Keeping mothers and Lighting

[gbf4ever]

In the process of finishing up my grow room and having a problem choosing lighting for my mothers. I'm going to be keeping my vegging plants and mothers in a 6' by 3.5' closet. About four feet of that will be vegging plants, leaving a 2' by 3.5' area for keeping mothers(plan to have 3). I will only need 8-10ish clones from each mother every 1.5-2 months or so. Would a 2' four bulb T5 setup be enough lights for my mothers?

Also the door on the closet is going to have to be shut for 12 hours a day since plants will be flowering in the outer room. I plan to use a 18/6 light schedule, and put the 6 hours of dark right in the middle of the flowering rooms dark period, so the lights will never be on with the door closed for more then 3 hours. Would an 8 bulb T5 system, or 4 four foot flouros produce more heat? Thanks for the help :rastasmoke:

gbf4ever Reviewed by gbf4ever on 04-17-2008. Keeping mothers and Lighting In the process of finishing up my grow room and having a problem choosing lighting for my mothers. I'm going to be keeping my vegging plants and mothers in a 6' by 3.5' closet. About four feet of that will be vegging plants, leaving a 2' by 3.5' area for keeping mothers(plan to have 3). I will only need 8-10ish clones from each mother every 1.5-2 months or so. Would a 2' four bulb T5 setup be enough lights for my mothers? Also the door on the closet is going to have to be shut for 12 Rating: 5

[texas grass]

if you are goin to use floros i would cover the top of the closet with big systems. 6x3.5 is a big area.
you are at the point of using too many floros(more convienent to use hid mh lighting) to cover the big closet.
hid lighting will give a better lumen output and a better light footpring

[gbf4ever]

I was thinking of an MH for the area, but I worry about heat problems. During the outer rooms dark period the door will have to be closed, and I can't cut vent holes in the closet. My plan was to run an 8 bulb T5 system over the top of about 24 plants vegging, and a four foot flouros hanging vertically in the corners for supplimental lighting. The vegging plants will be in 1.5 gallon square pots (7.5"), so should only take up around 4' by 3' section of the closet. I'm only going to be growing them to around 18 inches before flowering. The 8 bulb T5 wouldnt be enough for this? This would also let me switch off the extra flouros during the 6 hours the door will be closed with the light on if heat ever becomes an issue. Already have 2 600w hps for the flowering room

[stinkyattic]

For that area with the setup you suggested, a pair of 4', T12 shop lights for the vegging young plants plus a MH250 for the mothers would be lovely, and pretty inexpensive to slap together. Spend the $$ you'll save on the T5 fixture on a nice exhaust system for a little Halide light, and a bulb upgrade. You'll have MORE than enough juice to give all the clones you need in there.

[gbf4ever]

Thanks SA, I'm considering moving my mothers to another area, so the MH heat wont be a problem. I already have 4 4' shop lights set up in the closet, so that would be plenty for vegging plants to 18" or so?

One more question, going to be buying/building(havnt decided yet I'm pretty terrible at making things) a bubble cloner. I've heard just a cheap 2 foot flouro is plenty of light for these, is that right?

[stinkyattic]

Just a single small CFL is enough light for a cloner. Too much light, and they grow SHOOTS, not ROOTS.

I think if you want to take your plants to 18" in veg, you are looking at a whole different ballgame. Even a good T5 flouro will have trouble penetrating that canopy more than a foot or so. I used to bring plants to 10-12" in veg under shop light T12s and that was definitely as far as I'd recommend going with tubes. Maybe 14" under T5s? This is speculation though; after plants hit a foot I either flower them, throw them under my MH400, or toss em in the rubbish if I've got no space, lol!

Remember there's lots of ways to skin a cat, and you can configure that closet any way that works. Hint: when you hang the mounting hooks in the ceiling studs, hang EXTRA ones, and attach lengths of chain hanging down so you can easily add more hanging stuff (lights, fans, ductwork, power cords) without having to remove EVERYTHING from the closet and go hunting for your stud finder and power drill!

[gbf4ever]

How warm do the 400w mh run? Would I be able to run one in the closet safely with the door closed without heat problems without cutting holes for vents(cant really do this since i'm renting).

[gbf4ever]

I think I'm going to build a grow tent for my vegging plants so I can move them to another room, where light proofing/venting wont be a problem. Will a 400w mh cover a 4' by 4' area ok? Going to grow them with flouros to around 10-12"(thanks SA), and then put them under the 400w for the remaining growth.

Going to be keeping the mothers only in the closet now, with a 250w mh. I dont believe running the smaller mh with the door closed for 3 hours till cause too much of a problem(this will be during nights so the ambient temperature will already be at a decent level). Sound like a good setup? Questions/suggestions/comments highly welcome, slap some sense into me if anything doesnt sound like it would work out, <3 constructive critisism.

[stinkyattic]

You'll need to vent the closet either way; the size of the exhaust fan will increase as your wattage goes up.
If you are renting, it is easy to go to a discount building supply or architectural salvage store and buy a cheap replacement closet door, whcih you can hack up full of holes and then replace with the original door when you move out.
If you want to cover that large an area with a MH400, get the GOOD bulb- I've been covering the same size space with a Hortilux Daylight with excellent results.
Mmm what else. If you are running your veg room on 24/0 there's no need to even keep the door totally shut- you can leave it cracked and mount a good sized fan to move air. But be careful, because the far corners of a closet are hard to ventilate right, and I used to have problems with suffocation in my old veg closet. You'll want to place your smaller fans strategically to avoid that.

[gbf4ever]

Pretty sure I'm not going to be using the closet. Ordered a 5' by 5' (actually 4' 11") Dark Room Dr150 grow tent. Going to be using this as my flowering room, since I can seal all of the vents up at night and keep it light proof during the dark cycle. Going to just build a simple 4-5' foot square pvc frame, and cover it with panda film to house my vegetative plants and mothers. Going to go with a 250w mh over the mothers, and a 400w or 600w mh over the plants vegging from 10-18". Would a 400w or 600w be better in the situation? (It will have to cover about a 4' by 4' give or take area with vegging plants). From rooted clones to 10" going to be sticking with 4' flouros to conserve electricity.

In my flowering room Ill be running 2 600w hps, each with their own 306 cfm exhaust fan. All of the tents doors will be open when the lights are on, so intake will be passive, and plan to stick a carbon filter on the intakes for extra smell security.

Going to be growing Hindu Kush, Satori, and Kalichakra and keeping a mother from each. I'll probably only grow one strain from clones each harvest and rotate, since I think it will be easier to maintain canopy height.

All of this sound good? Comments and suggestions are welcome. I'm going to start up a new grow log once I have the girls a few weeks into veg.