I have a relatively small space of 14.3sq. ft. i plan to have I will use a dehumidifier. will a mini one be sufficient? I will also supplement the environment with c02, only.. i dont know how? and also is it possible for me too do too much or too little of these things? I am debating whether to stick with the original plan or 1 600w Digital HPS or go for 1000w. i also have a space for a mother, how much light will be sufficient for 1 mother? Regards
As for the mother, depending on the size you want to keep her, you could easily keep her alive on as little as 100W. So you are growing in an area a little smaller than 4'x4'. As long as you have adequate ventelelation I don't feel you will get unreasonably high humidity. Though I don't know where you live so can't really access this reasonably. Personally I think that CO2 is something that doesn't provide much except when you already have experience under your belt and all other environmental factors are controlled in perfect equilibrium. I believe, being a CO2 user myself, that it is better to provide plants with adequate amounts of fresh air. As for the light its kind up to your budget meaning how much you want to spend on your monthly energy bill. If you are purely growing for your own consumption you may want to stick to the 600W for efficiency reasons. A 1000W will also mean you having to deal with quite a bit more heat.
thanks for the reply dude, I was looking to make the jump from 600w to 1000w in the hope of bigger yields? do u think it will make THAT much difference? i plan to have 14 plants in there, 1 per sq. ft. 600w would provide 41.9 watt per sq. ft. 1000w would provide 69.9 watt per sq. ft. if i do make the leap, heat wise, it would just be a case of adding another fan right? And as for the mother, i just need her big enough to supply me with 14 cuttings every time I'm ready for the next grow. how big would she need to be in your estimation? Regards
Yah, with 14 plants I think you would be much happier with a 1000W light. How were you planning on training your plants, if at all? As for fans, a 6 or maybe 8" cooled reflector using a 6" in-line fan to move the air. The size of the fan will depend on how far you are moving the air, i.e. how much ducting you have and the angles made. I would recommend having a passive intake and hooking a second in-line fan pulling through a carbon filter and directly out of the grow. This will keep the air moved over the light separate from the grow and won't need scrubbing by the filter. This type of setup is ideal if you may want to move to CO2 injection later on. I can explain in more depth if needed. The mothers that I keep are in 3 gallon pots and are more bushy that tall, about 12-14" above soil level. I have five mothers under a 400W MH. I usually take cuttings every 1-1.5 months and usually do quite a bit of trimming besides the 5 or 6 cutting I end up rooting. I I could probably get 10-15 cuttings off of each one every month if I chose to root everything.
OK the space i have available is directly under the entry to the attic, which is approx a 1.5ft x 1.5ft square. I can vent directly out and into the attic space, which is practically my only space for new air to come in and old air out. If i were to remove the 1.5 ft. x 1.5 ft. piece of wood which covers the hole, it would possibly create a much cooler atmosphere and also allow new air to get in as well as heat to escape? but would i loose light with such a gaping hole? where would i need to duct from? i understand if if i were to use this method all kinds of smells would escape and possibly be detected by the neighbours.. maybe drilling a hole in the wood and adding a vent + carbon filter some where would be better? i understand if im blowing air our, more fresh air would rush in anyway from under doorway gaps and so on? by in-line fan do you mean a normal fan which oscillates? any ducting needed would be but a few feet since the room isn't so big. what do u mean by training the plants? i appreciate all the help, this will be my first grow and i am new to this but quickly learning! Regards
Since it's your first grow I'll start by saying that it in an addicting hobby. You can either start small and gradually get more sophisticated over time. If you see yourself sticking with it for a while it will definitely pay off going big off the bat. No matter how much you invest in your first setup you will more than likely pay it off after the first harvest in the smoke you grew yourself. The following is a link to a sight that has a wide variety of indoor gardening products. I am in no way affiliated with this company. They have just treated me very well over the years and have earned my business. I feel they have some of the best prices around and sell a good quality product. IndoorGrowSource Home Page - IndoorGrowSource.com - Hydroponics Headquarters! As for your question about venting. This is your main concern if you want to be utilizing a 600 or 1000W light. These produce a lot of heat and this will need to be controlled. The in-line fan I was talking about is one of the following: Vortex Powerfans 6 inch Inline Fan - IndoorGrowSource.com - Hydroponics Headquarters! This fan suck air through it. You may want to think about another way to get air in. My only concern is that during the summer months the air from the attic might be to hot. An air outtake would be fine though. What I would suggest doing next is reading all you can. There is a wealth of information on this forum found in stickies. I think that your decision on which light to go with is a matter up to you. How much you want to initially invest. You can certainly just get your foot in the door with a trip to the hardware store and pick up $50 worth of CFL's and get yourself a pretty descent notch under your belt. The main thing is the growing environment. Before starting anything I would suggest getting your chosen space perfectly planned out. If you have any further questions please feel free to ask or also PM. Best regards