Starting a closet grow this summer and have some questions.

I have done some research for a month or two and will continue doing more. Though I have some questions before I start buying and building my grow room. My closet is about 3' by 4' and is 6' high (under shelf, might use the shelf for shrooms). I plan to buy or build a cheap hydro rubbermaid tub. A few things I wanted to know were with lights and venting though. I want to try to save some money on electricity with this so I am not sure about getting a 400watt hps like I was planning. I am thinking about doing a combination of CFL's and LED's. My questions is how many watts worth of cfl's would you recommend to grow 5 to 6 plants in this area? (I will also have a few 50 led light boards set up too) Also, I have read that all that is really needed as far as venting a closet grow is opening the door every once in a while. But I was wondering about smell. What is the cheapest way to keep the smell down in the room? If the door to the hallway is on the opposite side of the bed room from the closet would you be able to smell it growing with both the closet and the bedroom door shut?

Thanks for any help.

you will find with CFL's that you rapidly wind up with the comparable amount of wattage to a HPS setup... specially when trying to grow more than 1 or 2 plants... what the LED's do for that i have no idea... i have seen some amazing things with them done online but i have 0 real world exposure to them. with just CFL's you are going to want an easy 400 watts to do that many plants WELL... you can do them poorly with 200.

opening the closet door is IMNHO bad advice. 4" ducting is fairly cheap, inline fans for the duct can be had for as little as $30 (not talking duck tapped DIY stuff, but the real deal parts) and it seems a decent and quiet one can be had for about twice that.... see the Grow FAQ and DIY forum for cheap carbon filters that allegedly work (cant see why they wouldn't, i just haven't laid my paws on one) and look into an ozone system or some stuff called Ona (i think) that is basically a tub of oder eating chemicals.

the reason i say opening the closet door for ventilation is a bad idea is for a couple/few reasons.
1) what do you do for air exchange during flowering when the lights are off?
2)um, hello, this is a criminal activity! it should remain as stealth as possible at all times.
3) an active exhaust can actually cool a room. my grow area runs cooler with the lights on when it is closed up and vented rather than when i have the door open.
4) a grow room should be a closed/filtered system. with the door open thing get in easier.
5) closet door method provides 0 oder control.
6) i am sure there is a 6th and 7th reason, but i would rather be smoking than continuing

dont be scared, HPS and ventilation is a lot easier than it seems... and keep in mind, 400 watts is what a gaming PC uses without the monitor

400 watts for a gaming PC? If you're bloody lucky these days my friend!

Also yes- rig up a simple system like this man says if you can. I dont have the luxury and Im using even more power right now moving air with two fans.

This combined with a dry wall can make your room really dry too. I have to spray like a madman during veg.

Also... My whole house bloody STINKS! At all times, doors open or not. Thank god this isn't a stealth grow as such!!


Go for a HPS too... your plants will thank you! Good luck!!

i didnt want to be over stating the gaming PC's power draw... originally i had the word "lame" just before "gaming"

Thanks for the help. So should I cut holes in my closet door for intake and exhaust? I was considering this in the first place but wanted to stay away from damaging the door if possible. Also, as my first, inexperienced grow, in this size grow area what do you think I can expect my yield to be with average to high yield strains?

Thanks again.

your yield depends on what you use as lighting, genetics, conditions, and method of growing, Hydro or soil. An hps will give you the best yield, and will be the most efficient light you cant buy when compared to cfls or any other lighting. Fresh air is the best thing for the plants, sorry but you need to cut a whole somewhere

before you cut your existing closet door, go buy a new cheapo closet door to hack up. that will stop damaging it in a hurry

there is no way a guess could be made on yield... your plants have to be female and have to survive before you get anywhere near talking yield... then, there are still a ridiculous amount of variables... the good news is, good yields can be had, it just takes working with your equipment the best way possible and making your plants as happy as they can be.... usually, this comes with experience... if you get a joint out of it, call it a win... if you dont get a joint out of it but start a replacement crop using the knowledge you gained you can still call it a win.

using CFL's and being new at it, you should not expect too great of a yield.

feel free to prove me wrong though

I think I am going to go with the 400watt hps (will this be enough for 5 plants in this area). Also as far as female, I was considering buying feminized seeds but is this worth it? Are they really garenteed to be female? And I think I will just get a new door to cut cause this is an old house so I'd like to keep all the old woodwork intact. And another plus is the wiring is all messed up, and it is kind of an apartment/house though it is mainly friends and family here. So I talked to my sister below me and some of my outlets are on her electric bill and vice versa, so we are gonna take advantage of that and split the power to the grow room and that way it isn't as obviouse to the police looking at power consumption. The only thing is I still havn't decided on strains of seeds to purchase yet, I think I will talk to my sister and friend who live with me and see what they'd be interested in. I am thinking White Widow and Blueberry (and maybe 1 big bud just for a higher yield).

400 watts HPS is a good thing

personally, i dont think i will ever bother with feminized seeds... they are expensive and there arent really guarantees... Hell they dont even usually guarantee they will even germinate but that is just my cheap ass opinion, i have no experience with them.

WW and Blueberry are both nice strains, but i would skip the BB unless it was like a Northern Lights/Big Bud hybrid... BB aint all that.

if you think the police have time/resources to look for you and your 400 watt system, i have to ask: do you live in Mayberry with seriously board police with a big budget to spend?

thanks for the info on BB and fem seeds. And as far as the police, I live in a suburb in ohio. Though I am just trying to be cautious. It would suck to get busted when I am only growing for my self and some close friends. It's not like I'm trying to make money off it.

opinions are easy

here is another easy opinion... yupper, better safe than sorry on the stealth category! i was just trying to ease your paranoia.... just wait till that hits hard one sleepless night

bfq said:

personally, i dont think i will ever bother with feminized seeds... they are expensive and there arent really guarantees... Hell they dont even usually guarantee they will even germinate but that is just my cheap ass opinion, i have no experience with them.

Click to expand...

I got 100% fems and 100% germ rate.

you really shouldnt tell any of your friends that your growing, only the people who are living with you, and tell them if you haven't already NOT to say anything to anyone. Thats really what you have to worry about when getting busted not the electricity. Just better watch out for heat though in that area. Ive got a bigger grow closet than you and my temps went up from 75 to 88 when i put my 400w hps in my closet so you might wanna think about a air cooled light. Well here is a pic of what you may want to do. Ive got 4 white widow in a 30 gallon home made dwc system, plus a homemade cooled 400w hps. These still have 4 weeks to go

Tbag said:

I got 100% fems and 100% germ rate.

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off what? bag seed? standard seed strains? feminized seeds?

good on ya, either way!

but they still dont guarantee it

Hey nastydro, and anyone else with a similar setup. How much does it cost you a month to run it. And as far as people knowing, only people who are involved and live here know. They all know not to tell anyone else.

Depends really on what your running, unless you do exactly what I do I couldnt tell you exactly. But mine at 12/12 with everything would cost about 50 or 60 bucks extra a month.

Ok, that is about what I figured. How much did you setup cost you to build?

bfq said:

off what? bag seed? standard seed strains? feminized seeds?

good on ya, either way!

but they still dont guarantee it

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Femi seeds m8, northern lights from sensiseeds.

dwc for me was about 70 bucks. Thats with 5 pumps (50$), tub, airstones, tube, lava rocks. Its a 30 gallon 10 site DWC though so thats not much considering ive seen 18 gallon DWCs on ebay for just under 200 bucks. Everything else was about 350 bucks, thats everything, lights, meters, ect. Just be prepared, hydro is not as cheap as a soil grow but the plants will grow WAY faster and not to mention the crazy ass yields you can achieve if you do everything right

Wow, that sounds great. Any chance I can get some plans off you on how to build that. That sounds like a really good price for it all.