Cool fresh outside air flowed into the rooms through a finely screened vent located near the floor. On the opposite end of the room, hot moist air was expelled by a large vent fan located near the ceiling. The large vent fans were attached to a humidistat/thermostat to control the climate 24 hours a day. Oscillating circulation fans stirred the air in the rooms. You could see virtually every leaf on each plant fluttering in the man-made breeze.

Buds are packed together like sardines in this flowering garden.

Snowy white bud packed with hair-like pistils is several weeks from harvest.

The water, nutrients, growing medium

The “high-tech” grow operation was literally the hottest thing in town, after all they invested more than $65,000 (USD) setting up 300 square feet of actual growing space. That’s a chunk of change. Each square foot of grow area cost more than $215 to set up before a single clone was moved in!

Two adjacent 450-square-foot rooms measuring 15 x 30 feet each provide a total area of 900 square feet of possible growing area. The low basement ceiling was 7 feet above the floor. The total cubic footage of both rooms was 6,300 (900 x 7 = 6,300), more than enough to grow a lot of dope.

Each 450-square-foot room contained three 5 x 10-foot bottom flow hydroponic systems for a total of 150 square feet of actual growing area (5 x 10 x 3 = 150). As you can see there are 200 square feet in each ‘high-tech” room that are not being used to grow plants. The growers called their systems NFT (nutrient film technique), but they had forgotten to install the capillary matting (film) crucial to the flow and uptake of nutrient solution.

Each 5 x 10-foot hydroponic setup is serviced by a 100-liter (26-gallon) reservoir. Twice a week the growers drain the reservoirs and mix new nutrient solution in a 200-liter barrel. They pump the new nutrients into each of the six reservoirs. Nutrient solution is not replenished with plain water. The week of my visit, they drained less than 10 liters (2.6 gallons) from most reservoirs! If all the nutrient solution is used, each of the 72 plants receive less than one pint of water per day! This does not account for natural evaporation when water is sitting in gutters. Check out the photographs showing salt buildup on containers and in the reservoir. The salt buildup was never scrubbed out when the nutrient solution was changed. The salt buildup keeps most nutrients from being absorbed, which further compounds problems.

The hydroponic systems were homemade from residential roof gutters. The nutrient solution does not flow evenly through the gutters. Some roots receive much nutrient solution, other some roots receive none! The tops of the gutters are white, which lets light shine through causing algae to grow. The gutters remain much too hot. Warm water holds a fraction of necessary oxygen that is held by cool water. Even if the nutrient were able to be absorbed via osmoses by plants, there is not enough oxygen in warm water to allow adequate absorption. The warm solution also promotes root rot.

I asked the growers why the roots were brown and the plants sickly. The answer was all too familiar.

“If we changed the fertilizers and the strength of the solution, all this would change. The guys at the store say that we should run the nutrient solution about 1500 PPM instead of 1800”, said on e of the growers while the other shook his head in agreement.

Plants grew in a fast-draining soilless mix in the other three rooms on the tour. Pots ranged in size from 2 to 5 gallons. High quality soluble hydroponic fertilizer was mixed in a large reservoir. The growers used a half-inch diameter hose attached to a water wand to supply the dilute nutrient solution to each plant. They water each plant by hand as needed every day or two. They let at least 10 percent of the nutrient solution flow out the bottom of the containers to flush out excess nutrients.

“Why do you water so many plants by hand?” I asked one of the growers. “Isn’t it a lot more work?”

“Actually it’s less work in the end” said Scott. “Watering by hand gives me a chance to look at every plant every day. Some need more water, some less. Besides, if there are any problems with nutrients, mold or spider mites, I see it straight away”.

If one of the plants had a problem, it could be isolated and treated easily.

‘BC Big Bud’ is one of the heaviest yielding and easiest-to-grow plants.

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