Time to build my Flowering Room

UOENO

Active Member
Hello Guys I have a room ready to be built but I will need to start with lighting. I will need light for 12 plants.

I am looking to get good results when it comes to buds size and quantity on each plant.. I will start with soil (since I am a noob and soil method is more forgiven).

So please trow me brands, type and wattage. And of course how many fixtures for all 12 plants.


Thanks again for your help guys =)
 
You might be looking at a pretty big start up cost for twelve plants under good LEDs, but I love mine, and more importantly my plants love them. The coverage is really good with three of them, but as I look at the lights and the way the intensity is packed into like a 4 x 4 foot rectangle (more like a circle or oval in that 4 x 4 dimension) I kind of wonder if it wouldn't have been better to get several more of the smaller 150 w XMLs and space them out better. Oh, sorry, I'm running Advanced LED Diamond Series XML 350 watts. They are about a grand a piece, but they are really impressive units and they seem to pound the light down through the canopy very well.

More experienced folks will probably turn you on to other lights. This is my first LED rodeo, but I'm glad I didn't end up with crappy ones that some people complain about on youtube. You can find some Chinese LEDs for cheap on Ebay. My wife bought me mine for my birthday, or else I might have gone Chinese cheap. A lot of people champion Area 51 lights or Blackstar, and there's lots of disagreement on who actually makes the lights and who is just rebranding cheap Chinese lights. It's kind of funny to read the debates on here.

I'm very happy with my lights and my plants love them. Like I said, these things are expensive. Wait until other people way in before jumping aboard any particular bandwagon. I think, generally, that people will defend the product that they own and that gives them good results. I'll defend Advanced, but I'm sure others will equally defend their light manufacturers too.
 

UOENO

Active Member
You might be looking at a pretty big start up cost for twelve plants under good LEDs, but I love mine, and more importantly my plants love them. The coverage is really good with three of them, but as I look at the lights and the way the intensity is packed into like a 4 x 4 foot rectangle (more like a circle or oval in that 4 x 4 dimension) I kind of wonder if it wouldn't have been better to get several more of the smaller 150 w XMLs and space them out better. Oh, sorry, I'm running Advanced LED Diamond Series XML 350 watts. They are about a grand a piece, but they are really impressive units and they seem to pound the light down through the canopy very well.

More experienced folks will probably turn you on to other lights. This is my first LED rodeo, but I'm glad I didn't end up with crappy ones that some people complain about on youtube. You can find some Chinese LEDs for cheap on Ebay. My wife bought me mine for my birthday, or else I might have gone Chinese cheap. A lot of people champion Area 51 lights or Blackstar, and there's lots of disagreement on who actually makes the lights and who is just rebranding cheap Chinese lights. It's kind of funny to read the debates on here.

I'm very happy with my lights and my plants love them. Like I said, these things are expensive. Wait until other people way in before jumping aboard any particular bandwagon. I think, generally, that people will defend the product that they own and that gives them good results. I'll defend Advanced, but I'm sure others will equally defend their light manufacturers too.

Yea I have seen some debates regarding LED and other type of lighting. Now Sine I am a noob at this I dont want to over kill my project, meaning over spend money. That is why I am asking how many for 12 plants and I think I know how many with Led Fixtures/lights but I just need to see what other none Led users have to say so i can go ahead and start comparing prices/brand etc.

Thanks for you input Pax =)

EDIT: Are LED lights only for hydro or also for Soil?
 

ledgrow#1

Member
Yea I have seen some debates regarding LED and other type of lighting. Now Sine I am a noob at this I dont want to over kill my project, meaning over spend money. That is why I am asking how many for 12 plants and I think I know how many with Led Fixtures/lights but I just need to see what other none Led users have to say so i can go ahead and start comparing prices/brand etc.

Thanks for you input Pax =)

EDIT: Are LED lights only for hydro or also for Soil?
Sup uoeno This is my led setup I got these lights from a company called growevolution, you can google them. I use at least two in a 4x4 square. Three really boosted production.
https://www.rollitup.org/led-other-lighting/672242-led-grow-1-check-out.html I have loved them from the start, I have had these plants under them from seedling to flower and they didnt set me back a G a piece. Let me know what you guys think, its my first led grow. :mrgreen:
 
Yea I have seen some debates regarding LED and other type of lighting. Now Sine I am a noob at this I dont want to over kill my project, meaning over spend money. That is why I am asking how many for 12 plants and I think I know how many with Led Fixtures/lights but I just need to see what other none Led users have to say so i can go ahead and start comparing prices/brand etc.

Thanks for you input Pax =)

EDIT: Are LED lights only for hydro or also for Soil?

LED works with any medium. It's just one more way to provide light. In terms of how many lights you'll need, that totally depends on what strain you're running and how long you'll be vegging before flower, and what method you'll be using. I looked at the lights from growevolution that ledgrow#1 suggested. They are advertised as 130watts, which means they are probably 100 watts at the bulb. And they appear to only offer that one panel (which is strange). They don't have any spectrums listed and they don't use CREE bulbs. When you multiply the price and the light intensity and PAR and the spectrums from Advanced you're getting more than three times the watts, better spectrum coverage, and twice the coverage area for about twice the price of the growevolution light.
 
I have thirteen under two 350w panels right now (some are pretty small autos). They are outgrowing the two panels, so I will hang the third panel soon to get them through flowering.

My guess is you could run a healthy 12 under four of these lights with noLED.jpg crowding and probably some room to spare.
 

UOENO

Active Member
Hey guys how is it going. Well after almost a week of creating this Thread I have done more research and after measuring the empty room for my indoor growing I have decided because of my budget I will have to stick with HPS and/or MH instead of LED. I will be going with Soil in this my first run ever growing medical marijuana. Please take a look at this floor plan of my residence. the size of the empty room is 23' x 13'. I will be using 10 Gal containers I NOW can grow up to 36 plants. Now the questions for you guys are:

- How many plants I can grow in there 30 or less? The ceiling is 8 feet.
- How many HPS fixtures I will need to cover all plants and Should I go with 600w or 1000w?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1000w-1000-watt-Digital-HPS-MH-Grow-Light-System-Set-/160634128853 I need some guidence for this type of lighting, what is the diference between HPS and MH?
- I will need to buy a filter to hide the smell so which window should I use to blow the air out? The window towards my garage or the one that is to the street? I have several trees and bushes in my front yard.
- I need ideas, ideas and more ideas.
HOMEPLAN.jpg DOGS LIVING.jpg

Thanks!
 

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Very ambitious for your first grow, but you might do fine. Usually you try to dial in a set up before going so big (on your first try). For an area that large you'll need a few 1000w, which will really spin your electric meter. I suppose you could get by with a handful of 600w.

Honestly, with those sort of dimensions you'll have quite a bit of figuring to do. You should start by reading these threads on setting up grow rooms. Good luck.

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/
 

UOENO

Active Member
Very ambitious for your first grow, but you might do fine. Usually you try to dial in a set up before going so big (on your first try). For an area that large you'll need a few 1000w, which will really spin your electric meter. I suppose you could get by with a handful of 600w.

Honestly, with those sort of dimensions you'll have quite a bit of figuring to do. You should start by reading these threads on setting up grow rooms. Good luck.

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/
600 W ? I been reading reiews and people say that most people end up going for the 1000w. What is the foot print on a 600w and 1000w?
 

djwimbo

Well-Known Member
600 W ? I been reading reiews and people say that most people end up going for the 1000w. What is the foot print on a 600w and 1000w?
footprint is more set by height and fixture.

General rule? 600w = 4X4; 1000W = 5x5

You can stuff a 600W in a 3x3, or a 1000w in a 4x4, but I wouldn't put a 600w in a 5x5 and expect greatness.

Edit: This is the LED and Other Lighting section, would you like help with LED's?
 

Rrog

Well-Known Member
I built a 300W LED Panel anticipating a 2x2 to 3x3 area. Supra built his 200W LED to replace his 600W HPS. He figured 250-300W LED would be a little closer, as I recall from his thread.
 

UOENO

Active Member
footprint is more set by height and fixture.

General rule? 600w = 4X4; 1000W = 5x5

You can stuff a 600W in a 3x3, or a 1000w in a 4x4, but I wouldn't put a 600w in a 5x5 and expect greatness.

Edit: This is the LED and Other Lighting section, would you like help with LED's?
Led is out of my budget as I am trying to flower 12 Blue Dream withing a week from now. My Budget is $1,500 max for lighting. in a 18ft x 16ft space.
 

UOENO

Active Member
footprint is more set by height and fixture.

General rule? 600w = 4X4; 1000W = 5x5

You can stuff a 600W in a 3x3, or a 1000w in a 4x4, but I wouldn't put a 600w in a 5x5 and expect greatness.

Edit: This is the LED and Other Lighting section, would you like help with LED's?
Doesn't my Thread falls into this sub-category? Since I am talking about HPS and Led lighting?
 

djwimbo

Well-Known Member
Your ideas seem all over the place to me. You claim to have done some research, but ask if LED's are just for hydro...

Your space of 16x18 is huge for 12 plants. That's 288sq.ft, or 24sq.ft per plant, way more than needed. You came in here asking for advice, but then later mention that you're a week away from flowering those twelve plants. You could fit 12 plants VERY comfortably in 5x10 or 6x12ft. 5x10 I'd do 4x 600's, 6x12 = 5-6x 600's or 4x 1000's.
Decent digital ballasts, good bulbs, decent hoods and a reasonable fan can be had for your $1500 budget. That's no supplemental, just overhead lighting.

Edit: that might be a tad much on the wattage, more like 2x 1000's on a 5x10, and 3-4 600's on a 6x12
 
Doesn't my Thread falls into this sub-category? Since I am talking about HPS and Led lighting?

Sort of yes and sort of no. HPS is the mainstream grow light used by a lot of people who don't mind paying electric bills that are exorbitant and using out of date technology. (you can see my bias for LEDs?) When I hear people going on and on about HPS and 1000w this or that, I kind of have to laugh. Unless you're running a professional factory setting, like 100x100 or something, I just can't figure out why anyone would go to such lengths to waste so much energy on generating excess heat which then takes more energy to remove via fans and etc.

You aren't going to get enough HPS for that area with $1500. I don't see that happening unless you cobble together the used HPS systems from what nine new LED users are selling on Ebay. It's not going to happen. And for the investment those HPS would require, I would again encourage you to research quality LEDs. They do and will pay for themselves in yield and economic running times.

It sounds to me like you're looking into a major operation, which means you're thinking about the future. If you're thinking about the future, you should consider this axiom. There's cost, low cost, and no cost. No cost is the sun. Low cost in the long haul--like a year or two--is LED. HPS will always run hotter, cost more, and need constant replacement of bulbs and ballasts and that adds up way faster than investing in a good LED upfront.

Also, HPS can be a fire hazard if you don't know what you're doing.

Earlier you asked about the difference between MH and HPS. That alone scares me enough to suggest that you take your 1500 and invest it in a one, two, or three quality LED panels. Run your first grow on those LEDs. Take the profit from that grow and invest in a few more panels. Do this a few times and you'll have a great and energy efficient room. As an added bonus, you'll be saving money on monthly electric bills, which means you can reinvest it in LEDs

You can use a little left over of that 1500 to buy a few nice CFLs to get your clones started. By the time you get your second order of panels you'll be ready to flower those clones and you'll be underway with a perpetual harvest plan. Just keep some clones rooting and vegging under CFL and bring them into your flowering room

You need to take the diagram and cut the grow room in half or in thirds. You'll need have or one third of that space dedicated to vegging clones.

Honestly, it sounds to me like you're trying to build a grow room that costs 10-15k with only $1500. Ambition is great, but so is learning to be a gardener and professional, compassionate greenthumb before trying to build a rocket on a firecracker budget.

Have you ever grown before? Inside or outside? This is important. There are lessons that need to be learned. I learned the lesson of efficiency and science once I got these LEDs. Traded all my HPS to a buddy for a row boat. Yep, all those HPS and I didn't care any more. Got like a 200 dollar boat for all those wornout ballasts and bulbs and etc. HPS is the way of the past and every day more data comes out to prove that to us.

People in love with HPS are a lot like people who still think that VCR tapes are the best way to view films at home. They are wrong. Technology scares people, and several times LED technology has looked like BETA tapes because they didn't have it figured out yet and in synch with the natural biology of the plants. It's a lot more like DVDs now, and it's only going to get more like Blu-Ray in the next year or two.

You should go onto the LED Newbie forum and say "I have 1500 and want to grow. What should I buy?" Then listen to the people that are doing this and have been doing this.

In growing, space is the easiest thing to come by. The bigger the space, the more complex the system. You have space now, and very little budget for a system. Start smart, and good luck.
 
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