60"x20" shelf for SoG?

I will be building a 60"x20" shelf, I believe I can fit about 50 4"pots on a single shelf for a soil grow. Should I be using bigger pots for a true sog grow? I have discovered a true sog grow is to have very short veg/flower cycles. I would like to know what I would need to feed 50 babies, as far as; nutes, soil, etc. I'm pretty sure if it was a small amount of plants I could buy a little bit of what I need and just give as needed. But I might need a lot of this stuff so I'm asking all you Jedi's to give an estimation of weight wise of how much I would need to raise 50 plants from seed to harvest for a true sog. I will be using an already existing shelf with about 1' depth, 5' width, and 2' height for the vegging/mother room. That is where I will veg all my clones along with keep mother plants as needed. I will be using all cfls in this area so suggestions on the amount of lumens I would need for that area and type of grow would be great. Also, I will be using fluros for flowering to keep heat down to a minimum, so if you have any tips on what fluro's are good for flowering I'm all ears... or eyes rather. If all this goes smoothly I should be satisified with the harvest. After this harvest I will be adding 2 more shelves in underneath. I look forward to making a journal the day I put together my first shelf.

Sometimes I'm a complete idiot so if my math is totally wrong or I just sound like an idiot in general, please correct me. I look forward to being able to grow with the pros!( and with your help, like one)

-HyC-

honestly bro u will need bigger pots than 4". That small of pots the plant will be root bound. u need 2-5 gal pots or bags per plant. as far as fluros go a good 4 to 8 buld t5 system will do the trick per shelf just keep them around 4-6" away from the tops of the plants. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to throw in one or two redder spectrum fluro bulbs in the mix for the flowering other than that stick between 5000k and 6400k bulbs. i'd also try to increase ur height another foot or two or ur going to have to become a master at LST and SCOG real fast. as far as nutes and supplies ur just going to have to do some research cuz they're are just so many out there. You wont need anything to crazy though since ur going with soil.

iamthehybrid said:

honestly bro u will need bigger pots than 4". That small of pots the plant will be root bound. u need 2-5 gal pots or bags per plant. as far as fluros go a good 4 to 8 buld t5 system will do the trick per shelf just keep them around 4-6" away from the tops of the plants. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to throw in one or two redder spectrum fluro bulbs in the mix for the flowering other than that stick between 5000k and 6400k bulbs. i'd also try to increase ur height another foot or two or ur going to have to become a master at LST and SCOG real fast. as far as nutes and supplies ur just going to have to do some research cuz they're are just so many out there. You wont need anything to crazy though since ur going with soil.

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Nice, thank you very much for the info(+support). So you think I should only attempt to fit 2 shelves in this bad boy? Also, would I be able to use 4" pots to start my baby seeds or clones in? I would like to find 4" pots that I'd be able to directly put into the bigger pot so I wouldn't have to take them out. Is there a type of small pot that roots can grow through? Again, thanks for the help!

All right, so I'm doing some research on my own here (as every inspiring grower should!) and I'm finding some pretty high prices on T5's which is ok with me by all means. But I'm wondering what's a good site that you pros use to purchase lights? Where could I go to find some reasonable T5's at a nice price? Thanks!

iamthehybrid said:

honestly bro u will need bigger pots than 4". That small of pots the plant will be root bound. u need 2-5 gal pots or bags per plant. as far as fluros go a good 4 to 8 buld t5 system will do the trick per shelf just keep them around 4-6" away from the tops of the plants. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to throw in one or two redder spectrum fluro bulbs in the mix for the flowering other than that stick between 5000k and 6400k bulbs. i'd also try to increase ur height another foot or two or ur going to have to become a master at LST and SCOG real fast. as far as nutes and supplies ur just going to have to do some research cuz they're are just so many out there. You wont need anything to crazy though since ur going with soil.

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Plants being rootbound is a myth perpetuated by the uninformed. It's perfectly possible to grow a decent plant in a small pot, and if space is limited or you want a quick turnaround time from clone to harvest, it's the best way. The disadvantage is that the soil can't hold as much water, so they may need watering two or three times a day towards the end of flower. Depends on temps and humidity.
Two feet isn't a lot of space, but it's workable if you flower straight from rooted clone and lollipop the plants (trim all the branches bar the main stem to produce one big bud). If you can add 6 inch or so to the height without comprimising the other shelves, it could make your task a bit easier.
For good growth you want about 7500 lumens per sq ft, but 5000 is ok. Bulbs should have a colour temperature of 6500k for veg, and 2700k for flower. Flouros can be as little as two inches from the growing tips if you have good airflow and it's not too hot.
As for nutes, I recommend Bio Canna, Bio Vega for veg, Bio Flores for flower. It's all I've used and never had a problem with it, the ph tends to be a little high, but my tapwater is higher. It's worth checking though, every time you feed test the solution and make sure it's around 6.5, then test the runoff, it should be about the same. If it's off, adjust the nutes at the next feed to compensate. After a while you should reach a balance.