Planning first grow.

I've been throwing ideas around in my head for months now, just waiting for the right time. I've finally decided to build a grow cabinet in my garage. Mainly my thinking is the only way I'll have to try and "hide" my grow is my land lord coming over for an inspection. She hasn't even called or emailed since I moved in almost 9 months ago. It also states in the lease, she is required by law to give me 24 hours notice. So I'll build the cabinet with two front doors that can be padlocked, so I can just say it houses my tools which are worth a lot of money and need to be locked up. Added bonus, my washer and dryer are in the garage, so I can turn them on to block out any fan noise.

I'm thinking about building the cabinet in MDF, do you think because it's a porous material that I will have an odor problem? It will have active ventilation with a large carbon filter.

I sketched up my plans quickly the other day (I didn't include the front doors on the sketches, it would cover the entire facia of the cabinet, making it seem like one large chamber)

Idea 1


Idea 2

The only problem I see is smell just like you said. The rooms are pretty much the same except one is bigger. The vent on bottom by floor......this might be a problem with smell. Your deff gona want to get a strain that doesn't stink too bad during flowering. And the land lord should really leave you alone for the most part. The only real time they would need to come there is to check the fire alarms once a year.

Thats just a basic outline of the room really. It will have full ventilation run through it. I see what you're saying. Should I put a fan on the intake, so nothing seeps out?

you are wasting a lot of space by putting the chambers side by side instead of one on top of another. your veg plants will not grow anywhere near as tall as your flowering plants wasting lots of space above the vegging plants. give the vegging space about half the height of the flowering space and you'll be good to go.

Is there any merit in veg/flower in one chamber, and a second chamber to dry my buds? I don't have to be 100% stealth, but I don't want to just string up drying buds across my garage. My garage door is opened at least once a day.

brandon. said:

Is there any merit in veg/flower in one chamber, and a second chamber to dry my buds? I don't have to be 100% stealth, but I don't want to just string up drying buds across my garage. My garage door is opened at least once a day.

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you can't veg and flower in the same chamber at the same time because veg requires at least 16 hours of light a day and flowering requires no more than 12 hours of light. most people use 18/6 for veg and 12/12 for flower. the benefit of a veg and flower chamber is that you can set up a perpetual grow with plants of varying age growing so that you can have a harvest more frequently than every 4 months if you have one chamber.

Yeah, I was meaning using the one chamber to veg a crop, then changing the light schedule inside that chamber to induce flowering. Agreed i wouldn't be able to produce crops as frequently. I don't need much now, ever since my son was born, I only smoke about one - two bowls of poor quality mids per day. I've just come to the realization I'd rather pay pennies for gold, than gold for pennies if that makes sense

brandon. said:

I only smoke about one - two bowls of poor quality mids per day. I've just come to the realization I'd rather pay pennies for gold, than gold for pennies if that makes sense

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perfect sense, all of the non-pro growers are here for quality, not quantity per se. that said, you don't want to run out.

as you plan your space here's an approach you can use to work backward from how much weed you want to how many plants, to how much space, to how many crops to get that yield:

as an estimate, your two bowls (your usage will eventually equal your poor quality usage as your tolerance goes up) might add up to an ounce every two weeks or so? so if you're going to do a single 4 month grow you need eight ounces per harvest. if you achieve a good amateur grow you can get .5 grams per watt of light. eight ounces is a little more than 200 grams so a 400 watt hps light would be sufficient (lighting is complicated so i skipped a couple of steps). 600 watts would be great if you can handle the heat. finally, a 400 watt light can provide excellent coverage for 8 square feet. if you train or select your plants to cover 2 square feet then that's 4 plants. with only one crop you need to use feminized seeds or increase the size of your box to account for males. use your own assumptions if mine are way off to get the right number for you.

and congratulations on your son's birth!

That makes a lot of sense. I also forgot to add that I'll be doing more autoflowering crops than non-auto. I want to experiment until I find a good auto that I like. From what I've read I'm estimating around 2 months per harvest? The seeds I'll be starting with are actually feminized lowryder #2.

also thanks for the congrats. He's 3 weeks old today. Feels like he was born so long ago haha.

never tried autoflowers so can't help. usually the seed bank will give an estimate of grow time, then add a couple of weeks because seed banks seem to always underestimate the time.

Seed bank says 7 weeks from seed. I was planning on 8-9 weeks.

I'm also on a limited budget, is it feasible to run 150watt (mh conversion bulb for veg, and hps bulb for flower) with a reflector and plan on about 4 autos (feminized) at a time? Would it help if the walls were painted white or lined with mylar? I'd really like to stick with the 150watt if possible.

brandon. said:

I'm also on a limited budget, is it feasible to run 150watt (mh conversion bulb for veg, and hps bulb for flower) with a reflector and plan on about 4 autos (feminized) at a time?

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a 150 watt hps puts out 16,000 lumens and is great for two small plants. you could squeeze more plants in but you would just get a lower yield per plant with about the same total yield since light is your limiting factor. two ounces is going to be close to the limit for that light no matter what you put beneath it. so is an ounce a month on average enough for you?

Would it help if the walls were painted white or lined with mylar? I'd really like to stick with the 150watt if possible.

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all of my estimates assume a reflective surface - the numbers are a lot worse without.

Honestly an ounce per month would probably work for me. At least for now. I might be able to afford a 250watt. Unfortunately I got laid off a few weeks before my son was born so my grow plans have been downsized by 1000%. Do you think a 250watt would be ok for 4 plants, even if I start growing non-auto's eventually.

By the way, desertrat you rock, I really appreciate the feedback.

yes, a 250 watt hps puts out about 28,000 lumens which is enough to cover 4 square feet with excellent light or up to 8 square feet with adequate light. you should be able to get a small strain that will allow for 4 plants within those space constraints.

and, you're welcome. pass it forward

HTGsupply has a 250watt HPS for $117. I think I can swing that. I may have to adjust my plans to give myself enough space in the growbox. Hopefully I'll be able to order the light setup soon