Happy Birthday to me...today is med permit day..so a new grow room is imminent

<Grasshopper> said:

OK here is a good question:

1} As for grow rooms. I have 2 rooms availible to me for growing. The first room is not heated and has unfinnished not insulated walls. The second room is finished drywall with no windows. Has a heater and is pretty big....mabey almost the size of a single car garage. I only need to grow the legal ammount and dont plan to ever grow more then washington allows. I have a friend that used to grow years ago and he is saying that I should build 2 big air tight boxes to keep the plants in so it will be easier to keep out insects and keep the temperature and humidity stable.

2} Also.....how does someone find clones in the portland area?

3} If you were just starting out growing should I be trying hydroponics or just use soil for my first grow? Is the learning curve to much for hydro? I already have a pinpoint digital ph meter and a reverse osmosis filter to make purified water. Should I just jump in with hydroponics? What about deep water methods versus drip methods versus ebb and flood systems. Which are easier for the novice?

Thanks for the help!
Hopper

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Bump for my questions. Thanks everyone........really...thank You

Happy to be of assistance... always.

Here are some pics of the progress. We are insulating all the walls and sealing everything up tight. A friend that is a painter is gonna spray it all flat white and he may come up with some kind of sealer to apply first to seal out the insects and make it all completly air tight. Its more work then I thought it would be, and with my health Im sure glad I have a good support group of friends that understand and will help me out.

Before and after pics

What do you guys think? Any suggestions from those that have done it all before me? I need all the fresh ideas I can get

The main thing I would suggest while you're setting things up is to figure out how you're going to do your air circulation. Air circulation is key to maintaining a healthy growing environment.

You need a way to draw in fresh, hopefully cool air and another way to vent hot, probably humid air. For input, I would try mounting some kind of window unit type air conditioner in one of the walls. You can usually find used window units online for like $100. Grow lights generate a lot of heat, but MJ likes the temp to stay below 80 degrees, so the ability to cool your space is very important.

For your exhaust, you need to get a 6" can fan and a carbon filter to go with it. Most folks buy vented hoods to go with their lights and these hoods hook up nicely to 6" ducting. You run ducting from the filter to each of your lights, up to the fan and from the fan, through more ducting, out of the room. Most people have their exhaust air going to their attic, crawl space or any other area outside the grow room. Exhausting your grow space not only helps control temps, but it also helps with excess humidity, which can cause all kinds of problems.

Now, I'll try to answer your other questions. First, I would really have to look at the two spaces you have at your disposal before making a smart decision on which is best. Off the top of my head, though, I'd probably go for the insulated space over the more bare bones one. In your part of the country, I don't think heat is that big of an issue in summer, but cold certainly is in winter. The more insulated the space, the easier it will be to control the temps at any time of year.

As to finding clones in the Portland area, I wouldn't be of much help, as I'm in Texas. From what I've read, though, it seems that most dispensaries sell clones to patients. That's the way it works in Cali and Colorado, though, so not sure if it's the same where you are. You could always order some seeds from one of the many seed banks on the internet. I've heard very good feedback on The Attitude, just to name one vendor.

Finally, you have the question of which method of growing is best. This is a topic that is highly controversial and as many growers as you ask, you'll often get that many different answers.

For myself, I've always grown in hydro and wouldn't do it any other way. This is at least partially because when I first started, several years ago, all of my starting equipment was given to me by a grower friend that was shutting down his operation. His set up used rock wool cubes in ebb and flow trays. I still use rock wool and ebb and flow for clones and vegging, but now I put my 4" cubes into 9" net pots, filled with hydroton pellets and use drip stakes for the flowering phase.

I find hydro growing to be exceedingly easy. As long as you keep all of your equipment clean and don't use any organic matter in your solutions, a hydro set up can be easy to manage and produce great results. As far as I'm concerned, soil is messy and makes it harder to dial in correct water amounts, nutes, pH, etc. Lots of folks around here seem to like soil growing, but it's just not for me. Bottom line, if you can afford to spend a couple thousand dollars all at once, I'd go with hydro.

I'll keep an eye on this thread, so let me know if you need any clarification on any of this stuff. I'm not an expert, just a guy who's done this a few times with good results. BTW, sorry for the wall of text, but you said you wanted info, right?

Ygrow:

Thanks for the information. The internet is a great place isnt it. I can ask a question and get excelent competent advice from many people...luv it. Love your avatar btw. Bubbles rocks. Looks like I am going to down to just this room in the picture for growing which is plenty for a med patient. I meen how much can I possibly smoke right. The room on the other side of the wall to the right is the finished room with drywall. I am thinking I will put in a window aircondition unit in that room and have my air intake from that cooled room. It has heat and if I add a air unit I should be able to keep that room at 80 no matter what and then with the air intake from that room keep the grow area the correct temp. What do you think about that idea? The room I am gonna be growing in is getting insulated also. Its gonna be something like 10 feet long by 6 feet wide by 80 inches high. Hopefully I can figure out a way to seperate the veg areas from the flower areas in that space. I have a 400 watt hps already and can buy either a 1000 watt 600 watt or whatever I want for the flower room. I am thinking 1000 watt with the vented hood like you said. Would you get the 1000 or opt for a 600?

Hopper

Hey, Hopper. So, the two rooms share a common wall? If so, yeah, I would put the window unit in the wall that they share, so it would blow into your grow space. You can either just have it blow into the whole space or you can hook up some kind of homemade ducting to direct it wherever you need it most. 10x6x6.6 is plenty of room in which to grow for your own needs.

As to how you should separate your veg from your flower area, might I suggest a grow tent? I do my flower and veg in the same room by using a Homebox XL grow tent for flower. Check out their website: http://www.homebox.net/dhtml/index.php. I can't recommend them enough. It is almost completely light-proof, so I just have my veg area out in the same room as my flower tent. I've never had an issue with it.

Finally, I would go with the highest wattage you can afford. If you can afford a 1k HPS, go for it. You just have to make sure your ventilation can handle the heat that sucker will generate. I run 2x400 watt HPS in my flower area. Between my air conditioner and my 6" exhaust fan, I maintain 75-78 degrees in the tent, while the lights are on.

YGrow said:

Hey, Hopper. So, the two rooms share a common wall? If so, yeah, I would put the window unit in the wall that they share, so it would blow into your grow space. You can either just have it blow into the whole space or you can hook up some kind of homemade ducting to direct it wherever you need it most. 10x6x6.6 is plenty of room in which to grow for your own needs.

As to how you should separate your veg from your flower area, might I suggest a grow tent? I do my flower and veg in the same room by using a Homebox XL grow tent for flower. Check out their website: http://www.homebox.net/dhtml/index.php. I can't recommend them enough. It is almost completely light-proof, so I just have my veg area out in the same room as my flower tent. I've never had an issue with it.

Finally, I would go with the highest wattage you can afford. If you can afford a 1k HPS, go for it. You just have to make sure your ventilation can handle the heat that sucker will generate. I run 2x400 watt HPS in my flower area. Between my air conditioner and my 6" exhaust fan, I maintain 75-78 degrees in the tent, while the lights are on.

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Thats some good shit YGROW

So we have the walls all done and insulated and caulked with caulking. Its sealed as good as can be. I am haveing a friend come and paint this room 3 coats of flat white paint. Would you all still use reflective mylar on the walls? Or is the white paint almost as good as the mylar? Again I will have 1 1000 watt light.

Thanks

Grasshopper

sounds like your gunna have a killer setup. can't wait to see that room full of green!

I've always heard that white paint is just about the most reflective surface you can have, so I'd just stick with that. Cheaper, anyway. Throw up some more pix, when you have a chance, man.

If ur in the portland area and willing to drive to aloha/hillsboro I think I can point ya to some clones. Check out omcu.net were local and have clone exchanges every other saturday. The next one is the 8th

Thanks Sensisensai......I have sent them a email and I just hope they will except my washington prescription. I am just across the creek from you guys. I checked out your grow journal, looks like you have quite a few strains going. I hope someday I can have what you have in your garden. My grow room is plenty big. I need to figure a way to make seperate areas for the 12 hour cycles and the veg area. Looks like you just made a frame with some pine and then made the walls with plastic. Looks like its working good. One thing I love about switching to marijuana for pain as opposed to the prescription narcotics is all the different tastes of the plants. I really like the sweet sugary type stuff.

I got paid today....today I go to the hydro shop to buy my lights and a fan for the vented hood along with other supplies...Im excited..Its like xmas. Never thought I would see the day when I could do this all legal.

That's awesome, Hopper. I love going to the grow store with a wad of cash. If you're buying a good bit of stuff, you might want to see if they'll give you a discount. Even if they can't, it never hurts to ask.

YGrow said:

That's awesome, Hopper. I love going to the grow store with a wad of cash. If you're buying a good bit of stuff, you might want to see if they'll give you a discount. Even if they can't, it never hurts to ask.

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Ygrow.

Yep...I got a new light 1000 watter with the vented hood. I still have much to buy. I painted some flat white on the walls today but thats another thread. Oh I got a discount...a good discount I think.

Hopper

Love your avatar...Gotta love bubbles man...everyone has a friend like that right...haha I have torrented down all the seasons

Love your avatar...Gotta love bubbles man...everyone has a friend like that right...haha I have torrented down all the seasons

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Bubbles and TPBs rule. I've seen every one of them, myself.

Nice work on the room, but you aren't going to try to cover that whole room with a single 1k are you?

It won't cover half that space, maybe you already intend to just use half for veg?

OregonMeds said:

Nice work on the room, but you aren't going to try to cover that whole room with a single 1k are you?

It won't cover half that space, maybe you already intend to just use half for veg?

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Oh I know that. I am only allower so many plants with my washington permit. Its 15 plants I think being adults or babies..I could be wrong on the exact number but I will be sure and learn the exact number before I get my garden started. Yep I knew it wont cover that much space. And you are right that half the room will be for clones and vegging areas. I will have room to have a couple chairs where a good friend and I can rip a hit and drink a beer if we want. I have a 400 watt light also that I suppose I will use for vegging my plants. I know it seems alot of people are useing just flourescents for their 18-24 light cycle but wouldnt a 400 watt light be best? Perhaps it should be metal halide instead of hps for the 18-24 light cycle? Or should I use hps bulb? I know I have tons of documents I can look it up in and be sure when I go to setup the light it will have the correct bulb.

I finished caulking all the corners and seems in the walls and did my second coat of flat white pain in the room today. I am gonna be looking for a temp/humidity digital unit soon.....any suggestions on a good one to get?

Grasshopper

OregonMeds: ....are you in Portland area also?

Clones definitely don't need a lot of light and can actually be harmed by too much light, early on. The other main concern with using a 400 watt HPS light is the power usage. You're going to end up using a lot of power with that light if you run it 24/0. I light my veg and clone area with a 4 ft., 4 bulb T5 fluorescent fixture. It creates very little heat and uses very little electricity. I got mine from another grower for nothing, but I don't think they're that expensive. My suggestion for your 400 watt HPS would be to use it to supplement your 1k in the flower area. 1400 watts for flowering would make for some heavy buds, IMO. Put those HPS watts to work where they can really contirbute to your harvest.

YGrow said:

Clones definitely don't need a lot of light and can actually be harmed by too much light, early on. The other main concern with using a 400 watt HPS light is the power usage. You're going to end up using a lot of power with that light if you run it 24/0. I light my veg and clone area with a 4 ft., 4 bulb T5 fluorescent fixture. It creates very little heat and uses very little electricity. I got mine from another grower for nothing, but I don't think they're that expensive. My suggestion for your 400 watt HPS would be to use it to supplement your 1k in the flower area. 1400 watts for flowering would make for some heavy buds, IMO. Put those HPS watts to work where they can really contirbute to your harvest.

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Yep I know I can find a t5 fixture for pretty cheap. They are used in the saltwater industry for fish tanks as well. Craigslist is a place to look...but is getting risky. There have been some real lowlif people targeting craigslisters here in Washington. Killing one guy for his diamond ring he was selling but they caught those 4......hope they go find the nearest tree and a rope for them. Violence sucks and people who strong-arm robs anyone needs to be shot right away. As in just after trial. Of course thats just my opinion and Im not trying to start a discussion with anyone about humanity and peoples rights. I just think that violent crimes deserve much harsher punnishments. Let out some of those people in prison for drug possession and lockup the thugs and toss the key. Man I must be a little buzzed...I just keep going on and on and on. Im just a little passionate about some things and this is one.



<<<Grasshopper>>>

Lol, no harm no foul for being a little buzzed or a lot buzzed around here.