Small Grow Room Design

[SpeedyGreen]

Hi boys and girls.
I'm new here, so first off, howzitgoin....

Okay, on to biz:
I am working towards setting up my first indoor grow-room/box in my house, located underneath the basement staircase. I intend to grow 3-6 plants (for personal use), and I have bookmarked a site with all the amenities needed to build a complete room.

Easy, right?
Well, here's where I'm second-guessing my plans: Since most setups and designs are oriented for a lot more than 3-6 plants, I've got a couple questions, but first let me give you some details on how I want to go about doing it.

-I intend to grow sativa-strain plants, in order to keep them short and bushy so they don't need to take up a lot of space
-Three to Six plants, preferably a variety of two or three kinds (either 3 of each or 2 of each)
-I will be using an electronic ballast system, with one housing that holds an HPS as well as a MH (for alternation between vegetative/flowering stages)
-I will most likely be using the traditional flood-table hydro technique, using a growing medium that comprises of 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 organic soil, and 1/3 peat (with a hearty helping of vermicast tossed in the mix)
-I'm building the grow box/room myself, out of a fairly large wardrobe cabinet. I will be using a tupperware storage box (the larger variety with the lid) as the main reservoir, with soft tubing (1/4" holes) running through the bottom of the drain-table and a sumbersible pump to move the water and nutrient solution into the soil.
-I have two choices for exhaust route, but most likely will be venting it into the chimney-pipe that exits the wood-burning stove in the basement (for discretion reasons, seeing as it's winter here)
- As far as nutrients go, I will be using advanced nutrients (organic solutions as far as I know), with three varieties: A vegetative state solution, a flowering stage solution and a product called "Bud-Candy", which is a carbohydrate food-source used right before the flowering stage, which claims to produce tighter, larger buds and skyrocket the trichome production (All while making your buds smell like fresh cotton candy). The germination and infancy stage will be 100% organic.

Now that we got my basic Idea, I wanted to ask for some advice from the more experienced growers on what kind of equipment I should be getting.

A) What wattage light ballast is smallest/least expensive, but still suitable for growing 6 healthy plants? I have choices between 160W up to 800W, but so far my best guess is the 400W electronic ballast with a precision timer and alternation between MH/HPS
B) What approx. size is suitable to accomodate 6 plants, without taking up too much floor-space?
C) Are there any particular strains that grow well together in the same housing? Also, are there any companion plants I can grow that will benefit the overall health of my plants? (marigolds, etc..)
D) How much power usage am I looking at for 3-6 plants?

If anyone has any other ideas/suggestions feel free to let me know, I want to make this somewhat of a "group project", and am always open to new information and creative brainstorming.

Thanks much in advance, I look forward to checking back here often for some good discussions.

-SpeedyGreen-

 

[SpeedyGreen]

Alright I'm retarded, I just realized that I can't use soil for hydro. Well I guess it would be easier and less expensive to grow it in individual pots with the previously stated soil mixture, while still keeping it inside the grow area and still using all the other shit I mentioned.

Yeah, i'm a dumbass, i know. I havent really studied hydroponics much at all, since I was extremely interested in soil-methods and recently, aeroponics (which Im thinking will be too difficult/complex, although I know of some apparent methods that are simple).... let's not start a flame war over it. (although i'm pretty sure everyone here is gonna be chill)

Anyways, I'm still looking for some advice and whatnot, so let me know.
Thanks

 

[PsycoHenny]

-I intend to grow sativa-strain plants, in order to keep them short and bushy so they don't need to take up a lot of space
-SpeedyGreen-

I think you mean Indica because Sativas are the rather tall ones.

400W bulbs would work fine but I think a 600W one will be worth the extra bucks.
And you will be needing nutes for soil instead of the hydro ones you mentioned.
The rest of the plan sounds sweet so I think you're good to g(r)o.

 

[Little Tommy]

The biggest challenges will be heat temps and airflow. I didn't see a size on your cabinet and that is going to help determine the light you need and if you are air cooling the light. A soil grow will definitely be easier for your first grow.

 

[kingofqueen]

Yeah is it a cabinet under the stairs or the room underneath the stairs enclosed .
How are u gonna exchange air ?

 

[SpeedyGreen]

it's a small bedroom in the basement, the "closet" of which is situated under the stairs.... I'm in the process of building a box, however, that will simply be stored underneath. And yeah, i decided on soil-method, and as far as cooling goes, I've got a 6" duct fan for exhaust and 2 6" clip-fans for circulation (One to circulate inside the box, the other mounted near a smaller vent to circulate fresh-air inside)... anyways, I'm hoping on putting the finishing touches on the basic frame of the box tomorrow, and I already got some PVC to wrap that bitch up with. It's gonna be ghetto for sure, everything's made outta scrap, but it's certainly better than growing them out of pop-bottles in my closet...
I'll try and keep this thread alive long enough so you guys can see a working-model heheh...

Psycohenny, I will be going with the soil method as suggested, but i'm still gonna try that bud-candy for shits... but i'll just be using vermicast (worm-shit) instead of the other agents for the main food-source.

Thanks again guys, and feel free to keep modifying/suggesting shit. Every little bit counts.

Peace & Pot

 

[SpeedyGreen]

also yeah i goofed on the whole sativa/indica thing... i don't know why i had that confused for so long... well, you live you learn.

 

[SCARHOLE]

The sog/ scrog bible says it best..http://www.gardenscure.com/420/scrog-sog-training-techniques/66135-sog-scrog-bible-best-guide-i.html
You got to read it .

I use a bathroom fan an 1/4 in glass across my whole cab 2 inches under my 150hps an 175MH to control heat. If you can get your plants close to the lights they are as strong, strong as a big hps at that range..

"Small HPS lights, from sog bible
Small HPS lights are perfect for growing cannabis in restricted space conditions, as they produce the most light from a given amount of electricity of any suitable lamp for cultivation, and produce a spectrum that is favorable for flower growth. The spectrum is not the best for vegetative growth, but that isn't really important to scrog growing, as the vegetative period is so short. Lights as small as 35 watts are available by stripping components from security lights commonly available at discount hardware stores. 250 watt lights can produce as much per foot in scrog conditions as 1000 watt lights in room growing. A single 70 watt light can produce enough for an average pot smoker in a space as small as 1 sq. ft.

MH lights are available in small sizes, but they produce less light and more heat than their HPS counterparts, and heat is an important consideration in cabinet-style growing. Some growers like the MH spectrum for vegetative growth, but there is no real vegetative period in most scrog growing. Some believe the MH spectrum produces tighter buds. I tried a 250 MH and found it to be very hot and much weaker than the HPS. In fact, the 220 HPS conversion bulb has performed better than the MH with the same ballast.

I should note that oldtimer1 states that some MH spectrum should be included in the flowering phase in order to fully develop the complexities of the psychoactive profile of a suitable plant. Perhaps a supplemental small MH could be included at the empty end of a 150-250 HPS hood.

Regarding fluorescents, the light to heat ratio is even worse than an MH, and I am not aware of any situation in micro and mini growing where I would favor them over small HPS lights (see second part for a discussion of small-scale fluorescent scrogs). Compact fluorescents have been quite popular on the boards recently, and they look quite bright to the eye, even the 20 watters. But the plants aren't fooled, and the dull yellow glow of the small HPS lamps is manna to cannabis.

Note that these lights are quite weak compared to 400, 600 or 1000 watt lights used in production growing. Intensity means that the light can be farther away from the plant and still be bright enough at the bud surface to produce. Intensity is necessary for tight bud formation.

To get the most out of a small HPS light, you must keep the bud sites within the productive range of the bulb, a lopsided sphere extending out from the lamp source. For a 250 watt light, that circle of light extends out about 20" from the lamp. For a 70 watt light, the maximum distance is apparently around 8". A group of tall, skinny plants under such a light would only be properly lit at the very tops of the plants, leaving the bottom parts shaded out and in a low intensity light field, producing small, lightweight buds at best.

Ideally you would like all the buds within that magic circle of light intensity, and you would like that sphere of light completely filled with buds. How can that be accomplished? SOG.


Im using a 4 sqft canopy an got 9 ladies under my lights starting to get there floweing on. This yeild calc site has unbeleavable good info on lights an distances http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/fourtwenty/yor/yieldcalc.htm

 

[oaksterdamn31]

I think you mean Indica because Sativas are the rather tall ones.

400W bulbs would work fine but I think a 600W one will be worth the extra bucks.
And you will be needing nutes for soil instead of the hydro ones you mentioned.
The rest of the plan sounds sweet so I think you're good to g(r)o.

I gotta agree with this one.

You can use Advanced Nutrients for soil or for hydro. Well, I have anyway. You can call up AN and see how much to use. I think it's on the bottles too.

Good luck with this grow man...gonna be awesome, I think.