My $6,000 Grow Setup...PLEASE HELP! (very detailed)

[jonster]

y's people putting him down and calling bullshyt, why would he lie? 6000 is alot, but he's got the money to spend, and he's aviously smart enough to grow because he's done his homework, i think every1's a little bit jealous. growing is easy man, with all those items you plan to buy, it'll be easier. just dont be suspicious. good luck and all the power to you, post some pics, i think we'd all love to see the progress.

[J Herbs]

Wow, seems like there's a lot of haters in here! $6,000 isn't that much...I assume you're still living with your parents if you think $6,000 is an extravagant amount of money. If you work full time and make decent money, it's pretty reasonable.

Anyways, I appreciate everyone's input, however, I disagree a little bit with some of you. You all claim that I am a "newbie", and I do agree. I have never done a grow, but I think I have all the aspects of the grow down. I have down my homework, read a few books, and really reasearched which parts will work best and what I need. It's not impossible to build a complex grow system and be somewhat successfull initially.

If you guys know where I can get these parts cheaper, let me know! I haven't seen any decent 600 watt HPS's for $200 online yet!

[J Herbs]

Originally Posted by froggy

700+ for a 600w light?

149 for a 445cfm fan?

dude, comon. if u wanna blow 6k, buy some good weed or sumthing.

but the hardware u got for a newbie??? its insane.

u need to shop around and get a few grows under ur belt first.

my guess is that u could do the exact same grow for around 500$ and get better results.

u have over 1500$ for grow media when i can get u bags of pro mix for like 20$

lol, hey whatever, do what u think is best.

but let me relate the story.
i used to teach guitar way back when. more often than not, kids moms would buy them electric guitars, amps, peddles, special picks, everything a pro needs. but the only problem is that they were NOT pro's. they were WAY over their heads with equiptment and never worked on the real fundimentals that they needed, meaning they couldnt play the shit. they spent all their time fucking around with the equiptment and no time with the basics of actually learning the neuances of the guitar. hence, they never learned the guitar but just made noise. i think u are going down the same pathway.

Your post boggles my mind. I could get better results for $500?? Enlighten me!! I don't know if I'm completely ignorant or if you're overexaggerating, but it doesn't seem like I spending way too much. $600+ for the light provides 1200 watts with two backup bulbs, reflectors, and a timer...that doesn't seem too ridiculous.

[jonster]

6,000 in general isn't that much, but to spend it all on a marijuana grow, thats deffinetly for some long time stock of herbs. J Herbs, you could come out with a huge successful first harvest, you should make a journal with pics once you start, it'd help you remember mistakes you may come across, and changes you may want to make for your next grow. i'll be taking a seat and watching progress for this 1

[L i L K u B B s]

No matter how many books/FAQ's/Journals you wanna read you still are a newbie, man. You still have no REAL EXPERIENCE, which means the most in almost anything in life. I'm not trying to put you down or anything but you need to see that just b/c you have read up on the topic and spend alotta cash doesn't mean your grow will go perfect.

We're just trying to get you to invest your money alittle better. You could spend less than half of what you're saying and be fine. Do you really NEED all of that equipment? I think you're going wayy overboard but go for it.. I would love to see a journal or something, prove us wrong

[toastybiz]

So what if this guy is a newbie? He admits it! We were all newbies once, too.

What I hear him saying, basically, is he wants to grow on an ongoing basis and can afford to invest in doing it right. If that's the case, there is nothing wrong with doing it right from the get-go, in fact it makes a lot of sense. Maybe he'll screw up a crop or two, so what? He will still have the killer set-up to generate some great weed once he does get that experience under his belt.

We are always advising people on this forum to spend as much as they possibly can afford on lighting and they won't regret it, now here's a guy who understands that and it seems has the budget to extend this philosophy to his entire set-up -- I say go for it.

[OG*]

6Gs dam i think we all know where u got ur cash from n what u plan on doin with that massive harvest i hope it's legal wherever ur at or ur behind a few proxys be safe not stupid

[froggy]

promix = 100$ for 100 plants.

im sure u can get lights for way cheaper than 700$ for 2 600w with hoods. my 1000w with hoods cost 300$ each. ur right i dont have but 1 backup for all my lights...but they last about 20000 hrs.

botanicare = 45$ for 200 plants worth of full flower
veg = 15$ for 200 plants worth of full flower

portable room aircon's work very poorly. u will quickly find that out.

i could go on and on but the fact is, one must work up to the expertise that u are looking for. especially in hydro situation.

look, ive been in the growing business for 20 years and have degrees in such. u are a young kid trying out his first system. soil gives u the training wheels that u need. time will give u the expertise that u need. a few grow's under ur belt will give the the problem solving that u will need when they arise (and they always do). i see nothing about water filteration. one wrong newbie move with hydro and ur whole system is lost vs soil is usually much more forgiving.

u are trying to be a race car driver and go 200mph without ever having been behind the wheel, doesnt that sound strange to u?

who am i to say that u shouldnt spend ur hard earned $$$. unlike some others, i believe u have $$$. $$$ is easy to come by. no i dont live with my parents, they rent from me in one of my apt's. no im not a punk kid. no im not jealous that u have 6000$, lol someday u will find out that its not alot of money to invest in a business. but jeeze, i know pro growers that STILL havnt spent what ur planing to spend. bill gates didnt start off with a HUGE company called Microsoft, he started in his garage with junk and a dream. i wish u would reread my guitar story again and try to internalize what im trying to say. but maybe u cannot because u are mentially in the same place as those kids i was trying to teach. they were blinded and even handicapped by all the stuff.

remember that u dont know what u dont know cuz u just dont know u dont know it, u know?

if ur still growing in 10 years, ill bet u will look upon ur young self and laugh. and u will also seek me out to say 'u know, that frog wasnt so stupid after all'.

[provin1327]

if you do this, get some pics!!

[TheTsunami]

if you order all this on a creditcard your gettin busted for sure.... hope you have a way to pay cash at the sites ur ordering from... leave no papertrail /w hydroponic shit

[infiniteawesome]

Okay, well I don't know enough about large scale growing to say where and how you should invest your 6 grand, but I think you would be satisfied with a grow about arseface's size. Check out his grow and observe:

http://forum.grasscity.com/showthread.php?t=93999

Secondly, make sure to invest in Greg Green's "The Cannabis Grow Bible." While certainly not perfect, it's a really good introduction to the very basics of cannabis cultivation.

Other options are open to you as your budget is larger than most people have to invest in a grow, such as T5 fluorescent lighting rather than using HIDs, etc. So keep those things in mind. Browse around here on the city for information as it's more or less free and plentiful. There are plenty of very decent growers here, so you're definatley in the right place to start.

Invest in some cheap genetics your first time as if you fuck up with your first grow, which nearly everyone does, you won't have to worry about the fact that you have to order a great deal of expensive seeds again. Save the expensive genetics for when you have a couple of grows under your belt.

Some really good advice I've seen repeatedly emphasized by other members here is to not use your credit card to order most growing supplies. This is especially the case with large HID lights and hydroponics equipment. Try and pay with cash and money order when ordering lights, hydroponic equipment, and seeds. This will keep your profile lower, which is essential especially with large scale growing. Order everything using a fake name and since you have some money to spare, why not get a PO Box or something of that nature so that it's not sent directly to your house/grow space? This is just some good common sense that is sometimes overlooked.

Finally check out this website:

http://68.103.98.234:6667/ogi/modules.php?name=growfaq

It covers some of the finer aspects of cannabis cultivation.

Hope this helps and good luck. Post a journal once it's all set up, but I won't expect to see anything around for a while, if at all. As this kind of grow can be highly problematic to your welfare if found out. Still, stay positive and you will turn out alright.

[nimo_253]

I'm pretty sure people sure spend that much on grows, try managing 16+ g-houses. Not that I am doing it, or I'd be in my private jet flying wherever. Or that you'll ever will talk to someone who is running one. I mean thats what almost 25,000+ a month just in rent/mortgages? 25+ 1000w Lights per house? Thats a big utility bill unless you know people that works for the city power company. In this business, it matters a little bit on what you know, but a great deal on who you know. 6,000 actually is not alot. Have you ever had the chance of slapping yourself with 50 grand stack of cash? Feels good! If you wanna know how it feels take a L.A. phone book and just slap your self with it. Most of you people think about the small picture when it comes to growing, its not the O's its the P's or Keys. So that 6 grand INVESTMENT will probably turn into 1-300,000+ x 4 crops a year with a nice sized house. It's not like he'll do it once and just drop it. He'll do it until he's either caught or buys himself out of it. Why get into something illegal and doing it small time? Other than that it really doesn't matter on what he spends or how he spends it. Its just the thought of putting up a grow and running it and that it runs successfully and getting out and beating the game. I could go on and on about this...

But I'd take some that stuff out... CO2 generators... CO2 is produced by the megatons. Hook up a direct line from the outside. Your ebb & flow you can just make http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/11plan01.htm. Costs around 80 to build. Built one and it works great. You're skimping on your lights and you want to get a hydrohut? Overheating lights? or do you mean over heating ballasts? Mount your ballasts by your AC. A gro-clone unit works well under your flourecent fixture. About the whole hydro setup, why dont you just stick to 1 solid unit? Like one of those omega gardens machines. SOG all day...

[auctus]

i am also lookng at the hydrohut. This is probably a very stupid question but it doesnt come with any lights, fans etc.

[infiniteawesome]

Originally Posted by nimo_253

Why get into something illegal and doing it small time?

Because with a small grow you reduce your chances of getting caught, reduce your costs on electricity, and can manage to save some money on ganja.

I'm not knocking huge commercial grows, but there's plenty of validity to small-scale personal growing.

[DefendentOfHate]

haha damn i shop at that shop all the time where they sell those hydro huts and i didnt even know it.... thats next on my list too... i love seattle