Printable View
Im starting to grow and all i need to get are the seeds which i am getting tomorrow and a light which i am getting next week
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...rowBoxPlan.jpg
all i need to do is finish the actual set up tomoz then when i have the lamp im ready to go,
I was wanted your opinion on it if it needs any changes etc.
Im on a pretty low budget but after my first harvest i will be able to buy an alot better light than a envirolight 125w cool white
:rasta:
Can someone With indoor growing experiance tell me if it will work? thanks
xx
:rasta:
1.5 feet high? That's gonna be tough, but doable, I suppose. You'll need to do some research on height control, look up LST, topping, FIM, and supercropping.
You'll need vent holes on the bottom of the box, plus a fan of some sort at the top of the box pulling air through the box and out.
No Miracle Gro!!!
Honestly, there is nothing easier than Canno coco and nutrients in a drain to waste system. Water them once a day with about 10% runoff, adding equal amounts of A and B nutrients to the water. Around 5ml of each per gallon in veg growth is a good median. Add some Cal-Mag if you have soft water.
That's it, couldn't be easier. You cannot overwater, and the plants will tell you very quickly what they need as far as nutrients go. Pale green? Add more nutes. Dark green leaves turning brown at the tips? Flush with plain water and reduce nutes next feeding. Grossly simplified of course, but that's the basics.
Good luck!
1.5 ft High? Working with that box is going to be like building a ship in a bottle. Are you planning to use this box just for veg space (doable) or for both veg and bloom (not going to happen).
Let's figure that your pot is going to be at least 4" high. That will leave you with 14 inches to play with to each side of the light.
Underneath the light, you have even less: If the bulb and fixture take up another 4" of vertical space, and you have to keep some separation between the top of your foliage and the heat of the bulb - let's say 1.5" cause this puppy is going to get warm. That means you've only got 8.5" right under the light to work with.
So, you've got two areas toward the ends that can have plants which won't smack into the roof until they are 10 inches above soil.... and the middle where your most intense light is located you are limited to 4.5 inches above the soil/medium surface. YIKES.
Then you have the problem of light distribution: Your light source will be just below roof level, dead center in your space. In order for it to provide light to all plants, they need to be spread in an even canopy under the light - this little cabinet will quickly become choked with foliage which will block light from neighboring plants.
As for blooming.... Figure around a 1/3 increase in height during stretch, Which means you need to start bloom when the plants are small enough that you still have room to deal with the extra growth that will take place.
I would say that this cabinet could work for a veg space - when you get ready to bloom you will need a second cabinet.
I would not recommend putting a single 125 envirolight in the middle of this cabinet, however. Since you only need enough light intensity to penetrate through a few inches of canopy, and you want to avoid having plants shaded by their neighbors, I would suggest spreading the light across the space with smaller bulbs. At bare minimum, I would say two bulbs, each about 9 inches from the opposite ends of the cabinet (centered over their respective halves)... Better would be three or four bulbs distributed through the space. 4x42 would be much better than the single 125 in this space. Bonus: You can find them at Home Depot.
This cabinet COULD work for veg space.... but it will still be tight.
I actually consider my grow space to be just about the bare comfortable minimum for vertical space. My veg space is 2 ft high - Floor space is 1.5' x 2.5' with approx .25 ft^2 which is wasted space, leaving 3.5 ft^2 to work with. Since I'm using 7 cfl bulbs in this space, the two heftiest being 42 watts, I have an even distribution of light and heat - I could let the plants touch any of these bulbs without harm.
My bloom space also has 3.5 ft^2 usable floor space - and is quite a bit taller than what I need. In fact, I have quite a bit of unused space above my lights that I don't need or use. I could get away with 3' of vertical space for bloom. Blooming under CFL with good ventilation, I could probably get away with 2.5 ft of vertical space - but really anything shorter than that just wouldn't be practical except by changing to a sea of green with tiny plants.
Come to think of it, If I were vegging in a 1.5 ft high space, I would stay away from CFL entirely and go with a T5 system using 2 ft bulbs. I would buy a cheap 4 bulb 2ft T5 setup and dismantle it, disposing of the case and using just the bulbs, ballast, and connectors (errr.. the bulb holder thingies whose name escapes me right now). I would then line the roof of the cabinet with mylar, and mount the bulbs to the top of the cabinet alternating sides, such that the first and third bulbs are butted against the cabinet's left side and the second and fourth bulbs are butted against the right side... or versa visa. This would result in the lowest profile lighting setup you could possibly put together and therefore waste as little vertical space as possible..... and besides, it would be fun to build :)