Skunk Baxter
Well-Known Member
I've been growing outdoors for more years than I care to remember, but it's been well over 20 years since I did any kind of serious indoor growing. For various reasons, I've decided to start growing indoors again as well, and given how much indoor growing technology has advanced since I last did it, I could use a little bit of advice from growers who have more recent experience than I.
Here's the deal. We want to produce a healthy but reasonable crop over the course of the year while at the same time giving me a place to start 20 or 30 clones each spring for my outdoor grows. That's pretty much it; we're not looking for 20-pound yields every 90 days. Our expectations for the indoor crop are modest, but we want to make the most efficient use of the space that is available to us. If we go with a concealed grow room, my partner and I have only the small space beneath the basement steps with which to work. The area we'd have to work with is about 4 feet wide, 6 feet high, and 5 feet long, for a total area of 20 square feet with 6 feet of headroom. Because of the angle of the stairs, there will be an additional area of about 3.5 feet by 4 feet with an angled ceiling so low it probably won't be useful for growing, so we plan to use that for storage and equipment, like fans, heaters, whatever. Another option would be to build a two-stage garden; use the portion with the higher headroom as a flowering chamber and the smaller section for a starter space and veg chamber.
On the other hand, if we decide to go with a readymade growcab like a Supercloset or some similar product, we'd have a few more options about where we'd put it, although it doesn't appear that we'd have as much growing space. In all honesty, part of the reason this idea appeals to me is that given the fact I have no recent experience with setting up an indoor grow, buying a readymade odorproof cabinet with ventilation, drainage, and lighting systems built right in to the product would be a lot easier than designing and setting this stuff up myself. That's not a critical factor to me, but I will admit it is a factor. I don't mind doing the work, but if a commercial product does the work for me, I don't mind that either.
For those of you with indoor experience, what suggestions can you offer? Is either system better than the other, and if so, why? Or is it just six of one and a half dozen of the other; more a matter of personal preference? I'm sure building my own grow room will be a lot cheaper, but money's not really a problem. I'll spend whatever I have to spend to get the best possible situation (within reason; I don't know how much those commercial units coast, but if we're talking a $5,000 growcab as opposed to $500 worth of materials to build my own, then that will of course influence my thinking.) Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, everybody.
Here's the deal. We want to produce a healthy but reasonable crop over the course of the year while at the same time giving me a place to start 20 or 30 clones each spring for my outdoor grows. That's pretty much it; we're not looking for 20-pound yields every 90 days. Our expectations for the indoor crop are modest, but we want to make the most efficient use of the space that is available to us. If we go with a concealed grow room, my partner and I have only the small space beneath the basement steps with which to work. The area we'd have to work with is about 4 feet wide, 6 feet high, and 5 feet long, for a total area of 20 square feet with 6 feet of headroom. Because of the angle of the stairs, there will be an additional area of about 3.5 feet by 4 feet with an angled ceiling so low it probably won't be useful for growing, so we plan to use that for storage and equipment, like fans, heaters, whatever. Another option would be to build a two-stage garden; use the portion with the higher headroom as a flowering chamber and the smaller section for a starter space and veg chamber.
On the other hand, if we decide to go with a readymade growcab like a Supercloset or some similar product, we'd have a few more options about where we'd put it, although it doesn't appear that we'd have as much growing space. In all honesty, part of the reason this idea appeals to me is that given the fact I have no recent experience with setting up an indoor grow, buying a readymade odorproof cabinet with ventilation, drainage, and lighting systems built right in to the product would be a lot easier than designing and setting this stuff up myself. That's not a critical factor to me, but I will admit it is a factor. I don't mind doing the work, but if a commercial product does the work for me, I don't mind that either.
For those of you with indoor experience, what suggestions can you offer? Is either system better than the other, and if so, why? Or is it just six of one and a half dozen of the other; more a matter of personal preference? I'm sure building my own grow room will be a lot cheaper, but money's not really a problem. I'll spend whatever I have to spend to get the best possible situation (within reason; I don't know how much those commercial units coast, but if we're talking a $5,000 growcab as opposed to $500 worth of materials to build my own, then that will of course influence my thinking.) Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, everybody.