Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible

started to go a bit yellow and drop leaves. It was time to pull the pin on this caboose!
    The crop was harvested a few days later and hung to dry. In general, the smaller plants produced better quality buds than the larger plants. The yield was 8.4 pounds (3.8 kg) of very nice weed, and with that in hand, who was going to complain?
    Actually, the boys were very happy with their first result, as everything ran quite smoothly. They had a few problems with heat, but they learned a lot and gained the confidence (and the $) to expand their room to its full potential, 33 feet × 10 feet (10 × 3 m).
The Second Crop
    This was a time of change and serious improvement. Over the past three months, Nigel and Terry had visited the local hydro store on many occasions and had struck up a friendship with one of the owners who worked there. He had given them heaps of useful advice, and the boys realized that without his input, the first crop could have easily ended in failure.
    The storeowner (we’ll call him Bob) offered to help the boys design their new double-sized room, provided they purchase all their new equipment from him, of course. He insisted that the system they were currently running used too much power, generated too much heat, and was too labor-intensive to be successfully doubled in size and maintained by two guys already working full-time jobs. As usual, Bob was talking sense, so Nigel and Terry decided it was a safe bet to play it Bob’s way and part with the necessary cash. The total cost of Bob’s proposed improvements weighed in at USD $7552 (Eur $6000). Calculating at a rate of Eur $2200/kilo, the first crop paid for itself and more than half the expenses of the proposed expansion and improvements. Cool!
    Bob’s plan was to: 1. Double the length of the existing two benches and line the walls of the other half of the storage area with white laminated wood; 2. Set up an automatic watering system with a large reservoir to reduce manual labor; 3. Plant double the amount of clones per area to reduce time in vegetation by a week; 4. To achieve adequate air flow, install a new 5000 cu/hrfan for air extraction, and use their existing 3200 cu/hr fan for air intake; 5. Make use of current advancements in reflector technology to decrease the number of lights required–from 20 to 14–and consequently reduce the power usage and heat generation by the same ratio; 6. Bob also suggested ditching the pot idea in favor of cocopeat slabs. “Just supply the plants with a top-quality organic nutrient, and the garden will be state-of-the-art and organic.”
    The room was set up pretty much as Bob had planned. Look at the photo on page 162 to see an example. Five Danish-made plastic 6 foot 6 inch × 3 foot 3 inch (2 × 1 m) trays were loaded up with coco mats and placed on each 33 foot (10 m) long bench top. Each tray was installed with a 3-degree tilt to promote drainage. An elaborate system of drippers and drainage pipes was constructed and each bench was run as a separate entity with its own 400-liter reservoir and 6000 L/hr pump. Both pumps were timed to run x times a day for y minutes, and nutrient runoff was pumped out of the grow room and into the shower drain.
    The fans were installed placing the 5000 cu/hr fan high at one end of the room and the 3200 cu/hr fan down low at the other. The 5000 removed air via the vent in the upper central part of the room. The vent was box-shaped and permanently connected to the carbon filter. When the filter was not required, a cover on the under side of the box was removed, and air was drawn out through the exposed opening. The 3200 forced cool air through ductwork that ran along the floor under each bench. This air entered the room in four places under each bench, equally spaced along their length. Four pedestal fans were used to mix the air and push it in the general direction of the outlet vent.
    The room was lit using fourteen 600-watt lamps, each covering an area of 4 feet 8 inches × 3 feet 11 inches (1.43 × 1.2 m). This was achieved by using high-tech adjustable double-parabolic reflectors (Adjust-a-Wings). These flexible “wings” were highly reflective and could spread light evenly and broadly at a range of heights above the plants. They were rated to cover areas of 4 feet 11 inches × 4 feet 1 inch (1.5 × 1.25 m) and above with 600-watt lamps, so 4 feet 8 inches × 3 feet 11 inches (1.43 × 1.2 m) was within prescribed limits. Another lighting product was used in