New Grow Room , Need some Advice ... PLEASE

Okay so im just starting my grow room , im very new to growing. I know enough to get my plants to Veg and flower , but not too much about how much light (lumens or watts) needed in my space? Also how many plants should i be growing in my space?

My room size is 7ft Tall , 3 Ft wide and 6 Ft long. Im useing CFL's for Veg and going to use MH for Flowering , just need to know how many plants i should plant and how much watts/lumens i need for this size of a room.

I have 2 400Watt MH balist's , still need to get the Bulbs for both because the Bulbs i have in them are 5000K color temp .

Should i use one 400W , or do i need both .... Also how many CFLs should i have in this size room for Veg ?

Thanks

Also my room is painted a flat white , should i just keep that or cover it up with Alum. Foil ??

And should i keep my lights on for 24 HRs during Veg (Will this hurt the plants at all??) or should i use the 18/4 Cycle ??

Well, you have a 3'x6' area... That would be great for two MH lights, and for flowering.... that is, if you don't want to split it with vegging. Do you have another smaller area for your vegging?
If not, then I would consider placing it ABOVE the flowering area if there is a possibility of getting access for them from an outside wall. I would then place a shelf at the place you're gonna divide it..... say a height of 4' from the floor. That would give you a total of 4 ft height for flowering and 3' for vegging. Use the florous for vegging, the MH for flowering.

With a 4' ceiling you would not want them to get too tall, so you might want to flower once they are about 6-8" tall. Depending on how much room you need or want to get in there, I would say about 20 girls in flowering. The only problem I haven't solved is a space for your mother(s) if you need it.

/keylime

Well , in the same room ... i made a 3 Ft long , 1 Ft deep and 3 Ft high box for Vegging (Not useing it yet , just made it) . This is my first time growing so my first plants are basicly a test run ... but yet still hopeing they turn out good. When flowering ... you need COMPLETE darkness correct ?? Beacause the box i made fixs perfectly on the oppisite side of where im going to flower (in the same room , on the same level .. the floor lol) , but im worried about light leaks effecting the flowering plants. As for the Mother , im not exaclty sure what u mean as i am very new ... im guessing your talking about a main Mother plant in which i use for cloneing? If so , does she need more room or something im not aware of ??

If my flowering plants do require COMPLETE darkness for them 12 hours , how would i go about not letting my Vegg box lighting come in contact with my flowering babys ?? Maybe make some sort of wall to devide them? Not sure what would work to ensure that NO light leaks out to my flowering plants .... Any ideas??

Thanks for all your help , im kinda like a blind man wanting to buy sun glasses lol ... LOST

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Originally Posted by kmac9119

Well , in the same room ... i made a 3 Ft long , 1 Ft deep and 3 Ft high box for Vegging (Not useing it yet , just made it) . This is my first time growing so my first plants are basicly a test run ... but yet still hopeing they turn out good. When flowering ... you need COMPLETE darkness correct ?? Beacause the box i made fixs perfectly on the oppisite side of where im going to flower (in the same room , on the same level .. the floor lol) , but im worried about light leaks effecting the flowering plants. As for the Mother , im not exaclty sure what u mean as i am very new ... im guessing your talking about a main Mother plant in which i use for cloneing? If so , does she need more room or something im not aware of ??

If my flowering plants do require COMPLETE darkness for them 12 hours , how would i go about not letting my Vegg box lighting come in contact with my flowering babys ?? Maybe make some sort of wall to devide them? Not sure what would work to ensure that NO light leaks out to my flowering plants .... Any ideas??

Thanks for all your help , im kinda like a blind man wanting to buy sun glasses lol ... LOST

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Well, you don't need complete darkness. Have you ever been outside at night with a full moon? That will not disturb any plants that are "resting", however, you don't want any plant in direct light with a plant while resting. You will need something so they are not in bright daylight.

You haven't mentioned anything about ventilation, which is very important. You can't just close the door and let the plants sit there without fresh air, and lights do generate heat which needs to be removed. As far as a 'mother plant' is concerned, that's a plant you can take cuttings from for new clones. Generally speaking they are bigger and taller than anything you would normally have in vegging, but they are on the same 16/8 light schedule as the small clones.

Yeah i cut a 4" hole in my ceiling , no fan yet for the exhaust ... but i do have some sort of way for the air to excape and i do have fans in the room. As for ventilation , would it be fine to buy a ceiling exhaust fan that you would find in bathrooms ??

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Originally Posted by kmac9119

Yeah i cut a 4" hole in my ceiling , no fan yet for the exhaust ... but i do have some sort of way for the air to excape and i do have fans in the room. As for ventilation , would it be fine to buy a ceiling exhaust fan that you would find in bathrooms ??

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Well, I was in the HVAC biz for about 10 yrs. I think a 4" hole will prolly do the job, but you can't just exhaust the air, you also need FRESH air if you want them to thrive. That means you either cut a hole near the bottom of your room for fresh air. I suggest you have a "passive" air, which means not using a fan to bring it in. If that's what you decided, then it needs to be 2 to 3 times the size of your 4" hole.... or you can use a 4" hole and use a fan to blow the air into the room.
In regards to your exhaust fan, depending on your situation, you may need something to clean up the air before sending it to your neighbors. In other words, once flowering your neighbors will be able to smell the beautiful aroma they produce and you may be asked what that funny smell is:)

keylime

Hello kmac9119,

Your flowering plants do need complete darkness during the 12hr dark period. They will be exposed to whatever light you are using for veg, and it's not moon light.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by keylime

Well, you don't need complete darkness. Have you ever been outside at night with a full moon? That will not disturb any plants that are "resting", however, you don't want any plant in direct light with a plant while resting. You will need something so they are not in bright daylight.

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keylime,

Plants are not "resting" during the dark period, in fact there is a lot going on. Plants during the photoperiod take in co2 and expell oxygen. When it is dark they reverse thier respiration and take in oxygen and expell carbon dioxide. Plus certian chemicals and hormones are created during the dark phase that control flowering and other plant functions, plus many other "light-independent reactions".
People "rest", plants are 24hr factories.

Moon light for most plants in nature will not effect them. But a female mj plant that is un-pollinated is not a natural occurence, and even moon light (such as a harvest moon) can be a plants last chance at survival, and may cause late flowering hermaphrotism.

Well, perhaps I didn't express myself clearly. Of course they can't be in there getting the same light as the plants vegging. I am just expressing my experience of growing over the last 10yrs that its not dangerous to the plants when they are in the dark to have a small light on such as is on a power bar to show there is power on.

In all the years I have been growing, I have had several mishaps where I didn't close the door between the veg room and the flower room. So light was traveling into the flower room when lights there were off. I haven't had any hermies from that. The only time I've had it happen ONCE was when I had a curtain between the veg and flower room and one branch of a plant inside the flower room was exposed to the light from the veg room. That branch did hermie on me. I must be a very lucky grower!

keylime

I have green lights on in the flowering room and it has had no negative on my plants. So when the plants are in the dark, their leaves are "not perked up" like you would see them with lights on.... that's what I call "resting". Its also a time when the plants are not taking on much in the way of nutrients. No, they are not dead, they are just resting.