Starting to grow had some questions

sadface

sadface

Active Member
I am thinking of starting to grow my own as buying has clearly become fiscally irresponsible. I have been reading a lot about growing and it seems that growing is really easy to do, but to very difficult to master with out the know how and correct equipment. I had a few questions before I started full throttle.

My wife and I probably smoke about 1 oz a month i want to ensure that we wont need to buy anymore. Plan was to have 2 - 4 plant tent grow with CFL lighting which should easily cover our personal consumption

I was going to buy the following grow tent (http://www.ebay.com/itm/280928538171); which from all my research bang for buck this is one of the best tent company's. I know the height may be an issue, but I was planning on LSTing and also Gotham's next square tent is 7 feet high which is too high for my basement where I want to grow. Is that tent going to be able to hold 2 - 4 plants growing?

Next question I had was about auto flowering strains. I was thinking if I was growing multiple plants and certain auto-flowers can be harvested in about a time another plant goes seed to end of veg. Could you not have all your plants under 18/6 through the auto-flowers whole bloom then harvest the auto flower and then 12/12 the rest after harvest? I was thinking this way I could start smoking my own stuff almost a month early. Is this a viable option for my grow? or should I stick to all auto or all non auto?

I am sure I will have a bunch of other questions when I actually start, but with me buying the tents and seeds first thought would ask these now.

Thanks in advance!
 
ricky1lung

ricky1lung

Well-Known Member
The tent looks nice, usually 1 plant per sq ft as a guideline.
Looks like you have a good starting point.
 
Chuckdizzle

Chuckdizzle

Well-Known Member
4 plants in there will probably be ok but you don't want them growing on top of each other and fighting for the light. If possible, it would be better to go a little wider especially since you can't go taller. A 48" x 48" or something similar would be perfect for 4 healthy plants and would also leave you with a little bit of expansion room if you want to modify your configuration for reasons like keeping some clones alive or doing 6 smaller plants etc.

I've never done auto-flowering strains, but what you stated is in line with what I've heard about them, you should be able to keep them on 18/6 throughout their entire life and they'll still flower. I'm not sure when they start to flower and if they'd be ready in the same amount of time it would take to veg the other plants though, but it would be great if that's the case! If they do finish in that short of an amount of time I think your idea is great! Grow 4 regular seeds and veg em' nice and big while growing 4 other auto-flowering girls harvest em and switch it all to 12/12. One thing I would maybe do is plant the auto-flowering seeds 2-4 weeks before the regulars so you don't cramp up all your space.

I'm lookin forward to seein how it goes!
 
Chuckdizzle

Chuckdizzle

Well-Known Member
grorite said:
go with a 250 or 400 watt hps/mh you will be happy come harvest
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I agree with grorite. If you do go with a 48" x 48" tent the 400W switchable MH/HPS light will be perfect and your plants will love you for it. I think if you do the 32" x 32" you'll want the 250W because of heat issues...that is, unless you plan on buying a sealed reflector that you can ventilate with a fan, then the 400W would also be fine.
 
sadface

sadface

Active Member
grorite said:
go with a 250 or 400 watt hps/mh you will be happy come harvest
Click to expand...
not 100% sure what hps/mh is sorry again new to growing!! My plan was to start with eight 6500k 42watt cfl for veg; in sets of 2 in clamp reflectors on each corner of the tent to get the best light coverage. Then switch to eight 2700k 42 watt clf for bloom keeping some of the 6500k plugged in. Was going to play lighting by ear mostly though to see how coverage was.
 
G

grorite

Well-Known Member
sadface said:
not 100% sure what hps/mh is sorry again new to growing!! My plan was to start with eight 6500k 42watt cfl for veg; in sets of 2 in clamp reflectors on each corner of the tent to get the best light coverage. Then switch to eight 2700k 42 watt clf for bloom keeping some of the 6500k plugged in. Was going to play lighting by ear mostly though to see how coverage was.
Click to expand...
well if you wanna do cfl you can make it work here was a cfl grow I did awhile ago pulled few grams shy of 6ozs box was made from a gutted dresser I have since moved to hid
 

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spek9

Well-Known Member
+rep for a very nicely laid out post, welcome to RIU!

I've got a Lighthouse 2x4x5' tent, and I'm very happy with it. I opted for the 2' wide just so it doesn't jet out from the wall as far. Also, Gotham is a pleasure to deal with. I've purchased a few things from them, and they are exceptionally responsive, pre-and-post sale.

Good luck with your grow!

-spek
 
Slipon

Slipon

Well-Known Member
IMO tent is a bit small for 4 plant, two is more like it, and hight will most likely become a problem with a HPS/MH (HID lights) as they need to be 10-20" away depending on size and reflector as they do produce A LOT of heat ..

CFL might complete a grow for you and Im sure with good results if you do your home work, but I doubt two plants in a small tent grown with CFLs alone will yield enough for two Ppl. untill your next harvest, some how you tent to smoke a bit more when you grow your self, but both that and your yield from CFLs is sumthing you need to find out for yourself

I smoke a bit more then you, well maybe the same as you two together, but after harvest I tent to smoke a bit more ;) also on weekends when Im at home and have Oz`s of Buds in jar`s around I tent to smoke a bit more then if I have to go for a drive and pay for it ..

I have grow two big plants under a 600W HPS that yield 6-8 Oz in total and 4 smaller plants, 5 week of veg time instead of 8 who yielded about 8 oz that do more or less cover my needs


now Im switch to LEDs (a bit expensive to buy but safe you power and heat)

and flower two plant under my new fixture

DSC01467.jpg

hope to harvest +4 oz every 8 weeks as I only can keep two plants under the LEDs (2,5x2 ft of light coverage's) I had to be creative, so now I also have a Veg room, with T5HOs (fluorescent light) so I can have two new plants ready for flowering once I harvest them two, so insted of one big harvest every 3-4 months I will harvest the "half" every 8-10 weeks

might works for you with two of them small tents, get one now and get two plants started in 8 weeks time when you have big nice healthy Veg plants ready for flowering you get another and start two new in there under mostly 6500K and switch to 12/12 in the other tent with mostly 2700K CLFs, just a idea
 
S

spek9

Well-Known Member
Slipon said:
IMO tent is a bit small for 4 plant, two is more like it, and hight will most likely become a problem with a HPS/MH (HID lights) as they need to be 10-20" away depending on size and reflector as they do produce A LOT of heat ..

CFL might complete a grow for you and Im sure with good results if you do your home work, but I doubt two plants in a small tent grown with CFLs alone will yield enough for two Ppl. untill your next harvest, some how you tent to smoke a bit more when you grow your self, but both that and your yield from CFLs is sumthing you need to find out for yourself

I smoke a bit more then you, well maybe the same as you two together, but after harvest I tent to smoke a bit more ;) also on weekends when Im at home and have Oz`s of Buds in jar`s around I tent to smoke a bit more then if I have to go for a drive and pay for it ..

I have grow two big plants under a 600W HPS that yield 6-8 Oz in total and 4 smaller plants, 5 week of veg time instead of 8 who yielded about 8 oz that do more or less cover my needs


now Im switch to LEDs (a bit expensive to buy but safe you power and heat)

and flower two plant under my new fixture

View attachment 2627960

hope to harvest +4 oz every 8 weeks as I only can keep two plants under the LEDs (2,5x2 ft of light coverage's) I had to be creative, so now I also have a Veg room, with T5HOs (fluorescent light) so I can have two new plants ready for flowering once I harvest them two, so insted of one big harvest every 3-4 months I will harvest the "half" every 8-10 weeks

might works for you with two of them small tents, get one now and get two plants started in 8 weeks time when you have big nice healthy Veg plants ready for flowering you get another and start two new in there under mostly 6500K and switch to 12/12 in the other tent with mostly 2700K CLFs, just a idea
Click to expand...
Hey Slipon,

Out of curiosity, what LEDs are you growing under there... looks like a really nice configuration.

-spek
 
Chuckdizzle

Chuckdizzle

Well-Known Member
Hey sadface, here are some brief explainations of three popular types of lighting and their abbreviations:

Metal Halide (MH) - a type of High Intensity Discharge (HID) light that emits light mostly in blue end of the spectrum and is commonly used for vegetative growth.

High Pressure Sodium (HPS) - also a type of HID light, this one emits light that is mostly in the red end of the spectrum and is commonly used for flowering, but can also be used successfuly for vegetative growth.

The HID lights have high lumen/watt ratios (so they're very efficient) and the plants love them, but you have to have a way to cool the lights or your room as they also produce quite a bit of heat.

T5 High Output (T5HO) - the most efficient type of fluorescent lighting (HID lighting is a bit more efficient but are prone to more heat issues than fluorescents). The advantages of fluorescents are that the light is spread evenly along the bulb for even lighting coverage and even heat distribution, making the bulbs themselves relatively cool so you can allow your plants to get closer to them.
 
sadface

sadface

Active Member
grorite said:
well if you wanna do cfl you can make it work here was a cfl grow I did awhile ago pulled few grams shy of 6ozs box was made from a gutted dresser I have since moved to hid
Click to expand...
nice giving me hope lol!

spek9 said:
+rep for a very nicely laid out post, welcome to RIU!
I've got a Lighthouse 2x4x5' tent, and I'm very happy with it. I opted for the 2' wide just so it doesn't jet out from the wall as far. Also, Gotham is a pleasure to deal with. I've purchased a few things from them, and they are exceptionally responsive, pre-and-post sale.
Good luck with your grow!
-spek
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice and +rep! This site rocks posted this morning, and already got responses. Very informative site, will be posting a journal for sure when I start!

Slipon said:
IMO tent is a bit small for 4 plant, two is more like it, and hight will most likely become a problem with a HPS/MH (HID lights) as they need to be 10-20" away depending on size and reflector as they do produce A LOT of heat ..

CFL might complete a grow for you and Im sure with good results if you do your home work, but I doubt two plants in a small tent grown with CFLs alone will yield enough for two Ppl. untill your next harvest, some how you tent to smoke a bit more when you grow your self, but both that and your yield from CFLs is sumthing you need to find out for yourself

I smoke a bit more then you, well maybe the same as you two together, but after harvest I tent to smoke a bit more ;) also on weekends when Im at home and have Oz`s of Buds in jar`s around I tent to smoke a bit more then if I have to go for a drive and pay for it ..

I have grow two big plants under a 600W HPS that yield 6-8 Oz in total and 4 smaller plants, 5 week of veg time instead of 8 who yielded about 8 oz that do more or less cover my needs

now Im switch to LEDs (a bit expensive to buy but safe you power and heat)

and flower two plant under my new fixture

hope to harvest +4 oz every 8 weeks as I only can keep two plants under the LEDs (2,5x2 ft of light coverage's) I had to be creative, so now I also have a Veg room, with T5HOs (fluorescent light) so I can have two new plants ready for flowering once I harvest them two, so insted of one big harvest every 3-4 months I will harvest the "half" every 8-10 weeks

might works for you with two of them small tents, get one now and get two plants started in 8 weeks time when you have big nice healthy Veg plants ready for flowering you get another and start two new in there under mostly 6500K and switch to 12/12 in the other tent with mostly 2700K CLFs, just a idea
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for the very informative post. Yes that is one reason why I opted for cfl, as you can have lights closer to plants so can have shorter tent (and lower energy bills!!). I think I may take you up on your idea of getting a 2nd tent so I can veg a 2nd set and stagger my blooms to increase frequency of harvest. Seen that tactic a lot to have a veg and bloom tent, just need to convince the wife and see if I have room for 2 tents.

If i get a few grows under my belt I think I will go LED, as of right now it is too much of a capital investment when I don't know how long I will be growing.
 
Slipon

Slipon

Well-Known Member
sadface said:
nice giving me hope lol!



Thanks for the advice and +rep! This site rocks posted this morning, and already got responses. Very informative site, will be posting a journal for sure when I start!



Thank you very much for the very informative post. Yes that is one reason why I opted for cfl, as you can have lights closer to plants so can have shorter tent (and lower energy bills!!). I think I may take you up on your idea of getting a 2nd tent so I can veg a 2nd set and stagger my blooms to increase frequency of harvest. Seen that tactic a lot to have a veg and bloom tent, just need to convince the wife and see if I have room for 2 tents.

If i get a few grows under my belt I think I will go LED, as of right now it is too much of a capital investment when I don't know how long I will be growing.
Click to expand...

I like your way of thinking, seems like you do your research as well, Ooh yea and Btw welcome to RIU, we have a great bunch of Ppl. in here always willing to help :)

and you don't have to convince the wife right away, tho get started ;) get one tent now and get it going, once she see/understand she have to cut down on her smoke with one tent it will be easy :D and with some more experience another tent will also be more easy to get up running (don't get your hands to full to start with) no matter what it is`t necessary the fist few months depending on how fast you can get it up and running and Veg the fist two, might also have more money for a second tent/lights at that time, and yes IMO LEDs is I the way to go if you want a small scaled stealth grow that is easy to run and don't cost hugh amount in power, in other words, if you want to avoid HID lights and still get some decent results, just have to set your expectations right, LEDs are still developing, the year it did take me to look in to em, research em, safe up for em and get em they made a lot of progress with 3W and 5W LEDs and other lenses and spectrums aso.

keep it simple, less is more, use logic and common sense
 
S

spek9

Well-Known Member
sadface said:
nice giving me hope lol!



Thanks for the advice and +rep! This site rocks posted this morning, and already got responses. Very informative site, will be posting a journal for sure when I start!



Thank you very much for the very informative post. Yes that is one reason why I opted for cfl, as you can have lights closer to plants so can have shorter tent (and lower energy bills!!). I think I may take you up on your idea of getting a 2nd tent so I can veg a 2nd set and stagger my blooms to increase frequency of harvest. Seen that tactic a lot to have a veg and bloom tent, just need to convince the wife and see if I have room for 2 tents.

If i get a few grows under my belt I think I will go LED, as of right now it is too much of a capital investment when I don't know how long I will be growing.
Click to expand...
This is my first indoor grow, and I went with a Blackstar 135w UFO LED (purchased from Gotham). I'm very pleased with it, but I've recently flanked it with 6 - 23w 6500k CFLs.

Recently though, I've got a 400w MH/HPS with cooltube in transit, so I'm going to velcro up some Mylar to create a cover on the back of my bar, move my mother into that, and start cloning. Essentially I'll turn it into a veg area with the LED and CFLs, and use the HPS in the tent to flower.

You're going to be surprised with how quickly you think of better/new/more ingenious ways to do things. I love this hobby!

-spek
 
timlang420

timlang420

Active Member
sadface said:
not 100% sure what hps/mh is sorry again new to growing!! My plan was to start with eight 6500k 42watt cfl for veg; in sets of 2 in clamp reflectors on each corner of the tent to get the best light coverage. Then switch to eight 2700k 42 watt clf for bloom keeping some of the 6500k plugged in. Was going to play lighting by ear mostly though to see how coverage was.
Click to expand...
lumens are important too. you want 1,000-3,000 lumens per sq foot, you tent is 6.76 sq feet, so you'll want at least 6,760 total lumens. the package your light bulbs came in should tell you how many lumens they produce. the father away the plants are from the light, the less lumens they get, so fluorescent lights are good cuz they can be very close, but hid's are better cuz they give off much more lumens (a 400 watt mh will give off like 32,000 lumens and a 400 watt hps will give off like 50,000 lumens)

are your lights able to be raised/lowered? if your going fluorescent then a 5' tent should be ok cuz you can keep the lights right next to them, if they can be adjusted. i have 9 fluorescent tubes in rubbermaid tubs and im growing 2 plants right now. ive had a couple successful harvests and i get a lil more than an oz per plant with my set up. i plan on getting a tent that is 3x3x6.5, with a 400w mh/hps cool tube reflector hood w/digital ballast, exhaust fan w/carbon filter and possibly an intake fan but i think the cool tube will keep my temps down. fluorescent lights work fine but hid's work better, and if your spending money why not spend a lil more now cuz itll def pay off later.

you'll need an exhaust fan at least, probably a good idea to get one with a carbon filter otherwise (if you grow it right) your house with stink of weed.
 
timlang420

timlang420

Active Member
spek9 said:
This is my first indoor grow, and I went with a Blackstar 135w UFO LED (purchased from Gotham). I'm very pleased with it, but I've recently flanked it with 6 - 23w 6500k CFLs.

Recently though, I've got a 400w MH/HPS with cooltube in transit, so I'm going to velcro up some Mylar to create a cover on the back of my bar, move my mother into that, and start cloning. Essentially I'll turn it into a veg area with the LED and CFLs, and use the HPS in the tent to flower.

You're going to be surprised with how quickly you think of better/new/more ingenious ways to do things. I love this hobby!

-spek
Click to expand...
i agree, i love growing my own shit. the best part is, if you grow indoors, you control everything. trial and error sucks when theres a problem but you learn from that shit...thats what this site is for.
 
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