1000w hps/mh closet grow. First time!

So here is my setup, about 40 square feet, mylar on the walls, 1000w switchable ballast, yield master 6 inch air cooled hood, 440cfm inline fan, huge carbon filter, black tar paper on the floor, 15 3 gallon pots. using soil.

i have a question that seems to have multiple opinions lol. I can have my room temp at an even 77 degrees with my light apx 18 to 20 inches from my plants. Im starting from seeds and would like to know when i should start using the 1000w MH bulb. Should i use it once the seedlings turn to sprouts or wait another week, 2 weeks?

The air cooled hood will keep the room from getting hot. So what really matters is more is the ambient air temp of your intake. So it'll be most likely your ambient + 3ish degrees F. Don't use the 1000 watt MH until a week after they are sprouts. Then put them in and keep at around 4...4.5 feet above canopy. Keep it there for awhile then slowly lower it.

Question, what's the surface area of the total growing space. The room is 40sq ft. how much do the plant's take up? Cause a 1000 watt is only gonna cover a 4 x 4 in the end.

Question, what's the surface area of the total growing space. The room is 40sq ft. how much do the plant's take up? Cause a 1000 watt is only gonna cover a 4 x 4 in the end.[/QUOTE]

The true growspace with the pots laid out is 4 fot deep, by 5 foot wide and thanks for the help GFG and ur setup is nice man!

Thanks man. 1000 watt MH for veg. For flowering I'd hit that place with 2 600's HPS. 600 watt light are the most efficient lumen output/watt. More light sources > one big light. More points of light increase overall coverage and reduce leaf shading. You'll want to get air cooled hoods for each light. It's worth doing it right because payout is always more than initial investment.

GrowingfortheGold said:

Thanks man. 1000 watt MH for veg. For flowering I'd hit that place with 2 600's HPS. 600 watt light are the most efficient lumen output/watt. More light sources > one big light. More points of light increase overall coverage and reduce leaf shading. You'll want to get air cooled hoods for each light. It's worth doing it right because payout is always more than initial investment.

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Cool ill get the 2 600w for flower tomorrow. How many of the CFLs should i use for the first week or so? also how close can the CFLs be? whats a safe distance cause im not trying to run into th same problems i had in my previous grow lol. Oh and should i run the typical 18/6 with the cfls, or 24 hours on?

Get the biggest plastic/styrofoam cups you can find and grow them a week in those huddle 6 around a light 23 watt should be good enough. If they get too big in the week just get one more cfl and huddle 4 at a light. After that week transplant into pots and turn on MH. Start at 4 feet and slowly lower each day until optimal height. I go with 20/4 cause I think it's the best energy used/new growth. CFL's are smooth though and hardly use any electricity.

Neat room!

GrowingfortheGold said:

Get the biggest plastic/styrofoam cups you can find and grow them a week in those huddle 6 around a light 23 watt should be good enough. If they get too big in the week just get one more cfl and huddle 4 at a light. After that week transplant into pots and turn on MH. Start at 4 feet and slowly lower each day until optimal height. I go with 20/4 cause I think it's the best energy used/new growth. CFL's are smooth though and hardly use any electricity.

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Nice ill get a couple cfls cause ill hopefully have 12 to 15 ladies. and ill start em in the cups instead of the 3 gallon pots this time.
Thanks for all the help!

thewinghunter said:

Neat room!

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Thanks man!

If you already have the 1000w dont get two more lights thats wasting a lot of money. just use the 1000W like he said starting high then going lower day by day. But use that 1000W for flowering I have one in a closet and it is good enough for a closet but you might have to rotate the plants to keep light coveage even so no nugs get to puffy. Also I just invested in 4ft light rail which seem like a great way to spread the light a little for narrow grow spaces, however I just put it on today so we will see how it goes.
Also the heat might be a problem unless you get the room really vented or get an inline fan. It will raise the temp probably 5degrees in a completely open closet but in a mostly closed closet can spike like 20degrees...
Good luck bro what strains you growing?

Well i already bought the dual setup lol, it makes sense because im actually going to be adding more grow space, so it works out in the long run. I have an inline fan big enough for a room twice the size of mine, and now have an ac vent routed into the closet also! I just fianlly got my seeds i ordered today in the mail, and i also have some seeds from a friend of mine. I ordered ICE, and i was given some Grandaddy purp! 50 seeds total gonna germ 20 of them and go from there