swingingsteel
Member
I am writing this in case this can answer anyone's questions. I have all my knowledge from this site, and thought maybe this would be a good way to give back to the community. I will list specifics and hope it helps. I am open to any and all suggestions. I will be starting a journal in the next few days to track the 4 seedlings that I have just started.
After getting sick and tired of the rising costs, I decided to start growing. After many many months of reading on here, I decided that cfl would be the best set up for me. I have a room in my basement that is 3' X 4' X 7' tall. I wanted to have two separate chambers on top of each other, so due to height restrictions, I decided cfl would be best for me. My veg chamber, the top, is 2'6" tall, with my flower chamber, the bottom, being 4'3" tall. The middle is a 2x4 shelf that is covered with panda film, as is the sides.
For the veg chamber, I wired in 6 boxes with porcelain fixtures. Each of the fixtures have 3 " Y " splitters, one in the fixture, and two into that first splitter, giving me 4 sockets per outlet which I have 26 watt 6500K cfls. I have a total of 23 bulbs, one socket is empty, giving me a total of 598 watts. Both chambers are on their own timers with the veg chamber at 18 hours on / 6 off, and the flower chamber at 12 on /12 off. Keep in mind that each porcelain outlet, and each splitter is rated for 660 watts each, so I am in no way over stressing the sockets or adapters. It is kind of like a jiogsaw puzzle with all the splitters and making sure they are all turned the right way as to not interfere with each other.
For the flower chamber I didn't feel like spending hours wiring in another setup like above, so I bought 3 strip lights from Lowes. One is a 6 socket, the other two are four socket. I ran the 6 socket light down the middle of my 3 x 4 ceiling on a diaganal angle, and then put a 4 socket light strip on either side parralel with the 6, and evenly spaced apart. I have a total of 14 sockets, into which I put 10 splitters. I am running 2- 65 watt 2700K and 22 - 23 watt, giving me a total of 636 watts. I ran a 12-2 wire from a 20 amp breaker that powers just my lights with a total of just over 1200 watts it is way under the 1800 watts allowed per circuit. I have kids and pets, and didn't want any shortcuts taken on electricity, as I certainly don't want a fire. I am still looking into a fire supression system similiar to a halon system like I have in my boat.
For ventilation, I have a variable speed fan blowing fresh air into the bottom flower chamber, and a 4" inline fan sucking air out of the bottom chamber and blowing it out the top. I also have a fresh air fan on the top veg chamber.
As this is my first indoor grow, I decided to start with soil. I have grown a plant a year outside for the past 10 years or so with very good success, so I thought it best to keep that going. I will be moving to an aeroponic system in the upcoming months as soon as I can figure out the best way to minimize space. I am just using bagseed as of now, but just received some feminized seeds. I am going to wait till I have gone through my first cycle with bag seed before trying those. The seeds are just seeds collected over time from bags of good smoke I liked. I am using nature's Best organic soil for this grow, but will be using fox farm for future. For germination, I use peat cups which I drop a seed in and fill the container with water and I set it on top of my furnace, also in the room, which makes it nice. The furnace keeps them warm, which has worked very well so far. Only light is the cfl in the ceiling.
Once the seeds start to pop and stick out of the peat cups, I place the peat cup into a 2 gallon pot that is loosely filled with dirt. I make a hole big enough for the cup, and gently set them in the hole and put dirt around them. I then pour about two cups of water in the pots which lowers everything about 2" from compaction. At that point, they are ready for light. I then placed them into the veg chamber. After a week of that, they are about 3-4" tall with their first full set of leaves. I then place them on boxes so they are within 3 inches of the lights.
I will add pictures tomorrow, and look forward to any and all input.
Happy growing.
After getting sick and tired of the rising costs, I decided to start growing. After many many months of reading on here, I decided that cfl would be the best set up for me. I have a room in my basement that is 3' X 4' X 7' tall. I wanted to have two separate chambers on top of each other, so due to height restrictions, I decided cfl would be best for me. My veg chamber, the top, is 2'6" tall, with my flower chamber, the bottom, being 4'3" tall. The middle is a 2x4 shelf that is covered with panda film, as is the sides.
For the veg chamber, I wired in 6 boxes with porcelain fixtures. Each of the fixtures have 3 " Y " splitters, one in the fixture, and two into that first splitter, giving me 4 sockets per outlet which I have 26 watt 6500K cfls. I have a total of 23 bulbs, one socket is empty, giving me a total of 598 watts. Both chambers are on their own timers with the veg chamber at 18 hours on / 6 off, and the flower chamber at 12 on /12 off. Keep in mind that each porcelain outlet, and each splitter is rated for 660 watts each, so I am in no way over stressing the sockets or adapters. It is kind of like a jiogsaw puzzle with all the splitters and making sure they are all turned the right way as to not interfere with each other.
For the flower chamber I didn't feel like spending hours wiring in another setup like above, so I bought 3 strip lights from Lowes. One is a 6 socket, the other two are four socket. I ran the 6 socket light down the middle of my 3 x 4 ceiling on a diaganal angle, and then put a 4 socket light strip on either side parralel with the 6, and evenly spaced apart. I have a total of 14 sockets, into which I put 10 splitters. I am running 2- 65 watt 2700K and 22 - 23 watt, giving me a total of 636 watts. I ran a 12-2 wire from a 20 amp breaker that powers just my lights with a total of just over 1200 watts it is way under the 1800 watts allowed per circuit. I have kids and pets, and didn't want any shortcuts taken on electricity, as I certainly don't want a fire. I am still looking into a fire supression system similiar to a halon system like I have in my boat.
For ventilation, I have a variable speed fan blowing fresh air into the bottom flower chamber, and a 4" inline fan sucking air out of the bottom chamber and blowing it out the top. I also have a fresh air fan on the top veg chamber.
As this is my first indoor grow, I decided to start with soil. I have grown a plant a year outside for the past 10 years or so with very good success, so I thought it best to keep that going. I will be moving to an aeroponic system in the upcoming months as soon as I can figure out the best way to minimize space. I am just using bagseed as of now, but just received some feminized seeds. I am going to wait till I have gone through my first cycle with bag seed before trying those. The seeds are just seeds collected over time from bags of good smoke I liked. I am using nature's Best organic soil for this grow, but will be using fox farm for future. For germination, I use peat cups which I drop a seed in and fill the container with water and I set it on top of my furnace, also in the room, which makes it nice. The furnace keeps them warm, which has worked very well so far. Only light is the cfl in the ceiling.
Once the seeds start to pop and stick out of the peat cups, I place the peat cup into a 2 gallon pot that is loosely filled with dirt. I make a hole big enough for the cup, and gently set them in the hole and put dirt around them. I then pour about two cups of water in the pots which lowers everything about 2" from compaction. At that point, they are ready for light. I then placed them into the veg chamber. After a week of that, they are about 3-4" tall with their first full set of leaves. I then place them on boxes so they are within 3 inches of the lights.
I will add pictures tomorrow, and look forward to any and all input.
Happy growing.