closet grow lighting question input appreciated

[sensiherbs]

I have been trolling around these forums for a while now and i am finally going to start my 1st grow but i want to see if ive got the right idea.

My closet is 20"w, 41"L, 60"H
I would like to do a SCROG with 2-3 plants using:
-10 mounted 23w cfls providing roughly 10,700lumens and a 150w HPS fixture adding another 14,00lumens giving me 4500 lumens per sq ft.
can i combine cfl/hps during the flowering stage? I will be vegging in another area so will this light flower three plants in my area sufficiently?

[bigtopsfinn]

Sounds like a good start :thumbsup:

And yes you can use the CFLs and HID at the same time.

[sensiherbs]

topps your a good mad sir i have read all your grow logs and plan to start a SCROG with that light set up here soon. do you think i can run 3 plants in a 20"w,40"L 60"h space? i plan to put them in individual 5gal buckets after veg and mount a screen to fit the entire space 10-12in from my lights.

[sensiherbs]

can i use fox farms ocean forest throughout clone/veg/flower? and just add nutes to an auto-water system?

[bigtopsfinn]

topps your a good mad sir i have read all your grow logs and plan to start a SCROG with that light set up here soon. do you think i can run 3 plants in a 20"w,40"L 60"h space? i plan to put them in individual 5gal buckets after veg and mount a screen to fit the entire space 10-12in from my lights.

That's pretty much like my space now, plus one plant... I'd say go for it as long as the 5 gals fit. As long as you have the side lighting it should be pretty good.


can i use fox farms ocean forest throughout clone/veg/flower? and just add nutes to an auto-water system?

FFOF should be ok, not sure for clones though. Although I have seen a lot of people having ph problems with it, probably from grower error. One way to avoid the ph drop in peat based soil is to repot with fresh soil several times, with the last time being a couple weeks into flower.

Have you thought about coco? That might be better for an auto-water system. :twocents:

[sensiherbs]

i have barley read anything on coco i really dont even know what its about but i will have to look

[sensiherbs]

i have been trolling for days con someone help me out with a good coco link or tell me exactly how it works? is it a neutral medium? where you basically run water and nutes through? if so thats exactly what i want to do. sorry for spelling

[bigtopsfinn]

Here are some that should get you started.

Coco (http://cannabis.com/growing/soil-Using_coco_as_a_substrate.html)

the Hand Watering coco thread (http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=46490)

Growing on Coco: Busting the Myth (http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=116785)

The best info on coco can be found at the "other site". I'm hoping we can start a similar section here. I still prefer this site though :jointsmile:

[sensiherbs]

Okay... So if i do decide to go with a 100% coco auto-water system what nutrients should i be feeding in what stages? How often and how long should i run water in a 5 gal bucket? Can i literally take this stuff out of the bag, level off the ph and plant? what are these worm things ppl are talking about?

[bigtopsfinn]

5 gals are probably be too big, coco likes smaller pots versus soil. 2.5 to 3 gal is probably the biggest you'll need. Mixing with perlite (30%) may be a good idea. Watering will depend on many things, something you'll have to find out. Might need to hand water at first until you get the hang of it.

You can use nutrients that are coco specific, like Canna makes their own coco and nutrient line for it. You can also use hydroponic nutrients like GH flora (look up "h3ad goes coco" and "the recipe" from Rezdog, lots of good info in those).

This is just what I've picked up from reading, no practical experience yet but I'm preparing like yourself.

Maybe someone with coco and drippers can chime in, but haven't seen many of them around here.

Why the need for drippers? Can you not visit the grow site everyday?

[sensiherbs]

just for convienience and to have a repetitive watering cycle that will constantly replenish nutes. Also i would like to have a resivoir to mix my nutes in and just have that water there for a while while i ph the next batch.

[bigtopsfinn]

Yeah, sounds like soil will might be a little too boring for you. :jointsmile: If you're willing to put in the time and research, I'm sure a hydro or coco setup will suit you fine. DWC (deep water culture) is another option you might be interested in.

Take a few weeks, read as much as you can, start making a list of things you'll need and don't buy things on impulse. There's a lot of exaggerated marketing out there. :wtf:

[sensiherbs]

Hehe I am makin a list actually lol have been for a bit but the damn thing keeps changing. hydroponics does interest me but i hav e heard that it is very high maintenance????

[bigtopsfinn]

Don't worry, my plans are always changing too :jointsmile:

I'd say anything with an auto-water system will need maintenance. That's why coco is nice because even if you can't get the auto-water to work, you can always hand-water it.

Soil is OK too, it's just such a mess. Plus you need bigger pots, need to repot frequently to avoid ph drops from buffer depletion, smaller yields, and plants don't respond quickly to changes you make in watering/feeding. But, it's a good place to start if you think the coco/hydro is a little too much to handle now.