Is 3 feet wide enough?

[staticzero]

Esteemed growfessionals,

I am looking at making a "room" in order to help contain light and smell, but I don't want to lose too much floor space or give away the fact there is a room... in my basement I have a 12' wide (and maybe 14' deep) area I would like to add a wall to, all the way across, maybe 3' from the real wall (foundation). Then I could put mirrors up and the area can be a gym; no parents or friends who have been here would ever notice a few feet missing thanks to the mirrors.

Therefore I'd have a 12'x3' room. Do you think that 3 feet is wide enough? I was thinking of putting a light mover on a track in there to roam back and forth across the (what would now be length) of 12' and maybe only have it one plant wide? Is there a minimum width plants like to fill in? I might get away with making it more than that but then I can't use the whole "I was just closing off the sump pump and dehumidifier in the corner because they look like ass" argument (where the new wall would end I'd put in a little sliding door with air vents so the sump would be in a little closet of it's own).

Thanks in advance for any advice you have give!

 

[MarcMellow]

Thinking only about whether you could grow in a 12' x 3' area, I would say the answer is yes. You probably don't want to use 1,000 watt lamps because they would either have to be close and burn the plants or throw lots of light onto the wall. Look at the footprints of the 600 and 400 to find the best one.
As for how many plants, you could do a small SOG grow, with 1-4 plants per square foot. This keeps them pretty small though after taking out room to move along one of the edges, that will be a pretty small area. Maybe place a little retaining wall to keep the plants in the area you want them.

My biggest concern would be the noises that come from that room. You will have to cool the lights you have, and definitely filter the air. Fans are noisy and that sound coming from a "wall" might make it obvious. I don't know what sounds a light mover might make, but you might be able to hear the light going back and forth.

During flowering the smell would leak through any tiny crack unless you have constant negative pressure. You will also have to deal with drying and curing the bud which is extra stinky.

I am sure it can be done, but it definitely will be tricky.

 

[staticzero]

Thinking only about whether you could grow in a 12' x 3' area, I would say the answer is yes. You probably don't want to use 1,000 watt lamps because they would either have to be close and burn the plants or throw lots of light onto the wall. Look at the footprints of the 600 and 400 to find the best one.
As for how many plants, you could do a small SOG grow, with 1-4 plants per square foot. This keeps them pretty small though after taking out room to move along one of the edges, that will be a pretty small area. Maybe place a little retaining wall to keep the plants in the area you want them.

My biggest concern would be the noises that come from that room. You will have to cool the lights you have, and definitely filter the air. Fans are noisy and that sound coming from a "wall" might make it obvious. I don't know what sounds a light mover might make, but you might be able to hear the light going back and forth.

During flowering the smell would leak through any tiny crack unless you have constant negative pressure. You will also have to deal with drying and curing the bud which is extra stinky.

I am sure it can be done, but it definitely will be tricky.

OK tons of food for thought here. I forgot to mention there's an 8' ceiling and it's an LED light which stays very cool but is quite directional; but regardless... I hadn't really thought about maneuvering around them for feeding, watering, etc when they aren't so teensy and manageable like now... not to mention some of the aspects of sound. I did plan to include plenty of vapour barrier and ideally some sound-proofing insulation (i.e. sound-damping over heat in terms of importance) but now I'm thinking being extra sure with respect to sound. Size is a whole other issue I'll have to restart planning around. Thanks!!

 

[MarcMellow]

Definitely, I know from personal experience that the setups can be fairly loud. There are lots of forms where people are worried about their neighbors hearing, so that says a lot. Having an LED light setup will help quite a lot however! I don't know a lot about LED lights, but that should be way better for a thin area since you could keep it close.
Are you going to have a few lights? Even with a track, I think you would need more than one to cover 12'. Plants need 25000-50000 lux too grow fast, maybe base your design on the amount of light you can provide.
If you don't want it to be noticed you will probably have to put extra thought into bringing the water into the grow and also dehumidifying it.