i have been lurking around a bit and reading before finally joining today to post.

i am tentatively planning to buy a 250watts hps system, fox farms ocean forest soil, still need to pick a fert, a timer of course, and some fem seeds from nirvana-shop.

first, the area i'll be working with isa closet, its about 43" wide x 71" tall x 27" deep.

If I figure that the light will be about 11 inches tall, (im basically guessing and 11 makes the math simpler ) that leaves 60 inches minus say 8 inches space that needs to be kept between the light and the tops of the plants, and i dunno say another 6 inches of soil like from the bottom of the pot up to where the plant actually starts. because i am assuming when it is said that a plant will grow to 90cm, they are measuring from where the plant emerges from the soil to its very top (not from the bottom of the pot to the very top). If I am correct, that leaves me with about 46" or 3'10" for the plants to grow in.

does anyone have a particular strain they would recommend? i need something that will fit in the space i've got of course, so it can't need to grow higher than 3'10" for example. also id like a decent yield and strong thc, given the choice i would prefer a mixed or sativa high as opposed to a completely indica i-cant-get-up-off-the-couch kind of high. as stated before i was thinking about buying fem seeds to save the wasted time and resources of growing several plants up to the point where you can sex them and then having to discard the males. nirvana-shop sells kaya, medusa, northern bright, PPP, snow white, supergirl, venus, and wonder woman as fem seeds. are any of these a good choice?

Will I be able to grow two plants side by side in this setup? Or possibly even 3 in a kind of triangle formation? is the 250 a good light choice? I am worried that say 400 would be too damn hot, and 150 might not be enough... i should mention, i cannot really cut ventilation holes in the walls, im just not that handy. so the best i can possibly do is to have a fan in there, but it wont have a source of fresh air for intake or exhaust purposes. the room the closet is in maintains a moderate temperature (say 65-70 degrees)

basically i am planning to put the seedlings, once sprouted and potted, in the closet on an 18/6 lighting schedule, then change to 12/12 when they are ready to flower. i am still not 100% sure how to best judge when they are ready to start this flowering phase, advice anyone? also is 18/6 best for veg or should i go with even more like 20/4 or 24 hrs nonstop light?

another possibility i considered is to start with CFLs, in another closet of the same dimensions, from seedling sprouts up until they are ready to flower, then move them into the other closet with the HPS for flowering. would this be a good idea? this would also enable me to have a couple going at once.

another issue is, id like to avoid constantly buying seeds so i was hoping to clone... but if i only have one closet, i assume i cannot clone, correct? that is to say, once you take cuttings to clone them, you have to start vegging them right? so if i took cuttings from plants i couldn't keep the cuttings/clones in the same closet because the bigger plants would be ready to flower way before the cuttings would... but if i had that second cfl closet, i could put the clones in there, right?

as for the soil, if i use fox farms ocean forest what ferts are a good choice and when should i begin to introduce them? i have heard suggestions to use something called 'peter's 20-20-20' but i am not sure what this is exactly or how much to add to water and when. while i am on this topic, is it better to start in a small pot, then transplant to a medium pot later, than finally to a large pot? or should you just start in a giant pot and never change it? if you do change it, naturally every time you are adding soil you should be laying off the ferts for a while, right?

i am sorry to make such a long post but hopefully it will be very helpful for everyone else who is having the same concerns as me. thanks so much for reading!!!

first off, really long post..... but thats ok

your setup and idea seem to be ok. if possible, it's always better to have an exhaust at the very least, cause then the air will get pulled in from any other opening in the closet. you will want to switch the lights to 12/12 when your plants are 12 inches tall in order to make sure they stay under you 3 ft height restrictions. if you want to have a second room, thats fine, but you will want a bigger light, like a 400W for more plants, 250 will work for 2 or 3, but the more light the better, I love my 400W lights.

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my eyes always look like so if you dont like it! NOT GREED PEOPLE!

did you realize i meant a totally separate closet if i used a second room? ie 250watt hps in one closet for flowering, several CFLs in another closet for vegging

anybody else have some advice for me? it would be greatly appreciated

any comments on these questions -

is it better to start in a small pot, then transplant to a medium pot later, than finally to a large pot? or should you just start in a giant pot and never change it? if you do change it, naturally every time you are adding soil you should be laying off the ferts for a while, right?

basically i am planning to put the seedlings, once sprouted and potted, in the closet on an 18/6 lighting schedule, then change to 12/12 when they are ready to flower. i am still not 100% sure how to best judge when they are ready to start this flowering phase, advice anyone? also is 18/6 best for veg or should i go with even more like 20/4 or 24 hrs nonstop light?

Yea man...long ass post. Maybe if I had eaten a couple adderall I would have read it all. I'll try again later.

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Eat a couple adderall then!