Somewhat new, with a few questions for the pros...

Hi guys, I guess you can just call me Dirty. I will be starting my first indoor grow soon and I have a few ideas, and a few questions. I will try to lay everything out as clearly as I can below. Thanks in advance for advice and thoughts.

I have a 20"x20"x40" space (i know not super tall but its the space I have) which comes out to 2.778 square feet. At 65w per square foot (the sweet spot for HPS from what I have read) that gives a total of 175 watts of HPS needed. Sadly this is not a size so I have to choose between 150w or 200w. 200w puts me at pretty much exactly 75w per square foot which is ABSOLUTE max as far as what I have read. 150w puts me around 54w per square foot I think. So, with that said I am wondering if I should go 150 and add some lizard lights or cfl for supplimental lighting to hit the 65w mark, or just rock the 200. The reason I have chosen to rock HPS instead of LED (which I think would be better/more fun) because of the fact that I believe I can get the plants closer to my low watt HPS at the end of the flower cycle...than I can an LED. PLEASE CORRECT my ignorance if that is not true. Moving on...

To get a mom I am popping 5 beans (I know I know but again space/money is limited...this is my starting point) and end up with 2-3 fems I hope....and I will keep the best looking 2. I have a short space as I said, so I am kinda limited on ways to grow this first run out. Just I LST or TOP/FIM in your opinion to get best results? I know the first run is just to find a mom, and get a lil experience but I would like to optimize the yield as much as possible. So 40 inches, subtracting at least 6-8 inches at end of cycle (light distance) gives us 32-34 inches. Take away 5-6 inches for the light fixture and I think we are looking at around 26 inches. Now the pots will be what, 6 inches tall? So that leaves us with around 20 inches of growth space, unless I am a complete moron and have my distances wrong etc...So yeah how would you guys do it for that first go? I was thinking of just LST like whoah, but not sure. SOG is the only thing I know really, and gotta get this outta the way first =)

Lastly since I am running in a 20x20 space, and can only hit about 20 inches of plant growth, I am wondering if 4 inch pots, 5 inch pots, or solo cups would be best for this sog style? I want to yield at least 2 zips per month from this which is probably doable in most of those methods, but I want input from pros. If I run solo cups I think those are a little shorter than pots so that gives a little more wiggle room as well, in theory. I dont want to run SCROG because it takes to long and cant be perpetual in one space. I plan on snagging half the plants, and replacing half of them every month. That way I can get the 2 oz per month that I need to self sustain.


Thanks for listening to the ramblings and thoughts of a *somewhat* newb, I appreciate it. Again ANY thoughts, criticism and ideas are welcomed! Have a good one and stay up!

--Dirty

go 150 if u must hps, heat will kill you

weed-whacker said:

go 150 if u must hps, heat will kill you

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Even with a cooltube?

For a 150 you shouldn't need a cool tube if you have an exhaust fan moving air thru the tent. A small BatWing reflector would work well in your small space as they are only 18" long. I just got one I plan to use with a 1000W MH/HPS in an 8x4 tent.

There are 150W veg bulbs made that will run off the magnetic ballasts as I've been looking into getting a couple myself for the two I have.

GE makes a 150W CMH, Ceramic Metal Halide, that should do both veg and flower as does SunPulse and EYELighting.com

You should spend some time researching grow room design in the grow room forum for ideas on how to set up your small space. A guy would have to write you a custom grow book to answer all the questions you pose.

If you want 175w hps you can get a dimmable ballast and run at 175. I have a lumitek and it goes 150/175/250/superlumens. I used to run a 250w bulb in it and dial it down to 150w, I was able to get much longer bulb life doing this. I also felt the larger shape of the 250w bulb put out a much more even light footprint then a 150w bulb did.
I shut down my hps recently though in favor of cobs. Have you considered a set of 4 smaller cobs? It would be much easier to cool and take up less headroom. As far as light burns, from my experience a rough estimate is about 1 inch per 10w of cob power before you see lightburns, or 70w of cob needs about 7" distance....a 30w would need 3" clearance. With my 150w hps I was able to get able to get about 5" away.

Thanks for the responses guys, I will do some reading up on both of these. The led distances you speak of sound amazing.

Question....is it hard to find a lumatek dimmable 250 now a days? I cannot find one for the life of me. I see some other brands that look a lot like it, but dont know if I can trust them. I think the dimmable HPS will be best for first run, its cheap and easy. Within a few months Ill build a diy led setup which will be so fun I cannot wait lol.

hmm mine is a few years old.
After a quick look they might be discontinued...maybe another brand makes a similar one, I dunno. You might be able to get a deal on a used one, but I'd want to know why they're discontinued first. I've never had any problems with the 2 I have(used ~3years straight) , I did have 2 galaxy ballasts go out on me though. They might have just stopped making them due to low sales though..

I'm using magnetic ballasts that are at least 20 years old and they work great! Even using a 400W conversion bulb in an HPS ballast that is 15. EYE Hortilux makes good stuff!

Yes I love The EYE Hortilux super HPS. Good shit. I think the 250 dimmable might be discontinued to the gaining popularity in cfl and led for those low wattage spaces. I personally think I will run the HPS though for the first cycle or 2 just because I am limited on cash to start it up. LED will come soon for sure. =)

Once you put the money you save from not buying pot into your grow improvements then the sky's the limit!

An HPS with some added CFLs or other lighting will do to get you started alright on a low budget. I'm still using the old T-12 8-tube light bank I made 15 years ago to veg plants and it works fine tho I do have 2 - 400W veg lights that will be getting used soon.

I've seen quite a few new growers blow their wad on gear and end up growing dead plants then are stuck with the bill and no pot. Many do get it together tho but not everyone has or can develop a green thumb.

Better to stick a toe in the water first than jump right in the deep end if you're not a good swimmer yet.

OldMedUser said:

Once you put the money you save from not buying pot into your grow improvements then the sky's the limit!

An HPS with some added CFLs or other lighting will do to get you started alright on a low budget. I'm still using the old T-12 8-tube light bank I made 15 years ago to veg plants and it works fine tho I do have 2 - 400W veg lights that will be getting used soon.

I've seen quite a few new growers blow their wad on gear and end up growing dead plants then are stuck with the bill and no pot. Many do get it together tho but not everyone has or can develop a green thumb.

Better to stick a toe in the water first than jump right in the deep end if you're not a good swimmer yet.

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I agree 100% though I am positive I will have chronic first go round in this setup. I dabbled with some white widow and reclining buddha a few years back, but with a much larger area and a 600w. I ened up with 18" colas, and lots of them due to some fimming. But yeah this tight space will be alright once I get the initial seed run out of the way, find my mom, and can flower clones as soon as they have roots. I feel like topping as early as I can, and LST will work though from what I have read. I think out of my 7 beans ill get 3-4 girls to finish up, and that shouldnt be too crowded.

I have my space setup, and the beans. I will be snagging some cfls and rooting cubes this weekend to get started. I will start a journal as well and keep lots of pics coming. Hopefully in time I can add the the amazing bud porn here =)

I am glad to have guys like you around to guide me through this new tiny adventure heh =)

Question, if my tent were closer to 60 inches in height instead of 40, would this increase SOG yield? I am thinking yes because the plants can be taller, so more cola right?

DirtySec said:

Question, if my tent were closer to 60 inches in height instead of 40, would this increase SOG yield? I am thinking yes because the plants can be taller, so more cola right?

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SOG or SCROG yield?