So I'm finally out on my own, and it's time to start growing. I've given it quite a lot of thought and I've settled on a 1m2 area with 16 lowrider plants (and other strains with auto-flower) I will be making a continuous grow; harvesting 0 – 4 plants every 2 weeks (Depending on male/female ratio). Below is an equipment list, does anyone have any advice on nutrients, light, vents or just anything you can think of that I might need. Basically, anything you wish you knew before you started. Supernova Grow Light With 1000W Sunmaster Metal Halide Lamp Airforce Acoustic Fan & Carbon Filter With Acoustic Ducting - 100mm/325m3 Plagron Light Mix 50L x 2 Hesi Soil 1 Litre Package (link) Sankey Small Unheated Propagator Grodan Large Propagation Cubes 36mm x 36mm x 40mm - Tray Of 77 Hygrometer With Max/Min & Humidity Reading Budbox 1 metre2 (link) I also need the seeds, pots & pot trays which I'll probably pick up from a garden centre for cheap. Total cost so far: £631.06 ($1,242) Tell me what you think
Add, and take away. take away/swap: I'd swap the 1000W for a 600W or 400W, perhaps with a digital ballast. That's plenty for a square meter. Consider ScroG, SOG, or LST. I'd get rid of lowrider, and get some real powerful strains instead. You won't pick up seeds from the garden centre, cheap or otherwise. They are easy to get online, though. I'd swap the expensive fan for an S&P "TD" duct fan. Quiet and powerful. Unless you need silence, that is. I'd get a separate veg and flower chamber, and work mainly with clones. There's a reason this is the most popular system, it's also perpetual. Keep the flowering chamber running 12/12 for ever. add: Thermometer (with min and max, if you like) pH meter UVB Lamp(s). (HPS+UVB will give you better yields and potency than metal halide) Small veg light (metal halide or fluoro tubes, 150-250W) There will be other stuff. For instance, how are you going to be feeding? Are you feeding the soil? (like a true organic gardener) Or throwing on "nutes" on your plants? If you are buying bottles, you need to budget some more big numbers into there. -mu
First of all, thanks for your help I wasn't too fussed on the 1000w, and if doesn't give the plants any more advantage, I’ll swap it for a 600w. And I will go for HPS+UVB if it makes that much difference. The main reason I'm choosing to grow Lowrider is because of its auto-flowering, as my room is designed to harvest little, often. And needs to be taken down every 5 months or so. This way I can harvest 4 plants 16 times, as apposed to 16 plants maybe twice? I would like to have a constant supply starting from around 8 - 10 weeks. (Not taking into account drying/curing). Can you suggest any other way of doing this? If I was to have separate veg/flower, it'd have to be contained within a 1m x 1m x 1.8m box. Is that possible? I would have thought the HPS would have burnt the plants as the flowering room would only be 90cm high. Also, I realise you can't get Marijuana seeds from the Garden Centre. I was referring to the pots/trays, It was just my poor English What would you suggest for feeding the soil? Links? Products?
The veg chamber doesn't need to be very tall, maybe 50cm, just enough for a mother plant or two, and your young vegging plants. Put it at the top, maybe. Doing everything right, even with a 400W lamp, you could potentially harvest 400g+ in the flowering space, with only a few small plants. Use ScroG or LST to maximize yield in that space, and keep the plants low. Say nine plants (clones) vegged for a few weeks with LST, one per square foot. A couple of runs could keep your going in pot for the whole year. In your flowering chamber, the 400W HPS lamp needs to be under 18" (45cm) with plants around 30-40cm tall (with training/screen), perhaps using a shallow 9" (23cm) bed of soil, or a shallow water culture (hydro) system. Keep the ventilation strong, and you could fit it all in that space. Unless you work with clones, you can't be sure of the sex of the plants in flower, and you could end up trashing 50% or more of your crop on each run. -mu