Costing for growroom startup

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WAgreens

New Member
I am completely new to this, but have a good opportunity (and space) to start up a decent room. My wife and I have been researching on forums and threads trying to get a decent idea of costs and methods for growing. We have an unfinished basement (no daylight windows in proposed area) 22' x 9' with an adjacent 9' x 5' area. My blueprint so far would include a walk through vegetative room in the 9' x 5' area, and the vegetative room/prep and drying area in the 22' x 9' area. The basement has concrete walls and floors, exposed LP floor joists and accessible 10" rim to cut in intake and exhaust ducting. The main electrical panel is located in the room with five open slots. Currently the room is running one 120V 20amp circuit for the lighting, and (6) 20 amp GFCI protected outlets around the perimeter branched with an additional (4) wall outlet in the adjacent mud room. Our house is run on well. Hot and cold lines are accessible in proposed room.


The whole house is climate controlled with central air/heat. One of the cold air intakes is located in the basement, outside of the two proposed areas. Thermostat is located on the Main floor. Temperatures in the basement when heat pump is not cycling either cold or hot air is usually 3 - 4 degrees cooler even when air handler is set to circulate mode.

I would like to set up a room initially to grow up to 45 plants, legally. With the possibility of growing 99 plants, hydroponic style, by this time next year.

Questions:

1) Have heard a lot of pros and cons to LED vs HPS or HID lighting. Higher startup costs, sure, but I plan to do this long term. What are people's opinions on LED?

2) If HPS or HID lights are the way to go, what manufacturers are tried and true brands with quality manufacturing and durability?

2) Intake and exhaust. During the winter / fall season... I guess even last night temperatures dipped down to 32F. Isn't this air too cold to bring in without running additional heating to room? Also, How often do you circulate the air in the room?

3) Walls... I have exposed ceiling joists as well as 2 x 6 stick framed walls with R-13 batt insulation and white wall wrap on the walls. Should I install mold resistant drywall and paint? Or can I go over wall wrap with panda/mylar sheeting?

4) How many lights do I need?


I appreciate any advice. Thank you all!
 
HPS is an HID light

In my opinion an LED fixture will never outperform an HID of the same wattage

If this is your first grow, sounds like it is. Stick to a few plants.
 
WAgreens said:
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I appreciate any advice. Thank you all!
Click to expand...

Before picking lights or growing style evaluate what the cost of electricity is for you, how much heat you can manage, and what kind of physical space you have available.

Sounds like you do not have any real growing experience. Perhaps the best advice is to setup a couple of small areas maybe a square meter each and learn how to grow first?
 
I have an aquaintance that will be educating me on the process. He is currently travelling for a month, and I was hoping to expedite the startup process by purchasing equipment and supplies.
 
45 plants is a lot for even an experience grower to handle. consider downsizing until you get the hang of it. You will learn a ton on your first grow, i know i am
 
That is a huge undertaking for someone with no experience.

9'x5' is a big veg room. Youre going to need a room twice that size to flower all of those plants.

I would use a 1000w hps per 5x5' area for flowering. Two 1000w lights can produce pounds per cycle.

The hps lights will generate a lot of heat. Most likely you will need to heat and cool the rooms depending on your light cycle. They have controllers that can turn heaters/fans/AC on and off when it hits a certain temp.

You might want to look into grow tents. THat way you can have a light proof room within a room and you dont have to use the entire area to grow.
 
MYOB said:
That is a huge undertaking for someone with no experience.

9'x5' is a big veg room. Youre going to need a room twice that size to flower all of those plants.

I would use a 1000w hps per 5x5' area for flowering. Two 1000w lights can produce pounds per cycle.

The hps lights will generate a lot of heat. Most likely you will need to heat and cool the rooms depending on your light cycle. They have controllers that can turn heaters/fans/AC on and off when it hits a certain temp.

You might want to look into grow tents. THat way you can have a light proof room within a room and you dont have to use the entire area to grow.
Click to expand...

That's very good advice. I will look into the grow tents and probably downsize my 10 x 22 area into both grow and veg rooms. Leaving the remaining 9' x 5' room for expansion.

Can you over-ventilate a room? I want to set up my ventilation initially to handle the whole area even if I start with smaller partitions.
 
Thank you for the advice. I agree that even with the assistance of a partner, there will still be a learning curve.
 
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