What do I need to know about growing indoors in southern maine?

[p0opstlnksal0t]

So I will soon be relocated to southern maine... working at a new engineering firm down around in the york, biddeford, kittery, Kennebunkport area.

I've begun looking at rentals and houses for sale. I'm wondering if I should go balls deep into buying a house now so that I can build out a few rooms without worry, or if I should stick to a rental (they are expensive 2-3k a month). I've seen houses with a few acres in the 1500-2200 sq ft range for about 200k. I feel like not having to worry about neighbors and a landlord would be worth the risk of buying a place.... im no real estate agent and I'd really hate to divulge my plans for a 12 plant limit recreational grow to anyone including a real estate agent finding us a house.

Also what type of climate control setups are you guys using in bedrooms with maybe 4x DE 1000w lights? Cab the extreme outside cold air be used to cool saI'd room. I plan on running 12 plants in a 10x10 room under 4 lights at first.

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

Does anyone run a mini split condenser inside a garage or anything to help heat it? I'm just wondering what I'm in for as far as climate controlling 4k worth of lights per room when the temps in lower maine go from negatives freezing up to 80s or possibly 90s in summer?

 

[MedResearcher]

Don't have any advice specifically for Maine, other than it has always looked like a nice affordable place to live.

4 DEs in a 10x10, will be really bright. Your talking wall to wall canopy no aisles bright. The heat will be significant. May want to go with the 750s instead of the 1ks. Have seen quite a few rooms lately with a ton of 1ks turned down to 600 and its still to bright. Those Gavitas are intense.

When the cold air hits the warm air it will release humidity like crazy. Then with wall to wall canopy transpiring more humidity. When the lights go off the humidity will spike and turn the vents on bringing in freezing air and more moisture as it warms.

Should be a fun challenge. The environment is so crucial. If your set on doing that many lights you may wanna plan on using a Mini Split and Dehumidifier combo sealed up with Co2. Or at the least a Dehu that will kick on for lights off, but I think the sealed route with the correct sized equipment is the best for consistency throughout the year.
S
et it up, and run it without plants to make sure the environment is at least somewhat stable. I did a small vented seed room this year, rushed it because I wanted seed for this outdoor season. Turned out the room needs some adjusting to keep the humidity down, it has been a pain in the ass. Luckily the seeds are just about ripe, maybe 1 or 2 weeks left at the most.

MR^^

 

[Mr Blah]

IMO I would get a house vs renting. In the long run you will be better off if you need to do any work with your grow.
Yes, get a mini split for you rooms. Meaning one outdoor unit and as many heads as rooms. If they are not to big.
3ton usually will cost about 4-5k installed. Don't vent the rooms, use O2 burners.
I wouldn't use cold ass Maine air, because of more variables to play with when maintaining your room climate. I was going to get a large Dehu when I got my Mini split but the head unit will extract 13pts of moisture pr k/hr.

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

Does the mini split function when outdoor temps are real cold? What do you use to heat your room when it gets too cold? Thanks

 

[Mr Blah]

Yes, the Mitz 3ton functions normally all winter. This was the first winter with it and it ran all winter on heat mode. Even those 30 below days/nights a month back with the wind chill.
I do have baseboard heat supplied by a boiler but have shut it off. The amount of HPS light going on, the mini split is just a supplemental heater. BUt will be used big time in the summer for cooling.

 

[OldPhart]

Does the mini split function when outdoor temps are real cold? What do you use to heat your room when it gets too cold? Thanks

I can't believe nobody has mentioned using a dehumidifier as a heat source. If the room is decently insulated/sealed, a small dehumidifier will keep them warm during lights out. Then during the lights on period, humidity will build to provide heat for the night as you condense it with the dehumidifier. If you get it dialed in, you will have normal temp swings, but the RH will stay pretty steady.

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

Ya it looks like I will use a ductless and dehu. If it gets real cold I'll throw an electric heater in the corner on a thermostat. I guess I won't know how the climate fluctuates until I build the rooms.

 

[Mr Blah]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned using a dehumidifier as a heat source. If the room is decently insulated/sealed, a small dehumidifier will keep them warm during lights out. Then during the lights on period, humidity will build to provide heat for the night as you condense it with the dehumidifier. If you get it dialed in, you will have normal temp swings, but the RH will stay pretty steady.

For small grows this is fine and if dialed in like you said. Some people grow trees and the swing is huge for RH. Little DH's don't cut it.
The mini split does do a great job of pulling a lot of moisture out of the air...more than the small $250 ones at HD.

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

The problem will be nights when it's freezing outside I will need a way to pull moisture out of the air rooms will probably be anyelwhere from 10x10 up to maybe 16x16. We haven't bought a house yet. I'm just pregaming right now

 

[Mr Blah]

If you are going to do small rooms you could do a lung room where the outside air is pulled in managed than dumped in and out of the small flower/vegging rooms via inline fans.

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

We've been looking at properties with multi family units too. One in particular is an 1800 sq ft house and a 1000 sq ft mobile home. The house is a disaster and we may utilize it the whole house for a multi room grow keeping our plant numbers legal while living in the other home. Eventually we would demolish the old home and build a new one. A lung room would be perfect for this

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

Well we close on a house soon. I've got a 24x24x12 attached garage to work in.

I think I will build out a 10x20 room now then later if I need to I'll add an additional 10x20 room.

I plan on getting a 48k 4 zone (12k indoor units) mini split for ac and heat.

I'll also get a generac 22kw backup genny for now and possibly add a second one once I add the 2nd room.

What steps are necessary to keep the climate good in each room? I'm not sure what to expect as far as weather in southern maine. I plan on running a top feed bucket dtw right now how does one drain to waste outside if it's 20 degrees freezing outside

 

[mackdx]

P0op

Where in SoMe did you land. I'm near Kennebunkport

 

[Badfishy1]

Well we close on a house soon. I've got a 24x24x12 attached garage to work in.

I think I will build out a 10x20 room now then later if I need to I'll add an additional 10x20 room.

I plan on getting a 48k 4 zone (12k indoor units) mini split for ac and heat.

I'll also get a generac 22kw backup genny for now and possibly add a second one once I add the 2nd room.

What steps are necessary to keep the climate good in each room? I'm not sure what to expect as far as weather in southern maine. I plan on running a top feed bucket dtw right now how does one drain to waste outside if it's 20 degrees freezing outside

Good day fam. As far as adding a second generator... you are going to need to add a distribution panel to be able to run a second generator. Send a pm if you'd like more info

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

P0op

Where in SoMe did you land. I'm near Kennebunkport

Hey Brother we ended up in Berwick we really like the area. We had actually looked at a 12 acre plot in Kennebunk to build but I ended up backing out because the land was essentially landlocked and we would have needed to run power and a driveway about 1,500 yards. We ended up just buying a house with about 3 acres but the house is almost new and I feel like we got a decent deal on it. It's crazy how hot the market is in pretty much all of York County

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

Good day fam. As far as adding a second generator... you are going to need to add a distribution panel to be able to run a second generator. Send a pm if you'd like more info

I will indeed shoot you a p.m. I have been tossing up various ideas for backup generators it would be nice to utilize a couple brand new Generac 22kw LP units they seem to be a good deal but you only get about 70 amps from them I found a 90s used 40 kg commercial generator that was real clean and had only a couple hundred hours on it for about 3 Grand this generator would power my whole house along with 120 amps worth of cooling and 16 KW lights but it is a big unit and I think it sucks up somewhere around 4 gallons of propane per hour at idle to 25% load

 

[pumpkinpie eyes]

rent a place in the country, use basement.

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

we looked for places to rent. not many rentals there in SoMe

 

[Mr Blah]

Move more up North, Central and above.
Cheaper property.
IMHO SoMaine is saturated.