Hi
Fantastic site

As said in title ive got £250 and an empty loft (floor boarded and eaves with canvas behind) which i want to use to produce myself some good smoke for just myself.

Ive read loads of posts and i,m a bit more clued in but still have questions and was hopin a kind soul could enlighten me.

Q1 i only want to grow a maximum of 4 plants and i intend to make two rooms, 1 for vegging and 1 for growing, what dimensions would be suitable and what lighting would i need (soil cultivation)

I understand the importance of air intake/extraction, if the growing room was vented would the air in the whole attic be ok, i could leave the loft hatch open for a while too

Peace and love to Mother Nature

WOW

i used to need glasses to read posts!!!!

thats some large font

[size=3]

Yeah

guess my eyes r goin too

hi brewman

when are you coming back
its very hot in a loft at the mo...

you'll need adequate ventilation..intake/ extraction to suit the size of your space and lighting


on that price you may struggle...depending on the lights you intend to use

you can get a starter kit for that ...but will not include all you fans etc

do a search at the top of the page

loft grow

more people out there manage to use their lofts still..or a drobe

HTH

TB

Hello mate - Should be able to start of £250 easily.

I would get a 400w HPS light (£100 for a decent one) & a enviro (blue) for vegging, or a couple of cool white 3/4ft tubes)

1 plant needs about 1 square ft to grow nicely, so I would make my flowering room a minimum of 2ft x 2ft x (as much height as possible), I would also use white plastic sheeting so the veg room doesnt disturb the flowering room (light leaks will produce hermies). Make the veg room the same with plastic sheeting.

Most attics will ventilate themselves and you got a hatch so I would stick a 100mm or better inline fan to pull air out of the flowering room (this will also pull in fresh air from the attic into your flowering room providing you make a intake, which should be 5x bigger than your out take, 500mm?, and you can also put the end of the extractor pipe into your veg room so they get some fresh air too).

Thanks Tightbud

could you recommend some lighting for me?

Absolute music to my ears

Many thanks smokey

i'm sorry smokey but i find it rather stifled for fresh air in my loft at the mo

make an intake may not be possible

TB

edit ...that is why i did ask when brewman was planning on coming back to the uk .....

Loft grow for £250 you need lots of ventilation for a loft grow of any size. If a summers day reaches 30c then your loft is going to be about 38c with the sun on it.

Try a grow drobe or two, one for veg and the other for flower.

Thanks Oni

Yeah thats what i mean by two rooms built inside my loft.

Im thinking now as previosly suggested of building two 4x4x6 high drobes from chipboard and painting them matt white inside with ventilation as described earlier

peace and love to mother nature

Buy a sodium and an RVK first mate, these are paramount if you want some good bud! The rest you can deal with in due course (timers, contactors etc) get some 2x2 from a timber yard and section off the areas to the required size, then line them with white/black plastic, mylar or just board up and matt white paint, sort the leccy out (if not already installed). For your veg room flouro tubes should be ok, use a few and run them as a bank, vent wise just keep the air moving no need to worry about smells, stick em on 20 hours lights on and 4 off, keeping them as close to the tubes as possible (they wont burn unless you touch the tubes) bare in mind that just sprouted plants may bend away from the lights if too close just lower the lights gradually over a few days For your flower box you need a carbon filter (either home made or bought) cos they will pong! you can do the switching on and off for the light manually, pain in the arse I know but if your strapped for cash then its a small price to pay , run your fans on constant (get one that is more powerfull than you need - this gives you some tolerance) you will need a fan controller and a thermostat is also a good idea, especially in the loft! (they get hot, sometimes 50 degrees C) all the best with your grow and keep us posted

just build one room for now with all your needs if you going from seeds....

you wont need two rooms straight away...it'll take you a few weeks to take cuttings for the veg room

then you can always add to this room to make it a flower room (carbon filter etc)

a veg room needs less and can be done in a cupboard...

thats where i started

HTH

edit ...sorry the first room not the veg room
ie "you can always add to this room" ...see above

This is brill info ty Botanics

Please excuse my lack of brain/terminology but what do you mean by a sodium and a RVK , i know sodium is a light

Nice idea Tightbud spesially on the pocket

Its the Virgin Grow for me and im really looking forward to it

FONT FONT FONT
please

no caps lock either please brewman


were all trying to chill

TB

soz tightbud n all others

chilled myself now and will surely be dreamin of the first crop

ty all

erm ive been in the uk for 40 odd years now

My growspace is 4x4x6

I use a 400 watt high pressure sodium lamp

You could probably use a air cooled 600 or 1000 though.

125mm rvk and carbon filter.

DO Lots Of Reading Through The Archived Questions and growroom pictures for inspiration.

Good Growing

if you look at the top of the page you will see the uk420 store

have a look there...this will give you some idea.... for starter kits at various prices

but does not include ventilation....

worth a look brewman

others do have differing ways of grows but worth a look

all the best

TB

well hurry up and grow some and think you talking to someone else

sorry must have been "elsewhere for a minute"

home made hash

Your right about the sodium being a lamp mate This kind of lamp is whats known as a High Pressure Sodium used extensively for street lighting and industrial/commercial applications - long lamp life, high output for moderate cost, its a discharge lamp which is why you need a ballast to run it and the lumens out put (amount of light) they produce is high which is what them ladies like

An RVK is an industrial inline (used in co-ordination with ducting systems) fan made by SystemAir, these are top quality, move shitloads of air and built to run constantly for years with little maintenance, dont bother with your normal bathroom/kitchen extractors from diy shops they just cant do the work required for growing and burn out pretty quick. The RVK's may seem pricey in comparison but remember its like putting a cheap run around next to a quality motor, after all you want to grow the best bud you can and getting the light and extraction right will go a long way

High brewman, welcome aboard


The contactor relay is an absolute MUST in my book.Gives you peace of mind You can also get them with built in timers.Smoke alarm would be woth getting as well.



You can get conversion ballasts, this means you can run a MH (metal halide) light for the Vegative stage.Then change over to an HPS (high pressure sodium) light for the flowering period .A 400w will give good results.

MH during veg 18/6 lighting cycle , HPS during flowering 12/12 lighting

Worth the investment IMO

JAR

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Hellow,Brewman,All I can say realy is to be very carfull in this weather.specialy,in a loft ,get as much knoledge as possible first.
peace.

Also insultaing the roof can be a big help, and minimise any heat lose in winter that could give away a grow, and any sound loss coming from moving around, talking to the plants, and fans etc, esp next to those thin tiles

I'd totally agree with whats been said as fans and lights are most important first.

I say you could get a budget light for £85, and a budget fan and filter for £123, a Light Switching Timer Contactor for £35 and a descent timer for £11,

Total of £254.

And untill you can afford to buy a couple of CFL's for vegging, you could veg in the beautiful sun we have now.

Goodluck and start reading up on everything you can about growing

Don't get hung up on the idea of growing 4 big plants.

I would go for approx 8 square feet and 8 shorter plants.

Start with compost - I'm amazed that so many beginners start with hydro.

You can get 90 percent of what you need at B and Q.

.

I wouldn't ever do that - for fear of importing wildlife into a pristine growroom.

If money is really tight it may be worth havin' a look on the hydroponics section of ebay uk, rvk's go for 20 odd quid 2nd hand, i reckon you could have two fans for around 60 quid then 100 for a decent 600 sodium and your still left with change for the envirolights.

How much height do you have?

Best of luck

taffy

Hi Taffy

im gonna make it 6 foot high

Got a sparky coming out to give me an estimate to get the electric up there and my plans are gradually forming due to the amazing help i have had so far. Im not going to rush this thing with the hope of getting a nice little growrobe

ty

sorry but as with many others

no ebay

TB

couldn't trust em

i'd think on about insulating the loft

getting leccy up there

building a flower cab, veg cab & little cutting box in the area

getting the two big cabs pretty much airtight & with decent extraction with a scrubber

then seeing how much you've got left for lights & seeds

-------------------------------------

i'd not try & spread that first £250 from the end of that list from the end back to the beginning : basic environment & security can't be tweeked so easy mid grow - certainly not as easy as chucking in a stonking new light when funds allow

also is very hard to rebuild that space once you start throwing all your gear in there

i'd deffo get the physical grow space sorted first

oh yeah .... water

before you start building boxes

*slaps forehead*

in my coal shed grow i'm fortunately right next to the outside bog. i got a screwin 'T' piece thingy from B&Q & have a short length of hose pipe running thru the wall terminating in a £6 brass tap

hello

im new grower and growing in the loft
started with 5 inch extractor and it worked ok to start

but when we had warm weather i had to get air from out side to keep the temps down
useing a 4 inch fan this is on full all the time thay need plenty of fresh air

that 1 mistake i did not inuf fresh air
air in the loft just get too warm

So get some seeds Stick em in compost!

yeah i will do

soon as i get the electric sorted im gonnna build on room just 2 foot x 2 foot x 6 foot, keeping the operation small as its just smoke for me im after and it will keep the spy in the sky away i hope

many thanks everyone 4 some great advice

just run an extention cable into your loft
save paying a sparky