Looking into possibly growing

Someones gonna say this so it may as well be me... Read the sticky posts at the top of the forums and come back with spacific questions.

 

I just started my first grow Jan 20, 2011. But I started planning it in October, the first thing I did was decide where in the living area i was going to grow, IE: closet, grow tent, ect.ect. There are some things to consider when choosing an area for a grow. My biggest concern was my nosey neighbors. I have an uptight yuppie couple on my left, and dude from Packastan (who smells like curry all the time,) on my right. Both could be snitches. They dont smoke or drink pretty square folks, but that doesnt make them bad. Now if they were to smell some dank bud being smoked or grown there could be leagal problems. Dont give anybody a reason to rat you out. Second thing to consider is how much electricty do you want to use in your grow and what type of light source, IE: HPS, LED, MH, CFL. Once you determine what type of light source, you need to determine how intense of light spectrum to use. Normally your budget determins what type of light, say you have 400.00 to spend on a light and ballast or LED. Shop around, online or go to your local hydro store and see what type of set ups are best for your space and how many plants you want to cultivate. You can get a pretty decent set up for about 350.00-500.00 depending on wattage. I spent 369.00 on a 600w hps light with reflector and ballast. Lume wing. Next, what type of hydro set up you want to use, DWC, Ebb and Grow, Top Drip, Aeroponic, or do you wanna be a Natural Grower and use soil. If you want to go with Hydro check YouTube and the forums here in GC. Just type in 400w HPS hydro, and see what comes up. I watched the Green Dude on YouTube and he made it looks so damn easy i felt like i pissed away every penny i ever paid for a bag of weed! So you some planning to do, and some shopping. Ive invested a lot of time and money into my grow. But one thing holds true, You do truly reap what you sow. Its gonna take some practice i know to get it down and i didnt start with the best Nuts or the biggest fan and carbon scrubber but there is always room for improvment, So after all this typing im going to summerize.
1. Grow Area, good ventilation and not near a window where people can hear your fans or smell your Plants.
2. Lighting and Aptosphere.
3. Grow system.
4. Viable seeds.
5. Stealth
6. Love.
Do your home work, study, study, study. Resarch everything use every resource abvailable and dont be afraid to do it yourself. If you can some up with a dwc bubble bucket system for under 15.00 instead of 50.00 at the hydro store and get the same results. You are a lot better off. IMO. Good Luck on your grow as im in the first week of seedlings sprouting out of rockwool. Four more months till i have a ready product for me to sample. With drying and curing time that is.

 

CFLs are a great, cheap alternative.

Also, you can get a nice HID system for way under $400. I like Indoor Grow Lights by High Tech Garden Supply | Your Online Hydroponics Store

There's a bunch of threads on here describing the different systems... search the forums, or google it.

 

HPS is a form of HID. An HID system consists of a MH bulb and an HPS bulb

 

How much grass are you hoping to harvest from your grow of 1-3 plants? That should give you an idea of lighting and space needed for the grow.

I know a guy who harvested 600g (1.32 lbs) from 4 plants using hydro. He had a big setup and space.

Good luck.

 

Honestly, if I had a large grow area, I'd go for it. But if it's going to be a micro grow... I'd stick with the CFLs, cheap and effective.

 

I know people who use cfls and have great success. I use MH for veg and HPS for flower. I suppose it depends on a number of factors such as space and ability to vent heat since HID lights give off alot more heat. HID lights are also considerably more expensive.