Okay so recently I made the decision to start my own little grow. When I approached so-and-so his response was, "You'd be stupid not to. You are surrounded by growers and we will all help you with whatever you need." Well, turns out that "help" is very biased... either that or I'm just a dirty rebel. I've helped out on some larger scale grows so I'm not exactly lacking grow experience. What I am lacking is small grow experience. I was told to use 1000w HPS. So I took to the internet to see what that was all about, it's all about all that extra equipment. So I went back to so-and-so and asked about using LEDs. Response: "I already told you what to use. If you are going to go against what I told you then I'm not helping you anymore." My reply: "I'm not planning on doing some large scale thing here. I'll be a first timer doing this solo, and I'm planning on using my spare walk-in." So-and-so looked a bit off put. I had to explain that I'd still like to be able to use the bedroom as a guest room and more logic behind using the walk in. More importantly, I can put a key lock on the door and still have the room functional as a guest room. So-and-so also said I should do 5 plants, which is one more than the max I thought to do. I'm confused though about this HPS vs LED thing. From what I've read so far LEDs really aren't a bad way to go for the type of lock-and-key small area grow. Then again I'm a somewhat distrustful person of written reviews. So-and-so is very against LEDs (He's never used them to my knowledge), I'm very against burning down my apartment. I'm also very confused on this wattage thing. So far as I knew wattage really only played a role in power out-put and energy bills. LEDs from what I've read use substantially less watts... but do they create a substantial amount of light? I really do not understand the math or science behind wattage of HPS and light amount produced and wattage of LED and light produced. Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated.
You don't need to aim for the "ultimate grow" on your first try so why don't you just start off small and gain experience along the way? CFL's are cheap and easy to get hold of so just set up a couple of them with a fan, germinate just one seed and learn as you go. GL! Growing is more like a marathon than a sprint.
amsterdamage, I should probably mention again, that this isn't my first time growing. It's going to be a clone grow not seeds, and I've personally cloned, and grew from clone to flower (including adding all the nutes etc) to cure to trim. But they weren't my plants and it wasn't my set up. They were also very large scale grows. Which is why this is way different. I'm looking at doing this on my own without all the cool and useful stuff already set up.
Hey man cut out the extra person and get your advice on here. This is where i learned to grow and im doin pretty good. Anyway that guy sounds scetchy to me i meen why does he care if you grow 4 or 5 plants... Don't let anbody know that doesn't need to man. Also 400w hps is the way to go for a beginner and you can grow alot of bud under it with LST and topping your plants. thats what i use with my 4 plants. I started out using cfl's and now they are gathering dust, altho i still use them for veg. You can get a 400w hps/mh on amaz. for $120 shipped iv'e been using the same one and im on the 2nd grow with it, it's dimmable so you can pick 200w 300w or 400w. Pretty good deal.
1000w is just silly for small grows/personal use in my opinon I have no experience with leds however from alot of my readings it seems that people often try to skip ventilation with leds due to the lack of heat but vents are a must but after many sleepless nights I bought my very first hps system, its a 250w i plan on doing 3-4 plants. Needless to say everyone has a opinon and there opinon is what works for them I've experienced more trial and error then I can shake a stick at and ive learned from every single one of them.
Im going to be using a 600w for flowering for the first time, and its gonna be a whole new ballgame because of the heat issues here. Go cfl's or led first, at least if you make a mistake the worst that can happen is a few burnt leaf tips. Better than an entire plant getting crispy. As long as you keep your cfls close the whole time you will yield pretty well. Theres a grow bible someone posted awhile ago about using cfls and getting half a pound or something off 3-4 plants. Does a day by day image. Google that shit.
420patient: So-and-So is of relation and does this for a living. TFFY: Yeah, I didn't understand the 1000w.
Hey PinkRanger I turned my walk in closet into a grow room. I was able to fit a veg cab, cloning area and flowering tent that is 2x3.5x5' with scrog and that can hold 3-4 plants. Check out my grow journal for more info to get you on the right track Peace
I guess I have another question, does light fixture choosing and strain go hand in hand? Do different lights work better or worse on depending on the strain? Afwreck was suggested but so was blue dream. I just want something that finishes quickly (first run not trying to drag it on for months and months and months and months) And is fairly easy to grow. My options are: Pineapple Express (Pineapple x Trainwreck), Pineapple Chunk, Champagne Kush, Headband, Kandy Kush, Blue dream, Afwreck (Afgahni x Trainwreck), Girl Scout Cookies, Cherry Pie Kush, Cherry Kush, Sour Grapes, Super Lemon Haze, Jilly Bean, OG or Blueberry Sour Diesel.
No. Cannabis may vary by strain but for the most parts its wants and needs are similar. Its like humans...asians have the same requirements to live as africans. Id go with the Kandy Kush or OG Kush. Love me some OG. As for your other questions you get a variety of comments because there is no set way to set up a grow. People grow in tents, closets, dressers, even computers. For myself Ive use to grow with HPS/MH now I use monster LED panels. They cost a fortune but its my money which I work for so I will spend it how I see fit. Do LEDs work as well as HPS...yes if you spend the money. My panel is a 2k one. My other LED is a 500 dollar one. HPS/MH works 100% of the time and its cheaper to buy. What you get is up to you. My grows are simple since I have a spare bed room I grow in. I put a big ass tent in the middle of the room and do not try to shoe horn a 800w LED in a closet so my perspective will be different then others etc etc. Also remember this is a forum and has all the useless comments like Facebook and twitter do. People tend to say things online that they never would in person because of anonymity. For LEDs the issue is theres stated wattage of the LED and what it actually draws. You can not run a LED at maxium wattage do to a number of issues. First there is heat. LEDs do not radiate heat out the heat is generated at the junction point of the LED and circuit card behind it. Unchecked that can be intense amounts of heat. So usually well 100% of the time theres a heat sink attached to the board then fans on top to push heat out and suck in heat..works like a computer does. So with LEDs if you the LED is advertised as a 3 watt lamp is usually 1.5 watts per led. Look for the actual wattage of the lamp. My particular LED uses 5 watt LED Diodes and they run at about 4 watts per LED but it has a 30 pound Heat Sink attached to the top of the board. Fucker weighs in at like 38 pounds or something. 90% of that weight is the heat transfer devices. HPS/MH bulbs are simply larger bulbs in essence. Using them for growing is a side thing. If you look up in a parking lot at night those lights are HPS or MH lights why?...they generate alot of radiate light. Whats cool is they also emit light at the spectrum that plants require. The bad is that they generate heat but thats easily solved by attached cooling systems. Visit a hydro shop and you will see or look online. Anyhow you wont get a straight answer on anything because everyone is different and every grow set up is different. Just have to make your mind up set your budget and run with it. Then figure it out as you go along.
I'm very, very confused too. What's the question? I got lost reading the soap opera starring so-and-so. Irrelevant. So it sounds like you got some mis-matched advice, OK so what are you asking us here?
What size is the walk in closet? Based on the smallest one I've seen, 1kw doesn't seem excessive. Light is about your area and number of plants not really based on how many times you've used lights. My first times were with a 1kw HPS and frankly I wish I could have used more. Sure the first (few) attempts failed but it wasn't because of lighting.