Total Noob!!! Advice please!

I'm a virgin at growing and posting on forums, so I guess I'm going to loose my virginity on valentines day. Happy V-day all now please bare with me!!!
First and foremost thanks for all the useful info that I hijacked from this site over the last month or so. I now am happily a member and have a few questions of my own.
Here we go! Ill first explain my desired results from this first grow as well as my future grows, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. This first grow is for educational purposes only, I completely expect to fail, though I will do my best not to. I expect not to yield any bud and really don't care if I get hermies or males, a female would be optimal of course. I'm learning
and from my experience you learn best from your failures. I am a small time smoker so small time growing is my preference. Eventually I would like to master the process of growing 3.5 grams or more out of a relatively small space per grow cycle. Big dreamer I know. An 1/8 last me about 2-3 months and I just bought a QP so I have some time to learn. I was a custom builder at a furniture shop a few years back so I have the skills and tools to build a pretty nifty setup. As of now I have a custom built cab 30x30x30. 4inch inline exhaust at top and a 3 inch passive intake at bottom. Sealed and lined with mylar. Capable of holding 10 cfls (using 4 at the moment) I have a fan directly in the middle that blows 360o. It's holding a pretty consistent temp of 84 and a humidity of 40ish. I have 2 seedlings from bag seed my buddy gave me. They are a week old and doing good. They are in MG organic (I know I know) it's mixed with 50% of my own compost soil and has good drainage. The ph is around 6.5.
Know my questions for you pros are.
Do u think in a box this small I could grow 3.5 grams or more per cycle from 1-2 plants?
Is one bigger plant in the space better then 2 smaller plants?
It's not a stealth grow as far as looks because it is in a room that only I go into but smell would be a issue. Will it?
What are a few things you would suggest money isn't a issue so I will mod within reason however I want to use CFL only for a few reasons?


Excuse my spelling and thank you.

How do I get people to reply.

Welcome to RIU. First off, you get replys by waiting. As for your grow, yes you can easily expect 3.5g (and a lot more).I've seen cfl grows yeild 1oz per ft. As for 1 plant vs 2, it's debatable. Boils down to speed, as growing 2 smaller plants can yeild the same as 1 larger plant, but ofcourse veg time is increased with the 1 plant. Smell won't be much of issue till flower, before that it doesn't smell much different from any other green leaf plant. During bloom, you will get that familiar odor we all love. If it doesn't bother you haveing your room smell like that, then no filter is needed. Otherwise a carbon filter is nessecary to remove this odor. For your needs, cfl is all you will ever need. I would reccomend growing your 2 plants to around 8-12 inches as it can double-triple in size during the early bloom stretch. Plus cfls don't have the power to penitrate the canopy more than about 20". Keep your lights about 1-3" above your plants. 4 cfl's is good and 84 degrees is right on for temp. Humidity is a little low. Optimal levels are 60-70 in veg and 40-60 in flower, but you should be ok. If your currently in dixie cups (common for seedlings) then humidity will increase once you transplant to a larger pot. You could try putting a tray of water in the grow box, it may help to raise humidity. There's no reason to think you will fail, but ofcourse bagseed runs the risk of males. Hermaphrodites can still produce smokable weed, though if you a get a hermaphrodite and female, you may want to remove the hermaphrodite or it may pollinate the female. What nutrients are you useing?
Happy Growing.

It sounds like you have a ton of airflow for a small space, which is good, but i suspect that heat will be your biggest problem.

Small small cabs are hard to grow in. You can totally do it, but I found it to be surprisingly more difficult than a larger garden in a larger space.

If heat does get to be a problem, you might do well with some 24in fluoro strips rather than the cfls. If 3.5 grams is all you are looking for then strips would be plenty and keep your temps lower. I hear T5s glow cooler than T8's, but I don't know, my T8's for veg give off very little heat as well.

I would get a carbon filter, for sure.

If you are set on using this box, then it will work just fine.. but, something just a little bigger would have less heat problems, leave more room for fans/equip/carbon filter and so on.

1 plant is plenty... 2 plants is always nice though for some variety and as a backup in case one dies or doesn't do well.

Best of luck, sounds like you are going see some success. It's not rocket science. When troubles come up (they will) just think it out and solve the problem... like I said, I would guess heat issues might come up, which leads to hermie issues, higher male counts, other things..

I think even with EVERYTHING going wrong you will yield 3.5g - I think 14g (half oz is a more likely target, maybe more). You are not wasting your time, stick at it.

Thanks guys. Awesome responses, as far as nutes I'm not using anything at the moment. Heat may be a issue and I'm not opposed to building a new box but the room the box is currently in is rather warm. It's final destination will be around 10 degree cooler.

How would you suggest raising humidity, I already transplanted the seedlings to there final pots and I tried the pan of water idea.

I may buy a carbon filter, its my house but I have ppl over often that aren't 420 friendly. Neither is my wife.

Since your needs are quite low, I wouldn't worry too much about humidity. 60-70% is ideal for veg, but being around 40% is ok. Like Bigby said, even a poor grow will yeild 3.5g easy. I would definitly get a carbon filter is odor is at all an issue. Especially since I'm sure the last thing you need is your wife being all over you about the house smelling like a skunk lol. If cost is an issue, you could try this.http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100011568/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=carbon+filter&storeId=10051 You can cut it to size and fit it over the inlet and outlets of your inline fan. It will atleast cut down on the smell, if not elminate it. You could also get one of those plug-in auto sprayers like Glade or Febreeze makes. This should mask any remaining odor. If you buy an inline carbon filter, that will take care of all the smell on its own. I posted a link for one in the best deals sticky, page 214. That box is a good size for what you want to accomplish, but increasing the height would help with heat issues and leave more room for growth and equipment as HeartlandHank suggested.