Ive posted a few times here but have yet to really intoduce myself. 1st off. I'm from the states and have been smoking for about 8 yrs now (im 24) have always wanted to grow my own stuff for a lot of reasons. mostly the joy of having control of ur harvest and type. but also a money saver on the side. haven't been able to cuz I'm pretty paranoid and never really fully trust anyone cept a few close ppl, and roomates never was really one of them! so now I have a place of my own. an apt still, but they are very nice so I'm a lil concerned abouut excess smell.. cuz managment actually does their job around here. but they aren't nosy either. so anyways on to my construction of the box. size (in inches) 44" H x 32" W x 16 " D. using a 150 hps. the footprint is showing about 44watts per foot I believe(no calc and I'm on my phone. sorry). but that's a lil less then what I wanted so I'm going to add some 2 foot fluros to get the footprint up to more like 55 or 60 watts per foot. sound good so far? I hope so! lol cab is constructed from half inch particle board for the side walls and 7/16 plywood for the doors and back wall( I will change this after first grow if it goes successsful to all particle board. I really hope I'm on the right foot so far. nothing is put together yet. in the process of painting the whole thing inside and out matte flat white. a few questions. 1 does this setup sound right so far? 2. should I mount the fluros to the side walls or to the top of the cab? 3. should I mount my hps to the top of the cabinent and put boxes in there to bring the plants up to it or make some type of hanging system to raise and lower my light?( this would be kinda tough for me considering the style my light is(bought from econolight if any of u know what I'm talking about.) 3. the fluros are the only things that are going to be on the 1st 2 weeks(dont want to dry soil out or roast them) does this make more since to mount on the top of the cab then on the sides? THANKS ALL!
your setup sounds alright so far, have you considered mylar? is their proper ventilation, since this is a cab grow i suggest a carbon scrubber mount the fluros on the top and mylar the sides this way the light is everywhere mylar will reflect your hps light when it comes time to it you can mount the fluro's on top but how many plants are you growing? how many lumen's are these fluros?
I'm waiting on the fixtures to come in for the two 24 inch fluros.(one bulb a piece) and then going to investige to see what I need. know anything bout bulbs like that? also where can I pick up mylar? don't think I've ever seen that stuff. plants. planning on growing just 2 a time. anymore and I figure I am more prone to run into problems! hah
well it depends on the manufacturer of the fluros, roughly from 3000-9000 lumens per tube is a rough estimate from common ones, cool for veg, warm for flowering mylar can be picked up from any local hardware store, if you can find it there, order from better grow hydro (good privacy policy) you'll need 2' nil thickness for the type of reflection you'll want, so you get that all round reflection for 2 plants, i recommend at least 8700-10,000 lumens to avoid stretching, if your 2 24" fluro's don't output as much as you want than consider picking up some CFL's, you'll be able to fit in 12 CFL's (y-sockets) in that CAB for a total of 32400 lumens at minimal, the more light the better (avoids stretching) just curious you using Female seeds?
well I could purchase cfls to start out with if they aren't insanely expensive??? ill be sure to get the best bulbs I can get though for the fluros if I don't end up switching to cfls now(im always up for reccomendations because I am a lil clueless right now to this) thanks for the heads up! and as for the seeds. no they will not be female... should I reconsider considering no veg chamber to see if my babies are fems? thanks for the great input! keep em coming
CFL's aren't too expensive, i picked up some $9 (23W) (2700 Lumens) from walmart, check out lowes or home depot thou, there are more choices of warm and cool types at these places with high lumen output CFL's (more expensive), i recommend picking up some y-sockets so you can hook up easy well if you are going to just grow with some bagseed its ok but i usually get pissed off with my luck, fem seeds aren't too expensive, take a look at these ice seeds for $33 from gypsy's 4 packs: (http://www.seedboutique.com/store/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=64&products_id=970) their are cheaper ones, just a tip for a small grow, but if you got the patience than its cool, you'll see the preflowers around 8-10"
I planned on buyin em. no bag seed for me. was thinking northern lights. heard it was good for indoor... but fem seeds for them are rather expensive.. ill spend up to 50 that's bout it for starters.. any good tips for keeping light out? I'm gonna have 2 doors. lil worried about that.. the plan is to build a frame right inside the door that is bout 2 inches wide to cover the gaps and use weatherstippping with a lock to hold it all tight.. using 4 3/4 inch pvc tubes drilled in at the bottom for venting and going to devise a carbon scrubber at the top back left corner hooked to the fan.
sounds like an excellent setup for keeping light from escaping, so far you seem to have it under control, as long as you have air circulating their should be no prob, also to get some C02, you may consider wanting to try the coke bottles, sugar water, and yeast this def helps out. Here's step by step (credit to kayakbubbler) 1) Poke a really small hole (the smaller the better) into the bottle cap 2) Pour in a couple cups of water, enough to put like 3 to 4 inches of water on the bottom of the 2 litre bottle. 3) Pour a cup of sugar into said water 4) Mix a tablespoon of yeast into a small amount of hot water until all the yeast is thouroughly blended. 5) Pour said yeast into said sugar water the screw on cap and place the bottle near the plants our behind a fan that is blowing on the plants. 6) Bubbles will be your best sign it's working, either that or put your finger over the hole in the cap for a few seconds then release it and you should hear "pssshhh".
thanks a ton man! I appreciate all ur posts and help I plan on keeping this thread all the way through my first grow so hopefully I can somehow help some other newb with all my dumb questions... so on to a question. I know u say 8000 to 11000 lumens but I'm going to be using a 150 hps after 2 weeks.. would it be cool if I used like 3200 lumens the first week and a half then put it on to hps with the cfls on still too? my thinking is smaller plant the smalller area the light has to soak in.... just trying to save money where I can but not wanting to mess up anything either! thanks again