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Hey all... thinking upgrade...

MegaSpokaneMan

MegaSpokaneMan

So my wonderful girlfriend has given me permission go expand my pepper growing world... So I am thinking about buying a grow tent. I have some questions...

I really want to grow both indoors and out doors so it appears to be worth it... So I can continue to grow my plants in reading them to be moved outside... and then keep a couple pet plants going in the tent... Anyone else do this ?

I am thinking a 3 x 3 or 4 x 4 tent... anyone have experience with this size ?

In regards to lighting I am thinking MH ( this is closer to the blue end of the spectrum yes ?). What would be the best wattage for this size of tent ? Does more equal better ? Does more equal hotter ? and unnecessarily hotter ?

Any insights would be appreciated...

-- Mega.
 
yes, your plans sound good, you can move your plants around as you wish, just so long as they are getting plenty of light they wont mind. I recommend a 400w MH light for the grow tent you are thinking about. If you have seedlings you will want to start out with a light less powerfull such as a t5 or t8. You can do a search about light by entering lights in the search forum. Heres a good link I found for you http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/25876-article-light-101/
 
A grow tent is a great way to extend your season year around. And I agree that your girlfriend is pretty freaking cool for letting it happen. I went through the whole search and Q&A process with the members here and you can find a lot of info that you can use HERE. It is my thread from this summer/into the early winter about growing in the Garage. It talks about sizes, types, and the best place to find one (EBAY!!).

Also, there are a lot of members that use Grow Tents like MEGA and some others that I cant find the links to.

Search for "Grow Tent" and you should be able to yeild great results.

But some cliffnotes are:

Growtents are great! Start seedlings under flouros to keep them unburnt. Don't spend the extra money on T5s if you are gonna use a MH, so just pickup a decent T8 setup at the local hardware store. Use 6400K bulbs in it to veg. Then when they have a few sets of true leaves put them under the MH and let them go until you want them to flower and produce fruit, and then you can switch to a HPS. They should be interchangable on the ballast/setup you get. Use EBAY first. Usually get free shipping, even if the price is the same. Also, no tax. Once you get the tent, and set it up, ask questions, send PMs, and get everything dialed in well before you use it. Make sure that it is set well before you start, because shits gonna go wrong and you wanna have a good baseline. Don't rush it, and take it a step at a time. Learning to use the tent isn't always as simple as it looks. I have ran into and fixed about a dozen problems this season. Some never have any, but it is better to go into it knowing you are probably gonna have an issue or two.

Good luck and don't forget to keep us updated. There is always someone here that knows how to fix the problem.

Matt
 
Well in order for her to agree to move into a house with a yard i told her that she could have the extra bed room for all her girly stuffs... piles and piles of clothes, three mirrors, tubs of nail polish... you know all that weird crap woman have. Well gonna put the tent in there. Took a few Sushi dinners to convince her... but I need an indoor sun! Than for the info everyone, I'll be adding updates soon.

-- Mega
 
Tents are great, but your going to need an open window or somewhere to vent the hot air. You can vent it into the room, but eventually the room will just get hot after a few hours unless you have a nice cool air source coming into the room. For that reason I converted an empty closet into a "tent" by lining it with mylar and just put in a window fan to bring cool air in. Then I setup a small 4" duct fan on the exhaust side of my cool tube to push the hot air out of the closet.
 
Light and seedling... So I have a homemade t8 light bar... seems to be working well... but I kinda wanna play with my new toys... I picked up a 400w MH system. My ballast can be tuned down from 400w to 250w. At 400w my bulb should be produce 45,000 lumes. My question should I say turn my ballast down to 250 would this be too much for seedlings ?
 
MegaSpokaneMan said:
Light and seedling... So I have a homemade t8 light bar... seems to be working well... but I kinda wanna play with my new toys... I picked up a 400w MH system. My ballast can be tuned down from 400w to 250w. At 400w my bulb should be produce 45,000 lumes. My question should I say turn my ballast down to 250 would this be too much for seedlings ?
Click to expand...
No! i dont recommend using your MH on the AT ALL until they are 5-6" tall. Use your t8 light on them until then
 
I used my 400mh on my seedlings and they did just fine. Since that was my only source of light I just had to make it work. I did have it say 36" about the seedlings so the light wasn't too intense on them. The closer you put the light to the plants the more intense the light is. As they got older I slowly lowered the light down closer and closer until they where eventually about 12" above the plants. Then when they started flowering I switched the bulb over to a 400hps and wow they really took off. Luckily my ballast was switchable so I could grow all year long, but eventually put them outside because the sun is free!
 
LGHT said:
I used my 400mh on my seedlings and they did just fine. Since that was my only source of light I just had to make it work. I did have it say 36" about the seedlings so the light wasn't too intense on them. The closer you put the light to the plants the more intense the light is. As they got older I slowly lowered the light down closer and closer until they where eventually about 12" above the plants. Then when they started flowering I switched the bulb over to a 400hps and wow they really took off. Luckily my ballast was switchable so I could grow all year long, but eventually put them outside because the sun is free!
Click to expand...

Yes I grew from seed to harvest with a 400w hps blue spectrum bulb. I would not recomend using t5 ever unless you want to grow lettuce. Peppers seedling need more sun then adults!!!!! If you bring your seedings outside when they are 6 inchs under the sun, do thay burn? An hps or MH is not as strong as the sun. :cool:

To not use HID for seedlings is just strange.
 
So my plants are about 3/4 inches tall... so now I am thinking how many off these things are going to fit in a 3 x 3 grow tent 90 days from now ? Looking at some of the grow logs I am thinking I may have really over stretched myself... anyone insight into this ?
 
Its a good idea but consider that you often get what you pay for. Be careful not to buy too cheap of a tent because some of them can do something called "outgassing" when the material is heated for a long time. It can kill plants. Keep in mind that you're going to want to duct it if you run a hid light because the heat can be too much, and it controls the amount of light because you can keep the enclosure shut. 3x3 is ok, but also think of standards of measurement. If the tent is 47x47 inches (I have one of these, undeployed), its not likely going to be able to fit 48" fixtures, which can hinder your light choices. Investigate your light selection before chosing the tent. Keep 2" or more of space on the sides of your lights. Height is usually pretty good on all of them unless you buy the "small" tents that are designed to fit in closets because they're only 20-22" deep. Being able to stand inside of it is nice. Keep an eye on the framing design. I'd go for semi-locking metal elbows, but mind has been fine with the plastic ones. Since you're in Washington, you should have a few local vendors to see the products first hand...considering the market it targets lol. I mean, you're between BC and the Emerald Triangle if my geography is right.

I'd also buy a couple extra flanges that fit the 6" (or 4") ports because extra ones cant hurt, they're not that expensive. Beyond that, some wormdrive clamps and ducting can be had at any homedepot or lowes. I would also get an inline duct boosting fan of the same size as your port choice. You will still want some kind of exhaust for floros.

If you feel handy though, building a multi-chambered box is often a good idea because its custom to your specs, sturdier, and sometimes cheaper. The only downside of that is portability of the design.

My 22x36 is housing one 3gal and several 1gal pots of peppers. I'm not ducting because I'm using LED but I do keep the ports open for breathability. I am sort of keeping the temps up on them now until they can go outside. I can fit three standard sized seedling trays in the bottom, which is more than enough for most starters that will get moved outside.

MHz
 
@capsicum while I agree that peppers need a ton of light to grow, I would argue that flouros are the preferred method across the forum, at least in their early stages. This is not to say that they are better than MH/HPS, because those still remain the best in terms of output. But flouro lights 8s and 12s are significantly less expensive and produce a hell of a lot less heat. I am sure that there are many growers here that use MH on seedlings, but I think that that same amount say it is safer to use a less intense light at least for the first few weeks of life.

I used a 600w dimmible ballast with a MH bulb set to 75% strength and it played a part in my unsuccessful first month. Could I have made it work? Absolutely, however, if you look at some of the heavyweights here (Greg, AJ, etc) they start under a less intense light. I understand that they plant out, and this thread is about indoor production, but Greg has some MHs set up once the plants have a good amount of growth.

I just want to make sure that everyone knows that T5s aren't just for lettuce. Tons of growers every day have amazing plants produced under flouros. The technology now available in them can allow an indoor grower to get good results with them. And it is likely there are more growers using them than the more expensive and much hotter MH/HPS set up.
 
I grew in a 3x3 tent with a 400w HID.

You do not need to vent your light and your tent, JUST your tent. I used a 4" high power inline fan taking air outside. With linked in vents from outside that had filters. I have the radient hydrofarm hood and it just fits in the tent!! I would just get a reg. hood lol :cool: A 400w MH and a 4-6" inline fan would work very well.
 
Hey all,

I went with a secretjardin darkroom II 3x3 tent, Digilux 400w MH bulb on a simple bat wing reflector (grow shop wanted 130 for their cheapest reflector or twenty bucks for this one out of their used shop), digital ballest, a homemade 6 inch exhaust fan, and an 8 inch oscillating fan Pics:

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--word
 
i have a 400W MH in a 5.5'x5.5'x8' walk in closet, with a 5" duct fan similar to the one pictured above and consistantly struggle with temps and how fast the peppers require watering. Your plants will love the light.... but im finding temperatures to contribute to all of my issues. Get your venting sorted out before you have a buttload of peppers in the way of working :) from my experience

also, from an OCD standpoint... your bulb isn't horizontal in your refector, reducing efficiency and creating hot spots. Just a little constructive criticism.

this setup will give you peppers in no time, good work. Cheers
 
Hello, I use a 4 x 4 at 8 tall. I grow peppers, tomatos, green beans and coffee year round from seed to harvest in the tent. I know alot of people are saying use T8 and save money. I guess that's a good idea if you are just veg-ing and not flowering. I personally use a 6 bulb T5 (4 ft) unit. the temp in the chamber never goes above 85 and i have the light on at 16 hrs as of now per day. T8's are cheaper, but if your going to be year rounding inside, and you like this type of system, i much more recommend a t5 h/o. Plenty of people will object but that's cool. Everyone knows how to grow best with their own light. good luck to ya.

on another note, my tent's vent holes are only set up for 4 inch induction. I would recommend (and wish mine was) looking for one with 6 inch induction for better flow.

oh crap you already bought one... my bad for not reading through the whole page, i only read the first post
 
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