Hello everyone im new to community her and Im interested in starting a small grow, maybe 2 or 3 plants. Ill be constructing a grow box to suit my needs and i am receiving some second hand equipment from a few experienced friends. The one thing im hung up on is temperatures. I have the option of growing in a closet in which case i will build a box to fit(limited space so this would be a plan b) and temperature isnt really an issue worth discussing here. My other option which is what i would prefer would be to set up in an unfinished area of my home. Since winter is fast upon my area the outside air temperature has me worried. Can i insulate this box and rely on the lights to keep the temperature within an acceptable range? Would i need to supplement the space with some secondary heat source? Or should i just forget about this option and make use of the available closet space? The only aspects of stealth i need to ensure would be power consumption and odor elimination. I have no reason to visually hide what i am doing so my box will be basic and only serve its purpose just cant have my house stinking like weed other then when i burn lol. so any way thanks for any help and i look forward to honing my craft. Most likely with more help then none haha. Cheers!
[quote name='"grow2show"']Hello everyone im new to community her and Im interested in starting a small grow, maybe 2 or 3 plants. Ill be constructing a grow box to suit my needs and i am receiving some second hand equipment from a few experienced friends. The one thing im hung up on is temperatures. I have the option of growing in a closet in which case i will build a box to fit(limited space so this would be a plan b) and temperature isnt really an issue worth discussing here. My other option which is what i would prefer would be to set up in an unfinished area of my home. Since winter is fast upon my area the outside air temperature has me worried. Can i insulate this box and rely on the lights to keep the temperature within an acceptable range? Would i need to supplement the space with some secondary heat source? Or should i just forget about this option and make use of the available closet space? The only aspects of stealth i need to ensure would be power consumption and odor elimination. I have no reason to visually hide what i am doing so my box will be basic and only serve its purpose just cant have my house stinking like weed other then when i burn lol. so any way thanks for any help and i look forward to honing my craft. Most likely with more help then none haha. Cheers![/quote] Temperature can be always be adjusted with the use of inline fans, AC, space heater, etc.
I have a space heater i just dont want the cost of opperation to get to high(no pun intended). I suppose i can do a dry run and leave a digital thermometer in the box and see what temps my lights can sustain.
Don't ever worry about power consumption. The power company's LOVE your money so as long as you pay your bill they wont even look twice. My power bill is $300 and I run 4k + in lighting/ventilation and have never heard from the power company. I would use the closet for the winter and move it to the cooler spot of your home in the summer. And fan and carbon filter combo will take care of your smell without a problem especially if your only growing 2-3 plants.
Haha im not so concerned with suspicion from the power company as i am with the cost... i aint made of money lol.
How many watts will you be running? Including fans and lights? 1000w is roughly $1.10 a day to run for 12 hrs. where I live. With 2-3 plants you won't need over 400w of light maybe 600w total including fans would be dirt cheap in comparison to how much you spend on buying it on the street. An ounce costs me about $20 to grow.
I havent worked that out yet. I have a metal halide and 4 dual socket cfl fixtures from a larger grow. Im not sure if i want to have both mounted and wired to timers. The halide being on a 18/6 for veg and the cfls on a 12/12 for flower and just flip a switch when its time change the cycle
in my closet i am running a 600watt as well i have a 6inch inline fan with a filter attached, i just cut a six inch hole in the wall to the side of the door and fastened to ducting into it works great my room stays at a constant 74. as far as not being made of money..well.. growing is an expensive hobby for the most part.
Just run the MH light honestly the CFL's won't produce the same amount as the MH light. Yes it's better to run HPS but I've done a full grow with only MH, there's not much of a difference honestly.
Really i was under the impression an mh bulb wouldnt produce a good bud. Which is why i was going switch over to the cfls. And if i do run both cycles with the halide do i leave it 18/6 or switch to a 12/12? Simulating nature as close as possible is best no?
The CFL's are MUCH weaker in comparison to the MH light that's why I would run it instead. Color temperature isn't as important as wattage/ lumen output in my opinion.Yes run 18/6 till your ready to flower then just switch it to 12/12, easy as pie.
So i have decided on a few details... im going to dry run the box with a 150w MH and see how it holds heat. I can wrap my box with insulation if needed. 2 inline duct fans, one intake and one exhaust with an active carbon filter for the odor. Light traps on both if needed. Ill runn the lights at night when its coldest and make sure the temps stay within reason with lights on or off. I can use a space heater at the inlet duct to supplement heat. Or maybe terrarium heat bulbs? Will those types of bulbs have any effect if theyre on while the rest of the lights are off? Since i want to do this in an area of moderate cold temps i was thinking i could use a t stat to turn the space heater on and off like your home heating would. What i havent decided is what soil i should use. I was thinking about using vital earth manna mix. has any one used this? Suggestions?
I dont think you would need to wrry to much about the temps if its inside the house in a cupboard,, the average temperature of a house in Scotland during January is about 15 degrees, thats 55 degrees north latitute, unless your living in a wooden hut in the middle of Lapland I dont believe you need to worry about the temps inside your house.
just go on ebay and get a 4inch inline fan +carbon filter combo. itll be about 150 and itll really kill the smell which is ur biggest concern. plants can take the heat..up to mid 90s and still flower well from my experience... but get that filter 3 plants will STINK