Topsy-turvy growing has been used on a number of other products. It’s more of a common practice with home gardening, but I’m wondering if there is a application and process to make it work with cannabis. You basically just invert the pot and the plant grows upside down. The image above shows an example, but keep in mind that the light source is above this plant. So, naturally, it’s growing towards the light.
The way I envision this for an indoor grow, is to have ballast lights flipped upwards, fertigation/hydroponic tubes running along at a higher elevation than the plants. Control valves and existing systems would help with controlling timing of nutrients.
The idea being that gravity is working to help the plant reach the light source. So, the plants invest less nutrients into structural elements and focus more on flowering. The downside is that if you are finding any secondary uses for your plant material, then you’ll have plant material with less integrity than you’re used to.
Plants exhibit gravitropism, differential growth due to gravity. Roots are most well understood and physically sense gravity with starch filled cell organs, called amyloplasts, that direct auxin for cell elongation toward gravity. I recall a grade school experiment where we sprouted seeds between 2 pieces of plastic and a little soil. We would then turn the container daily and made the root spiral.
Shoots are less we known, but have similar gravitropism that works in opposition to gravity. Light also has an affect on auxin direction, which is how plants track the sun and seem to bend toward light. Can light induced auxin direction outcompete gravity induced auxin direction? Personally, I doubt it…
I think the whole Topsy-Turvry device is poorly designed and ignores fundamental plant biology. I grew a tomato in one once, it was the worst tomato plant I had ever grown. Countering untold years of evolution seems like a fools errand, but at the same time, I can’t find anything specific enough to confirm that. If you have the tools and the time, give it a shot, if it works (light induced auxin > gravity induced auxin), I bet you could get a paper published. I think you would have your answer within 1 or 2 weeks.
To be honest, I thought autos were GMO’d for a while there. But now I understand their genetics & allow them into my garden (lol) (no-GMO!!).
I truly have no idea what to expect. I’ve read lower yields and lower measurements on cannabinoids etc. I’m really lucky in that I can grow, learn, and write about them while they grow but then I will be able to dry, trim, cure, and preserve the auto’s in Boveda as well and see if any differences exist there. Not likely any differences --we know what RH herbs like to be kept at.
This is the first time i’ve used auto-pH’ing nutes and I’m sold. I know others who adjust pH and I may have to look into that if I ever go with nutes that aren’t pH’ing. It’s a big deal as it is in our own bodies with our health.
Also, the yield measurements that get thrown around are oftentimes not accurate simply bc we all have different lights! Not to mention, I’ve actually read some people weigh stalks and all. I think 77 grams is the highest yield I’ve gotten and likely because I was using a 400 watt light. Who knows!
Definitely! And this is my first time doing hydroponics. It’s a brand new unit that is sold for vegetable growing. There are five spots that you can grow out of. Believing these would be smaller plants, I decided to grow 4 of them in there. Honestly, I think the big OG on the top left would have taken up the entire thing had I known.
I just added a net to try to separate them a bit. Last night I also removed a few of the large fan leaves to give more penetration room etc. I hope that’s ok. I’ve read not to defoliate much.
My team team and I have dedicated a few hundred square feet for testing with Autos. In my experience (college delinquency) they are very unforgiving when it comes to nutrient uptake and PH levels. It’s very easy to burn these little ladies up. However, with dialing back the nutrients early on (1/4 strength in veg never exceeding 75-150ppm(5.7-6.2 ph)) and with very careful LST’ing early on, highly desirable results can be achieved. Quickly.
Everything of course comes back to genetics. Some breeders have seemed to really nail the Ruderalis down and over the years some have managed to develop more resilient and LARGER strains of Autos. I have a couple preferred breeders when toying around with Autos and I encourage anyone who’s interested to do your research before buying a bean pack off of ole Joe from around the way.
My team will be experimenting with these on a commercial scale to figure out what can be achieved with extracts. Also, with the lower thc levels we figured these would be a perfect entry level product for those patients that’ve never tried cannabis. I’ll be sure to update Gnet in a few months with the results. Bless…
As mentioned before, this one really got away on me. The big one is the HSO OG Kush while the others are Dinafem genetics. I recently began re-watching Game of Thrones & have affectionately started calling the OG “Lady Brienne of Tarth”
I will hold back on the nutes on the next hydro grow. The tips are all burnt now so I think I over did it.
However, the bloom is in full swing and just from yesterday to today the colas are thickening. So, this first grow was all schooling and hopefully some success.
I’ve also started another OG Kush in soil to see how she does. At 27 days old she showed her first white hair today. Crazy!!! But I was able to top her at about 14 days so this one is going to be awesome. One error is I started her in a smaller pot & was thinking of re-planting her tonight. I hesitate bc I read that they can be fussy to transplant as well.
I wondered if this is what you meant! Do you know how/where I see this being useful? In apartment grows where space is very limited. I have two tents going now but it’s all about floor space. These topsy turvy plants could be hung around the sides of the tent and possibly moved up as you raise the light.
Look im not a fan of autos. Lets be real here. if they yeild 2-3 oz your lucky. Autos are not for largish grows. they are great for persons who need to be lowkey. or persons new to growing cannabis.
The one thing i like is turn around time. I have seen some heavy yielders aswell. I mean yeah they are cool. but i dont grow them. as i like to control when its time to flip. they dont like transplants, burn easy, less forgiving, easy stressed. ill stick to my photos… Domt even get me started on FEMS
We all have our own way of doing things, and that’s one of the many fascinating aspects of growing. Autos surely are finding their way into grow culture and are great for all the reasons @Dianna.Donnelly mentioned. For those of us growers who are die-hard photoperiod growers like @MK3_Pharms and myself, I think relinquishing the control we have with initiating flowering at our discretion is very difficult.
After close to 20 years of growing, I must admit I have very little experience growing autos. What are growers’ favorite strains? What are the heavy yielders? Are there particularly potent strains that you might recommend? Who are your favorite breeders?
I was putting this out there for an understanding if this was even a viable way to grow cannabis and to see if it’s viable in an indoor grow where floor space is probably already used up/allotted.
Judging by the lack of response and interest, I think you nailed it. Apartment grows and independents who want to tinker are the likely users, but this method wouldn’t fit into any sort of commercial or true farming operation. Agreed?
Totally agree. Consider SqFt costs to run a facilty. Autos just dont pay the bills. Of course i do miss the days of Gorrilla growing in NorCal with 15ft tress. Man those were the days.
I’m learning a lot while I grow that’s for sure. Through this, Boveda will be able to show their readers & consumers how AF grow now as well. I have such a huge mixture in my tent at the moment: AF in hydro, AF in soil, clone of a FEM, and a few reg seeds as well. I look forward to correcting my many mistakes and trying again. But I won’t be turning away from the other strain types anytime soon
Yes I forgot to address that part as well to @MK3_Pharms. I recently had an overly successful cloning expedition. Well I had too many plants and not enough room so I let them veg. I’m writing about it now. So I totally get what you’re saying. WIth that vegging, I was able to flower 4 at a time and when those were harvested, 4 more were moved into the tent. When the last 4 went to flower, they were 22 weeks old from rooted cutting! I really want to experiment with this.
So yes, I totally agree and get what you’re saying about the flip control being something you’re unwilling to give up.
So on my personal grow. I will pop like 30 seeds Regs. 100% germ rate. let them all just veg for like 60 days. i will just tie them up like a bouqet. (loosly ofc. aroumd that time either i clone or start new beans. The tied plants now switch tents. for like 3 weeks-ish. (depends on clone or bean) (clone saves 45 days) (seed brings new genes) Then i flip and begin the three week transition. For fun sometimes i will reveg a girl who is at like days 14-28. the ability to do things like this just make photos more fun. that and over all yield.
