I'm moving into a new house and I was pretty happy to see that I have such a big closet, perfect for growing some personal plants. The area I'd grow in would be about 2x3x7. My main question has to do with ventilation. Would I be able to use a regular commercial fan or two, or would I have to install an intake/outake for 2-3 plants? And how much would lighting both veg and flower would you suggest for 2-3 plants? For flower I'd like to use HPS (would 250 be enough?) and for veg flouros, most likely but I'm not the most handy person so something easy to assemble would be nice. Any help?
Im in almost an identical grow space, and have a 250watt MH/HPS system going. I had to get an intake fan because the heat builds up really quickly in such a small space. With an intake fan and some ducting im able to pretty easily maintain ~80*F. Without, temps soared above ~90*F. If you can remove the light fixture at the top of the closet, you can set the duct to pull heat right off your MH/HPS light fixture and out the top of the room into an attic or crawl space or something. Basicly, if you are looking at a MH/HPS system you WILL need ventilation more than a few wall fans. My ventilation system, including a heavy duty carbon scrub cost around $75 USD. What you should check out is t5 flouros. I wish I had, as it would have saved me a little cash and less of a need for such a serious intake & exhaust system. Also, after seeing some posts on here in the grow journal section, I'm not so convinced that MH/HPS is necessarily going to yield that much better than t5 when done right. Look through some of the indoor grow journals, more than one are labeled as closet grows, they will continue to point you in the right direction for your situation. If you are looking for easy smeazy, check out some kits like the one listed below High Tech Garden Supply
fresh air is just as important as lights. so yes you will have to have fresh air coming in and old air going out. You can get inline fans starting at $20 from HTG supply online. Then you will need to buy sections of pipe from your local hardware store to hook them up. My first grow was in a 3 X 4 closet with a 400 watt light and I tried to just keep the door open when the lights were on but on my second grow I had exhaust and intake fans hooked up and my plants were much healthier. yeild was better too! Remember plants will suffer if temps are not right too. My opinion is 75-85 is ideal. Over 90 and your plants will suffer. Good luck!
Hmm, they seem to include everything but ventilation I'm gonna look a bit more into the t5 that you mentioned....is it in any way worse then an HPS setup? And assuming I did use a t5, would a regular fan or two be enough? I know I need to do some homework, but thats all I really wanna know lol
Well ventilation can easily be purchased on ebay, finding a good deal is pretty easy. T5 dont require as much ventiliation because they dont make as much heat, and you can get a pretty decent lumen (or light output) with them. They produce more than enough light to cook up some pretty tasty looking buds, if you have the right amount and go about doing the right thing otherwise. One of the differences in t5 and MH/HPS is the amount of light output in a t5 is significantly less than mh/hps. This is why you need to have enough bulbs up, but 2-3 plants is definitely do-able with t5. Also, you need to make sure you get the right spectrum of light for your veg state and flowering. BUT like maverik mentioned, you do need fresh air on your plants. There are some threads on here about making intakes out of PC fans and what not, and that would be enough to circulate some fresh air in your(our) grow situation. Two things about air you need to keep in mind: First plants need direct stimulation from air circulation for proper stem growth. It makes for a sterdy stem, which acts as a conduit for nutrients, which in turn provides those buds with their food. Second, plants "breath". Like any thing that "breaths" they need a fresh source of air, hence why you need some kind of air intake. Look around this forum a little more, I do beleive there are a few DiY intake fan threads. Good luck man!