A single 1000-watt metal halide can grow enough mothers, clones, and vegetative plants to support 4000 watts of flowering HID light. This design allows pungent odors to waft upward before being evacuated via roof fans. A third area in the attic is used as a heat buffer in hot climates.

This closet grow room has everything necessary to grow a crop–lights, fans, and cannabis! A 400-watt HID lights the 3 × 4- foot (90 ×120 cm) flowering room above, and two 55-watt CFLs in one reflector illuminate mothers and clones in this perpetual harvest setup.

This attic grow room has access via a retractable ladder. The grower uses the dead airspace above the room for his ozone generator to exchange air before expelling.

Step Three: Cover walls, ceiling, floor–everything–with a highly reflective material like flat white paint or Mylar. The more reflection, the more light energy available to plants. Good reflective light will allow effective coverage of an HID lamp to increase from 10 to 20 percent, just by putting a few dollars worth of paint on the walls. Reflective white Visqueen® plastic is inexpensive and protects walls and floors.

Step Four: See "Setting Up the Vent Fan" in Chapter Thirteen. Constant air circulation and a supply of fresh air are essential but often inadequate. There should be at least one fresh-air vent in every grow room. Vents can be an open door, window, or duct vented to the outside. An exhaust fan vented outdoors or pulling new air through an open door usually creates an adequate flow of air. An oscillating fan works well to circulate air. When installing such a fan, make sure it is not set in a fixed position and blowing too hard on tender plants. It could cause windburn and dry out plants, especially seedlings and clones. If the room contains a heat vent, it may be opened to supply extra heat or air circulation.

This attic grow room is insulated with Styrofoam and reflection/anti-detection barrier foil available at www.hysupply.nl, which keeps the heat signature from showing.

In this simple Sea of Green layout, there are ten plants in each tray (80 total plants) illuminated by a single 1000-watt HID. Each week one tray of ten plants is harvested, and ten new plants are started.

Step Five: The larger your garden becomes, the more water it will need. A 10 × 10-foot (3 x 3 m) garden could use more than 50 gallons (190 L) per week. Carrying water is hard, regular work. One gallon (3.8 L) of water weighs eight pounds (3.6 kg); 50 × 8 = 400 pounds (180 kg) of water a week! It is much easier to run in a hose with an on/off valve or install a hose bib in the room than to schlep water. A three-foot (90 cm) watering wand attached to the hose on/off valve makes watering easier and saves branches from being broken when watering in dense foliage. Hook up the hose to a hot and cold water source so the temperature is easy to regulate.

Step Six: Ideally, the floor should be concrete or a smooth surface that can be swept and washed down. A floor drain is very handy. In grow rooms with carpet or wood floors, a large, white painter's drop cloth or thick, white Visqueen plastic, will protect floors from moisture. Trays placed beneath each container add protection and convenience.

Step Seven: Mount a hook strong enough to support 30 pounds (14 kg) for each lamp. Attach an adjustable chain or cord and pulley between the ceiling hook and the lamp fixture. The adjustable connection makes it easy to keep the lamp at the proper distance from plants and up out of the way during maintenance.

Step Eight: There are some tools an indoor gardener must have and a few extra tools that make indoor horticulture much more precise and cost effective. The extra tools help make the garden so efficient that they pay for themselves in a few weeks. Procure all the tools before bringing plants into the room. If the tools are there when needed, chances are they will be put to use. A hygrometer is a good example. If plants show signs of slow, sickly growth due to high humidity, most growers will not identify the exact cause right away. They will wait and guess, wait and guess, and maybe figure it out before a fungus attacks and the plant dies. When a hygrometer is installed before plants are brought into the grow room, the horticulturist will know from the start when the humidity is too high and causing sickly growth.

These plants are growing in 3-gallon (11 L) pots and spaced on 6-inch (15 cm) centers. The 5-foot (2 m) high walls are covered with white Visqueen plastic.

Keeping heat inside the room is as important as keeping it out! Insulation will keep heat out, and the heat generated inside the room will be easy to control.

Step Nine: Read and complete: "Setting Up the HID Lamp" at the end of Chapter Two.

Step Ten: Move seedlings and rooted clones into the room. Huddle them closely together under the lamp. Make sure the HID is not so close to small plants that it burns their leaves. Position 400-watt lamps 18 inches (45 cm) above seedlings and clones. Place a 600-watt lamp 24 inches (60 cm) away and a 1000-watt lamp 30 inches (75 cm) away. Check the distance daily. Hang a precut string from the hood to measure distance.

A vent fan and an oscillating circulation fan are essential to maintain a healthy environment.

This drawing shows how to install a vent fan. Adding rubber feet or padding around the fan will dampen noise.

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