Lighting and Media Help ! for Large Stealth

Hi guys,

Long time no speak, eventually I got a little smoke from my last adventures and now its time for a new venture.

I have a little bit of a strange place to grow in though and would like some advice.

My space is 90 inches long, 40 inches wide and 40 inches high but it slants at one side so only 50 inches of the space is full hight. It kinda looks like this ...

Side view

50"
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|40 inches high
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90 inches

Please excuse the ascii art lol.

This space is up a ladder so its hard to reach which makes it a little harder....

Ventilation and heat will both be issues so I want to grow with cfl's.

I am going to box off the highest part on the left so I can have a second chamber on the right for clones and hopefully a mother or two if they will fit.

The main grow area area will be 40" by 50" and 40" high.

Will 2 x 250 or 300 watt CFL's cover this area or am I going to need more light ?

I cant afford more to start with but I am thinking I could eventually fit 2 or 3 x 300 watt red cfl's and a couple of 125 blue's maybe some smaller bulbs to move around the hotspots on the plants.

Another problem will be fitting that many reflectors in the space, Could I build my own light rack and paint everything white or will I need to house each light individually for maximum output ?

What do you guys think more light ? is it overkill ?

I am thinking SOG so I dont have to worry about the hight too much....

What media or hydro system is going to be easiest and cheapest to manage up a ladder and in a confined space ?

What strains are good for SOG ?

All input is appreciated. This one is going to be fully journalled and I am waiting to buy the kit in the next week or two

It would be great to have you guys onboard !

50 views and no replys ?

I can provide more info if needed

I cracked a seed in my conservatory while I am waiting to get my setup. Its tropical in there, northern UK but its south facing so lots of lovely light all day.

Are the edges of the leaves curling up a little or is that just me ?

We repotted today as the tap root hit the bottom of the last pot a day or so ago.

if vents and heat are going to be an issue, figure them out! It cam make you grow not worth the time and effort! that space is small enough that with the cfls I wouldn't use any reflectors, just go to a hydro shop and get some black and white plastic (panda plastic) and cover the the top, bottom and all the sides, this will also make it easier to keep the place clean.

looks like you are already doing soil so that answers that question (medium not media). I would figure out where I wanted my plants and make adjustable stand for all the lights! no reflectors the room is small enough to use the plastic. you started from seed so it is going to be hard for you to do sog. the plant needs to mature before you can flower it, unless those are going to be your mothers. With it being just over 3ft tall you are most likely going to need to be doing some bending or LST and or topping even with the sog. the pots and lights are going to take at least a third of that.

Cool !

How come no reflectors I was looking at using those HUUUUGGGGEEEE 300 watt CFL's bulbs. Should I use a shit load of smaller ones instead ?

panda plastic or mylar to line it with ? or are they the same thing ?

I have 10 more seeds so its debatable what I do for the actual grow I just wanted to crack a seed to keep me interested

Any other hints ? a Screen perhaps ?

Cheers guys

Mouse

you also said you were going to add lights over time, put the pots in the room and place the lights you have in the room and see what kind of space you have. I would think about where i can add more lights and or plants then. the light doesn't just have to be up top! with the space being longer you might want to do something like the picture but lower. just keep bending it over as it grows.

because the white side of the plastic is very reflective and with the space you have the lights will be close to the walls already. maybe 1 or 2 reflectors up top while you can fit them.

the big ones are better because you will run out of space with too many small ones! I cant give you an exact number to of light you can fit, just start with the ones you have and add as you can then if you run out of space you will have to remove lights or trim the plant.

save your seeds! you are going to need to "crack" all or at least a few of them, veg for a few months, put them into flower and see if you have males or females!

A 7'6"x3'6" will swollow up 3, even 4 300 watt CFLS. And you can certainly SOG from seed. Not sure why the other dude thinks clone only for SOG.....and the Panda film is the way too go. No matter your light choice you want to line your grow area with something reflective and easily cleaned........

cowboylogic said:

A 7'6"x3'6" will swollow up 3, even 4 300 watt CFLS. And you can certainly SOG from seed. Not sure why the other dude thinks clone only for SOG.....and the Panda film is the way too go. No matter your light choice you want to line your grow area with something reflective and easily cleaned........

Click to expand...

I never said clone only! it is much harder to sog from seed! you have to let the plants veg for a while for them to mature before you flower them! clones have the same genes as their mother so they think they are old enough already! doing a sog is much easier with clones because the plants are small and mature! Starting from seed he has no space! starting from seed I dont like clipping until I know if it is female or male! I know you can trim some but I want the least amount of stress possible before I know! His closet is just over 3 feet tall!

Hi guys,

just a little update of my friend in the conservatory.

We had some scorching sun today and I forgot to open the window. It was a little too hot in there until I got out of bed today but after the window opened the plant is recovering nicely.

Still working on the setup, will be back with more pics soon

Hi Mouse Hard to say if 3'4" ceiling is too low or not? If you kept "her" trimmed and bushed her out it wouldnt be so bad tho. You'd have to flower a little earlier cuz I hear most plants double or even triple in size when they're put into flowering. Could be kinda hectic ya know? lulz CFL's could work if you had enough of them. Obviously the more wattage the better. The heat problem wouldnt be so bad with these. Just get you a little fan to keep air moving and stimulate strong stalk growth. Ventilate your room a couple times a day. I used emergency blankets and CFLs when I started my biggest one. She seemed to love it. Plant looks good btw Glad it recovered. Too much heat is definately not a good thing and it coulda been WAY worse Happy growing

4 of the 8 seeds have cracked

I have 4 liddle shoots ! Pics to come when you can actually see the leaves out of the soil lol

Now my biggest one a couple of weeks old now (see above pic) is starting to yellow ever so slightly around the center of the growth.

Should I wait and see if it clears up as the roots develop or start on a very mild nitrogen feed ? 1/10 or 1/5 strength

I had issues with nute burn before and now I am uber cautious.

Also can someone move this over to a journal section or do I start another thread for that ?

Peace out

Id say the biggest one could handle 1/4,1/5 strength nutes for sure

Hi !

So still in soil on the ledge full of sun !

Moved to 7.5 litre pots today with a 3rd perlite and vermiculite to general purpose dirt.

Watered them in and they are doing nicely. Really need to get my money through so I can make some purchases and get this thing really moving.

Hope you like my update !

Video link ! https://rapidshare.com/files/460257464/VID_00017-20110502-1600.3GP

Mouse

Hey guys,

Anyone checked the video yet ?

Mouse

Hi guys,

So I have been a busy bee !

I went and bought two 250 watt maxibright CFL's the blue has arrived and the red will arrive on tuesday when it will get put up.

I also grabbed a load of diamond sheeting and lined the inside of my area, I have topped all the smaller plants and topped and removed leaves from the biggest one.

They have also been tied down.




Here are the Pictures,

You can see there are some from before they were tied down topped and trimmed.

Current mistakes so far (first grow on this setup). Leaving the lights on 24 hours for the first 36 hours hit the swich on the side of the timer by accident(they are on 18/6 btw. Had a hook fall out of the ceiling dropping the light on the plants. Had the big plant escape its bindings and it was touching the light for a few minutes leading to a little burn on the top and one main leaf.

Lets try and keep that list small huh

They are in soil, perlite and vermiculite being fed a mild nitrogen based feed to keep them going ( I think I need to up the strength but without a PH EC meter I am very wary of doing so). They will be set to flower in a week or two (maybe a little more) under 1 250 watt blue and 1 250 watt red cfl. While flowering this time I will be adding 1 more 250 watt CFL and moving from a small oscilating fan to an extractor with carbon capture. At that stage I will be able to start adding more lights.

I am aiming to fit 4 red and two blues into the flowering chamber eventually so I'm shooting for a lot of light. Thats a 40" by 50" space with 1500 watts of CFL goodness in it.

The next grow will be in coco but for the minute I am settling for soil.

List of stuff I need in order:

1. PH and EC meter
2. Better ventilation.
3. a better door for my space that is easier to light proof (currently its a massive piece of diamond sheet that I have to carefully replace every time I enter.
4. More light !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5. Better Ferts

The humidity and heat up there were way tooooooo high so I have moved the fan so that it blows out the entrance of the grow for the moment, the downside is that this means one side has no reflective sheeting covering it it meaning wasted lumens.

Upside is my plants are not dying from heat and humidity.

Hope you like my setup, please give me some feedback !

Cheers guys,

Mouse

hey they look really long to me but nice, i like your setup, and for your door that you want what kind of door do you have on it now? what are you going in a cardbord box or what is it made of i'll try to help you make something almost air tight for as cheap as possible and does the job good.

Its a bunk bed that you have to climb up a ladder to reach so its open across one side and sealed on all others. The grow is in the squarish area of the bunk bed and the ladder is at the section where the ceiling starts to angle. You can see the size and shape in my first post.

Its kinda like this with the grow in the square area and the ladder where the ceiling angles. Currently there is some spare diamond sheeting wrapped round it.

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I was thinking build a frame and make a slide in door so that its airtight ?

Still not sure though....