I want to learn how to grow indoors.. I have no indoor experience but lots of outdoor knowledge.. anyone wanna take the time to throw me some ideas to get started? things I need to get going? I already have a new 1000 watt hps light, but nothing else, only wanting to grow personal amounts, maybe a quarter pound harvest? where do I start?
I have a spare bedroom, or a closet, or a garage, or a shed or whatever I own a 3 bedrooom home only 2 being used.. nice garage I dont use, shed has bugs in it..
Ventilation and keeping things cool under that 1000w is going to be your primary concern. I take it you aren't too concerned about the smell seeing as you have plants outside. Also be aware you need a contactor to run a HID on a timer or it is a fire risk. Apart from that it's not hugely different to outdoors, just easier to control most things.
I would buy a grow tent and the size that you want and purchase appropriate fans and exhausting equipment.
could I grow a quarter pound of weed under a 1000 watt light set up? if so, how many plants would I want to grow? and how big of tent or can I use my spare room ?
A qp is only 126 grams. You could pull that with 250w. The 1000w will make it easy. A 1000w lamp adequately lights an area of about 5'x5' and has a effective penetration (distance from the bulb before the energy is insufficient) of about 4 feet. Since your harvest requirements are modest I think that a 4x4 tent with 4 plants will suffice. A 5x5 tent offers an increase from 16sqft to 25sqft, a 60% horizontal canopy increase. A 6x6 tent may seem excessive but if you have the available space then it will give you some wiggle room to work inside of the tent. Personally, I want a couple 4x8 tents knowing what I know now. They offer a lot of versatility while only requiring 7 more sqft than a 5x5. There are a lot of options for you here and any of these grow tent sizes will work. The reason you want a grow tent is mostly as a light barrier to maintain absolute darkness during the dark cycle. The fan you go with needs to be at least 400cfm. I find that with my 400cfm fan in my tent with a 1000w lamp that the heat is easy to control 4-5 degrees warmer than it is outside of the tent. A horizontal air cooled reflector will help minimize the heat from the light source so that you can keep it closer. Maintaining as close a proximity from the bulb to the canopy will provide much more energy to the plants, and the hood will help control temperatures. An 8" inline would be excessive, even on a speed controller, but excessive isn't a bad thing at all. The simple and reliable hydroponic grow system of my choice is the Gen Hydro Water Farm. They are reasonably priced stand alone drip/dwc systems and for an indoor grower offer fantastic growth rates. Bringing soil indoors is not without consequences but with your outdoor experience you should be able to handle any pests that do piggyback their way into the grow in your media of choice. Coco is my favorite DTW hydroponic media, and that's what I have the most experience with. You want to have the basic stuff. A few thermometers and hygrometers to monitor heat and humidity inside and outside the grow space. Oscillating fans to circulate air in the grow space. Ducting to control the outflow of hot air. Bungee cords work well for mounting the fan in the grow space but you might want something on pulleys to raise and lower the light. Light timer, surge protector, drain pans and spare towels to clean up spills from runoff. There's a lot of other equipment you can get or not, but it depends on if you're running hydro or organic, and to what extreme. And aeroponic setup could use an EC and pH monitor as well as an intelliDose to maintain the solution. Some people with shitty tap water like to add in water filtration like a hydrologic smallboy with the kdf filter upgrade to remove chloramine compounds. Hell, maybe a CO2 system is in your sights to get the most out of your lighting. Indoor is all about maintaining a stable environment. Major temperature swings are best to be avoided. Try to maintain a canopy temperature between 75.6 and 76.5 as consistent as possible lights on or off. This may require some control to keep the room where the tent is located several degrees cooler to accommodate the deviance from the heat in the tent. 70 to 72 degrees outside of the tent should be sufficiently cool for the intake air to keep the tent from getting too warm as long as the fan is exhausting the tent at the right rate.
Yeah a grow tent would be the easiest thing, they have holes for your ventilation and are mylar lined for reflectivity. You could easily grow a qp under 1000w, in fact a lb wouldn't be difficult at all. Plant number is up to you, fewer bigger plants (say 9 in 1.4 square meters) can yield the same as 25 in the same place, obviously the 25 will grow quicker but you might be restricted in plant numbers. If you really want to maximise productivity then I would go for a sea of green with clones packed in and short veg times but unless you want huge amounts you don't need to under that light.
If you could grow pounds outside with FREE light, you would, we all would. Hence, I call bullshit. You've never grown shit.
ok so cool, I'll concentrate on getting my ballist, my hood and my tent.. any websites or brands popular?
[quote name='"mike trich"'] I got more weed than I know what to do with kid..[/quote] If you have a garden that large, may I ask why you want a qp grow inside? I'm not calling bullshit or anything I'm just curious as to why lol. For the experience maybe? That outdoor grow looks sick.
I like the taste of indoor much better.. I want to be a well rounded grower when the U.S. becomes legal and growing becomes a reasonable choice for a legit occupation..
[quote name='"mike trich"'] I like the taste of indoor much better.. I want to be a well rounded grower when the U.S. becomes legal and growing becomes a reasonable choice for a legit occupation..[/quote] Fair enough I definitely wish to become more experienced. I know you have an amazing outdoor grow, congratulations on that.
[quote name='"SCMC"']A qp is only 126 grams. You could pull that with 250w. The 1000w will make it easy. A 1000w lamp adequately lights an area of about 5'x5' and has a effective penetration (distance from the bulb before the energy is insufficient) of about 4 feet. Since your harvest requirements are modest I think that a 4x4 tent with 4 plants will suffice. A 5x5 tent offers an increase from 16sqft to 25sqft, a 60% horizontal canopy increase. A 6x6 tent may seem excessive but if you have the available space then it will give you some wiggle room to work inside of the tent. Personally, I want a couple 4x8 tents knowing what I know now. They offer a lot of versatility while only requiring 7 more sqft than a 5x5. There are a lot of options for you here and any of these grow tent sizes will work. The reason you want a grow tent is mostly as a light barrier to maintain absolute darkness during the dark cycle. The fan you go with needs to be at least 400cfm. I find that with my 400cfm fan in my tent with a 1000w lamp that the heat is easy to control 4-5 degrees warmer than it is outside of the tent. A horizontal air cooled reflector will help minimize the heat from the light source so that you can keep it closer. Maintaining as close a proximity from the bulb to the canopy will provide much more energy to the plants, and the hood will help control temperatures. An 8" inline would be excessive, even on a speed controller, but excessive isn't a bad thing at all. The simple and reliable hydroponic grow system of my choice is the Gen Hydro Water Farm. They are reasonably priced stand alone drip/dwc systems and for an indoor grower offer fantastic growth rates. Bringing soil indoors is not without consequences but with your outdoor experience you should be able to handle any pests that do piggyback their way into the grow in your media of choice. Coco is my favorite DTW hydroponic media, and that's what I have the most experience with. You want to have the basic stuff. A few thermometers and hygrometers to monitor heat and humidity inside and outside the grow space. Oscillating fans to circulate air in the grow space. Ducting to control the outflow of hot air. Bungee cords work well for mounting the fan in the grow space but you might want something on pulleys to raise and lower the light. Light timer, surge protector, drain pans and spare towels to clean up spills from runoff. There's a lot of other equipment you can get or not, but it depends on if you're running hydro or organic, and to what extreme. And aeroponic setup could use an EC and pH monitor as well as an intelliDose to maintain the solution. Some people with shitty tap water like to add in water filtration like a hydrologic smallboy with the kdf filter upgrade to remove chloramine compounds. Hell, maybe a CO2 system is in your sights to get the most out of your lighting. Indoor is all about maintaining a stable environment. Major temperature swings are best to be avoided. Try to maintain a canopy temperature between 75.6 and 76.5 as consistent as possible lights on or off. This may require some control to keep the room where the tent is located several degrees cooler to accommodate the deviance from the heat in the tent. 70 to 72 degrees outside of the tent should be sufficiently cool for the intake air to keep the tent from getting too warm as long as the fan is exhausting the tent at the right rate.[/quote] A qp is 112 grams lol