Best garden to allow for short trips?

I'm designing my first garden. I've been spending the past couple weeks scouring these forums for what I think is the setup best suited to my schedule & skill level. I figured I'd post my plan here and ask for some comments.


First, some background:

• I will be growing in the closet of a spare bedroom.
• I am growing only for personal use. Maybe 1 -1 1/2 oz a month would suit me just fine. Of course I won't turn down more but I'm not supplying anyone else.
• Though I will be growing in my own house and don't have many people over, it does need to be stealth enough that people can be right outside the room's door or sleeping in the next room and not realize anything's going on (visiting family, servicemen, etc). The room already houses computers, so some fan noise is ok.
• I'll move on to clones next time, but for my first attempt, I think I'll go straight from seeds to harvest, as quickly as possible.
• I need to travel approx once a month for 3-4 days. While I'm away, there won't be anyone to tend to my plants. I need something that will allow this.
• My wife and I are extremely hesitant to get either the MH or HPS due to the heat. Perhaps after a few grows, we'll upgrade. For now, we're sticking with flourescents.

So with that in mind, here's what I'm thinking of:

• $150 - Tent - HTGSupply 20" X 36" X 64"
• $0 - System (seedling - early veg) - 1 AeroGarden (happen to have one already)
• $100 - System (late veg - flowering) - 2 WaterFarms
• $120 - Lights (veg & flower, swap bulbs) - GrowBright 2 Foot 4 Lamp High Output T5
  OR
• $70 - Lights (veg & flower, swap bulbs) - HTG Supply 2 Foot 2 Lamp High Output T5
• $127 - Exhaust Fan - S&P TD-150
• $125 - Carbon Filter - Can Fan 33
  OR
• $50 - Carbon Filter - GrowBright PureFlow 4 Jr.
• $40 - Nutrients - Fox Farm 3pk
• $25-$50 - Insulated Ducting
• ~ $15 - PH Control
• $35 - TDS Monitor

Rough total - $800 (hopefully $675 if someone tells me the PureFlow 4 Jr fan and 2 bulb lamp will work for me)


So basically, my idea is to germinate the seeds, pop them in the AeroGarden to get their first few sets of leaves, then move them to the WaterFarms for further veg + flowering. My hopes are that I could leave them alone every so often for 3-4 days at a time and they'd be OK (read: won't run out of water, nutrients or grow into the lights).

I'd love to hear some critiques of my plan..
Will the cheaper filter work OK?
Should I skip the aerogarden and just go from seed to rockwool to WaterFarm?
Do I need the 4 bulb lamp? I'd like to save some $ by getting the 2 bulb one.
Will I be able to allow for some travel?

Thanks in advance.

Get the 4 bulbs. Don't skimp if you can afford it. The Aerogarden is probably unnecessary like you say, but you have the thing, so fuck it. I'd use it. Get a PH control kit too and a TDS meter. I would never think about leaving for a few days if I wasn't certain that my nutes were stable. A TDS meter is probably the only thing that would set my mind at ease.

Cr8z13 said:

Get the 4 bulbs. Don't skimp if you can afford it.

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Thanks!

Cr8z13 said:

Get a PH control kit too and a TDS meter. I would never think about leaving for a few days if I wasn't certain that my nutes were stable. A TDS meter is probably the only thing that would set my mind at ease.

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Do you have any relatively cheap recommendations? Over time I'm sure I'll splurge on some of the $100+ models but at this point I want whatever will do the job.

Thx again

Here you go:

PH Control Kit

Sunleaves TDS Meter

I can't really vouch for the TDS meter, I just saw that it was cheap. Sunleaves makes pretty decent shit in general, though.

Cr8z13 said:

Here you go:

PH Control Kit

Sunleaves TDS Meter

I can't really vouch for the TDS meter, I just saw that it was cheap. Sunleaves makes pretty decent shit in general, though.

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Thanks. Adding them to my list above.

I dont want to step on any toes but I would go with soil because there is much less to go wrong on a trip. I travel quite a bit with my line of work and find that soil is more forgiving when something goes wrong because there is less technology required to upkeep my girls. If a pump or hose breaks you could be up the creek and never know it till you came back. With soil, your fans and lights are the only things that could go wrong unless you are auto watering. Also, if you skipped the tent and built something on the cheap you could go with HID lighting and great fans with your 750-800 budget. I'm not against flouros by any means but if you are indoors and have AC and ducting the HID lights dont get that hot. I run a super small 2x1.5x3tall cab with 250 HPS and ballast in the cab and it only hits 86 max.....so something to think about, best of luck.

Why not flower with hps if you have thought your grow out so well? and obviously have the money??. You can buy 400 ($100) 600 ($150) 1000 air cooled hps's no more than $200.00. You get 100x better results. Seach around craigslist, or ebay. They have great deals. I picked up a new 600 sun systems for $80 on craigslist.

bleezyg420 said:

Why not flower with hps if you have thought your grow out so well? YOU NEED HPS.

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Worried about the heat. I may make the jump on my next grow.

gimley said:

I dont want to step on any toes but I would go with soil because there is much less to go wrong on a trip. I travel quite a bit with my line of work and find that soil is more forgiving when something goes wrong because there is less technology required to upkeep my girls. If a pump or hose breaks you could be up the creek and never know it till you came back. With soil, your fans and lights are the only things that could go wrong unless you are auto watering. Also, if you skipped the tent and built something on the cheap you could go with HID lighting and great fans with your 750-800 budget. I'm not against flouros by any means but if you are indoors and have AC and ducting the HID lights dont get that hot. I run a super small 2x1.5x3tall cab with 250 HPS and ballast in the cab and it only hits 86 max.....so something to think about, best of luck.

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No toes stepped on! The room I'm doing this in is already the hottest room in the house. I may upgrade to HPS down the road, but I think I'll start out w/ the flourescents. I am interested in the soil growing though. Perhaps I'll put a plant or two in soil alongside the waterfarms and see what works best. Thanks.

Cheers, I like your idea and setup. Have fun.

I agree with the dirt notion. Much more forgiving, and if you have to leave for 3-4 days, youll be much better off with dirt. I went on vacation last week for 5 days. I overwatered the hell out of them 2 days leading up to my departure, and the plants were just fine when I returned. Not even wilting!

I agree with the others...soil grow is the way to go. I also travel a few times per month and have NEVER had issues with leaving my girls. Just like others have said, you just overwater them and when you get home, all is well.

I also think HPS is the way to go for flowering. CFL's are great for veg but I am still skeptical on using during flower. If heat is your only concern then get a cool tube and they should run cooler than your CFL's.

Good luck and be prepared to be sucked into growing herb as a hobby for quite sometime. It is more addicting than anything I have ever done with my clothes on.

Thanks. One reason I've looked towards hydro is that folks say soil take longer? Is this true? Is it substantially longer?

Soil does take longer, but for your situation id really recommend it over hydro. With certain hydro setups, your plant can die in a matter of hours if you lose electricity.

Thanks, I think my best option here to account for my trips and to just educate myself is to do a soil plant or two along with the WaterFarm.

Any thoughts about my fan/filter? Is it sufficient for my space?