first time grow!

[Aurara_lucas]

first of all since i couldnt really think of how to word a thread just for my introduction ill briefly do it right now
HI MP! ive been an avid reader forever and am stoked at the helpfullness and information this forum has provided me even as a guest. im looking forward to meeting some new people learning, and hopefuly getting even more tips and tricks to help me grow some tasty buds =). i recently started my first grow and once it progressess a little more ill definately be starting a journal thread for everyone to watch and help me out along the way.

since i had a mix of questions with an intro i thought general indoor would be the right place to post lemme know if it would be better to break it up i tried to make the questions clear in bold for those who dont like reading bulk, but included details for people to hopefuly get me some good ideas.

so now onto the setup and questions! (quick i know right haha)


im working with a typical shelf up top hanging bar below closet with two sliding doors, good news is i can outfit the closet however i want to and i have been looking into this for quite some time. the closet is 8 by 8 by 4 and my plans were to cut it completely into two sections having the lower left side be a vegging chamber, seedling rack up top and the right side for blooming. but before i commit to the cutting plywood sealing mylaring ect what would you do with this space? keep in mind my goal is to create the largest possible perpetual yeild (in rotation) without sacrificing quality or alerting the cops to an electricity bill.

my second question is regarding the light, i know it will be better answered once i can get pictures ect ect but right now i have the seedlings under a 4 bulb 8 ft by 4 ft t5 ballest that is honestly bright as all hell, its filled with a full spectrum setup 4200 3000 6500 6500 i believe every other one being a 6500. my intention here soon is to pick up a few more single tubes and run them along the plants like ive seen many members here do with excellent results.
the second light i have is a 400 watt MH in a cased nice ballest this was what i was going to use for the vegging chamber (4 by 4 x 2) but this is where i am looking for ideas and comments.
is it realistic (keeping in mind electricit bill, heat ect, to cut the bottom section in two and have the seedling rack flouros, the mh and then the blooming chamber running theyre cycles all at once?and as of now my for my bloom light im torn between a 600 watt hps or 2 of these bad boys (celieng/wall), i love the crystals produced by full range flouros and have seen some nasty amazing plants when you get them enough wattage in there.

and lastly i will be doing the fist few grows in soil then later switching to hydro, i want to have worked with everything and i think soils a good place to start. but i know right now my soil mix is not ideal, is there a safe way to transfer my soil plants into a new medium? which would you recommend?

well hopefuly you all enjoy that novel hahaha hope to get some responses here soon EVERYONE STAY SAFE AND STAY QUIET!

 

[DirtySouth]

Nice,I like your closet seed/veg./bloom idea.I think you would do better if you keep that 400 mh(lot of heat to rise,400 mh around $50. a month,24 hour light).I feel you could use t8 floros with day spec. for veggin also.This will do a couple things,first itwill be SO MUCH COOLER,not to mention the cost is like a 1/4,which is a huge diffrence(ya I know you could vent the 400 mh,but lets face it that fan is aroun 10-15 a month to run)
I know that the t8 bulbs will veg.(with amazing results),leaving you with your bloom.2 600 hps lights in that small of a space will produce nice-n-tight buds,also tip-top canopy heat.I would recomend 2 600 cool tubes(they work great)drawing the air from out side the room(out door cool air is ideal).
I found that changing the lighting sceme to 13/on 11/0ff the last 2 weeks(during flushing season)helps crank up the crystal production on both nugs-n-leaf.
Hope my 2 cents helps you make a buck

 

[Aurara_lucas]

thanks first for the quick response dirty, honestly there is so much horrible power usage at the house as it is. its a huge acreage farm with 3 barns and 2 fully lighted full sized arenas plus all the stalls and isles.

i like the sound of those 600 hpss though, but isnt 1200 whats a little much for my needs?

so to clarify what i mean by power bills, i dont care at all about the price of electricity i just dont want the feds getting suspicious and i dont know what it would take to have that be the case.
50 dollars a month, even a 100 a month could be easily balanced by going around and replacing the house and barn with some efficiant bulbs and making sure i keep other lights tvs phone charges ect off, i know those arenas alone use more power then most peoples houses.

my intentions were to vent the mh anyways because i already know how hot its gunna get in there i only have the seedling rack and it already gets decently warm. but this brings about another question, when venting would it be better to vent each chamber sepreately or have a vent that runs through all chambers...

 

[CoolAsAFan]

only 4' of head room or typo? IF, 8' head room, use top shelf for seedlings/veg /w t5's. use ALL floor space for flo. i agree with the 2 600w hps' IF your working with 32ft2, gives ya a bit over 5k lumens/ft2, (couldnt tell if your 32 or 64 ft2?), heat WILL be an issue in a closet, venting your lights/room properly is a MUST. I believe I've read somewhere about the ineffeciency of reflectivity with cool tubes, just vent the hoods IMO. just my 2 cents, hope it helps.

 

[Aurara_lucas]

all the dimensions are in feet, i think there was confusion because of the sectioning of the room and there is a type because the whole closet is 8 by 8 by 2 (not 4) i have 5 by 4 by 2 to work with x 2, one for veg and one for bloom. right now im kinda leaning towards just running to hoods with an intake coming from the right into the bloom hood out the bloom hood through into the next chamber into the vegging hood then out the closet and out the window.

 

[Aurara_lucas]

also so as to stay "general" hopefuly someone could touch on that soil transfer question.
thanks again guys!

 

[CoolAsAFan]

u using length x width x height? so only 2' of head room now???

foxfarm makes good soil mixes, just do a search and youll find tons of info on soil/ mediums/ transplanting. etc.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

all the dimensions are in feet, i think there was confusion because of the sectioning of the room and there is a type because the whole closet is 8 by 8 by 2 (not 4) i have 5 by 4 by 2 to work with x 2, one for veg and one for bloom. right now im kinda leaning towards just running to hoods with an intake coming from the right into the bloom hood out the bloom hood through into the next chamber into the vegging hood then out the closet and out the window.

Dimensions are generally written as L x W x H, but I am going to assume that your closet is 8' long, 2' wide, and 8' tall? I would take a 5 x 2 x 8' space for flowering. I would make a 4 x 2 x 4.5-5' space for vegging. Above this I would have a 4 x 2 x 3-3.5' space for cloning and mom. the actual dimensions will be sloghtly smaller because of framing. You should be able to frame this out with 2x2s. I would run fluoros in the clone/veg space, a 4' 4 tube T5 in the veg space, and an air cooled 400W HPS in the flowering space.

 

[pcduck]

:yeahthat: :goodposting: