Grow Room Design Problem

[MadDog420]

Hello all. I am nearing harvest on my first serious grow. :thumbsup: It is working so well I want to set up properly for the next. To do that I need some information form those of you who have done this several times. The how I pretty much have and just need to practice, and I have the equipment, but I donâ??t know how much space I need for the four stages; vegetative, flowering, drying, and curing.
I donâ??t want your actual sizes, unless you want to give them and let me do the math, but how much of the whole operations floor space is devoted to each. For example if you had 32 sq. ft. in flower, 16 sq. ft. in vegetative, 12 sq. ft. for drying, and 4 sq.ft. curing storage that would be 50% for flower, 25% for vegetative, 19% for drying, and 6% for cure storage.
I am not going to be big because I grow only for two patients at present but I want to get set up properly so I donâ??t find I am short in one of the spaces. Can you help me out?
:stoned:

MadDog420 Reviewed by MadDog420 on 09-13-2011. Grow Room Design Problem Hello all. I am nearing harvest on my first serious grow. :thumbsup: It is working so well I want to set up properly for the next. To do that I need some information form those of you who have done this several times. The how I pretty much have and just need to practice, and I have the equipment, but I donâ??t know how much space I need for the four stages; vegetative, flowering, drying, and curing. I donâ??t want your actual sizes, unless you want to give them and let me do the math, but Rating: 5

[bigsby]

There are a lot of factors that go into this calculation. What style of growing? How big do you want your plants? A general rule of thumb is to use 1/4 - 1/3 of the space for veg and the rest for flower. You can manage your flower room to also serve as a drying room utilizing the ceiling space for a line. If you feel you need a proper drying tent well that needs it's own thinking depending on the size of the tent you want. However, it is a frill and you can do without it. Once ready for curing you'll pop the buds into mason jars and store so there is little space requirement there. Hope this helps!

[MadDog420]

I need practical information but what I was really looking for is what is the average. You have given me that. Being very near harvest I see some methods will be more productive then mine in product per sq. ft. flowering. I think I can do sea of green by training and get several times the crop, while still needing less headroom. That means that, properly done, I may be able to veg under and flower over, using the same floor space for twice the function. I am planning to try that and to switch from dirt to hydro on my next grow. My containment trays are on risers for drainage purposes, I just have to design a piggy back arrangement that is light-seperate. I will let you know how it works out. I will have a separate drying space because I plan a continuous grow when I get the bugs out, but I have a closet that will do the job. I can keep it fairly light tight and use the humidity controlled air from the grow room with a small duct fan for correct air circulation.

[bigsby]

I scrog and love it. It is a very efficient use of space for maximum yield. It adds a week / 10 days to the grow cycle but I get considerably more product out of my scrog runs. It is very easy. Ignore anyone who tells you it's hard. The only issue is a slightly increased time commitment for the 3 weeks during flower stretch. SoG is also pretty efficient, especially if you grow lots of little plants lollipop style. Think of 100 plants on a tray (hydro or soil) gown out 2 weeks and then flipped into flower. You end up with a bunch of six inch buds in a six week cycle. Done right it is a hell of a production. The issue of course is plant count. I aim to stay within limits. 3 - 5 plants under a screen will require 3' x 4' or better 3' x 5' space and will yield 10 oz fairly easily. A double decker solution works but kind of a lot of work to build IMO. What kinds of space are you dealing with?

[Esteban1]

MadDog420:

This is only a fraction of the widow harvest. Working a "Double Harvest" & still have with 4 girls in a continuous flower state. here are a couple before/after shots.

[MadDog420]

Hey Esteban1, I don't see any pics. Did you forget to attach them?

[MadDog420]

Sorry about the delay in replying. I have been busy. I have a space that, with the closet and door swing is about 105 sq. ft. = 9.75 sq. meters. This has to house plants, pumps, tanks, a 12.5 sq.ft./1.16 sq. Meter trimming/electrical control desk and space to walk. I can build what I want how I want in there as I own the place but this room and a 10' X 12' greenhouse is all I have to work with for now. I am just now starting to study scrog (was thinking SOG but want to minimize number of plants. As I have a normal 8' ceiling I was thinking of dividing it in half vertically in order to double the usable canopy. Of course I will have to double the lights, but the canopy determines that and I will get more for the same light, as they will be closer to the plant. I also expect to minimize or eliminate the dead space inside the plant that produces nearly naked branches and tiny buds when the rest is ready to harvest. I am going to study some reference material I found at angelfire.com. I am curious to know what you think. My plants are producing very good quality; I just have to increase my efficiency. If you are wondering why I need to maximize, I am trying to start a true collective in my area but need some meds to attract members and conversely I need members to justify the extra medicine I will be drying and curing. On that, is there a real good reason to dry over 2-3 weeks? I have good control of my humidity and temperature and it appears my drying time will be 1/2 that or less, a good thing as my drying closet is only 6' X 6' X 1 1/2' so my potential crop needs to spend less time in the closet.

[bigsby]

I'm having a little trouble following what you have for space. It sounds like you have 1 room to work with plus a green house. If you tell us the dimensions of the room we'll be able to better advise. Perhaps it would be useful to hear how someone else did it?

I went through a similar process. I read, planned, diagrammed and read some more. I built a small room from scratch - framed the walls, laid out the electric, and ventilation and then closed with drywall, finished the space, installed fan, lights etc. My space is pretty small - 5'W x 9'L x 6'H. I ended up building a small cab on one side with a work space on top. The cab is for moms and veg (although not running as of now). It contains a passive intake vent and another passive out vent into the main room. So ventilation is supplied by the main fan. My cab sits 40" from the ground so I can work standing up and have plenty of room for the moms and vegging plants. I covered the top with a medium gauge stainless steal custom cut top. Looks great and makes for a really clean workspace. The flower section opposite the veg cab/desk is a scrog space which is 5'W x 4'L x 6'H. Now my carbon filter takes up part of the ceiling space so I really only have about 5'H. Still, with the scrog I have plenty of room to work with. The door opens in the middle between the cab and scrog. Plenty of space to work. I use a thermostat controlled space heater plus a humidifier. Temps are constant between 78 - 82 and humidity between 50 - 70% until flower when I drop it to 25%. I increase heat to 85 at late veg and flower and I use an incandescent bulb in the veg cab for heat. Works a charm. Here is how it looks:

V	|	W	|	Scrog
E	|	o	|	xxxxxxxx
G	|	r	|	xxxxxxxx
C	|	k	|	xxxxxxxx
A	|		|	xxxxxxxx
B	|	___	|	xxxxxxxx
		door

You could doa similar setup depending on your room shape. On one side you build a cab where you can veg, clone, etc. You use the top of the cab and wall for your controllers, etc. and as a work space. The rest of your space could be double stacked although space will be tight and ventilation for heat may be an issue depending on what you use for lighting. Also, keep in mind that you have to be able to get in amongst the plants to trim, water, feed, etc. This is especially true if you scrog as you need good access in order to train the plants. Another option would be to divide and use the bottom for vegging plants and top for scrog. This would allow you to devote more space to the top section where it will be needed. You could then run a perpetual grow with plants at different stages. Only problem being the need to light seal the different sections between flower and veg. My take is that you will have plenty of production if you create a good size veg cab and devote the rest flowering using scrog. If the room is big enough I would put the cab/work space in the middle with two scrog screens on either side and a work space in the middle so it would look sort of like this:

Scrog	|	Veg	]	Scrog
xxxxxxxx	|	Cab	|	xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx	|		|	xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx	|	work	|	xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx	|	space	|	xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx	|	___	|	xxxxxxxx
		door

The cab would need to be big enough to handle moms, clones, and veg. Likely it would make sense to doubledecker the cab. It will be pretty easy to light seal. You could use T5s or T8s or LEDs in the veg cab no worries saving space and minimizing heat.

You are heading in the right direction to be sure. Take your time, plan it out, diagram it, review, revise and start again. Then move forward armed with information needed for the right build. Read read read is the best advice anyone can give.

[MadDog420]

I will get a diagram of my room up and show the space used and available. After I do some more research I will post it with my plan. Thanks for the info.

[bigsby]

Hey MadDog - I updated my signature. The link to grow room setup and fan sizing may be useful if you have already seen it. I found it especially helpful for fan sizing although if you follow the guidelines posted you will not need to add 15% for error. That seems to be built in...