changed plans!! Going with a closet 2.5 x 2 x 8 ft cycle grow?

I have a closet that is small and easy to close off and start a grow in. I am completely sealing it up and adding white to the door.

Trying to figure out how I am going to run so many CFLs since I don't have the money for the cooling cost and upkeep for the HID lid. Heading to home depot since there are no nice hydroponic stores around here that keep stuff in stock. I know home depot has a bat reflector HID fixture that is pretty cheap, thinking of checking that out even. I know ballast for LED go out all the time on motorcycles and the upkeep is expensive... how after do the ballast go out for 400 watts?? If this CFL thing doesn't price out I might just spend the money on that kit from Home depot. Just want to make sure I can set up this where I can always be harvesting monthly with just 4-6 plants. Personal use only no selling and trying to make a bunch of money off this.

My closet is literally big enough for a steam cleaner and some other items on the floor but very tall and capable of shelf grows.

Also I bought organic Jiffy seed starting mix what should I add to that? I am a n00B to the fullest on this soil stuff....
my seeds are still in the paper towel. looking ok but not ready but I do want this soil ready and tested to make sure when I plant i only have to repot after the leaves touch the inside of the cup.

Using bag seeds... so not sure what this will do but my next batch will be this skunk I have been collecting.

I would check https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/567561-vert-scrog-flooded-tube-banana.html?highlight=jigfresh. This guy does great things in a tiny closet and uses a 1000 watt hid. I think a 400 would work good in a setup like his. Although he doesn't run perpetual.

I am running soil though, and also I am renting this house I need something I can break down kinda easy and fast if necessary. I am also thinking of a rubbermaid lined in mylar in my closet with an extension cord running under carpet. I cant make up my mind. I have started a speaker box grow system and got discouraged with the size. Right now toying with this idea and the idea of doing the same thing in a rubbermaid double stack.

I wouldn't do anything that's a fire hazard. Harvesting 4-6 plants a month using Rubbermaid plastic and 50 cfls isn't a good idea. Spend the cash on the right things. Ull get it back in product in 4-6 months depending how long you veg

yea I think I am sticking with my closet thing... no I just want to harvest one plant a month but have a total of 4 growing plants so i can continuously harvest once a month

How soon will I tell the sex of my plants?? I am getting my soil together today and heading to the local home depot or lowes. I would like to utilize the entire closet height, 1 level for seedlings, 1 level for plants that are ready to sex and another level for my plant I want to grow to harvest.... my closet is like 8 ft tall i can take out the shelves. went i get back from town i will post pics

also i found some auto shade reflector stuff at the dollar store can I use that?? or should i just put up white construction board on the back of the door? the walls are already white and the floor i am cutting a nice thick coated board and painting it white too...

[email protected] said:

yea I think I am sticking with my closet thing... no I just want to harvest one plant a month but have a total of 4 growing plants so i can continuously harvest once a month

How soon will I tell the sex of my plants?? I am getting my soil together today and heading to the local home depot or lowes. I would like to utilize the entire closet height, 1 level for seedlings, 1 level for plants that are ready to sex and another level for my plant I want to grow to harvest.... my closet is like 8 ft tall i can take out the shelves. went i get back from town i will post pics

also i found some auto shade reflector stuff at the dollar store can I use that?? or should i just put up white construction board on the back of the door? the walls are already white and the floor i am cutting a nice thick coated board and painting it white too...

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Maybe it's me and I don't mean to be a dick but I don't see how this is going to work. Sure you could use the shelving idea for clones and moms or seedlings but to flower you need complete darkness.

Later on in the thread i linked to he switches it up to soil in the same grow space. I just like all the grow space a vertical scrog gives in such small cabs.

I honestly would setup a tent next to my bed in the bedroom and put a lock on the door. That way you can put in a window unit, vent properly and control temps

I feel ya on the wanting to be able to break it down and move it fast thing. I just had to move my 3'x3' scrog outside unfortunately. And needless to say most of the doors around here arent 3 feet wide haha. She took a good beating and i split the main stem right down the middle, but she never once showed a sign of any stress or harm (besides the big ol split)

fir3dragon said:

I honestly would setup a tent next to my bed in the bedroom and put a lock on the door. That way you can put in a window unit, vent properly and control temps

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Sounds like you've been to my house before haha

cool i will check it out killwithskill. and yea I am not sure if it was going to work or not but just curious!! lol I think I am going to just stick with trying to get one plant going then worry about multiple plants trying to harvest monthly. Right now a patient trying to medicate without going to the streets and dealing with idiots. My closet is literally like 2ft opening maybe 2.5ft deep and 8ft tall. So one plant will be fine and I will just have to figure something out during the wait... as of this very second trying to find a decent light setup that is cheap?? any thoughts? I was thinking the 18 in bat wing reflector with 5kv socket and cord that holds HPS or MH bulbs for only $40 just not sure how much a ballast and stuff will cost and the upkeep on those. I could mount 2 vanity fixtures onto a board and have 12 cfl bulbs running and a florescent glow light on the side only has 1700k though each.

I have doctors and nurses that come over and family so I cant have anything that would be noticeable. so right now trying to score down the light issue cause I have found I can get cfl pretty cheap, but everyone that I talk to says to just spend the extra little money and get the HID ballast and bulb thing.. ugh money is an issue right now but really need to stop spending money on it on the streets...

I guess lighting depends on the amount of air you can move thru the room/heat you can get out of there. You can get diy ballast kits for pretty cheap, but i think they only run one type of lamp. mh OR hps

I am going to go to home depot to make sure what I am getting I really like the idea of that reflector and growing one plant is ideal for right now. of course while I am trying to get a female I will have quite a few seedlings. I am searching on the interwebs but I cant seem to find if that reflector comes with a ballast or what... ugh. I have metal halide bulbs 100watts but no way to power them.....

http://m.homedepot.com/p/ViaVolt-Budget-18-in-Bat-Wing-Reflector-Light-with-5KV-Socket-and-Cord-VBH18RCS/204146230/
this is what I wanted to get and have to light my plant from veg to harvest by changing the bulbs and getting more fans around.

for air I was going to start with computer fans and then move up to the silver fans and go from there. my idea was if I can hold a lighter and the flame move that would be enough air moving... my only issue now is thinking of how i am going to vent this and keep the smell down. i cant cut a whole to the attic...

Who puts 50 cfls in a rubbermaid?

If you decide to go rubbermaid forget the Mylar and grab some krylon fusion spray paint and cover the inside in black then white. If you go rubbermaid let me know and I can help you out.

[email protected] said:

I am going to go to home depot to make sure what I am getting I really like the idea of that reflector and growing one plant is ideal for right now. of course while I am trying to get a female I will have quite a few seedlings. I am searching on the interwebs but I cant seem to find if that reflector comes with a ballast or what... ugh. I have metal halide bulbs 100watts but no way to power them.....

http://m.homedepot.com/p/ViaVolt-Budget-18-in-Bat-Wing-Reflector-Light-with-5KV-Socket-and-Cord-VBH18RCS/204146230/
this is what I wanted to get and have to light my plant from veg to harvest by changing the bulbs and getting more fans around.

for air I was going to start with computer fans and then move up to the silver fans and go from there. my idea was if I can hold a lighter and the flame move that would be enough air moving... my only issue now is thinking of how i am going to vent this and keep the smell down. i cant cut a whole to the attic...

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The link you posted does not come with a ballast. Are you trying to use four 100 watt lights to make 400 watts? As i mentioned before diy ballast arent that expensive. For the air just calculate cubic feet of your room and replace the air between 1 and 5 times a minute. I say 1 to 5 times cuz diff people say diff amounts.

NO i was trying to get a 400 watt bulb just one, the only thing i worry about with this HID setup is the heat. and the energy bill. I cant risk having to leave my door open most of the time to let in the ac air and then also seeing a 100 dollar spike from just one plant...

And bb61 I wasn't going to put that many cfls in my box no!!! not trying to burn the house down i was doing 6 bulbs or 12 bulbs not sure if i were to do that. I am trying to go for stealth and I am afraid if someone is over cleaning my house or something they will open this closet and find my goodness... so stacking the Rubbermaid the right way and growing 1 plant if not 2 in stack able rubber maids, sprayed down, doesn't seem so bad, i just would like a good yield and great ganja!!

I would like to get a list together of a solid plan before I go spending money and then change my plan yet again. remind you i starting trying to grow i micro plant in a speaker box and got discouraged cause I really don't know what these seeds are....

I just checked on my seeds after 36 hours of germ only 3 out of the 8 have white roots coming out... so yea, that is where i am at with all that, remind u this is my first grow and working out the problems before i grow my good seeds and failure happens!

Somebody said 50 on the first page, that'll be ridiculous. Ill let you know my yield in about 4 weeks. I know that don't help you right now though lol

no that doesnt help me now at all but I am keeping my eye out on your thread for sure!! After I get ready I am heading to home depot to return these bulbs and use store credit to buy the supplies. I definitely think this will be much more stealth mode just in case some shit goes down and someone looks around they couldnt tell anything except that I am storing something in my closet. I hoping to pick some of this up on discount and pay for the rest with my return. When you harvest let me know. post some pics from today, how long have you been growing this time in whole..

KillWithSkill said:

The link you posted does not come with a ballast. Are you trying to use four 100 watt lights to make 400 watts? As i mentioned before diy ballast arent that expensive. For the air just calculate cubic feet of your room and replace the air between 1 and 5 times a minute. I say 1 to 5 times cuz diff people say diff amounts.

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do you think I could do well with using a vanity strip and mixing high wattage LED and CFL bulbs at 6500k a piece for veg? then switch to 2700k setup and get a good yield? I am scratching the HID idea just cause of the heat issue. I already live in a hot state and cooling my house is enough... ugh but yea I am totally loving this idea in the Rubbermaid thing. I am getting my lists together and heading there in a jiffy for sure!!! Right now I have Jiffy organic seed starting soil should I mix perlite MG in with that or just leave it. Its the only soil I can find that doesn't have added nutes. plus seems like it has a lot of moss, perlite and vermiculite in it already... seems airy but i want to make sure though first. trying to get everything in one trip. I have an interview Monday so I hope I get this job and get have this as a lovely surprise when I get home. I just hope this doesnt get to hot. I am going to try and keep the light off when I am not home and keep that schedule going for a little while. idk im trying to find a timer for my lights and fans. any help?