My First Grow

G'day

I'm about to put together my first grow. I have my seeds, medusa from nirvana, my secret grow area, timber to build my cab, and questions. I have to put everything together and get it as correct as possible the first time since once i've finished building i wont be able to alter it to much.

I plan on having 1 clone, 1 veg and 1 flower going at a time so that i can have a perpetual harvest.

My flower grow area is gowing to be about 16inchesx19inchesx79inches.

Should i grow the plant to the height of the cabinet, or is it not enough lengh/width for that height? I prefer to maximise potency rather than yeild.
I have a 2nd similarly sized cabinet which will be my veg/clone/mother area - so i can veg to an equivalent height.

What sort of light or lights would i need to cover that area?

Thanks Guys
Grinch Out

well honestly your width isnt enough height is fine width is fine until veg/flower stage... It should look more like this:

36x36x72.... might get by with 24x24x72
How long are you gonna clone/veg for?... if its more than 3 weeks Id go for the 36x36 or as close as u can get to it... they will bush out and u want light getting through/around the leafs.

Also I dont know what the rest of the cab is gonna look like but you could really "thin" the clone area if its in same cab to 4-5" veg area could be 8-12"

The Grinch said:

G'day

I'm about to put together my first grow. I have my seeds, medusa from nirvana, my secret grow area, timber to build my cab, and questions. I have to put everything together and get it as correct as possible the first time since once i've finished building i wont be able to alter it to much.

I plan on having 1 clone, 1 veg and 1 flower going at a time so that i can have a perpetual harvest.

My flower grow area is gowing to be about 16inchesx19inchesx79inches.

Should i grow the plant to the height of the cabinet, or is it not enough lengh/width for that height? I prefer to maximise potency rather than yeild.
I have a 2nd similarly sized cabinet which will be my veg/clone/mother area - so i can veg to an equivalent height.

What sort of light or lights would i need to cover that area?

Thanks Guys
Grinch Out

Click to expand...

i suggest u read the FAQ
they'll answer most of your questions

Thanks for responses guys.

Lowryders: What height could i grow to with that much space?

Game: I've had a look through, and read a bunch of posts, but am just nervice to commit to things until i've gotten some good advice from the gurus. As i said before, once its built and in place i can't really make any changes.

my height sucks also.... i started bending my plants so i can get it to grow sideways... maybe SOG would also work ( many small plants in one area)...i understand how you feel about the committing thing... i was reading for weeks and still finding out new things... and you'll learn from experience also...its gonna be fun...but damn, patience is a biotch

Thanks for your words of wisdom needhelp. Height, unfortunately isn't my problem, as i can grow to 72inches. Rest of the space seems to be too small. My greatest issue, and the reason i'm not just jumping in a trying some stuff, is that once i mount in a light, if it isn't powerful enough for the space, i'm kinda screwed casuse i will have to remove a section of wall to change it. I was thinking 1 150 or 250w hps and something similar in mh.
Any thoughts considering my space restrictions?

Grinch Out

Grinch... you will need approx 2-3 feet of head room for the heat of an HID bulb such as MH or HPS... keep in mind they arent for the same thing so you will want a conversion ballast with conversion bulbs, hopfully you leave a space in your design to change out bulb easily...but that is all you will need to change. HTG sells a digi ballast like such cheap you can grow up to 7x7 space with a 600W.... so thats what I reccommend. I think that answered both questions but if not I will be more specific, if using HID bulbs then you can grow up to 4' safely thats finished height so you will need to start flowering by 1- 1 1/2 ft to be safe 18" maximum.... which generally speaking is perfect (normally when they preflower anyway) - for u that doesnt mean much since cloning but u still get more yield.

-scratch that forgot only 1 plant in flower right?...if so 250 would be ok....but how about the rest of the setup still veg clone in same box or no?

Hey lowryder. Thanks for great info, think that answered everything for me.

I managed to score an aerogarden from my sister, so i put 2 seeds into paper towel to germinate while i start building. What i'm gonna do is divide up my the 2nd 72" grow area into 2 chambers, 1 with the aerogarden holding 2-3 mothers, and 1 which i will use to clone, veg, and have micro grow under cfls, while i try and grow a big plant in the main 72" chamber under a 250w with a conversion balast (thanks!).

I'll play around with the aerogarden and try to get a feel for these babies while i tweek my cabs.

I'd build a cheap replacement for the aerogarden but 60w is pretty good for something that by all accounts should be fine to keep small mothers - and nothing beats free.

Will growing a larger plant from a mother being kept in a small space like an aerogarden be an issue?

Let me know what ya think

Grinch Out

lowryders said:

Grinch... you will need approx 2-3 feet of head room for the heat of an HID bulb such as MH or HPS... keep in mind they arent for the same thing so you will want a conversion ballast with conversion bulbs, hopfully you leave a space in your design to change out bulb easily...but that is all you will need to change. HTG sells a digi ballast like such cheap you can grow up to 7x7 space with a 600W.... so thats what I reccommend. I think that answered both questions but if not I will be more specific, if using HID bulbs then you can grow up to 4' safely thats finished height so you will need to start flowering by 1- 1 1/2 ft to be safe 18" maximum.... which generally speaking is perfect (normally when they preflower anyway) - for u that doesnt mean much since cloning but u still get more yield.

-scratch that forgot only 1 plant in flower right?...if so 250 would be ok....but how about the rest of the setup still veg clone in same box or no?

Click to expand...

He said he might use a 150 or a 250. That doesn't require feet of headroom. We are talking 4" to 6" from the plants with those little lights.

Your grow plan is not really big enough to support any kind of regular smoking though. You would need more like a 1' x 3' wide x 4' tall cabinet with a bunch of little plants to really support you if you smoke much. That would take $54 for two of the 150w econolights to support this size grow and yield maybe an ounce a week perpetually.

And nobody should be using conversion bulbs they are too expensive. Just buy a couple 42w cfl's or slap some 4' flouro's on the sides or something to add in for veg along with the hps's.

And doing perpetual you don't want an autoflower its too slow. Just use clones of the seeds you have.

I'll give u a little respect here OR Meds since u have so many posts but in reality have u ever grown with HID lights?... dont know havent read ur posts I myself use a 600W and requires them to be about 3ft away from the tops. 250W idk never grown just 1 plant.

2nd a 250W HID conversion with ballast and conversion bulb will cost $168 which is about $114 mre than your 2 econolight CFLs you were talkin bout... which btw if u are paying that much is a rip off. I myself grow with CFL's and MH/HPS in a couple dif locations so I know the yield difference plust the potentcy of the plants when using CFL's vs HID's and that cant be denied.

As far as Auto's being to slow ummm.what kind of auto's have u grown? I am in a current grow of Ak47xBB and it takes 10-11 weeks from seed to yeild about 2-3oz dried... my clones take 2 weeks to take good root with an ez cloner and about 6 to start vegging nice.... if you have any advice as to how to yeild more than 2 oz per plant with cloning in less that 10 weeks let me know.

or instead of the conversion since you wont need it actually... wasnt thinking youd only be flowing in 1 chamber go with this: a lot better off than the CFL's still: (hope postig this abides by forum rules)

150 Watt Systems

• <LI style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">HTG Supply 150 Watt Magnetic Ballast <LI style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">Your Choice of Reflector / Hood
• Your Choice of Bulbs / Lamps

Customize the system with your choice of bulbs and reflectors.
$69.75HTGSupply 150 watt High Pressure Sodium Grow LightIncludes: HTGSupply 150 watt HPS Ballast, Compact 4-sided Reflector, 10&#8217; Socket/Cord Set, HTGSupply 150w HPS Bulb
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As far as the deminsions you suggested I can tell you are a quick turn grower as where I'd rather wait and get the most out of the plant where it can yeild on average 4oz the height of mine (non autos) average 4- 4 1/2 ft without the 5 gal containers.

So we are speaking from 2 dif worlds here... and yes it can be done either way but with the quick turn your gettin maybe an oz per plant and if that were the case Id rather plant 4 autos which get less than 1 1/2 tall if u keep them compact.