Inherited a grow space, critique my design and help optimize my space

[Gobstopp]

Long story short, I inherited a grow space from my late father in law. When he passed he still had a plant in flower, which i finished. The space is now mine, I can set up a spot, but their are limitations, which is why i seek the critical knowledge of the IC community. This is my first design/build, so feel free to be as critical as you want, I’m here to learn.

The space is in a detached unfinished garage which currently has no climate controls or ventilation other then eaves where the ceiling joists are. My father in law draped ballets from the ceiling to form a room in the corner and hung a 1000w se hps bulb in a air cooled hood. The space is 5’x10’ with a 8’6” ceiling which is ceiling joists. I cannot run a mini split, as my mother in law doesn’t want an electrocution to install the 240v power, or an ac guy to do the final charge of the system. She’s very against the mini split or a window unit, so my only ac option is a dual hose 14k btu portable ac. I plan on running a sealed room with small amounts of c02. I may run a ventilated room at first, but the goal is a sealed room with c02. I’ll be growing in organic soil and use nutrients as the plants call for it.

I have various design ideas but I’m unsure which would function and operate best.

Most importantly are room dimension and lighting options.

First idea: frame a 5x10 room with drywall and insulation. With 2 of the 4 walls already being exposed and unfinished, it will be very easy to insulate and hang drywall. Framing the other 2 walls is easy, I have plenty of carpentry experience. I planned on running 3x gavita 6/750 de hps because of the low ceilings. I figured 3 would give me very nice consistent spread across the whole room. I though about watering and work space, maybe I should leave a 18”-24” space in the middle so I can still work in the room? I feel bad leaving dead space in the middle, especially with 3 lights, since one of the lights will be basically dead center. I was going to run a wide gavita reflector on the middle light.

Build room 4x9. Run 2x gavita 6/750 leave 24” in the middle to work in the room and water.

Tent, 5x9 7’11” gorilla grow, 3 gavita 6/750 with little space in the middle, as the tent has access from the sides

Tent, 5x10 cheap tent, same setup, 3 gavita 6/750 with little free space inside

Tent, 5x12 (150x360x242) secret jardin. I love the design of the tent and I love the size, it really maxes out the garage space. It’s really set up for 2 lights though, with 2’ of work space in the middle. My issue is, I don’t think 2x gavita 6/750w would be enough, and I’m concerned about running 1000w de hps with only 7’11” ceiling heights in a tent. Even without a tent, 8’6” ceilings are pretty low for 1000w de hps. I was thinking about running 3x gavita 6/750w with a wide gavita reflector on the middle one, but I feel like it would be wasteful since it would be centered in the room, right over 2’x5’ of empty space. I thought about 4 gavita 600w, but I feel like that’s over kill for essentially 2 5x5 rooms in the same tent. I could fill the middle space with plants, but with the tent being 5’x12’, I’m not sure I’ll be able to access everything from the sides, since the tent might be right up against other stuff.

 

[dufous]

I have a very similar situation. I'm thinking of transitioning from swamp grows to indoor growing.

Please tell me, what is a draped ballet?

 

[Gobstopp]

I have a very similar situation. I'm thinking of transitioning from swamp grows to indoor growing.

Please tell me, what is a draped ballet?

I’m just dumb and I cannot proof read. That would be my phone auto correcting. It should read “draped blankets”

 

[Gobstopp]

I really don’t want to spam posts, but since I can’t edit, I’ll have to make another post.

I’m also considering 6x 315 cmh instead of the 3x 6/750w gavita option. They have 1000w de cmh, but they are only produced by growers choice, and I’m not sure about their reputation

 

[anon710]

I really don’t want to spam posts, but since I can’t edit, I’ll have to make another post.

I’m also considering 6x 315 cmh instead of the 3x 6/750w gavita option. They have 1000w de cmh, but they are only produced by growers choice, and I’m not sure about their reputation

6 x 315 cmh is a better route. I played with big light my whole life in warehouses, transitioned back to a smaller space, ditching all the De 1k hps and going all 315, and 630 dual bulb cmh fixtures. Did a few test runs and the CMH blow the DE1k outta the water, much much much more money in fixture cost though, considering you can get half decent DE 1k hps for 250-350 with bulb these days, and no matter how you look at CMH the fixtures are a few hundred per 315, and good Phillips bulbs are around 100. Keep in mind thats Canadian pricing. 1000w de cmh are something im waiting for them to be more available and cheaper, too new and am waiting for phillips etc to come out with bulbs for them. I prefer to let others be the test subjects. But if your running a warehouse you aint gunna beat a good de 1k hps at the moment for cost and yields.

 

[Gobstopp]

6 x 315 cmh is a better route. I played with big light my whole life in warehouses, transitioned back to a smaller space, ditching all the De 1k hps and going all 315, and 630 dual bulb cmh fixtures. Did a few test runs and the CMH blow the DE1k outta the water, much much much more money in fixture cost though, considering you can get half decent DE 1k hps for 250-350 with bulb these days, and no matter how you look at CMH the fixtures are a few hundred per 315, and good Phillips bulbs are around 100. Keep in mind thats Canadian pricing. 1000w de cmh are something im waiting for them to be more available and cheaper, too new and am waiting for phillips etc to come out with bulbs for them. I prefer to let others be the test subjects. But if your running a warehouse you aint gunna beat a good de 1k hps at the moment for cost and yields.

I noticed the cmh is a much more expensive option, nearly twice the price. The 630w cmh concern me since they are rated for 4x4. I feel like the only way cmh would be an efficient option is lots of 315w so they overlap.

Deep down I want the 5x12 secret jardin, I love the work space in the middle, but it just seems so inefficient because lights will not being able to over lap in the middle. I feel like 6x 315w would be fine in a 5x9 or 5x10, but I feel like a 5x12 would need 8 315w cmh, which makes it more then double the cost of 3 hps. I’m not sure if it’s worth it.

Am I wrong? Would 6

I think I’m leaning towards 5x10 insulated room or 5x9 gorilla tent with 6x 315w cmh.

The insulated room would cost me $400 to fabricate, including door, insulation, drywall and the whole nine. Problem is, it’s a one time solution. It’s a $400 investment into this space which would be hard to translate to another build/location.

The 5x9 tent is >$600 and can easily be moved and set up elsewhere.

I feel like building a 5x10 insulated room with 6x 315w cmh would be the best option, but certainly not the cheapest. The 5x9 is a close 2nd

 

[noknees]

It’s a $400 investment

this slapped me in the face. if you're sweating the $400 just to put up walls, you need to go small. and no AC?

just run a single 315 CMH (with organic soil like you mentioned) for a while until you're sure you need/want more than that.

you should be happy with the light, and you'd be able to incorporate it into a bigger grow in the future if desired.

keep it simple and manageable!

p.s. no worries on grower's choice.

 

[anon710]

I noticed the cmh is a much more expensive option, nearly twice the price. The 630w cmh concern me since they are rated for 4x4. I feel like the only way cmh would be an efficient option is lots of 315w so they overlap.

Deep down I want the 5x12 secret jardin, I love the work space in the middle, but it just seems so inefficient because lights will not being able to over lap in the middle. I feel like 6x 315w would be fine in a 5x9 or 5x10, but I feel like a 5x12 would need 8 315w cmh, which makes it more then double the cost of 3 hps. I’m not sure if it’s worth it.

Am I wrong? Would 6

I think I’m leaning towards 5x10 insulated room or 5x9 gorilla tent with 6x 315w cmh.

The insulated room would cost me $400 to fabricate, including door, insulation, drywall and the whole nine. Problem is, it’s a one time solution. It’s a $400 investment into this space which would be hard to translate to another build/location.

The 5x9 tent is >$600 and can easily be moved and set up elsewhere.

I feel like building a 5x10 insulated room with 6x 315w cmh would be the best option, but certainly not the cheapest. The 5x9 is a close 2nd

Iv been running 2 ac 1000w hps in a 5x10 tent for a bit and its a good set up at a fraction of the price of cmh. Trying to not spend the cash on 6-8 315 cmh bulbs and fixtures when the 1k pull about 1.5-2 pounds per side of the tent.

 

[Gobstopp]

this slapped me in the face. if you're sweating the $400 just to put up walls, you need to go small. and no AC?

just run a single 315 CMH (with organic soil like you mentioned) for a while until you're sure you need/want more than that.

you should be happy with the light, and you'd be able to incorporate it into a bigger grow in the future if desired.

keep it simple and manageable!

p.s. no worries on grower's choice.

I apologize if all this is confusing, in not the best at communication.

I’m not sweating the $400 for the room, I’m just not sure if it’s the best investment. $600 for a tent is no problem, it’s easy to break down, move and set up somewhere else, it’s easy to hold onto that $600 value because it’s easy to repurpose that tool. $400 for the room isn’t very transferable. It’s essentially a good investment for that location, but it’s a limited investment that doesn’t transfer very well. Reusing drywall, insulation, door and 2x4’s at a new location is less then ideal and much harder to store and transfer then a $600 tent. That’s my whole concern with the built room vs tent idea.

I do plan on having an ac unit. A window unit and mini split were both denied by the property owner (mother in law) so I’m relegated to a dual hose portable ac unit. The highest btu portable ac I can find is 14k btu. They make commercial ones that run at higher btu’s but they are $2k+. I can get a 14k btu ac/heater for >$600 which is fine. I will build my room around this limitation.

I’m not in a rush, I was planning to start my first crop in March. Not going to max out the space at first, thinking 12 plants for the first run. Not going to let them veg too long, 4 weeks tops for the first run, just to flip them.

I’m not new to growing, I’ve spent the last 15 years of my life working in the plant nursery business, this is just my first “grow” set up. I’ve helped my father in law and a few friends grow plants, but this will be the first one that is mine.

I inherited my father in laws equipment which consist of a dimmable 1000w digital ballast, single ended hps air cooled hood. 4x4 6’ veg tent with a giant t5 light. He’s got a pretty decent exhaust fan on the hood, with lots of spot fans. I figure I’ll set up the dimmable ballast and 600w mh bulb as the veg tent if I decided too.

 

[Gobstopp]

Iv been running 2 ac 1000w hps in a 5x10 tent for a bit and its a good set up at a fraction of the price of cmh. Trying to not spend the cash on 6-8 315 cmh bulbs and fixtures when the 1k pull about 1.5-2 pounds per side of the tent.

May I ask what hoods and lights you run in there? How tall is the tent? I initially thought about 2 1000w gavita in a 5x9 tent or 5x10 room, but people have me paranoid about height. Some claim they won’t hang them unless they have 9-10’ ceilings. I know they need 30”+ of height and I could get them 6” closer by using wide reflectors, or by using the 6/750 flex.

My main goal is quality. I don’t have 3-5k for some Fluence bioengineering led’s, which I would love and I think would work perfectly for the space. However, I could swing the cost difference of 6x 315 cmh. People do claim they produce better quality bud. I’ve never had any flower that was grown under cmh, so I can really say

 

[anon710]

May I ask what hoods and lights you run in there? How tall is the tent? I initially thought about 2 1000w gavita in a 5x9 tent or 5x10 room, but people have me paranoid about height. Some claim they won’t hang them unless they have 9-10’ ceilings. I know they need 30”+ of height and I could get them 6” closer by using wide reflectors, or by using the 6/750 flex.

My main goal is quality. I don’t have 3-5k for some Fluence bioengineering led’s, which I would love and I think would work perfectly for the space. However, I could swing the cost difference of 6x 315 cmh. People do claim they produce better quality bud. I’ve never had any flower that was grown under cmh, so I can really say

for hoods one is an ancient maverick sun, the other is some sorta hydro farm both with 8 inch holes. The ballast are ancient mag ballast aka pre 2000s.
the tent was a cheap one on amazon and beats the hell outta any vivo sun i have seen for quality.

shoot me a dm i can snap a few pics for ya. but none of the shit in that tent is fancy nor expensive. All stuff I ran in warehouses at one point in time.

 

[-TheShortTexan-]

If you dont build the 400$ walls and buy the 600$ tent, where will you put the tent? Or would you have to build walls regardless?

 

[Gobstopp]

If you dont build the 400$ walls and buy the 600$ tent, where will you put the tent? Or would you have to build walls regardless?

I would set the tent in the corner of the garage. The garage is fairly good sized, roughly 40’x30’. My father in law hung some blankets from the ceiling joist to make a room in the corner. I’ll be taking down the blankets and setting up the tent there, or building a room with insulation.

Hell, half the cost of the room would be insulation, I’ll need almost 300 square feet of insulation for the walls and ceiling.

 

[Loc Dog]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+run+a+240v+circuit

 

[White Beard]

Have you considered putting in a raised floor? Does it get cold in there during the winter? Does it get hot in the in the summer?

Somehow, it seems like you’re getting ahead of yourself and lagging behind, both: there’s much we don’t know, start with seasonal temperature fluctuations; you mentioned insulation, but if this is a garage, you’ve got a concrete slab for a ‘floor’.

You inherited your father-in-law’s pot hobby, basically, and the use of his garage and equipment - but you don’t own the garage, right? It’s your mother-in-law’s? 40x30 sounds like a two-car. Is it framed? Cinder block?

It sounds roughly like you’d have most of what you’d need to start a grow. Any particular reason you need to (re)build-out the garage before you get started growing? I understand the enthusiasm of being so close, and that why I wonder why you want to do construction *first*. You have the equipment and plenty of room, dad-in-law grew fine in there, yes? Are there obstacles or difficulties with your plan? How does mom-in-law feel about all of this?

Don’t mean to pry, but it all seems to bear on your question

 

[Loc Dog]

I would go with tent or two. 2 4X8 tents is what I used. No space wasted making room to walk around in them, least amount of air to heat or cool.

 

[Gobstopp]

Have you considered putting in a raised floor? Does it get cold in there during the winter? Does it get hot in the in the summer?

Somehow, it seems like you’re getting ahead of yourself and lagging behind, both: there’s much we don’t know, start with seasonal temperature fluctuations; you mentioned insulation, but if this is a garage, you’ve got a concrete slab for a ‘floor’.

You inherited your father-in-law’s pot hobby, basically, and the use of his garage and equipment - but you don’t own the garage, right? It’s your mother-in-law’s? 40x30 sounds like a two-car. Is it framed? Cinder block?

It sounds roughly like you’d have most of what you’d need to start a grow. Any particular reason you need to (re)build-out the garage before you get started growing? I understand the enthusiasm of being so close, and that why I wonder why you want to do construction *first*. You have the equipment and plenty of room, dad-in-law grew fine in there, yes? Are there obstacles or difficulties with your plan? How does mom-in-law feel about all of this?

Don’t mean to pry, but it all seems to bear on your question

The garage is owned by my mother in law, their house is 10’f away from the garage. She is very much down, my mother in law even mentioned gifting me equipment for Christmas.

I don’t mind the prying, sorry if I was a bit vague, I just didn’t want to be overwhelming and I wasn’t sure what information was pertinent. I’ve been thinking about all the subjects you mentioned. I truly appreciate the questions, as it makes me feel comfortable elaborating on information I didn’t feel people would want to read.

The garage is 2-car detached, framed with vinyl siding, concrete floor, no insulation, exposed ceiling joists, mesh coved eaves are the only ventilation. One car is a old Jeep that rarely moves. the grow area is in front of this vehicle in the corner. If you were to stand in front the garage doors, the area is in the back right corner, with a door locking on the left side of the garage. I was going to install flooring or build short tables for the winter months since I know the concrete will radiate cold. The concrete isn’t exposed to sunlight at all, so it shouldn’t absorb much radiant heat in summer months. She lives just outside of Washington DC in the mountains. The mountain stays rather humid as the mountain is covered in dense growth. Temps fluctuate from 40’f high/23’f lows in January/February, with August getting to 90’f high/70’f low. Currently in October it’s around 70’f high/45’f lows.

She lives 80 minutes round trip for me, but living in illegalville we need to be careful, which is my main priority. She has grown before, helped my father in law and is willing to water. I’ve been purchasing from my friend for nearly 10 years, my friend is deep in the breeder scene, grew for 20+ years, personally knows bhodi, duke diamond and many others breeders, he’s still very involved in the scene. he has a kid now so he doesn’t grow, but he’s been my hook up forever.

The way I look at it, and it’s how I’ve always done everything, if I’m going to invest my time and energy into doing it, I want to do it as best as I possibly can.

My father in law did produce some stuff in there, but it was never good. He didn’t really want input, he just wanted to do his own thing, if he grew crap he smoked it and didn’t care. This was his first grow with this hps setup, which someone at a hydro store sold him (along with 2 faulty hps bulbs) Finishing this last plant I gained first hand experience on how much environment impacts every aspect of the grow. Being a detached garage with no ventilation, in the summer, temps would reach 90’f in the room with 85% humidity. The only way to control the environment is to either seal and finish the garage, which would be a massive undertaking, or upgrade the small 5x10 (could make it 5x12) with a tent or a room, that way I can control the environment.

I want to rebuild because he built a very inefficient grow. One 1000w air cooled hps, and he had 4 plants in his 5x10. He used bag seeds and 2 of the 4 turned out to be male. The 2 females he actually had in the same 10 gallon planter. He used dense moving blankets (blue) for the wall and his air cooled hood was pulling in air from the garage, and dumping it right back into the garage. He vegged for nearly 2 months, and when I saw the plant it was all the way against the light. I was able to raise the light another 6”, but the tops were already fried. I had to cut the leaders and train the rest away from the light as it was still early (week 2 of flower) by the end of the grow some flowers were 18” inches past the light, and hadn’t gotten light for over a month. I couldn’t flush the plant, because he seeded the soil, very heavily, with slow release miracle grow pellets, even though he was using “self watering” planters, which have a 2 gallon water reservoir at the bottom. He was bottom feeding water, but seeded the soil with slow release pellets which need water to dissolve them.

I love the man, but you couldn’t tell him anything, so I never did. I just tried to work with him, and he never wanted much help.

I’ve worked in the horticultural industry for 15 years, I love plants and I love growing. I wanted to run my own cannabis farm for nearly 20 years, I was going to move to a legal state 10 year ago, but I met and fell in love with my wife. She has a very lucrative job here, which she doesn’t plan on doing to much longer (~5 years) at which point we can move. That’s if my state doesn’t legalize it before then. If it becomes legal in my state, the company I work for is ready to invest in the industry. My nursery is owned by some very well off investors who started in landscaping in the 70’s, they now own 10+ companies all related to land development. They’re basically shined up hippies who started as landscaper. They’re heavily invested in property. Over the years I’ve been practicing post processing, I’ve been making concentrates for a decade, I’ve been making edibles for 5 years. My current job title is logistics coordinator, so I can’t help myself, I’m a planner and I have months before I plan on flowering plants, even though I’ve already purchased some seeds, I’ll be running seeds from dominion seed company, duke diamonds company. I’ve selected granny skunk to be my first strain, as it has a short stretch of .75:1 -1:1 so it’s well suited to short rooms.

I’m actually practicing propagation now, I just sprouted my first few seeds and planted them, I plan on letting them veg so I can practice taking cuts and cloning. These are just random bag seeds and it’s all just for practice so I don’t mind if I make mistakes.

My ultimate goal is to own property and craft farm to consumer products. I’ve always considered myself a connoisseur, so my idea is to grow the best I can and craft artisanal products. Currently my chocolate bars are made with organic allergy free chocolate which are kosher, vegan and so forth.

I’m sorry if I’m overly excited on my quest for knowledge, I’ve purpose refrained from learning, I willfully ignored anything related to growing because it made me sad. It made me sad that I had no where to grow, yet I wanted to grow so badly, but not bad enough that I would leave my wife for the pursuit.

 

[Gobstopp]

Here’s the plant and the room, the first photo is week 3 of flower


Here’s the top of the bigger plant in front, this bud is in the top right just out of frame of the first photo, completely above the light, ended up hitting the ceiling before cutting down, photo was from week 5


Here’s the top of the small plant in the back at the start of week 8. Pretty sure light leaks from the ceiling eaves caused it to reveg


Here she is before cutting her down



Hopefully those photos give you a better idea of the area. You can see the exposed studs ready for insulation and drywall. Behind that metal sign is more exposed studs.

 

[sog army]

buy a pre charged mini split unit.. Watch a couple you tubes on doing the electrical yourself. IT IS VERY EASY TO DO>

Look into RMAX foam back foil board insulation. I suggest 2" thick. IT will give you r -12 value with only 2" thick of board, it is also relatively inexpensive. I sheeted an interior of a metal building in california in the middle of the valley(which gets extremely hot in the summer) and then installed my mini splits and have had many successful grows. If you would like to talk further via dm I would gladly help you out.

 

[OrgAeroMan]

I would go with two 4x4 separate tents, and run them on a flip-flop with your mag ballast. This will keep you from spiking power and give you a more even night time differential. I like the idea of the reflective insulation too, giving you the insulation, but keeping it pretty modular. In my experience with the DC area, there is not much need to over kill the A/C anyway. A good dehu maybe.
There are also less expensive, high quality L.E.Ds on the market now, like HLG, Mars, Spider Farmer etc. The heat would be your friend in that case, especially with CO2.
Check out Uncle Fishstick's grows on here, your room dimensions are similar for a couple of his grows, both 1ks and L.E.D., reflective insulation build and tents. Practically everything you are talking about! Hope this helps, buddy, good luck!