Advice needed for a closet sized grow

[404closet]

Hi everyone, I'm a newcomer which has only harvested once in soil, now i decided to get a better setup:

Cabinet: 1.5'x1.5'x3.5', vertical usable space 2.5'. extendible to 3.5' if needed.

Lights: CFLs only, 2x 23w + 1x 125w at the top, 4x 40w in the middle, total: 20000+ lumens.

Setup: a DWC 8 gallon res +150gal/h water pump for flooming (air pumps are too noisy!), Hempy Buckets if needed (keep reading...).

Nutes: Lucas formula with GH's nutes.

Goal: ~1oz/month of cured buds.

Well, so far it has been all drill and screwdrivers, now comes the interesting (and difficult) part.

So far i've managed to get an hydroton only Hempy Bucket and a DWC res up and running, seeds pop and germinate in both and everything seems to be going well.

Now here's where i get paranoid. I only have 1.5'x1.5' so I have to plan how to grow my ladies before i start if i don't want 'em to get wild and conquer my bedroom.

My first idea was to get an XL yielder hybrid (PPP) in DWC + 2x 1liter HBs with smaller lollipopped plants and veg until the main (the one in DWC) is 20" tall (2/3 of the available height).

Questions:

1) Which you think is the best way to maximize yield? Having 4/more small Hempy Buckets with tall lollipopped plants, 2 plants in DWC only grew with LST/pruning, one in DWC and 2 in HBs?
Keep in mind that i have more height than width.

2) Will they fit in 1.5'x1.5' when mature?

3) To fill the height of the cab i should veg em around 8 weeks right? Thus
expanding the time needed to harvest, so: more veg = more height = more buds = more time, but will this ever yield ~4oz in ~4 months?

To me, the most elegant solution seems to be having more little plants expanding in height and bounded in width, but will they fill 30" at the end without becoming fat? 4 plants in 1.5x1.5 means ~5"x5" width each! Also i do really like DWC and prefer it over HBs, would 2 plants in a tank be a better solution? It could speed up the whole process (?) and 1.5oz/plant in 3 months with 30" tall plants seems achievable...

Obviously i don't expect these rates at my first attempt (although it won't be bad ).

Guys i just need some advices, i'm screwing up a little, i have almost everything in its place, just need to rearrange things in order to fit the style I'll choose and need a wiser advice. I'm inexperienced, so... please Cannabis Grownig Gurus, take some time to help me start grow my medicine.

 

[hush]

1) SCROG is always the number one way to maximize yield in a small space. Also, it doesn't matter that you have more vertical space than horizontal space because you are using CFLs, which already means you have to keep things short. So try not to factor in your vertical space so much unless you are setting up a vertical grow, which you are not. Just think of it as a 1.5' x 1.5' garden that you already know you have to keep short.

2) Yes, mature plants will fit in that sized space, but it's almost impossible to make a blanket statement about this. 4 plants vegged for 2 weeks would work for many popular hybrids, but not a landrace sativa. 1 plant vegged for 1 month could be trained to fit the space, too. It has more to do with knowing your genetics, knowing what to expect in terms of growth, and then factoring in how long they will be vegged. But if you know your genetics, you can do some pre-planning to determine if you will need 4 plants vegged for 2 weeks, or 2 plants vegged for 4 weeks.

3) Not at all. This isn't as formulaic as you want it to be, unfortunately. Again, it has to do with the genetics of the strain you are growing. A strain's growth characteristics will dictate how long you need to veg for your own space requirements.


My advice is to start with hybrids that are known to be heavy yielders in general. A good 50/50 hybrid would get you started. Try to find a strain that is known to branch, instead of making a single cola. Then, plant 2 of them in your DWC tub under a SCROG screen. Keep in 18/6 until the screen is about 2/3 to 3/4 full, then flip to 12/12. That should get you in the ball park.

It is definitely do-able, to get 4 ounces every 4 months using the lights you listed, but don't necessarily expect it on your first harvest. Usually there are some learning curves for every new setup.

 

[404closet]

Hey hush, thanks for stopping by

So you think 2 plants in DWC with a SCROG screen would be the way to go.. Well, considering res, screen and lights, I'll end up having 2 feet to fill with colas

I just don't know a lot about SCROG, time to start learning something new

Also my strain of choice is Nirvana's Pure Power Plant: hybrid, big yields, low smell, anxiety-proof high (at least they and their users say so...), it fits my needs

Waiting for others to share their thoughts

 

[RonSmooth]

Are you dead set on DWC? A hempy bucket with coco would be easier and produce just as well IMO.

With your space and lighting , a single plant SCROG would probably be best. You dont even need and actual screen. Just top and train the branches so the canopy fills the horizontal space. The even horizontal canopy will utilize the CFLs best.

3.5' of vertical space will get filled quickly unless you train the plants. And in training them to grow horizontally, youre only going to have room for one.

8 weeks veg is too long for that space. If you want to grow more than one at a time, youll have to flower soon after the plants are rooted/established.

 

[404closet]

Nice points Ron!

1) I do like both systems I just can't decide... this needs further readings.

2/3) I'm sold on trying SCROG, now I'm thinking that if I have only one plant I'll have to veg her X days to fill up the screen (even a virtual one), if i have 2 plants I'll end up filling the same space in ~X/2 days, thus having the same amount of buds with less veg time so more yield/month. Am I wrong? :S

Now one question about lights, I haven't started yet and am already afraid of seeing all those bulbs sockets hung around, so I was thinking of putting a damn 150w Agro HPS with separate ballast in there, i just don't want to spend too much time/money building a proper ventilation system, right now i only have: a 100mm PC-fan in the box, a 4" hole and a 120mm PC fan out. I do not want to put up noisy things such as extractors and the like... If i take a remote ballast 150w HPS, will a 100mm PC fan glued to the reflector + an another 120mm fan out keep the temperatures OK or is this just fantasy? Now with 150w of CFLs at 5" from ground I get 78° where the room temp is 68°.

A 150w HPS Agro bulb + reflector + fan + ballast will cost me as 8x 40w CFLs and gives better yields with less annoyances (heat apart)...

Oh and guys, thanks for following me, your advice is really appreciated and needed.

 

[RonSmooth]

Nice points Ron!

1) I do like both systems I just can't decide... this needs further readings.

2/3) I'm sold on trying SCROG, now I'm thinking that if I have only one plant I'll have to veg her X days to fill up the screen (even a virtual one), if i have 2 plants I'll end up filling the same space in ~X/2 days, thus having the same amount of buds with less veg time so more yield/month. Am I wrong? :S

Now one question about lights, I haven't started yet and am already afraid of seeing all those bulbs sockets hung around, so I was thinking of putting a damn 150w Agro HPS with separate ballast in there, i just don't want to spend too much time/money building a proper ventilation system, right now i only have: a 100mm PC-fan in the box, a 4" hole and a 120mm PC fan out. I do not want to put up noisy things such as extractors and the like... If i take a remote ballast 150w HPS, will a 100mm PC fan glued to the reflector + an another 120mm fan out keep the temperatures OK or is this just fantasy? Now with 150w of CFLs at 5" from ground I get 78° where the room temp is 68°.

A 150w HPS Agro bulb + reflector + fan + ballast will cost me as 8x 40w CFLs and gives better yields with less annoyances (heat apart)...

Oh and guys, thanks for following me, your advice is really appreciated and needed.

Check out PLL fixtures. They are the most efficient high output fluorescent lights.

I have this one from HTG:

http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-HTG-Supply-2-Foot-4-Lamp-PL-55-Tek-Lamp

I use it for veg but I wouldn't hesitate to use it for flowering if I couldnt use my 600w HPS.

There are threads with instructions for DIY PLL fixtures. I would have gone this route if I knew more.

You can cool this fixture easily and it has a slim profile so it wont take up much headroom.

You also dont need an intake fan. Just a decent exhaust fan will be enough to draw air in passively through an opening on the opposite side.

 

[404closet]

Hi Ron, thanks to your tips i've adjusted my setup.

Moved the intake fan to a bottom corner at plants level pointing upwards, leaving just a passive intake hole.

For the lights, PLLs seems to be what I'm looking for, but I'm on budget and those things are pretty expensive here, also the higher watt ones (>= 36w) are too long for this space so i should buy a lot of lower watt ones or place them vertically, so for this first time I'll just stick with CFLs and keep adding more bulbs. If the harvest will be unfair I'll think about switching to a 150w hps with a cooltube or something.

Also i had two sprouts from unknown seeds, one in DWC one in 1lt HB, both in rockwool surrounded by hydroton. Now, the one in HB sprouted later but already shows the first set of small leaves, the other one seems to be almost dead and has been moved to a second HB. So i think I'll Keep It Simple as i appear to be Stupid (Ignorant would fit better, but the acronym says so ) and only use HBs like you suggested. Res and pump could come handy for automating the buckets later.

Now I only have to paint my walls flat white, buy a net for SCROG and GH's nutes, so in a couple of days I'll start my first journal for this "test". Thanks for your inputs, and pass by if you can