Well, basically I have $2200 to spend on anything related to growing. The only problem, is that after I have everything setup, I will only be able to visit the grow site 1-3 times a week. So I'm not sure if I should go with a ebb & flow or DWC system, or soil? I've been looking into hydroponics, and it seems the plants could die with hydro if I didn't get to maintain them for 7 straight days. If I went with soil, how could I go about automating the watering process? something similar to a drip feed system with hydro but using soil instead? I'm still a bit lost, but I have 2 weeks to plan everything and assemble a list of materials needed. I would prefer to buy everything either from craigslist, or Aqua Serene Hydroponics (they are located near me) This is what I was thinking: 2x 4x4 grow tents (flower & veg room) OR 1x 4x8 & 1x 4x4 1x 1000w hps/mh light 1x 600w hps/mh light Which should I use for which room? I'd assume 600w for veg, but I could be wrong Fox Farms, Any advice on soil mixes?? Some t5's, OR cfl's for young'ns nutes (any advice? Would like if someone could link me to a good simple 101 guide on using nutes for soil cannabis, been googling around but haven't found much solid info Temps: The room I'm growing in has an advanced thermostat system already built in with timers and such, I'm sure I won't have much to worry about. Also will be buying inline fans and all that pots: What size pots should I use if I'm growing 6 at a time in a 4x4 room? 3, 5, 7, 10gl?? PH meter timers If theres anything else missing in that list please let me know I'd consider buying a whole ebb & flow system or any other type of system, as long as it will work with me sometimes not being able to be around for 7-10 days. I'd start 6 seeds in rockwool under the t5/cfl, then plant in smart pots in soil mix under the 600w or 1000w, and veg them on 20/4 schedule for 1.5 months. I'd pick the best one or two for mothers, cut clones to re-fill the veg room, and switch them over to flower till they're done.
My hydro system is fine for almost a week without any attention from me. My PH doesn't start moving around a lot until a week or two in when my nutrients go 'stale'. If you go soil, why not just water it? 1-3 times a week is plenty to water your soil plants. If you wanted to go automated, you could buy a weekly timer and set it up to water about every 3 days for 15 minutes or so. It takes some tweaking. Your list won't be the same as the next guy. You'll find out what you must have within the first week or two. Young plants don't need florescents. I've never once had any problems starting seeds under a 400 watt metal halide. I feel like that whole 'myth' came from people who can't manage their heat and end up burning the shit out of the plants. The internet is full of mindless bullshit info that some 14 year old THOUGHT made sense. T5s are effective at starting seeds, but why buy something you don't absolutely need? For nutrients buy CNS 17. You'll need to mix it up extremely well. I always threw a 200 gph pump into the bottom of a bucket and let it stir until it was dissolved. I usually just did it overnight. I found with RO water the PH stabilizes at 5.8 when it's mixed with their recommended dose (10 ml/g). This was with the hydro version of the nutrient. There is also one available for soil, which I assume would PH itself to be suitable for soil. Which reminds me; you should probably test and see if your water is suitable for marijuana. Best bet is to try to start a seed and grow with it. I'd definitely start with a bag seed. Some water can be pretty raunchy. I can't grow with my tap, 350+ ppm, so I purchased an RO filter. Go to purewaterclub.com and they've got great deals, excellent customer support for sure. If you ran a hydroponic system, you could install a float valve from the output of the RO filter in your reservoir. This is how I keep my levels acceptable so my plants don't dry out, and my pump doesn't run dry. It's wonderful. The only thing I need to worry about is PH, and that's something I do roughly 1-3 times weekly. More towards the end. You should probably flower your plants before finding a mother. There are characteristics in veg that show a good mother, but it's really all about the quality of it's flowers. My method is just to grow mothers, and pump clones into flowering. From there, you can just keep the mothers alive, and run the clones to determine if the mothers are worthy of keeping.
[quote name='ohspyro89']My hydro system is fine for almost a week without any attention from me. My PH doesn't start moving around a lot until a week or two in when my nutrients go 'stale'. - What type of hydro system are you running? What type do you recommend I use, given the conditions that I could be gone for 7-10 days at a time? I can afford an ebb & flow system on the aquaserene.com website, or I could go with the top drip system with 5gal buckets. Or DWC? I'm at a bit of a crossroads here, not sure which way to go If you go soil, why not just water it? 1-3 times a week is plenty to water your soil plants. If you wanted to go automated, you could buy a weekly timer and set it up to water about every 3 days for 15 minutes or so. It takes some tweaking. - I may not be able to visit the plants for 7-10 days, I'm sure a plant left unattended under a 600w or 1000w hps would dry out pretty bad in that amount of time Your list won't be the same as the next guy. You'll find out what you must have within the first week or two. Young plants don't need florescents. I've never once had any problems starting seeds under a 400 watt metal halide. I feel like that whole 'myth' came from people who can't manage their heat and end up burning the shit out of the plants. The internet is full of mindless bullshit info that some 14 year old THOUGHT made sense. T5s are effective at starting seeds, but why buy something you don't absolutely need? -I was planning on buying some t5s for vertical side lighting later in the flower stage anyway, but I was gonna use them on the clones when needed, if needed as well. For nutrients buy CNS 17. You'll need to mix it up extremely well. I always threw a 200 gph pump into the bottom of a bucket and let it stir until it was dissolved. I usually just did it overnight. I found with RO water the PH stabilizes at 5.8 when it's mixed with their recommended dose (10 ml/g). This was with the hydro version of the nutrient. There is also one available for soil, which I assume would PH itself to be suitable for soil. Which reminds me; you should probably test and see if your water is suitable for marijuana. Best bet is to try to start a seed and grow with it. I'd definitely start with a bag seed. Some water can be pretty raunchy. I can't grow with my tap, 350+ ppm, so I purchased an RO filter. Go to purewaterclub.com and they've got great deals, excellent customer support for sure. If you ran a hydroponic system, you could install a float valve from the output of the RO filter in your reservoir. This is how I keep my levels acceptable so my plants don't dry out, and my pump doesn't run dry. It's wonderful. The only thing I need to worry about is PH, and that's something I do roughly 1-3 times weekly. More towards the end. -I'm not sure what you mean by how the float valve helps keep the plants watered? Any chance you can show me some pics or link me to the type of system you're talking about? From what you explained this may be perfect for what I need You should probably flower your plants before finding a mother. There are characteristics in veg that show a good mother, but it's really all about the quality of it's flowers. My method is just to grow mothers, and pump clones into flowering. From there, you can just keep the mothers alive, and run the clones to determine if the mothers are worthy of keeping. -will do
In our starting/mother room we use T5 HO grow lights for the mother, clones and seedlings. In our flower room we use a 1k HPS grow light. If you have a little less then 4 feet of flower room grow hieght to work with then I would probably go with 3 or 4 gallon pots. But the biggest problem I see is if your going to be gone around for 7-10 days. Some hydro grows you might get away with not having to change the water every 7 days or so but there are other things that need monitored such as light hieght, in hydro set ups problems can hit fast and harder then compaired to soil. Soil is more forgiving and gives you more time to treat problems.