Clone/Mother Room

[ForbiddenFruit]

I was wondering if I could set up my clones and mothers in one of the rooms in my house, rather than having to build another room, install a bunch of inline fans, odor control, etc? I already have a good sized room built for flowering with all of that set up. I just don't want to have to build another room IF I can avoid doing so. AND I have 2 rooms in my house that are basically empty.

I was thinking that a clone system or a mother plant wouldn't need TOO much air movement and that neither would really produce any strong odors, but I am a newbie and could be wrong.

So what do you think? Can I just use a room in the house for my mother plants and clones without doing too much of a set up? Just some fluorescents (or maybe a small MH if that would be better?) and then just putting my clones straight to flower in a SOG set up?

What would you suggest? I definitely don't want the house smelling AND I don't want my plants to suffer from lack of ventilation. Just want to do the bare minimum, without sabotaging the plants and without smelling up the house. Maybe a small inline fan in the ceiling with passive air intake from the rest of the house? Would there be enough ventilation as such? Or would I have to maybe pull some fresh air in from outside?

thoughts?

thank you!

 

[TechnoMage]

I do basically that. I have two small cabinets (24x14x36) that I light with CFL's and PC fans for ventilation. I keep my mothers in there and seedlings/clones/vegging. Odor has never been a problem.

 

[theycallmeoj]

Most plants I've come across don't stink bad when in Veg. But building a cheap carbon filter is super easy, so why not use one?

Proper intake air and exhaust air is a must. Cheap fans from the hardware store will do if the room isn't too big.

CFL's or Fluro tubes are fine for veg. as long as you have enough of them and keep them close. This keep the node spacing short.

I know someone who has a room basically "cut in half" and made a simple 2" thick foam wall with mylar on both sides of the foam. This seperates the Veg. and Flower rooms. Has to be totally light sealed though, but NOT hard to do at all.

The big plus to using CFL or Fluro's is the lack of heat produced. No need for big fans or air conditioners.

 

[ForbiddenFruit]

Most plants I've come across don't stink bad when in Veg. But building a cheap carbon filter is super easy, so why not use one?

Proper intake air and exhaust air is a must. Cheap fans from the hardware store will do if the room isn't too big.

CFL's or Fluro tubes are fine for veg. as long as you have enough of them and keep them close. This keep the node spacing short.

I know someone who has a room basically "cut in half" and made a simple 2" thick foam wall with mylar on both sides of the foam. This seperates the Veg. and Flower rooms. Has to be totally light sealed though, but NOT hard to do at all.

The big plus to using CFL or Fluro's is the lack of heat produced. No need for big fans or air conditioners.

Yeah.. It's not a matter of cost on the fans as much as it is my not wanting to have to make holes in the wall or ceiling. On the other hand I don't want to needlessly waste money either.

What size exhaust fan would you recommend for such a set up?

I have an extra room in the house that is completely open (more than big enough..like 14x12) and I also have an extra walk in closet (though not a big one.. roughly 7x6).

I am wondering if the closet is big enough, because that would be the easiest space for me to work with.

Exhausting the closet would not be a problem (just up in the attic), but bringing in fresh air would be (not sure where I would pull i from). So would the air in the house be enough? I could open the window in the connecting room for at least 12 hours a day. Window being about 8' or so from the closet.

And yes, I think I will go with CFL's either way, if indoors.

I might have room in my flowering room as well and may consider building a wall like your buddy built. But I dont want to be so cramped in there. That will be last case resort.

thx

 

[ForbiddenFruit]

I do basically that. I have two small cabinets (24x14x36) that I light with CFL's and PC fans for ventilation. I keep my mothers in there and seedlings/clones/vegging. Odor has never been a problem.

So where are your PC fans pushing the air to and pulling it from?

 

[tom__420]

That walk in closet should give you enough space. The only thing I would suggest is to get t5's instead of CFL's. That way it can have a nice clean space that doesn't have wires dangling everywhere. That and t5's give you more lumen per watt

 

[TCurtiss]

Like yhe other guys said in veg they do not smell as bad

But when flowering you need good air coming in and catching the air leaving the room should be filtered

Unless you can shoot it up the chimeney

 

[ForbiddenFruit]

That walk in closet should give you enough space. The only thing I would suggest is to get t5's instead of CFL's. That way it can have a nice clean space that doesn't have wires dangling everywhere. That and t5's give you more lumen per watt

Yeah, that's what I was planning to do.

Sorry, I thought T5's were CFL's. Definitely going to go with T5's. I think a couple of 4footers should do the trick. Maybe 3. But certainly not going to have a bunch of bulbs hanging down all over.

Good advice! Thanks

 

[ForbiddenFruit]

Like yhe other guys said in veg they do not smell as bad

But when flowering you need good air coming in and catching the air leaving the room should be filtered

Unless you can shoot it up the chimeney

Yeah, I have the flower room set up with a carbon filter and exhausting up into the attic. Attic is pretty big (about 8' high in most places) and there are several attic vents to the outside (all on top and 20'+ from ground level). And IF the carbon filter is not enough, I will throw an Ozone Generator up there later (hopefully I dont need it).

Either way, I don't want my house smelling AT ALL.. so I think I will definitely be putting an exhaust fan from my cloning/veg/mother room up into the attic. Maybe another filter if I need it, but if not then at least a fan.

Now I guess I just need to figure out if I need a passive intake from outside for this new room/closet or if house air would be enough?

thanks!

 

[TechnoMage]

In from the room and out from the room. Photos might make it easier.

This is my veg cab, the other cab which I use for mothers/clones/seedlings is essentially the same thing but only has two bulbs in it.

Fan on top is exhaust, bottom is intake. I didn't even bother light proofing them since it doesn't really matter until you get to the flower stage.

So where are your PC fans pushing the air to and pulling it from?

 

[tom__420]

I guess a t5 is a compact fluorescent light but when I see CFL I think of those swirly bulbs.
T5's will make for a nice veg room so good luck, post some pics when you get a chance

 

[tom__420]

In from the room and out from the room. Photos might make it easier.

This is my veg cab, the other cab which I use for mothers/clones/seedlings is essentially the same thing but only has two bulbs in it.

Fan on top is exhaust, bottom is intake. I didn't even bother light proofing them since it doesn't really matter until you get to the flower stage.

Clean looking setup dude, are you using t5's or a different type of flouro (t8, t12)? You did a real nice job, everything looks nice and clean.

 

[ForbiddenFruit]

In from the room and out from the room. Photos might make it easier.

This is my veg cab, the other cab which I use for mothers/clones/seedlings is essentially the same thing but only has two bulbs in it.

Fan on top is exhaust, bottom is intake. I didn't even bother light proofing them since it doesn't really matter until you get to the flower stage.

aye.. I get it that we need to pull in at the bottom and out at the top. I was just wondering if it was necessary or not to pull fresh air in from outside. Of course I am doing this in the flower room, but wondering if I also need to do so in this clone/mother room or if the air in my house would be sufficient? looks like you are doing that, right? just using air that is already in your house, not pulling it from the outside.

thanks for sharing.. thats a nifty little set up you have there!

 

[ForbiddenFruit]

I guess a t5 is a compact fluorescent light but when I see CFL I think of those swirly bulbs.
T5's will make for a nice veg room so good luck, post some pics when you get a chance

Yeah, once I saw your comments I knew what you meant. And you are right, it seems that is how everyone differentiates between the two. I will definitely be using the T5's and maybe a few of the CFL's as well, since I have a couple laying around.

Wondering how many I will need. That is what I need to figure out.

I have 2-1000w set up in my flower room and I want to keep a constant SOG going. Wondering how many mothers I will need and how many clones at any given time.. and thus I also wonder how many t5's I need. So, if anybody is running a SOG with a couple of 1000watters, let me know about what I need as far as clones, mothers, and t5's?

thanks!

 

[TechnoMage]

Thanks tom__420. The bulb is a compact t5 that has a 2G11 base. Hard to find in the states but I believe they are more common in Europe. I wanted to use them because the 55w bulb is only 21" long but puts out 4,800 lumens. That's only 2,000 less than a 55w T5 that's 48" long.

Because the inside of the cab is only 22.5" wide even something like a New Wave T5 system wouldn't fit. Even if it did, the New Wave would be 4x24w (10,000 lumens) where my 3x55w is 14,400 lumens.

I've attached a photo that shows the bulbs from the underneath. You can really tell the difference between the 6500 bulb and the 3000k ones.

Clean looking setup dude, are you using t5's or a different type of flouro (t8, t12)? You did a real nice job, everything looks nice and clean.

 

[TechnoMage]

Yep, just air from within the house.

aye.. I get it that we need to pull in at the bottom and out at the top. I was just wondering if it was necessary or not to pull fresh air in from outside. Of course I am doing this in the flower room, but wondering if I also need to do so in this clone/mother room or if the air in my house would be sufficient? looks like you are doing that, right? just using air that is already in your house, not pulling it from the outside.

thanks for sharing.. thats a nifty little set up you have there!

 

[tom__420]

Thanks tom__420. The bulb is a compact t5 that has a 2G11 base. Hard to find in the states but I believe they are more common in Europe. I wanted to use them because the 55w bulb is only 21" long but puts out 4,800 lumens. That's only 2,000 less than a 55w T5 that's 48" long.

Because the inside of the cab is only 22.5" wide even something like a New Wave T5 system wouldn't fit. Even if it did, the New Wave would be 4x24w (10,000 lumens) where my 3x55w is 14,400 lumens.

I've attached a photo that shows the bulbs from the underneath. You can really tell the difference between the 6500 bulb and the 3000k ones.

That's a pretty sweet light man do you have a link to where you got that thing?

 

[TechnoMage]

Home built. Basically I took one of the shelves that came with the cab and trimmed 1.5" off length and width. Reflectors and socket hardware on one side and ballast on the other.

Ballast is a Fulham WH7-120-L from prolighting.com. Bulbs I get from Atlantalightbulbs.com. Reflector and socket hardware I got from petstore.com in their Aquarium Lighting Supplies section.

Photo 1 shows the wiring job on the ballast side.
Photo 2 shows the bulb side without bulbs in.

I got rid of the side panels once I was done building it. Didn't really need them but they helped protect the reflectors while I was getting everything wired.

That's a pretty sweet light man do you have a link to where you got that thing?

 

[ForbiddenFruit]

Home built. Basically I took one of the shelves that came with the cab and trimmed 1.5" off length and width. Reflectors and socket hardware on one side and ballast on the other.

Ballast is a Fulham WH7-120-L from prolighting.com. Bulbs I get from Atlantalightbulbs.com. Reflector and socket hardware I got from petstore.com in their Aquarium Lighting Supplies section.

Photo 1 shows the wiring job on the ballast side.
Photo 2 shows the bulb side without bulbs in.

I got rid of the side panels once I was done building it. Didn't really need them but they helped protect the reflectors while I was getting everything wired.

sweet. nicely done.

 

[TechnoMage]

Thanks FF. I have to tell you, I love those two extra small cabs.

1. They are small enough that if I need to stash them in a closet for some reason I can just pick up the whole thing and move it.
2. No smell and very quiet.

Being able to keep a mother so I can clone and not have to worry about sexing made it very easy to run several back to back grows.

sweet. nicely done.