Building first grow room: Genetics and Room layout questions...

[AnxiousCowboy]

I've been lurking grow forums since the overgrow days but never pulled the trigger as my living situation was never steady enough. I even went as far as getting some equipment off of Craigslist 7 years ago! Anyway, the time has come and I am cramming before I finally get going. I'm in the middle of framing out the grow room in my basement.

The Grow space I have allotted to myself is 15'x4'x8'. Five feet of the fifteen feet are under the stairs so the ceiling is sloped at a 45 degree angle.

The equipment I already have is:
1 - 1000w HPS light (I need a hood, was thinking cool tube?)
1 - 400w MH light (I also have a hps conversion bulb for this) with a hydrofarm hood
1 - Soler & Palau TD-100X 135cfm inline fan
Advanced Nutrients - G,M,B
Net pots
Rockwool Cubes
Air pump/airstone

Most research I have done up to this point has been for a DWC setup so I planned on doing 4 plants in 5gal buckets. I would also like to make this a perpetual grow. I was thinking of dividing the 10' portion of the room that is not under the stairs into two 5x4 rooms so I can run the MH setup for vegging 4 buckets in one room which can be moved into the HPS room when I flower. As for the sloped room under the staircase I was considering getting some T5s perhaps to keep seedlings/clones/mother under the stairs before they go under the MH for proper veg. I believe I am going to need more fan power, right? There is a 4" duct which goes outside that I can tie my ventilation into RIGHT next to the room which is convenient. I bought flanges for the hydrofarm hood to connect the ducting for the MH and need some advice on venting the HPS since I still need to purchase the hood and I am currently leaning toward the Cooltube....

Beyond the room design my next hang up is seeds. I've been researching most feminized seeds and have been compiling a list along the way for the day that I finally write this thread. Im not sure yet which pruning/training methods I am going to use.. probably just lst or with scrog-- figured I would choose seeds first and then research best methods for the strain I chose. As for seed research, here is what I've been looking at so far. I am TOTALLY open to any other recommendations as well as different opinions. I have a feeling I am overthinking this:
Rare Dankness - Ghost Train Haze #1 or Moonshine’s Ghost Train
Serious Seeds - AK-47
Sweet Seeds - Big foot, Green Poison, or cream 47
Female Seeds - c99 or Grapefruit
Nirvana - Northern Light
I would really love to eventually get into some unique strains and landraces. I've been smoking for 15 years but never had access to anything crazy or unique and would like some variety in my life instead of this virtually uncured alleged 'Blue Dream' or "blah blah cookies" that's all over the streets now. I'm also a sucker for old school strains since I was smoking around the town brown 10+ years ago so I missed out on all of the classics. I have a feeling I shouldn't get too crazy since I am inexperienced and having a hard enough time selecting a strain. I guess my primary focus right now is the typical potency, yield, and resilience that a first timer would need. As a side note I live in the country now and would like to get a guerilla grow going eventually (more research to do after I iron this grow room situation out!) so if any of these genetics would also do well outdoors in the North East USA that would be great albeit not a high priority at this point.

Based on this thread what are some of your opinions and recommendations? I am also about to buy Marijuana Growers Handbook by Ed Rosenthal. Thanks for any help! I am very excited to get this project going after wanting to for over a decade....!

 

[Jibman]

I would use air cooled hood. I also think you are going to need more air flow. Do you have intake and out? What about air filter? Pics of area?

As for strains just grow what you have and get some experience.

 

[apeshot]

I recommend buying good-value inexpensive strains from breeders such as Royal Queen, Mandala, Bomb, Dinafem, etc. Those companies produce seeds which are good for novice and advanced growers.

You will make mistakes and should save your money for expensive genetics after you have a couple of grows under your belt.

If you want specific recommendations as to strains, let me know and I will list some that I looked in to when I was first starting out.

 

[coldcanna]

Hey man glad to see someone new getting into it! First things first, you said northeast and you said basement... is this a nice, new, dry and clean basement or one of the damp wet mildewy ones that I associate with new england? If it's the latter is would suggest not pulling your fresh air in from the basement, if it's nice and clean then no sweat. I noticed you didn't mention an AC or dehumidifier which are both things that your going to need. For a small room like that you could just throw in a window banger AC while you do the framing, then get a 30 pint dehuey. DCW kicks ass but it's not the easiest way to Crack into growing, soil would be easiest but hey do what you choose it all works. For strain selection just buy something you wanna smoke. Most strains are fairly straight forward, I'd stay away from Haze varieties they take forever, and diesels can be a bit finicky, cookies are way to small and don't yield well. And on a final note, the grow room design sub forum has some great resourcestuff for sizing your ventilation and cooling, equipment selection aND wiring info. Good luck brotha

 

[Chunkypigs]

you could build that dividing wall with sheets of wood panels that were on hinges and open a 4 x 8 door into your flower rooms.

 

[ronbo51]

I would spend a lot of effort figuring out how to control that environment. You need to tightly control heat and humidity to both upper and lower levels. This includes lights on/lights off obviously. There are a lot of tricks to pull, different intake/exhaust strategies. Your room size is 15x4x8=480 cubic feet. Your fan is way undersized right? I have that fan in my cabinet and its 40 cubic feet. By the way those Soler and Palau fans are amazing. Good luck