• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

indoor Indoor vertical garden concept

Jeff H

Jeff H

I've been toying with the idea of trying a vertical garden to make better use of the space and lighting that I have. The 600watt bulb is expensive enough to use, I might as well get as much out of it as I can.
 
The concept: take the reflector off of my HID light and hang the bare bulb in the center of my room with mylar on all the walls and ceiling. then either shelving for the soil plants or a NFT for the lettuce and herbs on the back and two side walls. I think I could at least double the amount of plants in the room by better using the vertical space I am missing while using the reflector.
 
Here is a photo I found on the net. Obviously this guy is using a big NFT system which isn't really what I was thinking about for the peppers, but you can see the concept.
 
Vertical_Gardening_hydroponic_System.jpg


For those of you who haven't seen my little grow room in my glog, it is a small room in the basement about 4'6"x5' with a bench and a flood table at 36" off the floor. The bench and flood table would stay and I would just put a couple of rows of shelving around the room and take the reflector off of the light.
 
Anyone done something similar?
 
Brain Strain Pepper Head said:
Heck Yes I grow Vertical Stadium Grow in my basement with 4 bulbs 1000 watt. I built six stadiums and it can hold 2,500 plants. I, like you saw the potentail to fit 2-3 times more plants. I am starting my Glog next week when I am off.
 
IMG_20131201_133241_zpsb542498c.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Wow, this is nuts. What kind of yields do you get from all those indoor plants? Are pests a problem?
 
BSPH, Last year, my local hydro shop had a set-up similar to the pic I posted and I was interested about it then. I saw your picture in some other post you made a couple of weeks ago and it revived my thoughts on the concept.
 
My only real concern is the light. I'm guessing hanging the bare bulb in the center of my small room will be the best approach. The bulb wouldn't be more than 2' away from any plant in the room.
 
[SIZE=10.5pt]I have 4 1000 watt bare bulbs hanging and the only real problem is burning my head when I walk around them LOL I water before the lights come on with a hose and fertilizer dial spray attachment so no worries about hitting the lights with water.. I keep my lights on a 16 hour timer at night and it works great for heating up my floor boards in the rest of my house. It keeps temps about 72-76 in the basement and I have 4 big turbo fans for air. As far as pests go I don’t have any problems. I process banana peels, egg shells, and coffee grounds to help keep away any Aphids and for organic nutes and water fish nutes once a week.  [/SIZE]
 
I would think with a setup like that you would have a hard time keeping the bulb cool. I guess if you setup a fan above it maybe or below it and had air blowing on it constantly it could work. Otherwise your going to significantly decrease the life of your bulbs and those things aren't cheap. Just something to take into consideration.
 
sosl0w said:
I would think with a setup like that you would have a hard time keeping the bulb cool. I guess if you setup a fan above it maybe or below it and had air blowing on it constantly it could work. Otherwise your going to significantly decrease the life of your bulbs and those things aren't cheap. Just something to take into consideration.
Click to expand...
 
I have been growing like this for 3 years with the same set up. I have 4 turbo fans blowing so hard you couldn't light a match. I live in Colorado where HID bulbs are super cheap with all the now legal pot growers so the price of bulbs is cheap for me.
 
What about the power costs. Holy crap thats 4kw of power per hour. Something like this down in Australia would set you back about 500 on power bills. It looks like an awesome system though. I know someone who did something similar, nft channels on the side of a wall for herbs tomato and lettuce.
 
Sarge said:
What about the power costs. Holy crap thats 4kw of power per hour. Something like this down in Australia would set you back about 500 on power bills. It looks like an awesome system though. I know someone who did something similar, nft channels on the side of a wall for herbs tomato and lettuce.
Click to expand...
 
 
My electric bill runs an extra $85-$95 per month from these lights and fans running 16 hours a day. But I don't drink, smoke, or gamble and this is my only hobby so I think it's cheap enough.
 
Brain Strain Pepper Head said:
 
 
My electric bill runs an extra $85-$95 per month from these lights and fans running 16 hours a day. But I don't drink, smoke, or gamble and this is my only hobby so I think it's cheap enough.
Click to expand...
 
That's the best way to look at it.  Some people spend $100+ on booze every weekend, so <$100/month is a cheap hobby by comparison!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top