So me and a buddy are gonna start growing. We wanna do a test run with 1 or 2 plants and have a few questions. 1. Is a 3 ft tall chest type thing going to be tall enough? 2. We can only grow in our garage and our garage doesnt have heat but were thinking space heater to help control temperatures would that be a legit idea? 3. What bulbs should we buy from menards or somewhere like that and how many? 4. What is the best fertilizer/nutrients and soil to buy from like wal-mart or something? 5. How much marijuana should we be expected to get off of one plant? Any more hints or tips are greatly appreciated
1. I'd go taller. Like at least a 5ft cab. Of course you can look at some of the micro grows around and stuff people are doing with CFLs, but unless you know a bit about growing training plants to grow low might be hard so you're going to have to leave some room for vertical growth. I always imagine that my plants will at least DOUBLE in size between veg and when I put them in flower. That means a 12" plant becomes 24" tall, at least. Leave 18" for light distance if you're using a HID and ... you're already at 3ft. What about the 9" pots, etc? Vertical space is crucial. 2. Most likely the lights will produce more than enough heat during the on cycle and if you use a thermostat-controlled vent fan you can have it turn off after the temperature drops and the chest or whatever would stay reasonably insolated. have the fan turn off at like 72 degrees or whatever and by the time the lights are back on the temp shouldn't dip too low if you have a reasonable sealed up cab. 3. ... Are you looking to do a compact fluorescent grow? Do you have money for a HID, like a HPS light? You can use fluorescent lights, just look up a couple grow journals, lots of folks are using em. or search for CFL. 4. don't know. I'd search long and hard for a store within a few hours drive that specializes in gardening. Then again, it's kind of the wrong season to be looking, so you might be stuck with indoor grow stores, which again aren't a bad option just don't take a care licensed to yourself and don't go often. Most major cities have at least one indoor garden shop. 5. Between 7 and 28 grams for your first time. some people get 2-3 oz per plant but that's with LST training and other wizardry.
1. You have control over the plant, not the other way around, so yes. 2. Space heater is about your only option. 3. You need CFL bulbs. The twisty kind. Day Light for the first few weeks, then soft white for the flowering stage. You need 100w of actual wattage from the bulbs. 4. I don't shop at Wal-mart for this kind of stuff because its all cheap chemical crap. Go to a real garden store, General Hydroponics, Fox Farms, Botanicare and Advanced Nutrients all make excellent products for what you are trying to do. 5. First try, probably about 20 grams.
Have to agree with you there, but most first time growers are too skittish to throw a 6-12" plant into flower... even though that's definitely one way to keep em nice and short. I mean, with a 3 ft tall chest I'd think you'd couldn't veg for more than a week before tossing em into flower otherwise you'd run of headspace space quick... (and again, all I'm saying is based on the assumption that you're not going to go trying to LST or anything like that on your first grow... If you DO plan on doing some training of your plants you can veg longer and get short squat plants that produce a lot of nice buds)