Hello everyone! I have been lurking the forums for a while, enjoying the wealth of knowledge available here from so many wonderful people, and have decided to enlist the help and expertise of the forum. I am in the planning stages of an indoor grow and I feel that some guidance would be very beneficial.
I have grown from bagseed a few times indoors in highschool over a decade ago. Just closets with some fluorescent tubes and a couple CFLs. Only harvested one plant and got an oz or two the others were found and chopped before lights were flipped. The plants were relatively healthy given their sad environment and a caretaker who was enthusiastic but inexperienced lol. Now that Michigan is recreational I can grow safely and learning the craft is captivating so Ive decided to try my hand.
My rough idea so far is to purchase a 4x4x80 tent and house it in an extra bedroom upstairs in my house. I would start my journey using that tent to grow from seed until sometime before flowering where I should be able to purchase another light and double up the lights in that tent for flower. I would like to eventually use that initial tent for flowering and gradually add others for veg and clones and wherever else this path takes me.
Starting budget is a concern and one of the main reasons for wanting to cultivate my own crops and save the cash and hassle of finding consistent quality away from the dispensaries. I can gradually add to my budget and after I have my jars filled myself rather than paying for it I can expand further. I can manage around 500-700 initially and purchase more as the grow progresses.
I was leaning towards initially purchasing a King Plus 2000w LED, the 4x4 tent, 6" inline carbon filter and fan, cheap reliable meters, some type of soil and beginners nutrient schedule (mainly during flower), other odds and ends such as containers, fans, whatever other items I need. When funds allow I would purchase a better light before flowering and maybe another veg tent. After that who knows, better equipment and bigger spaces =)
I haven’t priced the above items with my stated budget since I’m not sure if my plan has legs. Or perhaps there’s a faster more effective way to get there. Better light with high yield autos to start until I’m able to move my budget for monthly smoke into growing and expand from there?
Any advice, tips, comments are welcomed and appreciated. If I need to clarify or give other information please let me know. Well, back to binge reading various grow diaries and learning everything I can. Thank you!
Welcome to the community!! Please don’t waste your money on Amazon blurple lights. That’s the first and foremost item you want to have right. Get some good hlg lights.
Next if it were me, I would go buy two large totes, a chiller and all other necessary items to run an RDWC, exhaust fan, carbon filter, air stones, air pump, water pump, 1-1/2” pvc pipe, bulkhead unions, 3/4” or 1” bulkhead unions garden hose or 1” tumbling, circulating fans, ppm meter and ph meter and Jack’s 321 nutrients and walk away with maybe up to a lb. of weed roughly 4 months later.
Just my two cents worth.
Running one plant will give you an opportunity to learn and think about how you want to grow weed and make the next grow better and better and so on. You will most likely change from one grow to another and it’s only gonna get better. At least it does for me.
Trust me, if I can do rdwc, anybody can.
Good luck!
I gave your points on the lights some more thought and I will be purchasing one HLG 260w xl qb rspec kit. From what I gathered that should do well vegging a 4x4 area and well worth the additional cost. I figure this should be what I overspend on if anything. It’s not too much more than the other light and I want to expand eventually so makes sense. Setup seems pretty straight forward which was the initial hesitation I think lol.
Before flowering, sooner if budget allows, I plan to order another kit of the same and run the pair. Considering another perhaps smaller HLG for a separate tent closer to harvest. Not sure which light might suit my needs but I’ll have more than enough time for that down the road. Suggestions always appreciated =D
I would love to get into other growing systems but for now I will probably stick to using soil. Most of the hours put into studying have gone towards soil or similar. I’m sure I could figure it out if I put in the effort in, and from what little I’ve seen the results are impressive. Thank you for giving me a quick run down on the essentials I do appreciate it!
I’m running 2 Hlg 260 xl rspec in a 4x4 tent and I love them .Lights are everything. Same money for a good ph and ppm pen (Apera or bluelab ) cheap ones will work good for a month or two .I’m trying to save you money and time buy a good one. Grow tips 1- read everting you can about growing big strong healthy root zone, healthy roots healthy plant ,which means big yields. 2- train your plant for a full and even canopy. This will max out the capabilities of your lights for bigger yields. 3- don’t kill your plant with love or greed .over watering or feeding your plant will kill it fast. I hope this helps you .
Thank you for the reply! I have browsed your journal and the hlg 260s seem to be working very well for you. Very nice setup you got going I hope it serves you well. I appreciate the quick tips and will definitely keep them in mind. PH and TDS meters were one thing I decided to go a little cheaper on, at least to start. I am aware they likely won’t last very long and will need to be replaced but with the extra cost of going with better lights I had to cut the budget a bit. In the future I do plan on purchasing a higher-end meter and probes. Thank you again for the help!
Yep those are the lights I will be getting. Probably one to start and another a few weeks into the grow to run both in time for flowering. Thanks for the reply!
So I have ordered Gorilla Glue autos from ILGM and Green Crack photos from a different bank. So far ILGM is well worth the higher price point, they should arrive in the next few days while the other bank has yet to even ship even though the order was placed several days sooner.
I had wanted to start with photos but if they don’t arrive in time I will just go ahead with the autos. It may even be better going with the autos first so I can get a harvest completed a lot sooner and finally be able to save some money. Could have had an amazing set up with as much money we spend on smoke monthly lol.
I won’t be able to top and train like I wanted to but its not a huge deal. Maybe I could veg a photo or two in part of the tent while completing the rest of the space with the autos. Any thoughts on the logistics and viability of that?
The light has not yet been ordered but will be as soon as I’m about ready to germinate. Showed the wife the differences between lights in the end results and she was totally on board with paying more for the light than initially discussed =)
Had a few hygrometers arrive as well as a cheap ph and tds meters arrive. Those are definitely high priority on the upgrade list. I acquired a bottle of 1000 ppm solution and the tds measured closer to 700 ppm so I’m not too sure on that. I will be ordering 7ph solution to test how accurate the ph meter is after calibration I hope it reads closer.
I haven’t ordered any exhaust fans or carbon filter yet since I wasn’t sure how soon I would actually be needing them. I have humidifiers, fans, heaters, etc to control the environment of the home room. Is an inline exhaust fan necessary for initial start up or should I be able to hold off on that expense until a bit further along?
One more topic that I was hoping to find some suggestions on would be the soil. I hear Fox Farms has quality blends and many are successful. I would be for trying them but I’m not sure if I’d have to have it shipped to my home or if it’s available at a commercial retail outlet. I just would rather not have my neighbors seeing bags of soil dropped at my door lol. What are my options? I was thinking FFHF for the entire grow and just following a basic nute routine from one of the established lines.
Thank you if you made it through my rambling, I try and fail usually to keep things short enough. I would love any input you all have. Thank you again.
Seeds have arrived (Gorilla Glue autos from ILGM) and 4x4 tent will in the next couple of days. Will be ordering the first light at the end of this week so things are coming together. I do have several questions I hope can be answered here.
Is it critical to have the fan and filter at the start of the grow or would I be able to hold off on those for at least a few weeks? That’s probably the next major purchase after the light so if I can hold off that would be easier to manage budget wise.
I’m also not sure which fabric pots to select. From reviews, most seem to run a size or two smaller than listed. I was leaning towards 7 gal pots intending to wash and eventually reuse. Should I order 10 gal pots with the expectation that they will be closer to 7 gal? Any recommended brands?
I did find a local store that carries Fox Farm and I planned on using only the Happy Frog variety for now and experimenting with others in the future. The bags are 2 cu. ft. per bag. Assuming ~25% perlite mixed as well, how many bags would I need? Is the perlite ratio of 25% recommended? Would that mix be sufficient or is there anything else I should add to it? I plan to start in solo cups with one transplant to final pot.
For nutes, I was leaning towards Jacks 321 as I’ve seen it recommended with good results. Using the Happy Frog soil when would I need to start feeding or is it totally plant dependent? Is cal mag needed or is it included in the blend? General advice on using the line?
Thanks in advance for the help. Forgive the barrage of questions lol it’s exciting and I am eager to get started. I plan on starting a journal to keep track of progress and have a place for more specific advice.
I like to use 7 gallon fabric pots for photos and 5 gallon fabric pots for autos. And yes you can get by without exhaust fan and filter the first few weeks . After seedlings get a couple inches high you can create a little air flow with a circulating fan helps to strengthen the stems. Just lightly blowing across them where they dance a little. Good luck
Perfect thank you! Standard fans for adequate airflow are no problem I have all sorts. Will probably just go with 7 gal fabric pots and be ready to go no matter which type of seed I want to use in the future. Thanks again!
@towardo Happy Frog is a good product probably need to feed about four weeks into the Grow . Ocean Forest will carry you up close to flowering stage. I would purchase cal-mag to use, personally I don’t use it early in the Grow. When I do use it on water day only about 5 ml in a gallon of water.
@kellydans thank you again for the information. So around the time i start a nutrient routine I could add cal mag at 5ml per gallon. I had read that alternating between nutrient added water and regular ph’ed water was recommended so that was my initial plan when the time for nutes came. Is that good advice? Then on the ph’ed water days I would add the cal mag? I plan to use jacks 321 but i haven’t ordered yet so i can still choose something else if needed.
I really do appreciate the responses and you sharing your knowledge.
Please don’t waste your money on Amazon blurple lights. That’s the first and foremost item you want to have right. Get some good hlg lights.
