Hi, all! I'm designing my first grow room and could really use some advice. Your input would be much appreciated!
First, the background for my questions:
I'll be using plywood to create a room in the back of my garage. The full space will be 4 or 5 feet deep, 12 feet long, and 6 feet high. The 12' length will be split into a vegging section and flowering section. For compliance with California's MMJ laws, I plan to grow 6 plants at a time and cycle them through the veg and flower areas so I harvest one plant at a time. Within these constraints, I'm hoping to maximize my yields.
I'm legal, but going for discretion to avoid break-ins and cranky neighbors. I'm really hoping that nobody in my neighborhood will know I'm growing.
I plan to use LED lighting, probably 8 or 10 of the 90-watt UFO lights (carefully chosen because a lot of those are NOT the right wavelengths).
The garage has two 6"x12" vents to the outside, near the floor. One of these will be inside the grow room; the other will not. Air also gets in around the edges of the garage door. I live in a cool coastal area--rarely hot, often chilly, almost never freezing.
Question 1:
I need to control odor in the flowering area, and as far as I know so far, the most effective way to do this is with a carbon filter. I assume I also need some ventilation to prevent mold. With the LED's, though, I figure I won't need to vent heat and if anything will have trouble keeping my plants warm *enough* in winter. So, what's the best way to set up the ventilation and filtration?
I'm considering doing the following:
Put the flowering section on the end that has the 6x12" vent, and vent the filtered air directly to the outdoors. Have an intake opening from the flowering area to the vegging area, and another intake opening from the vegging area to the garage. Air would be sucked into the garage through the other vent and around the door, through the vegging area to the flowering area, get filtered, and go outside. I'm thinking that since the filter would pull air *into* the grow room, I wouldn't have to worry much about smelly air *leaving* the grow room.
Would this work? If so, any tips on how to set it up? If this idea sounds lousy, what do you think would be a better way?
Question 2:
What about the heat issue? When outdoor temps are 40 degrees F at night and 55 daytime, am I going to need a heater in there? Or will the LED's put out enough heat?
Question 3:
How much of my space should I devote to vegging and how much to flowering?
I want to harvest one big plant at a time, in whatever timeframe makes the most sense... I could have two plants overlapping in the flowering area (when plant A is halfway through flowering, plant B comes into the room, and when plant A gets harvested, plant C comes in), or maybe three flowering at once? Not sure how to best time it, or how to allocate the space.
Subset to Question 3:
I know that choice of strain matters here. I'm thinking of trying Purple Kush, at least to start out with (maybe get more adventurous down the road when I'm more knowledgeable). If you think this is for any reason not a good choice in my setup, please let me know.
Gosh, this got long. I will be very grateful for your opinions! I've been researching like mad, but there are so very many ways to grow that it's hard to figure out how to apply the vast amount of info to a specific situation. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
First, the background for my questions:
I'll be using plywood to create a room in the back of my garage. The full space will be 4 or 5 feet deep, 12 feet long, and 6 feet high. The 12' length will be split into a vegging section and flowering section. For compliance with California's MMJ laws, I plan to grow 6 plants at a time and cycle them through the veg and flower areas so I harvest one plant at a time. Within these constraints, I'm hoping to maximize my yields.
I'm legal, but going for discretion to avoid break-ins and cranky neighbors. I'm really hoping that nobody in my neighborhood will know I'm growing.
I plan to use LED lighting, probably 8 or 10 of the 90-watt UFO lights (carefully chosen because a lot of those are NOT the right wavelengths).
The garage has two 6"x12" vents to the outside, near the floor. One of these will be inside the grow room; the other will not. Air also gets in around the edges of the garage door. I live in a cool coastal area--rarely hot, often chilly, almost never freezing.
Question 1:
I need to control odor in the flowering area, and as far as I know so far, the most effective way to do this is with a carbon filter. I assume I also need some ventilation to prevent mold. With the LED's, though, I figure I won't need to vent heat and if anything will have trouble keeping my plants warm *enough* in winter. So, what's the best way to set up the ventilation and filtration?
I'm considering doing the following:
Put the flowering section on the end that has the 6x12" vent, and vent the filtered air directly to the outdoors. Have an intake opening from the flowering area to the vegging area, and another intake opening from the vegging area to the garage. Air would be sucked into the garage through the other vent and around the door, through the vegging area to the flowering area, get filtered, and go outside. I'm thinking that since the filter would pull air *into* the grow room, I wouldn't have to worry much about smelly air *leaving* the grow room.
Would this work? If so, any tips on how to set it up? If this idea sounds lousy, what do you think would be a better way?
Question 2:
What about the heat issue? When outdoor temps are 40 degrees F at night and 55 daytime, am I going to need a heater in there? Or will the LED's put out enough heat?
Question 3:
How much of my space should I devote to vegging and how much to flowering?
I want to harvest one big plant at a time, in whatever timeframe makes the most sense... I could have two plants overlapping in the flowering area (when plant A is halfway through flowering, plant B comes into the room, and when plant A gets harvested, plant C comes in), or maybe three flowering at once? Not sure how to best time it, or how to allocate the space.
Subset to Question 3:
I know that choice of strain matters here. I'm thinking of trying Purple Kush, at least to start out with (maybe get more adventurous down the road when I'm more knowledgeable). If you think this is for any reason not a good choice in my setup, please let me know.
Gosh, this got long. I will be very grateful for your opinions! I've been researching like mad, but there are so very many ways to grow that it's hard to figure out how to apply the vast amount of info to a specific situation. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
