Second grow bigger scale!

[ThisIsTheWay]

Hello everyone!

This is going to be quite the adventure but it’s happening. My father and I have decided to take on a new hobby. We are building a room in the attic that is 8’X14’. I created a diagram that is laid out in my opinion with the most efficient use of space. I will be posting regular updates including construction pictures.

The issue I’m running in to is I will have a seedling/vegitation room with two 2’X7’ drain tables one on each side of the room (see diagram). I’m wondering what I should do about lighting. One side will be devoted to vegitation the other will be split in half vegitation/seedlings should I go with 4 600W Metal Halide lights 2 per side or should I go with 3 600W Metal Halide light and one compact fluorescent light for seedlings?

 

[Old Salt]

to the forum...

I suspect that there's too much room in the seedling/veg side. It would depend on how you cycle into the flower room. Are you going to move one in as you take one out, or will you re-load the entire flower room in one shot? Are you keeping mothers, or are you growing from seed?

For the seedlings/veg, I'd go with LED panels, 4000°K or 4500°K for veg, and I might try a 6500°K for the seedlings. This would save quite a bit of power, if that was a concern.

If this is going to be for your first grow, I'd suggest using a tent or two to start and solving the issues which will come up. The size of your grow space means that it will take a lot of time to maintain.

 

[Silverfox125]

I was thinking the same thing. You would benefit from making the veg space a tad smaller. @Old Salt is spot on with all the advice he gave.

welcome to the community

 

[ThisIsTheWay]

This is my second grow, my first was in a tent and it was documented under the abandoned journal section TheDoorMouse. I can remember the email I used and the login won’t work.

do you think I should go from 2-8’X7’ rooms to one 8’X8’ room and one 8’X6’ rooms? Like this?

I would like to have a good cycle going where I have everything running cohesively flower out veg in seedling/clone started. The timing will be difficult since the flowering takes longer than the early stages/vegetation.

 

[ThisIsTheWay]

Continued, I would like to keep a mother plant and I may start with clones from the beginning instead of having to weed out males.

when I did my first grow LEDs were still kind of new and in the works I think. For an area of 2’X6’ would I need multiple LED panels at 4500°K? would one 6500°K panel suffice for an early life/ seedling area of 2’X3’? Should partition off the two spaces?

 

[Old Salt]

Continued, I would like to keep a mother plant and I may start with clones from the beginning instead of having to weed out males.

when I did my first grow LEDs were still kind of new and in the works I think. For an area of 2’X6’ would I need multiple LED panels at 4500°K? would one 6500°K panel suffice for an early life/ seedling area of 2’X3’? Should partition off the two spaces?

No, you wouldn't need to partition off the seedling section as it's on the same lighting schedule as the vegging section.

I suggest using painter's tape to mark out your proposed grow space. both the walls and any work benches. Use the actual pots you'll use, or paper cutouts to simulate them, and put them in place. Add any tanks you'll use for water or nutrients. Walk around it for a few days. Move the pots as you would to maintain your plants. It's easy and cheap to change things at this stage. With the plants located, you can plant the lighting for your setup. gather the information for the lights you are considering, and mark their footprints. Then do the same for ventilation, including any wall fans. Don't forget to account for cool tubes if you'll use them. Add the equipment you'll use for environmental control, heaters, air conditioners, humidifiers, dehumidifiers etc. Add the monitoring equipment. With all of this done, you can plan the locations of the electrical outlets and panels. Don't forget to add an extra easily accessible outlet or two to each of the areas. Plan your plumbing at this time.

If you do this, you'll avoid many common mistakes in construction, and the frustration of having to correct them later while your plants are inhabiting the space.