Using T8 shop lights to the extreme

[MagicCannabus]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

It's actually my flower chamber. The veg chamber is right next to it, but you can't see it yet. I'll get newer, better pictures soon.

 

[MagicCannabus]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

Here is an update of my cabinet design. Blue arrows indicate airflow path.

Side View:

Top View:

I'm putting them in 8 inch Wal-Mart plastic pots with added drainage, but eventually they will be in auto-watering soil pots of my own design. That should not give me enough root space in a totally natural grow. I might like some advice on how to grow a plant that will be about 12" in diameter, and approximately 40" tall, solid from top to bottom. I want to pack the foliage in there. My plan right now is to FIM the seedling, take the resulting branches and LST them outward, FIM each of the resulting branches and then stop. Is that overkill? How many vertical stalks should I aim for? What is too dense and what is just right with so much side light? With this setup, I don't think there will be a shadow anywhere but below the pots and behinds the lights. How do I best maximize this space?

Actual grow space is about 2.1 square feet, so they will receive about 250W per square foot with all lamps running. I want a pillar of weed, dense from top to bottom. Eventually I want them on turntables so they will rotate for better lighting.

 

[MagicCannabus]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

Here is also a diagram of my desired plant profile:

 

[mistakeith1]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

Awesome. I like all the detailed planning.

Good plan on the plant growth...But I wonder how difficult it will be to train exactly to your specifications?

I think you said before but how many plants are going to be in the flower chamber?

 

[Herb Fellow]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

But I wonder how difficult it will be to train exactly to your specifications?

Would caging her like a tomato plant work?

 

[mistakeith1]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

Would caging her like a tomato plant work?

That actually sounds like a good idea....vertical scrog right?

Tying growth to spread out coverage...I think we're on to somethin here...

 

[Slowpuffer]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

I think that your plants are gonna stretch, and buds will not be as compact , but leafy bud. But this is only me opinion !! I'm rooting for your success, but i just don't know without top lights. Keep us posted as with your sucess !! I know that you'll have to ventilate the box, even if the heat buildup is minimal. How many plants are you planning on flowering ?? I will be monitoring your grow !! And good luck !!
I'm setting up a grow myself, and i'm looking at the new LED Lights. No one seems to know if they work . If they work, then it's a big advantage, but i got my doughts. They'll all lie and take your $$, so i'm waiting for someone to tell me that they actually had sucess blooming under LED. So far, no one has confirmed !! Except for the folks wanting to sell me the lights !!

 

[stratlogic]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

I'm a soil grower though and adding screens is a bitch if you want to still trim roots later.

How do you trim the roots, especially in soil? And what does it do? I am a hydro grower and never tried this but am curious about it now.

 

[MagicCannabus]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

Essentially a huge plant can grow in a party cup. Trimming the roots just gets rid of all the excess. Plants only need just enough root to uptake what those roots specifically come in contact with. They still keep growing anyway though because in nature they have to seek out more root space. In our closets, we're feeding and watering them, so they really don't actually NEED a lot of root at all. In soil this just means that you're riding the planter of excess roots and replacing them with fresh dirt. New fuel for growth. It also tricks the plant into thinking it's seeking out new space again which can trigger some growth hormones.

 

[stratlogic]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

Thanks MagicCannabus, that sounds interesting. I might have to try that with a hydro grow given the accessibility of the roots in that kind of setup.

Also, I would like to put my vote down for the V-SCROG! That would be awesome! And it sounds like a potential route to go with your unique setup.

 

[MagicCannabus]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

I'm thinking if I make a plywood ring that glues on to the top of each pot, and a plywood ring just like it that forms the base of something like a tall straight tomato cage, the two rings could be bolted together. Then when I need to trim roots, I can unbolt the top and bottom rings and just lower the pot gently releasing the root mass. Trim the root mass, put in new soil to replace the missing space exactly, but no more. It could be a slick way to do it? Is there any more simple idea than that? Am I missing something?

 

[MagicCannabus]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

Major updates!

Here's my desired plant profile updated somewhat, and downsized somewhat.

Here is a very rough concept of how I am going to train these plants.

Here is my ventilation with the covers off. You can sorta see the Stanley blower up in there...

Here is the ceiling of my chamber. I covered it with reflective foil tape. It seems very nearly as bright as Mylar, and definitely a lot better than plain aluminum foil.

Here is a shot of the veg chamber in action, as seen from the doorway, with the wall panel taken off.

Here's my seedlings! Colombian Trainwreck, and Purple Haze. I also have cuttings in the cloner and I am waiting for roots. I should have four strains in there, one of which is Purple Haze, so if these seedlings go male, I have backup. I should have 5, maybe 6 strains going soon if the clones take.

Just for the hell of it, here's a light intensity chart, which shows why my setup will rock so much. Essentially our standard measure of light source intensity(lumens) are measured at a standard distance of one foot. The actual foot candles at lamp are much higher. Since my total bulb space on 16x 48" T8 lamps is about 16.75 square feet, it is something like 965 times less intense than an HID with the same lumen output. But.... it's spread out and at no point in the cabinet do my plants ever get more than 8 inches from a source of light. They can't. Most parts of the plants will be within an inch or two of the tubes by the time I finish. I calculated that even on the surface of the tubes it will never exceed 20,000 foot-candles. The sunburn threshold for cannabis is 70,000 foot-candles, so I'm not going to get anywhere near that. I can grow right against those tubes. It's gonna be tight in there.

 

[Slowpuffer]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

I'm really rooting for your success. This would be so easy to set up. The one thing i'd recommend is pruning the plants after they start blooming. This will let all that vertical light into the buds. Florence bulbs will not penitrate like hps. Also is there room in there for a fan, for circulation. Those kids are gonna be growing toward the light, so it's gonna be interesting to see how tall they get. Again,' How sweet this will be for us all if this works. Means we could get rid of these big old hot lights. I personally have flowered under fl. bulbs, and got leafy bud and not a lot of it. But it's all good !! You are a pioneer my friend !!

 

[MagicCannabus]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

Thanks for the feedback! What I am planning is to grow the main body of the plant vertical, but the side shoots will be FIM'ed early on and then topped if that's not enough to control side growth. They'll start under lighting from the top, and then be moved to the side lighting. This will encourage the plant to grow the right way. I don't want to really encourage the side growth to grow outward until the plant is at least half as tall as I want it to be when it finishes. This will keep is nice and straight. Then when it's the right size I will put a baggie over the top of the plant and spray the whole thing with a bloom set spray containing kinetin, which is an artificial plant hormone that encourages branching. Once it begins to fill out I will move it into the flowering chamber and flood it with side light. This combined with the 12/12 light cycle should arrest vegetative growth and it should stretch up and out, but mostly out. I think this would be the best approach to try to reach the plant layout I desire.

 

[Racefan]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

fimming and topping will promote side growth, not control it. Good idea for light placement (mimicks the cage to a degree) but IMO you should introduce this light placement after the plant gets some height. Your losing a huge amount of lumens with the small plants and lights in the position they are in the pics and drawings.

 

[MagicCannabus]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

Definitely. I'm going to grow them skinny and about half the height I want them to finish at, then branch out the sides heavily right before they go into flower. At that point I do want to promote side growth. If I promote it before the end of veg, they will probably over grow their space. and get resin all over my tubes lol

 

[Lady Vadalon]

Re: Using T8 shop lights to the extreme.....

Definitely. I'm going to grow them skinny and about half the height I want them to finish at, then branch out the sides heavily right before they go into flower. At that point I do want to promote side growth. If I promote it before the end of veg, they will probably over grow their space. and get resin all over my tubes lol

This is very cool to know. I was getting some T8 lights today and putting them in my veg room then taking my T5 lights and adding them to my bloom room to angle down the sides as well. I am using LEDS on the top so, I'm not sure how the mix will work? But, I was wanting to get more light down the sides of the plants. Your set up is very similar to what I was wanting to do with the LEDs but the cost for them is expensive.

 

[drgreenthumb4]

Would t8s be more effiecent than cfls, for veging ,I have a hps for flowering

 

[Lady Vadalon]

Would t8s be more effiecent than cfls, for veging ,I have a hps for flowering

T'8 work great for veging. here are some old photos from one of my grows. I hope this helps. I did a mix on the T8s. Warm and cool lights.