redesign, advice on options please

[malabar]

I am fairly new to the forums here but not to the hobby. I've grown indoors for a couple years now at my old house. Then, I had a SCROG inside a closet under a 400w. I was averaging 2.5o/plant through a variety of strains.

I no longer live at this location and am setting up a new room.
The space that is available is in the attic. I know about the con's of using the attic but it's what I have to work with. So far the temperature seems pretty stable at 26.5 degrees C. We'll see how that lasts during the harsh winter of the north east.

The attic is A shaped and fairly large, 10' wide by 6' tall and 14' long. But the pitch of the roof makes this a little less tall. There is 1 window that faces the street which I plan to use as passive intake and exhaust into the bedroom it's connected to. Should I take time to build a box? Right now the light is just hanging from the top beam.

Basically I have a 4' wide by 4' tall by 14' long to work with.
Currently, I have 4 clones under a 400w hps in veg mode. I have access to another 6.


I want to maximize the fruits of my labor because I don't have much time to grow. I will be moving out by may and am looking to do one large harvest. I am willing to upgrade my lights up to 1200w max.

What should I do with this space? 2 600w's for flower? How much space can this do and how many plants should I put under it?

A couple options im looking at is:
1. turning these 4 into mothers and starting a SOG by mid january in order to be done by march OR
2. flowering all 10 clones that I have.

Any advice to my best options is appreciated.
Thanks,
mbar

malabar Reviewed by malabar on 11-13-2007. redesign, advice on options please I am fairly new to the forums here but not to the hobby. I've grown indoors for a couple years now at my old house. Then, I had a SCROG inside a closet under a 400w. I was averaging 2.5o/plant through a variety of strains. I no longer live at this location and am setting up a new room. The space that is available is in the attic. I know about the con's of using the attic but it's what I have to work with. So far the temperature seems pretty stable at 26.5 degrees C. We'll see how that Rating: 5

[stinkyattic]

First bit of advice will be to insulate your attic space as much as possible. I also grow in an attic in the northeast... draft control is HUGE, plastic window sealers are a start, whatever you can do to retain heat at night. A thought would be to run 2 lights on opposite schedules and take advantage of the ballast/bulb heat- build a pair of boxes and simply exhaust each into the attic as a whole, to make temps more even without a space heater. If you want to do one big box or room, you'll want a small oil-filled electric radiator on a thermostat set to kick on at <65'F. You'll be running your lights at night to take advantage of lower electric costs and lower night temps.
Just some thoughts to get you started.
Basements are better, lol