First time grower with a few questions

[cde80]

Hey, I have been searching for a few weeks about growing but I am still not clear on a few things. If you could help me out, I'd appreciate it.

I am using half of the closet space in my bedroom, the area for growing will be 4 ft. length, 2 ft. deep, 6ft. height. I plan on using 1 1000w hps to grow probably northern lights(oasis maybe) or something similar since many on here have said that it is a good grow for a beginner.

1) How many plants should I go with? A bunch of smaller pots or just a few big pots?

2) Can I use the 1000w hps from seed to bud if I want or is it a must to get different lower watt bulbs for beginning of grow?

3) Is it better to go 24 or 18/6 for veg?

4) Will one oscillating fan be enough for circulation and to keep temps and humidity stable?

Also, if you think that is too much light or not enough for that amount of space, let me know.

Thank you for your help

 

[halfbaked]

Hey, I have been searching for a few weeks about growing but I am still not clear on a few things. If you could help me out, I'd appreciate it.

I am using half of the closet space in my bedroom, the area for growing will be 4 ft. length, 2 ft. deep, 6ft. height. I plan on using 1 1000w hps to grow probably northern lights(oasis maybe) or something similar since many on here have said that it is a good grow for a beginner.

1) How many plants should I go with? A bunch of smaller pots or just a few big pots?

2) Can I use the 1000w hps from seed to bud if I want or is it a must to get different lower watt bulbs for beginning of grow?

3) Is it better to go 24 or 18/6 for veg?

4) Will one oscillating fan be enough for circulation and to keep temps and humidity stable?

Also, if you think that is too much light or not enough for that amount of space, let me know.

Thank you for your help

Hi cde80.
Yes you can use that HPS all the way through except when in the seedling stage, as they are kind of fragile at that point. Iwould use a small flouro for the first week or so or make sure that big light is far enough away that it won't hurt the little one's
The 1000 watt Hps is more than enough for your space. The only possible problem would be heat but I don;t think you can have to much light.
As to how many plants to grow, You have enough light to grow a bunch of plants but the space is going to limit the number. Remember, it's one plant per pot. you can start in smaller containers but you'll have to transplant as the plants get bigger. Considering the space you have I would germinate all the seeds,assuming we're talking about a 10 pack, and go from there. As the grow progresses you'll have some males that will have to be removed, leaving more space for the females. You want 3 to 5 gallon pots per plant when they get bigger or they'll become root bound.
As for the Fan, I don't know. Is there A/C going into that closet? If so it may be enough but you may need more than one to keep temps down in there.

Hope this helps.Good luck with your grow.

PS: I prefer 18/6 for veg as it gives the plants a chance to rest.

 

[AmnesiaHaze]

to run a 1000hps in that space i think u shuld maby go with a 400 or alot of fluros, or some huge ass fans as 1000s do get hot, id personaly go with 2 plants or so, i use 24 for veg, ive never tryed 18/6 cuz i just cant b botherd with the timeing stuff either is good, i dont think 1 oscillating fan will be enough.. i think ur gona need an induction and extraction fan.. or go with fluros like i said,
hope this helps a little

 

[Guest]

one plant per sq foot, with the 1000w if its not air cooled you will roast um. a boomer throughs a crap load of heat. ventilation and serious air movement is prime concern.

you could easyly use a 600 or 400 in that space, and still do 8 plants., ive started seeedlins under a 1000w, just keep um about 4 ft or better away.

definitly get that lamp cooled. high temps can cause all kinds of problems..hermies, root rot and so on.


CBF

 

[cde80]

Thanks for everyones responses. Halfbaked- there will be no air conditioner in the closet. I guess I will be needeing two fans or I should lower the hps to 400 or 600 which I really didnt want to do cause I wanna blast em with as much light as possible but hurting them with a 1000 would suck. Anyone else with suggestions let me know.

 

[m.steelers]

I would imagine it is an air cooled hood. Hook dryer duct up to the flanges on both ends and use an inline induction fan attached to the dryer duct to pull cool air across the bulb. With that size light, go ahead and get a glass cover for the reflector to create a wind tunnel in there. You won't lose much uv light since you are working with such a large amount to begin with...

Make sure you are exhausting the hot air from the bulb out of the room, otherwise you would be defeating the purpose :wink: Try to pull your intake from down low and exhaust your outtake up high - warm air rises and cool air settles.

 

[m.steelers]

Oh and make sure the ballast is kept outside of the grow space.

One other thing that is cheap to do is go get a $15 bathroom fan from home depot... (the kind you would typically mount flush in a wall) mount that up high in the grow space and hook dryerduct to the exhaust part... run that duct out of the room to xhaust rising hot air... put a fan on the ground pointing up to push all the hot air towards the bathroom exhaust fan....

guarantee doing all of the above will eliminate the heat problems

 

[cde80]

Thanks m.steelers but unfortunately I dont have access to a dryer duct. Am I screwed on this then or are there other options such as multiple fans?

 

[m.steelers]

i just mean the ductwork that you would typically see on a dryer - you can buy it at home depot for cheap. You know that aluminum foil tubing?

I dont mean tapping into a live dryer duct - just using the same stuff to carry air to another section of the room

this stuff right here

 

[Rellikbuzz]

I am a newbie grower too. I have just started my first plants last month. After doing much research on the topic, I decided to start the grow in my closets as well. The main difference between my grow op and the one you have planned is that I built a seedling/clone/mother cabinet above a shelf in my bedroom closet and my entry closet (which is just a little bigger than yours, its 2' x 6' x 9') for the flowering stage.

All of the response you have received so far concern themselves with ventilation and heat build up in your closet. They are dead on! I will be using 2 - 400 watt MH/HPS switchable ballasts and there will be significant heat build up from those, let alone the 1000 you are wanting to use. They burn much hotter than two 400's and I have still installed a Dayton 265cfm blower for air intake and will be installing a Hurricane 630 cfm centifugal fan for air extraction which will be pulled through both reflector. By doing this, I will be cooling the lights as well as pulling heat out of the room. By rule, these should be two seperate functions using two seperate fans. However, I had to stop spending money somewhere and the noise outside the closet will already be quite noticable let alone if I were to add yet another fan.

As far as how many plants you should grow? Well, in my 2' x 6' x 9' closet, I will be able to fit 8 five gallon pots in there at a time. In yours I would say that you would be limited to four or maybe five if you staggered the pots. I will say that I wish that I had found some square or rectangular pots as opposed to round as this would have definitely made better use of the space. I've also read many times and root systems develop better in square/rectangular containers as well. So, I would say that because your space is 6' high, I would tend to go with 4 or 5 big containers and grow them a little taller rather than go with more plants in a SOG type grow.

I have gone into detail on my setup in my grow thread. Although the flower closet is not complete yet, it will be in the next couple of weeks and I will be covering the construction of it. If you are interested in reading up on my set up, heres the link to my thread. Good luck.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=8307

 

[cde80]

oh i gotcha. do you have a picture of this setup. do i have to cut a hole in the wall for the duct. How does light not espcape and get in then using this ventilation method?

 

[m.steelers]

Sorry I keep thinking of things after I post.... IMO, without sealing off that hood and carrying the hot air out of the room you will have a very hard time keeping the temps at an acceptable level.

The best thing to understand is that heat rises, so that is where you need to place at least one external exhaust fan - this is the best compliment to an air cooled hood, and i really think you need both to have sucess with a 1000W. Just placing fans in the room is only going to blow hot air around, you have to get it out of the space - I struggled with a 1000W when i first started... space was similar size to yours - after i did the steps I've talked about here, it was totally fine

 

[halfbaked]

You can buy that duct stuff at Home Depot. It's that round metal accordion looking stuff. About 2 or 3 inches in diameter, maybe a little bigger.

I don't think you are screwed you just have to find a way around these problems. Don't think that a 400 watt light doesn't kick out some heat. It does. The last house I lived in it was hard to control the heat cause the room was hot to begin with. Something wrong with the ac duct going to that room.
But with 2 fans and venting out of the space I was able to get the temps down to high 80's. The idea about a bathroom exhaust fan is a good one.
I've considered it myself.

 

[m.steelers]

let me check my files for some pics of the hood setup... :smile: i never took photos of the lighting system I dont think... I am now working in a small box only for headies, so I dont have the 1000w hortilux here anymore... My partner has it in his space though, let me see if I can get him to take some pics if I cant find any - it is set up the same way from what he told me. stay tuned that might take a couple days....

Light and smell are not factors using the vent method - the ductwork is usually so long there is no way for light to escape (plus it is usually contorted all kinds of different ways so the light cant make it through the various angles) smell is nil because you are basically pulling air from an area that is not in the grow space, through a glass sealed hood (no smell in there) and then out of the space. (ya gotta seal that hood and kool it bro!!!)

 

[m.steelers]

I couldnt find any pics at a quick glance of my hard drive... but check this out

http://www.hydroponics-garden.com/10hpssunsysx4.html

see those holes on the reflector? that is where you would want to hook your dryer duct to - on mine, the reflector used dettachable flanges so I hooked duct up to one side and mounted a squirrel cage fan directly to the hood, then ran duct out the other end of the squirrel cage fan.... those are kinda expensive if you are just getting started which is why I suggested an inline induction fan (found at home depot usually in the same section as the aluminum duct, you can buy cheap flanges there to if you need them - the inline fan is ony about $25-30 vs a squirrel cage fan, mine was like 100 something and was purchased after i already had the light)

I know this sounds confusing but once you buy the light you will be able to envision this a little better : )

Yeah Half Baked, that bathroom exhaust fan is one of the best $15 i have spent - they are powerful too! you just need an adapter to fit the 4inch duct on to it - that will cost ya another 1.50 :wink:

 

[Rellikbuzz]

cde80 - Yes, to provide an exhaust or intake for your closet you will have to cut a hole in the wall/ceiling to vent it in/out. As noted earlier, everything you will need can be found at Home Depot or similar hardware store.

As far as light leaks go. I cut a square opening in the front wall OUTSIDE of the closet up high (about 2' from the ceiling)(this is for air intake, btw) and installed a 6" x12" return air grill. Then, on the inside of the closet on the same wall I cut a 6" hole about 18" off the floor. Over this hole I installed the Dayton Blower. Before installing either the return air grill or the blower, I spray painted inside the openings with flat black paint. Because the intake vent is up high and the blower is down low on the same wall, light can't travel that far and the black paint helps cut down on reflectivity.

For the exhaust of the room I cut a 6" hole in the ceiling and mounted an aluminum duct collar over the hole. This will be where I will hook up the 6" flex duct from the reflectors. I live in a condo with a neighbor directly above me. This vents into the floor joist space that seperates my ceiling from my neighbors floor. Obviously, smell will be an issue so I will install a carbon filter at the opposite end of the flex duct to control odor.

I know this is tough without pics but I will try to get some pics up on my thread of the flower closet over the weekend if possible. Don't fret, you have an adequate enough space to grow some good herb. Just don't try to cut corners or it will be all for naught. Your babies need proper ventilation and air flow to reach their potential. Failing to plan for this is planning to fail!

 

[Guest]

I use sometimes a closet which is exactly like your's , a 400 watt will add about 10 degrees cel too the relative temp of the closet

so if your room is at 24 cel , when the light goes temp will reach about 34 cel in about 10 min's , keep your ballast out of the closet ..

if security is not a prob , then you can have the door a couple of inches open , this will get rid of some of the heat , about 5 cel

and with a small fan you should be in the 25 to 27 cel range which is perfect

if you keep the door(s) closed , you will probably be around the 30 cel range , which is okay , the good thing about a closet that size is that you can have the light basically pretty far way from the plants ,

because the light has no-where too go , if the closet is white in colour , there is plenty of light , so no worries

peace

 

[cde80]

Thanks for all the help everyone, i'm getting a better idea of what I need to do. Will I need to cut a hole in the closet wall for the duct to stick out?

 

[cde80]

buzz- i live in an apt so cutting holes in walls is not really something i wanted to do but if it has to be done for this to work I'll do it.

halluc-you didnt use any ventilation system besides fan? Its cool to keep the door open a few inches? I didnt think you could do that, but security isnt an issue so i def. will to cool it a little bit

 

[Rellikbuzz]

cde80 - Yes, you can leave door open a little during lights on but definitely not lights off during flower.

When cutting holes in sheetrock, try to do it as cleanly as possible and then save the cut-out as this can easily be patched back into place when you move out. That's why I say "as cleanly as possible". What I mean is try to get the hole out in one piece, then it can be patched back into place with no problem.