normal. Run the bulbs high the first few weeks to get some stretch if you need it. Indica dominate strains need to be stacked as they don't stretch enough. A stretchy hybrid seems to work best.
Canopy management can be tricky in vert and you seem to be doing pretty good there. I clear any leafs on the inside of the circle to allow better penetration. I also strip the back lower sides of the plants and remove leaves in areas that are too dense. If it's too dense they can hold condensation, which leads to mold/mildew.
If possible try to setup so you can move your buckets closer or farther from the light. I used flexible supply and drain lines to do this.
Air lines are 1/4 line from the hardware store normally used for evaporative coolers. 50ft roll is like $10. Not as flexible as fish store stuff but works great and is black. I found the black petco stuff to be a pain to get onto my manifold and air stones.

Thanks gardenbug, your grow was most similar to mine on here so I value your input very much.. I also run a sterile res but h2o2 created clear slime for me on past grows so I use Clorox bleach (10 drops per gal) and it's rock solid. Yes, I have had better luck with the cheap air stones now that I have had a go round with them. I totally agree that canopy management is key in vert grows, the people that tried vert and didn't increase yield failed at this... I failed this grow regrding stretch but it still looks like it's going to end well. When are you going to start your next grow??

 

[gardenbug]

Thanks gardenbug, your grow was most similar to mine on here so I value your input very much.. I also run a sterile res but h2o2 created clear slime for me on past grows so I use Clorox bleach (10 drops per gal) and it's rock solid. Yes, I have had better luck with the cheap air stones now that I have had a go round with them. I totally agree that canopy management is key in vert grows, the people that tried vert and didn't increase yield failed at this... I failed this grow regrding stretch but it still looks like it's going to end well. When are you going to start your next grow??

Just posted up a new thread here in the vert forum for the next round. It's nice to have some others running similar setups. When I started doing it this way I couldn't find anyone else using dwc around bulbs, just a few soil growers back when PG was still around. I've heard bleach works but I've had no trouble with h2o2 so I haven't switched. On the runs where I did little pruning I ended up with more yield, but with pruning I get much better quality. I hate trimming popcorn so it's less work come trim time. Last time was less than an ounce of fluffy buds and I just tossed it into hash instead of trimming it up. I used to get several ounces of fluffy pain in the ass to trim stuff. It allows more light to the good buds by clearing things out. Stripping the bottoms helps with airflow and pests as well.
The flat round grey airstones mounted on a plastic piece are what I'm liking the most right now, although I'm using 6" long blue ones at the moment. I grabbed a few 4" round ones to try and will probably try some of the 10" ones next. They stay on the bottom better, the blue ones just end up getting consumed by the roots.

 

[Aerohead]

Got some lights out shots day 29 12/12






Here you can see the 400w is crankin with what started out as a 30" circle. Nice bud development and some of them are actually below the top of the buckets lol...

 

[mrktwiz]

Aerohead killing it as usual......WINNING!

 

[MyGreenToe]

Sick bro! My canopy is jealous of yours!

 

[whodare]

Sick bro! My canopy is jealous of yours!

mine too i got a few gaps in there, your shit areo is tight...

i, cant, compute...

 

[Aerohead]

Mrktwiz, lamo @ winning, Charlie Sheen rocks!! I don't care what trouble he has himself in commons like us could only be so lucky... I need to photoshop his face in my canopy but I sux at photoshop....


Thanks MGT, I have a feeling you will not have canopy envy on your next run, just a little more veg for ya...

Whodare, don't be silly, I would take your canopy over mine anytime, plus, I do have a gap in my canopy, look at 3 o'clock from the birds eye photo, there is a quarter sized blotch of panda film peeking through from the floor, disgusting!!

 

[labtec]

Damn Aerohead, you're killing it. Beautiful girls, killer setup. I think your canopy is amazing as well. You are going to get an awesome yield. I better give some more rep out so that I can give some more to ya.

 

[hippydan]

My gosh. Unreal. You're going to knock this one dead Aero! Can't wait to see the yield on this! Looking at the latest update I had a massive banana-grin and couldn't seem to get rid of it.

 

[mrktwiz]

I also would take Whodare's canopy over mine LOL

 

[pine boy]

Nice going Aerohead.

 

[RomulusUSA]

I haven't stopped by in a little bit - Awesome progress Aero! Keep up the awesome work!!

 

[dontstepongrass]

will b waiting to see yields on this...

keep up the good work.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

... I do have a gap in my canopy, look at 3 o'clock from the birds eye photo, there is a quarter sized blotch of panda film peeking through from the floor, disgusting!!

Yeah, was gonna give you some shit about that, brother. Slack as hell. j/k

Words escape atm. I wants me a setup like yours soooo bad. Call it weedis envy.

I'd like to do a hit of sid, get inside the donut and trip.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Judging from the pics you allowed enough stretch, IMO. Unless taller means more nodes like you'll get from close node varieties, extra stalk and stems just means more trash. Not unlike squashing a doughnut, it's still all there and just as tasty.

I rarely see em as busy yet that substantial. Just wait till you get GDP tweaked, oh my goodness.

 

[Scrogerman]

Your killin it bro, real nice job!