1st Grow, Many Questions (I have the means to do this right, I just need your help =)

FecalFingers

FecalFingers

Member
1st, I am sorry for starting a new thread, when I did find answers to some of these questions while reading through old threads... I know I am going to have SO many questions over the next few weeks/months, and pictures to post, so I thought a new thread may be in order.

Ok, so this is my 1st grow. I have been smoking, hard, for the last decade or so... Recently I have been burning through 4 - 5G's of Sensi Star (or equal quality greenery) on a daily, so you can imagine how my savings are doing. =( Not good, therefore, it's time to MAKE MY OWN.

I am ready to start buying the gear to do so this weekend. I am going to a local store (not terribly keen on ordering grow stuff online), and I was planning on spending up to $1200 on this initial purchase.

I am planning of doing sea of green straight away and maybe screen down the road, I am also going to go hydro right off as well. Unless someone says otherwise...

To start:
(Flowering) GrowLab Tent - GL 145 - 4'9" x 4'9" x 6'7" - $340ish
(Vegging and clones) GrowLab - GL 120 - 3'11" x 3'11" x 6'7" - $260ish (is that big enough?)
600w HPS w/ballast and reflector that has an exhaust/intake port
Exhaust tubing w/Y connector (to exhaust out of house w/dryer exhaust)
Vortex Powerfan
Active arbon can filter

What did I forget (plenty I am sure...)?

Now for my 1st batch of questions.

1: Could I get away without a MH lamp, and only use cfl's or tubes? or would this really hurt my end yield??

2: I want to do hydro or aero right away. Is this a good idea? and if so, what kind of hydro/aero kit should I look into for the best yields? (EBB & FLOW, straight AEROPONIC, blah blah blah)

3: I plan on running the bigger tent for flowering, and the smaller for vegging and cloning. I assume I would need at least 2 seperate hydro systyems?... Does it make sense to do soil through any of the stages? Can/should the mother live in soil?

4: Given the above dimensions, how many plants do you think could be grown at a time in either tent?

Many more questions to come... Thank you VERY much! I'll post some pics this weekend of the gear I end up getting, and the room in progress.

Cheers!



-StinkFingers

ps. Smell is a major issue for this grow, and I am planning on growing the stinkiest of stinky... Do you think a carbon can will be enough or will I need something serious? Like an OZone gen?? No worries if so.... All expenses will be justified come harvest day. ;)
 
dadio161

dadio161

Well-Known Member
As for your ballast , I would get a 400W / 600W switchable. I did this and am very happy. I ran a 400W MH when vegging and then switched to 600 HPS to flower. It's as easy as changing a bulb and flipping a switch. The price was almost the same. The grow shop will probably give you a bulb. Take the HPS. You can get a MH cheap at a grow shop. If it gets too hot in your room , you can always go buy a 400W HPS and not have to change anything but a bulb.
Go right into hydro. Be confident. I am doing an Ebb and Flow for my first grow and it's fairly easy.
 
treeburner

treeburner

Member
FecalFingers said:
1st, I am sorry for starting a new thread, when I did find answers to some of these questions while reading through old threads... I know I am going to have SO many questions over the next few weeks/months, and pictures to post, so I thought a new thread may be in order.

Ok, so this is my 1st grow. I have been smoking, hard, for the last decade or so... Recently I have been burning through 4 - 5G's of Sensi Star (or equal quality greenery) on a daily, so you can imagine how my savings are doing. =( Not good, therefore, it's time to MAKE MY OWN.

I am ready to start buying the gear to do so this weekend. I am going to a local store (not terribly keen on ordering grow stuff online), and I was planning on spending up to $1200 on this initial purchase.

I am planning of doing sea of green straight away and maybe screen down the road, I am also going to go hydro right off as well. Unless someone says otherwise...

To start:
(Flowering) GrowLab Tent - GL 145 - 4'9" x 4'9" x 6'7" - $340ish
(Vegging and clones) GrowLab - GL 120 - 3'11" x 3'11" x 6'7" - $260ish (is that big enough?)
600w HPS w/ballast and reflector that has an exhaust/intake port
Exhaust tubing w/Y connector (to exhaust out of house w/dryer exhaust)
Vortex Powerfan
Active arbon can filter

What did I forget (plenty I am sure...)?

Now for my 1st batch of questions.

1: Could I get away without a MH lamp, and only use cfl's or tubes? or would this really hurt my end yield??

2: I want to do hydro or aero right away. Is this a good idea? and if so, what kind of hydro/aero kit should I look into for the best yields? (EBB & FLOW, straight AEROPONIC, blah blah blah)

3: I plan on running the bigger tent for flowering, and the smaller for vegging and cloning. I assume I would need at least 2 seperate hydro systyems?... Does it make sense to do soil through any of the stages? Can/should the mother live in soil?

4: Given the above dimensions, how many plants do you think could be grown at a time in either tent?

Many more questions to come... Thank you VERY much! I'll post some pics this weekend of the gear I end up getting, and the room in progress.

Cheers!



-StinkFingers

ps. Smell is a major issue for this grow, and I am planning on growing the stinkiest of stinky... Do you think a carbon can will be enough or will I need something serious? Like an OZone gen?? No worries if so.... All expenses will be justified come harvest day. ;)
Click to expand...
Wow, you do have a lot of questions, but it also sounds like you've done your homework...how rare that is on the boards.

Another grower already gave you the same answers as I would have, so I would just throw in my two cents about growing hydro over aero. To me, aero is just too tricky, especially the first few times out. Maybe I'm just an idiot, but it's just too frickin complicated to me.

As for the smell, yeah, you'll probably need something pretty strong to contain the grow that you're describing, but for right now, you'll make it with the carbon. I must have missed the sort of location you're growing out of because I'm doing something smaller and don't really have any troubles with smell.

(Or maybe I do and that's why my landlord is so nice....LOL)

good luck!:leaf:
 
FecalFingers

FecalFingers

Member
Thanx treeburner and dadio! I am a little confused though... I like the idea of doing a dual ballast, but wouldn't that defeat trying to do SOG, and just be a normal grow @ that point?? I really want to do 2 tents, maybe 1 large tent and section it off for flowering/vegging & clones & mother. I hope to keep a steady flow of stink by doing this.

As far as doing hydro right of, IM DOWN! =) I am a bit of a "handy guy", and working with pvc, water, mech pumps, and such doesn't really scare me. With that said, I would like to (if possible) build a system of my own, mirroring the design of a proven hydro system. If I can't build it, I'll buy it. ;P

1: Which hydro system would you recommend?
2: What grow method would you recommend for all processes? Hydro from clone to flower? or soil up to a certain point?


Thanks again.
 
trichlone fiend

trichlone fiend

New Member
I suggest a first time grower to grow in soil. You can get some Fox Farm's Ocean Forest with the trio to follow up. That would be a great place for you to start...however, if your stuck on hydro, your going to need a good ec/ph meter to start anything, then find you a good feeding program...I'd suggest the Lucas Formula, it's pretty easy , Lucas was growing ebb'n flow style I believe >>>> https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/4387-lucas-formula.html
 
FecalFingers

FecalFingers

Member
trichlone fiend said:
I suggest a first time grower to grow in soil. You can get some Fox Farm's Ocean Forest with the trio to follow up. That would be a great place for you to start...however, if your stuck on hydro, your going to need a good ec/ph meter to start anything, then find you a good feeding program...I'd suggest the Lucas Formula, it's pretty easy , Lucas was growing ebb'n flow style I believe >>>> https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/4387-lucas-formula.html
Click to expand...
I am stuck on hydro ;) and thank you very much! Sounds awesome!!! Any ideas on where I may be able to find some good info on ebb & flow everything?? Water lvls, timer operation, blah blah blah? Thanks again.
 
trichlone fiend

trichlone fiend

New Member
I personally use a ezclone machine to clone
cloner.jpg

...I use netted pots with hydroton as my medium, I flood 4 times for veg, 3 times for flowering...this is how deep I flood
Untitled.jpg (VEG) flood bed.jpg (FLOWER)

...I trip my clones into flower after 3 weeks of the ezcloner, and 1 week of veg.
sensi seeds big bud, day 1 of flower(2).jpg


...21 days into flowering
Big bud day 21 of flower (3).jpgBig bud day 21 of flower (5).jpg...


I flush with clearex @ week #5, then fill res with Sweet, 3 weeks later...I harvest on average 1+ lb per 600watt HPS.:leaf:
big bud harvest 2.jpg
 
FecalFingers

FecalFingers

Member
trichlone fiend

You're the fucking man! You answered everything I needed @ this point! Cheers.

This of course generates a couple new questions.

1: You flood considerably deeper for the Veg?
2: How many minutes are you flooding per flood cycle?
3: A MF'ing pound??? haha, awesome! How many plants does it take to hit that? (I'm so fucking stoked to do this!)
4: In your opinion, what's the nastiest strains you can think of? Potency, and offensive smell mainly. I will worry about "yielding" plants later. ;P
5: Last but definitely not least, Where should I look into getting seeds? Attitude Seeds (I have heard good things)?

Thank you so much!

(this site owns)
 
FecalFingers

FecalFingers

Member
I see you have an AC unit. Is that essential?? I am doing this in a basement kept @ 65 - 67 degrees, and plan on just using the air from the basement to "pipe" directly into the lights from outside the tent, through my carbon can, through the UV filter (when I can afford that one [soon...]), and out of the house (which is all powered by a centrifugal fan). With a 400w MH and a 600w HPS, do you think I can get away with just that? Getting an AC unit on my power "grid" in my house, would be a problem...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top