Can't Find An Answer Anywhere.

Im new as well but I think if for one plant your lighting and everything sounds good, maybe line the area where your girl is going to be with aluminum for light and heat purposes, make sure you can move your lights as plant gets bigger, not sure about distance but I keep mine about 3-4 inches away. Im also not using a grow lite yet, just a 120 bulb and a sun visor..lol.

 

That first bulb has a spectrum of 4000K. For vegging you want more blueish spectrum in the range of 6000-7000K. Look for another MH bulb. That bulb is designed for outdoor lighting. The second bulb is good to go. Do you already have a ballast?

5 gal pot will be fine as the plant's final home. Just buy some decent soil like foxfarm. I believe they only sell it in 1.5CF, which would last you 3-4 grows.

What kind of ventilation will you have in the closet?

 

Do not line your room with aluminium foil as tommyj2178 said aluminium foil causes hot spots and can also burn the plants. And can be a serious fire hazard. I would recommend either getting some mylar or do as i have done and paint the closet in flat white paint this reflects 75% of the heat and light.

 

Sure it'll work. Make sure you figure out a way to get fresh air I to the closet though. It's super super important. Leaving the door open isnt gonna cut it either. Unless you want the smell to permeate your entire household.
Make a journal so we can follow and help out.

 

You will need two bulbs, a metal halide for vegging and an HPS for flowering. You will need a ballast to power metal halide and HPS bulbs though. You can't just stick them into a regular bulb socket.

 

You'll need one ballast. Most new ballasts these days take both, the MH and HPS bulbs. Use the MH bulb for vegging, and then switch to HPS when you want to start flowering.

 

If youre on a budget you can also use HPS all the way through...........

 

personally i would get a dual spectrum bulb then u wont have the extra cost af having to buy a bulb of a different spectrum. The dual spectrum bulbs have both red and blue so u only need the 1. You can find them cheap enough on ebay. Im running a 400w sunmaster dual spectrum bulb for the whole grow and my plants are doing great.

 

400 watts might be a little hot inside your closet.. I have a 600 watt hps right now, and without the 400 cfm fan sucking through the light tube and out a carbon filter, the temps were in the upper 90's. Even with a fan blowing on the light inside. If you cant afford the proper ventilation your house will smell like bud also! I would reccommend for your first grow and since our only growing one plant, just look into CFL's, they dont produce nearly the heat my hps does, and should save you enough to buy the proper ventilation.

Just my .02, check out my grow for ideas if you would like.. Link in the sig.

 

7.5 gallons to the CuFt of soil...most bags of soil are 1.5-2.0 CuFt

 

I've only grown once before (2 bag seed of about 15 germinated and both were female), but I got acceptable results using those 2 foot old school bar florescents (2 single tube) in a hall closet, with no ventilation (but the sliding doors had 1/4" gaps all around). The house did smell like bud near the end, but the smell was un-noticeable outside the house. I'm sure a real grower would laugh at my pathetic setup, but it had me in near free weed for 3 weeks. Looking back, I should have veged longer and flowered much longer (I didn't know about trichomes then), but live and learn. If I were you, I'd light with either bar florescents, CFLs, or maybe even those new LED lights, simply because anything else creates lots of heat that you have to get rid of.

 

OK... Here goes! Read more stickers Ha-ha! You don't need a 400... If you go hid go 250 tops for 1 plant. No foil... Just white walls. CFL's don't need ventilation. Your plant will to replenish co2 in the room but heat won't be a problem. You can open the closet door as often as possible to help with that. 3x a day? Keep in mind this is strictly a begginers set up but it WILL work until you buy some better equipmentIMO! Happy Growing

 

what makes you say that lol? Im on my first grow single plant in a closet under 400w hps........things are going pretty damn good, shes almost done. and i can expand my garden at any time if i choose to do so..i dont plan on running my light in the summertime due to heat though....but thats what outdoor growing is for.

 

Those type of bulbs try to find a balance of red and blue, but what you end up with is less of the light you need. With cheap or dual-spectrum you might save a few dollars on bulbs but it will be much less efficient and reduce yield. That seems to be pennywise and pound-foolish.