First grow ever, need advice :]

[theycallme...]

Heyy guys,
So i have a walk in closet in my apartment that I want to turn into a grow room. The closet is roughly 10 feet wide, 5 feet deep, and 8 feet tall. I have a 1000watt ballast and an MH bulb (for flowering according to my friend), the ballast is switchable.
I only use about a third, maybe, of the closet as of now. I want to effectively grow my children to be bushes.
How do you think I should set this up? What soils, lights, fans, nutrients, anything else do you think I'd need? I've done research, LOTS, but it's difficult for me to decide on something. Right now I have two plants (Afghani) growing under the 1000watt. They had been under cfls when they were tiny, but then i got that light and switched them. One of them i switched to quickly and it burned, so i had to cut off most of it's leaves, but it's growing again, but will probably be male because it's been ridiculously stressed out. the other one is growing fine, not as quickly as under the cfls surprisingly.

So i plan to get new seeds and i'd like to know how i should go about raising them. I've been doing a 18-6 cycle because it seems more effective than the 24 hr. I water them about every 3 days or whenever the soil is dry about 2 inches in.
I'm new to this, and haven't successfully grown a damn thing in my life but i haven't tried since a child, and i do have a love for it.

I am trying to stick to a budget, i don't want the most expensive grow room, but i'd like to get a good yield and have healthy, somewhat quick growing, ladies.

I appreciate any help more than you know! Thanks guys :]

 

[WarBux79]

Well first off you need to get an HPS bulb to flower them not MH. 1000w is going to need a good deal invested into exhaust fans

 

[theycallme...]

I'm still in vegging stage so that's why i have the MH. I'm going to get an HPS soon, very soon. And the ballast is switchable so i won't have to buy a whole new one. And yeah the temperature has been the most difficult part, but I got this huge construction fan blowing in there and the temperature is usually consistent at like 76 degrees. Still too hot?

Thanks for your response :]

 

[theycallme...]

Do you think it's worth it to sell this 1000w and down grade? I bought the whole setup and bulb for 150 from a friend, but if I still can get great results with less i'm fine with that.

 

[theycallme...]

OH! oops I wrote for flowering, i meant to write for vegging my bad!

 

[ol hippy]

Temps can go to the 80s with no problem, but you will need a vent fan soon and possibly a charcoal filter if oder is a prob. Nothing wrong with using what you got ! That 1000 will give you a great grow just watch the temps ! Good luck just keep posting any questions and you will get answers here !!

 

[medicatedman]

76% is a good temp, thats what I run at I also am new. This is a good site for information. To one of your question about bushy plants, some plants grow naturaly bushy but Ive have found many techinics on you tube but you gota have guts to try them I am even trying something by hanging different size washer from metal hooks on tallest branches so smaller branches can grow its like LST tieing them down I just cant tie due to areoponics system running. Good advise I rec from this site is PH in water.

 

[WarBux79]

if you want bushy plants you can also use bushmasters. The problem with a 1000w light is the heat. I would rather use 2 600w lights then 2 1kw lights. Just personal preference. If your growing for just yourself or you and 1 person then the 1kw light is over kill and will just end up costing you more money trying to keep it cool. If you plan on making money well then thats a different story

 

[theycallme...]

if you want bushy plants you can also use bushmasters. The problem with a 1000w light is the heat. I would rather use 2 600w lights then 2 1kw lights. Just personal preference. If your growing for just yourself or you and 1 person then the 1kw light is over kill and will just end up costing you more money trying to keep it cool. If you plan on making money well then thats a different story

I started growing for personal use, then word crept out a tiny bit and now i've got requests to grow for business, but i've still not made up my mind. I only have 3 plants, one is a clone. I just wanted them to grow faster and yield more. My friend said that there's a myth that you get a gram per watt, i didn't believe them, but i figured the more light the happier my plants haha. I only have 1 1k light right now and i've managed to keep the heat at 75-76 because i added a few more fans.
Thank you so much for your help!

 

[theycallme...]

I've controlled the temperatures pretty well for now.
My new problem is germination :[ I know this isn't the forum to post it in, but i figured since i've already started one I might as well ask rather than starting a whole different one.
I tried two methods. I put 6 woodstock seeds into a shallow bowl of water and kept them pushed back in a cupboard. It's been about 3 and a half days and they cracked open but there's barely any root sticking out.
The other method was to put them in a wet paper towel, those have been in there for 2 and a half days and haven't cracked. I don't know whether to keep them in the dark or under a light, but i thought dark stimulated root grow. maybe i was wrong?
What do you guys think the best method for germination is? Do you think I just got really shitty bag seeds? I bought a seeded gram and there were like 18 seeds in it. The club called it woodstock.

 

[theycallme...]

Temps can go to the 80s with no problem, but you will need a vent fan soon and possibly a charcoal filter if oder is a prob. Nothing wrong with using what you got ! That 1000 will give you a great grow just watch the temps ! Good luck just keep posting any questions and you will get answers here !!

sooo far the odor hasn't been a problem. the white widow clone is juuust starting to have a scent if you put your nose to it. But i plan to make a diy carbon filter when the time comes, i just watched a video on it.
I have the 1k about 3 feet from my plants because i feel like when it's closer it burns them, is this okay? or should i get the glass for the light and try to put it closer?

 

[ThaKidd]

Well the glass will make a difference no matter what. So Imo the farther ur light is away from the plant the less usable light gets to the plant. You having that 1000 watt bulb is pretty awesome so the glass would help lower your temps if you had it rigged to say a carbon filter and a fan pulling the air through the filter, through the light which is cooling it. so with that set up your killing two birds with one stone.

 

[WarBux79]

your first mistake was letting it slip out that your growing. I would find a way to change that. When you germinate your just looking for the seeds to crack then you can put them in your medium. The very best growers w/ CO2 and good nutes can hit the 1g/w number but for newer growers just aim for a healthy harvest.

 

[SnowBender]

I am planning a similar sized grow, probably going to go with a vert bare bulb 1000w and stadium style plant spacing. with plants directly under the bulb and on the surrounding 3 of sides of the closet to take advantage of the light off the side of the bulb.

Make sure to start with a pond liner on the floor and up the wall 6" or so with a 2x4 dam on the open end of the closet to catch any spills/floods.

Also get a very big dog, since you told somebody about your grow.

 

[PitViper]

Well first off you need to get an HPS bulb to flower them not MH. 1000w is going to need a good deal invested into exhaust fans

you can flower with a MH....its what we used all the time prior to the HPS market