I'm glad to have found some fellow farmers I can collaborate with! I'm planning my second grow first indoor. My goals are to yield a pound every 2months. (I consume about a pound every 3months to help with PTSD symptoms). I wanted to do a SOG with just a 400w and maybe a couple fluorescent. I want to run two grows at the same time. (Have a lower compartment where they stay for the "night") anyways wondering how this sounds to some more experienced growers. Is a 3x3 space to big for 400w with maybe some white light on the sides. For each "grow" I wanted 16 plants. Is this plan reasonable? Can I yield a pound? Should I buy two ballasts to switch at the 12hr mark to keep from over heating? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
RLTW
Its really pushing it. Back in the day (When I was getting going, before a formal education etc) I attempted a 600w in a 3x3 space. Yield was more like a half pound.
What I did was I convereted a bathroom in my home to a small grow room. With two levels. A T5 hood on the bottom level for vegging and the upper area had a 600w HPS for flowering. This sound close to what your attempting? In my experience this will work, I was a kid when I started this (I had my card atleast)... So my construction skills where lacking but now adays with my know how I would say you can definitely create a light proofed lower area as it would be 18 -6 rather then 12 - 12.
If your trying to keep costs down let me tell you what your going to need to make this worth your while, and maybe get you closer to your yield number.
First off, You really really need some good fans. I would recommend two 4" inlines. Check craigslist, I get them for like 20$ rather then the over priced 120$ new. They're much quiter then built in bathroom fans and much more powerful (more than 4x as powerful 25 CFM vs 100+ CFM). I actually replaced my actual bathroom fan with an inline fan, keeps the shower moisture down and removes smell well. Why you need two is the fact. One inline would vent the lower area with the T5's (Which dont get very hot) into the main room or you can vent into another area (The latter would be better), dont make the vents run to long.
Since watering in such a small place is hard, I would advise building a tray system with a drain, check out my mother room (I hope it's still in my sig) My mother room is actually the converted flower/veg area. I use the old veg area as storage now.
You could definitely get away with using CFL's to veg in, pushing for upwards of a pound from a 400w is kind of high. Its really hard to meet a gram per watt with 1000watt lights, let alone the lack of penetration etc from the 400w.
I have a lot of clients who are veterans and am always happy to help you out. I like to encourage patients to grow there own medicine so if you need any help feel free to toss me a message and welcome to the farm :) I get stoned and look for someone good to rant at.
Chobble
