Considering a first grow / some questions

Hi there,

I've been doing reading all evening, but still have basic questions. I am considering doing a first grow, but am concerned about the smell. If I were to grow a single plant (perhaps Buy Marijuana Seeds and cannabis seeds from Holland - high quality marijuana seeds (cannabis seeds)) in a closet in my room, how much smell is it likely to produce while growing and then while curing? I'm not really concerned about a little smell in my room, but is it possible the smell could permeate out of my room and out into the hall of the apt complex?

I've read many mentions of using a "filter" but if I keep the closet door cracked open for ventilation, there would be a 2" wide and 7 foot tall crack for air to flow out of. How do people control the flow of the air so it only goes through a filter? There are cracks below the door as well, so I'm at a loss for how a filter could even be used! Enlighten me please...

And a few other random questions:

> Will a single plant (perhaps the one I linked above) be able to grow in a 2footx2footx6foot space?

> My impression is that a fluorescent light could work through every stage in the process, and would be somewhat less expensive and more power efficient. Is this right? What kind of watts/etc should I use?

> Any specific recommendations for getting a vacation timer to regulate the lights?


Thanks so much. I very much appreciate the help! :thumbsup:

Hello eccentric,

Welcome to the boards.

When people refer to using a "filter" it is usually a charcoal filter and it would be located in your closet,connected to a fan that would draw air from the closet thru the charcoal and out of the closet. This would keep you from having to open your door for ventilation, you would just need a small passive intake. Which could simply be the crack under the closet door, as long as the fan is running a negative pressure in the closet keeps all outside air going into the closet and then out the filter.

Could not see exactly what seed was in your link, page I got showed it timed out, but any indica/sativa cross should work ok.

A 2'x2'x6' space could be ideal for one plant if you'd like to grow a small bush.

Floro lighting can be used, either CFLs or better would be T5 linear bulbs.
Keep in mind that 6500k (degrees kelvin) bulbs are best for veg and 2700-3000k bulbs are best for flowering.

A 2'x2' grow area is 4 sqft so by wattage you'd like at least 120-160 watts during veg and 200 watts or a little more during flowering.

Any inexpensive timer should work for you.

Hope this get's you a starting point and good luck.
OM

Thanks for the advice.

If I were to get a light that held two bulbs, would the watts be cut in half? or would I still use 2 bulbs of 12-160watts each? I assume it's quite important to get the change of bulbs for flowering. Or is there any compromise bulb that would work for the entire period?

Regarding the carbon filter, I was able to find a few round carbon filters that had fans built-in online. This seems like what i'd want, but i'd still need to get a flexible tube that would connect to one of these and it would somehow need to flatten out so it could be propped under the door and pump air out to create a lower pressure area in the closet that would draw air in. Where can someone buy supplies like this? or is improvisation needed.

Thanks.

sLowes and Home DePot are two very good suppliers of growing equipment. You can buy A/C flexible insulated duct, tab collars, sheet metal booting, timers, ph meters, lights, fans, 2x2's, etc. etc. there....nearly everything you need, a big box store/building supply store will have. Pay cash!

Thanks for the continued help! I stopped by both HDepot and Lowes as suggested but found a limited selection.

---Lights---
I found a limited selection of lighting fixtures, all the ones that held more than one linear bulb were at least 4' wide. Also, only Lowes had any T5 bulbs (HD had T8 and T12), and at neither store could I find anything over 32 or 40Watts.

There are some sellers with complete grow sets on ebay though. Would a 2'x1' 4-T5-bulbs set work for me? The bulbs look good for veg growth (8000lum, 6-6500k, good?); how important would be getting a new set of bulbs for flowering?

How safe would buying on ebay be? Should I plan to use a prepaid card and ship to a friend's place?

---Filters---
I found a 4" inline circular duct fan (also 6" and 8"), at Hdepot, and a some bendable metal ducts. I suppose I could press one end almost flat and slip it under the door of the closet. Would 4" be enough? Is there an air-flow rating I should be going for? Do you know how those are powered? The fan just had 3 loose wires coming out. Do I need to get something to convert that to a normal 120v plug?

Unfortunately this fan did not have a filter, and there were no carbon filters at either store, only "electrostatic", and all of those were square, mostly very large in a frame. I did see a cheap pack of small "electrostatic register vent filters". Could I buy some of these, cut a 4" diam. circle out of them and place them in the vent (or something like that)?


Thanks again for all the help!

I just realized a few things.

If I need 160W, does that mean 2x 80W bulbs or 4x 40W bulbs will work? Does it stack like that?

I will probably be shipping the seeds to a friend using a prepaid card. It would be most convenient then to ship everything else to my home address. These sellers on ebay say they ship in discrete boxes. It seems like It'd be safe to order everything else directly. Bad idea?

I think an apartment in general is a bad idea. Not that I would take my own advice ;) but be very careful. I think many lease agreements state that maintenance can enter anytime or 24 hours notice... or whatever, "Im not really sure" just be careful. Even if you are legit, safe, yada yada better to be safe than sorry. Check the rules regarding entering while you are not home. Sorry, this was not really a direct answer to any of your questions but it IS what I was thinking while reading your post. Be safe and have fun:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pipefitter

I think an apartment in general is a bad idea. Not that I would take my own advice ;) but be very careful. I think many lease agreements state that maintenance can enter anytime or 24 hours notice... or whatever, "Im not really sure" just be careful. Even if you are legit, safe, yada yada better to be safe than sorry. Check the rules regarding entering while you are not home. Sorry, this was not really a direct answer to any of your questions but it IS what I was thinking while reading your post. Be safe and have fun:)

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Thanks for the advice. They've only entered the apartment once, gave 48hours notice, and didn't come into my room when they did. Even if they had, I can't see why they would open the closet. Is the setup described going to purify the air well enough or would there be some faint smell if someone were to enter my room?

Can anybody tell me if 4 * 40watt lights is the same as a single 160watt light, or did he mean that however many lights I get, they need to all be 160W for the setup to be effective. What about cramming electrostatic filters into a pipe. If that won't work, can anybody point me to a specific fan+filter I could buy?

Thanks!