Loft Closet Grow

First grow, looking for tips and advice BEFORE I make the mistakes.

Built a closet in my attic/loft. Approx 5' x 5' x 5', but it's in the eaves so it is a triangular shape, 5' high at the left and next to no height at the right.

Plan is to clone on the right with CFL's or strip fluoros behind a light proof door running the length of the room. Flower on the left with SCROG under a 400w HPS and maybe a few CFL's for kicks. DWC throughout. Small planter boxes for the clones and a utility tub / packing bin for the adults. Probably 4 plants.

I have venting out the roof, just need to add the fan and have a friend who is supplying clones, etc., but that is all the equipment I have so far.

OK, let's hear what I have right and what should be changed.
Thanks for all the info I have already gathered by lurking around the site and everything I am about to learn.

Aloha,
Spicolli

Sounds great but give as much space as you can to flower, if you dont have a need for large amounts of plants you only need a small space to veg a mother and take clones to flower for a sog, you could do this in some kind of cabinet.

Thanks for the reply NGT, and that brings me to a question about scheduling, since I have no real experience there. Do I:
a) set my clones and veg for a while until they fill that area (under 12") or
b) take clones from a mother and put them right into flower?

The space is a non-issue. The flower side is the only spot with decent headroom for an HPS and no matter what I do there will be variation in that area. Not sure why you mentioned the cabinet...

Also, I plan to do the screen of green due to space constraints, I don't think it would be wise to fill what meager floor space I have with more pots and plants in a SOG.

Keep 'em comin!

Aloha,
Spicolli

welcome to the forum, saw you had introduced yourself. If your friend is going to supply you with clones why would you need a mother. unless you live in Peru I don't recommend trying to grow in that kind of a space. There is not any insultaion in there, well there is some, whatever "r-value" the shingles and decking have, less than one. It will be hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. Four plants could be grown in a 2'by4' cabinet just a little taller then the space you are talking about with a lot less strain and grief. But if you don't have any choice consider this, the dwc container will be about 18" tall, the light itself will need a foot down from the top to avoid starting the roof on fire, and you will want the light to be about 10" above your plants. Sooo..5'-18"-12"-10", better start flowering those plant now. Just a thought. VV

Cool, another passenger.

Why would I need a mother? I don't know, seemed what nongreen was suggesting. I will need something to start the next crop which is why I asked the previous question.

Lots of insulation in there! Guess I need to clarify. The room is in the top of my old 1 1/2 story house. The top 1/2 story is my bedroom. I am in the finishing stages of renos to the room and have built this hidden room with the intent of growing. Insulation, vapour barrier, drywall, exhaust; it's all there. Just imagine it's an odd shaped crawl-in closet.

I was planning on using a ventilated hood for the HPS. Figured I could get away with 6" away from the walls and ceiling. You disagree? Maybe I will have to go lower wattage, but I don't want to.

The height constraints are my biggest issue. I thought of using cfls so I could get as close as possible to the plants. But I would really rather have something stronger pouring the light out. I will do SCROG and flower early to help keep everything low, but I can only do so much, right? Also considered doing a shallow drip system instead of DWC. Maybe I will have to go that way.

Never been to Peru but hope to some day. Thanks for helping me brainstorm, VV.

Aloha,
Spicolli

OK,more research done and more questions to ask.

Height is definitely going to be my biggest obstacle. I was thinking a cooltube would be a good hood to use because it is small enough to fit in the peak of the roof. How much clearance from the walls will I need? Is there anything I can line the walls with to minimize the fire hazards?

I was planning on dwc, how shallow of a tub can I successfully use? I saw a really shallow drip system on ebay, would that be a better investment?

Are there any other space-saving tips I haven't thought of to prevent my buds from burning as they grow?

Thanks everyone.

Figured I would return to my original thread now that I FINALLY have this space in operation. Will post pics, but not right now.

Took 6 clones from my friend about 7 weeks ago and placed them in the veg chamber 8" under my dual 65w aquarium hood lamp. They sat in a shallow tray with an external res totalling about 8gal of water with a couple 12" airstones plus a small airstone in the res. Started tying them down and training when they got about the 5" mark. I was really surprised how much training I was able to do before I got the plants under the screen.

Moved all the plants over to the flower chamber after 6 weeks in veg. I had planned on leaving them under 24hrs of light for a couple weeks before switching to 12/12 but after only one week I realized I was rapidly running out of room. Next time I am going to clone and switch right to 12/12 as soon as I move the plants. Switched to flower schedule and nutes on Monday and cloned on Tuesday. Flower chamber consists of a storage bin with external res totalling about 50gal with a 4" airstone under each plant and another small airstone in the res. Lighting is a 400w HPS in a cooltube hooked to a 150cfm squirrel cage fan sucking from the eaves of the house and exhausting into my bedroom. Really not providing the warmth I expected on these early winter nights. Think I could have squeezed a 600w in there. Room exhaust is through another 150cfm squirrel fan mounted at the top of the room and out the roof. The plants have practically filled the screen (approx 2 x 4 ) already. Yes, I'm worried about space. Screen is about 8" above the net pots, light another 10" above the screen.

Sorry about the long-winded update, should this be in a journal?

I do have some questions but I'm tired of writing, I'll be back.
Comments welcome.

Aloha,
Spicolli

Just started 4th week of flower. Can't believe the number of buds I see as I trim through the foliage. Starting to see crystals and really getting a good aroma. Screen is a bit crowded but not the massive overgrowth I was afraid of. Should work out well.

Lost one of my clones. Will re-clone next week.

Pictures coming soon.

Harvested first grow few days ago. Grew waaaaaaaaaaay more than I had expected. No idea on weight yet, but I'm happy. Space never became an issue once the plants settled into flower. I had to raise the light a few times but still had space left when they stopped vertical growth. I could easily fill the screen with 4 plants instead of 6, but I'll stick with this setup for now.

Room got real stinky. DIY carbon filter helped but was too small. Going to rework a few things before switching to flower for the second grow.

I do have some pictures but I'm unsure of the best way to post them.

Yield was approx 8 oz. And I'm expecting more this time. Should be harvesting every 2 1/2 months. This is working out better than expected.

I have added a larger charcoal scrubber and mounted the old filter to my exhaust so odour problems have pretty much been rectified. Need to work on sound control a bit more, then I think the room will be tweaked out.

Aloha,
Spicolli