Attic Grow Questions.

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by Squirrel_Nugs, Dec 14, 2007.

  1. me and my room mate are thinking about growing in our attic.
    this will be our first grow.
    we plan on purchasing a 400watt HPS for flowering and maybe some fluro tubes for veg.
    the building a box out of plywood to make it look like its apart of the house.
    what do you think the minimum amout of space would be and how about the maximum?
    we are going to paint the inside of the box white.
    is there anything that we are missing?
    any ideas for cooling/air circulation?
    what other supplies do we need?
    oh and btw we have about 50 bagseeds so far.
    we will prolly buy better seeds after we get the hang of it.

    i dont know if im right but i dont believe the fluro tubes are necessary because i can veg with the hps to right?

    we plan on growing scrog style with soil
    how many plants can we grow scrog with the 400w HPS?

    we both have read just about every grow guide that we can find many times.

    thanks in advance for the responses :smoke:
    im sure we will have more questions soon.
     
  2. what state is this grow taking place in? ie are the nights cold?

    youll need

    400 w light with air cooled reflector

    ballast

    intake and exhaust ducting

    exhaust fan.get one that is rated to move the volume of your room in under 10 mins preferably with more then one speed ( youll have to do the math)

    oscillating fan. to circulate air in room

    containers. you have 50 seeds so ya may as well use em! get 50 1 gallon pots and do sog style veg em 24/0 for a week tops then flower

    remote digital thermometer. so you can monitor the room from a more ideal location

    soil. some type of peat compost perilite mix is fine, promix is always a good choice lawn and garden centers in your area will have what you need

    some type of watering system whether its a drip system or hoses that direct water to plants when water is poured into a central tube

    humidity gauge ( forget the real name lol) to, well monitor humidity

    industrial socket timer. to induce 12/12


    if using co2


    thermostat outlets are good to hook exhaust fans up to, and keep room in ideal temp range without constantly running it and hence not sucking out your co2 enhancement

    the co2 system its self a tank with time release valve or just a slow trickle youll need domr parts though

    nutrients and plant food

    carbon filter. to attach to exhaust system to deal with the smell of dank.

    when you build this room in the attic youll need to either be very precise with your cuts (to make the room air tight) or use some type of plastic. a fully sealed room is ideal


    thermal sheild or polyshield isnt a bad idea. it provides more security from outside detection because its an infrared, vapor, and thermal barrier and its more reflective than white paint

    if youre in a super cold area additional heat may be needed in space is large enough.
    attics can get cold

    electrical wiring. you wont need anything heavy duty, all outlets handle 1625 watts and you entire system wont use that much.

    silver chain to hang your lamp

    maybe party cups or peat pots to get em started, which ever you prefer

    thats just about everything if you ask me, and unfourtunatley almost all of those are needed

    you could grow all 50 under it at once, remember half of them will be males just flower asap to prevent them from getting big and overgrowing the the primary growing area. wityh this methyod youll get all the bang for your buck and have a sea of colas

    My 40 seeds from hemp depot just germed 40/40 and went into soil today! :hello: I also have an attic setup with all the above but 1000 w hps and floros and 10x8x8 room :D

    i still need to decide on watering system and co2 option and need to hook up my intake/exhaust to my inline duct fan

    gonna veg 16-22 days on 18/6 (1000 w uses alotta juice) and fim once then flower!

    i would suggest gettin real genetics if youre gonna put the effort in though, no point in getting all that setup just to have some 2nd gen at best bagseed ( unless it was really dank bagseed) but dont grow some mids seeds

    gl dude
     
  3. ^^^That is the best grow list I have seen. +rep
    I was saved hours upon hours because I fell upon this thread.

    *EDIT*
    What is a ballast? What is it used for? Where does it go?
     
  4. A ballast regulates the flow of electricity to the lamp. It goes between the plug in the wall and the lamp. Some people ask if they really need a ballast -- yes you do for MH or HPS lighting.

    That 400w would cover an area 3'x3' nicely. Shoot for 5' minimum height.

    Temps will be your biggest issue with an attic grow -- gets too cold in winter and too hot in summer and even just warm days in spring and fall.
     
  5. thank you so much deepgreensea alot of help.

    if i decided to just use fluro tubes and CFL what should i do.
    cause ive seen some pretty decent yields with just fluro's.
    we are still thinking scrog style.
    how many plants could we grow scrog?
    we will be using two two foot shop lights with one cool white and one warm white bulbs in each.
    what else should we use?


    thanks everyone for all the help so far.
     
  6. if you wanna do all cfls get like 4 shopo lights each with 2 t8s

    where do you live!??? if its cold youll def need supplemental hewat beacause cfls and floros dont create much heat

    you prolly could do 4 medium plants under that maybe 16-20 sog style small single cola plants
     
  7. heres a sketch of what we are doing.
    we decided on a soil scrog grow.
    we are located in KY in the US

    8 plants per light.
    the little light bulbs are CFL's

    we already bought 2 shoplights that can hold two t8 bulbs.
    but should we use t8 or t12?
    i know 1 warm white and 1 cool white in each fixture.
    but what wattages should we buy.

    the fan on the bottom right of the box is the intake fan.
    then fan on the top right is the outtake fan.
    there will be tubing after the fans so that there is no visible light coming out of the box.

    we will be constructing the box out of 2x4's and plywood then paint the inside white to reflect more light.
    we are thinking a 5ft long x 4 ft wide x 4 or 5 ft tall.

    there will be a circulating fan inside the box for good air flow.

    any input on this so far?

    [​IMG]

    sorry the picture is so big.

    thanks everyone so far :)
     
  8. bumb.
    anybody?
    deepgreensea?
     
  9. that would work as long as you can keep the temps high enough.

    does it get cold in kt? if so those lights probably wont create enough heat for the plants, not unless you have a warm air intake
     
  10. it gets chilly here its been below freezing a few days.
    its not cold up there though im comfotable without a shirt on and just shorts so i think its pretty warm.

    the area is 7 feet long x 4 feet wide x 4 1/2 feet tall.

    we are going to take computer fans and use one for intake and one for outtake.
    there will be pipes after then fans leading to outside.

    hope to get started very soon.
    going to lowes in the morning :D
     

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