First grow equipment purchase. Perpetual grow VS starting from seeds every time

Hi there,

First, thank you to everyone here for the great amount of insight that I have gotten by reading so many of your posts. It is so much to absorb, I feel like I have months of learning ahead of me. I am totally new to growing and so still have questions about what to buy to get started.


I am thinking that a tent is my best option. I wouldn't mind changing on this point if it didn't look like there is so much chance for complication with a DIY cabinet. I am pretty good with these types of projects, so the prospect of re-purposing an ikea cabinet sounds like a lot of fun. I was even considering buying a Supercloset or BCNL cabinet until I read too many problems/poor value reports about them. The security of knowing that I will have a more flexible (and portable) set-up has pushed me towards tents.

Yield: Enough for myself and maybe a family member. Less is more for yield. I'm more interested in quality.
Goal: 1 - 4 plants?
Budget: I prefer buying decent equipment that will work well and last, rather than a cheaper short-term solution
Growing medium: Possibly dirt to start. Although I'm tempted, I give some weight to those posts that I have read warning against jumping into hydro
Airflow limitation: I live in a rented apartment in a cold climate, and would prefer to avoid bringing winter air directly in from outside

My main sticking point right now is figuring out if I need to have a perpetual grow with two tents or not. If it needs to be a perpetual grow, I was thinking of a 2' x 4' (clonebox) for the mother/clones AND a 4' x 4' grow room. Since I don't consume a lot, in theory I wouldn't mind starting from seeds every grow, but the prospect of paying for seeds over and over again seems like something that might be better avoided.

Also, and I'm sure this is a little unusual, but I would like the option to have a small space for lettuce/herbs in my set-up. Even if I could cycle out the different crops, I'd be delighted. I've never heard of anyone combining the two, and I can think of a lot of reasons it might not work. But I'd love to hear if anyone has advice as to how I might achieve this within the framework above. Or maybe it would be best left as a separate project?

Thanks in advance!

clones are quicker but ive noticed from seeds make stronger roots. ps dont say dirt.. dirt is dirty... say soil.. or medium

imo i wouldnt start with hydro until you have a few grows under your belt... if you want to try a medium used for whats known as passive hydroponics look into coco coir and perlite... cheap and easy to grow in coco... if interested check out hempy bucket grows...

Ok, so I'll definitely do my first few rounds with this 'soil' stuff that Kyotick mentioned

I read briefly about hempy bucket before, and will check it out again in further detail. For now, I have to figure out if the perpetual grow thing is overkill for my admittedly small consumption needs. I guess I could start with a 4 x 4 tent with seeds, and add the second tent for mother/clones as I get a better feel for my yield needs...

Perpetual is fun. I am doing 12/12 from seed, some clones. With the 12/12 seed you could get away with one tent. Probably grow simple at first. Check out Del's 12/12 from seed thread, it pretty active...rw

If you do from seed there is chances of male each time unless you stick with female seeds.

If you do a small temporary box with a couple cfl you could collect pollen from a male. Then Sprinkle it over a single cola and get enough seeds for several more grows.

Go with leafy lettuce rather than lettuce heads if you do try it. I think you'd be better off with a cheap hoop greenhouse outdoors unless you're extremely far north

I like coco coir unless you plain to do supersoil or some such organic

I would buy 10 reg seeds and if you don't consume a lot then if you can wait get one tent and germinate 4-6 of them and just throw em in there and don't take out any males let them fully polinate = 1000s of seeds for grows for a LONG LONG LONG time! If that was something you're interested in. You could even make the money that you spent on equipment and the money you spent buying back by selling the seeds to friends and fam. Seeds are expensive and the common citizen feels sketch about buying seeds online. Just a thought to throw around because growing from seed is super fun but admittedly slower.

I would use soilless - which is basically everything in good dirt without the organics.
Soil attracts and supports BUGS!
It is almost impossible to get bugs in your 'dirt' if it is not edible.

If you use soilless, like Pro-Mix BX, you will need some basic growing nutes after the first week.
For first grow get a bottle of 'grow' and a bottle of 'bloom' general purpose gardening fertilizer and use HALF the reccomended amounts.

Thank you for all of your advice. I read today that under new **cough... FUCK YOU STEPHEN HARPER.... ahem, sorry, excuse me... under new Canadian law, there is mandatory 6 month jail time for anyone caught with 6 plants or more. I did a bunch of reading, and it looks like that includes mothers and clones.

Actually with the new Canadian law in mind, I have just been given an incentive to increase the capacity of my grow within legal guidelines. I am leaning towards a perpetual grow again simply out of spite for the Harper government.

So this would look like:

TENT#1 (veg) Secret Jardin DarkRoom II Pro 60 2' x 2' x 64"
1 X mother plant
2 x clone plants

TENT#2 (flower) Secret Jardin DarkRoom II Pro 60 2' x 2' x 64"
2 x flowering plants

Is the 64" height optimal? I don't mind scrogging, but don't want to be limited in the strains that I can grow. Feel free to tell me if this makes no sense at all.

As I am setting up at the moment I thought I'd list a few sundry items you'd need.

Timers for lights, fans and pumps. x 4 (2 for veg and 2 for flower room)
pH and ppm meter (get 2, you don't want to be without if one dies and you do hydro)
aircooled hood allows you to get light closer to plants.
centrifugal inline blower fan with carbon filter to cool the light , maybe another set to vent the room out.
measuring equipment for doseing nutes.
min/max thermometer/hygrometers x 2 for monitoring both tents.

How tall are your plants?

What light and hood are you using?

You'll need to subtract those from your tent height to get an idea of Max plant height. Also need to take in account some air gap between plants and light

Definitely decided on perpetual set-up. I would probably start with bag-seed first, and then grow some connoisseur-grade strains as my competence increases. No idea how tall the plants would be. I don't mind doing it SCROG if it makes for better results. I have done a bunch of reading and here is the current state of my shopping list:

TENT#1 (veg - to hold 1 mother + 2 clones + extra leafy greens, such as spinach)

1 CloneBox 2'x4' Grow Tent with 2 Tier Racking 49.25" x 25.5" x 47.25"
2 Quantum 4 Light Badboy T5's (blue bulbs)
1 Valuline 6" Inline fan 435 CFM
1 25 Ft. Roll of Silver Ducting 6"
1 Digital Timer Programmable Dual 110v 15 Amp Outlets
1 Pairs of Rope Ratchets
1 Speedster Fan Speed Controller
1 50 ft. roll of silver Duct Tape2 pH and ppm meters
1 Foxfarm BushDoctor Kangaroots, Quart

TENT#2 (flower - to hold 2 flowering plants)

1 Secret Jardin Dark Room Pro 3'x3' DR90 II Grow Tent 36" x 36" x 72"
1 Sunleaves OptiLUME HPS 600 WATT
1 Sun System Magnum XXXL 6" Air Cooled Reflector
1 Valuline 6" Inline fan 435 CFM
1 Quantum 600 Watt Dimmable Electronic Ballast
1 6-Inch Hydroponic Carbon Air Filter 470 CFM With Air Scrubber
1 Digital Timer Programmable Dual 110v 15 Amp Outlets
1 Pairs of Rope Ratchets
1 25 Ft. Roll of Silver Ducting 6"
1 FoxFarm Big Bloom, Quart

1 Thermometer & Hygrometer
1 Measuring cup for nutrients

Am I missing anything here?

I was really interested in LED lighting (particularly Blackstar 240) but I'm hesitant to jump in to buying those lights when I don't really know what I'm doing. However, I like the idea of economy and less heat.

Also, I really don't know if my tent sizes make sense. I listed the Clonebox 2'x4' because I am hoping that would give me enough room for 1 mother, 2 clones + some leafy greens like spinach. Is this realistic?

In regards to the flowering tent, I decided to change it to a 3'x3' to give me a little more room and extra height from the next size down. Considering I will only be flowering two plants, does this even make sense?

This is more complicated than I had expected, but it is going to be awesome when I finally get growing!

I was in your same spot, and I am going to guess you don't have access to clones at this moment. If that is true, you have to start with seeds. If you order seeds, even just one strain, you will probably get 6 seeds or so...get feminized, imo.

Start your tent out, and see how it is going. Pick a strain you like. I see so many people here saying go easy, go with what you want...imo, go with what you want, if that is what you are going to grow, that is what you are going to grow.

So back to where I was going with this post...from seeds to flower, you have a few months. During those months, you will have time to make a nice simple and cheap clone box. PM me and I can get you a link to an easy one. Just have in your mind, that at least one plant out of your veg is going to never see flower. We are going to clone the hell out of it.

The whole point of this post, get that tent going, and start reaping the benefits. Happy growing.

I'd get 2 sets of thermometer/hyrometers... (you get units with both functions).
Important to have min max also called day/night function to track the extremes in temps etc...

Jigsaw, I am going to take your suggestion and just grow what I want to grow. I'll order 5 feminized Jack Herer seeds shortly. Is a 3'x3'x72" space appropriate for this? After the first round I would be flowering 2 plants at a time with perpetual grow. Is 600 watts dimmable overkill for this? I was thinking of dropping to 400 watts.


I'm curious about that cabinet you mentioned for vegging.... Do you have a link? I can't PM because I'm under my 50 post limit.


Thanks for all the advice. I'll have to post photos once things get rolling!