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4EverTweakin

Greenlighter
Joined
Aug 16, 2006
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Hello fellow g/bluelighters! New to this forum so not sure if this is best spot to post a question about a home garden, but here it goes...

I have recently started my own little garden, I decided on the closest b/c I have these doors that swing open, and also it allows just enough ventilation and great rack already built in for the pulley system I devised. I have all the basics covered, but I read on growkind.com that if you include a C02 regulator/dispenser w/e lol, that you can increase the temperature at which u grow your bud and it won't screw up the photosynthesis or leave burn marks on the leaves. The point of this would be to increase yeild and reduce flowering period. Could someone break this down for me and tell me where I should get this item, and if it's even worth the effort. Thanks, and once I get my digi cam ill post the first yeild. (strain:northern lights) Thanks again
 
If you've got a small room, no, not worth the effort or money. If you want to stabilize temperatures, you need insulation. I don't know what kind of lights you're using, but an HPS or a MH will give off enough warmth for your closet to warm up. People usually need to ventilate to remove excess heat, not the other way around.

Could you please name up all the precautions you've taken and what kind of materials you're using?
 
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Details

Well let me explain my grow room a little better.
I am using a closet (6ft length wise x 3.5ft width) one of those closets with the folding doors. Growing 4 pods of northern light strain, (im a noob at this keep in mind).

Lighting:250 watts HPS hanging 3 feet from plant tops. (suggested on site)
Ventilation: According to numerous grow site guides opening the closet door 2-3 times a day to check on my pods is enough ventilation for the plants throughout the whole day. so i have not invested in a mini comp fan to keep running all day.
Temperature: I keep the temp regulated best one can (at work 9 hours a day) but this is where my question comes into play. *not that everyone does'nt already know this but... C02 is a gas that is essential for photosynthesis to take place... well c02 supplementing is suppose to speed up photosynthesis and therefore, growth will occur faster. And finally experiment's have shown that c02 supplementing allows marijuana to tolerate temp. as high as 95 degree's. Does a higher temperature mean for better yeild? it def. speeds up the yield.
 
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Lighting:250 watts HPS hanging 3 feet from plant tops. (suggested on site)
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That's too high. More like a small feet, 20-30 cm's, given you've got adequate ventilation.

Ventilation: According to numerous grow site guides opening the closet door 2-3 times a day to check on my pods is enough ventilation for the plants throughout the whole day.
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That's absolute nonsense. You need a fan on the inlet and a fan on the outlet, one on the inlet to give your plants the much needed airflow and one on the outlet to exhaust the excess heat. If you don't have this you run the risk of the whole set-up catching fire and your plants becoming scraggly, stalky weird ass looking plants.

And finally experiment's have shown that c02 supplementing allows marijuana to tolerate temp. as high as 95 degree's. Does a higher temperature mean for better yeild? it def. speeds up the yield.
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No. Marijuana needs a stable environment. Temperatures ideally should not exceed the 30 degrees or go below the 20 degrees, best is to keep it around the 25 degrees. The higher the temperature, the longer it sometimes actually takes for plants to finish flowering, same as with plants that are in a too cold environment.

I suggest you invest your money in ventilation instead of buying unnecessary CO2 regulators, also buy a carbon filter to hook up to the exhaust fan, by the time your plants are in flowering they will stink up the whole apartment. I also suggest you do a lot more reading, in the right places, because I'm not getting the impression that you know what you were getting yourself into.
 
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^^ I second the exhaust and carbon filter ideas. If you don't do anything when those plants flower your whole house is gonna reek of weed. I wish overgrow was still around :(
 
Two things I can suggest, which have already been sort of suggested:

1 - Seal up your room as much as possible, making it as close to airtight as you can. Personally, I have a box that's about 2.5ft x 2.5ft x 6ft tall that is as airtight as I could make it including sealing the edges with silicone caulk. Putting your setup in a closet will allow random air to go in and out at will. Which brings me to my next point...

2 - You really need proper ventilation, and not the kind you describe. You need an outtake ventilation fan (a bathroom ventilation fan will work, a little over $20 at a hardware store), and mount it on the box (or pointing out of the room if you find a way to make it airtight). Then create a small intake hole and cover it with a good piece of air filter to prevent contaminants from getting in. This setup will allow you to keep the room a good temperature, circulalte stale air, and keep particles moving to prevent contamination and mold and such.

Good luck!
 
First of all thanks guy's and yes I do not know what I am doing (hence the noob additive in my post) but a couple of things... 3 feet above top of plants with 250 watt HPS lights is suggested on a couple of sites... with flourescent light it says 3-5 inches off top of plants... maybe thats what your thinking of, these are high powered heat lamps that would burn the fuck out of my plant if they were 20-30 cm's away.
And i quote... "Because fluorescents disperse light over a large area, they need to be kept within three inches of the tops for the plants to receive enough light." and again... "Due to the heat that is emitted from these types of fixtures, you should hang them according to size. Smaller wattage systems (100 and 250) should be hung about 2 to 3 feet from the top of the plants."
As for ventilation, i guess ill go hit up the hardware store and invest in the type of ventilation technique you guy's have mentioned, i figured the stupid opening the door thing wasn't going to be enough. instead of a bathroom fan, could i just rip up a few of my old comps and take out the fan from the cpu? or is that way to small.
Last but not least the aroma or smell factor is taken care of, I didn't go into every single detali just tried to give an idea. i am using 2 negative ion generators (fancy for those stupid air filters you see on tv) but it seems ventilation is going to be my downfall. thanks for the input perhaps after a few trial and errors ill get a successfull yield
 
I use a 400 watt HPS, I hang it at 25-35 cm's from the top of the plants. The higher you go, the less light penetration you get. At 3 feet, it's incredibly and I really mean incredibly wasteful. Everything I've read on growing sites I frequent suggests a MINIMUM of 20 cm's for a 250W HPS, which gives off ~14000 lumen, at 3 feet that's bound to be at least 3 times as less, probably a lot more..

Yes, those computer fans are handy IF you point them directly at your light, I've usually seen people attach them to the hood of the lamp to deal with heat issues, this also allows you to hang your light a lot lower. But you still need a fan for your inlet & outlet, it's essential.
 
Any light loses intensity quickly as it gets farther from the plants. Having your HPS only a foot or 1.5 feet above the plant will give you probably 3-4 times as many lumens (measure of light output) as having it 3 feet above. This is a rough estimate, but the idea remains the same.
 
Man screw those web sites lol, I will come to you guy's for "Garden Advice" from now on, unless you have a decent url handy. I will definitly make adjustments once I get home. Monkey, I am going to place the lamps 20-30cms over top of plants like you said, and i'm def gonna try and rig up that cpu fan ordeal you explained. if it doesn't work ill go with an easier method, essentially i could just put a fan on low and on rotate mode? as for the air tight container, seeing how i have put alot on my plate i'll hold off on that advancement untill next yield. i really appreciate fellow's.
 
The size of exhaust fan you use should be able to circulate all the air in the grow area 2-3 times a minute I believe (been awhile). Fans are rated in CFM which is Cubic Feet per Minute. You want a fan that has a 2-3 times CFM as the cubic feet of the closet.

Also, the carbon filter idea really is a good one. If you have an exhaust fan that is 2-3 times CFM to CF it will create pressure inside the closet meaning all the air will be flowing into it so no smell will escape. This means you could attach some dryer duct to the exhaust and run it out a window or something like that to get rid of all the smell. Another method is to run the dryer duct into a carbon filter as suggested before. This will eliminate all smell as well.

Personally I think the easiest solution here is buying one of those $20 bathroom fans and putting it into the ceiling of the closet. You might need to be a bit of a handy man to do this though. The second easiest solution I see is finding a local hydroponics store. They sell exhaust fans that fit perfectly onto dryer duct and just knock a hole in the ceiling small enough to stick the duct through. Don't worry about the damage to the ceiling it takes like 10 minutes to patch a hole in the wall/ceiling. The only issue here is that you'll probably have insulation sitting on top of the ceiling so you might have to actually go into your attict and move it a bit to allow the duct to come through.

Oh, one more thing.. your exhaust DOES have to lead to somewhere outside the closet. Just sticking fans in there to blow air around isn't going to do anything.

Also, when it comes to growing pot.. the time, money, and effort you invest into your grow will be reflected in quality and amount of your yield. You probably could grow a bit of pot with your HPS light 3 feet above the weed and with no ventiliation other than opening the door a few times a day but it's not gonna be anything like what you'll get if you follow all the instructions people have given you here.

I ended up investing over $2,000 just in materials for growing weed and spent countless hours setting up the perfect environment. So, it's really just a question of how serious you are about growing your own weed.

Argh, one more thing.. how old are these plants? Because if these are really young, just planted or clones or whatever, you don't want to have your HPS as close as was suggested. 2-3 feet would be a good distance if your plants are just getting going, but I would use fluorescents for this stage.
 
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First off, it will probably take you over a year to get a good understanding of what you're doing and a lot of mold and fuck up's, dont' be disappointed. Ventilation is key, prior suggestions are good. The single best thing you can do to control heat is to get a ballast that has the glass shield completely incasing the bulb and openings on both ends that allow duct fans to be installed. Run ducting from the end of the ballast to you air outtake. The glass shield is about 3" from the bulb. The plants can literally touch the shield and not burn. My plants will get 9" from the bulb. CO2 is a huge benefit. Don't let people tell you not to waste time on it. PLANTS NEED CO2 TO BREATH!! They said not to burn your plants by routing a tube from the unregulated nozzle as this is too cold and WILL burn your plants(brownish/yellow discoloration on the contact points). The CO2 regulator attaches to the nozzle and the tube attaches to the regulator. The regulator will regulate the volume of CO2 being released and give the proper doses of CO2 throughtout the day. The best use for this is to connect the regulator to an air controller and the controller will determine the PPM(parts per million) of CO2 in the air and kick the CO2 tank on and off when it needs to. Hell of a lot easier than standing around contolling the nozzle yourself. Just so you can get an idea of what it takes to start from scratch a fully professional setup will cost including perishables total: $10,000 and 100's of hours.
 
exar83 said:
CO2 is a huge benefit. Don't let people tell you not to waste time on it. PLANTS NEED CO2 TO BREATH!!
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And they can thrive just fine on the air from inside a home or from outside. I suggested not to waste unnecessary time on a CO2 set-up when he hasn't even got ventilation, you have to prioritize and this isn't a priority. Hell, most growers I know (even the professional growers) don't use it and run perfect grows.

The light you were describing btw is called a cooltube.
 
^^right on the cool tube(couldn't remember). And I agree, ventilation is more important than CO2, it was for me. But don't get lazy and forget the CO2 because it will swell the buds and make them heavier, tastier, and much more potent!! Good Luck=D
 
It's also pretty dangerous to mess with CO2 if you don't have a good set-up though. What I'm getting now is that the growbox is in the same room as he lives in, so you'd have to watch out with carbon monoxide posoning in that case.
 
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