I'm ready to start my first grow...that is, my first grow since the 70's! It was all so easy then...and CHEAP. So I'm waiting on about a $100 worth of seeds (yes, and that's for a tiny grow to be sure) and at that price they've GOT to be great. I'm thinking like, HighTimes Centerfold great, ha. So naturally, I purchase one of G.C's recommended books. I have been over and over these chapters on lighting and rockwool and aerators and mylar and.....well I am totally overwhelmed. The entire book, concise as it is, is all hydroponics. I thought i could do it; thought i could take this mother step by step...good room, good security, 4 above-head light fixtures, water in and air vents from an old upstairs washer/dryer hookup. Everything seemed fine until....until i realized i should have majored in engineering. This is WAAAAY too complicated. Or is it? maybe the author uses some kind of "greatest Marijuana Cultivation Ever' title because it is very fine! But can't there be an easier way? Can we involve potting soil here and still get nice heady plants? This book is depressing me.
information overload.... first things first... grow space dimensions? ambient air temp in the grow space now? gotta choose one.. soil, hydro, coco, aero gotta have a budget? gotta get water...R.O is great, distilled from the store works too gotta have a p.h. pen..... start looking around... 50 bucks is a pretty nice pen..if it reads more than p.h. thats awesome Gotta be able to get air in there... fan size is dictated by grow space gonna have to get some lights.... this is dictated by budget and the last question is.... how much do you need, more or less, and if you could convert that to grams that would help out a bunch.... this way we can work out how large of a light you need, and this shows how much air we need and so on and so on.... oh and read my sig... the part about answer to all your questions... its a good read for beginners
Wow...thanks for your return. I'm afraid I'm not able to answer a lot of those questions just yet. I am rethinking the dimensions of my 1st choice room...it is maybe 9x10, has washer/dryer hook-ups and vents, is on my second floor, tends to be cool (faces east) has a hard-wired electric radiator.Some control over the heat, but a bit old fashioned. Four overhead light fixtures (?don't ask me!) that, to my mind, would make other lighting installs easier. This is a small room off of my bedroom that I think would be a pain in the ass to clean out. So another option is a windowless upstairs bathroom, maybe 6' x 8' .Attic room above that, but of course there is a bathroom exhaust vent, water from shower heads, and maybe with vanity/sink and toilet space, we'll call it 4x8 Instead? But really, several ounces of product would be fine...no commerce here, just for me and mine. I don't have any cash lately, but do have a mega credit line at our friendly mega hardware.I know, not good. Don,t wanna spend tons bc I only want a small outcome, that I can repeat from time to time. I know good lights are expensive,and for some reason that is cool with me. Still can't seem to choose what medium. I am a plant person...a gardener...I keep orchids...I sort of know my grow, EXCEPT for these ladies and their unbelievable demands. Hydro seems the way to go....but really? Do we have to go to those extremes to get a few girls I could be pleased and proud of? One more niggling, paranoid question: This happens to be the greatest cash crop in our entire community. Even the newspapers jokingly mention knowing fall is here by the sounds of helicopters overhead. Now, folks say they have a way to detect it anywhere. Are we talking acres? I could understand that...but outdoor individuals??? Also....choppers at night....looking for hot spots or or or ....????? Thanks so much for reading this rant!
why dont we start cheap... go soil, its what you know... if you buy bag(it has to be a special bag)soil get it at a hydro shop, or read the sig and it tells you how to make your own. Purchase a cheap walmart tote to put all your soil in. use distilled water purchased from a store or use home r.o. water, nothing else your gonna need a ph pen.. this will be the bulk of your purchase... you can find them on ebay for 20 bucks or so.. 50 is a good price... or at a local hydro store, nowhere else get you a pot to put your plant in try to find some good seeds in a bag you purchased(look for the dark one's with lines) at your local hardware store just get CFL bulbs... gonna need two kinds 5700K(daylight) and 2700k(soft white)... lowes has bulk packs of 23W(100W replacement).... you need 100 actual watts per plant when you have three full sets of leaves showing(ie. if you purchase the 23 watt bulk packs your gonna need four CFL bulbs) this is a good place to start... get your green thumb in this area... kinda like or orchids, only different.... once you have a success... you can branch out... your yield is related to actual watts... so... if you were looking for a large yield, you would have to use alot of watts.... Im going to tell you to shy away from spending tons of cash, especially on a card, because its really hard to get a return on your investment unless you know what your doing... so rather than sending you to the poor house... this is a hobby, not a career
if you can grow orchids you can grow the shit out of weed. what tihspeed said is very true, take it slow. you dont need the headache of going for broke your first shot. its all the same as any other plant cept u amp it up a bit with equipment. make sure the fundamentals are correct so nothing just dies on you. heat/light/humidity, ph problems and most of the rest are not end game problems. slow growth yes but will not kill every thing. dont know what state you are in but in cali we see choppers daily pretty much. as soon as you set up any sort of hps lighting im pretty sure they can see it, also read a while back they have some other detector that picks up the high levels of phospates in weed plants as well but not sure if that matters indoor.
Thanks again Speed, and Blind,too. Spent some time in both of the big guys hardware stores tonight. I saw 6000K's and I saw 2500k's. Saw plenty of 32W but no 23's at all. -And I'm ashamed to tell ya that I am just GUESSING CFL's are fluorescents! In which case I'd be buying the hanging fixtures that measure, oh, 4'x2. And some were 1x4, 2 bulbs......Oh man, I am embarrassing myself here! Plug Ins? Hardwired? I think there has got to be a viable, decent living to be made in grow house setup. Just the set up!
A cfl looks like any old normal household bulb. Screw in type. But it looks weird. Try google. Try lowes for lights
Gotcha. Seems I have those all over the house! Must see #'s on them...... Quick question. Looking at many PH pens....they all seem designed for water. If you're using soil, and RO or distilled, are you still testing the water....or water as it exits the soil? Sorry...residual chemo-brain with menopause thrown in really does cause these kinds of queries! Yer all being so patient!
You ph both. The water comin in and the water coming out make sure the water is actually traveling threw the soul, not around it using distilled water and dolomite lime pretty much gives you the correct ph that soil needs. But the first time you have problems with your plant people will ask what your ph is and almost no help will be available without knowing the answers to their questions read the sig
Got a package from Attitude in the U.K. yesterday. That was like...seven days (to the eastern U.S.)! I've begun the clean-out of my room...and I'm awaiting my lights! I think they'll do the trick...the ballast is a sep. unit, away from the lamp, and it is a switchable ballast, coming with both the MH 4ft. bulb and ....uh.....the other bulb....one that i can't name at the moment. Anyway, I am STOKED that this is moving along, but also nervous. Time for a day trip to the hydro & brew store for my soil, fans, PH pen etc. etc. "There you are, sawing away at your violin... and every now and then you catch a piece of the symphony. The trick is, when that happens, not to drop your violin." (A quote from the back of an old Mother Earth Catalog from the late 60's.)