Efficiency Attempt To Produce Higher Income

Bennyweed1

New Member
Hello all and welcome to what I considering my answer for economic hardship and downfall due to a system I feel is extremely flawed. I do this because I personally like knowing if something was to happen, I always have cultivation to get me through. Its my safety net and peace of mind. So knowing what we know now let me introduce my plans and intended methods....

First and for most, I will be trying to maximize efficiency by using the minimal to achieve maximums results. I will have one flower tent and one veg/mom/clone tent. The flower tent measure 8' L x 4'W x 6.5'H and the veg tent measures 5'x5'x6.5.

The flower tent will be a combination of a 600w vertical grow and a stationary horizontal grow using 3 -- 12gallon soil beds lit by three LED lights. My good hearted intentions are too craft a perpetual cycle which will give me a harvest every month using strains the take 8ish weeks to flower.

The veg tent will house a 25site areo clone machine, my soon to bonsai mommas and the vegging plants that will replace the monthly harvest. I am using T5s and T8s for my veg tent which won’t total more than 200watts.

This is my concept. Veg the plants for 4 weeks, then they go into the flower tent. Using two flower lights and spacing things 4 weeks apart will give me the monthly harvest I am after once everything is filled and running smoothly. It takes a while to get to that point when you take in account making moms, taking clones, vegging, and then flowering. So in about 3-4 months from now I will have everything filled and running and most importantly….giving me the profits Im after to make this worth it.

And the most important aspect of this grow is everything is and will be done organically. So let me show you my pictures. Please keep in mind I just moved into this home so everything is in disarray and not at all setup.

Moving on…………….to the method of my madness..


Here is some of my random equipment one accumulates from this lucrative hobby: A little bit of everything in there. Filters, fans, Lights, LEDs…ext….


And here is my mixing bay and soil ingredients center. My favorite spot, once again there is a little bit of everything here….2 different N/P bat guanos, worm castings, rock phosphates, gypsum, green sand, blood meal, bone meal, dololime, rice flour, Myco inoculates, kelp meal, alfalfa, azomite, food grade DE, two grades of perlite, and dry molasses. Think I covered it all…..?



My base soil…and usually I don’t buy any big brands in my mixes but during the winter months it is difficult to source good peat moss and soils.


My water tote with a float valve hooked up to my RO/DI filter (a must for AACT convenience in my opinion).


My newly bought veg tent. (It wasn’t shipped with corner brackets and had a slice in one of the sides. So the vendor is sending me a brand new one and letting me keep this tent!)


Here is the power draw of my 600w HPS which will be my vertical bare bulb. 567w at operating temp.


Here is the power consumption for each LED light that will light my 12 gallon soil beds. 498w total.


Here are those soil beds. Mixed about one week ago, gonna give them another 2 weeks before I plant in them. I am considering a live mulch but don’t have enough knowledge on the various clover covers to make a educated purchase of seeds so I will research when I have time. Each tote will have two plants in it.



Well that is It for now folks. I think I am going to order 6 fem seeds to grow and flower out to keep my busy while I create a mom and establish clones to kick off my perpetual grow. All in all I should be under 1500 total watts between both tents and all the subsystem equipment. That being said my goals and aspirations are 1 pound a month once I am at full operation.
 
Since I am trying to keep this grow as enconimcal and efficient as possible, I measured running Wattage and Amperage on all the devices I will be using and might possibly use.

It was a little project for me to do while I smoke one down.....:lot-o-toke:

So my VEG tent running (2) T8 4' 2bulb fixtures, one 2' 2bulb T5, one carbon filter, one fan, one areo pump: 198w @ 2.35A

One 600w HPS: 576w @ 5.87A

1 LED 120w: 170w @ 1.75A
1 LED 120w: 155w @ 1.58A
1 LED 120w: 142w @ 1.47A
1 LED 126w: 113w @ 1.16A

560CFM fan: 180w @ 1.83A

2 wall mount fans: 45w @ .58A

Total: 1578w @ 16.59A

All this equipment will be ran at 120v which will be on a 20A breaker. The constant load will be right around 83% which is a little high. I will probably divide power draw between two separate 20A breakers so I am well below 75% constant load.
 
Slow process but I cant wait until things are how I like them. Its probably been a good 6-7months since I had my last grow. Mainly because I had no place to set anything up. Anyway, Im really looking forward to this and these soil beds.

My white ditch clover seeds arrived today which are being used for a live mulch. I planted them in my soil beds and once it is established I will add the red worms..... The soil is probably really hot still. Its only been sitting for about 2 weeks and I blended these beds hot because the are going to be used for a long time.....

I setup the veg tent and and installed the lighting. I will have a hard time keeping this tent warm and I really dont want to use a space heater. Running one of those is like having another 600w HPS running. I want to use as little as much power as possible while cracking out some good weight.

Once I get the flower tent setup I will setup a circulating duct system between both tents so the heat of the bloom lamps can be distributed and used for heating both tents while tethering the main exhaust fan into a thermostat so I both tents can stay at a constant 75-78 degrees.

By doing so I wont have to use two separate carbon filters for each tent, just one. It will be more efficient which I like...:peace:

Anyway, that will be a while down the road because I wont have plants for that tent for a little bit.....damn....:dance013:
 
Well I scored some pretty nice moms from a buddy. Getting these moms pretty much knocks off 2 months of dead time growing my own and taking cuttings....I was able to pull 30 cuttings off one plant.

Strains are:
Sour Diesel
Jack Flash
Purple Kush
Pineapple Express

I replanted them all in smaller one gallon air pots. Take a look.

All the moms in their original pots.


Sour Diesel getting ready to be repotted


Why I like these type of air pots, you can literally open the pot up around the root mass.


Same plant after a root prune.


Same girl in her new home.


All four moms in their new pots.


All my fresh new cuttings.




All the extra mom leafege in the worm bin.


My soil beds dont look like much is happening...


Until you look closely and you can see the Clover starting to sprout.


Now I just have to wait for these cuts to take root and Ill be underway.....
 
Wow...really nice journal so far, and kick ass setup!! I'm in for this one for sure!!
 
Can I can some opinions please?

Would you rather run more 1 gallon potted plants around a vert. 600w or would you rather run less larger gallon potted plants? Granted the veg time would be lot less for the 1 gallon pots and longer for the larger ones.
 
This is going to be a kick ass grow. People you should really take some notes here, a live living mulch in a organic soil like this will BLOW YOUR MIND. You have discovered the secret Bennyweed!!!:thumb:

Thanks dude! I am super stoked about this cover mulch, its my first time running it indoors.

I plan on producing 18-20oz every month once I dial it in but ill have to step up to two 600w lights hung vertically. Just did my taxes and am getting a lot more back then I anticipated so I may buy a new ballast and scratch the LEDs all together but am unsure still. I have time to think about it.
 
I got some plants in my bloom tent....Well all my mothers. I cloned took two clones from each mom and will make moms out of each clone.

I need to get something in my bloom tent...I felt like I was only wasting time not doing so. Currently the light is on 18/9 though, flipping it on Sunday because I repotted all the moms in larger 3.5g air pots and wanted to give the roots time to spread out a little.

Mine while my 25 clones in a the Areo are just starting to pop little roots. It is taking an extremely long time, usually cloning takes me less then 14 days. I think the moms were several lacking some major nutrition. All the clones were a hard wood type stem, not that soft plant tissue of vigorously growing plants.

Anyway, everything is still looking good and on the right track. Once I get solid roots on the clones, I will be looking much better.

Flower tent


The Pure Power Plant (soon to be momma)


And the slow to root clones :(


Soil bins and clover are looking awesome and waiting for clones!
 
looking good man! What's your worm bin consist of? I've been wanting to build one of my own.

And to answer your question about the 1 gal pots, I'm currently running a vertical flower room with 1 gal air pots and nursery pots, and 2 gal nursery pots. I keep my moms in 3.4gal air pots. I've not harvested any of the 1 gal air pots yet, but they are already growing much bigger than than the 1 gal nursery pots. I typically get 15-20g per plant on 1 gal harvests in the nursery pots.. I'm hoping the air pots puts me closer to 1oz per plant. I usually flower a week or 2 after the little clones are planted.

The 2 gallon pots on the other hand I've found to be the ideal pot size if your setup calls for it.. I'm hoping the 1 gal air pots perform at the 2 gal nursery pot level because I get taller plants with thicker buds using 2 gallon pots. My yield is close to 2oz per plant in 2 gallon pots, but you need to veg for about 3 weeks.

I'd say try both and see what works best for you.

My vertical setup has 2 parts, the one side holds 18 1-2 gal pots, and the other side of the bulb I have trees growing in 2-3gal pots. The trees make up some nice weight, and give you something to play around with, while still yielding good harvests from the SOG 1 gallons.
 
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