Attic grow help needed.

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rezz

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thanks guys, yeah that shit sucked. Im not so sure about this grow anymore, but hey you never know.
 
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rezz

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I have a question for you mates. What should i buy for a lighting arrangement? i know this answer is mostly opinion, but im in a toss up right now between starting with an electrical ballast setup form the top, or starting with just vertical lighting, keep in mind, first grow. But from what i read the vertical lighting is best, and im semi tight on money atm. Someone throw me a bone. Gracias!
 
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ProGroWannabe

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If your tight on cash, DO THE VERTICAL...lol. Mainly because it's more versatile. Plus, there's the bonus of saving money on a reflector. It's really up to you, but it's my OPINION that you'll yield better watt per watt by using vertically hung bare bulbs.
 
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rezz

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how many and what type of bulb? also if you dont mind, how should i divide veg. and flower? or should i just use the same room? my plan was to make seperate rooms. thank you
 
general_sketch

general_sketch

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lotta good info in here...

rezz, if you can pull it off & depending on what type of yield you anticipate, get a 400 or 600w hps. i'd use a labyrinth wall to divide the two rooms, using the same room is a little problematic cuz you gotta ensure a light sealed environment or jus the veg area on a shelf on top of the flowering space like a lotta cab growers do.
 
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ProGroWannabe

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There are basically two types of setups you could use for vegging and flower in a typical attic. One is to run the veg space on the right or the left of the flower space. It works (it's what I'm doing) but it makes for very little height.....I have to tend my veg space sitting down.....no room at all for standing up.

The other is to put the flower room in the back with the veg room in front of it. Divide the two with a double layer of Black & White Poly. Use a zipper-door to move from the veg space to the flower space. Since you put the veg space in front, you can work the veg plants anytime and only go into the flower space when the lights are on. Personally, I think option two is a much better way to go.

As for lights.....the bigger the better IF you can maintain temps. Ideally, one would run 1000's and a BIG A/C unit. If your summers are anything like mine, you'll need a 15,000 BTU unit as a minimum. This is a direct trade-off. For every bit of lighting you add in there, you'll need more A/C to cool it. So choose your lighting carefully.

I don't have a link for ya, but look into Hortilux Ballasts. They have some that are dimmable. The dimmable ffeature might not be worth much in a typical grow room, but in an attic, they might just prove themselves invaluable. Here's a pic..
 
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kansasgrown

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My personal choice would be air cooled hoods running at night when the temps are lower. I would install two dryer vents on the exterior one for incoming air and the other for exhaust. Pumping out the hot air of the lamps and bringing in the cool night air over the bulbs would greatly increase the efficiency of your a/c. I would also use a light mover to cover a longer distance. Three rooms would be needed. A smaller one for the moms and clones (24 hour lighting), and the larger one for flowering (12 hour lighting), and a third for drying. Soil is the only way I would go for an attic grow, lugging up water into the attic to refill the resevoir is not fun. With a very little bit of planning you could have yourself a continuous grow, and if you were to go the LED way you could even possibly go without A/C. I live in South Florida where the temps get quite high and I helped set up a buddies attic with a few solar extractors (found on E-Bay) to keep the day temps lower than 84, and the night temps are at 78 degrees. He only uses LED lights and does not pull the amount of weight that I do with HPS per sq. meter.....but I am not doing an attic grow either. Just for your info he has an 8x18 foot area for his flowering and with LED's he still pulls about 1.5 lbs every month.
 
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rezz

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Phenominal info guys, thank you so much for this guys. next time i get to the attic, probably tomorrow sometime, ill take some pics and you guys can pick them apart, but yeah i'm definately going soil, the only problem is going to be watering, one question i have is how long can they go between watering? can they survive 2-3days? thats the most i'd be able to get there because of other shit that i do year round. thanks again
 
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ProGroWannabe

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If you buy some Soil Moist granules, you can go longer between waterings. They're kinda pricey, but hell, if they allow you to grow where you otherwise couldn't, then....

FWIW....I use a garden hose (w/a good sprayer that I can turn off)to do my watering. I just turn on the spigot and drag the end along with me as I go upstairs to the room. I keep a few 5gal buckets up there, and while the spigot is on, the sprayer STAYS in an empty bucket--in case the sprayer leaks, accidentally comes on, etc...

I mix my nutes in the buckets, check pH, then water/feed. Once I'm done, I drag the hose back downstairs with me and turn off the spigot.

Just food for thought......
 
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todgerdelburro

Guest
My personal choice would be air cooled hoods running at night when the temps are lower.

... that and the fact that, especially in rural areas, there is +/- double the amount of CO2 in the air at night... plants eat it during the day, give it off at night.... I have always flowered at night.
 
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rezz

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Yeah no doubt itll be a night time project.. Thanks again for the input guys =]
 
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S1CK0hh

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If you have to grow in the attic i would suggest that you build an insulated and clean section for the plants to be in. If you have some basic carpentry skills and tools then the materials should not be too expensive. this way you can build separate veg / flower chambers. run the a/c so it is only cooling the air in chambers rather than whole attic, this will also help keep insects and rodents out of your grow. the attic is the hardest place to grow, but it can be done you just need to be able to control your environment to keep steady temps/ humidity.
 
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andytoker

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i have rec ently completed a small 'room' in the attic. i think preparation is the key. i basically built a well insulated room at one end of the attic and then put a closet grow in there. the idea being that i can control the temos in the room in which the closet sits better than having it exhaust into just the whole loft. so far so good thanks to a decent greenhouse heater that although is 1000 watts, it only comes on for a minute or so every half hour even in the dead of winter.
summer may be harder but well cross that bridge when we get to it, originally i was going to stop in the summer months but ill need to try and keep my muns alive.
worst comes to the worst they can have a holday in the greennhouse i guess!
 
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audia4king

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Hey guys, I was wondering about my new grow room plan. The space i have available is rather strange, its an attic. I'm not sure how you all feel about this. But hey it's what i have. Now my plan isn't to get too big, not too many plants. I'd like to keep a steady flow comming in, for consumption =] Now my questions are as follows:

1. Where should i buy my mats. from? lighting, Air-Circulation, Auto-water system.. and so on.

2. Will the temp. be a problem in an attic? As the temp. does fluxuate in attics/ I would like to know, if possible, how to stabilize that problem.

3. How many plants should i start with to attain my goal of, maybe, 2-4 mothers that i can clone off?

Thank you for reading, and feel free to let your ideas fly. =]

Rezz

should do a little research see what you can do and what would produce a better crop
 
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static12

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Awesome info guys, i too am contemplating the idea of a loft gro, unfortunatley i have nowhere else to set up, been up there (yup got itchy!! LOL) an iv got a real low pitched roof. I think i'll have to do a short veg - gotta keep the plans small. I have done a bit of research into loft grows due to being highly paranoid about the law and their eye in the sky!!!! as im in the uk, i believe a lot of the heat issues people go on about will not affect me too much - we dont get a summer here - lol!! i am concerned bout pics iv seen of houses in winter, 10 on the street have 2inches of snow on them and then there's 1 which has no snow on, ALARM BELLS LOL!! an as winter is around the corner i no i need to insulate properly. am probably going to put them in tents as its easier for me to aquire these than faff about constructing a dedicated area plus will these aid me in avoiding the police helicopers eye?? am defo glad i found threads on venting into the chimney stack - quality idea!! Any thoughts/ideas/advise always welcome from you guys at the farm
 
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igrindhard

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My first grow was in a attic winter was gr8 stayed warm up their come summer i burnt up the high and med setting on my portable a/c trying to keep it cool failed miserably..
 
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igrindhard

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Temps were my biggest problem... Maybe i can build somethin more ma.agable once i get a few harvest under my belt....
 

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