OK, I dedcided to make a thread more dedicated to the actual process itself rather than pure a adviec/suggestion thread. I'm going to take my old posts and copy/paste them here. There weren't many. This is the link so u can check out other people's replies. http://forum.grasscity.com/general-i...ggestions.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alrighty...after quite some time of talkin about doin it, it's finally coming into fruition. I'm going to start my first grow. But being a total NeWb...I'm pretty much just trying to not completely blow it. To demonstrate how serious I am..here is the list of stuff I went and bought today...though some of it can and probably will change as I alter my plans and return whatver I don't need to the store and pick up what I do need. I bought: 6- 26W CFL Bulbs (These will probably be changed...not sure though. But it does have to be a CFL Grow) Timer (for the lights) approx. 100 Sq. Ft Mylar 1 big bag of Fox Farm Ocean Forest 1 bottle Fox Farm Grow Big 1 PH/Light/Moisture tester 1 Fan for the space 1 Thermometer Not much, I know...buit it's a start. The rest pretty much hinges on a space problem I will be gettign to in a minute. The seeds I decided on will be Electric Fruit Punch from Highgrade. You can find it at this link http://www.highgrade-seeds.com/seedlist.html The plan is to (hopefully) take 3-4 plants to term in my closet. now I'm not sure If I will have room for these as I have never actually seen a full grown plant in person so I don't know how big they get. I don't mind the height though...it's the width of the plant I'm concerned about. Here are a couple pics of what I'm working with as far as space goes....it's not so big, unfortuantely (pardon the mess...I didn't feel like cleaning it all up..I just yanked everything out of the closet). And I will be removing the shelf Dimensions are about 90"H x 40"W x 19"D. Would this be enough space for the amount of plants I want??? My gut feeling says no...but you guys are the experts Maybe only 2? OK...now here the the issues I'm having with the space. Stealth is the name of the game here...I need to be able to hide it whenever I have visitors over. I was thinking of getting some sort of cabinet to fit in there. I was looking at something like this and sitcking it in the closet. Dimensions are 70"H x 34-3/5"W x 17-7/10"D....it would be tight but it should fit. How many plants do you think I would be able to fit in there? The depth and width concern me a little. Do you think I would be better off just using the closet how it is and not putting a cab in there??? I was thinking about this and it wouldn't a problem BUT....ventilation. How do I ventilate the closet?? I can't cut into the wall and cutting into the door would basically ruin the stealth aspect of things. I was thinking MAYBE I could take thick contractor trash bags and velcro tape fabricate a door I could roll up and down but again..ventilation. How would I do it?? I'm stumped. I have no problem leaving the actual closet door itself open cuz I'm just going to put a lock on my bedroom door anyways. Any suggestions? I'm open to all. Also, i was trying to decide (and it kinda hinges on what i choose to do with the space) what kind of containers to use. Should I use pots?If so, how big? again..the space could be an issue. I was looking into an Earthbox ( http://www.earthbox.com/ ) because my gf and I tend to go visit my parents for the weekend from friday to sunday. ANd this badboy is selfwatering, basically. But I don't know how many plants this would be able to hold. Sorry I'm a bit scatterbrained right now cuz I got so much information flowign through my poor brain just tryign to get this all figured out. I think once I figure out how I want to do the space up everyting will be downhill from there. I really appreciate any help you guys can offer. Any suggestions/ideas about anything (ANYTHING!) at all is entirely helpful in my actually getting this started. Sorry for being such a n00b. I'll probably edit this or just reply to it as I think of new things. Thanks!
Alright...I got my space set up (minus ventilation..that is coming) and figured I'd share the progress so far. I really wanted to be able to use the entire space inside due to the limited amount of space to begin with. You can see that I decided to build a false wall/door. I did it like this so I can still close the regualr door so it appears to be a normal closet if I have to. I just plan on keepin the bedroom door locked. Here's what i did. I took a large refrigerator box (because it's made with extremely heavy duty cardboard...easier to work with than wood for my purposes.) I Cut it to size and put it inside the closet and screwed it in secure. Then I cut out a smaller door into the cardboard and devised a high-tech Duct Tape "hinge". I put extensions on the outside of this new door so I could put Industrial Strength Velcro on it to use as a "stopper"/"latch" as you can see in the pics. Glue did not work in holding this on there so I took a bolt, nut, and two washers on each bolt and put one washer on teh insiade and one washer on the outside of the door and tightened it down. Works really good I lined the entire inside of the room with the mylar except the cieling cuz it's already white and I don't feel like going through the hassle of doing it. But if you guys happen to recommend that I do that..I will. I got inside the room and there are zero light leaks. I put the clothes hanger bar back up...I figure I will use that to suspend my ligt fixture from. I left room in the top right and the bottom left corners to install my ventilation. I bought two 4 inch fans to install. Which leads me to my next question. Should I use a regaulr fan-blowing-in intake...or a passive intake? It's an upper apartment and it is summer time where it gets to about 90 out some days. So it can get pretty warm up here sometimes. I'm thinking regular intake...what do you guys think? Here are some pics Outside of the closet. Thank you Samsung With the new door open There's still a little bit of tidying up to do. What do ya'll think so far? \t\t \t\t \t\t \t\t \t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t\t__________________
Well.... it looks good so far.... a few concerns though: 1) Ventilation - Since you need to be constantly circulating the air in and out of the grow room, how do you propose doing this? With your cabinet idea it would've been pretty simple. Except that for the fact that now you really only can mount the fans to your cardboard door / wall. Which, once wet, will have 0 durability. Are you planning on cutting into the ceiling and installing a vent? Which leads me to ask, if you vent in on the bottom, and out on the top (basic thermodynamics, hot air rises), where would you mount on the bottom? and where on the top? 2) Security - I would highly suggest installing a lock on that door. If anyone asks, tell them you have valuables in there that you want to keep secure. It'd be one thing to open the closet and just see a storage cabinet in there, it's another to be greeted with a wall of cardboard with a 'door' on it. 3) You said you may plan on switching out the CFL's for possibly a different light (MH/HPS)? Just remember, the amount of heat thrown off by a MH/HPS in that small of a space is goign to be huge. Most likely will raise the temp. of the grow room significantly. If I were you, before investing anymore time or energy into this project, I would do this: Get your CFL Lights. Your proposed fans / ventilation, set those up. If you also want to test for smell, get some type of air freshener or something. Set it all up as if you're actually using the grow room. Let it run for like 24 hours and check the temp / humidity inside of the room. Also be sure that the air isn't stale. Plants don't do so well with stale air. Remember your ideal growing temp is around 75 degrees. Oh and if you're going to have a MH/HPS setup in there eventually, that light must be air cooled as well.... Hope that helps ya some.
Your setup looks like it'll do good specially for two plants JC, no problem!! put a fan in there to move air, really for two plants in that space all you would have to do is open the closet and check on the plants once or twice a day that would bring in enough fresh air in to grow your plants healthy with (no problem). Im more excited about your stand selection, alot of growers in here are growing the same shit. Is Electric Fruit Punch new? Sounds like your going have fun on this run. i got my seat pulled up on this one... GL
And here's my ventilation. Two 4 inch high velocity fans, one intake and one exhaust. Next step is makin the lighttraps for the inside.
"1) Ventilation - Since you need to be constantly circulating the air in and out of the grow room, how do you propose doing this? With your cabinet idea it would've been pretty simple. Except that for the fact that now you really only can mount the fans to your cardboard door / wall. Which, once wet, will have 0 durability. Are you planning on cutting into the ceiling and installing a vent? Which leads me to ask, if you vent in on the bottom, and out on the top (basic thermodynamics, hot air rises), where would you mount on the bottom? and where on the top?" Just posted up the pic of my venitlation. What do ya think? Also, there will be another fan in there blowin on the plants. You do bring about something that didn't really cross my mind. The cardboard will get wet? I guess I just figured that wouldn't happen unless I spilled water all over it...which I suppose could happen but not likely. Is the environment jsut so inherently wet that it's inevitable??? "2) Security - I would highly suggest installing a lock on that door. If anyone asks, tell them you have valuables in there that you want to keep secure. It'd be one thing to open the closet and just see a storage cabinet in there, it's another to be greeted with a wall of cardboard with a 'door' on it." 2 new keyed door handles are on the way. One for the bedroom and one for the closet Just gotta put them in. Lol. That would be a funny scenario for someone to encounter though. 3) You said you may plan on switching out the CFL's for possibly a different light (MH/HPS)? Just remember, the amount of heat thrown off by a MH/HPS in that small of a space is goign to be huge. Most likely will raise the temp. of the grow room significantly. If I were you, before investing anymore time or energy into this project, I would do this: Nope, it's gonna be CFLs the whole way. It really would just get too damn hot in there for anything else. PLus...I'm lookin at the electric bill too. I don't want that to skyrocket too much. Thanks for your questions and comments, man. I really, really appreciate them. Again, your response on the wet environment issue would be awesome. Thanks!
Thanks! I'm lookin at doin to plants. MAYBE three??? A Scrog is lookin more and more appetizing to me as a few people have suggested it to be better for my smaller space. Could I scrog 3 plants in there do ya think? As far as electric fruit punch bein new? I dunno...I did get them from Highgrade, though. He said he was shippin them out today so hopefully those get here soon
LIGHTING! OK, here's my makeshift lighting setup. Right now this is just pretty much how it's gonna look. I ducttaped them in so they don't go fallin out onto the plants. It's gonna be like that pretty much unless it looks like it's gonna fail..then I'll figure something else out. The rope is gonna be subsituted for some chain and heavy duty hooks once I pick them up to make for easier adjusting of the height of the light. But basically this is how it's gonna look...after some tidying up, of course. There are 6- 26 Watt Daylight 6500K bulbs and One 42 Watt 2700K Bulb for 198 total Watts. Do you guys think this will be sufficient for now?
You have just about 200watts. With 3-4 plants you'd need a bit more light. But since you have a 50%-50% chance your plants will come out male, that leaves you with two plants and enough light.
Looking good so far, but I share the concerns about the cardborad/fan interface. I can't see that cardboard lasting the course, man. Is there any way you could mount them to something more solid and then use ducting, maybe? At least that way it wouldn't be the fans smashing into your plants if the cardboard were to fail. The accepted rule of thumb around here is 100 true watts (not equiv) of CFL per plant, but more light = more bud so use as much as you can get away with. Obviously, don't let the temp rise too high, about 75 deg F if you can. Mine got as high as 91 deg F last time and it seriously affects growth/yield. You look like you have if covered though Good luck man, and +rep for starting
I understand the concern about the cardboard but I'm not so sure I can really convey how sturdy this cardboard is...it's like 1/4 inch thick. it's kinda liek plywood but obviously nto THAT sturdy. But for real, the shit is heavy duty. For those of you that have seen fridge box cardboard before know what I'm talkin about. It's pretty tough just how it is....but I have it doubled up. It was tough shit to cut through even with a brand new blade on my utility knife. I dunno...I guess i'll see how it comes out in the end but for real...I'm confident it'll go the distance. thanks!
A few things: Regarding the cardboard and water, regardless of the thickness, if there's enough water it'll get through and destroy the cardboard. One solution to this however is water-proof spray from a hardware store or an art store. See this link to see an example: Link For your lighting, I think that the power strip, while a good idea, isn't feasible. I say this because, you want your CFLs as close to the plant as possible (usually within 4 inches). What if one of the plants grows particularly long in one area? Not so good with electrical work, etc? Pickup from Home Depot or Amazon.com - "Black and Decker: The complete guide to home wiring" approx. $25 in store. This book is invaluable. With this you can go out, buy some cheap extension cords, get some basic lamp sockets, some basic Y adapters, some standard electrical tools and electrical tape and rig up your lights to have either 1 or 2 lights all independent of each other. Then you can mount or place the power strip in another location for easy access to light timers, and your master on/off in case something unforeseen happens, etc. It's really really easy to do once you figure it all out. All you do is cut off the receptacle side of the extension cord, strip the wires, take the ridged or marked wire and take off the insulation, attach that to the silver screw, and then repeat for the other screw. After that, electrical tape of the whole top to keep any potential water / fingers away from causing problems, and voila. Your easily movable CFL light for next to nothing. Throw the Y adapter on this, and you're set. And then at least this way, if you really had to separate a Y-Adapted light, it's all just be a matter of buying another extension cord ($2) and a socket ($1) rigging it up and connecting it to your power strip, thus making your plants get the best position on the lights, and not worrying about them falling out of the power strip. I still highly suggest doing a test run for at least 24-48 hours. Tweaking your design as you go. If you have neighbors you're definitely going to need a decent carbon scrubber, as smell is your enemy here. You can pick one up that has a fan like the ones you're currently using attached to it. I think it'd clear out the air in there in roughly 1 minute max, which is good. Remember, the lights create heat, the plants create heat, if it's an outside wall, if it's during the summer, it'll create heat. And lastly, the fans you have mounted, it's hard to tell from the picture, but is that box up flush against the door once the door is closed? as they will not operate if the door is closed. In fact, even if they're back a few inches, I'm still skeptical if they'd work well. Lets face it, if you have a 1/2" gap at the bottom of the door, how much fresh good air will go through that and into the void left for the fans to grab air from? I can't believe much. So all that will happen is you'll be recirculating crappy old hot air around (think of being on a friggin airplane before it takes off and the A/C is shut off) this is how your plants will feel and boy will they show it. That's enough for now.....I have more thoughts, but we'll see where your grow goes next. G/L man, I'm def. envious of you as I can't start my grow for at least 4 more weeks.
whoo...good stuff. Thanks so much for this. please bear in mind I'm a little stoned right now so I'm gonna do this best i can heh tackling some of the issues. one, regarding cardboard and water. Seein as I've never done this before I'm jsut assuming then that the space basically becomes a naturally wet environment after a while? it's the only way I can see it getting wet. i dunnoo.. I totally agree on the powerstrip. I was lookin at the idea of separate lights but I didn't want that many cords. but lookin at it now I just may have to do it. I will look into this. thanks for the sweet suggestion on a good book. I'll see if I can't find it at the library first. I'm diggin the suggestion on a carbon scrubber. I was still tryin to figure this out but I figure I still have some time to get that one down. and as far as the door goes. The actual closet door itself will be open basically 24/7 save any emergency visits or something where someone might need to go in my bedroom...those are the only times it will ever be closed. Otherwise, the bedroom door is always locked. OK...current news right now is bad news. I just ran my thermometer is there for a bit and it's running hot like I kinda figured it would. She levelin off at like, 94. YIKES! This is gonna take some fixing. But I kinda saw it comin so ya...i dunno. just sucks
For the carbon scrubber check out this: Link Financially speaking, I believe that that will be your most expensive item in the closet. But compared to what could happen without it, it's cheap as hell. Regarding the temperature in the area, what is the temperature in the bedroom? I say this because, remember the whole thing in which I said remember the airplane you've been on without A/C, it instantly turns up to 90 degrees fast. You need the outside room cooler than 80 degrees and more likely to be around 75 degrees. so that when the air cycles out of the grow room, it is able to cool down, and the room doesn't just suck back in hot air. Maybe get a small portable A/C unit for the bedroom, and position it just near the bottom intake fan.
Thanks...I'll def be loook into that scrubber. I figure I have a little bit of time before I gotta pic kthat up...which is good cuz I'll need that much time to recover finiancially from teh overall startup cost of this. As far as temperature...ya. The issue is the bedroom is just too hot. But with my style of window I can't put a window AC in...too easily. And I dunno if the landlord would even allow it. I dunno maybe it can be done. I'll look into it furhter. I really have to figure something out relatively soon. I looked into portable ACs a while back..they are just soooooooooo damn expensive. really not possible for me. (or anyone for that matter...)
Actually after looking on Home Depot's web site, the decent window AC Units are about the same price as the portable ones. To me, there's not point of even trying to grow or start anything until you get the temperature issue solved. Thoughts?
I need a good AC too. I was looking into a swamp cooler, they seem a little cheaper but I don't know how effective they are.