New house, new closet, energy bills accomodated. I was packing my clothes into the closet the other day when it dawned upon me, 'I could be doing something much more productive in here'. I'm a total noobie to all of this (apart from the last 36 hours of study), so I'm going to run by the general plan & you guys can pick it apart. Space: 2 columns 2.5m high, 45cm wide & 45cm deep. I want to halve the columns so that there are 4 grow spaces 1.25m high. How many plants can I grow in each space? Light: 1 x 400W HPS for each space. Contemplating some 400 MH for veg period, is there much benefit in your opinion? Airflow: Passive intake, Active exhaust. Each space has a volume approx. 250 litres, what rate of airflow would be suitable for me? Also considering a fan to blow the plants so that they grow stronger. Soil: 3 parts Peat Mix 1 part perlite 1 part worm castings 1/2 cup sand 1/2 cup of dolomite lime 1/3 cup of guano 1/4 cup Epsom salts I pinched this recipe off an organic grower who looked good on paper. What's the consensus? How can I manipulate my soil to have higher nitrogen in the veg period, & more phosphorus during the flowering period? Would I want to? Can I start seedlings in a 5 gallon bucket so that they never need transplants? Fertilisers: Not too sure about these. Can somebody give me the low down on what to use & when? Watering: I've read varying reports, mainly telling me to do it only once a week. How often & how much? Time: I want this to take no longer than 3 months. Strains: I'm considering White Widow & Northern Lights because of potency & fast grow times. Any suggestions? Thanks a bunch guys & girls, don't hesitate to chip in if you think you know better. Really hoping to get these babies off the ground
You need to consider the ventilation for keeping the area cool with the 400w. It is certainly doable but requires active air cooling at the least to keep the temps down. I eventually opted for 250 because my 400w setup was generating too much heat for me to manage easily. I am much happier now and so are my plants. I would recommend looking into starting off with the smaller light. It may turn out to be enough for you, and if not, you at least were able to learn a lot of things about the whole process with one less headache (heat).
I dont get the 4 grow spaces. Sounds like your gonna have 4 x 400 watt hps? That sounds crazy to me. And as far as getting a mh for veg you could get a switchable ballast and not spend a shit ton more. They got plain old 400 watt hps or mh ballast for 120$ on htgsupply.com. Think the switchable ones are a little more. If i was you i would go with High Tech Garden Supply 165$ for your hps and mh for veg.
You definately dont want to overwater but you will need to water more than once a week especially when they get bigger. When they are babies you will prob only need to water every 4 or 5 days but when they are flowering it will prob be like twice a week. Thats my opinion anyway. 1600 watts of hps light will make alot of heat. You will need a very good vent system. You will also be using alot of electric in one part of your house so you will prob need to wire your grow room directly to your fuse box or you run the risk of a fire hazard with four large lights and fans etc. I am using less watts/amps than you are and I ran into these issues when I set up my grow. Good luck!