Auto Closet Grow with 315 watt CMH

Hi there.

I just walled off a section of this weird short tube-like closet in my house. The finished grow space is 30x40 inches, with a height of 63 inches. The fixture is the absolute cheapest cmh fixture I could find - a $150 all in one kit from Vivosun. It has the 3100k bulb. The closet is on the second floor of my house and we have an unfinished third story, a big attic Basically. I cut a 6”hole for an air duct so I could install a fan and filter with the intake end in the grow room ceiling and the filter mounted in the attic. I started 4 plants - they should start poking through the dirt tomorrow or the next day. I have 1 Diesel Berry from Auto Seeds, 2 Lemon Autos from Seedsman and a NL Auto from Seedsman as well. They are all currently in solo cups but will go into 3 gallon pots with Fox Farm Oceans Forest soil. I don’t have any Nutrients planned yet, I can grab some from a local grow store if I need them later. Anyway, here are a few pictures of my setup and off we go.
* the led is on because the duct fan I plugged in was dead so I can’t run my cmh until my new fan comes from Amazon later today.

I have 2 seedlings currently, both of the lemon autos broke through the soil in the last 2 days. I can see the NL just breaking through the surface. The Diesel Berry is another story..... one of two didn’t pop, it swelled in water but stayed solid and wouldn’t crack. The one that did pop started to break through the soil with the seed stuck on top, I tried to operate but cracked the tap root in the process.... These seeds seem to have really hard shells that don’t break open easy. The Seedsman free seeds popped and sprouted no problem. Anyway I planted another NL and will now be running with the 2 lemons and 2 NLs. I got my new fan installed but it was way too much for my little space. It’s a hydroworld 260 cfm , my space is 45ft3. I ran to the hardware store and bought a speed controller to run it at about 50%. It seems a little better now and not nearly as loud. Here is a pic of my solo cups, you can kind of see the lemon babies under the Saran Wrap. There is also a picture of my fan controller and my exhaust set up from the attic side.

Not much new to report. I do have 4 seedlings now, the last NL auto broke through the soil a couple of days ago. My temps have been mostly right around 85, but I think I will get that down a few degrees lower once a small clip on fan I ordered from Amazon arrives. Right now the only airflow is the exhaust port, and it is noticeably warmer under the light than outside its footprint. I noticed the humidity was really low when I checked it so I added an essential oil diffuser, which sucks because I have to refill it every 3 hours, but better than 15% humidity I guess. In a week or two, I’ll order a humidifier with a humidistat and fix the humidity more permanently. I also drilled some holes in the bottom corner of the exterior wall for passive air intake. (My temps were near 90, this brought it down to 86. I think a few more holes and the clip on fan will really help dial in my environment. Anyway, here are a few pics.

Not a good idea to vent to attic.

JoeBlow5823 said:

Not a good idea to vent to attic.

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If it were a bigger grow space I would be concerned about venting too much warm air up there, but my attic is huge and the amount of warm air going up there is a drop in the bucket....... I still may vent it directly outside, I don’t know.

Eastownclan said:

If it were a bigger grow space I would be concerned about venting too much warm air up there, but my attic is huge and the amount of warm air going up there is a drop in the bucket....... I still may vent it directly outside, I don’t know.

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Your running a 315 cmh, no reason to vent it outside at all was my point.

Oh I got you, haha. Thanks

Nothing new to report really, just healthy seedlings. The fan I added seems to be helping with temps, I stayed around 84 yesterday after I added it, but I might get a second one or a bigger one. Here is a pic:

I repotted my plants last night. The two on the right are the Lemon Autos and the two on the left are NL autos. So far everything looks good on them. I have a humidifier coming tomorrow which I will put just outside the closet to get my humidity a little bit. That’s all for now.

New pics! The first 2 are lemon, the second 2 are Northern lights.

I started to LST the 2 lemons and the bigger NL of the two. I normally tie my plants down 2 or 3 times mostly just to control the height. With the limited height (5 ft) of this space I want to be extra cautious. I’ll tie them down again when they grow another 2 inches or so.

How old are they? Im growing autos they are 4wks now

19 days from seed, there is a smaller NL that started a few days later.

Here are a couple pics of the auto lemons. Both started showing pistils yesterday. The big NL isn’t showing pistils yet, but looks like it has preflowers.

Looking good. I'd actually advise sticking to led to keep the heat off. I really like how my plants responded to switching to led

puffdatchronic said:

Looking good. I'd actually advise sticking to led to keep the heat off. I really like how my plants responded to switching to led

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I’ve been thinking that. The bulb I started them on was a little 30 watt led I bought for growing lettuce on the kitchen counter. I tried a 300 watt eBay purple led once but the yields were awful. I looked at a 600 or 1000 watt Mars led before I got the cmh, I just really didn’t want to waste my time if the yields were too low (I’ve heard the Mars ones work well, but don’t personally know anyone using them) I do have some more options for heat though. I’m only running my exhaust fan at 50% right now, and I’m adding another small fan to circulate air inside the space.

Well i used a 250 watt hps and metal halide for my first 10 years of growing. I'm a closet grower, 1 plant at a time moderate personal smoker, any extra i need i buy off the internet, and would always get 50 -80 gs

Then i made the switch to a 300 watt blurple and my first grow with it yielded an ounce, thought I'd made a big mistake. But i gave it a few more runs and yielded my usual 50 / 60gs.

So yield is very strain dependent.

A 300 watt is adequate for 2 plants max, according to the manufacturer

Im germinating seeds atm under my hps600 dual bulb..not done this before so any thoughts?

New pics! All plants have pistils showing. One of the lemons (the second pic) is going to be a heavy yielder. It has lower branches quickly catching up with the top. The other lemon really wants to stay more upright, even after the first lst, but that’s ok. They both smell mildly of lemon, but they don’t smell nearly as strongly as the NL. The entire closet stinks like NL. The slower growing NL plant looks like it wants to remain as a single cola, but the other NL has numerous side branches that are growing quickly. (3rd pic) I think this one is going to yield a lot as well.

What kind of yield are you hoping to pull from those 4 plants?