Trying to do everything right, Closet Grow

SnoCap

Well-Known Member
Well officially this is not a grow journal yet, this i more of a pre-grow journal that i'm using to work out the specifics of my grow room, get input from others, ask questions and discuss ideas.

Background: 2 successful but dissapointing single female cfl closet grows (very basic).

Objective: Have enough sensi to be able to smoke as excessively as i want to without worrying about running out, share with some friends, and have enough for baked goods, hash, hash oil, and other projects.

Growing Space: w3'4" d2'10" h"7'9" closet, divided into a flowering chamber on top (approx: 60 cubic ft, height = 5'11" w/ shelf 3'10" from bottom) vegetative chamber on the bottom (approx: 20 cubic ft, height = 1'10"). cannot vent through any walls and there are no windows, which leaves the door, ceiling, and floor as the only possibilities for intake and exhaust vents. Mylar to cover walls, floor, & ceiling of both grow areas

Equipment:
-400w hps, 6in aircooled (flower chamber lighting)
-170-440cfm inline fan (flower chamber exhaust) pulling through ac hood out of the closet
-60cfm pc fan (veg chamber exhaust)
-2 circulation fans
-2 2ft 42w flourescents (mother plant lighting)
-2 65w high output cfl's (veg chamber lighting)
-thermometer, hygrometer
- *future improvement* diy carbon scrubber
- *future improvement* diy duct muffle

Plants:
Prospective strains: Hashberry, Northern Lights, Hindu Kush, Afghani, Jock Horror, Ak-48, papaya (i'm going to pick only two, so far im leaning towards hashberry & NL)
FLowering room: 20 plants flowering at all times, packed tightly in 7"-8" pots. SOG method, also considering some LST'ing
Veg room: 22 veg plants, 50 slot cloner, 3+ mothers
Nutrients: Foxfarm organic trio, molasses during flowering
Soil: 2/3 Foxfarm ocean forest 1/3 Foxfarm Light Warrior

I guess thats about all for now, please follow along, i'm sure i will have lots of questions and i'm going to try to do everything the right way with the budget i have so this should be a fun grow to follow.

the pictures attached are basic to scale sketchs of what the closet i have to work with will look like.
 

DrDank

Well-Known Member
As long as you can displace the heat, ventilation is manageable. You could then add co2.

If you want a "constant supply" I suggest going hydro/aero in the future. I never had good luck with soil.
 

blinkykush

Well-Known Member
good move going 6'' aircooled with your hood. i made the mistake of listening to the lady at my hydro shop and went 4'' on my 400 and regreted it since. I added more intake and adjusted everything though. But anyway that is a good move, i think you will achieve your goals. One more thing though, even though you will try to do everything right it just wont be the case. Plenty of things will go wrong on your first shot, just important to give yourself time and be reasonable. its all in how you as a grower react to each challenge that growing dank your first time will toss at you. Thats what i found out with it anyway. i am currently almost to my first harvest;-) GL
 

SnoCap

Well-Known Member
yeah getting the heat out of my growroom will be the toughest part i think, i dont really want to vent through my closet door because that will involve cutting holes in my door which is never desirable... i just dont see any other way i could exhaust the air. i will probably convert to hydro once, i have a few more grows under my belt and a little more money to spend. i have looked into it but i dont really have the extra cash to shell out on a ph meter, water/air pump, ppm meter (or whatever its called). Not to mention with hydro there is much less margin for error than with soil. I am aware of the benefits of hydro, but i am also aware of its downsides and at the moment i can't justify investing in a hydro setup.

blinky kush - thanks for the input, i know that things will go wrong and i'm ready to deal with those problems as they come at me, i just meant i want to invest in the right equipment, and put in the research to getting the most out of my money. Also i might not have been clear, this isn't my first grow, i have had 2 previous harvests, however each harvest was only 1 female plant grown from clones purchased at the club.

any advice/questions/input is appreciated
-snocap
 

SnoCap

Well-Known Member
and here are a couple pictures of the ventilation i plan to install. following the path the air is exhausted it goes scrubber-->hood-->fan-->muffler and than gets exhausted out through the door. i haven't decided what i want to do about an intake yet.
 

Attachments

SnoCap

Well-Known Member
there has been something that has been confusing me. I have been wanting to have all of my circulation fans and ventilation fans on some kind of schedule to save money on electricity, but i want to keep the room cool while the lights are on, keep humidity fairly low, and provide the most c02 for the plant at all times.

my intention is to get an exhaust fan that pulls 200-450cfm out of the flowering chamber through the 6in aircooled hood, have a 6-12in wall mounted circulation fan in the flowering chamber. Also a 120mm 40-80cfm pc fan in the veg/mother chamber & a 4" x 12" oscillating circulation fan in the veg room.

my question is, i know some people turn some of their fans of during the dark hours. But which fans do you turn off? and can you have any on the same timer as your light or do you have to do something like the fan has to be on 15 out of every 60 minutes or something? i dont know if i'm making my questions clear (im pretty baked right now) but if you do understand what im asking please enlighten me.
 

SnoCap

Well-Known Member
well since i posted this thread i have changed a couple things around and made some progress with buying supplies. I bought a Hydrofarm Daystar 6" ac, "used" for $65 off of a police auction website (kinda ironic)... I also bought a 400w lumatek digital ballast from one of the local hydroponics stores for $152. I got a phillips 400w hps bulb at home depot for $21, two $10 lighting timers, and a $5 thermometer/hygrometer. I also bought some fox farm big bloom for $11 which will be my only fertilizer. im going to give 10 of my plants 1/2 strength big bloom and 10 of my plants only 1/4 foxfarm light warrior soil, 3/4 ocean forrest soil (unless i start to see nute deficencies (sp?)). My intention is to test out how beneficial these nutes really are. i also might combine the big bloom with fox farm open sesame,beastie bloomz, and cha ching which i can get at my local hydro store for 2 dollars a packet. i will also be topping half of the plants from both the plain soil plants and the plants recieving nutrients, this is to see which yields more topped or untopped plants givin 4 weeks to flower. I plan on putting different methods head to head like this for a while to better refine my growing style and figure out which style i like best. next i plan to try molasses vs. no molasses, and lollipop'ed vs (winner of topped vs. not topped). i dunno i'm just throwing ideas like this around in my head, im pretty baked right now. thanks for tuning in guys, comments are always appreciated.
 
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