i fancy a change can you help

[the happy chappie]

hi zandor
yes mate i have no probs working with my hands i also have my own workshop that has been designed to suit my disabilitys, i also have every tool for a carpenter, bricklayer, plasterer, decorator, plumber, as i used to be a proffessional builder before my disability, i look forword to your reply thanks and peace

[Torog]

Chappie is that all the information about what you have available to you. I will write up a plan for you that will increase your yield and the quality too using the same space. I understand you do not want to spend lots of money but some time there is no choice for max yield. Save the information and implement it over time. I think I remember you are in the UK right? So I have a better idea of what is available in your market area. I have mentored over 50 medical users in my area on growing indoors in the last 2 years alone. They are all growing great crops and often share their pride with me to show off their skills. Give me a few days and you will have something to read. I am happy to help you and anyone else they may benefit

Howdy Zandor,

I think it's great,that you've helped so many,to be able to grow their own medicine,and grow it well. Like Happy Chappie,I too,am disabled and seek to grow my own medicine..your helping him..is helping me-Thanx !

I am fairly knowledgable,in regards to indoor growing,but I feel that there's alot to learn,as well..I ain't too proud to learn more.

I was wondering,have you used or reccomend,the use of mychorrizal fungi ?

I have the unique opportunity,to be able to grow indoors and out,at the same time,I'm using a 1kwatt mh,and it seems that there's little difference between it and the Sun. All of my plants have been started outdoors,believe it or not,in an old wheelbarrow filled with dirt from outside,and I have brought them inside under the mh,and they love it,their internodal space is short,the stems are stout,and they seem just as happy-as being outside. I realise the danger of contaminating the growroom,but it doesn't seem to be occuring. I'm in Texas,and the grow season has just begun here. It seems that I could easily start my seeds outside,bring em indoors to give em the benefits of shorter internodal space and stout stems,then put them outside to finish out. Once I git some good females to clone from,it appears that I could harden the clones inside,then put them outdoors,it will save on electrical costs.

What say you ?

Have a good one !

[Zandor]

Hey Trog
Right now they are both about the same in terms of spectrum. I would think when they reached a little taller moving them would break the stock. You know shit happens but you may not have my luck. I do use Dr. Hornby's Piranha so yes I use mycorrhizal fungi for the full vegetation growth cycle and only for the first 2 weeks of flowering.

You may want to try a green house in Texas I think Harbor Freight Tools sells a cheep 8 x 10 size.

You are running the risk of major commendation but you know that already so just be careful. I grow 100% indoors over 9000 watts total there is no way I can grow outside here. I wish I could but that is not going to happen in my lifetime I feel. California is progressive but not that progressive. Not in the city anyway.

Chappie
Glad to here you are handy with tools so I will dig up more homemade ideas and even be more creative. Itâ??s easy of you have money but where is the fun in thatâ?¦lolâ?¦You may need to dig up a few bucks some of the electronics you will need cost about 500 bucks or so total. Then after you grow more in the same space you can sell a little to friends to but the rest of the equipment to grow even more. You see itâ??s a cycle you grow moreâ?¦.sell moreâ?¦.buy more equipment so you can grow even more. In fact you are helping the world economy with this logicâ?¦I do not grow for a living, I own a computer software company just to set the record straight and only do this as a hobby and because I love the challenge and reward too of growing the very best I can, just like the rest of you. Peace

[the happy chappie]

hello zandor
i look forword to those ideas, like torog i have a fairly good knowledge of indoor and outdoor growing, i also aint to proud to learn more, so any ideas that would give me a better harvest will be most welcome, i am coming up on harvest time now so its now decision time on what i grow next, i think i will use my white widow x northern lights, these i have not staberlised yet and i will have to start these from seed as i have no mothers, at least i will get the change of flavour, these are also my crosses, this time the mother was a the best plant from a pack northern lights special mix and the father was a very fast white widow that i selected from my own strain, i did smoke some of it last year and it was a nice smoke, it just took a little more time to finish thats all, i checked the price of the hash plant x kush seeds that you talked of and they was coming out at £90 uk pounds for 15 seeds that were not even feminised, eeeeeeek i thought i would give them a try when my budjet will stretch that far, hehehe i have hundreds of seeds here i will try these this time, i am not affraid to spend a little money on my growing, i must just do it a little at a time, .... but most importently i must keep the med qualitys of my plants ......... peace to you mate

[Zandor]

Well if you are good with tools then how aboutâ?¦.you go full hydro and do a screen of green method. Pick up a climate controller for temperature/humidity & Co2. Install Mylar in your grow area to increase side lighting to the canopy and increase bud size. Pick up a Co2 tank, timer and regulator to start but you really need a PPM controller for max efficiency (1500 ppm) and bud production. A home mister will handle the humidity in that small of an area. The controller will turn it on and off and maintain the required level of 70-80% during vegetation and lower it to 60% when you flower. Always keep the temperature between 72-80 F even if you need to use a portable AC unit. Temperature control is very important to maintain a stress free growing environment. Air needs to be provided to the lower part of the plants too not just the tops.

There are some other things too but in your small area I donâ??t think they will be a problem, but you still should exchange the air in your room twice a day minimum. I bet youâ??re now thinking how can I grow more in Hydro?

Well I will try my best to explain. If the whole area is square I mean 18â?� top 18â?� bottom and 7â?? top and 7â?? bottom then this works. If not just look at the area where it squares off and put up a back wall.


First you build a wood box holding tank that will fill from wall to wall 18â?� and is 36â?� long up to 40â?� long depending on how far back you can reach to work the plant. For the sake of argument I will use 36â?� here but just know you can play with the dimensions of course. You can install low caster wheels or use a heavy-duty 36â?� cabinet drawer roller. Just make sure you can push it in and pull it out with little effort. Here and I assume there you can purchase pond liner there too. Itâ??s thick plastic so you can use one whole piece to make the tub to hold the water. Run it over the top and down the side so you can staple it to keep it in place. Waterbed liner will work too about the same thing. Now you have how you are going to hold your water and change it so nextâ?¦..

Make sure you save enough liner to make 2 coverâ??s about 18â?� wide by 36â?� long.

You install 2x2x2 all the way round about 8â?� above the top of the holding tank you just built and installed.

Install one of the liner sheets at the back of the frame and let it hang into the holding tank itâ??s like a splashguard.

Making the deck lidâ?¦.
This is not a hard as it sounds. You need some marine plywood (if you canâ??t get any thatâ??s fine) ½â?� is ok to use. Now here we can purchase plastic tub sheets that are just flat sheets of plastic and again I assume you can find something like that there. The deck lid dimensions are only from wall to wall and 36â?� deep. You need to make a plastic sandwich with the plywood. You do that using contact glue once it dries you are good to start making your holes and plumbing. The ends just cover with glue and let it dry you can and should use plastic to make a full sandwich but you donâ??t really need to.

You can use 24 3â?� net pots in that area and they just hang through over the reservoir so when the dripâ?¦.drips it goes back in the reservoir and the capillary action will help to oxygenate the water.

You can use ½ â?? PVC and attach it to the deck lid on topside and just drill the ¼â?� drip fittings into the PVC and use a 90 to kick it into place. This way if you need to take a pot out you only need to deal with one feeding tube, just swing it out of the way and you are free to work. No emitters are needed they just clog up anyway and get in the way. Now I said you could use 3â?� net pots when you get those donâ??t forget to get the covers too. You can use them at the start and then later to help keep the waste from collecting on the grow rocks and light out too. If it were me building this I would put the PVC on the bottom and make a 1â?� standoff with PVC and just poke the ¼â?� tube through the top and then use the 90 and another little piece of tubing to swing it into place. You cap off the end of the PVC of course so the pressure builds up to feed all the tubes. By using a good power head you can use the diverter that is supplied to both circulate the nutrients around in the tub and feed the plants. Something like the Via Aqua 526 GPH. would work or the Rio Pumps 692 GPH. You can use a soft hose to connect to the PVC attached to the deck lid because you will be pulling out the holding tank to change the nutrients and clean it every 10 dayâ??s a few feet. You can use the same pump you feed the plants with to also drain the old nutrients into buckets for disposal. Wash out the holding thank with each water/nutrient change and use a flusher in between cycles and every 30 dayâ??s to flush the system and keep it clean. You place the second plastic sheet like the one you made in the back of the holding tank now you place it the front. It staples to the front of deck lid to cover the holding tank and keep light out.

About 24â?� above the deck lid install 2x2 to hold the screen this is just the holding frame so you only need 2 sides and the back firmly attached. Build a full frame to attach the chicken wire or I use 3x3 steel concert wire itâ??s stronger but most use chicken wire. Stretch it tight and use strong staples to keep it in place. One carriage bolt installed from the underside and acting like a stud bold on each of the 2 sides will hold the screen in place using a fender washer and wing nut. This way it can be removed until you need the screen so the light can get closer. Once the light is raised above the height of the screen you can then install it and should start the Flower cycle.

Thatâ??s about it, Mylar, Hydro drip 24/7, temperature and environment control along with Co2 will grow you better then 1.5 ounce per plant to 2 ounces per plant. Keep the canopy an even height by bending and tying down when you need to and crop them twice in the first 30-dayâ??s this will make them bushy and short. There is not much room for side growth so just keep the long shouts pointing to the light. The idea of this type of grow is short bushy and poke just the buds through the screen to maximize the lightâ??s effectiveness. After all you are only using top lighting so this is the best I can think of. Another thing is itâ??s a good idea if you have extra pond liner you line the sides from the bottom to the deck lid down into the holding tank. Just remember to put them back into place when you role in and out after each service to protect the walls.

I donâ??t have a working digital camera so I canâ??t show you pictures but if I can borrow one I can show you more detail.

I will be on and off over the next month or so. We are selling our house and moving. Itâ??s time to downsize with the kids grown and gone and get out of the city and move into the mountains. So lots to do around here but I will check back as often as I can.

[the happy chappie]

thanks so much zandor, i will deffinatley be changing my grow technics, it will take time and money so i will implement it a bit at a time, i all ready have some of the stuff mentioned, after reading your post i think i understand what you mean, yes photos would be handy, i dont know if i could do sea of green in this room, the room is quite high about 7ft 6 to 8ft but becourse the top 2ft 6 is above the door opening, this leaves about 6ft high of accsessable area, is hydro the grow in a tube method, i am not sure but i think i can get two tubes 7ft long side by side in there, and have the holding tanks with pump under under the tubes, what i dont know is how far apart have the plants got to be if grown like this, i understand they would have to be single stalk buds, i have a small room that i keep two mothers for cuttings or seedlings, but i will be losing this soon as like you my kids are growing up and need the cubard space, thanks again for your help and may i wish you all the best with your move, be luckey

[Zandor]

Well I was not talking about that. You could not reach the back of the room to tend to those plants and your existing light would not cover them either. I was just talking about expanding the same technique used in seek closets where you would grow lost of plants in a small area and the screen us used to train them. But thanks for the wishes and I will try to get pictures of some of the closets so you can have a better idea.

[the happy chappie]

hello zandor
thanks mate i look forword to your pics, sorry its taken a long time to get back but things have been hectic here, i actauly spent 7 hours yesterday trimming, i am interested in your ideas mate they seem very interesting, have you any ideas for a medicinal plant that would work well with this technique, thanks mate and peace

[bonker7]

hallo dude well done 4 geting best results in pots .nft is the wow! factor after that it will blow ur mind .try and get a look at a nft set up u will be buzzin.u might want 2 put a lightmover witjh ur 600hps .stay slippery

[the happy chappie]

hello bonker,
thanks mate, i have listend to zandor and everybody else who has advised me, i am about to make some big changes to my room, firstley i think i can increase the amount of plants i have in there, the base of my g/room is all ready lined with a pond liner and comes up the wall about 8 inches, my real prob is that the width of my room is around 17 inches,at the moment i can only get 6 big pots in there, if i were to make one big pot that was the intire lengh and width of the base so there was no wasted space in between pots then i recon i could get at least another 6 to 8 plants in there, my room is quite high about 7ft 6 of grow hight, so i could easily make the huge pot 18 inches deep even more if needed, that would give the plants excelent root growth space, sure they would be single stalk buds but they will have good space for roots,

Q... for zandor could i implement the wire mesh above this to increase the amount of bud still further, i am begining to think about a moving light track do you think it will make that much difference,
thanks again and peace to you