pumpkin2006

Hello all, most of you probably already know me, for good or worse. But that's not what today is all about. Today is about efficiency!

We all want to supply a head stash and enjoy growing marijuana. Its a passion for me and probably for the rest. Part of that passion is being creative and brining your ideas to live in an applicable manner. I want anyone who wants to participate to join in, in what I will consider the most efficient grow system out there.

This system will be efficient in the sense of: the amount of space used, the customization of the system for various areas, the ability to yield more with less light; thus reducing the costs of electricity and extra peripherals.

We've all probably seen systems like this:


And this:


And this:


Also we've seen these:


We are not going to be attempting to create what was pictured last. What we are, hopefully, going to design is a system that is quite similar to the first three.

First off, what makes these systems so efficient? We see that their is no reflector, hence their is more usable light. We see more plants in a much smaller area. We also see much less light used for more plants. All of these features scream efficiency. What is inefficient about these systems? On average they cost $1000 USD or more. Surely us handy-capable DIY'ers can create something similar if not better!

My first questions for the group are: Whats the proper diameter to space one of these at? Also, how tall should one be (although I do want this system to be customizable towards the smaller grower as well)? How many plant sites should there be? What kind of spacing on the plants? What kind of light needs should there be? Do we actually need a cool tube (seeing as they reduce, from what I've heard, up to 30% of the usable light)? What type of medium is best suited and what type of feed? DWC, Drip, Aero, NFT, E&F?

To understand how many plants we will need, we need to assume that this style of growing will not support "trees" so its likely that we will incorporate a SOG style of growing. If so, do we do 4 plants per square foot or 1?

To me this systems represent the future of growing. The only reason I don't see them in every grow journal is their price. If we can create a "reasonably" priced system that almost anyone, with the right supplies, can create, I think we will be contributing greatly to the growing community!

FishOn

those pics are enough to make me drool....

i like sgyh's design except maybe make it an NFT or perpetual waterfall style...fog seems finicky and difficult to get right...

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pumpkin2006

Ya I like sgyh's design as well. In no way am I saying its flawed. The question is: Is it optimal?

I really like the design of the one sitting in the hydrohut. Wanna know how much it costs?

FishOn

probably $1500+


i think the way to optimize sygh's is to use something besides fog...probably fit more plants in than in the stadium up there...

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pumpkin2006

its 2 grand.

So what kind of spacing are you saying? Please put it in square feet per plant.

FishOn

well the beauty of a vertical tube like that is that the square footatge it takes up as far as floor space is so small...howevermany plants you can fit in a tube and say 1.5 to 2 square feet per tube...

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pumpkin2006

So you are in favor of the stadium kind in the hydrohut, or the vertical columns?

FishOn

columns...

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pumpkin2006

Ok, so far you've told me that you like columns and space the plants at 2 for every foot or 2 for every 3 feet. I like that setup, so you would say almost no veg in this system?

Slo Rated Friend

Why is the last one so difficult?! I was just pondering something similar to that earlier this week at work...

The only advantage you loose is not being able to control the airflow. But we have all come up with a million ways to do this . .

Either way these things are amazing. Are those rockwool slabs attatched to the inside of Number 1?

EDIT: Perhaps if sgyh gets anywhere with his project we may have a vote for the fog also.
http://www.gardenscure.com/420/aerop...r-project.html