I have an un finished basement with lots of room, I own the home and live by my self. keep to myself and not much traffic over here. I have about $5000 to spend. I currently have 4- 600w mh/hps lamps and 1- 4 bulb 48" daylight t12 I want a nice garden that can produce about 1lb/ week I dont mind starting small if possible I would like to refrain from using the large room(this is a want not a need) I only have 3- 15amp breakers in the basement (listed a,b,c) (this might be an issue) I only have 1 avalible location for the exhaust fan (listed) I can add breakers as needed
additional information.... medium; soil If I use the bedroom in the diagram as the flowering room could I put 16 plants under 1 600w lamp? (37.5w/ plant is kinda low huh?) I chose the 600W lamps due to the fact that I am working with 8ft celing heights... If my plants get to be 4ft tall and my pots are 1ft, and my lights hang down 1ft, then that only gives me 2ft of clearance. will 2ft be enough distance for a 1000w lamp?
you'll need around 30-50 plants (depending on size) growing at all times of the year to have 1lb per week flowing in.
8 ft is enough for 1000w lamps, but you already have the 600w so no need to upgrade, just get something good for raising the lights. I would put all 3 600w in the bedroom to keep all the flowering plants in one place, maybe buy another 600w so you can harvest every week with a good 8 week stagger system, you need a fairly indica dom. hybrid to achieve this. Put the veggers in the AC room, I'd build an enclosure or something though to shield the plants from anything. If you put the plants in the sump pump room it could get sloppy. Does the basement have flooding problems? You can fit a good amount in the bedroom. And a pound/2 weeks is probably what you can achieve without using the "living room" This might convince you to use aero/hydro Don Piano and Bud Nukem have a lot of experience with this, they'll find this probably.
You'll need a lot more light than what you have right now. Basically you are trying to do an 8-9 pound grow, which can take anywhere from 4-8+ lights depending on your skill level. With a grow this big, you might want to go with all 1000's if your breaker box will allow it.
no water leaking problems. but i did put in a reverse ossmosis system down there =-) I think I am going to run a 220v outlet to the bedroom and put 4- 1000w lamps in there. if I put in a 220v 40amp breaker will that be enough to run all 4 lamps? use the ac room as a veg room. and put up a wall in the sump pump room 1/2 drying and 1/2 cloning then pull the cool air from the drying room to cool the 1000w lamps... any thoughts on co2 generators for the bedroom?
Use 600W HPS. You'll thank me in the long run. More 600's is better than less 1000's. Secondly, make the basics work and THEN go wild with CO2. CO2 is poisonous to plants in too much ppm. Avoid CO2 for now. Figure out how to make one run happen and then work on making it better. Thirdly, $5,000 is not "a lot of money". You'll exhaust your resources quickly. Lastly, do you work full time? The work required to get 1lb. per wk. is less than that of a full time job but still labor intensive when starting up. Once things are rolling less labor intensive but still labor that needs to be done. You have extra time to not only grow but to trim the plants? You'll find the harvesting trim to be the most exhausting time for you, especially if you work full time like I do. Growing is not your moms garden. This is "WORK".
Def start small and play around a little to get the hang of it before you jump in. There are alot of small expenses that come up that you just dont expect, trust me on that
that condecending reply is DEAD ON correct info. eyes get sore after trimming almost 2 lbs of wet plant. first time it took me about 15 hours with some help of the wife. it was worth it, but damn it really was work. 5 g's is a bit of money to start something you dont know a whole lot about. my first setup cost me about 500, now im up to 3500 now. keep us posted on ur grow room
Lol, i like how basically no one has provided any useful info. Well unfortunetely i'm going to join in with them, but atleast i can admit i dont have anything to add lol. Wish i could bro, i grow with a 600w vegin, and a 1000w flowering - 2 seperate rooms. No where near the size that your grow will be thou, cant help you much man, = / GL!!
lol, I know... Im coming here for information and all I have gotten was "its too hard for a rookie, and 5G's aint shit!" I have friends that have had very successful gardens and I have helped with the harvest. I KNOW THAT ITS NOT EASY!!!! thanks for the reminder. these guys have told people about their garden, and word has spread faster than herpes on a hookers!!!!! I want to keep of the radar!!!! so I am not going to seek the advice of friends who cant keep their mouths shut. as far as room layout, I think Im going to section off a part of the living room in the basement and make that the veg room. then use the bedroom as the flowering roomf, with the furnace room as a clone room and the sump pump room as the drying room. I think I should have titled my post "want to grow huge garden with $50 and 1 black light and a shoebox," its seems that those guys get more use-able advice. Thanks to anyone who did provide any info, or a positive confidence inspiring thought!