Hey everyone, I've been reading up on GC for over a year everyday... trying to gain as much knowledge as possible before I start my first grow and to learn from other people's mistakes. I have a few pre-start questions as I'm going to be ordering my goodies soon. The space I will be working with is my full walk in closet, measures out to about 4.5' deep X 5.25' wide X 7.5'+ tall. I've read up on differences and ease between hydro vs. soil and hid vs led. I'm at this point 99% sure I'm gunna go LED for the decresed power consumption and reduced heat. I'm looking an LED 90w UFO, and possibly some side CFL's for good measure. I'm perticularly interested in LST or SCROG for high yields, but as a first attempt at growing, i'm not sure if i should go for a more simple start. As most people are, I am looking to get the highest yield while staying under the radar. What would you all suggest for the size I'm working with?
sounds great im gonna neew to kno how many u plan on growing at one time i would recomend you get severs cfls for good coverage they are as follows: look for 2700 k color temp for flowering (Budding) and 5500-6500 k color temp for veg SHLD Help a ton... GL & REP
thats the thing.. im not sure how many would be appropriate.. if i go scrog i was thinking 8. if i dont i was thinking 6 larger would be better. any advice on going hydro for first run?
10+ (smaller) 23w cfls or 5+ bigger ones like 50w's i for largest yeald i suggest topping every single plant then lsting
Sounds good to me, I think i'm gunna run the UFO with a few 50watt cfl's. I'm guessing 6-8 ladies would be best for this size if i top and LST em. Does that seem to be a reasonable number or what?
Hey Nick, I can only speak for what I've done. I use a walk-in closet that is almost the same size as yours. Mine is only 3.5 x 5.5, but has the same ceiling. I've grown a lot of crops in that room. I average 20 ounces of cured weed per/crop. I use two 430W HPS for the entire grow. I use an Ebb and Flow hydro system of 4 Rubbermaid tubs, spaced evenly in the room. I've plumbed the reservoir into the adjoining room that was a Linen Closet. I use GH Flora Series 3 part nutes. Nothing else. My next crop will be done using LED's. From what I've read, the LED's only have an effective light throw of 18" max, so what I intend to do is use 64 rooted, sexually mature clones spaced evenly in a 3' x 6' ebb and flow tray. I'll remove all side branching and grow only the center colas, (lollipop grow), and will use only 12/12 lighting throughout the entire crop. I hope by doing it this way, that I'll keep the plants as close to 18" tall as possible without using any LST or screening. Well, there you have it. You now know what I've done in the same size room and what I intend to do with the next crop. I hope that helps you.
i dont know... there is just something unnatural about growing hydro to me. (im a soil fan as u can tell) i know that it produces yields faster but the high start up cost for all the materials and setup prohibit me from that method. i prefer soil, plants grow in soil. and i've read from a master grower's account that a mixture of about 50% peat moss and 50% perlite is an optimum growing medium. technically its not soil its "soil-less" cause there is no dirt. its also cheaper and available at any home depot or lowes. as for lights, LEDs are very interesting and i would love to experiment with that when i get the cash. from what ive researched LEDs are rumored to yield amazing results without all the worry about HIDs - heat, ventilation, humidity, ballasts, and power consumption - however they are an arm and a leg in cost compared to traditional HID. i'd definitely like to hear ur results. the scrog method is the best for ur purposes cause u are limited by light penetration factor of 18" height so u should maximize your area limits by tying them down to a uniform plane. im in the process of scrog but on a much small scale. i envy ur walk in closet. cfl's basically work under the same rules as LEDs except u need to keep them much closer to the plant and need more of them for sufficient light. i know alot of people down play CFLs when compared to lovely HIDs but its more controlled and meticulous process whereas with HID u can be a bit lazier in ur grow (from a closet growing standpoint). meticulous -> love -> better bud good luck with ur grow and keep us updated
WOW! thats a very sick setup you got there. thats exactly what i was looking for. I actually have been following a thread (stickied) of a similar clone-> immediate flower perpetual setup like you are talking about. I'm thinking once i get my first grow completed, i will switch to something similar to what you are headed to. I really appreciate the detailed reply and i hope to see your journal.
You can see the 1st and 6th weeks of my last grow of Pre98 Bubba Kush. I included the drying weed and my nicest bud from that crop. The wet weight was 3,290 grams, with a dried weight of 608 grams (21.45 oz). If you look close at the pics, you can see my hydro setup in the week1 pic. The reservoir is off the the left, through that opening. The Pre98 Bubba Kush is some serious, serious weed. A friend on the west coast sent the clones to me and all 6 survived the mailing. Two are my host plants now and the other 4 clones are what the 21 ounces resulted in. It's now on it's third day of curing. I cure for two months before using it. I love my walk-in closet.....hehe
Damn, those are some healthy looking plants and a fantastic yield. After doing some homework on ebb and flow, i think this will work well for me as well, as it seems to be the cheapest, easiest and most simplistic to do a DIY system. I like your simply piping, although i wont be able to cut any holes into the wall, haha. How much did the who system cost you (with or without the lighting)? I've seen a few tutorials on how to make a system. But looking for more of a pic-by-pic quality walkthrough. My main focus for first run is to have fun, focus on staying on the basics (keeping nutes minimal and working my way up). Hopefully ill have my system up in no time.
The entire setup (minus the lights), cost me $200. Quality bulkhead fittings are expencive! I think they go for about $9 each now, and it takes two per/tub, so that shoots $72 bucks in the butt right off the bat. I have a complete set of pics for this system. Is there an appropriate DIY area of the forum to post them? All you need is time, $200, and know how to cut and glue PVC. The rest is a piece of cake!
Thanks a lot for your input! When it comes to deciding between LED and HID, i dont have much of a choice. I need to keep heat low and under the radar, which would be preferable anyways... as I feel there would be less chance of error due to humidity, heat, etc. One i get my led's going i will def supplement with some CFL's. I will be sure to link a journal once I start.
I would imagine putting them in the grow system/setup area would be optimal, based on what ive seen here. I'd love to see how you did it, as $200 is chump change compared to some of the pre-made systems out there!
To the above poster, I think you're missing quite a few pictures from that 21oz harvest. Unless you're only showing 2 of about 12 plants?
Nope, the entire 21 ounces of harvest came from those 4 plants. The largest pic only shows them in week 6 of growth. I didn't take any, later in the crop. Each tub has one plant. The average dried weight from each plant was 5.4 ounces. I've posted a "DIY" for the 4-Tub system at: http://forum.grasscity.com/5851185-post1.html
The extra plants explain it I'm a little over half done with 3 plants in 5 gallon bubble buckets right now. I'm expecting about 5.5oz+ per plant. I have 3 under a 600w hps with 2 105w 2700k cfl's supplimenting. Next grow I'm downsizing to 1 32 gallon container with 2 plants. I think I can get better growth out of 2 plants with much more root space than 3 plants with 5 gallons of root space each. Nice grow!
I did find a 27 day of flowering photo. I harvested at 62 days, so the buds got quite a bit larger than what shows here.
thanks for the update on the DIY. The pic you added is also very nice. I hope to see something very similar a few months out from now.
stoney buds, Nice buds man. thats awesome. just started a soil stealth grow with a buddy (got her planted last night) after reading up and learning everything on GC so im pretty excited. but anyway i wanted to do hydro, just wasnt sure how hard it would be? i guess it seems nontraditional to me so im a little hesitant. Compared to soil in difficulty how do they match up? p.s. how do i up your rep