How big for first grow?

Hello all. I'm looking to give growing a shot. I've been gardening other things for years so I think I have the experience and equipment already to do fairly well.

I'd like to do an indoor setup. I can't devote a whole room to it but I'd like to grow a few plants. I'm thinking I will build myslef a grow cabinet out of wood. About 2' x 2' x 4'. So that gives me 4 sqft of space and 4 feet of vertical room.

Would that be large enough?

How many plants can I put in there? (Not trying to cram the space full. Thinking like 2-4 plants would be plenty.)

I'm also thinking of going with CFL's for this grow. I've read a lot the last few days and know other lights are better but I'm going to be doing this indoors in a wooden cabinet. I'd like to keep the heat down as much as possible.

I know what Kelvin ratings I need at the different stages. I just want to know how many bulb's I will need for my 2 x 2 space. I can get almost any CFL. They make them up to 200W actual wattage that puts out about 6900 lumens. I'm thinking of using the 85 actual watts bulbs. They are available in several color ranges. 85 Watt Compact Fluorescents They produce 4200 or 5500 lumens depending on color. Are those suffcient?

Just trying to get my box setup first. So any input is appreciated. If theres anything I missed please let me know.

Woo. I'm getting buried quick. Hopefully someone will see this.

hi there muni. some may argue this but i say 1-3k lumens per square ft. i would use clones for sure. as far as the number of plants start small and try to fill your space by training your plants. you will have heat even with cfl's so you may want to incorporate intake/exhaust holes. lumens fade so quickly you may want to put lights at diff. heights within the box. in not an indoor guy so maybe someone else can give you better advice. peace.

4X2X2 . . . 2 plants, max.
If you went 4' long, 2' wide, 4' tall, you could double that, but you're gonna be crowded, even growing two in 4x2x2. At least I would be w/my grows.

I suggest you make it5-5.5' or taller so you can get HID lights in there.

I'm limited on space and funds at the moment so a bigger box and bigger lights are not really an option right now. 2 plants would be plenty for me. This is mostly a learning experience for me. If I get enough for a few bowls with my buddy(who broke his wrist yesterday on a random note) then I'll be happy.

if you grow 12/12 from seed, or with very small veg and hps... i think you could do 4-5 plants

i have a 2x2x4 tent and i have only 2 plants, 12/12 from seed with tons of room where i could fit 3 more

MonkeeMan said:

if you grow 12/12 from seed, or with very small veg and hps... i think you could do 4-5 plants

i have a 2x2x4 tent and i have only 2 plants, 12/12 from seed with tons of room where i could fit 3 more

Click to expand...

This ^^^ could be AN answer. Look into 12/12. It's pretty cool, really.

running 12/12 from start to finish? Not messing with the hours at all?

I've read monkeymanns post but I must have missed that part.

yeah 12/12 from start to finish, look at my journal i got 2, 15 or so inch plants and i could fit 3 more in the space youd have

I'll have to re read your post then. Pools almost set. So I may be heading into the shop to build my cabinet soon. Gonna rearrange a little and see what size would fit well in my room without taking up too much space.

So I've done some measuring. I can fit a cabinet that is about 21" deep x 28" wide x 5' 8" tall.

That is the absolute biggest I can go. Seems like that should be large enough judging by some of the others I've seen here. Is that large enough to warrant an HPS? Perhaps a 250W? Only looking to grow 2-5 plants max. Like I said lernering experince and getting the cabinet set up are the important things this time around.

Gonna go rummage through the shop and see what I got for materials. I've got loads of fans, wireing, light fixtures, enough carbon from fish tank filters to make my own carbon scrubber.

I'd love to hear your guys thoughts.

If you are growing from Seeds, and you want to harvest 2 plants, then make sure to start out with at least double that amount of plants, and then throw out the males. I always use CFLs all the way threw vegging cycle, and My first crop I used the CFLs half way threw the flowering cycle. They did really good. but when I got my HPS light, they really took off.

Good Luck.

I'm planning CFL's at the moment. But if it would end up being more cost effective to run a single HPS as opposed to many CFl's than it only makes sense to use an HPS if it's gonna give a better product for less cost.

But Cost and Heat are an Issue. Starting a new school on Monday and I need 3500 bucks worth of tools and books. So I'm strapped for cash for a while.

If I can save up the money for it then I think this would be ideal for my size of garden.

High Tech Garden Supply

250W MH and HPS. I'm assuming one of them is a conversion bulb since ballasts that can do both are very expensive.

Lamp fixture kits (6-7$) and y or 3-way splitters (2-3$) to hook multiple cfl's up. Maybe drill holes in a piece of wood for a multiple fixture. I made one with three lamp fixtures each with 3 bulbs (1 42w and s 26w). Worked well. Those 85w's look good, higher watt better =) . I'd go for a pretty even mixture from start to finish for cost efficiency or more low spec for budding. If you want you can pick up 26w 6500K 1600lum bulbs 2 for 7$ at walmart and 42w 2700K 2700lum bulbs for like 8$ at target or 9$ walmart. Side lighting? I hooked up a good amount of lumens pretty spread out for a pretty good price. GL

Yes if you can go 250 or even 400w set up from htg supply. Good choice, good price. Shop on ebay and you find good prices from their store. I got the air coolable hood with a 400w hps magnetic ballast and a ceramic metal halide bulb for about $180 out da door. again gl man

Well that set up has a built in ballast which could cause heat issues, but it is a ballast that can run both bulbs and comes with 2 bulbs. Prob a switch on back of ballast. Might want to check out their system with the remote ballast
and possibly air coolable hood, not sure how big an issue heat is for you..

Probably gonna go into the local garden store here and see what I can find.

Just found 2 squirrel cage style duct fans with a 3 inch inlet i belive. Not sure if they even work. But I'm thinking they might be overkill for the size I'm going with. I do have a 120 mm computer fan with a speed control i can probaly wire up. I think that may do the trick.

I vote the 250w or 400w MH and HPS, fuck clfs unless you have to...