Number of plants?

[richgannon_2001]

Hey ive been readin TONS about grow closets and reading peoples growjournals to see theyre setups n things like that and im ready to start my own in a few weeks, i cant wait to do a grow journal on here and get ppls help as i go.......im trying to decide the dimesions of the small closet i am going to build.......i have found a 400 w light with ballast and the guy says itll cover an 7-9 area is this true?? im prolly gonna build somthing 7ft tall 4 ft wide n maybe 7 feet long u guys think this will be enough space for 5-6 plants??


also im sure there is a lot of little things im over looking.....im gonna install 2 intake fans and 2 outtake fans for ventilation.....is there anything im overlooking that i need to keep in mind b4 making this purchase??? note: i understand the obvious ones like reflective stuff for the walls n things like that. i kno i dont need nutes for when they r young but what should i pick up for when they r older? should i wait till there is a prob then fix it or give them nutes b4 things go bad??

 

[NoDirtWeed4Me]

The answers to your questions depend on a couple of factors.
Are you growing hydro or soil?
How long are you going to veg?
Is it a HPS light or a MH light?
Are you planning on using this light for both veg and flower?
Do you have a timer?

I can think of alot more but I'll stop there for now.

 

[richgannon_2001]

Hey thanks for the responce, its going to be in soil....im not sure bout the veg period prolly 2-3 weeks (newby so im gonna have to experiment) but its an HPS bulb......i assumed i couldnt use that bulb for both stages but if i can thatd be good news for starting out!! eventually i need a different room for veging tho so i can have constant flow of new plants but that will be under cheap flouros but that may not be right away unless needed......i forgot about the timer question i had, how exactly do these work are they trustworthy??how much should i look to spend on one?? and what about ph testers how much would you recommend spending on a decent one not the cheapest ones...... ur info is much appreciated

 

[Spliff Twister]

Richgannon I think I would make the room 4'x4' and if you can 8' but 7' should be fine with a 400watt. A 400 in my opinion is to small for 7'-9'. you could even make it 3'x3'. If your growing indicia yea 5-6 are going to fit in there just fine. If your growing sativa you should still be alright but height may become a issue.
I don't think you'll need 2 intakes and 2 exhausted just one of each should be fine unless you are using a really weak exhaust system

 

[richgannon_2001]

awesome thanks a lot im pumped that 5-6 plants r good for a 4 by 4 room....i dont see why i cant make it 8 ft tall, sounds like itll be a good idea to since i plan on growing a wide variety of strains....the guy at the shop i plan on buying from told me with the summer coming to an end that heat wont be an issue, i tend to think otherwise....should i plan on needing some kind of tubing to run the heat out through my window??

also im hearing im way off with my 3 weeks of vegging.....is it true it needs minimum 40? if so id prolly do 45 or somthin

 

[Spliff Twister]

Richgannon, its hard to say if heat will be a issue with your setup or not because there are so many factors that can cause temperature change. The best advise I can give is to set it up and dry run it with no plants and just check at different times in the day what the temp is etc etc. This way you can get some kinks out before your babies are even in there. If it gets to hot then try venting outside.
I couldn't understand the second part of your question about the 40 do you think you could rephrase it for me?

 

[richgannon_2001]

yea sorry bout that i meant 40 days minimum to veg? thats a good idea running it b4 the plants go in, ill be doing that for sure cuz somethings tellin me its gonna get warm in there lol what type of bulbs are recommended for vegging

 

[NoDirtWeed4Me]

First I agree a 4x4 room would be best, and you could veg 5 or 6 plants in there no problem, hopefully end up with 3 females and that would be fine for flowering 3 females. For a vegging bulb I would suggest getting an MH conversion bulb. That will allow you to use just the one ballast.

The veg time is really dependant on how big you want your plants to get. Allowing the plant to fully veg, meaning to the point where it preflowers without changing the light schedual, will end up with a much healthier and productive plant.

I have switched a plant to flowering in as little as 3 days, but don't recommend that unless you are severely limited on space. Just remember that your plant will atleast double in size during flowering, more than that if you switch to flowering before it is mature.

 

[richgannon_2001]

how much space/lighting would i need if i wanted to flower 4-6 females in the closet.....see i have a friend thats going halves with me on it so money isnt really an issue but osme of the things ive found are cheaper than i thgouth so im trying to find a way to keep it cheap so i can maybe go 70/30 with him since im growing it in my place n give him a 3rd of the plants.....i have a habit of smoking a lot of bud so the more i can grow the better but i want to try n avoid buying 2 lights unless my friend sells me his for cheap then ill be going for the bigger room n do 6 females.....i was planning on buying feminized seeds is this worth it??

 

[NoDirtWeed4Me]

Well if you double the number of plants then you need to double the space and double the light. So i would suggest an 8x4 room and 2 400watt lights. Feminized seeds are not worth it for a first grow in my opinion. Plus there is plenty of room for you to grow double the plants in veg than in flower, too weed out the males.

 

[str8la10]

how long is veg. times 8 and 16? and flowring is 12 and 12?

 

[Spliff Twister]

16- 24 hours of light for veg and 12 12 for flowering

 

[azaiden]

About that going halves with your friend. WHAT R U THINKING? I hope he is a really good friend that u can trust as the more people that know the more chance off getting cought or house broken in to. Even if you know him/her very well, you just dont know everything about people and its a bad human habbit to tell others about the sneaky little acctivities we get up to so make sure they arnt telling there other friends who are telling there other friends and so on. Were i grew up my best frinds dad was chief off C.I.B and he allways told us as kids to keep our mouths shut if we did something wrong as over 85% off crimminals were cought because they told someone who then either got in trouble and thought they would get out by ratting or just told someone who decided to get even after an argument. It can be as simple as that. My advice to you is tell the friend they all died give them there money back wait a bit and start again , this time with just you who knows as you are really the only person you can trust. If you have trouble believing me you can allways email my cousin, you can find him at sing sing prison were hes been for 3 years after getting ratted out by a so called best friend that he told about something he did when he was drunk. On a happier note it seems like you are trying to get some great info befor you get started , something i wish i had done , it sucks to wonder why this didnt happen or that didnt happen and then read about it when its to late and your yeild is tiny. Well best of luck to ya and try not to go smoken befor the lights out.