Setting up growing area in my attic, temps are in the 50's or so for the next few months. I'll be building a box from drywall and 2x4's and lining with mylar. Setup for probably 3 plants or so. I don't want to order anything, so it's gonna be lowe's & home depot for everything. Budget isn't too much of a prob. Space is no issue nor is electricity or outside venting. I plan on mounting fans to bring in fresh air and building an exit tube w/fan to exit outside of attic. What are the best lights to use from local sources? Brand of soil from hd or lowes? Type of lights I should pickup locally? Do you think i'll need to heat the box or will the lights be sufficient? Will I need to control humidity? Sorry for the barrage of questions, I've read many of the guides and these are the leftover questions.
If space is not a problem you can get metal halide and High pressure sodium HID bulbs from Home Depot. I would order at least a 600watt digital ballast from Ebay, but you can find package deals for like $250 that come with the digital ballast, reflector hood and both bulbs. If your trying to go a little cheaper, go with 100watt Daylight (5000k+) CFL's for vegging, then switch to 300watt soft white (2700k) CFL's for flowering. You'll get close to the same yield if you get those CFL's up close to the plants. These CFL's can also be found at Home Depot.
I have been using Miracle Grow Organic Choice soil which can be found at Home Depot for like $4-5 a bag and it has enough nutes and fert. for 1 1/2 - 2 months.
HID's will produce enough heat as long as it's not 10 degrees outside... CFL's don't really put out heat at all. If needed, you could always get a 250watt heat lamp. That should do the trick. Humidity shouldn't be an issue, but if it does occur there are plenty of fixes for that you can find (Dehumidfier). Hope this helped!
Dude? Ok here we go, as far as soil goes I prefer VIC'S SUPER SOIL (google it for ingredients) you can pick up all materials from lowes or HD, once you mix ingredients all you have to do is water her once a week with plain reverse osmosis water or distilled water. Lighting I would recommend a 250w HPS that you might beable to find at Lowes or HD, if not then the biggest CFL's you can find is what you will want, the general rule of thumb for light is about 100w-150w per plant.If you do have to use the CFL's then I would definitely leave lights on for 24 hours while in the vegging state. If you get the HPS light that should provide enough heat, if not you will need to get a heater. About humidity (I am saying sorry to other professional growers for the statement Im about to make) it would be nice to have it at about 50% - 60% but if not possible then dont worry your ladies will be ok(for your first grow). If you have any other questions then let me know. Later
Man sirbudzalot84 or 87 when I started typing none of your posts were up there. Fuck I must type slow, or it could be because I am really chubbie right now
Great, sounds good guys. As soon as the vote is over (couple days) I'll be ordering all the fem seeds. No point f'ing around with males. I'm really excited to start it up and do the grow thread, just paranoid about getting caught. I'm renting the house, but I live straight up in the woods middle of nowhere. Also, it's my buddies house who smokes and doesn't care if I grow. I have a gate to my driveway too that I can lockup. Guess I just need to get over the paranoia
Hey bro, Your comment about living in the woods kinda alarms me. Growing in the attic leaves a clear heat signature from above. Especially if as you say you are in the middle of no where. Your HID (MH/HPS) will pin point your location. (unless you have a fireplace near) Get some insulation and fill in the truss voids before you rock it. If you can use heat pads to keep the roots (soil) warm. I'm not sure about your area but IR (infrared) is used to watch for fires in Nevada. "They" may not be able to use it against you or to get a warrant but it will show. Even the bad guys can get IR and find grows. (growers) Be careful Mate.
hmm, what would be the best ir blocking material? I don't think it will too much of an issue as I plan to go with CFL's.