new member, one failed attempt....trying for a SUCCESSFUL operation...help!!

alright, i want to tell you all my entire situation. i previously tried to grow in my old house (first time = fail) which had about a 5' high ceiling maybe 6' x 6' but i never got them past veg, it was basically an attic with NO ventiliation, beginning of summer, it seems like the plants cooked, though i had two fans blowing air around. i had a 1000 watt metal halide, was using lowryder ak47/diesel/others and had the light hanging down a foot (so i would say the plants were a good 3 feet underneath the light at all times), and i put them under the 1000 watt metal halide. i started the plants under a fluoro, after a week or two switched them under the metal halide, and within a week or two of that they were about 3-4 inches tall, had a few branches, and slowly started dying off, first not growing any higher, then just started turning yellow, whithering away, and dying. until they all started dying i pretty much watered daily. this may sound dumb-obvious but i want to say im pretty damn sure they died from high heat. it did get hot as hell in there, don't know a temperature but i would sweat within 3 minutes of being in there, it was pretty hot even WITHOUT the light on. i was hoping the fans would blow the air around enough to keep it aired out.im just posting all this to see if you guys think it happened for the same reason i did. also, i had them in grow cubes until they died because i was told to only put them into soil when they got to 6 inches, or more than 4 weeks. if you guys that have done this plenty of times before could inform me of why you think they died, whether poor ventiliation/high heat or some other reason, i would really appreciate it.

now for some better news, and the real reason im posting this (so i don't mess up royally again and waste money)...im moving in a new place in under a week, unfortunately much less vertical clearance for growing room. don't have exact measurements yet but i'd say only about a 3 to 3 1/2 foot ceiling (its a crawlspace, again in an attic, but there is a window in the crawlspace...random), it is in the corner of the house so it slopes downward but id say the area is about 10 long by 3 or 4 feet wide (ceiling slopes down so highest is 3 1/2 foot ceiling, sloping down to ground level). im thinking the 1000 watt metal halide would DEFINITELY cook my plants in this small of an area, and besides that i think id rather go with an HPS light so ill probably buy a 400 watt, actually maybe two because its a 10 foot long area...maybe a 400 watt MH also so i have about 5 feet for veg and about 5 feet for flowering plants. i plan to use the lowryders again simply because of the limited space. sorry if these questions seem basic, but i've never had a successful grow before (at least not indoor...) and really don't want to waste time and money again. these aren't exact measurements but i'll try to get some in the next couple days so we can talk exact numbers...until then, any of you who can answer these questions or at least give me links to where these questions are already answered, i would really appreciate it and will keep you posted with info and hopefully pics. thanks guys!
lowryda69

well with that small of space i really dont think that you will really be able to grow nething in there... i mean even auto/lowryders get taller than 3 ft... and yes if you r sweating within 3 min of bn n there think about how those poor little babies were feelin you do not wat temps over 85 and not under 65 dont have the fans directly on the plants just blow the air between them. And also attic/crawlspace is def no good in the summer months bc it get wayyyy too hot in there. so keep em cool and mayb look at growing in a closet that noone uses or a vacant room.

I hope that I don't ruin your day but, I agree KSN. It just isn't going work in there and you will be flushing your money down the toilet. Even if it's 4', that's about a foot for the pot(soil grow, right?) about a foot for the lamps and hangers and 12-18 inches between the lamp and the plants. You have 6-12 inches for the plants. Short of getting an A/C unit for that window I don't see any way that you will be able to maintain the temps in there. Someone is going to get into LST and SOG but, I'll let them cover that for you. Good luck with your grow.

Unfortunately, after reading all of this, i am no help with a solution. Even with an aircooled hood, there still won't be enough room for plant growth. That does sound like a great room for vegging though. Sorry i couldn't help.

Your first grow died from a combination of heat and overwatering. Honestly, I don't think you're going to be able to run the 400's in an atttic, either - just way too hot. I run a pair of 400's in a room that's 8x7x8, and lights on, the temps stay around 75C - but only with 65C air constantly blowing through there. Better to look for a hidden space in your basement, than the attic.

It's winter here and temp is at -3F and my 2 400hps light keep my 7X7X9 room at 77f with no heater out in the insulated shed behind the house I have a 1500 watt heater for dark time set on 3/4 setting. These lights get hot no doubt you will need CFL or led to do what you want and then suffer the diminished return. Hitman40

good to know before i decided to buy a 400watt HPS...now ive heard LED lights could keep temperatures down....theres probably a thread for this somewhere but any chance this might help with the issue?

oh and i did legitimate measurements, for the area i was looking at there are different heights, going from 3 1/2 feet up to about 5 1/4 feet (it goes up from 3 1/2 at the lowest to a littlle over 5 feet at the highest..) wondering if maybe i could mount the lights a little higher under the 4 1/2 foot height spot and maybe have enough clearance...again these plants are auto/lowryders, so theyre not supposed to get over 2' and someone on here said to mount the light 18-24" above the top of the plant for lowryders. if the heat from wattage is a concern i could go down to 250, or the LEDs might help this? i might still have too much to worry about as far how hot the room gets in the summer.....but the question is, how could i make this work? there really arent a lot of other spots, basement could be used by others, and all other closets are less than 3'x5'...any ideas? i want to make something work in this house...could an air conditioner in that window solve the heat problem, even in the summer or no?

If its your place do you HAVE to grow in such a small space? why not invest in grow tent and dont invite people to your house if your this adamant about growing yet you dont have the room and everyone is telling you this but your gonna do it anyway. LED is expensive as hell so it sounds like you have money get a tent or bigger place with real stash spot. Also if you crowd lowryders too much they arent lowryders anymore they will stretch and fight for light. They can grow quite tall if you crowd them, just FYI

Hey Lowryda' It sounds like just a heat issue really,but I don't know how often you would water them. But that could have played a factor in the sad demise of your plants.....you have my simpathy. Your MH 400 watt is cool for veg...stay atlest a 1-1/2 feet away from the tops of the plants. MH give off alot of heat. so remember if you put your hand in between the light and the top of the canopy and its burning your hand...well it will do the same to your plants.

Heat.....I have found that the plants do not like temps above 90%F but I have found that its a very strong plant and it can and will try to surevive,but its up to you to help it....keep your grow room wether its a full room or a cab. At temps between 70-84 degrees F ((NOTE))if you go past 95 degrees there dead.TEST THE AIR TEMP OF YOU PERSPECTIVE GROW AREA BEFORE YOU SET EVERYTHING UP....you said it is a crawl space ...this is dangerouse in my opion because giving off that much heat can cause you to attract unwanted attention from certain gov agencys.....so perhaps an indoor stealth cabinet is what you need bro.
so if you keep your temps around there you will be just fine

Water.... In my opion for clones, you make sure mediam stay most but not soaked.....over watering will kill them faster then anything else mist spray leaves once a day. Growing from seeds....put you seeds in a cup, then put it some place dark ...leve there 24 hrs...check it if all seeds have sprouted then you already know what seeds were good and which were bad. pland them into the mediam about a 1/4 of an inch in the mediam cover.. then lightly water every 2-3 days or if the mediam looks exstreamly dry. remember you would rather starve the plant, then kill it by over watering. so just water the mediam till it looks moist and leve it alone

Lights...MH for vegg growth keep them at about 1-1/2 feet from tops of pland (((need a fan to help cool the grow area))positve lotts of lumens/negative lots of heat
HPS for bloom growth keep them at about 1-1/2 feet from tops of pland (((need a fan to help cool the grow area))positve lotts of lumens/negative lots of heat
CFL's for vegg and bloom can be kept at a distance of 1-3 inches above the canopy. Iuse cfl for all my vegg and its a good way to grow them because they produce low heat
and the difference in the temp is day and night between MH/HPS and CFL's

Freah Air...it is very important that you give the plants as much freash air as possible. so a attic or crawl space my have hot stagnet air. you need to replace that bad air with good fresh air constantly ...and I think thats were you ran into your problems in the first place remember 70-84 degrees if you can

Fertilizer/Nutrients.....this is a whole other post intirely.....just dont over water or over fertilize them with nutes..


anyway I hope I helped you....good luck to you and the grow

If you can sneak a pic of the spot it would help too. Lol you can look just at closets when you look at homes and get the one with the biggest. KIdding pics may help us give you more ideas though

thanks for the help guys. i think my main problems with the first grow were, like someone said, overwatering and cooking the plants. im gonna try and get pictures tomorrow when i head over to the house, im moving in sunday and want to have everything figured out before then if possible. again, it has a window right next to where i could potentially have some of the plants growing, its honestly not a very large window though i don't have exact dimensions (ill get them tomorrow as well). unfortunately, as far as spots to grow are concerned, i think it would be extremely difficult to grow outdoors in a grow tent because it would be too obvious and the landlord would probably check it out...and the landlord could go in the basement as well, best spot in the basement is the boiler room and theres a damn good chance SOMEBODY will need to go down there at some point if something screws up...also its really dank and humid = moldy buds right? at least without a dehumidifier...and the upstairs crawl space is connected to my own personal room; unless he had some reason to walk all the way upstairs, go into my room, and then go into the crawl space, chances are he wouldnt even go near where i'm gonna have this set up...considering landlords really aren't supposed to be in your personal space without permission, i don't see this as nearly as much of a problem as anywhere else in the house (i have the most control over this area in particular). its also a lot more difficult to be seen from the outside.

again ill try and get pictures, but until then, keep shooting me ideas guys! i still have a couple days til i move in =)