First post - Intro - Grow Room setup - Input wanted

[Transmission]

-Sorry if this gets a bit long -

Intro

Hello all. After a long week with no power due to the Ice storm I had time to put the finishing touches on my basement setup and have a few concerns I'd like to get some advice on, more on that in a bit but first on with the intro.

Currently I reside in the Mid west (SW Mo.), just turned the big Three-ohh last December, I'm a home owner and share the roof with my GF of 5 years and two kids, a 1½ yo Black lab named Anubis and a 2 yo Boxer named Murphy. We both work from home and have a wonderfull relationship. Peachy

My girlfriend is an avid smoker, I on the other hand have not smoked on a regular basis in almost a decade. The last real bud I smoked was Afghani x Thunderfuck my friend had grown from some Very costly seeds. Honestly when I see the stuff my GF gets I weep. Dirty mexi hermie crossed with super shake brick.

Which is why I decided to turn our unused basement into a hobby for me and a source of free (well kinda) quality nugs for her. Also having a hobby away from the computer is nice too.

The room is setup for the most part. Its the dead of winter 29° outside atm so I plan on experimenting with some bag seed to troubleshoot my grow room before I put the dank in there in march. So I guess thats it for the intro, on with the setup.

Setup

People like pictures, its a fact. Sadly my parents are in possession of my camera taking pics of icestorm/tree damage at thier house for the insurace company, so actual pics will be later. In the meantime here's the layout:



I did a dry run (no plants) of the lights, pumps, fans, etc for about a week to test the system. I had a Drip irrigation setup in the Veg room and a 2 plant DWC in the Flowering room. Everything was setup and running smoothly, then the icestorm hit. No power for 8 days = very dead plants, thank god it was a empty. IMO that was Mother nature telling me to go soil, which I did. Also the lack of a local Hydro store meant ordering nutes through the mail everytime I needed to restock the system. So for now, soil it is.

As far as security goes, we both have very tight lips and almost all our friends are online so there is hardly any foot traffic. We have good relationships with our neighbors for the most part which is always important. Also our Dogs warn us if anyone steps foot on our property.

Input wanted

The SCRoG method is by far my favorite growing technique. From what I read most laws are based on how many plants you have growing and a plant is definned as having roots. I plan to keep it small as its only for personal use however I want the most bang for my buck as well.

This is what I am aspiring for. Two plants using the SCRoG method which will have a 3x5 surface area. Actually here is a pic of what I have my bar set to..



**This is not my grow its just being used for reference for those not reading along**

Here's where I'm looking for input and suggestion. Just some random questions and problems I noted during the dry run of the system and various other concerns.

- Any thoughts on the design in the 1st pic? Wasted space etc?

- How feesible is a SCRoG like pictured above to do in soil instead of DWC like I originally planned?

- The first 'real' grow I plan on using Hashberry and Bubblelicious. Any recommenations on these, or other strains for a SCRoG first timer?

- I have a older house with a up untill now neglected basement. I noticed ALOT of dust flying around the HPS with the fans going. Ive already swept, mopped, and scrubed the floors and walls with bleach water but the dust just won't go away. Any suggestions on dust removal?

** Think I already have the dust under control now thanks to the help of KP from another site and this HEPA Air Purifier. Removes Dust and has odor control. Double score =)

OK, my text-to-pic ratio has gotten off so I guess thats it till I get my cam back. Till then, Thanks for reading.

 

[macster]

if your floors are cement you might consider painting them , this while decrease your dust problem immensely.
I started growing hydro, then lost my source for clones and then started mothers in soil to clone off of.I can't believe the difference in growing speed (now this could be the strain but it still seems much slower) So I'd go back to your DWC.

 

[Transmission]

if your floors are cement you might consider painting them , this while decrease your dust problem immensely.

Great idea, Thanks. Luckily for me I still have a gallon of Killz and a few Gallons of flat white paint lying around. Now if I could just muster up the motivation to do it.

 

[subrob]

hey trans- looks good. have you thought of switching the rooms? veg in the smaller room? if its just for personal, you wont have need for many clones- it will be easier to control the temp from your hid in the larger room<unless you already have it airtight and well ventilated.> also, if you are like many of us, you will spend time working with and just checkin out your budding plants. will you have the two girls budding side by side, or two deep? really want to be able to inspect them closely your first few grows till you get your rhythm.
Seal those rooms up tight!! from the start you want to have as much control over your enviroment as possible. this is as important a factor as light and genetics. filter air in and out! scrog is a great method of growing. again, if its just personal, you get the right strain, you should just be able to grow a couple plants just straight up and have more than enough ozs to last-espec. with a mother giving babies as needed.

also:white walls or mylar,select nutes carefully,learn about proper flushing,harvesting,curing, the list goes on.....good news is everything you need to know can be found here. good luck....sub

 

[Lofty]

Hi transmission yr getting good advice there, looks like u've got plenty of room in the space to put small air con and bring in cool fresh air if temp is prob with good carbon vent out shud b safe.

i did dwc bur went back to soil, i hav small space n find it much mor doable being able to move pots around to get at the buds for checking tieing etc.

 

[Transmission]

hey trans- looks good. have you thought of switching the rooms? veg in the smaller room? if its just for personal, you wont have need for many clones- it will be easier to control the temp from your hid in the larger room<unless you already have it airtight and well ventilated.>also, if you are like many of us, you will spend time working with and just checkin out your budding plants. will you have the two girls budding side by side, or two deep?

Thanks for the advice. My main reason for the small size of the flowering room is to compensate for the lack of light. 400w doesn't cover very much so I decided to make it that size and hang Mylar on three of the four walls for better reflectivity. Its not shown in the diagram but both vents are filtered, the upper exaust vent is set up to go out of the chimminey after passing through a baffle box, and the lower intake vent is just fresh air being pulled into the room. The week i did a test run the temp never got above 72° which was one of my main concerns for the smaller room. What about making the flowering room a bit bigger, would that help any?

I plan on flowering them side by side in 3 gallon pots, something else that i guess didnt get into my little diagram, the entrance to each room is the Green text in the pic.

Speaking of pics, those colas are HUGE. That some African strain or what? j/k Were those done in soil or hydro? They look tip top.

also:white walls or mylar,select nutes carefully,learn about proper flushing,harvesting,curing, the list goes on.....good news is everything you need to know can be found here. good luck....sub

Couldn't agree more. I dont think I could have got off the ground without this site. I've been reading post after post for quite some time (some as far back as page 28 in the indoor grows>soil section) trying to get up to par with the rest of you guys. Amaizing comunity, really.

Hi transmission yr getting good advice there, looks like u've got plenty of room in the space to put small air con and bring in cool fresh air if temp is prob with good carbon vent out shud b safe.

i did dwc bur went back to soil, i hav small space n find it much mor doable being able to move pots around to get at the buds for checking tieing etc.

Thanks for the tip Lofty, hadn't concidered using an A/C before I may look into that if the temps become a problem during the summer months. From what I've been reading soil is for the most part idiot proof, which is what I need for my first grow. Plan for the worst hope for the best as it were. One of the reasons I also decided to go soil is there would be less chance of human error n my part effecting the grow. If nothing else I can do a few grows in soil and see what kind of effects the room has on the plants and then maybe try doing hydro, that way I would have a better idea of what was going on if problems arose.

 

[Lofty]

another good temp control is to use cool tubes for the lites. its much easier to control temp all year round.

good luck

 

[the Shrubber]

without air / water cooling ambient temps can get way out of hand during the summer.

 

[space_cowgirl]

Welcome!

Welcome!

Hello Transmission,
This site and the people here ARE amazing. Glad to see another soil grower. Have you thought about doing an organic grow?
SC