# First grow advice



## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 15, 2012)

I recently joind this forum and before making any posts. I figured I would do some browsing to see what everyone is talking about and some of their setups are. It looks like people here actually are willing to help unlike other forums I've browsed in the past. I do have a general knowlege of growing, though I've never attempted one yet and have some questions just to strengthen my opnion on how to do it right.

I recently moved to a southern state and havnt gotten up in the attic to measure things but the room will roughly be 10'x8'x5' (insulated all around to avoid heat signatures and help keep stable climate). I've decided to go with a DWC system (non-recirculating) and SCROG the plants since there are height problems with he room. I don't know how much I will partition the room off for the mother and vegging but I plan on using T5's for vegging but don't know a whole lot about light requirements for plants when using them. I plan on using GH Flora 3 part system for the nutes. Since heat will be a problem and I will be unable to put an AC up in the attic to keep the res cooler I was going to use a chiller but having the cold water seperated from the ressys(to keep them isolated incase problems occur) and just pump through the res in poly tube for ambiant cooling.

I came across The Hemp Goddess' SCROG design for DWC system and will probably use something along those lines but 3 or 4 plastic tubs set up like that. LED lighting isnt something I'm sold on but it's what I plan to use because of the lower power usage and heat it produces It's probably my only option for dense flowers. After a few days of hard core studying on which LEDs to use the Lighthouse BlackStar 240W LED grow lights (two of them) claim their coverage is 3'x2' so two of them should give me roughly 3'x4' of lighting. 

Another thing that I'm concerned about is odor and venting (other than I have a outside vent in the attic to blow out of) this is the biggest factor and cant have any lingering odors, I don't have any clue on how well carbon filters actually work, I've also read that negative ion generators help in odors? The fans I'm going to use are 6" inline fans with a speed controller, and a dehumidifier is essential for the climate I live in; is that water clean enough to use for feeding? Ozone generators are out of the question because their harmful risks they impose on the plants and health of the people living in the house.

Any feed back on good strains and breeders to use I plan on going with Attitude some choices I've thought about are Barney Farm's Vanilla Kush, Barney Farm's Phat Fruity, G13's White Widdow, or Mandala's Satori, Hashberry, or Fruitylicious.

One last question about SCROGing about how high above the plant and is there a specific way to run the main stem under the screen to allow the buds to evenly pop up under the screen and then flower once the screen is 70% full under it? 

For the nutes I have a general idea of using a little bit weaker solution than the manufacturer suggest and will adjust accordingly over time once I get the hang of things.
The cloning will be done in a closet just because the environment will be more stable than in the attic with a 3 inch AC vent coming off the house hold air handler to the rooms. 

Hopefully the book I just wrote will give someone you guys enough info to help out a little bit I won't be able to get things built and up and running for at least another 2 months. So I want to just clairify everythign before I get things set up to make sure what I have planned will actually work and I won't be getting ripped when it comes to the seeds.

I apologize if this was posted in the wrong section ahead of time, someone can correct me and lead me to the right spot to post if I'm wrong. Thanks!


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## Grower13 (Jun 15, 2012)

going to be hot  in an atic in the south 
carbon filters work well
What are the inline fans for?


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## Grower13 (Jun 15, 2012)

get some calmag to go with your gh flora 3 part............ do you know the ph of your water.......... I've read it's not good to use dehumidifier water for watering.

btw....... I read on the mandala site their strains(satori) are very heat resitant.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 16, 2012)

The inline fans are just to move the air out of the room and push it out of an attic vent. I was going to run 4in dryer hose off of the home air handler and into the room for cooling; Since the air handler main duct work is already up in the attic I was going to branch off of it. The LED lights for the flowering lights for the low heat they put out. Unsure of the ph as of yet (guessing its going to have a high ph for living near the coast) I need to get a ph meter still, not sure how expensive it would be just to buy store bought distilled water untill I can get an RO machine hooked up(still tryin to find a decent one and on how they work). Is GH's ph up/down good to use for balancing the ph in the res? I will probably go with the satori and for fun white widdow to try it. What does calmag do for the plants?


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## Hick (Jun 16, 2012)

The Silver Bullet Special said:
			
		

> What does calmag do for the plants?



http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1957


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## pcduck (Jun 16, 2012)

If you are having temp problems, you may want to re-think your choice of using DWC. IME my best performance with no slimy root problems was when I could keep my DWC buckets in the 68deg. range. 

If you do decide to stay with DWC you may want to do some research on water chillers in order to cool your nute rez. They are not cheap though.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 16, 2012)

I am going to ask you to seriously reconsider flowering with LEDs.  You may have noticed that there are NO grows here where people flower with LEDs.  There is a reason for this and it is that they are just terrible.  LEDs will not give you dense flowers.  I understand heat being a problem, especially in an attic, however LEDs are not the answer.  Regardless of the hype, LEDs do not flower well and do not get good results.  It is going to take approx 4 months from seed to harvest--you want to get something for your time and effort.  If you are going to be using 480W, I would step up to a 600W HPS, run the lights at night when it is cooler and figure out how to deal with the excess heat.  If you get a dimmable ballast, you have some options on wattage you use.

Lighting requirements are figured by lumens per sq ft.  For vegging, you want a minimum of 3000 lumens per sq ft in the blue spectrum (6500K or so) and for flowering 5000 lumens per sq ft. in the red spectrum (2500-3000K) 

I'm also with the duck on res temps.  IMO, you would be better off going with a good soil mixture (consider organic), a 600W HPS, and adequate ventilation to keep things cool enough.  Don't scrimp on the ventilation--it is almost as important as you lighting.  You are going to need a centrifuge type exhaust fan.

As I remember, I ran my screen about a foot above the totes.  You simply bend the stem to grow horizontally under the screen.  You can take new growing tips and train them to grow whereever you have open spots under the screen.  I think about 70% filled is a good goal.  

Strain?  As most know, Satori is probably my favorite and I highly recommend it.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 16, 2012)

I know what your talkin on the LED's which is why I wasnt convinced they would actually work except for heat and for power consumption. Should I throw up some solar panels to a grid tie converter to lower my foot print? Would one 600W HPS be good for 4-6 plants close together scrog'd(I'll start looking into more about HPS lights)? 

As for the venting do I run the exhaust fan 24/7 or just enough to exchange out the room volume about once an hour? The nights here run about mid 70's at its coolest till winter so lighting at night would be best (plus I can work with my plants when I get home from work so I dont interupt the dark cycles).

 I chose DWC just because I've read yields/harvest are a little bit faster and heavier than soil. I have no clue at all about soil types and how to feed compared to hydro; all my research has been with hydro. The attic room will have insulation boards (those 1"thich foam boards from Lowes) no clue on how good they work I'll find out. The room will have the home AC blowing air into the room when it kicks on. 

Thanks for the advice! And confirming my thoughts about LEDs.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 16, 2012)

You do not need to worry about your power consumption with a 600W and solar panels and storage batteries are prohibitively expensive.  You were talking about almost 500W anyway with the LEDs.  Just pay your bill on time and do not steal electricity.

A 600W light will cover up to about 16-18 sq ft, but you can use it in a smaller space.  I have one in a 2 x 6 closet now.  So, yes, it would be great for 4-6 plants scrogged.  You are going to want an air coolable reflector or I believe you will find it impossible to keep things cool.  Fortunately, regardless of what type HPS you get, it should be substantially cheaper than 2 240W LEDs.

Ventilation....ventilation does 2 things--it keeps your space cool and provides CO2 to the plants for photosynthesis.  I run my exhaust fan all the time the lights are on.  I have a 448 cfm Vortex on a speed controller.  Plants need a continual supply of fresh air all the time the lights are on for proper photosynthesis.  I exchange the air in my space a couple of times a _minute._.

I have done DWC for many many years and am now getting into organics.  IMO, I do not believe that hydro is any faster or heavier than soil.  While you _may_ get a little faster vegging growth, it is nothing significant.  Nothing will speed up flowering.  I have seen nothing in my grows or with the grows of my friends that makes me believe that hydro is faster or produces more.  A buddy and I ran several of the same strains--he in soil and me in hydro.  There was no real difference in the plant size, quality, quantity, or how fast they finished.

Are you planning on building enclosures?


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 16, 2012)

Yes, The room I plan on building in the attic will be roughly 8'L 10'W 5'H(hopefully) with the heigh being so low is why I want to scrog them and keep plant count low. In time I want to do a continuous crop out so about 4 plants in veg and 4-6 flowers. Im not exactly sure how much vegging space I'll need but I was guessing at making the veg room 4'x8' and the rest to flowering. For venting that would I have two seperate fans for intake and exhaust in each room (4 total? other than the osc fans).

Cloning will be done in a closet where the atmosphere will be more stable. I've read on here that some people do motherless set ups where they take clones of clones; my only question to that is, doesnt that cause a loss of potency and vigor each generation you move down?


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 16, 2012)

You are going to need separate enclosures for vegging and for flowering.  You are going to need an enclosure that is the size that your light is suited to.  For instance, if you get a 600W HPS, you will need a space that is no larger than 18 sq ft.  Your flowering space is also going to need to be be light tight--100% light tight.  You are not going to be able to take 32 sq ft out of the attic and flower in the remaining 48 sq ft or so.  You need rooms, tents, some kind of "space".  You cannot just let the light disburse throughout the entire attic.

A vegging space that is 4 x 8 is way way larger than you are going to need and it would take a lot to adequately light that much space.  I really cannot imagine you needing more than a 2 x 4 space to veg 4-6 plants.

I have not found that taking clones from clones lessens the quality of the plant.  I had one that I really believed got better.


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## Grower13 (Jun 17, 2012)

I'm thinking being in the south, his attic temps are going to run over 100 and up to 120 degrees for a good portion of the year. There will be many days where they stay over 100 for days on end. Plants will not survive this and not sure anyone could stay up there long enough to care for them.


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## BackWoodsDrifter (Jun 17, 2012)

Had my room run to 110 fur 4 day straight it was all i could do to keep my plants alive runnin through it, dont think plants can run much past a few days even though they be quite tollerant they will eventualy break and start to die. Attic be bout the last place I be growin less I had airconditionin to put in. Good luck your trails friend hope yual yeild yur need.

BWD


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 17, 2012)

Okay so I need to majorly down size my plans for my veg and flower rooms. with the rooms being seperate once I run the exhaust vents out of the room would I be able to combine them into one main exhaust pipe to go out of the house; or make two seperate vents out of the home (I have 3 different spots to vent out of now so which ever way is easiet? What would you recommend for the flowering space4x6? (I'm glad I join this forum I appreciate the help its a money saver)

 I talked to my grow partner that is also my roommate since he is buying the lighting he is dead set on those LEDs no matter how much I try to convince him he got sucked into the online advertising... Would it help thicken up the buds if I put in a small 150W HPS or two on top of the LEDs and add venting to it?


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 17, 2012)

I'm going to have the main household air running up from a closet into an insulated area to try and keep temps down up there.


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## Grower13 (Jun 17, 2012)

I wouldn't take the risk to grow weed in 100+ degree temps under LEDs. The results wouldn't be worth it imho. TSBS some of these folks here have been growing for a lifetime. They know what they speak of. IF LEDs made good weed they would be using them. Do your and your friend a favor and rethink your decision on lighting. HSP grew 99.9 of the indoor buds you see here.

LED's are not cooler than HPS light properly cooled with a fan pulling air through the hood/tube.


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## Grower13 (Jun 17, 2012)

How about under the house?


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 17, 2012)

No basement in the house saddly Theres a few decent closets I may be able to convert or if I can get him to use the spare bedroom. I'm full set on using HPS my friend on the other hand thinks different and says he doesn't want to deal with ballasts *sigh*.. since I'm not the one buying the lights I have no say in the lighting till I can save up a few pay checks and buy some HPS myself. The attic temp probs were one of my fears that looks like its coming true.

Kind of throwing a cog in the situation, later down the line next year I could grow in a spot out in the back yard if plants dont put out too much smell when growing outside and train it along the ground.


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## pcduck (Jun 17, 2012)

> I'm full set on using HPS my friend on the other hand thinks different and says he doesn't want to deal with ballasts *sigh*.. since I'm not the one buying the lights I have no say in the lighting till I can save up a few pay checks and buy some HPS myself.



To tell ya the truth. The best thing you can do is back out of this grow. Tell your friend you are not interested in growing. Wait a bit and do it yourself, do it right and tell no one.jmho

While you are waiting, you will be able to research the proper way of growing and be successful at it.:aok:


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## Hushpuppy (Jun 17, 2012)

If you have a spare bedroom that you could use, that would save you a tremendous amount of headache (and backache). You can buy a couple of really nice tents for the same amount of money and far less effort than trying to grow in the attic. Smell is not a problem if you are diligent to maintain your filtering. Carbon filters work 100% at removing odors (when done right). Also there are plenty of quality plant strains out there that are not overly "stinky".

Keeping the tents in a spare room will make life incredibly easier for you to maintain the grow as it involves a lot of work to maintain a grow. Running hydro in an attic where you would be fighting high temps and lugging gallons upon gallons of water each week upinto the attic would be a killer in the best conditions. Don't be concerned about power usage either. Running 2 600w HPS lights with pumps and fans and 500w of T5 lighting for veg would run about 1800w, if everything was running at the same time. That is the equivelant of putting 100w lightbulbs in every socket in the house and turning all the lights on. Or just turning on the electric clothes drier. or you and your partner both drying your hair in the morning at the same time with hair driers. Or turning on an electric oven to cook a roast or turkey.  You could set up something that would quadruple your power consumption within a month, but so long as you pay your electricity bill as soon as you get it, the power company doesn't care, and they won't ask you why as they are in the business to make money.

Here's a little information for your partner on why LEDs are not good enough for flowering. If you break out a biology book and look at photosynthesis, you will see that it is all about *power*. Plants use the energy that is in sunlight to power chemical reactions in a very similar way that nuclear fusion and fission work. They are splitting molicules and combining molecules rather than atoms but the process is the same and it takes a lot of raw energy to do it. 

Some plants are low energy plants and don't need as much to maintain their growth (but those plants are far slower growing and are not fruit bearing plants) All vegetable and fruit bearing plants are high energy plants that need the 8000-10,000 lumens per sqft that is put out by the sun in order to produce the fruits that they bear. And remember that these fruits are the result of flowering (the procreation and seed producing process). MJ is a high energy plant that needs a lot of light energy, just like the fruit bearers. Yes MJ doesn't bear fruit but it does synthesize a very complex and potent chemical that we all enjoy(THC). MJ needs a significant amount of light energy for just veg growth just like any other plant, but when it comes time to flower, it goes to another level and needs at least 50% more than the amount for vegging to produce any kind of quality flowers(buds).

LEDs are great and produce little heat because they don't emit high energy light. They are superb at converting the highest amount of the electrical energy to light energy but watts equal energy. If a light is converting 100% of the electrical energy to light energy and that light is 5watts then it is not producing the level of light energy of a bulb that is 25watts and converting only 50% (HPS converts about 85% of its electrical energy to light energy). Also this energy conversion (and the voltage at which it is driven) relates to how quickly the energy in the light dissapates in the atmosphere. LEDs are driven at only 5volts while HPS is driven at about 500volts. This is why LED flashlights are not good for shining at any distance. Their light dissapates quickly over distance versus any other light source (including flame).

LEDs can be used to flower MJ if you have enough of them to be equivelant to the energy output of HPS, and have them within several inches of every part of the plants. To make that equivelancy you would have to have more in wattage (and purchasing cost) of LEDs than in HPS. *It is all about light energy*.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 17, 2012)

The Silver Bullet Special said:
			
		

> No basement in the house saddly Theres a few decent closets I may be able to convert or if I can get him to use the spare bedroom. I'm full set on using HPS my friend on the other hand thinks different and says he doesn't want to deal with ballasts *sigh*.. since I'm not the one buying the lights I have no say in the lighting till I can save up a few pay checks and buy some HPS myself. The attic temp probs were one of my fears that looks like its coming true.
> 
> Kind of throwing a cog in the situation, later down the line next year I could grow in a spot out in the back yard if plants dont put out too much smell when growing outside and train it along the ground.



LOL--if your buddy wants any kind of decent bud, he is going to have to deal with ballasts.  Where in the world did he get the idea that LEDs are good (LOL--don't tell me You Tube)?  Doesn't he wonder why _everybody_ isn't using them?  LEDs combined with high heat will result in light airy bud.  I have to say that I have never seen an LED grow anywhere that I was the least impressed with.  You cannot count the videos on You Tube put up by people selling LEDs.  I can guaranteed you that many (virtually all) of these are faked and you will never be able to come close to duplicating the results.  Bottom line is that LED are okay for vegging, but really suck for flowering.

I have to say that I am inclined to agree with pcduck. It doesn't sound as if your roommate is going to be a good growing partner.  You truly have to be realistic about things.  We here would all just love it if there was a low energy, low heat indoor light source with no ballast that would grow killer bud............but there isn't.  If LEDs worked, people would be using them, but they are not because they don't.

I have grown for many many years--your parents were probably still in grade school when I started growing.  I have seen huge innovations in growing equipment.  I am never one to pooh-paw new innovations in growing.  LEDs may get there one day (although I think I have been saying that for 10 years), but they are not there yet.  In addition, I really don't think they are close.  LEDs have a lot of wonderful uses, growing pot just isn't one of them.  You have to be smart enough to separate the hype from the fact and take all sources of information for what they are.  People selling LEDs LIE about what they can and will do.  For instance, there is no way that a 200W LED is going to provide the same light as a 600W HPS.  Actually, a 200W LED does not provide as much light as a 150W HPS _for growing purposes._

I would encourage you and your buddy to do a lot more research on lighting and what it takes to bring a plant to harvest.  There is really a huge amount of time, energy, money, dedication, and love that goes into growing plants indoors.  It is like a part-time job.  With the price of bud, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 17, 2012)

Thanks for the detailed light explanation Hush and THG. Thanks to everyone else for the other input for letting me know how bad heat actually is to the plants in the attic.

 I think once I have my partner read these posts he may change his mind as well as change his idea about the attic lol. Yes youtube was the selling point to my friend on the LEDs >.< hes kinda technically challeneged on how to use the internet let alone tell the difference between scams and "too good to be true" from real facts. So I think I'm going take pcduck's advice to do the grow by myself that way I'm not wasting my time and money. I have atleast two months before I want to attempt to set things up.

 I will research in some lights and quality tents for the extra bedroom, also how to feed and amend soil (adding certain amounts of dolomite lime per pot and no clue how to much nutes and how often to feed soil I'm sure I'll find it somewhere here in the forum depths). To start I think I'm going to use Fox Farm's brand of soil (which one idk about yet). I'll slowly work into hydro once I get confident in soil and get a few harvests and cloning under my belt. I know people here on the forum like the T5 lights for veg growing so I'll look into those for a 4'x2' veg space. Is there a general rule fo thumb on how big the flower room should be; Ive read each plant needs anywhere from 1sq ft - 3sq ft.  

 My parents used to grow outdoors back in the 70's when they were my age but had some problems come up and just decided it would be safe to stop. Dad is curious about all this "new strain" stuff he only had what he called Thai(not sure if it was legit thai or not) and hasnt seen any thing of the new strains except form what I've shown him, he said it grew real tall and was an uppy high so I'm guessing he had a sativa.


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## Hushpuppy (Jun 17, 2012)

I think you are making a good decision to not do the attic and go with a tent instead. The T5s are great for vegging for sure. The size of tent to get really depends on what you want to do as you can literally grow 6 micro plants in a 2'x4' area, or 4 medium plants, or 2 larger, or 2 in scrog(if you are in a low ceiling area). I have been growing in what I called a stealth cabinets grow. Each cabinet is 30" deep by 4' wide by 7' high. I got nearly 8oz out of the 2 cabinets on my last harvest. But by doing that I only get that every 8-10weeks. That was running 4 plants in each cabinet to about 4' tall.

If you want any help setting up your grow, I will be glad to help you individually or you can work it here on the open forum where you can have multiple opinions. There are plenty here who will be glad to help you set it up right.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 17, 2012)

Great ,I appreciate it, and I will probably pm you with some ideas in the near future once I do some more homework on lighting and soils and stuff (might just wing a DWC at the same time since the room wont be in the attic to see which one I can manage a little bit better), I never realized how much there is to soil lol. But air cleaning will be the biggest thing but we can discuss that when the time comes.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 17, 2012)

Quick T5 question I'm looking at the Hydrofarm FLP46UN 4ft 6lamp from plantlightinghydroponics.com its rated for 324W and 30k initial lumens for$139, do balasts come with this light fixture or will I have to buy them seperately?


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## Hushpuppy (Jun 17, 2012)

Hey, yeah you can PM me no problem. I think you will find DWC about as easy as any type of grow can be. Personally I love growing in coco as it is most like soil which is easy to set either seedlings or clones and it holds nutrients well. It can also be used just like a soil grow or used in a hydroponic setup. I personally don't like growing in soil myself. Not that there is anything wrong with soil, just that I am a hands-on tinkerer and I like having total control over the grow, where in soil it is more of a type that you set them in after setting up the soil and then do nothing else but water unless you have problems.

That is a good light and I really like the company. They get stuff right and shipped out quick. I just ordered some 600w HPS bulbs and a 4" hurricane exaust fan for my clone and seedling cabinet from them. That light will be ideal for a 2'x4' veg tent (or closet). You can use that to start seedlings and veg your plants until they are ready to put into flowering. I have a buddy that uses the same area for vegging his plants and he has it split in half so that he has the vegging plants on the bottom and has a shelf with lower lighting for doing all his cloning. He has a 5'x5' room that he does a continual harvest in. So he is constantly pulling out plants and putting in new ones to flower. He usually vegges his plants to about 8" tall then puts them in flower so that they get no taller than 30" before harvesting.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 17, 2012)

The Silver Bullet Special said:
			
		

> Quick T5 question I'm looking at the Hydrofarm FLP46UN 4ft 6lamp from plantlightinghydroponics.com its rated for 324W and 30k initial lumens for$139, do balasts come with this light fixture or will I have to buy them seperately?



On fluoro tube fixtures, the ballasts come built into the fixture.  That light will really rock in a 2 x 4' space.  I simply love T5s.  I have not used MH to veg with since I discovered T5s.  Get tubes in the 6500K range for vegging.

If you end up not growing in the attic and think you can keep a res cool enough, go ahead with a DWC.  I did hydro for many many years.  It is a bit more of a PITA than soil--I think pH and ppms are more critical in hydro as plants react very fast to whatever they are uptaking.  I got tired of all the mixing of nutes and letting things set, and then pHing, and then letting things sit, checking again, adjusting, etc, etc.  Constantly checking the pH and ppms.  Getting my nute solution right would take 2-3 days


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 17, 2012)

Okay cool I think I will go with that light for vegging then, and I may just go with soil untill my state legalizes(if it ever does lol) so I dont have to worry too too much about the sensitivity of the plants and nutes while I work a regular job. Ill just have to worry about keeping a ph in the soil good and fungal/mite infestations (if any occur).


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## stickywicked (Jun 18, 2012)

I too am a newbie...but not as new as you.  Before u buy anything u must set up the enviroment.  Lot's of planning.  I too live in a warm climate, (  fl gulf coast) so I know a little about heat.  Pot stops growing at 85 deg.  You must keep the room around 79 deg, without an a/c, no way.  For what I spent converting my small dryer space in the laundry room, I could have bought a tent.  Which is just what I did.
   Also while I'm handing out wisdom.  Thank god I had a bag of trash seeds I've collected.  It took me a couple of runs at getting my seedlings going, using rockwool is tricky if u don't know the tricks.  It could have cost me a couple of hundred bucks.


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## Budking (Jun 18, 2012)

Godess is right tell ur buddies that he might save power but in the end if u want sexy smokes the led just won't cut it period


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## Budking (Jun 18, 2012)

Also on the AC subject, if it is going to be hot its not gonna work and if it dosent work ur all pissed because u just wasted a lot of time for nothing. To do is right u need ballasts and 5000lumens per square ft. Which an led will not provide. This being said u need ballast period. Soooo either cool the area or find another place . I'm not trying to be a ****. But being super let down after 4 month is worse.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 18, 2012)

Sticky is mold a problem for you here in the gulf? This will be my first ever attempted grow but I've been workin on plans and trying to learn good methods for the past 3 months, I never knew exactly how hot the attic got here in the sunshine state but I've decided just to use the spare bed room where the temps can be a little more cooler. I'm probably going to run 2 carbon filters just for peace of mind with the laws being the strictest in the nation here.

 I was browsing through some grow light supply shops online and found they have light dome covers that contain the heat pretty well to allow your ventilation to work better. 

Budking, the main reason why my friend wanted to go with LEDs was to save power, not deal with ballasts (he think's they're more of a PITA but doesnt know much about them), and to lower heat. 

That actually make me think of a question what do you guys use for ballasts digital ballasts or regular old magnetic coil-over ballasts?

Also do I want a bulb with a higher PAR rating as well with lumens; or is PAR just another way they rate the bulbs?


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 18, 2012)

And a buddy of mine appearently had blueberry seeds and he gifted 10 of them to me, so I'll use those to practice germing before I waste 3weeks of my time and failing with Attitude's once I get everything set up


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 18, 2012)

Another quick question is it easy to do a continuous harvest with scroging? 

An idea would be to set my soil pots sitting in a tote and build a screen for two plants(but I plan 4-6 plants), similar to THG's little closet set up, just have the pvc screen sit in the tote so when they're ready to move I can pick up the whole screen, plant, and soil in the tote. 

How big of holes should I have in the screen for scrog? And the totes would serve good to catch watering run off maybe? I've seen lots of different screen set ups just dont know which one looks better.

Flower room/tent will prob be 4'x4' with the 600W hps.


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## Budking (Jun 18, 2012)

Yea good call on the 600 hps' they don't put off as much heat.  I use magnetic or digit ballast which ever is cheaper to acquire. They both make my light turn on . Worrying what kind of ballast to get is over kill. I just put a small fan next to them and le#ve it on high pointed at them from a few in away. Works great kills all the heat.
I have gotten away with a 1000watt in a very small closet about 4x3 and ceiling height.
Hung a fan 1inch away from the bulb and attached it to the hood on the light.  The bulb was not enclosed it just hung in mid air nothing but the reseptical and a piece of sheet metal over the top. Kept the fan on high when the light was on and solved all my problems with heat

Dude my best advice is keep thing simple and  don't over think things.  Chicken wire will work chain link fence will work. Soccor net would propably work. The plants will grow though about anything.

Also the guy that like the led lights. Ask him if he likes to smoke ?
If he says yea which is likely tthen tell him there's a good chance that in all his years of smoking that he has probably never smoke weed grown with an led. Lol I have used led panels for veging my clones lol.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 18, 2012)

Yeah I'm just tryin to figure out all I can before I go into the grow so I have a little bit more than the basics learned.. after all I like quality bud just as much as the next guy thanks for the input!


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 18, 2012)

LOL--I am not sure if it is possible for a new grower to over-think things.  The better prepared you are, the more you know, the better the grow--and the fewer ill-advised purchases you have sitting in storage gathering dust.   

There are several reasons that I prefer a digi ballast over a magnetic one.  First of all, they will fire both MH and HPS bulbs.  You can also get adjustable digis, which I like.  My 600W will run at 4 different wattages--300W, 400W, 600W, and Super Lumens.  Digitals are cooler and generally operate a bit cheaper.  While you can disburse the heat from a magnetic ballast with a fan, it does nothing to remove the heat from the space.

Which brings us to ventilation.  What are your plans for ventilation?  It is almost as important as your lighting.  I believe that you are going to need at least a 448 cfm centrifuge type exhaust fan (Vortex, Can, Eclipse, etc), a speed controller, and an oscillation fan.  Get a large enough fan to handle a carbon filter.  Plants require a continual supply of fresh air all the time the lights are on for proper photosynthesis.  This means that old CO2 depleted air must be removed and fresh air brought in.  Passive intakes and a decent exhaust fan will accomplish this.  Negative pressure in your space will also help contain and control smells.

I do think you could make a scrog that you could move--I designed mine so that I could do this, but on a smaller scale.  You might consider some of those inexpensive furniture dollies that you can get at Harbor Freight for cheap to facilitate moving things around


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## Grower13 (Jun 18, 2012)

This will help......

hxxp://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Growers-Handbook-Complete-Cultivation/dp/0932551467/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340047679&sr=1-1&keywords=marijuana+growers+handbook


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## Menimeth (Jun 18, 2012)

stickywicked said:
			
		

> I too am a newbie...but not as new as you. Before u buy anything u must set up the enviroment. Lot's of planning. I too live in a warm climate, ( fl gulf coast) so I know a little about heat. Pot stops growing at 85 deg. You must keep the room around 79 deg, without an a/c, no way. For what I spent converting my small dryer space in the laundry room, I could have bought a tent. Which is just what I did.
> Also while I'm handing out wisdom. Thank god I had a bag of trash seeds I've collected. It took me a couple of runs at getting my seedlings going, using rockwool is tricky if u don't know the tricks. It could have cost me a couple of hundred bucks.


 
I have to disagree with your assement that pot stops growing at 85 degrees. Here in texas 85 degrees is the low at night, and the day can reach 100+ in the middle of the summer, and though higher temps are hard on the plants, they will still grow well into the 90s without too much stunting in size. I am not saying that you should attempt to grow in higher temps, just that higher temps are not always the plant killer some people lead you to believe. 78 is the ideal temp while lights are on, but some places in this country can not expect to acheve those temps consistantly throughout the summer months, so you do what you can with what you have. JMHO


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 18, 2012)

Now that I have a basic deminsions of my flower4'x4' and veg4'x2' rooms should the ventilation run together (from veg tent to flower tent then exhause or vice versa) or should they be run seperate? Should I have the exhaust push outside through a window or add a dryer vent in the room, up through the cieling into the attic(sure way to eliminate light leaks from the light vents, ) and just put a fan on one of the attic vents to keep the humid air movin out of the attic, OR just recirculate the air and have two scrubbers  (one in the flower tent and one just outside the tent in the main room. My HPS will be in a air cooled hood. To make negative pressure do I just make the intake vent smaller than the exhaust so it builds that pressure?

Good fan to use? hxxp://plantlightinghydroponics.com/vortex-inch-449-cfm-high-power-inline-fan-p-353.html 

 Whats a good way to keep those pesky little mites from getting in the room as well if I have outside exhaust? 

Lol sorry for the birrage of questions all at once >.< 

Thanks! Grower13 I will check out that book too I have the "Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Frower's Bible" its been pretty helpful but not nearly as detailed as the info I've read on this forum but good basics.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 18, 2012)

I would run the ventilation separate.  You are most likely going to want to run 6" ducting for the flowering space and you should check out insulated ducting.  A 4" exhaust for the vegging space should be enough.  You cannot just recirculate the air.  You actually have to exchange the air--out with the CO2 depleted air and in with fresh air.  That looks like a good fan.  You will need a speed controller also.

Screen all inlets and outlets.  I do not believe that mites do not come in through ventilation vents.  I believe they enter on our clothes (after we have been through flora and fauna), in our hair, on our pets, that kind of thing.
If you have 1 basic one, that is probably enough.  I believe that we have people on here that have just as much growing knowledge and experience as those guys that write the books--Ed, Jorge, etc.  In addition to a number of people with decades of experience on grow forums, you can get a variety of opinions, you can get specific answers based on your individual circumstances.  You can be alerted to possible problems with your planned set-up and better alternatives.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 19, 2012)

I've seen a decently priced speed controller at Harbor Freight that seems like it will do the job. Should that fan run at about half power or a little under?

I've been reading up on NV's super soil.. his mix he said makes 150gal's is a bit much for what I'm going to be needing (unless theres a good way to store it and keep its strength). So I'll have to scale it down for what I need.

 Anyways from what I've read that stuff seems like it will torch the plants as soon as roots hit the soil if I were to use just that soil to fill the pot. I've read that people run different percentages of soil in their pots. What do they use for top fill; more organic soil? I think 3 gal square pots is what I'm gonna use from after the seedling gains growth and my clones take roots to transplant in. Or do would you recommend to do another transplant to 1 gal (of half gallon if they make it) before I put them into the 3 gal pots.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 19, 2012)

I start my seeds in quite small homemade pots.  I then transplant into solo cups and then into 3 gal bags.  I have quite bad arthritis and am having trouble picking up the bags, so am going to 3 gallon pots, too.  I have 5 Master Kush in solo cups ready to go into 3 gal pots.  I am going to use a mixture of 2 parts super soil to one part base soil.  The plants I have going now ran out of nutrients a bit too early so I am bumping up from a 3-1 mixture to a 2-1 mixture.  I had kind of a hard time finding reasonably priced square 3 gal pots.  Understand and keep in mind that I am still a real novice at this organic stuff.

When I made up a batch of NV's supersoil, I did not make a full batch--it was far more than I could use and I really didn't have anywhere to store it.  You can cut the recipe down--I only made up a 1/4th of the recipe.

I use a product that I can get at Home Depot.  I rarely go to the "big city" and do not like to run all over town shopping.  I use Kellogg's Patio Mix as a base soil.  It is reasonably priced and has worked fine for me so far.  I use it in my raised garden beds, too.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 19, 2012)

I have no need for 150 gallons of super soil for a long while, I'm slightly confused wouldn't a 3-1 mixture have more super soil in it than a 2-1; and do you mix it up or just layer it (bottom is the super the top is regular soil)? I've sent NV some messages as well, right now till I actually start into things and get an order placed to attitude I'm going to just pick up some regular round pots.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 20, 2012)

LOL--sorry, I got it backwards  --it is 1 part supersoil to 2 or 3 parts base soil.  It has to be mixed and turned regularly--it has to "cook" before you can use it.  However, a 3-1 mixture would be 25% supersoil,  a 2-1 mixture would be 33% supersoil.

I have a pretty good source for square pots at a reasonable price if you are interested.


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## Roddy (Jun 20, 2012)

:aok: I'm sure it's stated somewhere, but can you give the time you "cook" your soil? :ciao: Sliver and THG!


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 20, 2012)

For NV's SS people say they cook their soil for 30 days. Not sure how to store the extra and if it keeps its nute strength after a period of time; so I figure I'll just make a new batch half way through my first flowering plants so it will be ready when I move 2nd cycle of vegged plants to the flower room and then clones into new soil to veg them (for a continual crop sorry if the way I typed it seems a bit confusing). Also when I cook it I plan on using a kiddy pool (Might do a tumbler though) should I just cover the soil with a tarp for cooking.

After the super soil has cooked, is that when you do your 25-33% cut with your regular soil and is that mixed in together or is the ss on the bottom of the pot with the regular soil on the top of the bucket.

Yeah if you could give the the link for those square pots that would be great, I appreciate it!


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## pcduck (Jun 20, 2012)

I store my ss in garbage can and a tote. I use one while the other cooks.:aok:

After cooking I place a good amount of ss in my container then I add some soil to the top of the ss. Does not need to be exact. I just make sure that when I trans-plant that there is a good layer of non-ss soil to set the trans-plant into.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 20, 2012)

Oh okay great thanks duck!

  Also questions for those that have done a scrog. I have some unknow seeds I was told they were blueberry seeds (who knows till I get into it I'm going to use those as trial seeds before I risk any known high strain seeds). 

Well if I'm scroging plants would the plant sex show up before it actually needs to start being trained (to make sure I have females before I put it under a screen? If I already have a plant trained under a screen is it safe to move the screen away from the plant (if the instance ever occurs) before I put it into flowering?


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## sMACkaddict (Jun 20, 2012)

Not really, I mean, it depends how far your screen is from the pots. But consodering its supposed to be like a foot away, its usually ideal to start with clones. Then you dont have gaps in your canopy. IMO its better to run your grow a couple times(at leat once) to find a good mother.

sMACk


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 20, 2012)

The Silver Bullet Special said:
			
		

> Oh okay great thanks duck!
> 
> Also questions for those that have done a scrog. I have some unknow seeds I was told they were blueberry seeds (who knows till I get into it I'm going to use those as trial seeds before I risk any known high strain seeds).
> 
> Well if I'm scroging plants would the plant sex show up before it actually needs to start being trained (to make sure I have females before I put it under a screen? If I already have a plant trained under a screen is it safe to move the screen away from the plant (if the instance ever occurs) before I put it into flowering?



I'm with smack on this--I would not do a scrog with seeds.  You really need to use clones for this project.  In fact, I really think that clones from the same mother would be best.

Where did you get the unknown seeds?  Are you sure they were not from hermy plants?


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 20, 2012)

No clue their orgin or their strain just heresay(sp) on that they may be blueberry seeds, dont know if they're hermys or not.

 The guy my friend got them from had no clue other than the bud he pulled them out of he said was blueberry, so for all I know it could be ditch weed. Just was going to use them for practice, so I will prolly pop 5/10 seeds I have and find the best mother (if the plants are even worth the time probably not). 

 If it is ditch weed they're the best lookin ditch weed beans I've ever seen, and he always had killer bud so maybe I'll have some luck. Once I get a new camera I'll throw up some pics of them. I atleast know they will sprout cuz my friend had some seedlings but they all died on him from a high ph in his tap water.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 20, 2012)

I would be leery about seeds that some guy pulled out of his bud.  If this guy grows great bud, he is growing sensimilla and should have no seeds.  Seeds that show up in female plants that have not been pollinated by a male should be avoided.  I NEVER grow seeds unless I know the source and that they are not from hermies.  Probably not ditch weed and that would not be my worry--hermies would.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 20, 2012)

So when I make a purchase from Attitude should I avoid feminized seeds or just avoid it from certain breeders? Other than making the environment right and using a chemical(dont remember what it is) the only other way to make fem seeds is from a hermy that I know.


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## Hushpuppy (Jun 20, 2012)

You don't have to avoid femmed seeds, just buy from a top breeder and be aware that even the top breeders can have femmed seeds that produce agressive hermy traits.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 20, 2012)

The Silver Bullet Special said:
			
		

> So when I make a purchase from Attitude should I avoid feminized seeds or just avoid it from certain breeders? Other than making the environment right and using a chemical(dont remember what it is) the only other way to make fem seeds is from a hermy that I know.



I was not really talking about fem seeds from reputable/responsible breeders, although I am not a big fan of fem seeds and do not buy them.  I was talking about those seeds people find in great sensi bud that resulted from the plant selfing, generally due to stress.  This makes the hermie gene a more dominant gene and the hermie trait is now bred into the seed.  This is different than reputable breeders who go through a long process to find good candidates for female seeds.  However, like Hushpuppy mentioned, even reputable companies can have hermies.  I had a freebie fem seed hermy on me recently.  I caught it fairly early, but it had dropped some pollen and messed up a seed run I was doing.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 20, 2012)

I've read in that book I have that plants can drop pollen prematurely even in veg states if they're hermy pants? And I may just play it safe and get some regular seeds till I get more experience first hand on what to look for when lookin for those nanners.


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## Hushpuppy (Jun 20, 2012)

That is a wise decision. Go to worldwide-marijuana-seeds.com and look at everything they have. But make sure you have a few hours to spend looking. Burmese Kush has proven to be a nice strain for me so far, both easy to grow and a heavy hitter.  And if you can find it, Blueberry Punch is a very good very beginner friendly strain that makes some solid smoke if you like a body stone.


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## stickywicked (Jun 20, 2012)

I dont have any mold or ventilation , temp or humidity problems since I went with the tent.  get one put it in that spare room, through an a/c in the window.  Control the room temp with the ac and the tent takes care of itself.





			
				The Silver Bullet Special said:
			
		

> Sticky is mold a problem for you here in the gulf? This will be my first ever attempted grow but I've been workin on plans and trying to learn good methods for the past 3 months, I never knew exactly how hot the attic got here in the sunshine state but I've decided just to use the spare bed room where the temps can be a little more cooler. I'm probably going to run 2 carbon filters just for peace of mind with the laws being the strictest in the nation here.
> 
> I was browsing through some grow light supply shops online and found they have light dome covers that contain the heat pretty well to allow your ventilation to work better.
> 
> ...


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 21, 2012)

I'm a big fan of Mandala strains, especially Satori.  I am doing another Mandala run now.  I have some Satori, Beyond the Brain, and Ganesh going--my first time with Ganesh.  I also have a Satori, a Point of No Return, and a Safari Mix (the PNR and SM are not sexed yet) going with my Leprechan run.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 21, 2012)

Love a good body stone, helps with the sleep the prices are considerably better than attitude so I will probably go with them instead. Any other recommendations on a good uppy euphoric type buzz kind of like Durban Poison? Buleberry punch wasnt up there anymore but I havnt spent a whole lot of time yet looking through the strains, sort of gives me that "kid in a candy store" excitement lol. Would a seedling last long enough in a solo cup to show sex with out nutes? My girlfriend also has an interest in a reliable purple colored strain.


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## Hushpuppy (Jun 21, 2012)

It seems like the Purple strains are more body than head highs. My bro is growing a really nice "clear heady" strain called Pineapple Chunk. Great taste and a very uppy clear headed high. 

No, a typical plant takes about 5-6weeks to show sex from germenation. That's way too long to go in a solo cup or without nutes. Your best bet would be to get 4-6 seeds and plant half, bring them up like normal and watch for the little male balls to form. Or you can go with the femenized Pineapple Chunk from Barney's Farm as that is where ours came from and they have been superb through their 3rd grow now without any herm issues.


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## Hushpuppy (Jun 21, 2012)

Hey Goddess, I had a look at the Satori and was wondering about how tall she gets. It looks like a good beginner plant as well.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 21, 2012)

For those strains that are mold resistant does that also pertain to while the buds are drying and curing or just during growth? 

I was looking at that pineapple chunk just a little bit ago. I think my list to start will be Beyond the brain(or fruitylicious) and Satori from Mandala, White Widow (not sure if I'll go with Flying Dutchman or Nirvana yet), Pineapple Chunk from Barney's Farm, Blue mystic ( for the the gf) Nirvana. To play with for a long while, I want to have a supply of a few strains so I dont have to make many orders.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 21, 2012)

Sounds like a great line-up.  If you clone, you don't have to buy seeds again until........you see another strain that catches your eye that you decide that you just must have and try out.

I recommend Satori as a nice up high.  It really get me and motivated.  LOL--I love strains with "warnings" like this:  *Persons not used to highly psychoactive sativas should be cautious with the dosage.*

Most of my Satori gets about 3' tall.  However height can be controlled pretty well by either not vegging too long or fim, scrog, lst.  I have had some monsters though.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 23, 2012)

Lol, I havn't smoked for at least a month and a half and don't have any local dealers anymore due to him passing away recently, so my tolerance has gone way down I'll be looking forward to poppin a few satori's.

 I will probably do a few runs to get some experience first hand growing and how to lst and hst sucessfully also building up my funds to have two 4'x4' tents able to veg then flip to flower and keep the 4x'2 tent for mothers and clones and early veg or make that my drying/curing tent so I can play around with scrog and do a continual harvest type deal or atleast off set harvests by 4-6 weeks.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 23, 2012)

I would use good quality seeds to do your "runs".  If you are prepared, have your rooms set up and dialed in, there is no reason that you cannot have a fine harvest your first crop.  I think there is an advantage to knowing what you are growing and not having to worry about hermies from bag seed.  

IMO, if you want to do continual harvest, scrogging is not your best growing method.  I ran a scrog in my vegging space while I was redoing my flowering space, but would never really wanted to be moving it from space to space.  I think you can get as nice a harvest with other growing methods like lollipopping, fim, top, etc.  I really think lst and scrog are better when your height is limited, you are trying to control your canopy, and you will not be moving your plants around.  I can think of no reason for hst--I don't like to get too tough on the girls--most of them really do not like stress.  If you do a scrog in one tent--veg and flower in the same space, you are going to need to switch your lights out with a tent crowded with plants and screening.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 23, 2012)

Yeah I think I'll place an order for some seeds within the next week or so and start getting supplies together to make soil and get my tents set up hopefully I'll be able to start my first journal on here soon, I'll just stick to topping/fim and trying tiedowns. If I do decide to do a scrog it will be in a closet just for fun.

Is a credit/debit card safe to use when I place an order? I was just going to use an international money order.. but if credit/debit is safe it would be faster that way.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful input I feel better about what I'm going to be jumping into than I did a week ago!


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## Roddy (Jun 23, 2012)

I use a debit card with no issues!

Perpetual grows are fairly easy to set up and cycle, I'm on my 2nd year + and the cycle continues on...cleaning is the biggest issue I've seen. I recently moved my greatly reduced stock out for a complete clean and have now refilled the room to almost overcrowding...fun stuff!!

Oh, just remembered another issue, perpetual grows takes away your life...so to speak. Unless you plan to shut down on occasion, anything longer than a few days or so vacation is out...without some serious planning and maybe help.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 23, 2012)

Thanks I think I'll use my debit card so I don't have to wait for the money to reach wherever it goes or risk it getting lost in the mail and then wait for them to send the package lol. I live in the tropics so everyday is like being on vacation here so I should be good on going on a road trip for a year or two.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 23, 2012)

The Silver Bullet Special said:
			
		

> Thanks I think I'll use my debit card so I don't have to wait for the money to reach wherever it goes or risk it getting lost in the mail and then wait for them to send the package lol. I live in the tropics so everyday is like being on vacation here so I should be good on going on a road trip for a year or two.



LOL--I live in the mountains and feel the same way.  However, I am hoping to make Seattle's Hemp Fest this year.

I always use a debit card and have the seeds sent to my house.  I have never had any issues.  Okay, well, when Overgrow and Heaven's Staircase went down I had an order into HS that I never received, but other than that, no issues ever.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 23, 2012)

Okay cool I was hoping I wouldnt have to open up a P.O. box (the book I have recommended it saying "never have seeds delivered to the house and open up a P.O. box under an alias" but now days to open a P.O. box you have to provide 3 forms of ID (least where I'm at) to open one so it's the same thing to have it sent to the home. 

I'm guessing that you would have to get a medical card for that state to be able to attend and well, smoke legally at the same time? I've only seen vids and pics of hemp fest and other festivals like that. All the cool smoking stuff they have there is crazy.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 24, 2012)

The Silver Bullet Special said:
			
		

> Okay cool I was hoping I wouldnt have to open up a P.O. box (the book I have recommended it saying "never have seeds delivered to the house and open up a P.O. box under an alias" but now days to open a P.O. box you have to provide 3 forms of ID (least where I'm at) to open one so it's the same thing to have it sent to the home.
> 
> I'm guessing that you would have to get a medical card for that state to be able to attend and well, smoke legally at the same time? I've only seen vids and pics of hemp fest and other festivals like that. All the cool smoking stuff they have there is crazy.



And what book would that be?  I have to say that that is about the worst advise I have ever heard for ordering seeds.  There is so much wrong with it that it makes me wonder about the other advise in the book.....

I do not have a med card and would be traveling from another state.  I don't think that having a med card is going to be a requirement to attend and smoke--the rules get rather lax at events like this.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jun 24, 2012)

"Marijuana Horticulture The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Growers Bible" By Jorge Cervantes I thought it sounded a little crazy myself. I got it just to understand the basics, wasn't planning on living by this book it has some good info (That I could have easily have learned here) never knew the anatomy of pot plants (like calyxs and how to tell the difference between males and females on preflowers).  Also I got the book before I joined the forum Lol.

The section on cloning was interesting in the the book says to include  humidifer or fogger in the cloning room. I'm assuming this is for dry arid climates with big time cloning going on. I'm still looking into which cloning method I want to go with in the propagation forum, most likely aero for starters though.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jul 1, 2012)

Okay well I had to make some changes and decided to do a stealth grow. I was able to measure out a wall between my bedroom and the room next to me that has two closets in the wall. The wall is 12'L x 41"W and Both closets are 2' deep(off set from each other). The first closet's dimensions are 6'x2'x8' the second is about 5.5'x2'x8'.

The two closets are inside the same wall not back to back but caddy corner, I'm planning on taking out the 5.5' wide closet door and putting up drywall and making that closed off (Like it was never even there) and opening up the inside of the 6' wide closet to join the two together but still able to make them seperate (One for flower and one for veg). I'm still going to be using a 600W HPS in a AC hood to give me about 30k lumens total over the 5k/sq ft minimum for flowering. For vegging I may just go ahead and use the 8bulb 4' fixture (Sun Blaze has an 8bulb set up under 2' wide for $189 so it will barely fit in the closet).

For ventilation, I'm going to have the 449CFM fan up in the attic with a 6"x6"x6" wye to branch off to the veg room and the flower room to pull air up from both of those rooms at once and have it on a speed controller. I'll have an oscillating fan under the plants blowing up and across both rooms. Passive intakes will be cut into the drywall and covered to prevent light leaks (not sure how big of a hole I should make it in each room).

I still tryin to decide whether I want to have the frist closet to be a cloning place and then move the plants into the second room to finish vegging then flower and play with a scrog set up or, if I should LST, or just top and fim a few times and let it grow out. About how many plants would I be able to fit in that area?


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## orangesunshine (Jul 1, 2012)

sounds great---i always love to see a stealth grower in action---your grow style and size of containers will dictate how many plants you fit in the area---soil or hydro will also dictate how many you grow---whatever set up you decide---you might want to consider having 2 distinctly separate rooms each with their own entrance---mojo


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jul 2, 2012)

Thanks! I'm doin NV's ss in 3 gal pots (Probably smart pots) With my home floor plan, to keep things as hidden best as they can this is really the only way to do it.

 Do you think having both the rooms vented through one fan from a wye in the attic is a good idea. I kinda think that when I go to put the carbon filter in the flower room will the veg room pull more air because of less resistance from no filter? This one fan setup will only be temporary till I can set up afford another fan in the attic for the veg room exhaust. 

There will be a physical divide between the two rooms to make the flower room light tight. Whats a good size intake that I should have for the room?


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## Hushpuppy (Jul 2, 2012)

I don't think there will be any problem with using a wye on the vent. I am not sure if you can do this but I would look at putting the filter on the exaust side of the fan (in the attic) as that would make the air flow more equal for each room. You can also control the airflow for each room by the size of the intakes. If you have twice the intake volume for the flower room as the veg room then it should pull roughly twice the volume. 

There are air vent covers that are louvered and screened that you can get from Lowes or HD in different sizes and colors to cover the holes for the inlet air. If your walls are standard stud walls then you can cut 4-5 smaller holes(1"-2") on the inside at the bottom 6" of the wall then on the outside of the wall you can cut the same holes but 2' higher up the wall so that the holes are offset from each other. Being inside walls, they shouldn't have any insulation which will leave an airspace of a few inches between the inner wall and outer wall. This should stop any light leaking in or out. 

I actually used dryer vent covers on my cabinets and just painted them flat black. I put one on each side of the wall of the same hole and turned them both downward. They are 4" round and work very good for allowing air without allowing any light to pass through.


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## Hushpuppy (Jul 2, 2012)

here's a couple pics of the parts I was talking about  You can get the louvers in several different colors for putting on the outside of the walls, and the dryer vent you can paint flat black and cut a single 4" hole to mount it on the inside wall. I would put 2 of them in the flower space and 1 in the veg space


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jul 3, 2012)

I didnt think downsizing the veg room exhaust to a 4in :doh: that would probably offset the pull enough to equal out, I just dont want to get up in the attic all to often so the filter will probably stay in the flower room. Thankfully they are standard studd walls and the return air vent is right next to where the flower closet is so I could butt right up against that with the second louvered(sp) vent to make it look like one big return air vent.

 Now I just need to get the suplies all together did the price list of everything with all the things to make the soil and it turns out to be like $1200 and change without the cost in seeds. But its well worth the cost of never having to deal with the black market and crappy sketchy dealers; and could pay for itself in a few harvests.  

Also, Hush that CAP organic carbon filter you linked me to; I've been reading reviews, also NV had a post where he did a trial and said you gotta clean those things every 2-4 weeks(after a couple of washes)? Not sure if I want to deal with that. I'm kinda wondering how good Phresh filters are are or even Can filters?


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jul 3, 2012)

You are not going to be able to connect a filter to one side of the venting and not the other.  The fan will absolutely pull far more from the veg room and you will have almost nothing going through the filter.  When running a wye, you are going to have to keep each side almost identical in length and bends to keep air flow even--you need things to be balanced.  Even having more ducting and more turns on one side will greatly affect the air flow.  I really think you are going to need 2 fans.


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## The Silver Bullet Special (Jul 3, 2012)

Yeah that was my worries, I was hoping that it would have worked temporarily till I could get another fan I'll just save up for another fan, Would I be able to put both exhausts into a wye like a 6"x6"x8" so I dont need to have two holes in my roof; unless I can vent out of the ridge cap?

Edit: Could I also dry my buds in the flower room to keep the smell down during drying?


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