Grow box specs and all the things - noob

Hi all!!:blush:

This is my first post, so please bare with me. There’s a few reasons I’ve joined this forum:

•Since finding a lot of information on ilgm you guys (me too now) have seemed to be friendly and helpful.

•I unfortunately haven’t found the specific info I’ve been looking for

Lil background - I’m based in South Africa, specifically the Western Cape.
I enjoy smoking but have fell in love with the idea of growing and smoking my own stuff. I really don’t smoke that much, like once/twice a week(work sadly takes preference) so I really only plan to grow one or two plants at a time.
I pay about 1.85ZAR/0.16USD per Kwh
Cash isn’t too much of a restraint but I’d like to not have to fork out too much in startup costs and also electricity on the monthly.

Sorry for the long story, here’s my queries(sorry I won’t be converting to imperial from here on out):

•I guess the 1st which may be the silliest. With me being in a fairly sunny country in the southern hemisphere but obviously going into winter would a seed just dropping a tap root now get enough sun to grow into a healthy plant? Winter in the Western Cape (usually) gets a lot of rainfall and drops to a minimum of about 8°c
•I plan to build a grow box 1.5m high by 0.5m wide by 0.5m deep (0.25m2) - how many plants could I fit in this area? The seeds are a Cheese strain but I can’t seem to gaugehow high these plants grow. I can ofcourse Scrog/train etc to keep their height in check but I would like to limit advanced techniques especially being for my 1st grow.
•would one MH 160w suffice for my whole grow? Must these bulbs be clear glass or is coated just as good? (Im struggling to find clear MH bulbs)
•Would 3 x 60watt cfl work just as well? I can change the cfls in veg & flowering (I.e. cool white to day light) I’d much prefer to use cfl if I can but all depends on the number i need.
• the volume of my grow box is going to be about 0.38m3 will 2 standard PC fans be sufficient for air flow?
•This grow will be in soil, what is the reason for carbon filters? There really won’t be much manure in the soil.

Thank you guys in advance for any advice you may give.

Keep it fresh!
J

First off .5 meter is only 1.5 ft so your only going to be able to fit 1 plant and when it fills out it will be tpuchin the sides so it will probably take alot of training and you won’t get much weight with cfl lights but you can get a 80 usd led light and they run cheap on the electricity

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I would make it no smaller than 2ftx2ft

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Thank you Sir!

I will then make it 60cm. Can I upscale accordingly as in 1.2m/4ft for 2 plants?

You could get 3 or 4 in that I have 3 flowering plants in a 42in x 36in and it’s kinda crowded it would grow 2 great

Great stuff! Thank you!

Height is right?

What about lighting?
Airflow
& filters?

You can work with that height your just gonna have to train and top or fim them to get them short and bushy. I personally use 5 300w roleadro led lights and have 100cfm intake and 209cfm exhaust and 2 circulation fans and a 12 in carbon charcol filter

I’ll jump in on the filter. The carbon filter is to scrub the air that you exhaust from the grow space. From a pretty early age, your plants will give off that telltale weed smell. Once you’re in flower, they’ll really stink. If smell is not a problem, you’re fine. If you’re trying to be stealthy about it, it is necessary.

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Give yourself as much height as possible. Especially if you are contemplating MH/HPS over LED. Remember that you have the plant height, the pot height, the light distance, the light height, free space above for heat to be rejected.

More room (up to a point) is your friend because you will inevitably want to cram other stuff in there too like fans and dehumidifiers etc.

Do you have room for an outside grow? A small grow box setup with an LED wouldn’t be too expensive to run until she gets big enough to put outside…

CFL’s will work for veg but I believe you will be disappointed in the yields if you use them for your entire grow. Remember that the plants need light during veg but they need A LOT of light during flower.

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Hi welcome to the forum firstly secondly you can also purchase from amazon pretty cheap even one to suit your needs infact i will have a look for you if you are interested in a grow tent i just got mine for my 3rd grow as i used a DIY growbox and the tent is far better option . As for ur pc fans they would do fine for cfls but if your running Mh or hps lights then dont think thy will be any good since hps/mh put out alot of heat. You can buy a full set up on amazon that comes with everything you will need to start if its only one or two plants thn there is a cfl set up tht is cheap. I live in the uk so am not sure the converstion from pound sterling to your currency but here its under £200.00 here is a couple of set up amazon offer over here but they may have other set ups but will be good ones and cheap aswell i had a look and took couple screen shots i thought might help you.


I hope this has been of some help you will get the help and support you need on here dont hesitate to ask for help we are all like one big happy family here. Happy growing and please tag me so i can follow your grow if thats ok just tag @mikos. if you want anyone in paticular to answer your question jyst do the same but with there name. Grow in peace friend

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Thanks @Mikos , @Myfriendis410 , @SilentHippie & @Sirsmokes

I’ve just about got all the materials and plan to build this weekend! The main reason for building rather than buying is because I dig the whole DIY process. It’s all about the journey, lol.

So the final specs for my box so far is as below:

1.5m high x 1.0m wide x 1.0m deep. If I recall correctly I’ll need about 14 000 lumens for good growth. Should I go with CFL or one 150w MH? Sufficient room for some cheese?

I’ll be growing two noobs(seedlings) and one unknown strain plant about 20cm high in there. (Pic to follow) side note, any advice on those yellow leaves @Mikos ?


Cheers!
Juweedy

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You need at leaSt 450 watts in that area. I do not recommend cfl as they produce airy buds. You can get a 400w mh/hps for around 100 which is only 30 more than the 150w.

I use led and am happy with their performance

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Welcome to the forum man! You can check out my topic about making your own groowroom

I’m currently doing my first grow in there which you can check as well of course! Hope it works out for you man! Good luck and happy growing

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If you dig the whole DIY process thn if i were you i would invest in a DIY led grow light with cobs if your in the US thn there are lots of option available and i would go for led as thy are cheap to run and you can buy a good one for around 120bucks thts a 450w led viparspectra 450w is just amazing and the results are second to none check youtube and you will see the reviews on alot of different leds. But if you are set on the diy setup thn i would go with the diy light kits aswell done right will beat all the hps and mh lights and save you money. Thats my opinion. @juweedy

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