ok.. so i know theirs a thread dedicated to this but ive decided to build a grow box, however i have some questions and concerns. Ive grown outside but never indoor. I plan on ordering a 250w mh/hps light for both veg and flower, I have a stanley blower to cool the box and bring fresh air in, that i could really use help with, i was thinking about trying to attach this carbon filter to it. Can-Filter 2600 - 18" Carbon Filter | Air Cleaners/Odor Control Problem is, i have no clue how to. Also, i need help on figuring out the dimensions i should use when building my box, i want to have room for 2 or 3 full size plants. But i was also hoping to be able to scrog, Basically i need what you guys think are good dimensions for that 250w light, i dont want to go to big and have my plants suffer from lack of light, but i also dont want to go to small and have to deal with a really cramped box, running out of room(since i plan on putting my light carbon filter and stanley blower all inside.) I plan on using soil, at least for now until, i have a 6 plant hydro set up but i want this run to go as smoothly as possible until i gain some indoor experience, i want to grow some white widow, i hear fox farms has good soil, but what are your recommendations for nutes? Something noob-proof (since im just use to burying fish/bloodmeal/manure in a hole mixed with native soil and miracle grow. with bagseed) any, and all help is greatly appreciated im ordering the light thursday and want to have everything ready to go by this upcoming weekend. -xxMESTxx
Hey xxMESTxx, Welcome to the GrassCity and sorry your thread was over looked... There are A LOT of cool people here willing and wanting to help the noobs.. The biggest and best thing you can do is READ until your fucking dizzy, and then READ some more... But let me see if I can shed a little light on some options... Using a 250 watt lamp(s) is really going to give you a VERY limited space.. Almost a micro grow if you will... I'm not sure your budget or your building skills, but here is what I would suggest.. There is a lot of DIY option you can do which will have you a lot of money in areas, which you can use the savings to allow you to use the savings on things which you cannot DIY... Lets start with the grow medium first.... I know soil sounds easy, but there is SO MANY things which can go wrong and unless you really know what you're doing, it is hard to control or change.. Let's say you really want to push your plants and you really bump up the nutes, well if you over feed, now you're faced with nute burn, and soil is a LOT harder to flush than a hydro system.. Another thing, not all soils are the same, thus you really need to know how to mix the soil for a good grow (or what soil to start with), and who wants all that soil in their house.. Then trying to catch the runoff, and all that shit.. I know soil sounds easy, and sure if you drop some seeds in soil they will grow and you will get some good bud, but unless you really know what you're doing with the soil mix and than nutes, in my personal opinion, the plants will not grow to their full potential.. Now hydro on the other hand, follow a feeding program, keep the PH in range, and you cannot go wrong.. If you over feed, no problem, you can flush within 15 minutes, and get back on track with the very next flood, you can also make micro adjustments on the fly (if you will).. BUT, with hydro, you're going to spend a LOT more time tending to your garden, but who cares, that's what we ALL LOVE to do anyway!! Right?? Now lets look at chamber's size.. A 250 watt lamp can only really do a 2'x2.5' area. Giving you a total of 50 watts per sq ft. Here is a great calculator which will give you a suggested lamp size according to the chamber you input... Just click on WATT http://www.hydroponicsdictionary.com/calculators/calc.swf It will also do exhaust fan size needed for a given area, just click on AIR.. So with that being said, I would suggest to you to KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid), with no disrespect intended... Now you also mentioned that you want to do a SCROG and it sounds like you're trying to keep the space limited as much as possible... So I say DO IT!! Balls To The Wall Man!! LOL White Widow is a GREAT strain, and I have grown it for MANY years (too many really), but it is not a real heavy yielder.. OK, sorry for the ramble... What I would do is a 400 watt digital MH/HPS lamp using a cooltube in a 2'x3' chamber using DWC system and hydroton.. I would use General Hydroponics (because it is a LOT cheaper than AN) and follow their feeding schedule to the letter for your first grow.. You maybe can squeeze in 3 or 4 plants in that 2x3 chamber because White Widow, she likes to spread out a little and you want to make sure all her arms get good light... Personally I would do something like 3 plants of SensiStar in a SCROG... Check out this guy's grow, he is using 2x5 tent with two 400w HPS SCROG and claiming just over 2lbs from his 2x5 tents... It may give you some more ideas or a better direction of going... Also he is using General Hydroponics nutes too... But in any case, we're all here to help if you run into trouble or to give you ideas... May ALL your buds be SWEET and FAT!!
i know.. i was really hoping for more input. oh dude i read plenty, have been for about a year now, reading new shit everyday, haha how limited? i mean ive seen plenty of grows where people harvest like 3-4 ounces per grow using a 250w, my building skills are pretty good, i built a box last year but never got it complete, a H 6' W 3' D 2' but tore it down when i moved, i live in an apartment so i kinda wanna go stealth if i can, im only concerned about odor, actually. yeah, ive read up alot on soil mixes and all the like, im fairly certain i can grow it in soil just fine, BUT their are more advantages to hydro or so i hear, but i heard it was harder than soil, and isnt recommended for a first time indoor grow. You may have me sold on hydro though, because yes, i love tending to my girls, and can only do so rarely outdoors, i have a hydro kit i built out of a pretty decent size rubber maid with 6 6" pots in it just stored away that i could use, and would actually help save money on buying fox farms or pots ect. and cutting costs is awesome, haha. thanks for the site, i'll check it out. well, i only wanted to do scrog because of the increased yield, i actually love seeing the plants grow up naturally, they are amazing looking plants, but, yield>looks. Im not really TOO limited on space, i can go as big as i need, i just want to be able to grow 2-3 full size plants with no trace of smell, in the smallest room needed. yeah im really interested because of it potency, im a really heavy smoker and find it hard to get high sometimes, so the more potent the better, but i do worry about yield, recommend any strains? i was thinking i wouldnt mind doing either northern lights, ak-47, or some kind of purp strain. what you think? Two foot deep and 3 feet wide? how tall? i wouldnt mind using a 400w, im not sure the price dif. between the tube, but i really was trying to avoid the heat issues with it, and not sure if i can afford one with a cool tube. i know i could DIY one, but thats extra money spent, i just dont know if i should spend, or if it would be worth it or not. because couldn't i just use a 250w hps and throw in about 4 75w-100w cfls and avoid the extra money on a cool tube, and extra ventilation for it? I should be able to pump it all out with that stanley, even with a carbon filter. I guess if i used that hydro set-up i could just re-do the lid to fit 4 net pots of a larger size, instead of 6 smaller ones. thanks, i'll check it out too. I definitely appreciate your help so far man, and i hope more people can find the time to give me some input, What do you think about the stanley blower i have and that carbon filter i wanted to use. any thoughts on how i could attach that filter to the side of the blower? haha thanks, cant wait to get things going, it all starts thurs.
3-4 ounces per grow?? Shit man, I smoke that in a week.... Depending on strain and from seed, it takes at least 3 months to get a crop.. It really is not that hard man... Keep the PH at 5.8, res temp at 65-70, and change the res every week with the suggested amount, and you'll do just fine... Ahhhhhh, smell is another thing... You want to get a GOOD carbon scrubber and an inline vortex fan... Separate your lamp cooling (inline duct booster fan) and the chamber cooling so you're not always sucking the smell from the chamber trying to cool the lamp... Man after my own heart... Loves to That's why I say fuck the 250 watter and the little yields... I think the key is different smoke... Meaning, if you're always smoking one strain, you get used to it.. Again, I have grown White Widow for years and I smoke joints as fat as my thumb, but if some of my buddies did the same, they would be laying on the floor seeing pretty colors... LOL Then I will get a bag of some commercial bullshit, and it fucks me up, but barely get my buddies high at all... If you can relate... Standard 7' would be fine.. If you're going to SCROG, 5' would be fine too... A lot of people like the CFLs, I never really used them or suggested them. so I really cannot accurately comment on them... The key to tight buds is watts per sq ft.. You want to push at least 50w per sq.. I like to be around 70w per... Well the only blower I like to use is the wife... OK, that was funny right there, I don't care who you arrrrrr... I'm not sure, you don't want to suck out the dam carbon... LOL I have found over the years, if the fan over powers the filter, it lowers the filer's effectiveness... There is somewhat of a fine line of removing the heat while allowing the carbon to do it's job... In my opinion, if the air passes through the carbon at a extremely rapid rate, the carbon does not get a chance to trap all the molecules (smell).. If you know what I mean... Good luck man... If I can help in anyway, just holla...
Oh, and I want to add, most old time SCROG'ers want to be up near 100w per sq ft (from what I have read)... I'd say between 80w and 100w per sq would be perfect for a SCROG...
haha damn man, yea i would if i could, but im stuck buying right now until my outdoor harvest, so all i get is mids, i swear it just dont get my high.. but yeah i know its gonna take 3 months, but i should have enough to last me till i can harvest again, i would hope, haha yea seems fairly fool-proof, im thinking 1 res, 2 big net pots? if you click the link the original post it takes you to what i heard was a good, 18 inch carbon scrubber, i just want to make it work with that stanley i was talking about. do you think that filter will take care of ALL the smell, or should i take extra precautions, if so, like what? Im kind of saying fuck the 250 too, i found a REALLY good price on a 400w hps with cool tube, therm/hygro, and 6 inch inline fan for the tube for $171 bucks. so im going to go with that. do you think i should grow two different strains that flower around the same time. or just grow two plants of the same strain and just switch strains between grows? Yeah nobody i know smokes good stuff man, its all reggie and mids, i struggle to get high anymore, but i know its def. possible with better smoke, some kind of kush came through the other day, payed 30 dollars for a gram of it, got home, weighed it, 0.7. That shit pissed me off, but you know what, that lil 0.7 got me higher than if i were to smoke a quarter of some dirt. yeah i was thinking 6' but im not sure how much space that leaves with a light fan and filter in their, i wanted to buy a pre-built cabinet but i doubt i'll find them in that height, like i said, im good at building, i just figured a pre built would blend in better, but like i said im not too worried about it, as long as no smell leaks into the rest of my building, im not too worried about the cfl's now either since deciding to go with the 400w yea true, i cant remember all the "brand names" of my blowers, but they all did their job, some worked better than others haha. i dont, but this stanley can get set on a low setting, and i was planning on drawing the air through the filter instead of pushing through to kind of help, if anything i'll put it on low AND buy a dimmer, i ordered it for 50 bucks when i was building a box previously, and would really like to have it used haha, ya know? Oh for sure, i know come harvest time im going to be loving your suggestion for the 400w haha. EDIT: btw i was thinking of building my box to be 3 feet long 2 wide and 6 feet tall, what do you think about that for the 400w?
Ya, the 400w in a 2x3x6 is fine.. 400(w) divided by 6(sq ft) = 66.6w per sq.. The height maybe a concern, remember the lamp/filter/blower/etc. will take up a 1' and you will need around 8" between lamp and top of bud.. Dimming the blower motor may burn it out faster.. They are not meant to be dimmed, but if it gets you through the first grow.. Yes, suck not blow... I would LST them a little within the first 30 days of flowering.. That will fill in the canopy and make the height a little less of a concern.. Good luck bro...
40"x40"x78" Reflective Mylar Hydroponics Grow Tent Room | eBay I might just go with that since 90 dollars would only cover just lumber, no mylar or anything like that, what do you think? the tents also 6'5" so a bit bigger than what i was planning to build anyways i mean i really doubt id have to get a dimmer, it has a speed selection low/med/high im sure low would do just fine, and id be able to turn it up, if it didnt. i could lst, i was just planning on topping/fimming to control height and force them branches out haha.. thanks man...