rookie needs tips

[herbalistfarmer]

Posted this in a difrent section butit might have been the wrong one, im new here sorry, anyway il repost it in this section.
Ive been dabbling at growing out of a closet at home and im gona try to describe what ive done and how and ask all you seasoned growers on advice on how you think i should proceed.

So iv been growing out of a closet that is a fixed part of my apartment, its about 70cm deep 80cm wide and about 250cm tall.
Ive only grown random seeds that me and some frends picked out of stuff we bought and smoked ourself and none of its been any top notch stuff so pretty crappy seeds. My first run was just on the floor with a couple short 18w lighttubes/low energy lamp thingies i got from a mate. Needles to say endressults sucked, slight buzz but nothing more then that. Second grow started the same way but while flowering a frend found some lightube armatures that i putt in butt i had heat issues and was runing on just one 36w lightube. Also it turned out that al plants exept for one was male, and the female was such a sorry excuse for a plant it had to go herma on me. Third and present grow was started from seed( as where the other two) under the 18w lamps and later on with two or three 36w lighttubes butt it was so hot i had to keep the door open for most of the day during the light part of 12/12 with gave me about a 27 deegres celsius and a bit above 30 if i closed the door. In the middle of this grow i managed to get some ventilation built in
View attachment 82483
and i also built a small chamber for motherplant/clooning the chamber is about 50cm tall.
View attachment 82479

Now i am running four 36w lighttubes at about 27 deegres celsius and this is what my setup looks like.
View attachment 82482
I am about three weeks into the grow cykle and this is what ive got so far.
View attachment 82480 View attachment 82481

Im getting a bit of cash any day now and il be wanting to buy some propper hps lights and some "real" seeds and this is where i need some help from you seasoned guys. How much wattage on a hps would i need for optimal lighting in my closet? I dont really want to go overkill. Also the heat is a real issue witch i need to solve.

Thankfull for any inputt//one love!

 

[Noc]

You could fit a 400 watt HPS in that space, but a 250 will be sufficient, and the heat will be easier to handle.

I can see some problems with your ventilation setup. The placement, whilst pretty inventive, doesn't seem ideal if you want to exhuast the entire area properly. Your extraction should be as far from your intakes as possible, so that air is pulled right across your plants and past your lights. At the moment, it seems like it would just flow up your door.

Unless you are using a fan on both intake and extraction, your intake size is also insufficient. For passive intakes you should aim for a minimum of 2 times your extraction area (up to 5x is recommended for proper airflow, depending on your fan power).

Lastly, your fan looks like an axial "bathroom" type fan. Whilst these are fine for micro grows, they are not generally used in bigger grows due to their inabilty to move much air when under resistance. Resistance includes bends in ducting, and more importantly, carbon filters (more on these in a sec.). Most HID growers use centrifugal fans, which are more expensive, but perform well, even when restricted by bends, CF etc.

You may not have experienced what the smell of a cupboard full of flowering plants under HID lighting actually smells like, but unless you live in the middle of nowhere, a good fan and carbon filter combo is recommended, or your whole house will stink of weed. Even if you live somewhere legal, it's probably best not to advertise what you are doing.

In closing, my advice would be not to skimp on ventilation and odor control. My extraction cost twice as much as my lighting (my hps is a stripped-down flood light, with the ballast mounted outside the room). I went cheap on the lighting so I could get the ventilation setup done properly, and i'm glad I did.

 

[ibjamming]

Noc is right...if you SMELL...you might as well stand in front with a sign saying...hey look at me...I'm growing weed! It's VERY noticeable and unforgettable. EVERYONE with experience will know...

 

[OGfarmerted]

i agree with noc and ibj, go with a 250 watt hps for flowering, way less heat to deal with and will produce fine. i use a 250 hps myself, my previous 400 put out a lot more heat. the odor situation is a must, get a good a carbon scrubber or equivalent .i was using ozone in small doses to kill smell but i found it was giving me a sore throat.


edit- ive also brewed coffee as a masking smell, it does really well for covering up the dankness. keep a pot brewing all the time and it does pretty good

 

[lokes]

edit- ive also brewed coffee as a masking smell, it does really well for covering up the dankness. keep a pot brewing all the time and it does pretty good

No wonder you smoke so much weed. Coffee jitters are a bitch. LOLZ

Good advice from everyone here. Welcome to the Mag.

 

[shafty420]

a 250 hps easy get gd results fan/filter is a must 4" would work a treat look up ona gel comes in little tubs great for neutralising any odours that the scrubber dosnt get
apart from that best advice would be look around on forums and don't tell a soul seriously

 

[herbalistfarmer]

well i have one of those ozone thingies, butt havent had to use it yet since my results are sub par so i dont know if it will get the job done 100%

Butt no one thinks that a 250w hps would be insuficent for the space ive got?

Thanks for everyones inputt, seriously apreciate it.

 

[shafty420]

250 be fine by sounds of it 400 be overkill

 

[herbalistfarmer]

about the air intake, are you saying it should pass threw to the inside far wall of the closset to get a stream going threw the plants? did i get that right?

a 250w hps a kit and a 250w LE kit will cost my about a smuch, i take it that the hps is more effective? butt the LE would help me with the heat issue? Think that whats worrying about LE is that if it breaks you need to dish out all th emoney again vs just buying a new bulb...