ready to grow... any last tips

sounds like you're good to go, if i were you i'd invest in some mylar or black/white, or even paint the walls flat/matt white, its better than foil. plus if you're sleeping in the same room the fans rattleing the foil will annoy you (did me lo,)

GOOD LUCK!

 

would the foil create hot spots? Ive heard from a few people that they burned plants from using foil, but I don't know how accurate it would be to say that it was the foil and not something else they could have done.

 

yeah, it really makes sense to me, i think if it is ABSOLUTELY smooth it is fine, but better safe then sorry.

 

for odur control make yourself a carbon scrubber/filter, full instruction here
http://forum.grasscity.com/grow-roo...-step-instructions.html?highlight=make+carbon

 

Lots of Ozone, maybe. Ions, nah! mister2's link is a super-cheap way to get scrubbing, but even the professional ready-made units aren't too expensive.

Also, if flowering with pure HPS, consider a) an improved spectrum lamp (like a "Plantastar" or "Agro", or similar, and b) a UVB tube or two, which will increase the potency of your buds. Reptile lamps are ideal.

-mu

 

if smell is a big factor you are better off to be safe than sorry... save up for a scrubber or make one. You dont want to get ½ way through your grow and have pack it up because of smell. just my $.02. good luck on your grow

 

unless your doing sog or scrog, 400 watts isn't near enough for 20 plants. not even close. you'd need at least 1500w imho.

 

The light is enough, but like ISTANDALONE says, you'll need to do a SOG grow to fit in that many plants, or something like this.

With ScroG, you could fill that space with as little as one plant. A higher number of plants does not necessarily correlate to a higher yield.

Scrubbers aren't rated by their weight of carbon, they are rated by "cfm" (cubic feet per meter), and you want one that closely matches the cfm rating of your fan. I happen to know (from another thread I saw a few minutes ago) that a 200cfm scrubber contains 16 lbs of carbon, but this information still isn't much use until you calculate how big a fan you need to do the job.

This recent thread might also be helpful.

-mu

 

probly enough for a sog, but not a scrog me thinks. shit, if you can fit them all under it by all means go nuts!

 

Haha wait man, you're going to have heating problems. Your appt is probably 70-80F room temp. When you put that 400W MH, the ballast is going to get very hot and so is the bulb. That's going to add another 7-12 degrees and at 92F it's sweaty hot, esp inside a closet.

You're going to need to vent it out somewhere, the light from within the closet is going to shine through the cracks and if you leave the doors open, they'll light up your entire room so keeping the window open is a problem if you're trying to keep it safe. In my set up, I have a window AC that's on 18/6 to keep the room cool.

So you'll need some kind of ventilation or a window AC!! I tried everything from putting frozen water bottles in the resivors to setting frozen gallons infront of fans haha. You can go on craigslist.com and find a window AC for cheap! Then put a lot of junk around it like styrofone, black trash bags and then cover it up with posters.

OH and the odor...that's going to be a small problem, I'm at 6 weeks veg and my plants are stinking up my room. I have a little carbon filter on too, but when I throw them into flower, I'll stick it in the closet and it sohuld help reduce it...but I hear it's strong when they flower and strongest when you harvest.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o58/threepac4201/DSC02339.jpg Closet
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o58/threepac4201/DSC02094.jpg Window AC

 

Yup, drying is stinky. When you're growing, the most stinky time is just after lights-out in the last few weeks, when the humidity rises, and oh boy! Fill your apartment in under a minute.

Thanks God for activated carbon!

-mu

 

Jesus I can't believe nobody has noticed this. Dude DO NOT buy any soil that has moisture control. Those soils are probably worse for growing weed than the time release junk. Buy some good soil or all other discussions in the thread will be moot. Oh and for 20 plants an ionizer won't cut it. Build yourself either a carbon scrubber [there are a few good threads on here on how to do it yourself] or get an ozone generator.

 

I definatley agree. Dont buy any premix soil with nutes other than the Fox Farm mix. If you can, look into organic soil mixes. A little Guano, Bone Meal, Blood Meal, and Worm Castings can go a long way.
Your 400w HPS seems way more than adiquate. If possible you should try to score a bulb with a blue spectrum, so you can cover both areas of light. The blue spectrum works best in the veg cycle, while the red helps most in the flowring phase.
I also do a SOG grow in almost an identical space and I find that growing 10 plants is a great number. To start I would germ 10 seeds and try to find a strong female to clone from. Then grow 10 clones to almost 12" and induce flowering. Each plant (take into account varying genetics, and environment) could yeild any where from .5oz to 1.5oz.
Looks like your on your way to a great grow, and an even better harvest. Dont be afraid to ask for help.

 

Even Guano blood meal, bone meal and worm castings can burn seedlings. If he wants an hps with more blue for veg, the Hortilux is the way to grow.

 

Lets cover area - A 400 HPS is rated for a 3x3 grow area. There is no way to do 20 plants using any grow method in that area. Max per the SOG method is 9. Soil - Stay away from any time release nutes, the above mention types are best. You definitely need to vent your air out of the grow room, if its vented to the outside your smell problem will be minimum. Otherwise, big carbon scrubber. If your sleeping in the same room light will be a major issue during flowering, you don't want them hermieing on you.

 

Naaaah! You could SOG dozens of plants in that space!

-mu