2x3x7 Closet. Help me design

[RaZoR!]

With a 2x3x7 closet, what is the ideal wattage I should run? I was thinking about getting an HLG 225. What kind of fan and ventilation should I run?

 

[Frosty Nuggets]

A HLG260XL Rspec will do nicely, use a 6" exhaust fan and a couple of circulating fans.

 

[RaZoR!]

Where would the exhaust run to? Through the dry wall of the inside of the closet to the room? Carbon scrubbing?

 

[Lightmeup209639]

With a 2x3x7 closet, what is the ideal wattage I should run? I was thinking about getting an HLG 225. What kind of fan and ventilation should I run?

If you're new to growing, and due to an anomaly explained below, I can recommend CFL's or Compact fluorescent Lamps for your small cupboard. You won't need any ventilation, so no advanced DIY skills needed here for drilling bore-holes for ducting or knocking down walls. Heh, don't let these guys mislead you!

You can simply dangle your CFL from a hook using the power lead. The smaller Maxibright Blue 6400K 125w lamp (below) is sufficient for this. 12 hours on, and 12 hours off from seed is sufficient to go straight into flowering from 4 weeks from seed. Try and keep the lamp the optimum 10cm to 15cm from the top of your plants.

A plug in air freshener would be a benefit, as this neutralizes odour for small setups.

Use a few litres of good quality peat, in a suitable tub with plenty of drainage holes. If you can't get peat, use the best quality compost you can get, for example Orchid-compost. But avoid cheap Compost which in my experience it has poor drainage and is too rich in nutrients. Try to sterilize your peat or compost with hot water the first time you use it, or your substrate may incubate the eggs and larvae of small flies to your bedroom. Allow to cool completely. Hand water weekly or as required, keeping damp, not wet.

You just need to add a timer-plug to turn your lamp on & off, which is cheaply available anywhere from £1 to £6. This should be plenty of initial outlay.

Now, I don't know if Maxibright intended this? But the Maxibright Blue 6400K lamp produces nice short plants that flower 4 weeks from seed, using 12 on, and 12 off light cycle from seed. I accept that I should have used 18 or 24 hours on, and they might not have flowered so early. This could therefore be utilised. However, despite the squatness of the plants, and reluctance to produce large amounts of vegetation, THIS PRODUCES GREAT RESULTS FOR NEWBS. IMO, any newb can get a good supply of weed from about 10 weeks. From about 10 weeks you can expect 4cm chunky colas, although I appreciate this is still quite an early stage of cola growth.

Being an experienced CFL grower, at first I was suprised and a bit disappointed with my Maxibright's performance at producing small squat plants. After about 6 weeks I thought the plants had stopped growing. Then I realised, they were still growing, and they were actually in bud! I was however, contemplating several months of vegging and then flowering my plants. But now I realise that I have already got viable chunky buds, so I have since changed my mind. This is a very quick and discreet option for newb growers. The small plants also offer stealth, since they are not very smelly, like a big lumbering load of veg I would normally have to flower for months. And, my plug in air freshener easily overpowers the small plants odour. Therefore, after careful thought, there is no point vegging them any more, and I am just going to continue to flower them to see how much cola I can really get.

What I thought was bad news, is actually great news me and for newbs who 'can' get some weed, safely and quickly, and in a 'much easier way' than conventional growing; although this may be an anomaly. So, to all the newbs and stealth growers out there: Maxibright CFL's are great value for money if you want small high yeilding plants.

Ok, so far? You need to get a good supply of seeds, and enough so you can take a few plants out early for toking. At least 5, but up to 10 feminized seeds are required here due to the small nature of the plants, and early toking. But they needn't be the most expensive seeds. Try to get mid-range or short plants typically known as Indica. Sativa are known for their tall growth, often exceeding 1.5m, though they might work with this setup. Have a look at some seeds vendors on ICMag here https://www.icmag.com/ic/index.php OR here https://www.icmag.com/ic/forumdisplay.php?f=15 (The first may be easier IMO, but I put both links for you to look yourself).

Now, soak your seeds for 24 hours, then place them on top of the damp compost, keeping covered with a small container, to keep the seeds moist. Return every day to damp down each of the seeds with more water. They should sprout within a few days. When the root is more than 1cm long, make a small hole and insert the root. Don't cover the seed completely. Now, just leave them to grow. The seed-shell (or coat) will come off by itself eventually, and it's advisable not to try to help this process, risking certain harm to seedlings. I can't advise you about using light at this stage, but if they go 'leggy' or too-tall, just use supports. TBF, I think natural light may be the best for seedlings, but most people don't want to risk showing them; after all the stealth that just been invested. In a few weeks it won't matter about the seedling stage. The most they will go 'leggy' is about 10cm.

Heres what a plant at 10 weeks of flowering will look like:

In context, after 10 weeks you can expect an 18cm plant, with 4cm main cola. Continue to grow the plant using your Maxibright Blue 6400K lamp to double or treble the plants cola size for another 20 weeks or so. As soon as you introduce a Red 2700K the plant will start to ripen, and ooze even more resin than the Maxibright Blue 6400K already produces.

I think it's optional, in this case, whether you get hold of a Maxibright Red 2700K, to ripen your plants more, due to the good capabilities of the Maxibright Blue 6400K lamp, which IMO is slightly in the dual spectrum, and produces a good amount of resin. You will see this happening early on. In fact using this single Maxibright Blue 6400K and a satisfactory substrate, produces much better results than some growers who have spent many hundreds of £'s, and even better results than some of our more experienced growers who have many seasons of growing experience under their belts.

There seems to be an anomaly with Maxibright Blue 6400K lamps, in that they are able to produce buds in the Blue spectrum. My previous brand of CFL didn't do this; it vegged much larger plants which didn't flower in the Blue spectrum. But my previous brand are also said to have gone bust, so there’s no point mentioning them here. I don't see why all Maxibright lamps shouldn't have the same anomaly; I can't guarantee this, but hey, iv'e seen Maxibright 125w's for £20 on the Bay.

So, here you are, a cheap way to start growing, that should return your investment several times, in just a single grow (compared with weed at street prices), and get you a supply of weed from about 10 weeks, just using just a Maxibright Blue 6400K lamp.

You could go for a Dual Spectrum lamp, but I can't vouch for the results.

But please be advised, another brand of CFL may NOT produce the same results, such as small squat plants with chunky colas at 10 weeks. Blue 6400K CFL's are meant to meerly propogate and veg plants. In the past my CFL's did do this, until I came accross Maxibright. Therefore, Maxibright has to used in this case. But there are plenty available cheaply.

I appreciate there will be differences in opinion, about the peformance of Maxibright, and some of the other things I mentioned. But, this is all comes from a very experienced grower. IMO Maxibright robustly produce very small plants, which indeed, go well into bud after just 4 weeks, and all just using the Maxibright Blue 6400K lamp.

I appreciate other brands of CFL lamps perform differently. Some of this variation may be down to the quality of the lamp, in that the correct amount of Argon and Mercury has to be installed into the lamp, and you can watch a video about this here: https://youtu.be/QXc1c31WB_k
[youtubeif]https://youtu.be/QXc1c31WB_k[/youtubeif]

This is however, very good news for newbs. Like I said I don't know if Maxibright intended to make lamps in this performance. But it virtually guarantees a supply of bud after just 10 weeks. Although the plants are small, and you will need more seeds to grow more plants than usual, you'll get nice supply of chunky little colas from each one. Absolutely great, what more could a newb want? And even with the cost of the initial outlay and seeds, the amount of weed you get here is easily miles cheaper and better than any drugs dealer would offer. Morally, not involving newbs with organised crime or persons involved with crime. What could be better than that?

Perhaps we could have more real time reviews of CFL's, LED's, HID's and other grow lights on here.

Best of luck to newb growers. Many thanks to everyone else for reading.

 

[MoS]

Or choose an LED light, eg. the Mars Hydro TS 1000 or the SpiderFarm SF 1000 for that size of closet/cabinet.