Hello all. This will be my very first grow. I plan on building the box with oak wood. I need it sturdy so I can put my tv and other crap on it. And stealthy because I am on the eastcoast. I figure if the govt can put flouride in my water I can put reefer smoke in my lungs. I am doing two strains simultaneously. Blue Cheese and White widow . I am thinking in the flowering cabinet I'll use a 400w hps. In the other cabinet I have no idea what I should use maybe a 250w hps This is going to be a soil grow. Any advice and criticisms are more than welcome.
For the mother and clones i would use a MH lamp. And yes you are right about putting reefer smoke in your lungs.
Thanks for the input. Im going to start building as soon as I get my tax returns. I want it to be a perpetual grow. Cropping out every 5 weeks. Guess I have to redo the box now because of that....
OK I have a few grows under my belt. Using a 400w. Your gonna need excellent ventilation for a 400w. So if the fan noise is gonna compromise your grow you better pick another light. Also your gonna struggle to keep it cool. I have found the noise to compromise my grow area more than light leaks or smell. Biggest thing you can get away with quietly indoors is a few 120mm computer fans. Which will cool cfl bulbs or maybe a 250w. You can veg under a hps I have done so. Ppl say its veges slower than a mh. Maybe. But my results weren't dissapointing.
Thanks cousined. I really dont want to use cfls unless for vegging. Fan noise isnt going to be too much of a problem. I stay near the ocean so its always loud out here with the waves and the boats. Smell isnt either. It always smells like seawater 24/7. Im gonna use a 5 inch fan on the inside and 8 intake fans. Im going to get a carbon filter and a fan to pull the heat outside of the box and out the window. Whats the ideal temp for optimal growth? How much of a difference does a cooltube make?
Your gonna need a cooltube for a 400w in a small space. I used a stanly blower from Walmart modified. It movesassive amounts of air. I'm telling you your gonna hear a fan powerful enough to cool a 400w even if you lived beside an airport. Ventilation is the number one thing people underestimate. I did. Maybe if u bought one of those super quiet can fans. Don't even attempt computer fans w a hps Everyone's first grow is like "plants just sprouted temps at 100 degrees!" Lol
I'm worried about this same issue. Building a stealth grow cabinet 4x x 2d x 3h and still trying to figure out whether to go HID or CFL. I will keep an eye on this thread and offer any advice I find along the way. Good luck!
A cousined i have switched it up. Im going to run 2 150w hps cooltube through the flowering and a 150 w hps in the vegging part. Ill try to explain this as best as i can. Ill have a 150 over an A&B and connect the coot tube from the bottom. So it would be like a big U
Your gonna want a metal halide for veg. With its own cooltube and its own fan. Then the two hps can run a air hose like a u between them with there own fan also. So you will have 3 fans going. Its essential to have the intake ,cooltube, and exhaust for the light seperate from intake and exhaust tract of the room. This is the only way to separate bulb heat from the grow area. Do not let the cooltube suck air from inside the grow area. Cut it an intake a run a hose to it separate from the rooms intake. You could use a 250w hps to avoid 2 coolyubes and simplify things a bit in your flower cab
will a 250w be enough to flower 4 plants? If so Ill get that. Cheaper is better as far as Im concerned. Ill have the intake and exhaust from the cooltube on the top and have the carbon filter exhaust on the top and the intake on the bottom, and the mh till be the same minus the carbon filter. SInce you mentioned how loud the fans can get Im trying get the quietest ones possible.. Did my taxes yesterday so in about a week week and a half ill have all the funds to build. Thanks bud. @stashville since ive been reading on GC i decided not to do cfl. Im trying for a perpetual 5 week harvest so the first five weeks from clone to vegging I need to get as big as possible. And the consensus from the amazing growers up here say Mh. ANd the HPS is just great for flowering. That was a no brainer for me
cool man glad to help a fellow blade! i done 4 plants under a 400w and yeildid prolly 10oz is 5 gal buckets. im sure a 250w will yeild 5 oz or more off 4. i would prolly scrog or maybe even sea of green if this is gonna be perpetual. a perpetual grow is faster and yeilds more with lots of smaller plants. also for the fans, think vibration dampening. like rubber isolators etc. helps alot. im currently doin a single plant dwc inside a 55gallon drum. it has a 5g rez the drum is the grow space. steath is one of my concenrs 10 26w cfls. 2 above the plant and 8 around it like a circle 4 high up and 4 down low. like a zig zag of lights 360 degrees around the plant with two bulbs above it. my thinking is more lights than plants for my space. especially since its a cylinder. i will post some pics later. post any other questions you have.
Thanks for the input cousined. How does the hydro grow work for you? I am honestly thinking about it seeing how easy it is to screw up a soil by overwatering and the cost of buying soil every month. What say you?
Also I am definitely going to LST without a doubt. Saw an elastic training tutorial by Microgrower420 and it blew me away.
my soil cost what it did to build my hydro setup. im using an ebay ph and tds meter tho. havent got my plants in it yet as the seeds are germing now. this will be my first hydro run! i hate carrying plants to the sink to water them cuz of runoff in soil. hydro is so much cleaner and the yeild is more. my soil grows produced grade a dank tho, organics throw a nice look, smell, and taste to the plants. i used botanicare pure blend pro and everyone loved the taste.
Im going to do alot of research on hyrdo because im interested in it. Clean, less pests and less mess. Keep me informed on your grow. Very interested to see how it turns out for you.