400w MH

Just curious, what are the possibilities of a 400w MH in a space about 3'/3'? I have essentially 6 feet vertically in this closet, but if I don't need to use all of it, I can probably make a box or something. I'd like to use as much vertical space as possible, but I feel like SOG or ScrOG would be the best decision. Anybody have some advice?

Nobody has any input? Come on, whats the best decision?

400 watt is perfect for that space

yea would be perfect, will need good air intake and exhaust too.

Hi All.
That sounds smashin, Many MANY moons ago I used to run a 400 in a space similar to that, on a home made 3x3ish NFT table I built and it was fine. I used under the table for cuttings and mothers, under a home made flouro hood, with 3 3foot T5 tubes, two cool one warm, nice little self contained set up. I used to have a sodium bulb to exchange for the Halide for flowering, worth thinking about!!!!!
A sog or scrog sounds splendid, it'll be easy to fix up some sort of mesh/grid in there too, I was doing it years ago, never heard of a scrog in those days, NFT was pretty new I think, in fact it was before the internet, (or before anyone but institutions had it, 15 20 years ago).
Or if your not gonna use space under plants, IE plants on the floor, you could grow some pretty big plants, but you'll have troble penetrating the mid to lower canopy.
I would build some sort of big shelf, to do cuttings under, and do a scrog over the top, unless you already have another mother, cutting area.
But as tmb420 so rightly says, Ventilation is crucial, critical!!!!!! its the only problem I had with the whole system, but we didn't have the access to quality reasonably priced extraction, as we do today.

Good luck old bean.

Toodle Ooo

Thanks, Martian and all for responses. I've never used hydroponics before but I've read so much about it and it seems really exciting. I'll tell you guys my plan and see what you think. I want to establish a good mother to clone from. I'm going to make a small, four-site cloner out of a plastic storage device (its about 5" tall, probably 6"x4", I think it is called a Sterilite Show-off). After all that is set, I plan to take four cuttings and veg them for a week or two under what will probably be six or eight 42w CFL. After that part, I'll put them into flowering with the 400w MH in what I'd LIKE to use, a DWC. Now, the plan is to do that at least two more times behind the first group. Sort of like a perpetual grow, I guess. I want to have the sets of four in separate systems that way I can sort of micromanage. I kind of made up a little diagram to show what was running (or walking) through my head. But I'm a little worried that it will cause a problem having the one 400w on four plants, then two weeks later on eight, then twelve. Is this a big deal, or am I just paranoid? Also, the closet isn't just the simple area I'm growing in. It is under a flight of stairs, so it goes deeper but gets shorter. What sort of ventilation options am I looking at? Thanks, guys.

Hello Folks.
Hiya m8, sounds OK, may be pushing it a bit with 16 of em though.Unless you was doing a scrog and flowering them straight away. but trying to do them on a 4 generational rotating basis, I can see problems overcrowding, and problems with light for the youngest generation, don't forget the light will always have to be high enough not to burn the biggest plants. and having your light as close to the plants as possible is important. DON'T forget!!!!! light follows the inverse square law, IE it falls off at a rate that is inversly the square of the distance, so as the distance is doubled, the light intensity is squared, not halved, as one would at first think.
SO a light that is six inches away, move it another six inches, and its now not half what it originally was at six inches, its a quarter what it was, move it another six, its now a 9th what it originally was at six inches, and so on.
It actually doesn't quite behave like that for us, that is only for a point source, and we have a shade, But it does ilustrate just how important distance is.
Another problem I see, (unless you know better) is the fact that you're under some stairs, so the space behind is wasted, as you can't get to it, once plants are in situ, so it needs blanking off really, you can put stuff there, but if anything needs attention once theyre growing, you'll probs damage plants getting to it.
AND mainly unless you have an exterior wall (wich is still not ideal), or unless it doesn't matter, you'll have probs with extraction, it tends to look a bit funny, 4 or 5 inch trunking/vent tubing, replete with carbon filter, winding its way from under the stairs, you'll have to consider noise too, especially if you'r gonna do Bubblers.
DWC is pretty good. I'm trying my first Bubblers now and it seems cool, done NFT before, years ago.
OH yeh, BTW, I'd build a bigger aero prop if I were you, at least 12 site, and six Comp Flouro's, will be fine, (6x42 = 252 watts).

Just a couple of thoughts!!!!
See Ya.

eatAstar said:

I'd like to use as much vertical space as possible, but I feel like SOG or ScrOG would be the best decision.

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You could pull off a small ScrOG setup, but there's no way you can do SOG in that small of a space. Even if you only plan to harvest a single plant every two weeks, you'd still need to have 8 clones in varying stages of development growing simultaneously at all times, plus at least 1 mother plant. And you'd need two seperate chambers... one for vegetative growth and one for flowering. I just don't see how you could pull that off in grow-room that's only 3'x3'.

So, should I just try to do a smaller, maybe 6 or 8 plant setup, and not try to stagger the gens? I was originally going to flower them as soon as they were out of the cloner, maybe two or three weeks I'm guessing? I'm really unsure, because I've never done cloning or anything like that before, I've always just gone from seed, on. Will that be enough time for them to develop before I flower them? The cloning process seems like it takes some practice, maybe something over my head. I'm kind of considering just using one or two plants and doing LST. Once again, I've been playing in Paint, lol. But, it sort of seems like I can do alot more good with the space I have, shape-wise and size if I use LST. What do you guys think?
First pic is my fun little LST drawing, lol. Second is a representation of my space.

eatAstar said:

So, should I just try to do a smaller, maybe 6 or 8 plant setup, and not try to stagger the gens? I was originally going to flower them as soon as they were out of the cloner, maybe two or three weeks I'm guessing? I'm really unsure, because I've never done cloning or anything like that before, I've always just gone from seed, on. Will that be enough time for them to develop before I flower them? The cloning process seems like it takes some practice, maybe something over my head. I'm kind of considering just using one or two plants and doing LST. Once again, I've been playing in Paint, lol. But, it sort of seems like I can do alot more good with the space I have, shape-wise and size if I use LST. What do you guys think?

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If I were in your situation with regards to the space you are working with, I would definitely choose to grow fewer plants using the LST method. I think you'll be happier with the results growing a few large plants, than if you tried growing many smaller plants. You'll have less to deal with and take care of, and will be making more efficient use of your space.

Ok. I think thats what I'll do. 400w okay for, say 3 LST plants? I think I may stick with soil though. I'm just not confident in my hydro skills. I'm going to start just a little DWC to cut my teeth on and keep it under some CFLs. Unless I can find a reliable source for seeds, I'll probably just have to use some "bagseeds" from some very good stuff I got from a friend (he called it Lemon G, who really knows). But the seeds all look mature and I think they'll take nicely. I'm going to start a journal soon when I get the digital cam back. Thanks for all your input guys. I work the rest of the week, so I'll probably have this set up by say...friday, saturday maybe? I'll get some pics up then. Thanks again!

eatAstar said:

Ok. I think thats what I'll do. 400w okay for, say 3 LST plants? I think I may stick with soil though. I'm just not confident in my hydro skills. I'm going to start just a little DWC to cut my teeth on and keep it under some CFLs. Unless I can find a reliable source for seeds, I'll probably just have to use some "bagseeds" from some very good stuff I got from a friend (he called it Lemon G, who really knows). But the seeds all look mature and I think they'll take nicely. I'm going to start a journal soon when I get the digital cam back. Thanks for all your input guys. I work the rest of the week, so I'll probably have this set up by say...friday, saturday maybe? I'll get some pics up then. Thanks again!

Click to expand...

You should have excellent results with a 400w lighting system as long as you're able to confine your grow area. Ideally, you don't want to have an area bigger than 4'x4' for a light of that strength. And I would definitely line the walls with Mylar to improve the lighting efficiency.

Why are you having trouble finding a reliable source for seeds? There are several online seed banks that have excellent reputations amongst the users of this community. Attitude and Dr. Chronic are two such companies, both whom I have used personally and have been completely satisfied with. Many, many other respected users of RIU will concur with my recommendation of both suppliers if you ask around.

Hi All.
Even before you start thinking about your planting, have you got your extraction/ventilation sorted.
I really don't know how it's situated, your intake is'nt really gonna be a problem, but your extraction and filtering could well be a nightmare, especially when they start flowering, you NEED good extraction for air exchange, (to replenish CO2 levels, to dispose of exess heat and humidity). where you are like that under stairs, you will need to be well sealed and/or extract constantly, (set a controler to run the fan at reduced speed constantly, and when needed step the fan up to full untill the environment is OK again, would probs be best), you will also need some kind of really good odour control. Don't suppose the stairs are flanked by an unused chimney breast, are they???
I raelly would try to think this through thoroughly, before any plants go in, it would be a shame to get them into flower, and have to move em somewhere else, you would be better starting them there.
Would you not be better off in the loft/cellar???
Kill two birds with one stone, for a first foray into hydro/aero, do some reading up on bubbleponics/Deep Water Culture Propagators, and try some cuttings in it.
Dead easy to build, and understand, dirt cheap, and you will also learn loads of dead handy information too.
Good Luck M8
Ta Ta