First time grow in a shed

Hi all,

Long time reader, first time poster. I have smoked pot for years, recently got my doctor's recommendation to use medical cannabis about a year and a half ago, and am finally ready to grow my own. I've decided on using methods commonly thought to be more efficient and productive from the start, eliminating the learning curve (at least to the point where discovering new and easier methods should be behind me). Most of my grow knowledge can be attributed to "Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible" by Jorge Cervantes.

I have been building my room for about a month now, just slowly adding to it when I can afford the time and money. Today I bought a few things to work on my aeroponics system when I hit a mental block and finally decided to reach out and ask an online forum and see if anyone has any great thoughts or insights for me. I chose rollitup.org because it seems like to most helpful and knowledgeable forum out there so I have "high" hopes...

The shed is 118"x65"x76" approximately, giving me plenty of room for a 3-station perpetual crop setup. My goal is a hefty personal garden, harvesting 4 plants every 4 days, or so.

So far the shed has been insulated with fiberglass and covered in plastic sheeting. I have two 4" ducts on two windows across the room from each other, ready to pump air. I built a carbon fiber using ideas and plans from this and other grow sites.

Today for the aeroponics system, I bought 1/4" and 1/2" poly tubing, 360-degree spray nozzles, barb connectors, a 300 gph pond pump, and a 27-gallon heavy duty plastic bin.

For seeds and clones, I have a grow tray with clear hood heated by a reptile heating pad underneath. Two low-wattage CFLs will be trained on those when sprouts appear. I have bag seeds that I am attempting to germinate and sprout now, but if those fail (don't have too many), I can always go down to my dispensary (CA Prop 215) and buy a female clone or two.

Everything I've listed here is amongst my assets. If I didn't mention it, then I still need to get it. I haven't bought any lights (save the CFLs) for veg and flowering, I have no separations for different chambers, and I haven't used any of the parts I bought today.

Any helpful input would be greatly appreciated. I've done a lot of research but I still have the feeling there is no substitute for a good human teacher. I have the right idea (I think), just need some direction and confirmation. Thanks in advance!

OCStoner

welcome friend you might want to plan slightly larger harvest farther apart.harvesting every 4 days would be full time just burping jars.

ill seriously,,, just say , your on the good path my friend, theres EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE on this site, alot of veteran's , research and ull find ulimited fresh knowledge

Yeah I don't see 4 day harvests happening, you would need a shit load of plants if its even possible. Most perpetual grows harvest every 2-4 weeks.

Not that I'm surprised...

You're growing in a shed and the thing everyone has issue with is how often you plan to harvest??

The first two problems you're going to have are environment control and pests.

I suggest you prepare this shed by caulking and filling all gaps, and installing insulation on the walls and ceiling. I also suggest you get a 500cfm inline fan and a carbon filter installed solely for the purpose of exhausting heat. I also suggest you include an AC unit to help keep the area cool and give you better control over the heat.

I suggest a 1000w lamp for your flowering area, a 400w system for your mothers, and a good T5 system for your clones. You'll need additional ventilation with an intake and exhaust.

You can seal the room up nearly air tight and run CO2 though, just make sure you have a very effective AC system.

Glad to have you joining the ranks of RIU. Hope to see more in the future (picture-wise).

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies. I have sealed and insulated, that was my first step. I sprayed the empty room with a water/bleach mix to sterilize. I insulated with fiberglass, covered the windows (leaving two 4" duct in/outlets), then covered everything with plastic sheeting and duct tape. I might add another 4" duct elsewhere in the room to accommodate the light heat. I have been reading Stinkud's Aeroponic System and have decided to give this a try.


My main online influences for my system:
Grow K2 Cannabis
Stinkbud's Aeroponics/NFT system: https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/116859-harvest-pound-every-three-weeks.html

Yea, I just built one of those. single line on a hoist and drained it differently for my green house. Good idea.
Only two 4" duct outlets seems a bit small. You going to run A/C ?

I was not planning on running AC because of the proximity of the shed to other homes. I live in suburbia and while the homes are not too close together (I wouldn't try to grow if they were) they are close enough where I do not want to run AC for the noise factor.

As I understand it, the CFM of the fan should be enough to replenish the air in the room in about 5 min. If that is correct, then I have a 4050 CF room which would require about an 800 CFM fan to clear the room. Is this right?

Also at the top of my list of questions is about electricity. I am running a 14 gauge extension cord from inside the house to the shed. What needs to be done on either end of the cord to ensure safety as far as breakers or fuses are concerned? Do I need to install a breaker box? I live in kind of an old house and my section of the house runs on two 20-amp breakers. Insight would be appreciated, as always!

OCStoner

Well if you can tap off one of those breakers and run conduit out there underground then to another breaker box would be the way to go. Find out what breaker powers what in the house and use the one you don't use much. Turn all your lights on and flip the breakers. I would run at least 20 amps out there to two 10 amp breakers then to the electrical outlets.

So it's been a while and I've been working steadily every day on this thing...

I have some pictures of the room as it is now and just recently before I moved things around. I need to make cabinet doors for the front of the Veg and Cloning boxes but you can see inside in some of the pics.

Going to go LED for Veg for sure. Still not sure about Flowering, but I suspect I might. Looking at the Illuminator series from Prosource Worldwide.

Again, props to Stinkbud for his Aero setup that I copied.

As I was looking through them, I forgot to mention that since these pictures I got a 4" duct fan. I didn't think I would need one bigger as I'm going to run LEDs and use the CO2 tank from my homebrew days.

Hey it looks like you have done your research if i was you i would run a 600w hps for flowering or if you want to go big go with a 1000w hps. It will make your buds swell up and grow big dont skimp on the flowering lights that is were your plant will want the most light for bud development and buds are what you grow for!!

I know that. And I'm not saying that like I'm an expert or anything close. I just have been doing my research, as you say, and am very curious about the possibility of LEDs. HPS is the obvious choice when going HID but I have read about the 180W Illuminator having the same effect as a 600W HPS.

On that note, in the course of my research I have come across many people who claim that LEDs will be everything I want but NO ONE seems to have any proof. Prosource Worldwide at least offers a 90-day guarantee so if I do decide to try, I will not buy the light until I have plants ready to flower. That way I will be able to test the yield without losing the light investment money.

OCStoner

There is one MAJOR issue with LED lighting and it's that the energy they produce is lost within a matter of inches from the fixture. Keeping an LED fixture further than a foot from the top of the canopy results in really insignificant growth. They are also ineffective at growing larger plants and as a result are best suited to SOG, clone to flowering, systems.

A 600w lamp can easily produce healthy leaf mass in an area 3'x3'x3' cubed. The comparative 180w led is better suited to an area closer to 2x2x1. When you look at the cubic feet there really isn't a comparison.

At the end of the grow you'll have more bud with a less expensive HID system. You will spend more on power, and you'll need more ventilation, so the dollar for dollar offset is there. I think that if HID+Power+Ventilation < LED+Power+Ventilation and you get more product with HID then the answer is obviously not LED.

Maybe a combination of the two though. Run a vertical 400w HPS and a few LED systems, might work out very well for you. Take a middle road approach, you know.

Snow Crash said:

There is one MAJOR issue with LED lighting and it's that the energy they produce is lost within a matter of inches from the fixture. Keeping an LED fixture further than a foot from the top of the canopy results in really insignificant growth. The also are ineffective at growing larger plants and as a result are best suited to SOG, clone to flowering, systems.

A 600w lamp can easily produce healthy leaf mass in an area 3'x3'x3' cubed. The comparative 180w led is better suited to an area closer to 2x2x1. When you look at the cubic feet there really isn't a comparison.

At the end of the grow you'll have more bud with a less expensive HID system. You will spend more on power, and you'll need more ventilation, so the dollar for dollar offset is there. I think that if HID+Power+Ventilation < LED+Power+Ventilation and you get more product with HID then the answer is obviously not LED.

Maybe a combination of the two though. Run a vertical 400w HPS and a few LED systems, might work out very well for you. Take a middle road approach, you know.

Click to expand...

Cant argue with sound logic like that....listen to the man......DONT GET LEDS

man u guys sound like some smart nerds lol
no offence intended its a compliment lol
i havent used leds myself but i have also heard about there lack in distance
im a simple guy that believes some cfls and alot of loves will make my baby huge
i do however wanna show alot of ppl this very unexpensive offer i think u guys will like it
http://www.needabulb.com/400-Watt-High-Pressure-Sodium-Bulbs-C2323.aspx

nice photographs.