Here are my questions. I want to grow enough ONLY for personal use. Let's say I use an ounce of weed a month, how many plants and what method would be good for a continuous supply? I don't mind being dry of weed until the first harvest, but after that I want a continuous supply of an ounce a month. A little less is OK, and a little more is OK but not too much, because I am paranoid and I suffer from anxiety disorders and depression, and a number of other mental illnesses which Pot seems to help me cope with, without the side effects of Zoloft. How many plants should I go? For this number of plants, what's the cheapest light setup I can use without sacrificing quality? (I will shell the extra cash and use HID, but how many watts and etc?) Would SOG be better in my case? For this number of plants, how much space do I need? and should I worry about the smell? I think the thing that scares most people from starting a grow is because they think it's too hard. They open up a grow guide and are bombared with new terms and all this talk about HID lights, lumens and etc.. I think it's a big turn off for most people. After I learn how to grow properly, I will attempt to write a simple guide, unless there's one I missed. Another thing is that the guides never tell you how much the average yield is, or how many plants to grow. I know it depends on many factors, but some examples would be nice.
well. If you have a very good grow, and grow your plant about 12 inches before flowering , you will probably get 2 ounces average. it takes 2-3 months to grow a plant, you do the math. smell with YES be a factor a big one, y ou need ventilation big time i dont think SOG would be the way to go enless you wanta big yield with lots of plants
Grow 2 and youll have more then enough. If you can, get a 250watt hps. Its only $85 at insidesun.com . You should make a box thats 2feetx1footx4-6feet if you do a sog it can be smaller. paint it flat white on the inside or line it with maylar. Then you need a exhaust ..(you can use pc fans ..imo use 2 78cfm fans ) then on the bottom make passize intake holes with pvc pipe so light cant get through.also you can do the same with larger pvc pipe for the fans. then put your plants in and let them grow. I would grow 2 and keep them instead of starting over every 2-3 months.(but i heard you can only keep a plant for like a year.not sure if its true though.)
Also search around on google there was a thread on og that shows you how to make a carbon filter for pc fans for under $25
If by og you mean overgrow, that site (along with a few others) got seized by the feds. Bummer, that's why I'm asking here. I know og has lots of good guides and papers on cultivation, but unfortunately.. Thanks for the replies. I'll start by growing 3 plants. A 250Watt HPS is good enough? What if I want to grow more in the future, how many plants would a 250Watt HPS cover? What's better, painting the inside of the box white, or using mylar? Aluminum foil is bad I hear, because some parts of it will concentrate the light too much on the plant, like a laser beam. Does mylar do this? I would assume not because it doesn't crease like aluminum foil, but I'm just wondering what's better, mylar or white paint. As for the ventilation. If I'm doing this in a pretty big closet instead of a box, and I open the door regularly to check on the plants, are fans needed? Opening the door should cause enough air movement I think, and it's only 3 plants. and one more question about space, how deep a place does the plant need if I'm going to let me grow to be big. Is there a standard stem size = root size chart? Above, Stylez1877 said let the plant grow to be 12" before flowering, how deep would a container for a 12" need to be?
Alright, lemme try to help ya out. I know quite a bit about small grows so lemme try and answer a few of your questions now Tinfoil isnt necessarily "bad", its cheap and it works...well and i use it ALL THE TIME. If you use the shiney side out (you will see the obviously shiney and the obviously dull side), you can get burns. The best way to prevent this, is to try and smooth out ALL the ridges and creases (i use a ruler--very gently) and use the DULL side facing out. Mylar is ideal, but if you dont want to get a roll of that, shiney gift wrap works well! I would definitly use mylar or tinfoil (if used properly) any day over just painting the inside white. Think of what you are doing, taking a reflective METAL vs a white pigment.. metal is the best! NO NO NO NO NO! YOU NEED FANS! first off, if you do deal with metal halides (which i think is excessive, you can have great luck off a few good CFLs which IMO is much better for stealths due to the heat issue, MH and HPS get...hot...like...hot enough to burn your box down or dry the shit out of your plants. if you are doing MH or HPS (which i really dont think you need..) i would highly advice having two fans at the top with the lights, one pulling air into the box, the other sucking it out. Secondly, plants need movement. If you have ever seen a real grow operation, there are a TON of surface fans, this is primarily used to stimulate the development of a STRONG stem...strong stems support more budz, hence you want the strongest stems! Placing a couple fans at surface level of the pots keep the plants swaying and moving and this causes the stems to thicken and develop a strong stem. Also, it increases the surface absorbtion of gas neutriants (CO2 and O2) because you are continously introducing new air above the soil..it doesnt sit stagnenet. I would definitly be putting at least 1, if not 2 fans on the base (parellel to the top of the pots) or adding a rotating circular fan inside the grow box to keep the air circulating and you will DEFINITLY need them with HPS or MH (which i dont think you need --- look into the "sprial" compact florecent bulbs as you can buy em for like 10 bucks and some pump out 1800 lumens, so two or three...and they are cool to the touch) There is no real set answer here. I have had the best sucess starting in smaller pots and moving the plants to larger ones. Typically the rule of thumb is to never allow the fan leaves to exceed the radius of the pots, so if the leaves are overhanging, move to a large size pot...I would start with something like dixie cups (with 4 holes poped in the bottom) and then advance up to larger pots. If you do this, you cause the roots to concentrate and become "fuller", starting with a large pot is a BIG no-no! roots that grow latitudaly will cause a week plant. Also, when you bumb the plants up to a larger sized pot... just wait to see the HUGE growth spurt! its amazing, so to summerize that, keep em in a small cup (dixies work well -- those red "beer" cups) and then move to larger and larger growing pots (found at any garden center) and that will keep the plants continously expanding, yet still have a tight (healthy) bundle of roots. I hope that answered most of your questions, i love to help out, so PM me at any time and be sure to start a grow journal so i can watch your progress! Good luck! FLEX
Thanks for the long reply Flex. I will get an HPS light because it's not too expensive for a 250watt and I wanna have the option of expanding in the future, and I wanna be able to use a MH lamp using a conversion bulb. The lighting is probably where I will be making the most investment. I might use a regular sized fan (the ones people use during summer) on the plants. I heard that if the plant doesn't have too much air, it will focus its energy on making resin instead of a strong stem.
alright, just be very careful with the temperature, if it gets too hot, the soil's moisture levels decline and leaves the root vulnerable and the plant dies. You should be able to leave the plants for a few days without worrying about the soil drying, but a MH or HPS in such a small box... your looking at watering at least once a day... FLEX
I only said I would use that box because that is what was suggested above. I have plenty of space. How big of a place would be good for a HID 400watt light and 3 plants?
Totally agree, you need fans or your stem will not develop and you'll have an overall "wimpy plant." Just put a cheap desk fan on it man. The dixie cup technique is good for the first week or so I believe. As far as wide containers, that can be disputed. I've read that if you have a wide pot, it promotes horizontal root growth rathern tha vertical. This, when combined with LST and FIM can create a very short stalky and healthy plant. Yes, you need your pots to be a certain depth, but a wide pot is just as good as a tall one, you just have to determine what you are more comfortable with spacially speaking, width or height?
2.75 to 4 feet wide, 2.75 feet deep, 5 to 6 feet tall. About a closet space, any less and you WILL have serious ventilation issues, I tried to do that . .. BAD idea. Killed my plants by overdrying them, though if I had taken some precautionary measures with ventilation, I MIGHT not have had that problem . . . oh well. With that kind of light I'd hope you have space. If you enclose it, put mylar and good ventilation in it, you can probably grow about 4 to 8 plants. Remember that when using 400 watts to place it about 1 foot away from the plants. This is the recommended height. EDIT: Are you getting a 250 or a 400? If you use 250 watts, the dimensions can be slightly smaller, but not much, and you should try and get it even closer to the plants if using 250 watts.
Thanks for the replies. I will be getting HPS and MH. A conversion bulb or special ballast. I'm not so sure about the space, I've not decided where in the house it will be exactly. So 400Watt HPS and 400Watt MH, good for 3-4 plants? (won't use 2 lights at the same time, will swap when switching stage to flowering.)