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But before I go further I'd like to say hello, I'm new here. I lurked around shroomery.org for sometime (still do) and love growing mushrooms. More importantly I remembered that everyone over there was always super helpful, so now that I have a plan and questions regarding my favorite lady I decided to come here first.
So recently a friend of mine just out right gave me two High Pressure Sodium bulbs, each 150 watt (not my first choice, but never look a gift horse in the mouth), 2 ballasts, and the power converter kit.
This stirred me into doing some research, this lead to me stumbling upon a hydroponic method I intend to employ. I'm going to be doing a wick method looking to do something about three to five feet by three to five feet (probably square container; this depends on what I can find). I chose to do it like this as it would keep me on the cheap (which is how things will have to be for a minute).
I plan to encase the 2 tubs and plants in a tent made of mylar or something similar I can find, and PVC as a frame. The lights will be mounted inside the frame; if things work out.
It's going to e a sea of green or screen of green running about 2-4 plants per square foot. And shooting for a 1 month harvest period.
Now that the basic info is out of the way I've got questions.
Would running compact flourescent along side the HPS to increase wattage be a good idea or a waste of time and money?
I've read that high phosphorus nutreints are good for flowering (which is what plants spend most time in flowering); since this is the case should I go with a high phosphorus solution x-18-x, or go with some 20-20-20 or 15-15-15. I unfortunately have little access to specialty stores around me; so its gotta be something from home depot / lows.
Another concern I have is tempurature control and ventilation in the tent. Any suggestions with using a fan and pliable material.
Finally any advice on wiring up a ballast and hood? I've never done this and need to... LOL
Any other suggestions, comments, or constructive criticism would be much appreciated.
( I posted this somewhere else but I think it would be better here so I reposted it)
-------------------- In order to grow good weed you need to be part carpenter, electrician, plumber, biologist, geneticist, chemist, and very willing to get dirty.
I've been working with power tools since I was 8, my dad is an electrical engineer who owned a 280 gal fish tank, and I studied biology with a specialty in genetics. Getting dirty comes naturally. I think my parents inadvertently trained me to be a weed grower.
1. CFL's are helpful for getting additional lumens to the lower branches of taller plants, but with a SOG/SCROG setup I'd use my money elsewhere (like more specialized nutes)
2.I suggest, for soil grows, a good compost aerated with the chunkiest perlite you can find. Those 20/20/20 type nutes are gonna burn the hell out of your plants unless you cut them, but you could build a soil that doesn't require a lot of additional nutes during the grow. Also an option would be to buy a good base soil (still use chunky perlite) and just buy a good 2-part nute line (grow/bloom).
3.Depending on the size of the tent, you can probably get away with regular ducting, a flanged reflector and an inline fan, keep in mind that the more air exchanges per minute, the cooler your temps will stay, and the more circulation you can get to the plants. I shoot for 3/minute at least. So in a 2x4x6 tent, for example, you need a fan that can move approx. 150 CFM.
Finally, one harvest a month is just not gonna happen. Flowering time is generally about 60 days, and you would have to start the plants on 12/12 from seed. You could set up a perpetual harvest in which you start a new batch of clones every 2-4 weeks, and once the initial cycle is complete you could begin your monthly harvest, typically you would need more than one grow space to do this though.
-------------------- "So it goes."
-Kurt Vonnegut
BlueBerry_Swisher said:I want French fries. No, I want a penis French. Thank you. I'm so excited. I can not contain myself. Now I eat chocolate. It is so good. I'm trying to rub it all over myself. And then lick. Now I need a hot shower. The end.
I'm not really super conerned with soil, I'm going to be trying a wick method and they all say pretty much the same thing, perlite and vermiculite, or perlite and coco coir.
Would TOO much air exchange be possible? Or should I stick with or will 150cfm's suffice for a 8sq foot area?
Fair enough, for the pertual harvest you just need to wait for the clones to take root (plus any time you wanna spend vegging) than throw them inot budding?
I appreciate your time for reading and respond 81, and thank you captain, I'm going to neeed it LOL.
-------------------- In order to grow good weed you need to be part carpenter, electrician, plumber, biologist, geneticist, chemist, and very willing to get dirty.
I've been working with power tools since I was 8, my dad is an electrical engineer who owned a 280 gal fish tank, and I studied biology with a specialty in genetics. Getting dirty comes naturally. I think my parents inadvertently trained me to be a weed grower.
are the lights air cooled? if not, you will probably want a larger fan extracting hot air from the room i dont know personally, but ive only noticed the more ventillation the better.
why not give soil a try organics is where its at hard to mess up too
just dont put CRAP in your soil and you wont have problems
mix their final pots with a nice fish meal, or all purpose fertilizer with both immediately available nutrients (usually marked WS water soluble) and gradual release nutrients(usually marked WIS) with a pretty even N-P-K higher immediate nitrogen is great then get a couple organic ferts like liquid seaweed, fish emulsion, some calmag, and some good mycorhizzae
and youll have big beautiful finishing plants. no fried chem crap. your organics are alive enough to take the plant thru its entire lifecycle with minimal feeding. basically youre feeding your root mass and its organisms which in turn feed your plant and with good healthy soil you get the most out of your plants...imo
i know thats completely off track, for where you want to go, but give it some thought. soil for a first grow would be ideal. a lot less to mess up and you get to spend intimate time with your favorite girl
-------------------- -and for all your ETHNO SEEDS needs come see us @ www.freeseedring.nl
just remember N-P-K. 3 of the very important primary nutrients. theres two more i think. get familiar with them too. everything else is supplementing.
if your plant is vegging it needs high nitrogen(N) supplementing with small amounts of P,K while in mid-later veg helps branching and flower site production. once the plants have begun flowering, supplemented nitrogen levels go way down, and hopefully your medium has some reserve(as NITROGEN IS CRUCIAL FOR PROPER FLOWER PRODUCTION) this is when youll start feeding your plant high phosphorus and high potash fertilzers. but only as much as the plants can use, or there will be build up, and your plants will suffer, possibly die
the numbers on NPK are marketing gimmicks a lot of times. get familiar with a few products, and dont search for numbers thinking its going to boost anything youll know your plant is getting what it needs when its NOT DYING, a healthy plant is a healthy plant. dont over fertilize hoping to get more, you will hurt your yield
-------------------- -and for all your ETHNO SEEDS needs come see us @ www.freeseedring.nl
Heads up on lighting: you can get away with 300 watts in an 8 sq foot area, but its below nominal by about 100 watts. You should be shooting for a minimum of 50 watts/ft^2
-------------------- "So it goes."
-Kurt Vonnegut
BlueBerry_Swisher said:I want French fries. No, I want a penis French. Thank you. I'm so excited. I can not contain myself. Now I eat chocolate. It is so good. I'm trying to rub it all over myself. And then lick. Now I need a hot shower. The end.
My biggest turn off to soil is fear of over/underwatering.
Its not that I forget to check and what not. It's that I have really bad luck LOL. Any kind of house plant or garden plant I've tried growing has usually died from either over or under watering. Hence the wick (or any automated hydroponic system for that matter) appealed highly to me.
I'd also really like to stick (or try to stick) to a sea of green, I am a little on the impatient side, also I feel as though a dozen little plants would some how be harder to screw up than 3 large trees. Or rather if I screw up on a couple little SOG plants no biggy, rather if I screw up on 1 large tree, thats a third gone =(
Regarding the lights: So I should be fine, though it wouldn't hurt to throw an extra 100 watt CFL or something in there (I mean they are cheap, especially with a simple clamp light hood).
Though now that you got me thinking about soil I could fairly easily convert my "closet" (as its no more than a dent in the wall) into something more beffiting the larger pot requirement, Its a space of about 1.5(maybe even 2)x8x5. How many plants and for how long would I be looking at for a space this size? This would cut down on cost (no tent to make (yay!) nor tubs) but again I fear about screwing them up in a soil grow.
I also know of a few small nurseries nearby that **MAY** (sorry I live in a fairly small town) have decent nutrients.
I had no trouble understanding mushrooms, but Sweet Mary seems to be thwarting me a little.
-------------------- In order to grow good weed you need to be part carpenter, electrician, plumber, biologist, geneticist, chemist, and very willing to get dirty.
I've been working with power tools since I was 8, my dad is an electrical engineer who owned a 280 gal fish tank, and I studied biology with a specialty in genetics. Getting dirty comes naturally. I think my parents inadvertently trained me to be a weed grower.
And consider numbers officiall forgotten; I had assumed they were based off a standard, but upon further reading I see that you're right, the different companies can't agree on a standard to use LOL
-------------------- In order to grow good weed you need to be part carpenter, electrician, plumber, biologist, geneticist, chemist, and very willing to get dirty.
I've been working with power tools since I was 8, my dad is an electrical engineer who owned a 280 gal fish tank, and I studied biology with a specialty in genetics. Getting dirty comes naturally. I think my parents inadvertently trained me to be a weed grower.
magash posted that picture earlier of 1gal pots pretty sure that was soil or coco medium
2x8 space CAN hold up to 100 plants but its stupid and crazy. i used to have a closet that size in hawaii i only used it for veg, but i just lined it with some visqueen, bottom, and up the sides a little. and covered the walls in mylar(they make better stuff than mylar tho)
you could likely, reasonably, flower 30 plants in that space. small pots. drip system on valve you will have to keep them all small tho. and not top more than once probably...
STOP KILLING YOUR PLANTS! if you want anything close to good smoke, you have to be a pretty skilled botanist IMO weed is a WEED but its the difference btwn some scrag wild tomato, and some juicy 2lb roma both edible, and both pleasing in their own right, but only one is
if your plants are showing signs of stress, its already been stressing for awhile dont convince yourself its something w/o being certain a lot of inexperienced growers will try to counter a deficiency with a mis read diagnosis, and end up severely damaging their plants beyond fixing.
something that just came to mind, but would/could be a more demanding and maybe more of a headache
using larger pots(maybe big square rubbermaids) that fit in there flush with one another. and you can put 4-5 plants in each of those large containers and scrog them, or sog them
if you had 2-3 LARGE plants that have been tied over since early life. you could scrog those couple/few huge ones and have a beautiful even canopy.
just crazy thinking tho
-------------------- -and for all your ETHNO SEEDS needs come see us @ www.freeseedring.nl
sometimes you get lucky at local nurseries with top of the line composts, and soils
but then again, the majority of nurseries use a cheap organic potting soil. ive used this many many times as a base when i cant afford something better i always prefer making my own, but these are all things that will take testing YOUR products on YOUR plants to know what works well
-------------------- -and for all your ETHNO SEEDS needs come see us @ www.freeseedring.nl
Ok so something in the neighborhood of 15-20 plants ScrOGed (for example) shouldn't be a problem. About what time frame would I be looking at to make the most use of my space for about 10-20 plants.
I actually think I'll have a lot more luck with growing weed because I will care a lot more about it. A lot more than I care about basil, thyme, spider plants, bamboo, etc. I've also dumped a lot more research into this than I have other plants.
And while I may not admit to being a good botonist, I do admit to being good at figuring things out. I think my biggest thing is I need to suck it up and accept that I'm not going to pushing medical grade with 500g/m yields my first pass through. Especially using bag seeds from various different sourses (ranging from the lowest low to some of the highest highs).
-------------------- In order to grow good weed you need to be part carpenter, electrician, plumber, biologist, geneticist, chemist, and very willing to get dirty.
I've been working with power tools since I was 8, my dad is an electrical engineer who owned a 280 gal fish tank, and I studied biology with a specialty in genetics. Getting dirty comes naturally. I think my parents inadvertently trained me to be a weed grower.
i would also order a few good beans for your first grow
grow what you have while you wait, cull out any males. and keep an eye, nearly everyday! for male/hermie flowers. bag seed grows are risky because you dont know the stability of either parent.
grow good seed pick a healthy mother learn how to clone well
get a closet full of identical clones for optimum performance, and shortest, fattest harvests. a bunch of clones for scrog or sog
edit: because it cant be stressed enough
Quote: 81renaissance said: Heads up on lighting: you can get away with 300 watts in an 8 sq foot area, but its below nominal by about 100 watts. You should be shooting for a minimum of 50 watts/ft^2
throw 20 cfls in there with the hps if you want youll just always have to upgrade ventilation hang shop lights vertically on all the walls etc get as much light as you can in there all spectrums are great blue is said to be best for veg while red is better for flowering but a mix of spectrum is very healthy for plants
-------------------- -and for all your ETHNO SEEDS needs come see us @ www.freeseedring.nl
Quote: wire5 said: Ok so something in the neighborhood of 15-20 plants ScrOGed (for example) shouldn't be a problem.
You're misunderstanding ScROG. If you want a bunch of little plants, that's the Sea of Green method, if you want to maximize yields on a small number of plants you could use Screen of Green. Just so we're clear.
-------------------- "So it goes."
-Kurt Vonnegut
BlueBerry_Swisher said:I want French fries. No, I want a penis French. Thank you. I'm so excited. I can not contain myself. Now I eat chocolate. It is so good. I'm trying to rub it all over myself. And then lick. Now I need a hot shower. The end.
So even with soil I should try and get the full 3 or 4 plants per square foot (I understand it, I just thought with a soil grow they would need more space between pots, I dunno why).
Also I think I found that magash post. He's using 1 gallon bags, right?
-------------------- In order to grow good weed you need to be part carpenter, electrician, plumber, biologist, geneticist, chemist, and very willing to get dirty.
I've been working with power tools since I was 8, my dad is an electrical engineer who owned a 280 gal fish tank, and I studied biology with a specialty in genetics. Getting dirty comes naturally. I think my parents inadvertently trained me to be a weed grower.
Quote: hawksapprentice said: You can get good nutes online man.
I live in the bible belt where "dope smokers are the devil!" so I'm a little aprehensive of ordering anything online. I may be paranoid; but I'd rather not draw unwarranted attention.
Screen would be like 5 plants, and sea would be like 15 right?
-------------------- In order to grow good weed you need to be part carpenter, electrician, plumber, biologist, geneticist, chemist, and very willing to get dirty.
I've been working with power tools since I was 8, my dad is an electrical engineer who owned a 280 gal fish tank, and I studied biology with a specialty in genetics. Getting dirty comes naturally. I think my parents inadvertently trained me to be a weed grower.