First time grower

[kit6134]

Hi i will be atempting my first grow this summer i have built a 4x4x8 elevated grow box from plywood 2x4's and 4x4's. this grow box is built inside of a 12x12x10 garage space. i have 4" dryer ducting with a 80 cfm inline duct fan pulling air in from outside to the bottom front left corner. there is also a 4" dryer ducting with a 80 cfm inline duct fan pushing air out the back right corner at the top of the grow room through a carbon filter into the garage ( out take flows to the interior of the garage but not back into the grow room because the intake is being pulled from outside the garage). i have wired 2 seperate 15 amp breakers to 2 separate outlets on a 120v circut. i am planning on doing 8 decent sized plants allowing 1.5 square feet of floor space per plant. i am also concidering doing smaller plants but more of them if somone could recommend a number of plants that would be awsome.

i want to install a single 600w hps setup but i dont know what equipment i need to run the light. i think i need a balast and a hood and the light if i am missing anything or i thats not right please let me know :).

also do you think 600w hps will fill this area effectivly?
do you think i will need to put ONA scrubbers inside the garage to avoid alerting noisy neighbors?
how tall will i be able to get my plants with an 8 foot tall room alowing 6 inches for the hood i will have 7.5 feet for the plants to grow but how far do they need to be from the light?
will i have to cool this room or will my vents be enough?

I am currently located in iowa, if anyone has any special tips or advice for this climate please let me know

on another note does anyone have any ideas i can use to make the door light proof is there a rubber seal i can put on it or somthing to keep all outside light out?

 

[kit6134]

other info i left out:
i will be growing a few different strains: arjans haze #3 http://www.worldwide-marijuana-seeds.com/products/green-house-arjans-haze-3 ,
bubba kush http://www.worldwide-marijuana-seeds.com/products/green-house-bubba-kush , and G13 haze http://www.worldwide-marijuana-seeds.com/products/barneys-farm-g13-haze

i chose these plants because they all have the same height and are within 1 week of the same flowering period.

any tips on growing these specific strains is also greatly appritiated

 

[Bannacis]

What up Kit... welcome, sounds like your on the right track so far. Your gonna need to fine tune your setup as you get it running.
The winter time you might be ok if it don't get too cold in your garage. might dial down your fresh air input. Make sure you have a filter over your intake.(to keep critters out)
Summer time its going to be warm with that 600 watter, you could beef up your inline fans.
Get a nice timer for your light.

Some tips:
Since your intake is from outside, and your exhaust is going into garage... you will need to make sure that your garage is not air tight. you want the air to leave garage easy so it doesn't build up pressure. I seen some tightly sealed garages too.

gat a circulating fan for your girls. temp/hydro gage.

start your light about 3-4 ft from top of plants, then gradually lower. you can test the heat from the light by placing the back of your hand under light, if its to hot for you, same goes for plant. I look at the leaves, when the light is too high the leaves will point more upward, if too low they will droop. raise it to where they are up, but not way up.

always fresh air, temps 75 degrees optimum (lights on) lights out about 10 degrees less than you lights on temp.

Use clean water, not city tap... unless your using synthetic nutrients.....

You picked some nice strains, I prefer shorter flowering times. you can do more research on them, see how much they stretch
in flower. growing from seed you usually want them to mature before flowering.35-55 days..( to get best yield) and they can get too big for flowering (in your setup)
you can shorten that some by taking clones and since they are mature by then, you can flower them as soon as they root.
that way you can do a bunch of small ones.... don't over crowd them!!

Not sure what kinda door you got on your room, but go to hardware/home depot and get you those felt door sealers, there's different sizes. don't get too thick it will make it hard to shut door. if there's hinges, duct tape over them.

I want to say this again...
Do not over crowd them or let them get too big...

Keep it simple...
let the pots dry out before watering ...
don't over water...

hope that helps...there's a lot more, but in time...

Keeper Green:)

 

[freespirit]

Just keep reading on here bro, lots of good info.

 

[Cort]

Make sure you are light tight by turning off the lights in your room and waiting inside in complete darkness. Soon your eyes adjust and will show you every pin prick of light. Mark with a sharpy or tape, fix, repeat till satisfied.