Vertical Goodness and Other Batshit Craziness

[Sativa Kid]

This is my personal curse; to find better WAYS to grow rather than hunting better strains. There are great breeders out there, talented chuckers too, I'd rather piggyback on their talents than compete.

Meanwhile, indoor gardening is in more dire need of a blowjob than any industry in history (apologies to Robin Williams, may he find the peace he never had in life) and there just aren't very many people out there trying to make those changes at the basic level, at least not relative to growers, breeders and distributors.

I aim to change that and maybe have a little fun along the way.

I've had fun with growing the last few years. I actually grew a bit in the early 70's but laugh at how much people know these days. In the 70's my friends thought I was the guy that knew about growing weed. That's because I read the available books at the time. They were about half wrong ad I still remember some of the lies I believed. There were probably a few people that knew something but I only knew the lies of the book. Genetics was not a hot topic and some of us believed that how you grew it made the biggest difference, WOW we were stupid then. I had one plant that I topped many times that was a super sweet and powerful sativa. I had no idea it was probably from a Thai Stick as one of my close buddies was a big dealer so we usually had access to Thai.

 

[ttystikk]

I've had fun with growing the last few years. I actually grew a bit in the early 70's but laugh at how much people know these days. In the 70's my friends thought I was the guy that knew about growing weed. That's because I read the available books at the time. They were about half wrong ad I still remember some of the lies I believed. There were probably a few people that knew something but I only knew the lies of the book. Genetics was not a hot topic and some of us believed that how you grew it made the biggest difference, WOW we were stupid then. I had one plant that I topped many times that was a super sweet and powerful sativa. I had no idea it was probably from a Thai Stick as one of my close buddies was a big dealer so we usually had access to Thai.

The lies and bullshit were thick back in the day, weren't they!

One of the biggest that still persists to this day is that somehow growing weed and farming are so different that the two can never work together- you know, the same mythology surrounding Deceptocrats and Republicons.

Anyway, indoor gardening is still very much in its infancy. Indoor growers started out by literally shinnying up lamp posts and stealing the fixtures from them. Lesson number one; mercury vapor lights don't grow weed (or anything else) worth a damn! What's hard for today's growers to understand is that happened in the 1970s and that's only been 50 years.

Fifty years vs arguably 20,000 years of learning to grow plants outdoors and people somehow think they've got all the answers?! Tell me another one!

I was one of the original founders of HLG, the LED light maker. Stepping away from that was not a decision I made willingly and it cost me at least a million dollars.

I still have lots of ideas, that's what this thread is for.

We have but merely scratched the surface of what's possible...

 

[Sativa Kid]

The lies and bullshit were thick back in the day, weren't they!

One of the biggest that still persists to this day is that somehow growing weed and farming are so different that the two can never work together- you know, the same mythology surrounding Deceptocrats and Republicons.

Anyway, indoor gardening is still very much in its infancy. Indoor growers started out by literally shinnying up lamp posts and stealing the fixtures from them. Lesson number one; mercury vapor lights don't grow weed (or anything else) worth a damn! What's hard for today's growers to understand is that happened in the 1970s and that's only been 50 years.

Fifty years vs arguably 20,000 years of learning to grow plants outdoors and people somehow think they've got all the answers?! Tell me another one!

I was one of the original founders of HLG, the LED light maker. Stepping away from that was not a decision I made willingly and it cost me at least a million dollars.

I still have lots of ideas, that's what this thread is for.

We have but merely scratched the surface of what's possible...

I have been involved in neat tech stuff in my work life before retiring but only at the admirer state when it comes to growing weed. I've never been afraid to think out of the box so I like to follow doers like yourself. Some people can only follow other peoples opinions and some people are not afraid to go beyond. I myself have had near misses with lot$ of ca$h in my younger life because of previous designs and/or inventions but was smart enough to walk away. I'm retired without riches but enough to live and that was my goal anyways. In my case one invention had a patent issue that was going to require lots of lawyers expenses and the other design that was going to own me. It was going to take all my time for many years. I let prayer guide my heart on big issues like that so I have peace with being a limited income retiree. Some people are drastically changed by big success, I may have really become a smuck! Or a extremely selfish person! Or something even worse.

 

[ttystikk]

I have been involved in neat tech stuff in my work life before retiring but only at the admirer state when it comes to growing weed. I've never been afraid to think out of the box so I like to follow doers like yourself. Some people can only follow other peoples opinions and some people are not afraid to go beyond. I myself have had near misses with lot$ of ca$h in my younger life because of previous designs and/or inventions but was smart enough to walk away. I'm retired without riches but enough to live and that was my goal anyways. In my case one invention had a patent issue that was going to require lots of lawyers expenses and the other design that was going to own me. It was going to take all my time for many years. I let prayer guide my heart on big issues like that so I have peace with being a limited income retiree. Some people are drastically changed by big success, I may have really become a smuck! Or a extremely selfish person! Or something even worse.

Well, I have great news; I don't need money to be an asshole, I'm plenty good enough at that already!

But, you know, I'd sure like to try anyway...

 

[ttystikk]

What a fucking hassle THAT was; trying to trellis these plants from one side is a job I don't ever want to do again.

 

[Sativa Kid]

But when the buds line up like a beautiful Jamaican Girls hair it will have been all worth it.

 

[ttystikk]

But when the buds line up like a beautiful Jamaican Girls hair it will have been all worth it.

Well... funny you should say that because I'm known for some pretty unique approaches to growing. Stick around; you're about to see how I turn this whole ScrOG thing on its ear!

 

[ttystikk]

The Three Sisters I just trellised yesterday have already been changing their environment;

pH 6.4
EC 2.5
Water temp 72 (too warm!)
Air temp 74
RH 64%

Gotta add cold water and some acid.

 

[ttystikk]

First one on the veg trellis; this is an Ice Box Pie I got from a buddy, it seems very similar to Ice Cream Cake.

Anyway, I wanted to show one by itself in the "cassette" veg setup so y'all can see how this works. The plan is for them to get light from the top and sides to take advantage of phototropism and get them to fill out the panel:


It's not a sandwich; it's only clipped to the panel on the right. They are going to be trellised close together.

 

[ttystikk]

Typical root ball going into the cassette;

 

[ttystikk]

This is more representative of how far apart they are on the cassette:

 

[Deleted member 60]

I'm impressed that you are still at it! It's been about 10 years since I stopped running the vert/unshielded lights.

 

[Sativa Kid]

Does the sidelight increase the yield a lot more?

 

[ttystikk]

I'm impressed that you are still at it! It's been about 10 years since I stopped running the vert/unshielded lights.

I'm just stubborn, I guess...

I'd like to think I've made a few improvements over the years!

 

[ttystikk]

Does the sidelight increase the yield a lot more?

This is a way to stuff 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag; better yield per square foot of floor space, improved ease of access for working on the plants leads to less labor vs flatlander grows. It is not going to give better yield per Watt, although I've developed tech that does.

 

[Zaphod420]

Man you were not lying about the plug and play aspect of this style of growing, simple and BRILLIANT!
A few question if I may ttystikk.
1 - Once you fill a cassette in veg to you just eject it( ) from that station and then go plug it back in a Boom Bloom room?
2- Do you do anything special manifolds/pruning to get the plants worked into a cassette?
3 - What are the dimensions and what type of fencing are you using for the cassettes?

Cheers, Z.

 

[ttystikk]

Man you were not lying about the plug and play aspect of this style of growing, simple and BRILLIANT!
A few question if I may ttystikk.
1 - Once you fill a cassette in veg to you just eject it( ) from that station and then go plug it back in a Boom Bloom room?
2- Do you do anything special manifolds/pruning to get the plants worked into a cassette?
3 - What are the dimensions and what type of fencing are you using for the cassettes?

Cheers, Z.

1. Functionally, yes; now that the plant is trained onto the trellis panel, it's easy to move and you don't risk breaking branches nearly as much. One person grand the top, the other person gets the bottom and the root ball, and we just walk it into the bloom room, plunk it into place, hang the panel on hooks, use a few vine clips to attach it to its neighbor and DONE. I can have half a dozen plants out and replaced in 15 minutes.

2. I'm still working on optimal training techniques but the short answer is no. Other than encouraging the plant to be more two dimensional than three, there really isn't that much to it. I'll get into the details as this batch runs thru the system.

3. The panels were made from a 330' roll of 4"x4" sheep and goat fencing lol The fencing is 4' tall and I cut 6' lengths, flattened them out and hang them vertically. It's bendable but still holds its shape and 4" squares are small enough to train the plants but big enough to easily stick your hand through.

 

[Deleted member 60]

I'm just stubborn, I guess...

I'd like to think I've made a few improvements over the years!

The UC and the vert lights were certainly an experience/sight to behold. Definitely the biggest/best producing room I ever ran.

 

[ttystikk]

The UC and the vert lights were certainly an experience/sight to behold. Definitely the biggest/best producing room I ever ran.

I had a great room with HID lights and then later I had my best producing plant ever using LED even though the climate control was whack at the time.

If I ever get both at the same time...

 

[m4s73r]

My 1k watt vertical silo put in some big numbers. Back then the talk was always 1g/watt with HPS. I crushed that regularly.