A question about closet growing

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AmateurAspirations

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Hi guys,
I'm planning on turning my only closet into a grow box. It's over 8 feet tall, 2 feet deep and has a slanting wall that runs 3 feet to 5 feet wide. At first I just want to toss some auto's in there to get a feel for what I am delving into.
My first concern is what light to run with? I know that everyone recommends a HPS. I'm almost prepared to make that investment, but bfore i do I'd like to get opinions on wattage...
Should I purchase a 600w or can I go lower, to a 400w or possibly even lower and supplement with a decent CFL? My budget is limited but I will kick out the cash if the higher wattage really does make the difference in the end.
I'm also concerned with the heat! Ventilation is going to be a pair of holes cut into the walls and passive for the time being...
I'm only growing for myself and possibly a friend who is very ill. If a more costly system is only going to bring me a slight yield, is it worth it to surpass the cost for now until I am ready to expand?
 
I had a closet before having a tent. More or less like your space.

You can put a 400w in there but you will need two/three things.

1 - Smell is a problem ? If so you need a carbon filter
2 - You will need a cooltube or similar so you can cool down the light since the space is small.
3 - You will need a extraction fan so you can remove the hot air out of the closet. For this you will need to cut a hole in the top of the closet.

The passive holes are just not enough. You will also need a fan inside the closet for air movement and you need to light seal the closet.

Hope that helps. I also suggest you to read the Stickies. They are very good and helpfull.

Good luck for that closet operation.


P.S.: My closet grow is here http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54158
 
:yeahthat:

Spot on and ya the bigger watt lights make a great difference but a 400 would suffice for your area.

And you will have very shotty results without some kind of exaughst fan at least.
 
If you are intending to grow autos for right now, then you really don't need an HPS(in my opinion) I figure you will need about 40,000lumens which you can get with a T5HO 4ft 8bulb fixture with mixed lights. They are not too expensive and don't generate nearly as much heat.

You will still have to make sure you have an active ventilation for pulling fresh air into the room and exausting stale air. Just one exaust fan that would pull the warmer air from the top of the closet and passive intakes at the bottom would work for you.

Make sure you paint all the walls brilliant(flat)white so that you get good lumen reflection back to the plants. 2-3 autos should work nice in that space if you hang the light fixture so that it can stay within a 3-6 inches of the plant canopy.

You will definitely need to look into a carbon filter for the ventilation so that yer house doesn't reek of "dank". And you will need to decide on whether you want to use soil or some form of hydroponic system. Good luck with it. It is a fun and addictive hobby to get into.
 
AmateurAspirations said:
Hi guys,
I'm planning on turning my only closet into a grow box. It's over 8 feet tall, 2 feet deep and has a slanting wall that runs 3 feet to 5 feet wide. At first I just want to toss some auto's in there to get a feel for what I am delving into.
My first concern is what light to run with? I know that everyone recommends a HPS. I'm almost prepared to make that investment, but bfore i do I'd like to get opinions on wattage...
Should I purchase a 600w or can I go lower, to a 400w or possibly even lower and supplement with a decent CFL? My budget is limited but I will kick out the cash if the higher wattage really does make the difference in the end.
I'm also concerned with the heat! Ventilation is going to be a pair of holes cut into the walls and passive for the time being...
I'm only growing for myself and possibly a friend who is very ill. If a more costly system is only going to bring me a slight yield, is it worth it to surpass the cost for now until I am ready to expand?

There are some minimum requirements that growing entails and ventilation is one of them. You are not going to be able to get away with just passive ventilation. Your plants need a continual supply of fresh air all the time the lights are on. In addition, I highly doubt that you are going to be able to handle the heat from any kind of lighting without an exhaust fan. There should be an oscillation fan in your space to move the air around too. Good negative pressure in your space can prevent smells too. I never use a carbon filter.

I would get a 400W in a cooltube or air cooled hood. You will see a huge difference in yield between CFLs and HPS. Also if you are growing for a very sick friend, I believe that you will want to go with photoperiod plants instead of autos as soon as you get a harvest or two in. Autos simply do not give you the yield and potency that photoperiod plants do.
 
Thanks for the responses guys!
So, I need ventilation! Done. I'll just steal my bathroom exhaust fan for a while :) and I have an oscillating fan that will fit in the space one way or another.
I found an excellent deal on Ebay where the light is concerned. $150 got me a 6" cool tube with a 400w mh/hps ballast. Free shipping too! After comparing the lumen outputs of T5 and HPS I felt like it would be foolish to use anything else.
I have a feeling a small t5 panel would be great for vegging tho?
I also found the search feature for the forums here :) It seems like most of you super tokers aren't all that impressed with the auto quality. My concern was that I'm ill experienced and maintaining a mother and cloning seem like a spot where Im destined to fail. That failure also seems like a costly fail. Time, money, so on...But it appears I'll get some free beans with my order. SO an experiment will begin in a few weeks!
Again thank you for the advice. extremely valued!
 
You need REAL ventilation. Your bathroom exhaust fan is not going to be able to do the job.

Why do people think that autos are easier to grow than photoperiod? They are simply quicker, however they require more light and the quantity and quality is just not there....you can get about the same turnaround with clones and get quality and quantity.
 
We will help you clone and help you along the way. Listen to the Goddess, she will save you time and money..and you will grow some great medicine for your friend. Green Mojo to you!
 
And if you wanna clone you dont have to keep a mom.

you just need a veg space and a flower space, but you need that with a mom anyways.
 
dman1234 said:
And if you wanna clone you dont have to keep a mom.

you just need a veg space and a flower space, but you need that with a mom anyways.

:yeahthat: I don't keep moms--I take clones from clones. I use my vegging space to clone if I have space in there. If not, I can put my little cloner almost anywhere. Your vegging space can be quite a bit smaller if you do not keep moms.
 
I was under the inmpression that the way to go was to find a solid female that you liked the qualities of and to keep her alive to cut clones from... I never realized you could just clone your clones. It makes sense now though. WOW :p
My thoughts with the auto's were basically, throw it under the light, feed it, keep it healthy and it will flower,faster, cus thats what it does... but all plants do that I guess. I suppose if I were to clone the cycle would be relatively the same any how? Auto's.... you seem like a hustle right now!
Im very glad I havent made the order yet... I was about to do so and decided to look back at this thread. You guys are awesome. So much wisdom!
What are your fav strains? My friend suffers from chronic pain and she's a bit on the anxious side. I wanted to get her something that would be more on the couch lock, narcotic-esque side to calm her and relieve the pain. But, there's so many choices! It's overwhelming. We don't have caregivers here to ask for advice,yet. Praying for change!
Personally I want a pure NYC Diesel growing almost always for myself. Love the taste, smell and buzz. She's not so fond of it tho. Maybe these questions should be in a different thread?
I will listen to you all. Theres such a sense of community here. I like it!
 
Autos are fun and they can be potent, kinda easier to grow,but yeild is smaller and they use more hours of light. I use led to veg and flower my autos but thats only in the summer when it's to hot to run a hps w.o AC. I definitely prefer my 600w hps and a dank photo sensitive strain. I leave one end open on my hood and it sucks the air past the light thru a scrubber and out the room. Works very well. I'm growing 2 50%JHerer 50%Ogkush clones ATM. I veg 6 weeks so they are monsters, if it's good I'm gonna cross one with caliconnects OGiesel.:)
 
I can't tell you anything on the med strains but I can tell you that cloning is far easier than most people think, and it keeps you from having to either buy femenized beans or having to pop a handful of beans and then wait for them to become sexually mature, and then remove the males before they polinate the females :eek:

Once you grow out yer first set of beans and get to cloning, it makes things easier IMO. You can control how long you want to veg and/or how tall you want to grow. You will definitely need to look into a fixture with some T5s for vegging and cloning. I am building 2 cabinets that are 2.5'x4' and will grow from clone to harvest in each one and just swap back and forth. :)

We will help you with every step, no worries :)
 
AmateurAspirations said:
I was under the inmpression that the way to go was to find a solid female that you liked the qualities of and to keep her alive to cut clones from...

you would be doing the same thing by cloning clones, because they are clones, they will all hold the same traits as the original cut.

i cant help with specific strains for your friends condition but someone will.
 

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