i'm afraid I might kill my plants

I just got my delivery of seeds from Attitude for my first grow and I'm really excited. I ordered 3 Lowryder #2's, 1 Barney's Utopia Haze, and it came with an LA Woman and a Sour cream. I'm guna firt try growing 1 lowryder and the LA Woman so that if i mess up I'll still have the better seeds. Here's my possible future set up:

http://cgi.ebay.com/400-watt-SWITCHABLE-HPS-MH-GROW-LIGHT-SODIUM-HALIDE_W0QQitemZ390092183982QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5ad34e59ae

A grow tent
Miracle Grow soil
some fans.
I will be growing in a closet

Sorry to load you guys up with all this info but here are my questions.
Are worm castings that I find in my backyard safe to mix with the soil?

Is the 400 watt light going to be too hot for a 5X4X3 grow tent?

Will I get enough CO2 to the plants if they're in a tent which is in a closet?

Will 2 plants create a noticable smell?
And if so, will ONA definitely block all smells?

Thanks so much for reading my post and any advice is GREATLY appreciated.

In a tent of that size, i would use a 600W light. I would stay away from miracle grow soil. Get some bio- biz all mix soil. Also i would not use anything from the garden, you could introduce all sorts of bugs to your grow that way. The smell issue, you will get a smell from 1 plant, how strong depends on strain.

Ok thanks so much for that much needed advice haha. The smell is the BIG problem. My friend lives with his mom. And she rarely goes in his room, but NEVER goes in his closet. Now i know that the grow tent will mask some of the smell but at the same time, I'm going to have fans running through it, therefore dispersing the smell. How effective is odor neutralizing agent?

I have not used the stuff mate. I use a carbon filter, you smell nothing at all outside the flowering room. But it can be costly, unless you go the diy route. Do a search for the odour control thread, there is loads of info on it.

nothing wrong with miracle grow soil...however, if you are going to spend that kind of money you might as well get you some foxfarm...also for the odor just buy one of those febreeze things that spray every X minutes haha

fantastic. Im going to build a carbon filter with supplies from Petco -> https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/37229-cheap-carbon-filter-setup-all.html . and i'll put the filter right in front of my exhaust fan. Also, I'll use Febreese haha. Wuddya think?

no offense but this is not a good idea. it is going to be near impossible to conceal a grow from begining to end. you should save yourselves the trouble and just wait untill you can grow in your own space

his mom may notice an incease in electric bill from a 600whps but thats just me

How big is the increase in the electric bill if I'm using a 400 watt?


And given that his mom will never go in the closet, what will make it so hard to conceal?

400 watt will probably up the bill around 20-30 per month. the power bill isnt goint to be your problem. you obviously have never been around an indoor grow in flower. to say it is strong is an understatement. unless yous guys are putting an exhaust fan in the ceiling and venting it outside come flower time probably 3-6 weeks in you ARE going to be caught, she goes in his room you said.. even when i only had one plant in my closet in my bedroom when i came into my house i could smell it, and thats the front door not my room.. this was before i implemented a proper exhaust fan though..

Listen to Geozander man, he knows what hes talking about, extremely knowledgeable dude. Geozander is right in this case as well.

Thanks for warning me of this. But, I was planning on growing in an air tight grow tent with a carbon filter on both the intake and the exhaust. Would this not work?

How about if I also had an odour neutralizing agent going in his closet?

Edit: So Grizzly. You're agreeing with Geozander by saying that it is possible to mask the smell with a carbon filter?

+Rep. to anyone who can give me SOLID advice on the odour control issue

You do not need a carbon filter on the intake mate, waste of time. If the tent is sealed properly there will be no smell escaping, it will be when you open your tent to tend to your plants that there will be a strong odour in your room. I use an air freshener called orange mate. You get it from hydro shops. It is expensive but it does the trick so you can carry out maintenance on your grow.

Activated charcoal will neutralize most any order. If you want a carbon filter on the intake the intake has to be inside the tent. Any air cycling you have going on in and out of the tent a charcoal filter will take care of the odor. The DIY filters work wonderfully. Pretty cool stuff actually, the carbon reacts with other carbon based molecules and attaches. I.E. organic particles that create smell are locked into the filter while hydrogen, Co2, and oxygen go through which are odorless!

Geozander's suggestion of orange or another area smell neutralizers such as gels etc (i'm assuming orange is a type of gel) is an excellent one. When you open your tent your filter is useless. I probably wouldn't have thought of the open tent issue. Props to geo once again.

Its called ORANGE MATE, you also get LEMON MATE and LIME MATE. They are aerosol air fresheners made with the juice of real fruit. They all smell heavenly, and definately neutralize all odours.

Thanks so much +Rep

Well shit geo you say mate so much I assumed it was just "orange" lol.

One way I've found that could be useful, without masking odors, is simply to put a fan infront of your rooms window, and have it turned on at maximum speed. THat'll create a negative pressure in the room, forcing all the air+odours out. Worked for me in my attempt for Skunk Haze, and believe me, it would smell up my house easily, even if it was only 1 plant.
You could try that, but a carbon filter is probably your best bet. It's really proven to help clean the air of odours.

Oh, and if you,re looking for a "cheap" way to give your plants CO2 boosts, you could try going into different hardware stores that sell "air-pressured" guns. They'll sometimes sell CO2 cartridges that can be set to release slowly. But that's getting into the complicated area. My trick was to have a few hamsters running around right beside my growing area. Their rapid metabolisms produce more CO2 compared to a human's, as far as weight goes.

But in anycase, if odor controls the biggest of your issues, then you're well set off.

Erysichthon said:

400 watt will probably up the bill around 20-30 per month. the power bill isnt goint to be your problem. you obviously have never been around an indoor grow in flower. to say it is strong is an understatement. unless yous guys are putting an exhaust fan in the ceiling and venting it outside come flower time probably 3-6 weeks in you ARE going to be caught, she goes in his room you said.. even when i only had one plant in my closet in my bedroom when i came into my house i could smell it, and thats the front door not my room.. this was before i implemented a proper exhaust fan though..

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my 600w light made the bill go up aout 16 dollars, but he is right there is no getting around the smell i would get a centrifugal fan and exhaust it out the window and at the end of your exhaust pipe i would attach a carbon filter