I'm torn...cabinet or room?

[midnight_toker]

I moved into a house with a basement. In the basement is a small workroom- about 5 ft long by 3 ft wide with a small understaircase closet and a small 3ftx3ft space off the back- a rectangle with a square closet and square area. This part of the basement has a dirt floor. My first grow was in a tiny 3 ft tall cabinet. Now I have a 6 ft tall cabinet....but I'm thinking, maybe I should use the room instead. I have some lowryders and some free Subcool beans on the way and I'm itching to get started. I'll be growig in soil and most likely entirely under flouros, though I might flower under HPS. I'll be using Fox Farms Ocean Forest and FF ferts.

Here is my question to you-

What are the pros and cons of a room vs. a 6x4x2.5 ft cabinet? I'm so new, even the obvious things are worth mentioning.

 

[nouvellechef]

Go with the room, Skip the FFOF, save the cash and add a HPS to flower. Floros are ok for veg as long as they are powerful enough. Do those Sub beans justice...

 

[midnight_toker]

As far as soil grows, all I have available to me is Miracle Grow or Miracle Grow-like...or I make a 2 hour drive to get FF. I already fought the MG battle, so this time I was thinking to startwith FF as it seems more people have good results with it. Is there something else you would suggest besides FF?

 

[nouvellechef]

You have Home Depot or Lowes near you? Even better, local nursery?

 

[midnight_toker]

I do have Lowe's. They have Miracle Grow or already nuted brands that have similar numbers and ingredients. Is there some brand there that works well? As for mixing my own, I tried to find ingredients to do that last year and came up with only half of them. It's a huge agricultural area, but no one seems to care much about any gardening that isn't instant or ready made. The garden specialty stores are geared toward the same, it seems. I haven't had much luck.

 

[midnight_toker]

I'm taking pics and posting.

 

[midnight_toker]

and you'd make it WORK too, lol. You are my hero, Zip. I love your chaotic energy that just screams, "Eff it, I'm goin' for it!"

Hmmmm...I wonder if that ever would work without drawing critters down there?

 

[midnight_toker]

The ceiling is about 6 ft. There are ducts and pipes up in the ceiling area.

The first shows the room. The cabinets can be removed. The floor is dirt.
The second shows the small closet under the stairs. This could be used for males if I sealed it up well, I think (for pollen harvesting).
The third pic shows the small square area- the only part with a concrete floor.
The fourth pic is a space with the furnace and water heater that is just off the square area and is built in such a way that I would have to seal it off somehow because the ducts and pipes go into the main basement area sharing air, smell, etc in the open space surrounding them.

 

[midnight_toker]

ahhh, water seepage. Maybe. We are on a hill, but could be the water table is up high. We shall see. The floor in the closet is rotted out wood from probably a hundred years ago- no joke this place is 160 years old, lol. I'm thinkin' I will rip out the rotted wood and put down some anti-fatigue mats for now. The rotted wood may be from water, but everything else does not seem to have any flood evidence.

 

[midnight_toker]

Hmmm, I'm remembering some stuff we used to fill up a hole- expanding foam insulation. I could use that to fill up holes around the pipes/vents.

 

[midnight_toker]

yeah, don't think I'll try it, lol...could mean a new hot tub in the basement...he he.

 

[nouvellechef]

So HD or Lowes close to you? Nursery?

 

[warfish]

I really like zipflips idea of planting into the floor. That will give you alot more height to work with. Even if you do decide to go with containers I would consider digging holes in the floor for the containers so you still have the extra head room.

 

[midnight_toker]

So HD or Lowes close to you? Nursery?

Yes, Lowe's. We have that and a couple small nurseries with a very limited supply of crappy products made for the no-time-to-do-anything flowerbed gardener. Last year, I got lucky and found some soil with no nutrients and that was my find of the year. Seriously.

Warfish and Zip, thanks for the idea. I could dig it out a bit just to see if it fills up. I think it's finally thawing.

 

[midnight_toker]

iPod set to my 420 muzak playlist, smelly smoke coming out from the basement door and jackhammer....no one will suspect a thing...lol.

 

[midnight_toker]

I could dig a tunnel with spoons and have an underground garden. Yeah, I'm liking this. It's way more entertaining than watching the dirt thaw.

 

[nouvellechef]

Hmm. Lowes must have something else, really? Looks like a kool spot to fire up a little Op. Clean it really good and treat it before plants go in there. You painting, mylar or panda filming the spot?

 

[midnight_toker]

I think they carry Scott's also. That's about it.

I think I'll use the little 3x3x6 ft space right now and maybe move to the dirt area in the future. I don't want to grow more than 5 at any one time. I'll paint it white. If I stop procrastinating by reading mj passion, I can get my other work done and then work on getting it cleaned today...lot's of bleach based cleaner. Then I need to work on sealing it off from the furnace area....oh, and put a door up. It doesn't have a door on one side at the moment.

 

[legalize_freedom]

I'd go with the burrying pots part. I would not try planting them directly though. If they don't drain properly, or if you get a deficiency or over feed them...you will have no way to flush...especially if it happens to slowly drain. Which it probably will, that is probably so compacted it's not funny. Not to mention that their is probably crush fill under it etc...it has to be hard packed in order to hold your foundation. Just my .02.

burrying the pots does sound like a good idea though...extra insulation for your roots, may not be a bad idea...especially if you need the head room.

 

[zem]

i always build a cab for flowering in a tighter space and veg in the open room, this allows me to enter the room whenever i want and its always lit