Best closet grow?

I am new to growing. I am going to start a small grow in my closet. My closet is roughly 2' x 4' x 8'. I am hoping to have enough room for 4 plants. My main question would be about lighting. What would some of you suggest? CFL, 400w HPS, LED??? Also, I would like to grow in soil. Any suggestions? Thanks

my medical grow is in a closet about that exact same size. im using a 400watt hps/mh. white batwing type reflector. NO intake/outake, just a fan outside the closet for air circulation... it does not overheat. i also use soil. be sure to go with a pro mix containing all the right ingredients. you will be very rewarded with the results from hps rather than cfl.
btw. you will be able to fit only 3 in this space max! i have 3 and its very tight, some foliage touching eachother and scraping up against wall but is ok. they are in 2 gallon pots. 2 sativa - 4 feet tall and 1 indica 3.2 feet tall

canadian.bud21 said:

my medical grow is in a closet about that exact same size. im using a 400watt hps/mh. white batwing type reflector. NO intake/outake, just a fan outside the closet for air circulation... it does not overheat. i also use soil. be sure to go with a pro mix containing all the right ingredients. you will be very rewarded with the results from hps rather than cfl.
btw. you will be able to fit only 3 in this space max! i have 3 and its very tight, some foliage touching eachother and scraping up against wall but is ok. they are in 2 gallon pots. 2 sativa - 4 feet tall and 1 indica 3.2 feet tall

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You have a fan outside of the closet? Is it facing away from the grow? Do you also have one inside the closet? You said that you have a 400 HPS/MH... Do you have one of each or something else? I was wondering myself if I was going to be able to get 4 in there also. I was thinking 2 each (Sativa, Indica). How long did you let veg before going into flowering? What type of soil are you using? Any extra nutes?

Our closets are similar in size. Mine is a little bit deeper, not much. Mine is the typical apartment closet w/ a shelf on top.
Before I got a separate cabinet to veg in, i vegged and flowered in the same closet. I sealed off the shelf area on top and used that to root my clones and keep the mothers.
I ran a 150 watt HPS in the bottom for flowering.

I just upgraded to an aircooled 400 watt HPS for flowering. The 150 is Ok if you just wanna run a couple small plants, but I needed/wanted more than just a few small plants.
If you use a 150 no need to worry much about cooling, anything bigger and Id invest the few extra $ for a cooltube or aircooled hood.

Research cloning and perpetual growing if you wanna have plants constantly growing and being harvested. It can be done in a small space and I think its really the best way to use such a small area.

I had a clset like that but it was even shallower. i ran a 400W air-cooled HPS (Hortilux) with an Auto-pot system. I drilled through the wall and exhausted into my kitchen through a home made carbon filter. Worked great.

the fan is outside the closet 2 feet away. its facing towards the closet to give air circulation. i slide both doors open a little bit for more air flow. no fan inside closet. im telling you a 'cool tube' or ventilation is not necessary for one 400watt in this space. save $ too! to answere your other questions. every hps/mh requires a ballast. i have one which supports both. it is mounted to the wall inside the closet and still no overheating issues. i am making a post later with pics if you wana cheak it out... i use a 2-part veg liquid and have a seperate 2 part formula for flower. i also use 'monster bloom'. currently im using an all natural, all purpose potting mix. seems to be fine but im going with a pro mix next time. i vegged my 1 sativa for one month and other 2 have been in 12/12 from seed.

Thank you for your suggestions so far. This is my first grow and I dont have the funds right now to go all out. I am trying to get the best bud without having to spend a lot. Not so much worried about size of the plant and yield as I am about quality. I think that the area(s) that I am willing to spend a little more will be on the lighting itself and my medium. Can anyone suggest a cost effective, high quality HPS bulb and hood? As stated before I am wanting to go the soil route. Can anyone suggest a good, proven brand? So far my friend is telling me to go with FoxFarm???

ink the world...

I ran a 150 watt HPS in the bottom for flowering. I just upgraded to an aircooled 400 watt HPS for flowering. The 150 is Ok if you just wanna run a couple small plants.

What was the main difference that you saw with going to the 400 vs the 150? I am only going to be doing 3-4 plants max.

If you use a 150 no need to worry much about cooling, anything bigger and Id invest the few extra $ for a cooltube or aircooled hood.

How do you have your exhaust set up? What would be your est as to price for the aircooled hood and the ducting etc... to set up a vented system. Or do you think with only having 3-4 plants that heat will be an issue?

Or you could be silly about it with two 600w HPS w/ 17 plants in SCROG.
GWN