Ok I've decided to "take the plunge" and build a small grow room. I dunno if I'd call it a "room" so much as a closet actually. I'm going to make it 4x4x8. I got some lumber for free- my neighbor is remodeling and ripped out several walls leaving me the true 2x4's. I've also aquired some 4x8 sheets of OSB (ossilated strand board: like plywood) I'm going to paint the interior of the room white but everyone seems to use flat white. I don't know why I can't use a glossy paint ro reflect more light. I think I'll build a shelf so I can do the STADIUM GROW style. and increase my space. I'm going to add pictures as I go along from beginning to end so stay tuned. I do however, have a few questions that I've generated from research. 1. Can I use semi gloss, gloss, or enamel paint to reflect more light? (seems like a good idea) 2. I plan to use white 5 gallon buckets with drainage holes drilled into them. I used them all summer for tomatoes and other stuff. I've sanitized the buckets, can I put two plants per bucket? 3. I really want to do this as cheap as possible and as stealth as possible. I'm putting the room in a basement. I'm in a 4 unit bldg. Most of the neighbors in this place toke up, but I still want to be as quiet as I can about it. This generates the following ideas: A. Can I use a normal house fan to exaust the room? B. Does my exhaust fan need to be on all the time, or can I have it on only when the lights are on? C. Instead of buying a charcoal type filter for scent, could I just buy a length of dryer vent hose and stuff the end with broken charcoal and fabric softeners? 4. I want to do this as chemical free as possible, but is using "Miracle Grow" a good idea? If so, what NPK%'s do I want? 5. I have a pretty green thumb so I'm pretty confident I can do this, and this site is a pretty large help; kind of like a reference desk actually. I am more interested in Indica type strands as they help aleviate my back problems and seem to be shorter plants, more compact, and easier to grow. I saw it suggested that 'Northern Lights' from this site (I think) is a good variety to begin with but it's out of stock. Would anyone be able to suggest a fine Indy that packs a punch and is good for a stealth grow? 6. Like I stated earlier, I will post pictures of the build as I go. I'm going to start this evening. I spoke about this grow tomy wife, and even though she is not a smoker, she said it's ok as long as I'm totally cool and don't become a weed smoking zombie. However: She wants to know if I'd be willing to use some space in my room to propagate African Violets and some Ivy plants. Is it a bad idea to have these other plants in a grow room that houses mostly MJ? 7. I can't determine what lighting I need to do this. I know I don't want to go over around 600-650 Watts (stealth ya know) is this going to be enough light for about 10 plants? (I say 10, but that's only if all 10 are female of a 10 seed packet.
what up man. im actually in the process of doing almost the same thing as you. im going to make a room thats 4x4x6, my only problem is that i have no clue on how to construct the room and im hoping you might be of assitance with this forum but anyways ill try to answer the questions i know. 1. Can I use semi gloss, gloss, or enamel paint to reflect more light? (seems like a good idea) i have no clue, i think im gonna go with mylar but if i paint ill prolly go with flat white. 2. I plan to use white 5 gallon buckets with drainage holes drilled into them. I used them all summer for tomatoes and other stuff. I've sanitized the buckets, can I put two plants per bucket? no, you want 1 plant per bucket so you dont get root binding but i have found out that 5 gallons is a good size to use per plant. 3. I really want to do this as cheap as possible and as stealth as possible. I'm putting the room in a basement. I'm in a 4 unit bldg. Most of the neighbors in this place toke up, but I still want to be as quiet as I can about it. This generates the following ideas: A. Can I use a normal house fan to exaust the room? just go to your local home depot and buy a inline duct fan B. Does my exhaust fan need to be on all the time, or can I have it on only when the lights are on? im not sure bout this one C. Instead of buying a charcoal type filter for scent, could I just buy a length of dryer vent hose and stuff the end with broken charcoal and fabric softeners? i dont know this one either but im gonna just build a carbon scrubber. they got info on making one for cheap at www.overgrow.com in the growfaq section 4. I want to do this as chemical free as possible, but is using "Miracle Grow" a good idea? If so, what NPK%'s do I want? stay away from mericle grow(from what i hear) start with reg soil from like walmart and then try to make your own. the people here will help you. im gonna try to get some organic stuff like foxfarm. 5. I have a pretty green thumb so I'm pretty confident I can do this, and this site is a pretty large help; kind of like a reference desk actually. I am more interested in Indica type strands as they help aleviate my back problems and seem to be shorter plants, more compact, and easier to grow. I saw it suggested that 'Northern Lights' from this site (I think) is a good variety to begin with but it's out of stock. Would anyone be able to suggest a fine Indy that packs a punch and is good for a stealth grow? i started with bagseed like 3 weeks ago and im gonna start my good seeds once my new room is up. i figure that the bagseed will be 6 weeks ahead of the good shit so i should learn from my mistakes in time. im starting with northern lights and ice. NL is supposed to be one of the best for a newbie so i went with that. i got it from www.nirvana-shop.com for like $25 and they ship fast and keep you up to date.(got mine today,stealth shipping was cool) www.drchronic.com sell nirvana seeds for like $18 a pack so i would also check them out but nirvana is excellent. 6. Like I stated earlier, I will post pictures of the build as I go. I'm going to start this evening. I spoke about this grow tomy wife, and even though she is not a smoker, she said it's ok as long as I'm totally cool and don't become a weed smoking zombie. However: She wants to know if I'd be willing to use some space in my room to propagate African Violets and some Ivy plants. Is it a bad idea to have these other plants in a grow room that houses mostly MJ? i dont know 7. I can't determine what lighting I need to do this. I know I don't want to go over around 600-650 Watts (stealth ya know) is this going to be enough light for about 10 plants? (I say 10, but that's only if all 10 are female of a 10 seed packet i bought a 430w hps for my room and i figure after i get males i should have 4 decent female(hopefully) and i think that is a decent wattage. i got 430 because of the extra spectrum which is great for both veg and flower. the one other thing you can do that i didnt think of is buy 2 250w which will cover more space evenly and give you great wattage but that one didnt have the extra spectrum for veg. either way hps is best but i hear that if you get a lot of cfls that works good to but everyone says hps is best so thats what i got. if you want some great deals for lights that are pretty affordable go to www.insidesun.com they got great deals and good service. ok well i got to say thanks to mister I GOT THE COTTONS for sharing a lot of knowledge with me, without him i would not be able to grow as good and help you with this forum GOOD LUCK-RU
what up man. im actually in the process of doing almost the same thing as you. im going to make a room thats 4x4x6, my only problem is that i have no clue on how to construct the room and im hoping you might be of assitance with this forum but anyways ill try to answer the questions i know Don't be intimidated by the thought of construction. Honestly, it's quite easy. I just started last night and most of my time was used gathering supplies. so I didn't get too far. I'm going to work some more this evening and then take pics so you can see the simplicity of this whole process. 1. you've already determined that your room will be 4x4x6 so that's easy enough. You need to build 3 walls that are 4' wide, and 6' tall. 2. Build another wall that has a door way in it. This again, is quite simple: let's say you want a 2' wide door. Build a wall that's 2' wide and then the 2' gap can be the doorway. I'm giving you the most simplistic approach to this and trying to describe it the best I can, but If I lose you, ask questions or look at pics to figure it out. 3. For each wall, you'll need a top plate and a sole plate. (top of the wall and bottom of the wall) So for three walls that's 6 pieces of 2x4 (or 2x3 to save $) 4. Normally, walls have studs 16" on center (16"oc) I'm doing my walls at 2'oc, which means three studs per wall. Start off laying out your top plate and sole plate 6 feet apart and nail (16d common spikes) the top plate into a 6' stud (at the very end of the top plate then do the other side. Now nail the sole plate into the bottom of the 2 studs you just attached to the top plate. Now, you need to aquare up the wall. measure from top left to bottom right (outter corners) and make sure that number matches the number you get when measuring in the opposite direction. Gently adjust the frame untill the two measurements match- you are then square and can go ahead and put your studs in the middle (16"oc or 2'oc) 5. I'm not sure how you're going to do the ceiling of the room though. Are you going to attach it to floor joists above the room or make your own ceiling? I can get away with my studs 2'oc because I'm not using drywall, I'm using 1/2" OSB which will lend strength. Also, the room is not going to have to pass code inspection. Imagine the phone call to the city: "Hello, I'd like to get a permit and request code inspection for my pot growing room."
cool this is going to be a great thread lets keep it going. im not going to ask any questions until i see the pics so i get a better understanding. ill be observing this thread daily so if you have any grow questions ill try to help you as much as possible and i think you should be able to help with my construction. im very pleased to meet you and hopefully everything works out great. cant wait to see the pics. ill talk to you soon-RU
Dude- I haven't forgotten ya, but I went to the Brewers/Astros game tonight and saw the Crew stomp som Roger Clemens ass!! I tried to take pics last night, but theposition of my grow room made it -very- difficult to shoot. I got one good shot sofar and you'll have it soon.
sounds great. hope you enjoyed the game. but anyways im not going to start building my room until like thursday so no need to rush. anyways what type of lights/strain/ventilation you going with??
I'm not an expert grower, but I'll try to help. Re: White Paint. I'm not sure if it matters much what kind of paint (glossy, flat, etc), as long as it's as white as possible (I've found a color called "Super White" that works well), because white paint works well due to it reflecting all the color spectrum, whereas other colors absorb some light and reflect some; white reflects almost all the light. You *can* use 2 plants in a 5 gallon bucket, but i don't recommend it. Your plants won't appreciate it much either and it will probably become more of a pain in the ass for you. As far as the smell and stuff goes, I grow in a closet in my apartment and I just have one of those charcol/ionizer air fliters going in my room for my "allergies", although in reality it's filtering the smell. But the smell isn't that strong and over the summer I found some weed plants growing outside my window anyway from someone else, so I don't think you have to worry about the smell for your apartment building. Probably. For the soil, there's a lot of "schools of thought" but generally you want it inert as possible (no ferts) and you want to mix your own fertilizer instead of using ones that are in the soil. The reason is that if you use soil that comes with it's own ferts sometimes you get "fertilizer burn" which is when your plant has too many nutrients for it to use and it starts to choke and die. Also with soil that has ferts, it can become hard to tell how much fert is still in the soil. *they* say you should have about 100 watts per plant, but I've grown with less. Since I'm sure all 10 of your seeds won't be female, 600 watts should be fine. Just make sure it's the right kind of light, do a search for "marijuana lighting" or something like that. HTH. Good luck.
Ru- OK here is the painfull discovery I have made: My pics I thought I had of the framing part of my project did not turn out properly. I thought I got the shot, but the battery was dead and I did not realize it. I've since moved well past the framing part of the project- I've enclosed the room, added the door, added the ceiling, and got the shelving framed out. I can't provide you with framing pics, but trust me- it's very very easy to do. Look at the post I have above and that pretty much sums it up. I will take pics of it tomorrow, but like I said, it's closed in now. I looked for some simple diagrams of interior wall framing but didn't have much luck. I'm sure if ya hit up the library you will be able to get a book with pics and very easy to follow directions. Basically, just stick to what I said above and if you have questions, I will help the best I can. I'd recommend adding some storage shelves between studs with some of your scrap lumber. I'd also recommend asking someone at the lumber desk of your local hardware store. Just tell them you are making a closet in your basement or something like that. Let me know when you start and how things are going.
4x4x8 = hard to have veg and flowering room. did u plan on just growing out from seed to harvest in the same room? if so, then get a few CF's and a 600w hps. cf's for veg then when they are about 8 inch tall, hit them with the HPS and slowly reduce the lighting until 12/12 and ur good to go. maybe 2 boxes would be better. one small one for veg and one large one for flower. 600w HPS is gonna need some sort of venting. and 6 plants are gonna smell and cause alot of humidity. hard to keep it stealth.
OK so those are some things to think about. I was just going to go from seed to harvest all in one shot, so that's ok there. Venting is planned for- I was going to use an exhaust fan that's mounted inside and then attached to a hose that runs into and around a cabinet and out. This'll sound odd, but what is cf's? HPS= High Pressure Sodium but I don't recall the other. Maybe I can still mask the scent of this project: I'm thinking that the exhaust fan will help a whole bunch, and maybe I could get some air freshners for the outside of the room.
Oh yeah, BTW- This being my first grow, is there even a way to veg and flower at the same time? I sort of am thinking that I'm going to keep one male and then pollenate lower flowers on one plant so I have seeds for next time around.
if your talking about lightong and the spectrums that are good for veg and flower veg=MH flower=HPS but there is this new light called agro. i bought a 430w son agro and the extra 30w is the spectrum needed for veg so i can do all my stuff in the same room.
im planning out what my grow room is gonna look like and i wanna make a shelf system but im not sure what type of lighting to use. i want to use son argo but im not sure how thats gonna work because i need the light to kind of go to the side to the shelves. what is the best light to use for a shelf system?
i am planning on growing soon trying to get as much info as possiable. my grow closet will have two or three plants and i've basicly got every thing planned out but i was wondering do i need ventalation? if so what is the most simple discret way also whats a good cheap way to get rid of the smell? i am going to use fluorecents to reduce heat(and cost). also what is the best dirt mix to use _____________________ smoke weed every day
^^^^^^^^^^^ Yes ventilation is essential. Unless you want limp damp plants, mould and a stench that makes cheech and chong smell like they dont toke up. EDIT: Cheap ventilation is something like a computer fan. Pick one up from a local PC store. Dont use a normal desk fan unless your room is big enough to have it in there with them. If you have it outside blowing in, then this will cause light to leak out and stunt your growth. Good soil to use is organic in early growth, as putting nutrients into young plants early on will kill them as they can't cope with it. Hope this helped.
i was sitting on my couch last night about two in the morning and all of the sudden it hit me THE SHOWER! there is already a fan, water ,drainage ,and a light fixture in the bathroom. the fan is small and i'm not sure if is enough CFM for three or four, five-foot plants. is there any adapter i could use in a light fixture as a plug for flouescents
^^^ I knew a guy who grew in his bathroom... Only problem is, if you need to use the shower, moving them in and out is a pain in the ass... Also, if your bathroom is too wet or moist, mould will appear, making for a disgusting tasting bud. Just have a think before you go ahead with it. at the end of the day, its your choice.