keep in mind that as a security consideration, increased energy use is more likely to raise suspicion from authorities. For this reason, growing with T5 fluorescent lights is more secure than HPS and other more powerful lighting systems - they are less likely to cause telltale energy spikes on 18/12 and 12/12 cycles that a utility company might be tracking.
4. Heat produced by the light. A high amount of heat energy released is inefficient in terms of energy use; though it can warm a cool grow room. However, too much heat may require you to use additional fans or air conditioners to reduce room temperatures. This can be a hassle, is costly, and may not be an option depending on your grow conditions. As a rule, I would suggest that it is easier to warm your rooms than to cool them.
Obviously, increased wattage/lumens produced increases your grow potential. However, the hotter the light, the further plants must be moved away from it, which of course reduces the amount of lumens received. This might seem like a Catch-22, so what is the solution?
I would suggest a good T5 light. Although a T5 is a fluorescent light, it is the highest efficiency fluorescent. This is decidedly not your typical industrial fluorescent. The advantages of the T5 make it an easy choice: it produces more than sufficient lumens to conduct a successful grow with impressive yields. It is both cheaper to purchase and (much) cheaper to operate than High Intensity Discharge (HID), High Pressure Sodium (HPS) or Metal Halide (MH) lamps. These ones are for the “pros” and are overkill for most home grows. Given how much heat these lights produce, they also present the potential of an increased fire risk when compared to T5s, a real consideration if you are growing in cramped conditions. Also, because the T5s are so much cooler (and don’t require a separate ballast system that adds to setup cost, energy use and heat generated), you can snuggle your plants very close underneath them. This maximizes light exposure and absorption, and makes up for being less powerful compared to their more traditionally used cousins.
What’s the downside? Keeping your plants close to the lights can cause burns if you don’t check your plants frequently. Checking them is a daily job and can be a bit of extra work jockeying lights around on chains and/or moving shelves around to most effectively situate the plants. Still, this is the safest, cheapest, easiest setup for most novices. Even the sales staff at my local hydroponics store advised I go this route when I got started, and they were giving up the possibility of me purchasing a more expensive light setup. I continue to appreciate their honesty and good advice!
You will also want to purchase both “warm” and “cool” bulbs. The former are in the red light spectrum and are meant for use in the bud room, the latter are in the blue spectrum, and are meant for vegetative growth. Though these will last for months at a time, it is a good idea to have several spares of each on hand, in case you lose a light to burn out when your local hydroponics store is closed or otherwise inaccessible.
With lights assembled and installed in the grow room(s), they must be put on timers. Marijuana will grow or “vegetate” without budding when in light for more than twelve hours per day. The exception to this are “auto-flowering” strains, which come with other pros and cons. We will consider these more fully elsewhere.
When the plants are reduced to a cycle of twelve hours of light, twelve hours of darkness, they will begin the process through full maturity to budding. Why? Because this light schedule approximates the end of a natural outdoor growing season, when the plants usually bud. This is where you’ll finally be able to see the bud you’re doing all this work to produce.
That’s it. You’re lit up and ready to grow.
This passive air vent is light-tight. It is curved behind the polyethylene tarp to ensure light gets neither in nor out, but allows for the intake of air to replace that which is vented outside.
Note the tube curving away from the hole. A snake behind the curtain is your goal here.
Plastic shelves with adjustable leg heights are an easy way to maintain short and taller plants under a single light source.
The final task is also one of the most potentially labor intensive: venting the grow room. The best way to ensure even, regular circulation of new air into your rooms is to install a venting fan. These fans can (and should) be attached to drums that contain carbon filters. When used in conjunction with one another, these two things will reduce the telltale odors associated with marijuana to nearly zero. Ideally, you will be able to vent your room to the outside. Most units are fairly quiet; mine can be heard only faintly in the next room and outside is inaudible from about five feet away. Close up, it sounds similar to the vent from a furnace or dryer. In fact, if you can place it in close proximity to one of these, this is a great cover. Carbon filters generally need to be replaced every 12 to 24 months. They are invaluable for keeping your daily grow as a secret garden. The only other consideration is that your vent fan should be placed in the bud room if at all possible. Plants in the veg room will produce little if any smell since they are sexually immature. It is only the valuable bud that will stink. If you will be placing budding plants in a veg room (for instance, in the case of growing autoflowering strains which benefit from a more continuous light cycle, even when flowering), you should create a vent between rooms and ensure that a small fan moves air out of the veg room and into the bud room for expulsion.
1. Check the maximum height that you’ll have for growth. At least four feet clearance is ideal. Remember that lights will hang down from the ceiling, reducing the amount of room plants have to grow vertically.
2. Locate studs and install hooks from which lights will be hung. Attach chains on which to hang/move lights. Check that chains will hang easily on hooks BEFORE you buy (i.e. that chain loops are wide enough to fit over the hooks).
3. In the case of concrete floors, cover with plywood or some other insulating material that can be cleaned easily when spills occur.
4. Install ventilation from the exterior grate into the grow room for passive air flow. Snake the ventilation tubing so that no light escapes from either end of the grate.
5. Staple polyethylene tightly onto the walls. Use cardboard pieces to avoid ripping.
6. Hang a thermometer so that temperatures can be monitored easily and a green light bulb for working during times when the lights must be kept off. If possible, buy a thermometer that measures relative humidity as well as temperature. Some units will record daily highs/lows: this is invaluable for seeing how hot/cold your rooms are running at times you aren't there.
7.
