[quote name='"purplesage"']but a mechanical approach seems a bit more realistical.[/quote] Thanks for the response but do you think you can elaborate on the above
Yea what he said^^^ turning them by hand daily iMO helped spread the light around. IDK if a constant rotation would be better or not. You are not getting any MORE light just better coverage. If you spent that kinda dough to spin the plants. You might think about using the cash to hang a few more bulbs on a flipbox and have them rotate ever hour spread the light around that way. If this doesn't make sense I will elaborate. Peace
[quote name='"purplesage"']Yea what he said^^^ turning them by hand daily iMO helped spread the light around. IDK if a constant rotation would be better or not. You are not getting any MORE light just better coverage. If you spent that kinda dough to spin the plants. You might think about using the cash to hang a few more bulbs on a flipbox and have them rotate ever hour spread the light around that way. If this doesn't make sense I will elaborate. Peace[/quote] Totally understand what your saying. The only benefit of my method would be better air circulation on my plants caused had lots of problems like powdery mildew my last run
P.M. is a humidity problem. Just move more air. Don't water over leaves just water the soil. Use a top"MuLCH" I use 1" PERLITE ontop my soil.
Hang a HID vertically in the center with no reflector like your original idea. Array plants all the way around the bulb, but instead of having them point straight up figure a way to tilt them inwards, so that the tops are all facing the light. Don't rotate anything mechanically, just turn the plants by hand every couple of days.
[quote name='"toastybiz"']Hang a HID vertically in the center with no reflector like your original idea. Array plants all the way around the bulb, but instead of having them point straight up figure a way to tilt them inwards, so that the tops are all facing the light. Don't rotate anything mechanically, just turn the plants by hand every couple of days.[/quote] Thanks for the post. Reminds me of a coliseum setup. A reason I want to put the bulb on the sides and have them rotate is the hopes that I will have a full budding plant without a scrappy looking lower half so tilting them to the light wouldn't make much sense for that. Although I get where your coming from. I'm just trying to do something different. Also with the plants rotating all day I can get really good air circulation around the plants without a bunch of fans. I know that these problems have simpler solutions I just can't get this out of my head. I will probably just make one of these my first run to save money and allow me to get a comparison. If there's no difference or the plants looks worst I will scrap it.
Let's say that money was not a issue and you had all day everyday to tend to your setup and plants and your also a skilled handyman who loves to put things together and fix things. What would you say about this setup now?
If you have time for a high maintenance setup I would go with a combination of SCROG and some other advanced training methods. You don't want to be constantly fixing or building things for your grow - ideal is set and forget, but that can get pricey. When I have the money to invest in equipment for a lower maintenance grow I'll just grow really big plants, give them lots of space and let them grow as they please. I might do some trimming or what have you but ideally I'd like to be able to leave for a week or two and have everything continue to run as scheduled. I think your method might be good for set and forget, but again i think you're going to enjoy the building process more than you'll benefit from the yield increase.
If I attempted this I would have to know the weight of my 5 gal bucket full of completely saturated soil. Then I would build 4 individual circular rotating 12" diameter platforms with a weight rating of 1 1/2 - 2x my 5gal buckets weight. I would look at rotating bar stool tops for parts. Need a bearing that has a hollow center because you need to drive a rod through the center and down below the grow box. This is where all the gearing would be. So first make 12"+ platform. 1in plywood. Drill a hole in exact center place a 3/4"x 1foot lagg bolt with flat head then place washer followed by 1st bolt tighten all the way up. Then this will.stick through the floor on a platform so then you have a drive shaft. Do this x4 and then attach motor in center with a drive shaft. Then you can gear off this or I would steal some parts off old water pumps or buy you some chain and sprockets. Add 4 sprockets to center shaft 1-2 inches apart then you can drive the other shafts. I was high when I wrote this hope you follow... Smokin: Dabbn:
If you use the freewheeling sprocket from a bike tire this would give you a "clutch" in a way. That may help in a couple ways. Easy to find parts and chain is easy to size.
I recently had a similar idea. What I was thinking was to Make an appropriate sized railway style track with " cars" that ride on the track. On the cars would be your lazy Susan. On one wall, I'd place a piece of rubber in a spot close enough to the track that as the plant passes by, the rubber rubs the side of the pot, turning it. This may sound complex, but that was for descriptive purposes. Now instead of a "track" all you really need is a guide for wheels to follow. Maybe 2x4's on edge, screwed to the floor. The "cars" could be pieces of plywood with casters for wheels. Tie one to the next, so they follow each other. Now I haven't thought about the actual device that would provide the locomotion, but I really don't think that part is too hard, just situationally dependent. Good thinking and if you try something, be sure to tell everyone your results, good or bad. All knowledge is valuable.