Absolute first grow plans

I think the tent size and the number of plants is a good idea. Lights are the most important part of the grow, I would suggest you buy the best you can afford - and don't be fooled by the coverage claims made by some of the led companies. Those 300w led's sold on amazon only pull 135w and you would need 4 for 4 plants in a 4x4 tent. If you use a HPS you'll need 600w - and if you use an led you'll still need about 600w - so there is no savings on electricity, except with an led you wouldn't need to exhaust heat.

 

Based on what I have read for 4 plants I am thinking you would need a 1200w LED but someone should correct me if I am wrong.

 

I would suggest this one on a budget:

 

I use a 300W LED for 2 plants (156 true watts) but I also supplement light with 92 watts of CFL's as well....u can get away with two 300W LED's, bout 80.00 each....but of course, the more light, the better

 

Those pull 524w. That's about what I suggested for his size grow. Why do people continue to quote those misleading numbers? It's not 1200 watts!

 

Most people are aware that the actual wattage draw isn't 1200W....I just refer to that as the "product number" if u will

 

Hi mate, the 4x4' tent is a great place to start and 4 plants is a good amount to grow in there. Electricity costs the same whether the lights are LED, HPS, or a toaster. A watt is a watt and each watt used will cost you the same amount of money. So there won't be any money saving on running an LED compared to an HPS if their wattages are the same. And if their wattages are the same then their harvest weight will be comparable also.

That being said, LEDs offer other advantages. Changing from veg to flower is merely a flick of a switch instead of a bulb change and they are far superior for early veg when seedlings are so prone to stretching. They do cost considerably more so be prepared for that.

I have two identical tents, one with a 600w HPS and the other with a 600w LED, they both work well, but don't let the heat thing sway you, my HPS set up heats the tent less than my LED set up

Stay away from kits, they're almost always sub par standard quality, missing stuff you need, and contains stuff you don't need. Some things you can cheap out on, and other things you cannot

The carbon filter does two things, primarily it cuts out the smell which is likely something you will want even if you're not hiding it. The smell is strong, I mean really strong. You will stink out the entire building. The other thing it does is stop the impeller in your fan from gumming up with dust. If you choose to not use a carbon filter you should use some kind of filter just to keep your fans clean. It's surprising how quickly they becomes coated in dust and lose efficiency

Hydro is a good place to start as it pretty much cuts out the two most common problems, moisture content and nutrient concentration. These two are very easily kept in check when growing hydro. I recommend DWC as it's very simple to build and maintain. Not much can go wrong

 

I start under t5's but cfl's is a good choice as well. I would suggest you either start them in rockwool or rapid rooters - I prefer rapid rooters myself. T5's are great lights but lack intensity and light penetration - led or hps are best for flower.

 

I wouldn't worry about brands of HPS lights, as long as it's dimmable 250/400/600w then you're golden. An air cooled set up would be worth the small extra cost, but open hoods are fine too.

This is a good deal
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00P...ywords=HPS&dpPl=1&dpID=51VpECcA31L&ref=plSrch

You will need a 6" exhaust fan to go with it. This one is a good one, powerful and quiet
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00K...=8-5&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=6"+fan&dpPl=1&dpID=516iN8n3KhL&ref=plSrch

You will need some 6" ducting and some hose clips too

How much it will cost to run depends on how much you pay for your electricity. I pay £0.13 per kW/h so if I ran a 700w set up (light and fans) I'd multiply that by how many hours it runs per day. So for example...
0.7kW x 12 hours/day = 8.4kW/h per day.
Multiply that by the cost is...
8.4kW/h x £0.13 = £1.09 per day.

I have never heard of anyone having a fire. If anyone has its most likely from over loaded circuits, sub par wiring, wrong fuses, or some other careless reason, not the actual lights themselves. The ballasts have overheat protection, probably worth using a surge protector, although I don't, but should buy a couple.

Auto flowering plants are arguably harder to grow than photoperiod plants due to them having a set veg period. If you make any mistakes while vegging a photoperiod you can simply veg longer until it gets over it. But with autos you don't have that luxury. Don't let me put you off though, I love autos, I always have some growing in my veg tent. You will still need to change bulbs whether it's an auto or not, they still veg, but you don't need a timer to make them flower. I run mine at 24/0.

As for seeds, I only order from ATTITUDE SEEDBANK Cannabis Seeds | Buy Marijuana seeds UK they are the best supplier I know of. I have had hundreds of seeds from them over the years, most were free, that always have lots of deals on where you can get free extras with your order.

LEDs are great for starting seeds as you don't get any stretching and you get lots of light per watt. MH is ok for seedlings, you don't get much stretching but you get less light per watt. White/blue fluorescents (CFLs & T5s) are great for seedlings, very little stretch but not much light per watt. HPS is terrible for seedlings, lots of stretching. It gives off a lot of light per watt and is great for flowering but it doesn't contain enough blue light for early veg.

If you are growing in clay balls you're better off starting in damp paper towels until you get a root of an inch or two and putting it directly in to the clay balls. Rockwool is awful and I see people struggling with that stuff all the time. It really just isn't suitable for seedlings

T5s work well to start seeds and if you use enough wattage, they are good for vegging. However they are not good from start to finish compared to HPS and LEDs. They give off about half the light per watt used