Total Newb Grow Closet Help

Alright, when i say total newb, i mean total newb. I've honestly never even seen a live cannabis plant in person. Smoked a few...well maybe more than a few, but never ever seen one.

Been running into some shortages lately with the local distributors and came across the idea of growing my own personal stash for my girlfriend and I and maybe a few choice relatives or freinds to share. Trying to keep cost to a minimum, both start up and running as holidays are coming up and cash will be getting tight.

I have found a spot in my garage that i believe i could turn into a nice little grow closet with a little carpentry work that wouldnt draw too much attention.

The area would be approximately 3'w x 2'd x 7.5' tall. I plan on basically just creating a box, insulating the interior, painting the interior white and going from there.

I have an old wood burning stove vent a matter of inches away from the proposed area and an outlet a foot away as well that could be wired stealthily.

I would like to turn this area into a 1 or 2, tall plant grow closet. Preferably sativa or a hybrid. Hoping to just vegetate the hell out of the plants and then flower them for a half way decent crop hopefully. that may last a month during local "droughts"

I have several questions about this whole thing. Here are a few of my bigger ones.

1) Lighting. I have been going back and forth, mainly between a CFL setup and buying an LED grow light. The way i'm figuring it, if i wanted to do a CFL set up with the high wattage bulbs, its damn near going to run me as much as one of the LED grow lights, like the 90w UFOs. I guess im not quite sure how the LEDs really stack up against CFL and this board is a wealth of information but i just cant seem to pin down a solid answer.

How many LED lights would i need to harvest a respectable amount? would 1 get me by for a few harvests until i was able to afford another 1 or 2? or should i be going with a single 90w LED and maybe supplement it with as many CFLs as i can afford to install?

Main concern is heat issues and start up and maintenance cost, as well as my electric bill. Hoping to keep my light set up under $300 which i know is a drop in the bucket compared to some of the pro set ups.

2) ventilation. Ive been reading into the CFMs and all that, and need to recalculate what size fan id need, but my main concern is odor. If i were to vent the room into the old exhaust system, which exits the roof which is maybe 10 ft above ground level, would the smell dissipate enough before neighbors could detect it or should i be rigging up a DIY carbon filter that i saw posted on this forum? The neighbors houses and driveways are maybe 20-30 ft away from my garage.

3) heating and humidity. how exactly do you regulate this? i plan on building it in a detached garage with no insulation except that which i install into the box itself. So i'd imagine i would need to heat this thing somehow, especially in the dead of winter ( i live in the midwest). Could i just find a small space heater and place that inside the room and attach a heat controller to turn it off and on when it is outside the desired temperature range?

Could i also do this with a humidifier inside the unit as well?

Sorry if this is long winded. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Im trying to wrap my head around all of this and see if it is something that i could pull off. Ill try to draw up a few pics of my proposed cabinet with more detail and specifications and see if it is at all plausible. Im sure more questions will follow in the very near future as i try to hash all this out. No pun intended.

Feel free to be as honest as possible. I wont cry, i promise. Just trying to soak up as much information about all of this as i can.

Thanks in advance

Timmie (hopefully the future) Green

Do not buy the led. Either use cfls or a 250w hps or a 150w hps.. I prefer a 400.. they make odors gels look up ona, most u can really do is febreze candles etc . Your neighbors wont smell it how far away do they live . Heating, depending on how its built and where you live you could probably use a little space heater. You are asking for alot my friend lol go with instinct look stuff up search bar most of your questions are easy to figure out anything else pm me

1) You'd need more than a 90w LED for even a couple plants and LEDs are expensive. For a $300 budget I would stick to CFL or even look at HID options. Maybe a 400 or 600w HID setup if heat isn't a concern. You can fit 2 plants comfortably, maybe more using LST, SCROG, etc.

2) I'm taking the wait and see approach myself here. I will combat odor with carbon filters, ona gel, etc. if/when it becomes and issue.

3) I think you'll have to see what works for your situation

Welcome btw, this site is a great resource. Read all the stickies you can of course, they really cover everything you need to get growing

Light - 2 x 105w CFL (the one with 4 U's, might have to look at HPS discharge bulb for flowering but that you can worry about later (you will need a ballast for the HPS). The LED lights are a new thing and to be honest they a crap. If you use discharge lights I guess it would be sufficient heating as well as there suckers get hot. 400w HID bulbs should be good for a start.

You will need a fan that can move 180m3 of air per hour.

If the odors get bad look into getting a RHINO carbon filter, I use one in a garage and you cant smell a thing when inside the garage.

CFL on your budget. Think a lot about air.Then think on it some more. Whatever you do - KISS! Seriously. All you need is soil, a container to put it in and a seed to put directly into the soil. Then a light to replace the missing sun and you're growing and having fun. Screw any filter until you get something up that produces smells that need filtering. No fucking pH meter or test strips. Buy the nutrients later, right before the carbon filter with the same requirement -plants up that need them. KISS! KISS! The tricks and geegaws can come later. Learn to scrimmage to be in on the big touchdowns.

hotrodharley said:

CFL on your budget. Think a lot about air.Then think on it some more. Whatever you do - KISS! Seriously. All you need is soil, a container to put it in and a seed to put directly into the soil. Then a light to replace the missing sun and you're growing and having fun. Screw any filter until you get something up that produces smells that need filtering. No fucking pH meter or test strips. Buy the nutrients later, right before the carbon filter with the same requirement -plants up that need them. KISS! KISS! The tricks and geegaws can come later. Learn to scrimmage to be in on the big touchdowns.

Click to expand...

I am liking this idea Another newbie here and looking for simple ideas and instructions before my head explodes with info overload LOL

Alright. So i've been doing a little research from the pointers you guys gave me and wanting to see if what i've come up with is correct...

Mainly lighting at this point.

If i were to get this setup, would this be what i need to get growing? Still well within my budget, even with shipping and buying an extra MH 250w bulb. I shouldnt need any converters or anything and should be able to use my MH bulb in the HPS setup as long as its the same wattage right? If not, what do i need to look for differently?

And with this, it would eliminate my need for a heater within my grow cabinet as this lighting set up should give off plenty. Am i correct on this note as well? Even at "night" when the light is turned off?

Running the math on it, and running the MH for 16 hrs a day and the HPS for 12, i should be adding on less than $15 per month on my electric bill. Does this sound reasonable or did i screw up the math because everyone always talks about how expensive the bulbs can be to run and $15 doesnt seem all that outrageous to me. Even the replacement bulbs are around $20 or less it seems like.

Next stop is looking up a halfway decent exhaust fan.

Once again, thank you guys for all your input, making all this alot easier with a few good points in the right direction.

Just clicked your Amazon link. In the recommended products at the bottom, I saw this guy --> http://www.amazon.com/iPower-GLSETX400DHMWING-400-Watt-Digital-Dimmable/dp/B005DO30MI/ref=pd_sbs_lg_1 which is the same price but 400w and you can run at diff. percent power levels. Don't know much about HID but this might be worth looking into.

Your power calculations sound about right. All you need to know is how much you are charged per KW/h. Should be on the bill. Then go here to help with the calculations --> http://www.electricity-usage.com/Electricity-Usage-Calculator.aspx

Sounds like you have a good plan so far

If i were to get this setup, would this be what i need to get growing? Still well within my budget, even with shipping and buying an extra MH 250w bulb. I shouldnt need any converters or anything and should be able to use my MH bulb in the HPS setup as long as its the same wattage right.

No thats HPS only. could use converstion bulb but why when a dual unit is not that much. and as ottomatik said a dimmable ballast cause you get more options

good luck and good growing.

I like that digital set up cuz I could dim it to 250 and if I ever needed to I could up the wattage. It even comes with the mh bulbs.

So is it true that I can use mh bulbs in an hps setup as long as its the same wattage? Otherwise id need a converter bulb?

Both the 250 or 400w ballasts in the lights set that were linked can be used for HPS or MH. Usually electronic or digital ballasts can use both, no need for a conversion bulb. I have the 400w set that ottomatik linked. It works fine for 2-3 plants but I had to buy an air-cooled hood to keep the temps down in my room. Amazon does sell simillar 400w air-cooled kits for $30-40 more wihich is cheaper than buying it separately. If you are only concerned with heatiing and not cooling the space then you won't need the hood. I like the 250w setup you linked because it comes with the hood but I think you may want the extra wattage of the 400 as your plants get bigger. There is a thread on RIU for 250w growers with many a fine grow so you can check that out before you decide.

alright. So i found this one. Dimmable 400 watt with MH and HPS bulbs and air cooled hood. I could see lack of heat being an issue in the winter and too much heat an issue in the summer, so i figure the air cooled hood would be best as i could just use a small space heater hooked up to a temperature switch to kick it on and off when the temperature is too low/high. That way it can stay warm in the winter and in the summer i can just remove the heater and let the ambient temperature work for me.

I also just picked up a graco humidifier for $15 off craigslist. 2 gallon resevoir, sensor will kick on and off when its 2% below what you set it at until it reaches your preferred percentage level. Heres a link with all the specs on it. I figure this thing would work pretty well at keeping my humidity at a decent level.

As for the fan, im using this website for my CFM calculations. I came out with ~20CFM with a little rounding up, better to go more than less right?
Not quite looking into fans yet as i would like to get one with the attachable carbon filter but a little pricey at this point. Plus further on down the page it takes in further variables so i need to get everything else situated a bit better to figure out the rest of my math.

Leaning towards growing in soil, but it sounds like a hydroponics system would be easy to set up, just takes a bit more babysitting and monitoring to make sure it does its job.

Any issues anyone notices with this setup or any helpful feedback? im starting to see it take shape in my mind and getting a bit excited. Now i just gotta save up a bit of cash to get my light and lumber for my cabinet.

Alright. So with the cooling tube, do you need to hook up ducting to both sides and have 2 different exhausts? 1 for the light and the other for the cabinet? or can you leave one side and let the cooling tube be the exhaust opening? I would like to have the fan strong enough to run with a carbon filter as well incase i run into any odor issues.

Also, I think im going to go with a basic DWC set up since i only want to do maybe 2 plants. 2 5 gallon buckets and some pumps and i should be pretty much ready.

I'm considering trying a scrog set up as well since it helps keep things organized and increases yield. Do you think this is a bad idea for a first grow and should i just stick to the basics?
Also, with the scrog, does it really matter how high i place my screen?

I'm going to draw up a sketch of my proposed idea for my next post if you guys dont mind taking a look at it.

You'll need one fan to move the air in and out of your space. In my room its connected like this; filter hung at the top of the room connected to the fan, ducting from the fan to one side of the hood, ducting from the other side of the hood to my exhaust outlet. Basically the fan is pulling cool air in from the passive intake vent close to the floor up through the room and the filter then pushing the hot air out through the hood and exhaust vent. It can be set up differently but this works for me. If your not using a filter then just place the open end of your duct or fan at the top of the room. You also may want a small oscillating fan to move the air around within the room. I can't help with DWC or scrog. I've run soil and I'm just starting on my 1st hempy grow.