Maximizing space - stemseed's grow idea

So I'm planning out a new grow room. Money isn't too much of a problem in this one because I want it done right, but I don't want to run my electric bill up too much ,which is why I'll have the veg and flower running on 600w instead of two 1000w's. I may be able to get extra CFL's in the cabinets if 600w isn't enough.

Here is one idea for the room that I got last night. I had a couple others but using the cabinets will allow me to both control the plants more and devide the grow area. Any other ideas are welcome.

It's only a diagram of the basic layout. :smokin:
-Stem

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/8473/idea1pa4.gif

How are ya gonna stop the flowering section from gettin any light? Not saying its going to be hard or anything, just curious on how you plan to do it.

edit: Nm you already said your going to be seperating it into cabinets...evil alcohol.

Hah, yea i'll post pics of more detailed plans later.

I won't have money for the room for a couple months so no use in trying to make this my settup log. More of a design/planning log.
-Stem

Might i suggest for your seedlings, using the top half of the rubber maid box. Its real easy to build, fairly inexpensive (probably somewhere in the neighborhood for 50 to 80 to just build the top half) and its worked great for me.

I don't know if you are trying to maximize space efficiently, but I see a lot of it wasted under the exhaust. Also, it's really best if your flower section has a little more watts than the veg section. Right idea about the flower needing the most room, but perhaps you could use the space under the exhaust for flowering as well. Many plants double or triple in size once flowering is induced. I would use probably 2 600 watters or 2 1000 W.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Opie Yutts

I don't know if you are trying to maximize space efficiently, but I see a lot of it wasted under the exhaust. Also, it's really best if your flower section has a little more watts than the veg section. Right idea about the flower needing the most room, but perhaps you could use the space under the exhaust for flowering as well. Many plants double or triple in size once flowering is induced. I would use probably 2 600 watters or 2 1000 W.

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I appreciate the reply. And yea I realized that I was loosing a lot of space there. I think I'm going to change up the settup to be more centered around quality instead. Meaning I'll porbably start with just one cabinet with a lot of wattage, because this bud goes to me and one or two close friends. Although, we are deffinitly the "bob marley" type smokers. :smokin:
So, I'll have two 600w's in one cabinet and maybe a CFL settup so I could expand it.

How long do you think this cabinet could be without harming quality? Keep in mind the space is a total of 17 feet long, 3 feet deep (or wide), and 6 ft tall.

-Stem

How long do you think this cabinet could be without harming quality?

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Quality is determined by genetics and grow conditions. Cabinet size doesn't really have much to do with it.

Well if i only have 1000 watts i cant make it 17 feet long :cool:

Oh I see what your saying, sorry. Is that rule 50 watts per sq. ft.? Anyway I would guess that you could get away with 3' x 5' for a 1000 watter. That should give you pretty good coverage. Perhaps 3' x 6', but I don't know how your would get the light to hit everywhere with something that's twice as long as it is deep, unless you use two lights.

Don't forget the ventilation for big amounts of HID lights. Plan on spending as much on venting as lighting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Opie Yutts

Plan on spending as much on venting as lighting.

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Damn, didnt concider that. Well thanks man... Lotsa love to yuh :smokin:

I have to say amen to the ventilation issue. I built a cabinet that is about like the veg/clone side of your original design that I was planning on using for both veg/clone in the upper section. The cab is 86" H x 48" W x 28" D. On the interior, the upper chamber is 24" D giving me 8' ft of grow space. I have 4' 10" vertically, all under a 600 w air cooled hps. The ventilation system consists of 2 x 50 cfm bathroom fans mounted in the top for exhaust; the intake has a 160 cfm fan on the top which feeds into the cabinet through 2 x 40 cfm inline duct boosters. This is all controlled with a CAP AIR-3DN. Additionally, I wired the box so I'd have individual control over each fan to give me more flexibility. Needless to say, the project was a bit spendy to say the least.. I'm currently doing my first run on the box and my first attempt at growing. We just moved the seedlings from the bottom chamber to the main and into their final pots. My box is in the garage in the Pacific NW and is currently running in the 78-85 deg range with humidity about 20%. The cooling system is loud!! But based on it's location in the garage, not a big deal. I have the lights about 20" over the top of the plants and they seem to be beginning to love it.

I have an album on here with pics of the project, just seach on Grow Box under my user name. If you're interested I'll keep you posted on our grow success..

:D Farmer Rich

props farmer. i'll check it out.

Musta been :stoned: before.. I meant to say I'm using the top for both veg/flower. Since I'm diggin' this so much, I may have to build a second box for veg with MH lighting. Probably only about 4' tall on that one. But, definitely down the road a bit..

:cool:

That's definately the way to go if at all possible. Harvest twice as often.