PLEASE Evaluate My Complete Grow Proposal

Here is my idea for my first grow, I would greatly appreciate any advice or information. I have a friend guiding me through this but I feel like he's getting irritated with all my questions haha

I plan on growing in my closet with a home made grow box. The size will be 1.5 feet deep, 3 feet wide, and 4 feet tall. I'll be constructing the box out of wood with the entire interior covered in mylar. For ventiliation i was going to use two120mm computer fans for intake at the bottom of the box and two 120mm fans for exhaust at the top of the box. Also, the closet has one of those sliding doors with vents on them so its not like the grow box will be inside a shut closet door with stagnant air.

I plan on growing 4 plants in there (is this a good number given the space?) for both veg and bud. I'm getting some feminized widow seeds (I wanted to grow different strains, is it a good idea to just go with one type or is it not a big deal to have multiple types growing at once). For veg I'm going to use four 42watt CFL lights at 2700K (should i go for a higher color temperature?) running at 20 hrs on 4 hrs off (I want to grow them short and fat since i only have 4 feet to work with, should i vary the time on/off to achieve this?).

For budding I was going to use a sun system 400watt HPS light. If I can do 4 plants in there I think this will be more than powerful of a light.

I really appreciate anyone who critiques this. I know i'll get enough help from my bud when I start the process but I want to get started on ordering everything. my main questions just to recap are as follows:

Will I have sufficient airflow?

Can I grow 4 plans in that size environment?

Should I stick with one strain or is it fine to grow multiple strains at once?

Is four 42watt CFL's at that lumens good for vegging and 4 plants in that environment?

Will my 400watt HPS give me delicious fat buds in that type of environment?

400watt hps being vented with computer fans. Hmm if your lucky maybe you'll stay under 97degrees fareinheight. Hps systems are hot. So is the ballast. Consider a cfl grow meanwhile you get better ventilation. Just my opinion

for vegging use the 6500k cfls and the 2700 for flowering. I have to agree, 400 HPS gives a lot of heat so either figure out a better venilating system or stick with cfls

yeah just to be safe. It's not worth the hasle of changing a set up while ur girls are growing. & your on the money with cfls. 6500vegg & 2700flower. But mix it up with the both bulbs during her whole life. It doesn't hurt it widens her color spectrum intake. Shell love it

go with a small t5 it better than cfls by far an dont really get hot thats your best bet for your space

I agree on the T5's if thats what you decide to use.
I would (IMHO) just use an air cooled hood for your HPS (maybe on another separate vent system, only to cool the light) and have it for vegging and growing. I say that because thats what i did and its turned out wonderful thus far (i just started flowering).

way the hps will most deff. Give u bigger denser buds. Higher amounts of ressin too. Figure out a way to vent off all that heat.

the space is way to small for the 400 thats the prob you couldnt vent it enough

if he had an ehuast system steight out of a wit Dow & an nlet fan that got fresh air from either outside I an AC it would stay pretty cool with a cool tube.

Stick to florostoo much money for all that.

Don't skimp on airflow. It's just as important as lighting.

For your space, I would run a 250, or a 400 + cooltube or vented hood.

As for your Q about growing multiple strains, I advise to stick with one for your first grow, unless you can confidently train completely different sized plants to stay at the same height.

haha I definitely bug a few people but if you're gracious they're usually pretty cool.

I'm sure you could find a way to make it work in a box. It was my original plan and I'm gonna try it soon now that I know more about how airflow and heat actually work in my room.

But if your growing in a small closet take a look at my small closet setup (from the end forward). I still havn't flowered in it yet but I've tested it a lot and temps and humidity can be kept ideal without much hassle. The same thing could easily be done without the direct exhaust to outside if you used a cooltube like they're saying. A friend of mine used a bigger closet and put an AC unit inside with the exhaust run into the attic above and a regular fan pointed at a 400watt hps and that made REALLY nice meds.

I would think you would need at least 100 cfm exhaust on a 400watt cooltube in a box but I've been looking and found computer fans that are that powerful. Can fan would be ideal. FYI all fans say they are quiet, and they are, but the 175cfm's of air they move is pretty loud. Something to consider. Depending where you are, you might need an AC unit in a window too.

There's a lot of stuff you'll run into that no amount of preparation can help you forsee (short of buying a 3000 dollar premade kit). I thought I could beat the system, but in the end I think everyone has to learn by doing. Not that preparing and asking questions isn't good, it is. But it's not like preparing for other things you've done. What I've started to realize is that I scarcely have any context from which to ask questions about plants, because I had not one speck of experience with, or interest in, any kind of plants until it came to pot. Good luck I'll check back.

What about putting a glass barrier in between the lights and the ladies? Doesn't this keep the heat from the light away from the plants? I was originally gonna go with a 150 or 250 hps but if i have the money to spend it seems like going with 400 will give me a much bigger yield

on another note i'm trying to keep this simple. Do you think using a 150 or 250 hps would still give me decent results in terms of yield and not have to worry about heat? I think it's also worth noting the HPS light i want to get has vents in the hood, I'm not sure if this makes a huge difference. I'm basically trying to make my 1.5x3x4 box and try to maximize yield. I don't mind spending the money on a nicer light but I don't want to do that at the expense of having to build an intricate venting system. I know growing is not easy, but I want to try to minimize running into problems.

in that kind of space, with that kind of light you will definately have heat issues. I only say this because I have a similar amount of space, with cfls for both vegging and flowering, and my temps range between 80- 90 degrees. This is with my ac at around 70-74, I would suggest you pay special attention to this since i've had to deal with a bit of heat stress. On the other hand, there are plenty of DIY cooling options, you may want to consider some of those, I'm in the middle of building a version of doobs diy cooler ac system (i'll look for the link) since it seems i'm absolutely gonna need it. Good luck!

what about only a 150 or 250 hps? With all this concern of heat I'm thinkng about doing two plants with a 150 for budding. Does having a hps make that much a dfferennce in yield?

use a t5 you will get the same maybe better than a 400w hps. your heat is gonna make you plants stop growing everytime it gets hot in there. they have T5s now that are bad ass and work great for small places like yours. do some research on them and see for yourself

Ya I use one of the new t5's for veg and I may one day use it for flower if I have to. But if you have the money and don't mind spending it i would try the hps. 250 is more practical than 400. if u have enough good fans and run exhaust lines short with no turns and have seperate intakes and exhaust for box itself and yes the glass shield helps but you should use a cool tube setup its small and cooler obviously. But everyone has their own opinion and what really matters is what works in your room your climate etc

400 is good so you could look at cutting the top of the cupboard if you can and placing the light above/ outside. Gives you a little more distance.

I actually think 4 comp fans will work, but if you have only a small room with little airflow it will heat up big time.

As for mixing strains ....... GO AHEAD why not?? If theyre feminized they wont breed or affect each other short of twisting roots in the same pot (you are potting them separate yeah? Also if they did cross and you get a sed just imagine what wonder of nature you may have created.

You never specified if your using soil/hydro/aero.
Im thinking that a proper aero setup with fogger/mister not spray jets will give you faster grow, faster bud and might be a better option in a small cupboard instead of pissing around with hoses and the like.
It also uses (wastes less) nutes too.

Finally, depending on how long you grow them/strain and a whole heap of other things, i think 4 would be too many for you size limit.
Cant hurt to do 4 and if it gets tight, donate one to a mate, or your local wildlife park or river bank. Or put it in your yard up a tree or something. Who cares, so long as you get the best you can get out of your room size.
I have one old wog mate who wont let any plant die or be given away. I once went round for a little smoko and didnt beleive my eyes when i saw around 200 clones/re-gros/ seedlings in a room only another foot deeper than yours.
Needless to say he lost more than half. Sometimes you can do 1 and get more. For example another mate of mine got 4.5lb off one plant, and it didnt even fully mature. He reckons he could see it over his house from the front yard!!!!

Glass barriers wont stop infra red light/heat coming through. Try it your self walk up to an open fire with glass and you will feel heat. (like a slow combustion heater) but a very thin layer of aluminium foil will. Pity it stops the light too though! Having said that you remove the hottest part.... the bulb which is heating air near its exterior to like what? 1000 degrees? So it will be cooler.
Air flow is what you need

you could get a cooltube and use you two intake fans to separately vent cool the light and just cut a passive intake