one 2x4 or two 2x2 grow tents.. what would be best

[TheJackyl]

ok iam a first time grower indoors, iam limited on space like everyone else is sucks but have to deal with it. ok my question is iam a medical patient and iam allowed to grow 12 plants i cant keep buying it ill go broke so its time to go green :thumbsup:. i would like to keep harvesting every 8-10 weeks if possible? so i will have a constant fresh supply instead of a big harvest and it sits around and dries out by the time i smoke it.. so here is my plan or what would your plan be

i figured 5 plants, 5 clones and 2 mothers or just clone your plants and have 6 and 6? so what would be best two 2x2 grow tents one for veg/clone and the other for flowering? or one 2x4 grow tent or do i have it all wrong. iam working with a 5 x 5 area. iam going with the grow tents to contain/clean the smell, i have kids... please kick me with some knowledge if possible. thanks

[oldmac]

Hello TheJackyl, and welome to the canna boards,

Two 2x2 tents will be the only way to accomplish what you want to do. As you have realized, if you want to run moms + clones/veg, then that is one tent. And obvious that flowering is a second tent. It would be difficult or impossible to divide one 2x4 tent. You could build a box in the bottom of the 2x4 tent, to keep moms/clones, but it limits your head room to flower.

It would be easier to operate two tents, but keep in mind you need to exhaust vent 2 tents which means 2 fans and 2 odor controll methods. And possibly a fan for an air cooled hood.

Having never faced the dilemma of having only 6 plants total not sure what is best. I would probably go with your idea of 5/5/2. You could then keep two different strains as moms, for some variety...tho I would run the same strain in cuttings/clones to veg and again one strain in flower. That way each run is more consistant with growth pattern and finishing time. Mix them and you may have a half empty tent in flower at times.

Hope this is helpfull to ya. good growing to you.:thumbsup:

[TheJackyl]

Hello TheJackyl, and welome to the canna boards,

Two 2x2 tents will be the only way to accomplish what you want to do. As you have realized, if you want to run moms + clones/veg, then that is one tent. And obvious that flowering is a second tent. It would be difficult or impossible to divide one 2x4 tent. You could build a box in the bottom of the 2x4 tent, to keep moms/clones, but it limits your head room to flower.

It would be easier to operate two tents, but keep in mind you need to exhaust vent 2 tents which means 2 fans and 2 odor controll methods. And possibly a fan for an air cooled hood.

Having never faced the dilemma of having only 6 plants total not sure what is best. I would probably go with your idea of 5/5/2. You could then keep two different strains as moms, for some variety...tho I would run the same strain in cuttings/clones to veg and again one strain in flower. That way each run is more consistant with growth pattern and finishing time. Mix them and you may have a half empty tent in flower at times.

Hope this is helpfull to ya. good growing to you.:thumbsup:


thanks a ton for the tips/help/comments on my room i made a layout of my plans please look at it and critic it, this is the maxium space. my goal is since i can only have 12 plants by law and have limited space i figured i would try and harvest 4 plants a month. iam would like to grow short stub plants (indica strain) like max 2ft at harvet. this is in a room not a open area, so i need a walkway in. i will start flowering them when they are about 1 ft tall. remeber this is just for my own use for my medical condition so i dont need a ton. my goal is to get 3-4 oz a month....couple questions if you dont mind me asking i am completly new at this so kick me if needed, but iam learning so much already in a short time reading and reading and reading. i like to ask question before building something so i dont have to go back and fix it later because i didnt sudy and then it costs me more money and money is one thing iam limited on more then space, i would rather do it correctly the first time and use my money on my systen then having to repair it and cheap out on the system ;).

1. in the grow room picture do i need the divder wall in the veg/cloning areas or could i make that one area and grow both? if so then i can just use the T5 lights all the way across

2. can you look at the light set up i have and comment or recommend the best light set up in both the areas. i will be using cool tubes and ventaling it to keep the heat down, its in a cool area of the house so heat i dont think will be a problem. so if i need to go bigger with the lights let me know.



3. should i go with 2 x 400w hps lights or 1 x 600w hps in the flowering area



4. should i use T5 lights or MH lights in the veg/clone area

pics of room and light config:

room:
http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/7839/growroom5.jpg (http://img828.imageshack.us/i/growroom5.jpg/)

lights:
http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/8339/growroomlights.jpg (http://img833.imageshack.us/i/growroomlights.jpg/)

[oldmac]

Hey TJ,

Need to ask you if this is an exsisting walk-in closet or if you are sectioning off a larger area? I'm assumming from the diagrams that this is a closet, and that you have decided to build little rooms or boxes in it rather then go the grow tent route. If that's the case it's a great idea, you can build alot vs. the cost of a tent.

First you need to decide on a grow style to fit your needs and area. 3-4 oz a month is not a great deal but there are various ways to get there. I see two choices; 1- sorta do what is indicated in your diagram, 4 flowering plants, 4 vegging plants and rooting 4 cuttings for clones (skip keeping moms). With an aprox 8 week flower time for an indica, you would have 8 weeks for vegging your plant. But you must top it a few times to make as many grow tips/branches as possible in that time. 2-consider doing SCROG (screen of green) and place 4 plants in the 24"x52" area, place a 24x52 screen above them and continue to veg for awhile there to fill up the screen with branches/growing tips, then switch it to flower.
As StinkyAttic used to preach to the unwashed masses here: "It's all about the canopy". Meaning you want to create a dense, fairly even green canopy, so you get the most out of your light.
So 1- gets you buds every 8 weeks or 2- gets you more bud but takes a little longer. May choice would be #2 probably.

To your questions;
1) If you clone and veg in the same area you are committed to a 24hr photoperiod, since almost everybody agrees that clones need 24hr, low level, blue dominate light. ("Roots grow where it's dark, but not when it is dark") While it will not hurt the plant to veg 24/0 it may not be the most cost effective. For vegging most people prefer 18/6 photoperiod. This ties into your question 4.
4) Clones don't need much light, or area to do it. A single 2' T5 fixture w/6500K bulb is enough light to root abt 40 or more cuttings. MH bulbs throw alot of heat, you would be better vegging with the T5s. I would be tempted to build a box 2'x4'4"x abt 4' tall on that side of the closet and light it with either a 4' 8 bulb HO fixture or 4' 4 bulb set up driven to VHO levels with say an IceCap ballast. The ballast could sit on top of the box. You could do your clones also on top of that box. I would connect the boxes with a 4" hose and cheap 4" "duct booster" fan, to turn on during the 6 hrs the vegging plants are dark, to the flower box during thier photoperiod (light is on). It will add to the ambient CO2 level.
2 & 3) The two 400w HPS would give you a better light footprint for that rectanular area, but they are very wastefull. One 600w HPS will actually give you more intial lumens then the two 400s and save you over 200 watts. I would go the 600w route and use a light rail. I would skip the cool tube and use an air cooled hood, it will give you a sharper footprint (front to back). I would also consider cooling the bulb with the flower room air and exhaust to a decent size fan and some sort of odor control (either charcoal can filter or an inline ozone scrubber).

Just another thought or two. I would use a 2' T5 Actinic 454 white bulb instead of the 6500k tube to root cuttings. It is very blue light and roots seem to love it. I would also start at least 6 cuttings and as soon as the first 4 rooted or the best 4 of 6 rooted I'd shit can the others to stay legal. I'm not convinced they can really count an unrooted cutting as a clone.

Hope I'm helping you and not confusing you, but I'm around if you want to kick some more ideas around or if you have more questions. :thumbsup:

[TheJackyl]

Hey TJ,

Need to ask you if this is an exsisting walk-in closet or if you are sectioning off a larger area? I'm assumming from the diagrams that this is a closet, and that you have decided to build little rooms or boxes in it rather then go the grow tent route. If that's the case it's a great idea, you can build alot vs. the cost of a tent.

First you need to decide on a grow style to fit your needs and area. 3-4 oz a month is not a great deal but there are various ways to get there. I see two choices; 1- sorta do what is indicated in your diagram, 4 flowering plants, 4 vegging plants and rooting 4 cuttings for clones (skip keeping moms). With an aprox 8 week flower time for an indica, you would have 8 weeks for vegging your plant. But you must top it a few times to make as many grow tips/branches as possible in that time. 2-consider doing SCROG (screen of green) and place 4 plants in the 24"x52" area, place a 24x52 screen above them and continue to veg for awhile there to fill up the screen with branches/growing tips, then switch it to flower.
As StinkyAttic used to preach to the unwashed masses here: "It's all about the canopy". Meaning you want to create a dense, fairly even green canopy, so you get the most out of your light.
So 1- gets you buds every 8 weeks or 2- gets you more bud but takes a little longer. May choice would be #2 probably.

To your questions;
1) If you clone and veg in the same area you are committed to a 24hr photoperiod, since almost everybody agrees that clones need 24hr, low level, blue dominate light. ("Roots grow where it's dark, but not when it is dark") While it will not hurt the plant to veg 24/0 it may not be the most cost effective. For vegging most people prefer 18/6 photoperiod. This ties into your question 4.
4) Clones don't need much light, or area to do it. A single 2' T5 fixture w/6500K bulb is enough light to root abt 40 or more cuttings. MH bulbs throw alot of heat, you would be better vegging with the T5s. I would be tempted to build a box 2'x4'4"x abt 4' tall on that side of the closet and light it with either a 4' 8 bulb HO fixture or 4' 4 bulb set up driven to VHO levels with say an IceCap ballast. The ballast could sit on top of the box. You could do your clones also on top of that box. I would connect the boxes with a 4" hose and cheap 4" "duct booster" fan, to turn on during the 6 hrs the vegging plants are dark, to the flower box during thier photoperiod (light is on). It will add to the ambient CO2 level.
2 & 3) The two 400w HPS would give you a better light footprint for that rectanular area, but they are very wastefull. One 600w HPS will actually give you more intial lumens then the two 400s and save you over 200 watts. I would go the 600w route and use a light rail. I would skip the cool tube and use an air cooled hood, it will give you a sharper footprint (front to back). I would also consider cooling the bulb with the flower room air and exhaust to a decent size fan and some sort of odor control (either charcoal can filter or an inline ozone scrubber).

Just another thought or two. I would use a 2' T5 Actinic 454 white bulb instead of the 6500k tube to root cuttings. It is very blue light and roots seem to love it. I would also start at least 6 cuttings and as soon as the first 4 rooted or the best 4 of 6 rooted I'd shit can the others to stay legal. I'm not convinced they can really count an unrooted cutting as a clone.

Hope I'm helping you and not confusing you, but I'm around if you want to kick some more ideas around or if you have more questions. :thumbsup:

oldmac here is a complete layout of the room iam building in a fruit cellar in my basement i did some re-adjustments and was able to remove the old wall and build a new wall and door moved out as much as i could and this is the layout iam going to go with, whatcha think? thanks again

grow room set- up:

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/7839/growroom5.jpg (http://img842.imageshack.us/i/growroom5.jpg/)

[TheJackyl]

oldmac here is a complete layout of the room iam building its in a fruit cellar in my basement i did some re-adjustments and was able to remove the old wall and build a new wall and door that i was able to move out as much as i could and this is the layout iam going to go with, whatcha think? i might lower the veg area to 5 ft and make a shelve above it that would be 2 x 52 x 2 ft tall, i will use it for cloning and storage, but would 5 ft be to short for the veg area, if not the veg area would be 2 x 52 x 5ft tall? iam thinking T5 or 400 MH for the veg area and a 600w HPS for the flowering room. or still stay with the T5s and forget the 400 MH.i have heard that the cool hoods are better for the light spread, so i will be going with that instead of the tubes
question you said light rail meaning light mover from side to side or you mean light yo-yos to move it up and down

thanks again

grow room set- up:

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/7839/growroom5.jpg (http://img842.imageshack.us/i/growroom5.jpg/)

[oldmac]

Hey Jack,

Basement grow rooms are usually very nice, have usually a cooler temp and more consistent. In a basement, make sure you try to build it all air tight and use some sort of inlet filter; basements are notorius for small crawly bugs, inscects, gnats and even pathogen mold.

To determine the veg box height, figure out what size pots you are going to use, plus how much the light takes up and deduct this distance from the overall height. You talked about growing short plants, like 2' hi, so that with a 1' tall pot is three foot. T5 fixture is just a few inches, call it 6": you could use a 4' high box & a 5' tall is more then enough.

BTW consider mounting the T5 fixture or mounting the end caps in the top of the box. Move the plants up to meet the light, and when they get bigger down. In other words, adjust the plants not the lights.:)

A light rail is a motorized device to move the light back and forth along the long dimension. In you light diagram you show 2 rectangles repping the 2 light deal. 1 Light running between those two spots would probably work.

[TheJackyl]

Hey Jack,

Basement grow rooms are usually very nice, have usually a cooler temp and more consistent. In a basement, make sure you try to build it all air tight and use some sort of inlet filter; basements are notorius for small crawly bugs, inscects, gnats and even pathogen mold.

To determine the veg box height, figure out what size pots you are going to use, plus how much the light takes up and deduct this distance from the overall height. You talked about growing short plants, like 2' hi, so that with a 1' tall pot is three foot. T5 fixture is just a few inches, call it 6": you could use a 4' high box & a 5' tall is more then enough.

BTW consider mounting the T5 fixture or mounting the end caps in the top of the box. Move the plants up to meet the light, and when they get bigger down. In other words, adjust the plants not the lights.:)

A light rail is a motorized device to move the light back and forth along the long dimension. In you light diagram you show 2 rectangles repping the 2 light deal. 1 Light running between those two spots would probably work.

awesome oldmac thanks for the info/ideas.