Just set up my new grow. Please critique!

Hey guys. I just set up a new grow box in my laundry closet. I used a hanging cloth wardrobe from Walmart, and lined the inside with Mylar. I've got the whole thing hangin on a shower rod (see pics below). It's pretty sturdy. I have 8 x 23 watt 6500k CFL's with reflectors, and 2 x 30 watt 2700 floro tubes I had laying around. My only problem right now is I don't have a fan yet. Trying to figure out the best way to fit a fan in here.

It's only like 18" x 18" x 5'. Let me know if I should correct anything, and how big a fan I should get/where I should put it. Thanks guys!

175 watt mh/HPS switchable ballast would probably work better and give more room to work with I think. You'll probably need a wall mounted fan, which would be hard with all the shop light reflectors in there.

Mudslide9791 said:

175 watt mh/HPS switchable ballast would probably work better and give more room to work with I think. You'll probably need a wall mounted fan, which would be hard with all the shop light reflectors in there.

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Agree w/ mudslide and the switchable ballast. either way exaust at the top intake on the bottom... heat rises. ingenious use of a garment bag.. Good Luck w/ it.

helluva contraption you got going there

Hah thanks guys. It was 18$ at walmart, can't beat that! I'm definitely not looking to buy more lights, just improve the setup I have. I think 200 watts of CFL are more than enough for the 1-3 plants I hope grow up to be females. I'm just looking for advice as to where I should put the fan, if I should leave the reflectors on or not, and how close I should keep the lights.

Also, what would be a good/cheap temp/humidity meter?

Yeah the cfl's should work fine, I mean, just see if you can fit a small desk fan in the somewhere, really all you can do as far as ambient air circulation. I ran 12 CFL's at one point in a smaller setup similar to yours temporarily while I built my bigger room and I had a little heat issue. CFL's heat up the canopy quite a bit when you have that many in a tight space a couple inches from plants. I would keep the ambient laundry room air as cool as possible if your not using any sort of exhaust for your plants, 1 little fan will do little to curb the heat off 10-12 CFL's in a small group like that.

I think your setup will work though, just be wary of it and catch it before you actually really get into the grow if it gets to warm for them

Yeah I opened it this morning and it was like a million degrees in there. Is there any chance those CFL's are hot enough to catch the cloth wardrobe on fire? I think I'm gonna trash the wardrobe and just built a box.

anyone? Also I came home tonight and one of the plants is not facing up anymore. It's laying like it's dead on the dirt. What could have caused this?

your going to have to put a fan in somewhere. maybe mount a inline fan outside the room on the wall ... attach some ducting to it and cut a hole somewhere in the setup with just enough space for the ducting to fit in there but still be light tight and sealed have the fan pulling all the hot air out of your room ... something like this

I'm gonna be rebuilding the whole setup today with 2 fans. One fo the babies I think died however. What could have casued this? It was the healthiest one and I came home and it was just lying down on the ground shriveling up . The others a fine however. Also, How much water do these babies need while they're still this tiny? The soil should always be damp correct?

heat ?? if there was no circulation it probably couldnt handle the stress ... they shouldnt need to much water in this stage .. almosst no nutes until they a couple weeks in and well established ... most nutes on the market have a feeding chart on the back that you can follow its pretty easy

Sounds like heat stress watt for watt a CFL puts out less heat than HiD's but man it can bite you in the ass if your not careful. Regardless of your lighting, exhaust/airflow is critical to growing marijuana, it's all part of the same equation. When preparing for a grow, Lighting, Exhaust/circulation, temps, humidity are all EXTREMELY important. Get that together and running right then you can move on to deciding your grow medium, nutes, etc...

(You will also have problems if your humidity is too low, as temp directly affects humidity. As temperatures rise humidity falls causing your plants to have repiratory problems if it's not counteracted (humidifier). On the flip side (like during lights out) humidity will climb when temperatures lower (dehumidifier). You need to find a happy medium and try and keep a constant humidity during your temperature fluctuations.

I bought a fan today, and just placed it right in front of the plants taking in air from the the living room. It's about 82* F in there. However I think some of the plants are dead. One of them is growing but it's kind of yellowing and shriveled. Here's some pics, any advice?

what kind of fan did you get ? if it is just an oscillating fan blowing air around i would still install some kind of exhaust on your tent... 82 degrees is still pretty warm ... if you cant afford to setup an exhaust now i would take advantage of the fact that your still in a stage where you can have 24 hr lights and leave the tent door wide open and would def look into getting a inline fan to pull the hot air out before you start flowering the girls but the plants still look alive have faith my friend

It's just a little tiny heat/fan but I don't have the heat part on obviously just the fan. I took off the reflectors and turned off 2 bulbs, the temps dropped to about 78* F. I just hope the recoup. How often should I be watering them?

i would check them everyday ... with soil you dont want to judge solely on the surface... if the top of the soil is damp then i would say they are well watered.. i wouldnt recommend dont watering them every day as it is possible to over water and drown theses girls.. its normal for the top layer of soil to be dry .. a way to check if they need to be watered is a moisture meter if you have the extra cash or just stickin your plain ole finger in the soil and if its moist your good to go... setting up a regular water/feeding schedule helps you better establish when and how much you should water them ... every grow is differnt .. some people do water carefully everyday some every 3 days or once a week ... its really preference and whats working best for you and your grow

You'll be alright with 78 degrees, at this stage you can reduce stretch by keeping the CFL's close but get reduced temps if you get them a bit further off, 6 inches or so. Also, it wouldn't hurt these guys if you spray the inside of a plastic baggy with water and put it over the cups to increase humidity, seedling like it a little humid. DOn't water again until the tops of the soil dry out. Next time pick the cup up before you water initially and see what the cup weighs in your hand empty, then water and feel the weight wet, then you'll have an idea at what weight you will need to water again.

For some reason they're just not growing. The one still looks alive but it hasn't gotten any bigger in 3 days that it's been in there. The 2 seedlings that I planted after germinating never sprouted either, and the other 2 that sprouted are dead. What happened? Why are they just not growing?

Did you germinate them in a paper towel and then transfer them? If you didn't scrub the hell out of your hands then you might have infected them with something. For whatever reason, I am a fucking retard when it comes to growing seeds.