Marijuana grow shed

A question from a fellow grower:

we are new at this, actually never done it before. We have an 8x8 shed that we will use. What wattage and type of lights do you suggest?

A very complicated question actually. I personally recommend LEDs but can not necessarily recommend a specific brand as most brands are highly over rated and over priced. You need to do a lot of shopping and research to find a good one for a good price.

The LED unit should have a listing of what space it is recommended for or will cover. If the unit you decide on does not have a selector switch for vegetative growth vs. bloom/flowering, and you can only afford one unit instead of buying one unit for veg. and another for flower, then buy the one for flower only, you may have to keep it further away from seedlings and very young plants during the early vegetative growth period or veg with some inexpensive 6500K CFL lights until the youngsters can stand more intense light.

You can use as little as one 1000 watt HID HPS in that size area. But I’d recommend 2 x 600 watt HPS for that area and as many 4 x 600 watt, one for each 4ftx4ft section, and probably you’ll need two LED units for that size area, if not 4, one for each 4ft x 4ft section divided evenly. You can use ‘High Output’ T5 grow fluorescent in that area as well but most people don’t really recommend flowering under fluorescent light. Also you can divide the room up into sections so you can have a perpetual grow, a smaller room for the vegetative and/or nursery area.

Here is a chart showing some popular brands and short and long-term costs with each type of lighting:

I would separate this space into 3 distinct spaces. A propagation space; 2x4’;
A vegetation room ( to raise seedlings, clones; Moms) 3x4 - 4x4’, and a flower room. 4x8’

If you just want to grow one grow at a time. Get a 1000 watt switchable MH/HPS light system. Buy a 6’ light rail and this will give you maximum light coverage for the bucks!

You will need to look into ventilation; I recommend a Vortex fan; 6-8". very easy to hook up with flex duct. I also recommend getting an window AC unit.

Much more to share, but I have no idea how far you wan to go. :slight_smile:

I have my grow tent in a shed right now and I’m having to move it inside cause of heat and humidity so definitely take latewoods advice and get an ac unit for it,portable ones have a dehumidifier mode and wheels to move around easy

I bought a portable last year. Awesome AC unit. Never would have guessed.

I bought an ipower 600watt led light, it does not have a veg/flowering switch, and is single panel, I originally thought it was a two panel 300watt x 2 to equal 600 watt, the auction picture was wrong. It only cost me $201 shipped, not a lot, probably my best bet would have been a thousand watter ipower light, it had two 500 watt panels with two on/off switches. Hopefully that is not a bad light style, I sort of don’t want to use it for flowering anyway, I am a beginner. I too want to move my growing into my outdoor shed, I was worrying about neighbors seeing me, but I have a medical marijuana card in Oregon, and it goes legal recreational anyway in a few months, but my shed has less electricity I can string to it.
My led does run cooler, and has three back fans that gets vortex fan drawn any rising heat from there, in my bedroom, inside a small tent for cloning generally but I had a shoulder injury slowing any work in the shed. If I run a vegging and flowering room at the same time out there, it would be on a 20 amp sole circuit fed by a twenty five foot extension cord, and a 15 amp circuit with a 25 foot extension cord, 115 volts of course, I don’t think that is enough, even for a small personal legal grow of 600 watt lights each side, fans, and even an air conditioner somehow. I understand loosely how to add up the power useage, its the use of extension cords that makes the situation worse I would think.

I like portable ac units that go into windows, they cost about $150 to $200 depending on how much output, I have two in the home for cooling in summer, on Oregon coast, it don’t get real hot, but sometimes it does. I just wish I could use the one room for growing right now, without a bed or my books in there, at least for seedlings and clones and vegging to a foot or two, then use the shed for flowering.
Around here, if I had a electrician install electricity, it would have been about $2000, but the problem was the county, they like to value peoples sheds with electricity as a separate building of $30k value or more to be taxed, then they start worrying about the “building” staying in code. Who knows, maybe someday I might not have a medical marijuana card but growing plants I don’t want anyone knowing about even though recreational is here in Oregon, they’d have something to say about that as well, probably as indoor grow facility not up to horticultural codes as established by the county, they’d probably have me put in a eye flush station, two doors one entry and exit, and a basic toilet and running water, with a welcome matt that says “welcome all tax accessors and building codes enforcers”.

I glanced over your post. About the Ipower. No it does not have a switch; All you do is replace the Grow bulb, with the Bloom bulb. I love the simplicity. BTW. My MH bulb just went out after 2 years. Pretty decent. They are inexpensive too :slight_smile: