My roommates and I are looking to start growing. We are most likely going to grow in our garage and we are in Oregon, so it will be getting cold soon. We are trying to keep it as cheap as possible while still getting some decent bud. So I had a a lot of questions on what is best to get. We are looking to grow 2-4 plants, maybe spacing out two, so we would harvest 2 at a time and then the next 2 a few months later. Space: After looking at a lot of options a grow tent seems to be the easiest way to go. I was looking at something like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-Mylar-600D-Reflective-... Lights: Heard a lot of different options from HPS, CFL, or LED. What light is best (while thinking of cost)? how much watts is needed for 4 plants? Ventilation: We only need a fan, no filter, as smell is not a problem because it is in our garage and it is legal in Oregon. We also heard we might need a dehumidifer, but if it is in a tent would that matter? So I guess overall my big questions are: for four plants: Is a tent the best way to go? is so how big? How big of a light and what type is best/cheapest? Other smaller questions/ comments: Our mesh bags better than pots for growing? -We plan on using fox farm soil What are other good nutrients to buy? -We can also get clones from our local stores for cheap prices, so germinating and stuff is not something we need to worry about
Hello fellow oregonian, I just started up a very similar grow myself. I went with a 600 watt MH/hps and i'm very happy with that light. For two a 400 watt would probably be enough but the 600 would still be better if it fit's in the tent and isn't too hot. I'm using 1 part fox farms ocean forest, 1 part black gold, 1 part perlite and 3/4 part coco-coir. For nutes i'm using the fox farms trio some cal mag plus and a little unsulfered molasses. They're doin pretty well but if your near the coast like me you'll definitely want that dehumidifier. Also you will want at least a small exhaust fan, it's not just for cooling and odor control it's to cycle the air in the tent so the plants don't use up all their air and suffocate. Here's mine at about a month into flower.
Hello fellow Oregonian I have recently begun enjoying my new found rights and might have a little helpful info for you. I started with a very small homemade cfl grow light which cost me about $100 to put together and covers one plant very well, but Im pretty sure I could do two with a little more investment. I used it for a runt that I never transferred out of a pot into my outdoor grow just to see what would happen. This plant was seriously pitiful and I almost considered just tossing it, but I couldnt do it, especially when it turned out to be a female. Long story short, that runt is about to finish flowering in about two weeks and looks like it will give me at least an ounce of what turned out to be some pretty decent smoke. Better genetics and having it under the cfls from the start, I think it could definitely turn out a much better yield. Once I saw how well that was going and with the outdoor season coming to a close, I decided to go all in on a complete indoor setup. I dropped about a $1000 for a 5x5x7 grow tent, 1000 watt mh/hps light with enclosed hood, ultra quiet fan, temp/humidity gauge, timer etc. Im using it for four plants, but those four plants have been topped a couple of times and super cropped, so they take up a lot more area than four plants just grown normally. Im fairly sure you could put together a smaller setup for less than half that price and probably grow 4 plants fairly well. Hope that helps.
id say for four plants a 4 x 4 tent would be good for four plants along with a 600 watt hps for flower. cheapest and best usually don't go hand in hand so spend money on a good hood and ballast. hid's are going to outperform an led every time. you might want to still consider odor control even considering the legal status to prevent any unsavory types from snooping around ripping your plants. if your relative humidity gets too high, depending on where you live in Oregon, you will need a dehumidifier to combat any budrot and mold issues that might arise. smart pots are always going to be a better choice for containers simply for the added oxygen to the root zone and you don't run into any root circling at the bottom of the container that would cause root binding. the root circling that would happen in a standard pot also provides excellent conditions for root aphids to thrive due to the extra root mass at the bottom. id suggest mixing up a solid organic water only soil with the ocean forest as a base. look into oly mountain fish compost as a humus source. that stuffs made right in your neck of the woods and is tops. if your only growing 4 plants you should shoot for the best flower quality you can get, and organics is going to deliver that in spades.
i'm on the oregon coast and trust me you will need a dehumidifier if your anywhere near the coast. Probably inland starting soon too. With this storm my humidity inched up to 60 for a while even with a dehumidifier.
Im running a consistant 48%-52% and 75f for the last couple weeks, temp sways 2-3 degrees, im tucked away in the cascades of oregon, no humidifier or dehumidifier, could just be a lucky first grow thing
My first set up was as follows; 1x 5*5*7 ft grow tent 1x 400 watt MH ballast( these days I would strongly advocate you buy a double ended HPS, like a gavita 1000 de and set it to 600 watt.) 1x sealed hydrofarm hood with mogul and cord 20 ft 6" ducting 2x 6" inline duct fans 1x 6" Can fan 1x 8" clamp type oscillating fan 1x 6" carbon filter (to scrub the air of any contaminants) 4x 5 gallon pots (Now I would use smart pots of an equal or greater volume) For the soil I used an old recipe my father uses for many decorative shrubs and trees; 50% peat moss or similar 40% pearlite 10% green sands I still use this recipe to this day. It is cheap and effective. As far as nutrients, if you want inexpensive and something close to organic look into maxsea. I have had consistent results using this. I hope that helps. Sent from my XT830C using Tapatalk