This is my first indoor grow. My only other grows have been "let nature take her course" type of events, but now I'm bringing it in. It's been many years since I have grown any plant at all. I have chosen Blue Mystic for its size, lack of odor, and ease of growth. I have a 2x2x4 tent that I plan to grow 4 plants in, and yield around a quarter pound every 10-12 weeks. I will be growing in soil. It's now time to pick soil, nutrients, and lights. The lights must be low to no heat, and my budget is $150 for lighting, $50 for soil and nutrients, and $50 misc. I think some 6 light T5 fixtures will fit in there or I could add MANY 23w cfls. Any help from the community on these choices would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I have a 2x2x4 tent and for lighting im using a huge 200 watt CFL screwed into a reflector and light socket. All purchased from my local hydro store. I have a veg and flower bulb, both 200w Its perfect because theres barley any heat from it, yet its more powerful then the 150w hps sunsystem lol. The bulb was 60, reflector was 25, and light socket for reflector was 5. Its a professional setup and its very effective and efficient. Just a suggestion good luck bud
I would run a scrog in there do to the lack of height, also, if you do a scrog you only want 1-2 plants at the most. The T5 is a better choice in my opinion, althought if you want something with no heat sig, then go with LED's.
Hey I've only had my 2x2x4 tent for a short while but Im running a 125w CFL (6400k since its my veg tent) with a rated output of 10,500 lumens and it seems to perform well so far. I have not done a complete grow with this set up so I can't be help past my experiences. I think I have a total $90 invested in the CFL bulb and reflector. The reflector was plug-n-play so an additional cordset/socket was not required. You would want to invest in a red/warm spectrum bulb for flowering which would be roughly $50 putting you right around your $150 lighting budget. Let me know if I can be anymore help!
Thanks everyone! I am considering 30w cfls in a 2to 1 red:blue:red array on each plant (or sq/ft). Could someone suggest a $150 LED that would take me through an autoflower grow? If I can't find a worthy LED in that range, it's cfl for me. It's already hotter than hell in here! Any suggestions on pots, soil, or nutrients? Also, do you think 1 plant per sq/ft. is overdoing it for an auto? Chimera2 was suggesting I take it down to 1-2. I'd have thought so if it was a normal grow, but will these really take up 2-4 sq/ft. each? Thanks again!
Actually, you didn't mention that you were growing auto blue mystic. Also, fyi, I've read that nirvana's auto have a tendency of no autoing, so be prepared, if it goes more than a week or so past the expected first sign of flowering that your plants may not be true autoflowers! for this reason and your height limitations I'd go with only 2 plants so that you can do some limited height training on them. Also, if your do look into LED's you will be limited to only using LEDs with a max of 1 watt diodes as the 3 watt diodes need to hang 18" above your plant. Otherwise the T5's are probably your best bet for lights as they stay way cooler than cfls.
Forgot to mention auto... /bonk Sorry about that! I can't believe I'd forget something that critical, but when you're soaking up knowledge, it gets overwhelming sometimes. Still not sure why if the strain is 18 inches high and I have 2 foot x 2 foot x 4 foot tent, it won't work. I did not picture these ladies taking up more than 1.5 feet high plus a foot for the pot. With 4 feet of vertical space to work with, what am I missing? I can see how 3 plants might yield as much as 4 in the same space. Maybe I'll start 3 and see what happens. Hoping my seeds and tent will be here by Monday. In the meantime, I will decide on lighting. I was really thinking of 2x30w 6500k and 2x30w 2500k per plant, or sq foot (when I thought of growing 4 plants in there). Guess I'll just go with soil. FFOF seems like it will get me though the 1st month, then use their nutrients at 1/4 to 1/2 strength. Still trying to talk myself into a DIY hydro system. Thanks for all the help and advice. Greatly appreciated! Lastly, I blame the forum for that autoflower slip. I posted it in the post tags! (Just knew I typed it somewhere in there!)
Thats ok, now if you want to see why I made that recommendation, here is a link to my non-autoing auto plant...http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/958113-chimera-back-led-single-plant-grow-11.html
Thanks so much chimera2! If they don't show by week 4, I guess it's 12/12 for them! My tent should be here today. Seeds are not traceable. Light fixture parts were not found locally so I ordered $50 in parts to make 4 x 4 bulb light fixtures (no bulbs). At 26w per bulb x 4 = 104w per fixture, 1650 lumen per bulb = 6600 lumen per fixture. Since each fixture covers one square foot, I think I'm golden here. Just not sure what bulbs to buy. Any help here on brands and color temp would be appreciated. I have heard all 6500k, all 2700k, a ratio of 1:2. Going to get my space ready for the tent. Am thinking of starting the journal over with a better title, so people looking for auto grows can find it. Thanks again for all the help!
Just ask a moderator to change the title, I'm sure if you ask yoda kindly he will do it. 1:2 ratio sounds about right...also, you could get the bigger CFLs, they have 42 watt ones that will really kick some butt for you, if you can't find them at walmart or lowes you can always get the at ebay, here's a link Lot 2 -42W - 42 Watt 2700K CFL Light Bulb Soft Lighting Hydroponic Seed Starting | eBay
Thanks, Yoda! Tent is up, and bulbs purchased. I ordered some fixture parts, they should be here by Friday. Seeds, who knows when. Soil and nutrients will be purchased in the interim. I decided to use 12 26w 2300k and 4 26w 6500k bulbs. This will give me 7000 lumen per square foot. Probably just going to be Miracle Grow Organic soil and nutrients, since my town sucks, and I don't want to drive 100s of miles or pay insane amounts for shipping. Here's a pic of the tent while I wait for other supplies.
And amazingly I got a package from Holland today! Wow! Talk about fast. Let's hope the quality matches and we don't have us a 12/12 autoflower situation here! Waiting on light parts, probably by Friday. Not sure I should post any pics of my package from Nirvana though. Some things should be kept on the DL.
Good idea, if you want to post picts, do it of the seeds in their pack only...As for shipping cost, you'd be amazed at just how much of the stuff has free shipping particularly on ebay! I actually just did a search for foxfarm soil and of the first 50 items only 2 didn't have free shipping!
Looks like I will germinate on May 4th. My light fixture parts are still not here. My seeds from overseas beat a USA distributor. Sad. I'll post a pic of the seed packs, and I think I'll start in peat pots with Miracle Grow seedling mix, maybe mix that w/ pre-soaked perlite, 2 to 1. Then for pots, use their organic mix w/ same perlite ratio. Thinking 10 inch pots. Still not sure if 4 will be too much for my 1st time, and with only 4 square feet. I am considering 3 plants, ATM. Got lucky since I had $13 in e-bay bucks, I bought a 6 inch inline fan for $25. Only cost me $12. Not sure how to secure this and if I can find ducting locally. Guess it's time to find out. If I do 3 plants, I'm considering only using 300 of my 400 watts. Heat's an issue, but I'll just see what's needed as I go. I'll have all 400 ready to pop in if needed. That's all for now. Probably next post on Friday with pics of germination and seed packs from NirvanaShop!
You can get ducting at any appliance store that sells dryer or hardware store! I know that nirvana say's that auto blue mystic is nuetral smelling but you might want to consider looking into odor control and be prepared to acquire asap if they start stinking to much. So you went ahead and got an HID light, good for you, do 2 plants your going to need room for fans to keep it cool in there and to keep air circulating through your plants. Which reminds me you will need to use an oscillating fan or you will face the possibility of leaf drying.
No HID lights. I have 300-400 real watts (1600 equiv) of cfls ready to go. I have four 4-bulb fixtures. Each has a 26w cfl for it. I bought a small fan to blow across the canopy, but it does not oscillate. I do have that 6 inch exhaust fan on the way, however. Thinking of making my own ducting or checking a hardware store. I was going to go 4 plants anyway, but since you're now suggesting 2 (maybe because U thought I had an HID in that small space), but I think I'll settle on three plants. About to germ some seeds. I do not have my soil yet, but I'll get it in a week. I have some peat pellets to start in. It's a Jiffy tomato starting kit made for 16 plants. I have lights to wire while my water settles a little. I don't think my tap water will give me any issues, even without settling. Have many cords to manage as well. It's coming along nicely. Guess I could look into DIY carbon filters as well. Pics within 12 hours or so!
Still would recommend 2, but its your grow, what size pots are you growing them in...From the little experience that I have with autos(mostly negative but I'm still growing them) you don't want to transplanting them if possible, also, don't overwater as they get lazy and won't grow roots which will drastically reduce your yield. One thing you should do while your waiting on your seeds to sprout is turn your lights on for 24hrs and see what type of heat is being produced so that you can take adequate steps to keep your grow in the sweet spot(75-78F).
My grow will never hit that sweet spot, since the room's 80 all day. Humidity is high though, and I'm trying not to over stress them. They are in peat plugs now. Just going to wait a couple days and see what sprouts. I soaked the seeds for 12 hours. One sank, but it was much smaller. Soaked the plugs and sowed all 3 seeds. I guess I'll turn the timer on, and submit some pics.
Here's the seed pack. I'm starting to get nervous now. Reading reports of these pellets not being so good for cannabis. Something to do with pH. I soaked the seeds for 12 hours in water on 4-28 from 5am-5pm. After 12 hours one seed stank, which was much smaller than the other two. Then I placed all 3 in peat pellets at around 5pm. Twelve hours later I re-moistened them. I have been taking the top off every couple hours, and now it sits ajar. I am probably going to put them under light at 5pm tonight. Starting to regret not using paper towel method or waiting for my soil to germinate directly in, but it's only been 1 day, so I'll wait and see what happens. Here's hoping for 3 of 3 germination!