Alright, first off hello. I am trying to begin growing my own indoor plants for personal use. Looking for 1 min - 3 max plants in a closet thats probably 2d/6w/10h ft Wanted to share what I researched as far as my cheapo build to make sure this will work sufficent enough to yield some bud. Looking to get no less than 4 ounces a plant. I was going to use 4 fluorescent lights in a shop light. 4x 4ft T8's for vegging at 6500k/27xxlums each 18/6hours 4x 4ft T8's for flouring at 3000-2700k/around same 27xx lums each 12/12 hours Hard to find lower than 3000 unless online. 3gallon plastic pots, ph meter, brita filtered water(after 24hours out for ph) Haven't looked to indepth as far as soil, was going to use organic ph 6-7 with organic food. or I heard miricle grow works well. For cloning I was going to use 2-3 150watt eqiv or ~40watt cfl's just to clone again 1-3 to keep cycling. Was also going to use one fan to circulate air flow and leave closet open during most hours, with aluminum foil taped to the three wall sides of the closet for reflection. Now the questions I have, 1) When do you know its ok to cut clones off? 2) When do you know when to start the flouring stage? 3) Does a male plant effect genes when it comes to making seeds? AKA do I want a biggie male for making good seeds? Because at some points I will have overflow and wont need to clone asap so I will start back from seed. 4) I live in US where pots illegal both state and fed, where do you recommend I get my seeds? I heard mix about attitude, buydutch, etc. Hows sanniesseed? Just need safe transaction thats reliable. If I missed anything please bring it to my attention, I'd like to be somewhat successful on my first grow. My plan was to buy 10 seeds plant 3-5 keep 1 male and pray for rest females. Thanks, LetGo P/S I am not a one stop shop at the forum, (not posting one for info then running) Looks like a pretty cool site with a lot of people with knowledge, this is where I got most of my basics.
You can take clones anytime, but it's better to wait until the nodes start alternating. Like when you first start a seedling the leaves/nodes are all even, after a while one will be lower and the other higher, alternating. Take clones then, or whenever you feel you have enough stem length for a decent clone. You can flower whenever you want, just make sure you have room to flower. Indicas will pretty much double in height, and sativas could go 2-3 times their original height. And remember that fluoros won't penetrate down to lower bud sites as good as HID. Yes the males effect the genes. You want a nice strong male, that smells. Just rub the leaves and you'll get an idea if it has some good genes. I've had some males that just stunk, those would be great for breeding. If you want a low smell, then do the opposite, and you can possibly make a lower odor strain. Attitude, worldwide seeds, etc... Pick any place that has a guarantee, actually sends out seeds, and has good reviews. If customs happens to confiscate your seeds, a good seed company will send you replacements. You'll just get a letter of seizure and nothing will happen. Use your real name, some mail carriers won't even deliver mail because it's a name they don't recognize at your address. I've gotten some pretty serious stuff confiscated, and they actually sent some of it to me, but confiscated most of it?? lol I have no idea, it was pretty weird. I've gotten at least 5 in my lifetime, whether seeds or something else. Try to get some t-5's they're much better. WTF. Don't use miracle grow. That's the worst advice ever. Get Roots Organic. Aluminum foil isn't good and will create hot spots. Mylar is cheap, or just paint white. 24 hours of standing water isn't for PH, it's to let the chlorine evaporate. For your first grow, really you can't expect x amount of yield. Just focus on making it to the end and actually harvesting something.
Thanks for the input, esp on the soil. I notice more people tend to grow with T5's but if it puts off the same lumens/heat shouldn't t5's and t8s do the same? Also I looked at local stores(lowes/hdepot) and they normally dont carry lower 3500 or less T5's. If flowering looks poor I may invest in a HPS 200watt for EXTRA support. as a side lamp for lower parts of the plant. Would still like input if possible, I'd prefer not to invest 200-300$ for a mistake ~_~
Hey LetGo, welcome to the forums. If you added a 200watt HPS, your T8's would be providing support to the HPS! My first grow, I used CFLs with not a lot of success for flowering, then I thought that I needed a 8bulb T5. But then I did more research and found that the HPS is really the way to go, because of it's intensity, it is more effeciant than all the other lights. Look up lumen per watt for each light and you will see what I mean. Your area is about the size of my closet and I am upgrading to a 400watt HPS for $180 complete! it puts out 55,000 lumens!! All from a single bulb, so you know the intensity from that light has the ability to penetrate further down - past just the top of your plants. You can get 8 bulb 4ft-T5 fixture that uses 450watts and puts out 37,000 lumens. I have heard of people using miracle grow, so you can try it. Don't worry, you will learn as you go. Oh... and welcome to the club of growers!
Thanks for the welcome, and thanks for above pm/videos. I am well aware mh and hps are idle lights. I just want to keep this grow as cheap as possible. I know the cheaper u go normally the lower the yield, I go through an eighth in 1-2 weeks so I am just tryin to supply around that and then a little wiggle room. Also I am very poor at making my own light fixtures. Hdepot has some t8 shop lights where all I'd have to do I throw them over the plant. They have a 2 bulb setup for t5. Didn't see any 400 watt hps. Also can I veg with hps?
T8 lighting is garbage.For anyhting over a 6" clone IMO. Yes you can veg with a HPS.These days you can buy HPS bulbs with full spectrum. I sent you the best info to achieve great results w/o spending much cash.The guy gets 1/2 lb. off 3 plants under 6-8 cfl's.And the thing he says to build could be built by a 10 year old.
Still haven't had the chance to look at the videos yet. Hope to get a chance tonight. Looked at Lowes and Hdepot today again, with a T8 setup I can have 6500k w/ 4 bulbs totaling 10,800 lumens. And with 3000k bulbs around the same lumens. How is that junk?(Curious, not sarcastic) I looked at T5 HO lights and man those are serious lights but all they sell them for plugin (not hard wire) is 2bulb 8ft shop lights. Wish they had 4bulb 4ft in stores. Also looked into 400w mh/hps bulbs, they are cheap 20-30$ each but finding a plug-in fixture seems to be difficult. e/ also, I dont know if this site shows links but would this be sufficent(atleast over T-8 4x4ft setup http://www.amazon.com/Sun-System®-Grow-Light-Fixture/dp/B001JL0BWG only 150watt but it does 16000 lumens. And do I have to get a full spectrum to successfully veg for hps with no mh.
T5 high output grow lights put out more lumens then T8`s that I have seen. T5 HO grow lights are great for seedlings, clones and short term vegging. They produce less heat then HID lighting and you can have them much closer to the plant for tighter internode growth. I have a 8 bulb 2X4 T5 grow light and it works great upto about 2 1/2 feet or so of veg growth anything above that and thats where T5`s lack the light penetration compaired to HID lighting. Also I would rather plug my lights and such into a surge supressor then hard wire them. That way if you get a power surge you have less chance of blowing out your grow lights and other stuff. We use T5 grow light for short term veg growth, seedlings and clones but for flowering we switch over to a 1k HPS set up. If you decide to go with HID lighting just buy a digital ballast and air cooled light hood.
$$$ Maybe overtime, but for the the time being I want to budget. Is it impossible to flower with T5's?
Alright, decided to avoid T8's Was leaning towards t5 ho after going to Hdepot the other day seeing them in action, but a decent 4bulb setup is almost hps/mh price going to do cfl's probably 10 42w(150w eqiv) Haven't really made a blueprint of my ghetto rigged light fixture but I will figure that out. Might just get a close power strip and throw Y adapters in it with a reflector hood. and some cfl lamps for the sides. Question, with cfl's should I remain full color spectrum the whole time? or do 6500k veg or as close as, and 2700kflower as close as... and rotate ALL bulbs out when flowering should begin. So 6500 until forced into flowering then ALL 2700? or keep it mixed at al time? like 5-6500 5-2700 alternating on Y adapters
You can keep it mixed to mimic the sun more. Use I think a 3-1 ratio of veg and flower for each cycle. Like three 6500k and one 2700k for veg and for flower three 2700k and one 6500k. Our first grow we used CFL`s for veg then switched over to a 1K hps for flowering. We had to wait till we had the money for the better grow light. Then on our second indoor grow we used a 1K mh light and the veg growth and speed of it compaired to cfl`s was huge, got bigger faster. Then after talking to an old school grower hippy dude at a hydro shop we tryed what he was doing and that was T5`s for short term veg and hps for flower and havent gone back.
OMG you still havent read the free book I linked you?All these questions are already answered in it.FFS.
No I read it last night. Very helpful.. I had no idea you flowered SO soon. I thought the veg cycle was long and then flowering was like 2 weeks. completely backwards on that. The videos were somewhat helpful... didn't watch them all yet. Really appreciated.