Hey, whats up yall, I have the itch to grow my own, like most of you I am tired of paying for it, trying to find it and everyone just running out the day before i want some..so here it goes... I built myself a box in a closet, 30"w 18"t and 20"deep.(the more I think about it I should have made it taller but..too late now) the lights i bought are cfls, 4 so far. 2 daylight(42w each) and 2 soft white(40w each) I havent bought any pots/dirt/nutes/exhaust yet. I ordered my seedsand a tshirt today from attitude. 5 Big Buddha Blue Cheese Feminized, and got a free DNA LA woman and sour cream.. now the original plan was to grow 2-3 plants at a time in square pots, but with my height restrictions my yield will be very minimal. NOW i am thinking i can fit all 7 plants in there if they all germ and dont hermie on me, keep in mind they will be lst and short, since I have the room side to side. but what do I do with my lights now..I know the 'rule' is 100w per plat plus 50w but with the plants being rather small should I stick with that guideline? that would mean 400w sounds pretty extreme for my small box 1. I think I will pick up 2 more lights, 1 daylight and 1 softwhite making 246w does that sound ok? 2. Fans. From reading it sounds like I will be right on the border(box size and # of plants) for using pc fans vs an inline fan. I would like to use pc fans and a diy carbon scrubber to keep it compact. does it work to stack two maybe 3 pc fans to give it extra boost to get thru the filter? 3. Did i pick out some decent seeds? I wanted bag seeds but I almost never get any and in the past just threw them away.. if it turns out ill be taking clones and putting them in an 'ice cube tray cloner' to have a continuous grow. any other suggestions you can give me will greatly help out! I hope to give myself a very nice christmas present this year
I'm a new grower too, so I'm just kicking out basic info for you. Hopefully more knowledgeable growers will pipe in as well! As far as fans go, they are only rated for so much CFM, (Which is Cubic Feet per Minute.) so whether you have one or TWENTY in the same hole, you'll STILL only be moving the SAME CFM. You'd be better off making multiple holes in your box and putting a fan in each hole. As for cloning, the only thing I can say is, you'll run out of room REAL FAST! Clones are going to want to grow QUICKLY because they're actually mature plants being reproduced, rather than seedlings. Like I said, I'm still a "Noob" myself so, the clone thing may actually work out for you, I just don't have much experience with it! Good Luck!
If your planning to do anything, do this: MAKE YOUR BOX BIGGER. A good rule of thumb is 3x as large as you think you will need. I guarantee if you try to grow a continuos harvest you are going to run into consistent problems with: growth issues, yield issues, and definitely heat issues. Growth: plants dont get light because its too packed, they begin to die/grow slowly. Yield: same as growth! Heat: its a very, very small box and your going to put how many lights in there? I mean comeon. CFLs are fine for a complete beginner like yourself, but within 6 months you are going to need a real growlight to luminate all the plants you wanna do. So keep that in mind with size of box. You got good seeds, and actually if you ordered them feminized then better than bag seed by far. But good pot grows QUICK and your box is illprepared, once again. Make your box bigger, wait 1 month (its already almost october man, a grow takes AT LEAST 3 months esp your first time...NO WAY youll make christmas, maybe valentines day )and save up some money to get a 400W High Pressure Sodium Bulb, Ballast, and standard reflector (go to a growshop or website, thatll explain everything). While saving money, make a taller box....like, at least 4 feet tall, and your STILL gonna have issues with that. Learn to top your plant (cutting the newest leaves/nodes coming out of the top of the plant) it will keep it bushy and spread it out. NEW BOX Any Help? Good Luck!
thatnk for your advice. I was only planning on growing 2 or 3 at a time. then I realized I was going to have yield s, and thats why I am thinking about starting all 7 of them right away. If plants can be grown in computer cases, I 'should' be able to do it in this. I am going to buy 2 more lights + the 4 i alrerady have =6 almost 250w. I am going to make my box a bit bigger, i contemplated it before but decided not to.. well you changed my mind lol. but all I can do is about 10" that would be plenty to cover for a pot, 6" plants(lst) then into flower. and that would fill up the rest of my box if i plan it getting 2-3x larger(18") If I use an hps i wont be able to get it close to the plants, if I stick with the cfl's i can keep them right on the plants and should keep them short. I wish i could make my box bigger, but i just dont have the room right now
hey dude, 250watts of CFL is very low for 7 plants they will be fighing for light & that will majorly affect your yeild, also yes people do grow in pc cases but never really more than 2 maybe 3 VERY small plants with a small yeild ps im sure u already know but the general rule of thumb is 100watts per plant or some go with 100watt for the first and 50w each other plant
woohoo! got my seeds today!, they came earlier than i thought, just 6 days after i placed my order. I am going to set aside 4 blue cheese and try to germ the la woman sour cream and one BC. I have a coupke bag seeds im trying to pop right now. Im going to make my box about 10" higher and only grow 4 plants at a time with 246w. i should be able to use the rest pof my box to fit my filter/fan co2 thermometer ect.. i really need some help with the fan situation..I dont know how any of these are going to smell and I want to get it covered up right away, can i blow 2 pc fans thru a rectangle filter? or 1 fan on each side of the filter? will a disassembled desk fan filter combo work?
As I stated BEFORE, fans are only rated for so much CFM. Whether you have 1 or 20 inline, they will STILL ONLY move the specified CFM!!! If you don't think one opening with a carbon scrubber will do the job, make a SECOND hole and add ANOTHER scrubber! Good Luck!
yes, i know.. maybe thats why i have more questions. Im not trying to get more cfm than the fans can push, what i do want is to GET the cfm they claim. a pc fan doesnt have the 'power' to push thru the filter. If I use 2 fans i want to know if I will achieve the power to get thru the filter
Sorry, I wasn't understanding your question! With the filter "sandwiched" between 2 fans you SHUOLD get enough draw to pull the air through the filter. If not, you may need to invest a little money in what they call a "hamster wheel" fan. Sorry for the misunderstanding and Good Luck!