AlabamaJack
eXtreme
Dangit, I hate it when the temperature doesn't get above 40 for days on end...makes me edgy...thinking...I NEED TO DO SOMETHING...that is always a dangerous time for me...
Soooooo....I was sitting in my growrage thinking about how I could make it better and use the space more efficiently....then it hit me...wall in a space in the garage and I can do away with my germination box, my big grow box, the current "slowgrow" area if I design a new growroom for both germination and seedling growtn...
Now, I am thinking out loud here as I type translating my notes off my pad...better yet, here is a picture of my notes...if you are interested, you can understand better what I am talking about...scale on the picture is one little square is one foot...
I will have an "L" shaped room. 190 ft2 germination/grow area...figured I could start as many seeds and grow as many seedlings as I need based on my business getting a little bigger...
entry into the area from the garage will be at the "inside" corner of the "L"...using a heavy insulated door...total interior will be painted castle white...same color as the house trim and inside...the floor will be the natural concrete...
the walls will be sheetrock outside and in with batted insulation between...when I had this house built, I told the contractor I wanted all walls insulated with batted insulation...he said "even the outside garage walls"...I said yup...the top will be the current ceiling in the garage except the area the garage door is hung...then I will have a "dropped insulated ceiling"....just so happens to be where the germination room will be...
the "bottom" end of the area will be for germination...have it's own 30 amp line (already a 20 amp outlet there too), an exhaust fan for evacuation of unwanted stuff whether that is heat, smell, poots (oops
), etc...there will be 18 feet of 20 inch wide shelving in three tiers...so a total of 54 feet of shelf space...most of what I am using to start seeds is 12" wide...so if I max out, I can start 54 X 72 = 3888 seeds...hopefully one day I will NEED to start that many...since this is a "germination chamber" not much light will be necessary, It will need to be stay warm...there will be a wall separating the main grow room and the germinator that will be entered by a 30" light weight door...
on the right hand side next to the wall will be a six foot work area that will be 2 feet wide...maybe 30"...still TBD...then the rest of the wall space will be used for seedling growth....so 18' wall space, 20 inch wide shelving three tiered gives me room for 54 trays that will hold 18 3" square containers...thats 1296 seedlings...since I will NOT be using this for maturing plants, rather growing healthy seedlings, I think I can get away with ~2000 lumens/ft square...I have not really thought about the lighting yet...may go MIH or HPS here...just have to do a trade study to see how much light I really need and how much I want to pay for it in electricity...
if I really want to use it as a grow room in the summer time, I can (it the light is right) because I am going to run a couple of AC ducts from my central unit for cooling that will be controlled with a programable digital thermostat and control valves for opening and closing the AC vents...
the main thing I am dead set on is temperature control of this area...if I get an infestation of something...heck...I can close the whole room up and fumigate it...damn them aphids and spidermites anyway...may not have to fumigate if I get a resident flock of lady bugs in there...
what do you guys think? Am I crazy?
gonna quit rambling now for a while....
WOW, what a revelation I just had...sunlight is free...I could put skylights in the growrage...it will be a lot cheaper than electricity in the long run...but the up front cost will probably go thru the roof (pun intended)
Soooooo....I was sitting in my growrage thinking about how I could make it better and use the space more efficiently....then it hit me...wall in a space in the garage and I can do away with my germination box, my big grow box, the current "slowgrow" area if I design a new growroom for both germination and seedling growtn...
Now, I am thinking out loud here as I type translating my notes off my pad...better yet, here is a picture of my notes...if you are interested, you can understand better what I am talking about...scale on the picture is one little square is one foot...
I will have an "L" shaped room. 190 ft2 germination/grow area...figured I could start as many seeds and grow as many seedlings as I need based on my business getting a little bigger...
entry into the area from the garage will be at the "inside" corner of the "L"...using a heavy insulated door...total interior will be painted castle white...same color as the house trim and inside...the floor will be the natural concrete...
the walls will be sheetrock outside and in with batted insulation between...when I had this house built, I told the contractor I wanted all walls insulated with batted insulation...he said "even the outside garage walls"...I said yup...the top will be the current ceiling in the garage except the area the garage door is hung...then I will have a "dropped insulated ceiling"....just so happens to be where the germination room will be...
the "bottom" end of the area will be for germination...have it's own 30 amp line (already a 20 amp outlet there too), an exhaust fan for evacuation of unwanted stuff whether that is heat, smell, poots (oops
), etc...there will be 18 feet of 20 inch wide shelving in three tiers...so a total of 54 feet of shelf space...most of what I am using to start seeds is 12" wide...so if I max out, I can start 54 X 72 = 3888 seeds...hopefully one day I will NEED to start that many...since this is a "germination chamber" not much light will be necessary, It will need to be stay warm...there will be a wall separating the main grow room and the germinator that will be entered by a 30" light weight door...on the right hand side next to the wall will be a six foot work area that will be 2 feet wide...maybe 30"...still TBD...then the rest of the wall space will be used for seedling growth....so 18' wall space, 20 inch wide shelving three tiered gives me room for 54 trays that will hold 18 3" square containers...thats 1296 seedlings...since I will NOT be using this for maturing plants, rather growing healthy seedlings, I think I can get away with ~2000 lumens/ft square...I have not really thought about the lighting yet...may go MIH or HPS here...just have to do a trade study to see how much light I really need and how much I want to pay for it in electricity...
if I really want to use it as a grow room in the summer time, I can (it the light is right) because I am going to run a couple of AC ducts from my central unit for cooling that will be controlled with a programable digital thermostat and control valves for opening and closing the AC vents...
the main thing I am dead set on is temperature control of this area...if I get an infestation of something...heck...I can close the whole room up and fumigate it...damn them aphids and spidermites anyway...may not have to fumigate if I get a resident flock of lady bugs in there...
what do you guys think? Am I crazy?
gonna quit rambling now for a while....
WOW, what a revelation I just had...sunlight is free...I could put skylights in the growrage...it will be a lot cheaper than electricity in the long run...but the up front cost will probably go thru the roof (pun intended)
That is one heck of a project, some of that math stuff just flies right over my head!
