Autoflower SOG begenning advices & help !!

Hello everybody



I’m starting an autoflower sea of green grow room. I’m a plantation enthusiast since I’ve been planting many kinds of plants outdoors and even weed for like 10 years. My plan is ready for everything and all the phases except the lighting issue.
I’ve read many things about types of lights and wattage but nothing is really clear. I hope to get a clear and concise answer about this matter.
Here are my settings:

• Autoflower weed
• 3x3 meters (9m2 or 97 sq foot)
• 2 gallon pots

It is my first grow and I want to know what type of bulbs to use? MH or HPS or CFL or HID or T5 …?? or even LED ??
What’s the difference between them?
What is best for optimum results and what is best in term of electricity consumption / bill?
How many lights should I put for the 9m2 area? And how many watts each would be?
How to calculate it in terms of wattage per m2 ??
Oh and how can I do a timer to automatically switch lights on and off? and what timing do you recommend; 20/4 or 18/6 would be best?
And for the experienced, do you recommend any soil mix / recipe for optimal outcomes?

I’m a beginner to this and I really need some advices on how to start.

Thank you

hi mate,

HID lights are HPS lights, and are widely believed to be the most suitable for flowering. CFL lacks light penetration and is only really advisable for very small budgets, vegging plants, or experiments. When I do autos I save on electricity by using CFLs for the first 2-3weeks, then I switch to an HPS light twice the wattage. LEDs are argued to be too new to be cost effective, but I know little. Also there are many cheap knockoffs out there. Metal halides are also good, I have no exp there tho.

For your area you are going to need like 4x400watt HPS I would imagine. I use my 400w hps for a 1m squared floor space. If you choose a nice uniformed auto to grow then canopy height can be maximized by having the lights nice and close. Use a heavy duty timer that can handle the increased wattage of the bulbs firing up at the start of the day. The increased load will fry a normal timer. I use a contactor - cheap and easy way to have a 400w hps on a everyday lamp-timer. it costs like $25 or £20 and comes ready to plug and play.

I use 20/4 for my autos, seems to work very well.

I personally would advise soil for an auto. Planted straight into a nice sized pot, as you dont want to constrict the roots. Repot to the 2gal well before it is rootbound. Opt for a more airy and light mix for the auto if poss, you want good root growth more than ever. Nutes will have to be added at some point but that is alot to get into here.

Mystic Morris so in your opinion starting with CFL 200watts / m2 then switching to HPS 400watts/m2 at around week 3 for flowering, would be enough to get the maximum out of my plants ?
Thanks a lot for ur advices concerning the lights, timer and growing medium !

I'd need more info, like how many plants are you considering? I would sit 4 plants under a 400w per m2, so long as its a decent sized auto strain.

Some like to plant autos in their final pot size, but I use 2pot sizes. For the first two weeks or so I group them closer together. 4plants can fit under 200w of CFL no probs, but it doesnt require the m2 floor space.

I'll be filling the whole area with 2 gallon pots (1 pot , no change in pot size, cant risk it) so the whole square meter will be filled with pots grouped all together under the lights...
its the sea of green ill be doing