60 Plant Grow Setup

He isn't doing sog because he's only in that house for 5 months.

And in my opinion hydro is still more difficult then soil for a newbie like him. And he seems like the type to just "jump in". Soil is a lot less risky if you dont know what you're doing, especially if he uses an organic nute mix.

Oh okay I see now... I didn't figure out he was a beginner(nothing wrong with that.) By looking at his setup and his expectations I figured he had a few grows underneath his belt..(thats a pretty large setup)

In that case YES go soil, it'll be more forgiving if you mess up with nutrients..plus you'll learn alot and 5 months is just about enough time to veg up and bang out a crop. If you start NOW..

Hi There, I'm no expert grower as i have just started myself, but I would suggest 1 thing.. The Smell!! I'm not sure how much a Carbon Filter will be in your area but it would be something very usefull to consider, my neighbour just got busted for only 8 plants purely because of the smell pouring out of his window! He'd spent £200 on a filter but didn't install it... Muppet!

Anywayz... GL on your grow everything looks great

Might want to get a snake and clean out that vent before you put a fan on it or you'll have lent in your rooom lol unless its a brand new house.

MR.X

trenton said:

Caligrown laundry room is right next to garage. I dont have dryer so I will use that dryer vent from the outside for my intake fan and run some duct into the grow room. This is at the bottom of the room and will be just perfect for intake. I am getting my 60 clone on friday so alot of work will be done tomorrow. Thanks.

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Stranger. thankyou for all of your advice. Soil is what Im going with for my first grow. Later I will definately switch to hydro. It is my first grow but I have been doing my homework and reading lots of books. Today I am installing an intake fan at the bottom of the room, then acroos the room I am aircooiling my lights with the biggest charcoal filter I can buy an exhausting it out the room up high.
Stem, Please give me advice on what kind of soil and nutes to buy. I would like something where possibly to NPK is 10-10-10 or 20-20-20 (i think). Thanks alot.

I just use any soil that dosnt have much additives. I was recomended kellogs by some people on here recently. couldnt find it.
but just get some plaNTS IN THERE MAN!!! i want to see it in action!!!!!!!!!!

have you thought about sectioning off the garage to make a large floqwer room and a smaller veg room? also, hanging one light on a light mover over a 4x8 tray is not just econmical but effeciant, by introducing photropism. you can then utilize your other light(s) for the veg room.

for your ventilation, i recomend using a 12in vortex inside a junction box. have your lights on a closed system going through the fan as well as a can filter hooked up to the junction box. i cant find a pic of it but the idea is you build a box that encloses your fan that has an exaust and two intake. one for a can filter and the other for your lights. good luck

thats a pretty sweet ass setup man. Im pretty excited to see this room when its all done and plants are in.

Good Luck Man

I did not see a response to the question "are you ballasts switchable".? I don't know if you are going to need one, but something to be prepared for, Air Conditioner. You just may need one.
I personally would make a veg room, and get another batch going...If you want to use up all the time you have there, and get the most buds per watt, then you should use three of your lights for the bloom room while the plants are small, and use one for Veg. When your second batch is ready to move in, toss the 4th light back into your bloom room. Have you thought about putting your plants in one row? Just a thought...

I haven't read all of this forum, so if my words are pertinent, so be it, and if not, discard them.

It is more efficient to push cool air through your reflectors than to suck the hot air out. If your reflectors have glass lenses, get yourself some high quality duct tape and seal off the edges of the lens. Get yourself a real powerful fan (or even two if you want to take care of each dyad of lights separately). I like centrifugal fans or squirrel cage fans for this, as they're quiet and efficient.

Depending on your situation, you are either blowing air through your reflectors or sucking air through them. Sucking air through them is easier as it requires less ducting (make sure you get the right diameter ducting). Your set up will either be:

1. fan outside grow area connected by ducting to lights, fan pulling air

or

2. fan outside grow area connected by ducting to lights, with more ducting from lights going to the outside of the grow area, fan pushing air

The second scenario is superior because in the first scenario, when the air in the reflector is sucked into the fan, the movement of the air creates a vacuum, which draws in air outside the reflector (which is in the grow area). In the second scenario, air outside the grow area is drawn into the reflector. Ideally, it's as though the lamps don't exist in the grow area, but the light they produce does.

Make sure to take into account the ducting required to exhaust the fans. Spending money here and getting yourself a real monster of a fan will pay off loads in BUD. I keep my air cooled lamp 6 inches from my canopy.

Just don't forget to also exhaust the air from your grow room. You'll need a complex ventilation system with many modules to properly vent such a powerhouse grow area as you have.

You'll need:

1. Air cooling for your lights(You'll need to research how much power you'll need in a fan for so many high wattage lamps)
2. Exhaust for your grow area(Enough to evacuate your grow area once every three minutes, at LEAST)
3. Intake for your grow area(For such a large area, active is better than passive. Get a dedicated fan)
4. Circulation for your grow area(In the form of many oscillating fans. You'll probably need at least three)

Thanks for all of your advice. My ballast are not switchable but the owner of the shop said I could use the metal halide bulbs it will just slightly lessen the life of the bulb.

Ok, I have a question. I am about to go the hydro store to buy an intake fan. I know that the intake fan is suppose to be low in the room. The laundry room is next to the garage and of course I don't have a dryer. I am using that 240 Volt outlet for all 4 lights on a 30 amp breaker. Yes, I also have a relay with timer. Back to the intake fan. Next to the 240 volt outlet is a 4 inch hole with about a 4 foot tube which goes to the out side of the house. This is suppose to be for the dryer that I don't have. I would like to connect ducting and a fan to that hole and run it into the garage (About 4 feet away). Will this be ok. Remember the hole going outside of the house is only 4 inches wide and cannot be modified. How big does my intake fan have to be. Again the garage dimensions are 24'WX24'LX8.5"H. I know that the intake hole can be alot smaller than the exhaust hole

get an 8 inch intake fan and modify it with an adapter to fit the 4 inch aperture. this is a nice setup but if you have some more money to spend there are some things you can do to get a bigger yield. first off for nutes try out FoxFarms. simple to use for soil, its great and its organic. honestly I would try to swap out those reflectors. your room is huge so you dont need air cooled. with some oscillating fans and a good exhaust fan heat wont be a problem. get something bigger so the light will be distributed better. maybe you can exchange them still? if not nevermind. have you thought about light movers? you would be able to get the plants more light if they are moving across the tops of them. plus the heat would be moving so it wouldnt just be right on the same four plants the whole time. but its air cooled right now so you can manage. more lights would be better but if you dont want an increase in electricity than nevermind. one thing I would hghly suggest is giving that room a bleach treatment. since its a garage it might not be airtight and can have little bugs all over the place which will love to live in that garage. so if you didnt clean it really really good than now is the time. make sure you can get the lights to a good height cuz you dont want the plants stretching to reach them. then just raise them as they grow. if the reflectors are air cooled than you can get them a lot closer and if you had light movers it would be perfect. dont do SOG for this space and soil is your best bet for sure. so basically i would suggest more lamps if possible and light movers. some good oscillating fans and if possible nice big reflectors. dont forget about molasses when you are flowering since this has had a swelling effect on the buds. you seem to have read a lot so that can only help. keep us updated this looks like a great setup. and yeah that mylar looks too far away to really do anything. plant some other plants in there to kill off some of the odor and make sure you get a huge carbon filter and/or a bunch of smaller ones. this can raise electricity a bit though so be mindful of that. i think the biggest issue will be the odor. make sure every opening is sealed tight and basically cover the entire room with the poly lining. make sure you get multiple thermometers cuz the foor and each door and window will affect it in separate zones. the fans will help but ou might want to insulate that a little better. im using Fox Farms nutes for my soil grow and its very easy to use.

trenton said:

Stem, Please give me advice on what kind of soil and nutes to buy. I would like something where possibly to NPK is 10-10-10 or 20-20-20 (i think). Thanks alot.

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Just keep it simple man, you have lots of people here telling you what to do, but it's such a big op that you'll be a lot less likely to make mistakes the simpler it is. It's good to see that you've been doing your research though

I'd go with a basic peat moss soil mix for soil and try basic-store bought nutes instead of mixing your own. Your hydro store could probably point you to a couple, I don't know what they sell in your area. Just get some good veg nutes and bloom nutes for flowering.

Stem

EDit: make sure you have your ph pen. and get those plants goin! you've got a big audience for this one.

I agree with Magus on many issues..

for my soil gro i use pro-mix with perlite, about 30-40% mized into it for drainage. looks like the plants love it so far. and those Fox Farms nutes are really simple to use and they sell a three pack for ease of use. one is for vegging, called big grow, one for flowering called big bloom. then there is another called tiger bloom which is used for flowering also. its simple and only three parts and relatively cheap too. probably run you $130 for the entire grow.

MagusALL said:

for my soil gro i use pro-mix with perlite, about 30-40% mized into it for drainage. looks like the plants love it so far. and those Fox Farms nutes are really simple to use and they sell a three pack for ease of use. one is for vegging, called big grow, one for flowering called big bloom. then there is another called tiger bloom which is used for flowering also. its simple and only three parts and relatively cheap too. probably run you $130 for the entire grow.

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That sounds good.

yeah, the more crazy shit you try to do, especially in a first grow, especially in a big operation, the more chance you have of fucking it up. and it would be a huge pain in the ass to have to leech 60 3 gallon pots.

i just found this thread. trenton's doin' it right. love it. i see you have had a few questions but spent no time hung up on them. your room has progressed rather nicely. i have a feeling you'll come very close to your goal. two 1000 watters per 4 X 8 table is the norm. you should get at least 1 lb per light if all goes well. at least. this should be a nice follow along. thank you for sharing.