Well I am starting tomorrow and I am super excited to go pick up my clones. Anyways my set up so far is an attic grow. I covered the walls with mylar and plastic sheeting since there is fiber glass. Then I laid down a 6x3 board. I am going to 18 plants in 2 gallon buckets that'll cover 2.5x5.5 under a 1000 watt HPS Lumatek light. Hullwhatever bulb and I have one fan. But I got a couple questions. 1) Will that light cover enough space? If not I plan on buying two three foot floro tubes and hanging them down on the sides so the outside plants get enough light. 2) I am using Fox Farms Organic soil, it has some fish on it. Guy at the hydroponics store suggested it, so should I add perlite or nah? 3) What yield will I be expecting? I would like a pound off 18 plants I plan on upgrading later on by selling my one light and buying two 600 watt so I can cover more space. Also is it worth investing in c02? I might do it on my next grow. Thanks a bunch, sorry I have so many questions I am just so excited.
dude you can get like 2+ lbs from that. so all the plants are fitting in the 2.5'x5.5'? i didnt think that many plants would fit in an area that big.
1) If each bucket is about 8" in diameter, you should be able to fit them all within 18 square feet, 1000 watts may not be "enough" though, especially if you want to max your yields right? 2) I'm not an expert on this, but since it is an organic soil and not a soilless mix, you should have some perlite, I've heard around 15% is fine. It's cheap and it helps. 3) Jeez man some ppl get a LB per plant. That HPS that you have there is better for the flowering period, you should get a Metal Halide for the veg. period and you can even supplement with Compact Fluorescent bulbs. Switch to your HPS once you have changed the lighting schedule down to 12/12. Worry about CO2 later, but good CO2 starts with good air flow; you don't want your air to be stagnant, so if you have a good in/outtake, that's gonna be enough. Extra CO2 is always optional, or you could just spend more time with your plants, every time you exhale CO2 comes out of your mouth! Have fun and be safe!
1.) 1000 Watts!... What more is there to say? 1000W HPS (w/ blue spectrum) can grow nearly anything! But 18 plants is stretching it... try flowering 9 at a time or just keep your 9 best and kill the rest. 18 plants with that much light could harvest 1-2 pounds, but you could get about 1lb out of 9 plants under the same light. 2.) Fox Farms Ocean Forest potting soil is, undoubtedly, THE BEST SOIL for weed plants and probably all fruit-producing indoor plants. You wont need perlite, but you will need fertilizer starting the second-third week of growth. 3.) For such a big grow and to make your light do as much good as it can, invest in CO2 and a fan. If you want the high yield, CO2 is almost a requirement, almost. But, with really good ventilation and air movement, you dont need it. Also, with soo many plants, two 600Watt lights are definitely better than one 1000W. You can NOT get a dry pound of weed per plant unless you LST a lot and vegetate till you completely run out of room. Otherwise, it really, really wont happen. Even with LST, a pound of dry harvest is pushing the limits of possibility and believability too. Light intensity directly corelates with yield however, so you should easily expect 1-2 oz. per plant which would be about 1-2 pounds total for you. Check out this guide. One last thing, spending time with your plants for the purpose of providing more CO2 is literaly, a waste of time. The CO2 from your mouth is such a small amount and it dissipates so quickly that you affect the CO2 concentration just as much just sitting in the next room or somewhere on the same floor. If you dont want to get a CO2 cylinder yet, get a spray bottle and 2 litre bottles of carbonated soda water. Comparatively, using the spray method is about 200 times more effective than breathing, if you spray the bottom of the leaves (dont just mist them either, let them soak in the juice). Even if you decide to get a CO2 system, some ppl still suggest using the spray method as well, you wont have to spend as much money refilling CO2.
Yeah they will all fit in the 18 feet. They are 9 inches so it'll be 27 inches by 72 inches which fits fine, I put a little extra room in there for the pans that'll sit under the pot. I might get those floro tubes then, the reflector I got is really nice and covers 7x7 the guy at the hydro store said but to keep it in 6x6. Ill make sure to add the perlite today, I have read 15-25% so ill put in 20% . So will switching to metal halide when I put it on the 12/12 schedule it'll be make that much of a difference? I plan on growing the plants about 15inches before switching to 12/12 so i guess its SOG but i'd rather wait an extra week and yield a little bit more. Plus the clones I am getting from my dispensory come at about 5 inches so they are already 20-30 days old. edit: Hm I might just add 10% perlite then to have it in because it seems good for the plants. I have a foxfarms booster and miracle grow booster that is 20 10 10 and a bunch of other numbers. I put it in the water and then water a little in. That sounds good to me, but I don't think ill do that for about 3 or 4 weeks as this soil is already "hot" ( or so i have read). After reading more I think I am going to go on monday or tuesday to my hydro store and pick up some T5 tubes that I can hang on the side. I wish I could go today but I spending $250 bucks today on White Widow, Romulan and Berry Kush clones so its a lot of money to spend in a day. I'll be sure to get up so pictures once I pot all my plants and I'll start a grow journal.
MH is for vegetating, HPS is for flowering, but also works for vegetating. If youre stuck with one, get HPS. You truthfully dont NEED MH, but it really does help, if you can get it... If your plants are already 5 inches tall, they'll reach 15 inches in under 3 weeks (4 at the most), especially under an HPS light. Make sure you check this out: http://www.greenmanspage.com/guides/lighting.html, just scroll to the bottom it really explains the whole thing with the lights. Cuz your grow area seems a little two long for it's width, you want closer to a 2:3 or 4:5 ratio than a 3:7, which would either waste some of your light if you try to cover the entire length, or not provide enough light to the ends, if you try to focus on the middle. GL
I started a grow log and decided to get blueberry and OG kush. I almost got g13 but they ran out :/. I also decided to do 16 plants and make it 4x4 instead of 6x3. I am going to expand to 9x3 when I get my two 600 watt hps and T5's later on.