thats way kool, I have been hoping someone would do a vertical grow journal. Could you give us some shots of how the whole thing works? like how the plants are secured, does it actually move like a Ferris wheel (is it chain driven or belts?), just how large is it, etc. That would be great info man, oh yeah what strain, lights, nutes, etc, would also get us on the same page as you are. Thanks and good luck on the grow!!
Hey Fly,
Thanks for dropping by. Here is a youtube video of an install -
YouTube - VolksGarden - IT shows you most of what you are asking about as far as size and drive. It does move similar to a Ferris wheel with the exception that the plants stay perpendicular to the light the whole time instead of remaining upright. One wheel is chain driven and the other three idle. There is a spring loaded wheel pressing down on the cylinder down onto the drive wheel. 4 foot diameter wheel, with a cool-tube glass light fixture at the center. I am running a 600 watt lamp, though you can run any lamp in it that will fit into the cool-tube.
I am using Botanicare's CNS (commercial nutrient system) 17 veg formula and their flower formula as well. I used to use all Canna nutrients but they are insanely expensive and weren't what I was looking for. I felt that the Canna food emphasized red hair growth and taste. Two things I don't care about very much. The CNS 17 (in my opinion) promotes size, resin, and hardness. On top of that the CNS is 1/4 the price and it is a simple one part formula unlike Canna. I keep the nutrient mixture light (800 PPM) for veg since they are new to the Volksgarden at that point. In flower in the first week I give them 1000 - 1200 ppms for the first week, after that 1500.
I am using plain tap water and ph adjusting it, but I am not a freak about my ph meter. I tend to fly blind a lot using my eyes as my main meter.
For this run - on top of the one part bloom food I have been adding a little silicate blast which helps strengthen the cell structure and is supposed to add a little weight to yield.
In the first week of flower I added Advanced Nutrient's Bud Blood. It is supposed to speed up flower formation. I was skeptical, especially after seeing the price - it was about 22 dollars for enough for one run. I must say it works. The flowers formed much faster than the last time. It may have taken a couple of days off
my finish time, which matters to me because rent is always due quicker than you think.
I am also adding Monster Bloom from grotek. I use 4 teaspoons per 5 gallons of water. I use it twice before harvest. Two weeks apart.
In week 3 I will start to add ChaChing by fox farms. This stuff really does bring out the resin and it is not too expensive. The strain I am running is Blackberry Kush. It is a 7 week indica strain that has a strong berry flavor, lots of crystals, and is the lowest yielder I have ever seen! Even lower than OG. Sigh. I
only ran her because it was the one mom I had that was big enough to spit out 40 clones. (I got the volksgarden more suddenly than expected. After the stock market crashed a friend of mine had lost a bundle and was looking for a better investment. After he saw my gardening skills and I told him about the VG - he bought it and will have doubled his investment in less than 6 months. No stock is going to do that for you.)
Cheers Maxx
