Help with Closet Setup and Management

I'm planning on starting a closet setup with about 1-2 Indicas. The floor space is very small at about
2 x 3 sq. ft. I was wondering what's the best lamp type and wattage and how should I go about circulating air in such a small space. I was also wondering what's the best way to maintain soil pH and keep it at 6.8 or so? When do you start fertilizing and how much is needed?
( st0n3rcHick )

are you renting or do you own? that would determine whether or not you can cut a hole in the drywall in the ceiling of your closet for exhaust which would then determine which kind of lights you need

Try the "church" from GHS,its mold and mildew resistant,so you can pack alot in there.For ph,add this:http://www.gardeners.com/Garden-Lime/FlowerGardening_FertilizersSoil,35-738,default,cp.html.

Thanks boys but that didn't exactly explain what type of lighting I should use or the wattage. It's my first grow and I don't want to mess it up because I have dank seeds.

400 watt..........Or 250watt

ooooor if you can't afford it and don't want to drop too much money on lights until you get a few grows under your belt then get some CFLs. Get the Day light ( 6500k ) for veg and the Soft white (2700k) for flower...it's what I'm using now and since this is my first grow I didn't exactly want to go drop another $70+ on an HPS on something that i'm not sure if I'm going to kill or not....anyway, you want about 4 lights per plant...the more lights the better but you got to be sure to keep your temps in check...hope that helps...dimmu should bow down to ministry

a 400w hps will be enough and you can buy complete kits on ebay with a cooltube reflector and timer for $200 and they work fine for me and its just as expensive as buying cfls. just make sure you have plenty of air flow and good fertilizers and you will be on your way good seeds also helps bag seed just doesn't cut it.by the way the ballist that come with the light are didtal and come with a hps and a mh bulb. you can by some 4" axial fans with a cord for around $20 and they move around 80 cfm of air and are really quiet to hope this helps

so a $200 dollar HPS and a couple of $20 dollar fans is cheaper than 10-20 cfls?

a box of 4 soft white at walmart is only like $7 bucks...so you could get almost 196 23watt CFLs (which is around 4,500 watts total) for the same price as a $200 dollar HPS....granted the efficieny of HPS to CFL is clear. HPS will blow CFLs away, but to say HPS is cheaper is untrue.

how do you feed your plants nutes? do you mix ferts with the exisiting soil or do you spray onto the leaves with water?

mud1dnot2 said:

so a $200 dollar HPS and a couple of $20 dollar fans is cheaper than 10-20 cfls?

a box of 4 soft white at walmart is only like $7 bucks...so you could get almost 196 23watt CFLs (which is around 4,500 watts total) for the same price as a $200 dollar HPS....granted the efficieny of HPS to CFL is clear. HPS will blow CFLs away, but to say HPS is cheaper is untrue.

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You have to factor in the cost of the fittings for each cfl though, and the time it takes you to set them all up as opposed to just hanging an HPS and plugging it in.
Cfls would probably still work out cheaper (I'm too lazy to do the maths right now) per watt, but I'd say give less lumens per dollar, especially considering $200 is far from the best deal around. I got my 600w hps with digi ballast and a spare bulb for £65 off Ebay 3 months back when my mate needed the one he lent me. Works out just under $100 at todays exchange rate, how many cfls (including fittings, wiring etc.) can you get for that?

XxDimmuchickxX said:

how do you feed your plants nutes? do you mix ferts with the exisiting soil or do you spray onto the leaves with water?

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You just mix the nutes up with the water you give the plants. Don't give nutes until the plant is 2-3 weeks old and has 3-4 sets of real leaves (not the cotyledons) and then only use a low dosage, 1/8th to 1/4 of the strength on the bottle depending on the brand, and gradually build it up so you don't overfertilise.
Feeding schedules vary from grower to grower, I like to give my mums a good dose of nutes every watering, then flush once a month to try to prevent salts building up in the soil. I feed my clones every other watering, building up the strength until they go into flowering when I switch to bloom nutes and feed every other watering, increasing the strength every couple of weeks until harvest, and flush after 4 weeks of flowering. I don't bother with a final pre harvest flush, and there's no difference in taste, or potency, as long as it's cured right.
2x3 isn't that small a space, dependant on the height available, but if you've got 4' of headroom you can grow a couple of good little plants in there. I'd get a switchable HPS/MH, 400w will be more than enough. You could use a 250 if you're worried about keeping the temps down, and it won't do badly, but you'll get to the end of your first grow and wonder what difference a bigger light would have made imo.
You will need to extract stale air away from the top of the closet, into the attic if at all possible but if not then anywhere you can inconspicuously duct to away from the room. Also required is a fresh air intake, this can be as simple as a hole with a flap over it so air can get in but light cannot escape/enter.
To maintain correct soil ph you just need to test your nute solution before giving it to the plants, then test the run off and adjust future waterings to lower/raise soil ph as needed.
Any more questions?

mud1dnot2 said:

so a $200 dollar HPS and a couple of $20 dollar fans is cheaper than 10-20 cfls?

a box of 4 soft white at walmart is only like $7 bucks...so you could get almost 196 23watt CFLs (which is around 4,500 watts total) for the same price as a $200 dollar HPS....granted the efficieny of HPS to CFL is clear. HPS will blow CFLs away, but to say HPS is cheaper is untrue.

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how many light sockets would 196 cfls need? i'd say at least 50 and each one would need a 3 way light socket adapter so i wouldnt say its untrue.....dont get me wrong i agree lotsa cfls is my preffered lighting set up too but 196 different bulbs? thats f*cking crazy!