So my stealth dresser project has turned into me moving into a new place and getting the thumbs up from the owner to have a small grow. (4-6 plants) the closet is 5'W,7'H, and 32"D. Here are my main questions: I want to use HPS, what wattage would y'all recommend? I plan to use my stealth dresser as a veg area using CFL, then move the little kids into the closet to flower with the HPS. Good idea? The closet has a drop ceiling, so I'm thinking I can vent up into the ceiling, using a carbon filter. Anyone have experience with drop ceilings? I'm assuming since it's so cheap and easy to work with I'll just cut the appropriate sized hole for the duct and vent up and out. Thanks in advance for any feedback. I'll be dishing out the rep as this project continues.
Don't pump warm/humid air into the drop ceiling it has nowhere to go. If your landlord gave you the thumbs up vent outside or into a different room. You could use anything from a 400 to a 1000W in there.. I'd wall out a 3 1/2' - 4' x 32" with a 4 or 600. That leaves you a 1 1/2' x 32" column you could convert into your veg/clone area eliminating the extra dresser. All depends on the yields your after.
there is about a 8" space between the drop ceiling and the actual floor of the house, and this space is consistent throughout the garden apt. is it still a bad idea to vent up there? your idea about walling out part of the closet is great. i'll definitely consider it. as far as yields go, i'm thinking somewhere between 4-6oz per harvest (4-6) plants is reasonable??
Forget HID for that space unless you want to cover the whole thing with mylar and spend 250+ on a cooling system. For closets, use fluorescents. Get some 4'x4tube T5 fixtures and light your plants from multiple sides and cool it with a normal house fan. Your results will be better and you will never have heat problems. Results will be better yet if you track down pure blue/red T5 tubes (various companies including philips makes them). 4-6oz/plant with 6 plants in that space isn't gonna happen unless you're using a 1000W in there and/or are an exceptional grower. Or you use strains that just produce weirdly high. HID isn't some kind of magic like most people think, and they GAIN efficiency at higher wattages. A 1000W HPS puts off ~3x what a 400W HPS does. Anything under 400W isn't even worth it with the other options out there. I'm not even sure anything under 600W is worth it now. Even if you go by straight lumens with standard HO T5 bulbs(awful comparison for anything as it overrates HPS like mad due to the yellow spike), 2 of those fixtures throws off 40k lumens. A 400W HPS throws off 50k lumens. You can put the T5 fixtures 1" from your plant. Yes, one inch. Obviously that HID is gonna be at least 2 feet away in that tiny ass space. Lumens drops off exponentially with distance... you do the math. Also if you use fluorescents, MAKE SURE YOU SWITCH TO ALL RED SPECTRUM DURING FLOWER (whether that's 3000k, 2700k or pure red). I have heard nothing but bad things about mixing blue/red in flowering past preflowering. I've flowered with fluorescents before and it works perfectly fine.
i'm such a turd. i didn't mean 4-6oz/plant. i meant to say somewhere around 1 oz/plant TOTALING 4-6oz/harvest. it's too early for me sorry about that. i'm truely interested in the T5 idea. i want lighting that is easily managed (bulb switching etc). what would you suggest for that closet. maybe a fixture mounted vertically in each corner and a couple fixtures (adjustable height) on the top? thanks for the response!
Rumple pulls 10-12+ ozs from his one plant grow with a bubble bucket and 400w.. 400s are underestimated
i'm thinking maybe 3 T5 fixtures. one to hang from top, one on each side. i could rotate the plants 180 degrees every couple days to get all sides. thoughts? would a 2 bulb fixture be enough? they make 4 bulb fixture as well...
does anyone have anything to say about the bad boy quantum, teklight, or sunblaze? i'm trying to pick which 8 bulb fixture to get....
If you do go with the t5 I am intrested in seeing if they live up to thier billing. I veg with a 200w cfl and t5 very much intrests me as a more ecconomical aproach. I already have plans in the works to replace my 250 hps with a 400. I dont want to grow any more as what i get now suites my needs 3 plants in each cabinet 8 week cycles, but i want to try and get my grows more efficent, maybe 16 weeks cutting to bong instead of 18.