I'm a little confused...

I'm tired of paying an arm and a leg for pot, not being able to get it when I want, and not being able to smoke the quality of it that I want. So, I decided I would start researching growing. I figured it would be slightly complicated but I was nowhere near prepared for the level of depth that I've found. Super powerful lighting systems, crazy air-ventilation setups, clones, 6-foot tall mother plants, etc...

I understand that marijuana rivals gold in terms of money making potential, but I don't want to grow enough to sell, I just want to grow enough to smoke. I haven't been able to find a lot of information on actual yields based on the number of plants grown, space used, etc... (other than a few case studies and grow journals, here and there). I'm worried that this is too complicated for me, the only way I'll be successful is by investing thousands of dollars, and I'll never be able to achieve my dream of cheap, convenient, super-dank bud.

I guess I'm looking for some reassurance, and maybe even some help. My budget is roughly $500. I don't have any of the necessary materials for a grow other than a location to grow in (meaning I don't have seeds, pots, soil, lights, anything). My goal is to harvest anywhere from 8-16 ounces of dried, cured, smokable bud, and to harvest that once every three months (I'm almost positive I don't have the space to set up a continual harvest system).

With this budget, are these goals attainable?

How complicated do I need to get with my system in order to just simply be successful, and not necessarily have optimized, 110% bud production?

Could this be me soon? ->

reading too much into it... here is a simple setup that should get you there.. its gonna be closer to 8 oz til u can get enough experience unless ur just a natural.

1st step:
Try growing Organic you will need 3 bags of promix soil or soil of your choice
a) it needs to contain peat moss, perlight, and/or vermiculite (not Miricle Grow)
Cost: ~$5.00 USD per bag

2nd step:
You will need lights again inexpensive yet decent would be CFL's
a) Use Daylight CFL's for Vegging and Soft White for Flowering if you can find 200W go with those otherwise get the highest wattage CFLs you can if its 100 W get 2 so it equals 1 200W bulb
b) 1 200 W CFL per plant should be pleanty migh even be able to stretch that out to 1 CFL for every 2 plants
Cost: ~6.00 USD per CFL light bulb then I would reccomend a hood and clamp extension cord Cost:~5.00 USD per clamp cord and hood
Total Cost of light setup: 11.00 USD

3rd Step:
You will need containers
a) dixie cups, plastic drinking cups, etc work for seeding 6"pots work for vegging small trash cans or paint buckets work for flowering
Cost: from $1 USD to $4.00 USD

4th Step:
You will need your initial seed purchase
a) Here with your demands of 8 oz in 3 months I will reccomend Auto's get an auto flowering strain such as Lowryder #2 or any mix that you might like of lowryder. #2 seems to yeild more.
b) I reccomend the auto's cause you'll get more turns in less time they are completley done in 2 months and a few weeks which gives you time to dry and cure and have completed smoke in 3 months...regular starins to get good yeild out of them cheap take that longjust to flower let alone veg etc.
Cost: ~65.00 USD for 10 seeds (after that you can make your own)

Misc items:
Nutes- $5.00 usd
Heating Mat (for germing)- $35 usd
Thermometor- $10.00 usd
Fan- $10.00 USD
the list could go on wit things for odor control etc but this is prety bare bones



Initial Consultation from Lowryders: $25.00 (since I like you)

Total Cost: $240.00 USD ($215.00 w/o consultation fee)

idk a easy home made dwc set up could b better in the long run all u gotta do is study a bit good luck wit ur first gro

Mate i found it a little overwhelming at first but a few years in best thing i ever did, i like you was buying crap,, so choose the best system for your budget and your space, read the stickies at the top of the pages cause the info there is priceless and dont overcomplicate things,

strayster2 said:

I'm tired of paying an arm and a leg for pot, not being able to get it when I want, and not being able to smoke the quality of it that I want. So, I decided I would start researching growing. I figured it would be slightly complicated but I was nowhere near prepared for the level of depth that I've found. Super powerful lighting systems, crazy air-ventilation setups, clones, 6-foot tall mother plants, etc...

I understand that marijuana rivals gold in terms of money making potential, but I don't want to grow enough to sell, I just want to grow enough to smoke. I haven't been able to find a lot of information on actual yields based on the number of plants grown, space used, etc... (other than a few case studies and grow journals, here and there). I'm worried that this is too complicated for me, the only way I'll be successful is by investing thousands of dollars, and I'll never be able to achieve my dream of cheap, convenient, super-dank bud.

I guess I'm looking for some reassurance, and maybe even some help. My budget is roughly $500. I don't have any of the necessary materials for a grow other than a location to grow in (meaning I don't have seeds, pots, soil, lights, anything). My goal is to harvest anywhere from 8-16 ounces of dried, cured, smokable bud, and to harvest that once every three months (I'm almost positive I don't have the space to set up a continual harvest system).

With this budget, are these goals attainable?

How complicated do I need to get with my system in order to just simply be successful, and not necessarily have optimized, 110% bud production?

Could this be me soon? ->

Click to expand...

i run a 400 watt hps i grow 2 plants at a time lst them and pul approx. 8-10 oz. every 3 months. i keep a seperate room with a mother, ive never grown a 6 foot mother my mother room is 2x2x4 and i usually keep 2 in ther under a cfl, if they are growing too big i chop em down to a managable size... 400w light 120.00 exhaust fan 120 mylar a few dollars soil nutes and grow bags you can easily stay under 500 and push out a few oz. most ive gotten was 14 oz. off a 400 watt light but you should expect 2 or 3 just starting out. its real simple and most ppl here will help all they can

www.htgsupply.com

I'd go for DWC too...

though lowryders did give you a very nice set up list +rep!!

16OZ (1 pound) may be a little much for a first grow, though depends on how many plants you think you can grow... honestly I was in the same boat you were a couple months ago (in my first grow now) I wouldn't imagine doing more than 6... I planted 4 myself, and one died, so I have three.

Feel free to browse my journal, theres a lot of stuff there, and I did mine cheap... also check out the book 'buds for less' gives you a journal of a grow for less than $100

any idea of seeds? bag? bought? what strains?

forgot to ask what size room do you have to use or closet or you could build one cheap. i recomend the hps if you have the budgety which i think you do. hps will always be king over cfl


don't waste your money buying seeds all it does is give your weed a name unless you get feminized but ive grown bagseed for 8 yrs and im not about to change

I think everyone is missing a main point in his question

My goal is to harvest anywhere from 8-16 ounces of dried, cured, smokable bud, and to harvest that once every three months

Click to expand...

This statement is obviously for cloning purposes:

i keep a seperate room with a mother

Click to expand...

How many ppl have harvested 8-16 oz in 3 months that werent growing auto's (LR's) and not starting from clones?....hell even starting from clones would be quite hard in 3 months just starting out growing...

So yea dont buy the seeds strayster2 if you know someone that has lowryder seeds (or any other auto strain) other than that buy em if you dont wanna wait ~4-5 months or longer for a decent grow.... But I can't argue the fact that if you can buy HPS, do that your plants will only thank you for it. Id still veg with daylight CFL it's more in the blue spectrum of light which is what your plants need/like for vegging...HPS is for flowering and is more in the red spectrum of light.

One last thing... with a $500 budget yes, you are very likley to set up a good system that you can attain your goals withyou could even go MH (HID) and HPS (<<best senario for lighting) and NO you dont have to get elaborate with your grow you can make it as simple as I stated (even simpler I was just trying to get you the most yeild as cheap as I could/have), or quite elaborate with DWC's, drips all that and BTW as far as yields per pants:
Lowryder has a seed to finish time of 10-11 weeks (actual)
and a yeild of ~1oz to 4oz per plant and you wont need a timer to switch to 12/12 etc. just germ em put em in the dirt water em and watch em grow basically hell if you buy soil that has nutes in it fo 4 weeks you dont even need to feed em.

Hope this has all helped

what are you, a republican? read the whole thing, dude thinks mothers are gonna be 6 foot i was merly stating that they dont have to be as for every 3 months that gives you plenty of time to star a seedling veg for 30 days and flower for 60 ive done it maybe veged for 25 days and flowered 65 but still it can be done then when your almost done flowering you can start seedlings on a windowsill til harvest then in to the room to veg for a month just do 5 or 6 and hope to get 2 or 3 goot female plants take the best squatest females and grow grow grow. i missed no points stranger, we dnt even know what space this person is working with it could be a 6x6 walk in closet a 4x3 cabinet or 20 x 30 basement

lowryders said:

I think everyone is missing a main point in his question



This statement is obviously for cloning purposes:



How many ppl have harvested 8-16 oz in 3 months that werent growing auto's (LR's) and not starting from clones?....hell even starting from clones would be quite hard in 3 months just starting out growing...

So yea dont buy the seeds strayster2 if you know someone that has lowryder seeds (or any other auto strain) other than that buy em if you dont wanna wait ~4-5 months or longer for a decent grow.... But I can't argue the fact that if you can buy HPS, do that your plants will only thank you for it. Id still veg with daylight CFL it's moe in the blue spectrum of light which is what your plants need/like for vegging...HPS is for flowering and is more in the red spectrum of light.

Click to expand...

republican...nice...so now a persons political standing would have something to do with their grow knowledge?... anyway name calling aside:

You are honestly suggesting it would be easier to sprout a seed or several, buy an HPS and MH complete with ballast..wiring, hood, cooling system etc...then veg for 25-30 days on probably his 1st grow using HPS or MH hope to be compact during that time so he doesnt have only 4-6 nodes, no branch shoots, and stretched to 2 1/2 ft.... then switch to 12/12 have to sex the plants within the 1st week of flowering (or what would be week 5 in your senario) then hope for enough females after 5 weeks of BS that it will net him 8-16 oz. when the grow is finished in another 7 weeks. Then after that have to wait another week to dry and cure...

Or are you agreeing that using an auto flower strain will sex within 3 weeks w/o force flowering, no need for the extra lighting knowledge as they flower on their own and do quite well.... then finish flowering by week 9-11 and are ready for harvest by the time you were curing he'd be smoking with a lot less effort....

Dont bother answering its a rhetorical question...and as you said yourself:

but ive grown bagseed for 8 yrs and im not about to change

Click to expand...

So you really have never grown a LR and know that they are capable of producing 2-3 oz off 1 plant easily no need to LST and no need to chop down to a managable size, the tallest I have heard of 1 getting is about 3 1/2 ft.

As far as ease to grow, least knowledge needed, and time time spent compared to yield Lowryder wins hands down so until you grow more than just bagseed please dont call me "stranger" I may be new here but definatley not growing or other forums.

Now under different applications I would prefer to grow outdoors, with Big Bud or Ice beans and yield hand over fist with quality smoke but as far as a n00b tryin to grow and yeild what he want to yield in that amount of time....thats a different story
Again as you said yourself:

you should expect 2 or 3 just starting out

Click to expand...

lmao... with 2-3 plants...thats a waste of damn time...

So we will take your 2-3 zips your allowing him for 3 plants that he has invested 13 weeks in and we will compare that to the 5-6 oz from 3 plants of lowryders that will finish in 11 weeks.

Ugh, I just spent like 20 minutes typing up a post and then it disappeared into thin air when I left my computer and came back two minutes later. Dammit.

I'm not completely clueless when it comes to growing. I've never done it myself, but I've been researching it a few hours a day for the last several weeks, and I think it'd be fair to say I've got a grasp of the basics. I currently own two books on the topic ("Marijuana Horticulture" by Jorge Cervantes and "Buds for Less" by Seemorebuds). Long story short, I know I don't need a six foot mother plant to succeed, but it seems easier to find info on that kind of system that it is to find information on a system with my kind of goals.

First of all, thank you to everyone who has responded to me. Especially lowryders, who can't possibly have spent less than 10 or 15 minutes on that post, and apparently gives me discounts because he likes me.

Second of all, I didn't include enough information about my resources and goals in the first post. Let me clarify some of the questions I've been asked:

1. What is your grow space?

I live in an apartment. I have an unused, 5 foot wide, 8 foot tall, 2.5 foot deep closet. It is painted white on the inside but has no ventilation other than the door at the front.

My other option, assuming my roommate kicks his brother out of the spare bedroom (which appears inevitable), is a 10x10, 8 foot tall room with white walls and a window for ventilation. Also, I would have a closet to use as a vegetative room to house mothers and clones.

Considering my roommate's brother is a total douchebag who would call the cops on me in a second, I'll most likely be waiting until he leaves.

2. Have you considered Autoflowering plants?

I've never heard of autoflowering plants. I thought all marijuana needed a 12/12 light cycle in order to flower. From reading "Buds for Less" cover to cover several times, I was under the impression I could be harvesting a regular flowering plant after 70-80 days. If this is unreasonable, I'll understand, but it will also take away my faith in almost all the information I've gathered thus far.

3.Have you considered DWC?

No. It has initials so it sounds complicated. Perhaps later.

4. Bagseed or Bought Seed?

I know that bagseed can be dank and cheap, but I've been smoking for a year and I've only encountered five seeds. The most prolific smokers that I know don't save their seeds. And to be perfectly honest with you, I've never smoked a name-brand weed in my life (that I know of) and I'd really like to give it a try one of these days. Plus, I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't help my ego to hang out with my friends and be able to say, "Wanna go load a bowl of some White Widow?" or "Hey buddy, wanna blaze some Bubblegum?"

Later on down the line, I'd like to grow some really cool strains (Bubblegum and Widow, as mentioned above, and hopefully something Purple [only smoked purple bud once, never been that blazed]). However, I'm not sure if those strains would be easy enough. and right now, I'd just like something easy. "Misty" from Nirvana Seeds looks promising.

As far as my goal of 8-16 ounces goes, the only reason I'd even need that much is because my friends would be wanting me to smoke them up all the time and I'd burn through it pretty quick. I'd easily settle for 5-6 ounces of bud, but I had just figured from reading Seemorebuds book, if I grow 4 or 5 plants and get 2 ounces a plant, I'm set.

Again, thank you to everyone for your help.

ur welcome bud anytime...
Id really look into autos I have nothing to do with them other than growing them... my 1st grow was bag seed did nice but I am impatient and can count on autos for 2 oz per plant sex early and not much maintenence. I think you'll have some luck there but ultimatley up to you. Once you get growing down and want to go bigger get into HPS and MH

I'll take it into serious consideration, lowryders. Thinking about it, I don't see any reason why not to go autoflower.

DWC is "Deep Water Culture" it is the simplest Hydro method... you have a tub with your water/nutes and an air pump; the baskets hang from above with only their roots in the water... dont have to worry about over/under watering.. and they grow soo fast!!

at least check it out

I like to pimp this RIU video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VhK6r0XAGE