Indoor growing set-up advice needed...

[tlranger]

Make it as simple as possible, so u can care for it easily, my two cents- good lights & organic. Dirt can give you some flexibility. Security is the issue if your not there, seems like someone always shows up.

[polishpollack]

One thing I forgot to mention. Growing in containers is difficult when the weather is warm. Soil in containers loses a lot of water fairly quickly, so when summer comes, you want to keep that in mind. Don't be surprised if you have to water the soil every day if it's hot in the building. Having said that, soil is still easier than hydro.

[Shovelhandle]

I would set up a tent with panda film or other white, reflective surface. Use a fan over the plants.
I just harvested Ak-47 and it's a good strain. I bloomed for 12 weeks this time, which was two weeks more than average for that strain.

[low_rdr]

Honestly - I would find an office and turn that into my growroom. Avoids having to build walls and all that jazz. From there, place your pandafilm, since your only doing 5 plants for harvest, 1 600 watt light should work, then you can just use like a 125 watt CFL to veg under.

As far as setup, if this is a grow your going to be checking out constantly, I'd go with RDWC, just because you'll get them bigger, faster - If your doing a remote grow where you won't be around that often, I'd use a soiless medium such as coco coir and perlite in 30 gallon containers. (the fat squatty ones)

If you want an automatic setup, as an engineer, that's pretty easy to accomplish. If your doing RDWC, This is also pretty easily setup. But as far as everything else, setting up in an office gives you a much better area to setup for cooling and fresh air intake. Also, what would be the source of your fresh air?

THere are as many questions as there are answers. So in your next response why don't you tell us a bit more about your situation and resources. and really, asking people the best way to grow, is the exact same as asking them what kind of car you should buy - Just because it works for someone else, doesn't mean its any good for your situation.

[low_rdr]

OHHHH

A bathroom would also be a GREAT setup place.

[polishpollack]

Not much point in building a tent or walls as no one can see in the building anyway. You could surround plants with panda, turning the white toward the plants, but I doubt if the reflected light would be very strong. It's a good idea but I doubt if the expense is going to be very beneficial because you'd have to make the tent pretty large to accommodate that many plants. I think it would be a waste of money, but that's just my opinion. Krusty grew large plants in a small warehouse without panda and it was successful. A bathroom would be too small for 5 to 10 plants, especially if you really want to let them grow. Just hang bare bulb lights from a frame and spin the pots around once in a while to expose the other side to the light should be fine. Hang sodium bulbs in the middle and put flouros on the outside, standing vertically if you can make that work. Build a small frame to support them so they don't fall over. Takes a little effort but can be done.

[low_rdr]

I have to disagree - A bathroom in an old warehouse or office building would actually be too large for 5 plants. Even a private bathroom would be big enough for 5 plants. And if he's lucky, it'll be lined in white tile. That would be ideal. I agree that you can setup without walls, but why waste the light? Also, you stated setup without walls, then build a frame to hold the lights, its much easier to just attach the lights to the already created walls.

You guys are talking like he's going commercial, he isn't, he's doing a few plants. Even in OLD warehouses, there were offices and bathrooms. Utilize what you have. To the OP, this is exactly why I said your question was too broad. For 5 plants, you can go with a 400-600 watt light for flowering, and a 125w cfl or a 150w metal halide for veg

Good luck!

[polishpollack]

He could make the best of an open warehouse by growing the plants larger. A bathroom is going to be too small. Since phoenix already mentioned something about building a frame, I took it that phoenix is not looking to stay in a bathroom. Might as well grow 5 plants as big a possible to take advantage of the fact that no one can see in, there is plenty of space and probably plenty of power. I guess what you're thinking of is something like a three stall bathroom but I still think that is small. But since I haven't seen it, kind of hard to say. It's an opportunity to grow indoor trees. That's how I see it. BTW, I didn't say "set up without walls," but just to avoid spending money on panda plastic if it isn't going to be an advantage in reflecting light. At least one frame still needs to be built in order to support the sodiums or MH, even if the grow takes place in a bathroom because you can't screw HPS or MH bulbs into a conventional socket (if there are any), and most commercial bathrooms use flouro anyway, which means there won't be any incandescent style light sockets. So in my opinion, take advantage of the open space and secrecy by using the open area, build at least one frame to support the lights, and the rest as noted above.