I've been growing for 30 years or so and have tried many ways of doing it and I feel stupid for never thinking about this method.
Ever since I read this thread I've thought of nothing else day and night. In my view there is no method that is better than this idea and I will be building this set up very soon. No moving parts, no lamp shades which rob light and 100% usable grow space.
You deserve thanks and a gold star! I'll be keeping my eye on this thread and hope to read more input.

I'm looking forward to your success! I was the same way as soon as I read that first article. It just made so much sense , that any other way just seemed like a waste of time.

GB, I'm sure you're tired of answering all these questions, but I have few for you. I was about to spend like $100 on a hood to add my old 400watt light to my current 600watt setup. But after looking things over, I can build a nice vert grow for the same cost and still use both lights.

I plan on getting a second 600watt light after this harvest to add in the vert grow. I want a single tier system, and will be using a 600watt and 400watt the first time around and 2 600watters from then on.

What do you think about a 6'x6'x6' cube for this setup? Do you think the 6' height is too much? I am thinking of having my shelf about 1' high, then my pots are also about 1' high, so this leaves my plants about 4' to grow up. Usually they finish at about 2 1/2' to 3'. Will I be wasting a lot of light from the "tip" of the bulbs? Does the light shine straight up and down very much? Would it be better to make it like 4'-5' high?

Also, I am going to be exhausting with a 747cfm fan, but it will be going through a carbon filter, so I will have closer to like 600cfm. Do you think this will be enough to keep 2 bare 600watt lights cool? I have two circulation fans as well.

I am going to harvest on Mon, and would like to get building ASAP after harvest. I have been hitting the 1/2-2/3 a gram per watt, but I want better! And I think this design will be the perfect way to do so.

Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.
Bob

Keep it 6' , and grow them a bit longer. If they get too tall , just bend the tops sideways , but you really have to fill floor to ceiling to realize the full potential of this method. Make sure lower branches are trained down to the floor.

No light shines up , just some reflected. There is a cone of area below bulbs with little usable light relative to the sides of the bulbs. I think your fan should suffice , as long as you have an appropriate amount of passive intake to allow free air flow.

You're gonna be pleased!

Thanks a lot for the help GB. Your setup seems to yeild the best, and that is why I am looking to you for help.

I will be using my old 465cfm blower, which is my exhaust right now, as my intake fan, and my current 130cfm intake fan for another intake. That comes out to 595cfm which I think is pretty close to what my "filtered cfm" should be. If not I can always add some passive intakes.

I can't wait to get this thing set up. I have been thinking about it for a year, but I spent $170 on a reflector last time around instead of building a vert grow. This time I'm saying forget the reflectors, I'm going vert! All I am really looking for is to hit the LB. mark. And I'm thinking it should be pretty easy once I get that 2nd 600watter.

Thanks again GB.

Bob

Hello, I’ve been reading through this vertical growing thread with great interest. It's very encouraging to see that thread pop up as the first thread on the Grow Room. It says that people here are not afraid of trying something new.

Before I get started, I noticed a post in the thread that claimed that Arista (the manufacturer of the Coliseum) had gone out of business. Just to be clear, that is not the case at all. In fact, Tracy Ware of Arista would probably have a heart attack if she had read that.

I want to congratulate everybody on their vertical growing successes. I think that everybody here realizes that there is a true deficit of information out there for those who are tight on square feet, and who refuse to move somewhere out in the middle of nowhere to start up a warehouse. The vertical scene must at this early stage cooperate with one another, and over time establish centralized guides that are good enough that newcomers can start with vertical as their first system. This technique will evolve in places like this forum.

I currently write articles for High Times as a freelancer, and anybody who was at the 2008 San Francisco Cannabis Cup may have already met me. I’m also quite deep into a book on the subject of the Arista coliseum system. This book will show people how to design, create, clean and maintain coliseum systems in a manner that is both affordable and time efficient. It can take a very long time to become both proficient and effective with coliseums (and vertical systems, which share many of the same issues). In particular, it’s hard to know what to spend your upgrade money on. Some upgrades (<cough>aero</cough>) are more dead-ends than others (lumens and coverage). It’s very easy to spend a bunch of money and actually lower your yields as a consequence. Over time, however, the best strategy becomes apparent.

I don’t know if this thread is the right place to ask these questions, but I will try here first. I wanted to take a poll on some issues related to vertical growing ...

What is the general consensus on the better wattage for vertical growing: 1000 watt strings or 600 watt strings? One would think that 600 watts would be optimum for the tight spaces involved, but I keep hearing stories about people turning out yields in excess of 3 lbs per 1000 watts with the larger bulbs. Unless my sources are making mistakes, this does not appear to be possible with 600 watt strings. My tendency is to not believe anything that’s more than 3.5 lbs/1000 watts. If you know anybody who’s getting these hard-to-believe sorts of numbers, then we should talk. I've noticed in one grow foot candles at 16 - 18 inches for a 600 watt magnetic coil ballast light tube string on the order of 2700 ft-cd. And yet, yields should increase all the way up to 5500 foot candles. Assuming that those numbers are more the norm than the exception, it seems to me that 1000's are the way to go. But, I'd really like to hear others' thoughts on that, as some of the vertical grow distributors have been suggesting 600-watt systems.

Is it generally agreed upon that the buds should be exposed to light in vertical grows with regular (~2 week) removal of obstructing fan leaves? This used to be a contentious issue, but it looks to me that peoples' opinions depend almost entirely upon how crowded their plants are ...

On what schedule do people generally flush for Sunshine Mix #4 type mediums? Do people avoid mid-flower flushes in the absence of apparent nutrient toxicity?

I noticed some people in the vertical thread talking about the difficulty of generating the clones required for the coli’s, and I wanted to ask if anybody else has resorted to tissue culture for the generation of their coliseum clones? I strongly recommend Bill Graham’s Super Starts Tissue Culture kit, which will allow you to completely eliminate your mother plants (www.planttc.com). The thing about tissue culture is, first of all, it takes up far less footprint than mother plants. To give you a feel for the difference, Bill Graham and a crew of two generated 650,000 clones over the course of 8 months in just 3 small bedrooms (I'll be writing an article about this technique in HT that should appear sometime in 2009). But, more than that, what I'm currently reading about tissue culture is that it generates FAR higher quality plants. In particular, the resulting clones are known for their extreme compact nature -- which screams high yield potential in a coliseum. Quoting Bill Graham ...

"Tip cuttings from donor plants for tissue culture are small enough to have grown ahead of any pursuing disease that may exist within them. Diseases can't keep up with the tip growth, but may exist several inches down where traditional cuttings are taken. Viruses and bacteria in the vascular tissues can't keep up with vigorous tip growth, the ideal explants. Surface diseases are removed in the cleansing process, and culturing demonstrates that disease and bugs have been eliminated. The best beginning for clean plants is disease-free starts."

Imagine that ... Even if you can't ever get rid of your spider mites in your grow room, you *CAN* once-and-for-all get rid of them in your clones!

Does anybody break their harvest into two sections – one for the bud that’s done and the second for the larf? The 2008 San Francisco Cannabis Cup winner did the same sort of thing, and I’ve seen additional mention of it here. Larf can definitely be a big problem with coliseums. What I'm cuious about with this is: how does this affect the final flush procedure? At all?

Does anybody who grows with the larger numbers in vertical grows use Bushmasters to limit the vertical plant height? I’m curious how necessary people perceive this product to be for properly running 300 plants in a coliseum? And, if you use it, what sort of precautions or validated procedure can you suggest? My understanding is that it is very easy to burn your plants ...

OK! great post!!

Yes I believe that this is the right thread to be asking those questions....;-)

1000 vs 600 all depends on yer space , eh? In my almost 8 x 8 , the 1000's (plus some 600's ) are working great. You really need maximum ventillation , and need to really know and monitor your room , especially as seasons change. Any narrower , and I'd say 600's would be right, but nothing beats a 1000 W Super HPS, if you can keep the temps down in the closest plants! A large out vent directly above the light string is crucial when trying to max your wattage.
I love to be able to keep it simple , no high tech , and still pull almost 3 per. Never hit that yet , and now that I'm running 2x1000 , and 2x 600 , I don't think I'll see it , but the yield is still high.
I am a firm believer of removing the fan leaves closest to the lights. Those buds are getting more than enough light already , and it's important to let it penetrate to those that are less fortunate. It is important though , to know which bud sites to remove , at about 10-14 days into flower.
I am using Sunshine #4 , with just a tad of dolomite lime added. I feed at anywhere from 900-1400 ppm. Generally it takes 3-4 days to dry completely. I do 2 waterings with food , and then 1 with just plain water. I always do a mid flower flush. I check runoff water to make sure it needs it , but always feel that it benefits.
I'm fascinated by tissue culture , and think I may have read an article in HT or CC many years ago. It seemed a bit too much for me , but I am a scientist at heart , so would embrace that if it was workable in a practical sense. How long from cut to rooted 6" clone?

I always harvest in 2 sections. Mostly from necessity , as I usually trim alone , and as a perfectionist , that usually meant 60 + hours of work. I have been flushing for 3 waterings by then , and just plain water as I harvest . Usually takes at least 7 days to accomplish , and I'm still seeing new bud growth on my last day (that was today).

Mr rooms take 32 plants , on 2 levels. I aim for maximum height , so want no vertical limiters. If they get too tall, usually just 1 or 2 of them, I just bend the top over a bit. The key to success , is full floor to ceiling. That means lower branches bent down right onto the floor. WOG ( wall of green) means that no light should be hitting anything but plant. Of course that's not 100 % possible , but something to aim for.

is there a blue print on here somewhere im on page 25+

im finished, did you only write out a blue print GB?

thanks for reading

NF~

Grow #2 already in progress,this time I did the lower shelf in 5 Gallons DWC/with individual air line etc... so 16 in total in water & 16 in soil on the top shelf. They are much bigger in water twice as big already & only 2 week of growing. Still Northernlight, I think I will add a 600w with my 3x1000w, where in the line-up do u put it?
I'm also trying 2 octogon at the same time to see the difference between the 2 system..I have 1 with M-39 and the other one with Blueberry Kush