have a couple 4’‘X4’ X 6.5’ grow tents (mylar, reflective) and have 2 Mars 300 watt LED lights in each one. Do you think that I have enough light or do I need to add more. I used them for tomatoes last winter and we ate vine ripened tomatoes all winter long. I am on a fixed income and need to make my dollars count so I’m asking the professionals for your opinion. I plan to put 1 or 2 short plants in each if possible. Am I on the right track or have I already headed for the ditch? your thoughts would be much appreciated.
Tell the"fellow grower" that the two lights is fine for 1-2 smaller plants. They may find adding a third light to each one of the same wattage would cover everything in the tent if it were full.
Tell them there are lots of fixed income retirees on the forum and ask them to join up so we can help them out one on one!
Bob, I am the fellow grower, I go by " silverpugs". Thank you for your input, it is greatly appreciated. I think that I will start with the two and add one when the tent is 2/3 full. I am a first time grower and had no idea how much is involved in growing your own. My wife has a medical condition and needs all the help she can get. The local dispensaries have prices that are quite frightening and after a couple of purchases I came up with the most logical course of action. Thanks again…
Good morning @silverpugs I’m glad you made the jump to the forum you will be glad you did!
There are a bunch of folks here willing to jump in and help you out. There are also grow mentors that can help you out as well.
I’m in Massachusetts and my wife and I are both retired / disabled. Me with back problems and her with back and neck. My pains are manageable most of the times but I’m growing for my wife as well. She also has an mmj card and I understand the costs first hand.
There are several parts of growing where you can cut corners to spread your costs out.
Bob31,
I haven’t started yet, I’m still gathering the stuff to do it with. Remember the part about “fixed income”? Well, it’s real and I can spend only so much per month and then it’s called “sit it out” until the next payday which is around the 1st week of the month. I’m almost ready tho if I can use a combination of coco coir, ocean forest (12 qt) and perlite. I do have the peat pellets for starting the seeds but I still need to get the heating pad. I have some 5 gal grow bags also. We are still in winter here and the grow room is concrete floor and uninsulated cinder block walls and I’d like to get a little closer to summer before I start. We live 8 miles from the nearest gas station, food source and 42 miles from the nearest doctor or hydro store etc. so I can’t just run down and grab something when I need it. Almost all of our “stuff” is delivered to the door or mail box… The “prepers” would be real proud of me because we do loose electric every once in awhile so I store gasoline for my 2 generators and our food pantry leaves little to be desired. We could last for several months if needed. The wife’s’ problem is something that they are still trying to figure out and until they do she’s housebound and I have a failed knee replacement with a heart condition that makes an operation impossible so there’s the opioid situation for both of us. We have discovered that we can skip one once in awhile with the weed… When I was a hippie-dippy in the 60’s weed was to get high and now it is a medical necessity so indica is what we will be growing. I am learning a lot by reading every ones’ input and all the free advice available on the internet. Roberts courses look like a good thing but I don’t see it in the near future. There are too many other demands on the money right now. Oh well, life goes on and each day (or night) that I wake up I thank the Lord that I get another day to deal with it all. Have a great day, I’ll let ya know when I start. Dale (silverpugs)
ok Dale @silverpugs sounds good. I am on a pretty tight budget too. My wife and I are both retired/ disabled and I do have some extra coming in through a little side work. I managed to put together my grow for about $200 roughly including seeds so i’m pretty thrifty as well.
Just need to know what to buy now and what to buy later or not at all.
I make my own nutrients and if you plant your seed in the right soils you can go almost to bloom with out any nutrients
I’m on the grid a little closer to town but I’m prepared too. All the necessities including a generator.
Bob, Hello again. I told you that I’d get in touch when I got it all together so here I am. I have it all set up and have 3 Indica, sweet soma Autos going. They’re about 4 weeks old and are only about 4 or 5 inches tall and I believe that they are starting to flower? What the heck??? If it all goes like it is, I imagine that I’ll get about 1 good joint per plant. LOL (darned newbies!) If I could figure out how to attach a pic or two I’d do that but alas, I AM a newbie.
Bob, No smart phone here, I’m technologically challenged. They’re on this here homebuilt computer. What do I do with them now? Are we allowed to swap email addresses? I’ll send them to you. Maybe you’ll have an idea. I got the seeds from the attitude seed bank which I found before I went with ILGM. I have some of theirs also but got the others started first. I think that I need to stay away from the autoflowering type for now but before I kill them I’d like to try to resurrect thyem in keeping with the season, heh?
[quote=“latewood, post:1, topic:1458”]
COPY/PASTE: This “Support Ticket” into your forum post.
Answer these simple questions the best you can.
If you do not know, or do not use something; Just say so = NA
Strain; Type, Bag seed, or NA
Soil in pots, Hydroponic, or Coco?
System type?
PH of runoff or solution in reservoir?
What is strength of nutrient mix? EC, or TDS
Indoor or Outdoor
Light system, size?
Temps; Day, Night
Humidity; Day, Night
Ventilation system; Yes, No, Size
AC, Humidifier, De-humidifier,
Co2; Yes, No
Add anything else you feel would help us give you a most informed answer. Feel free to elaborate, but short, to the point questions and facts will help us help you
[/quote]
@bob31 OK, I believe that I’ve got it figured out, both the picture problem and the grow problems as well. Let me know if you can see the pics and as for the grow problems, well, there’s more to it than I told you. When I first started I was using R/O water because I heard horror stories about the chlorine in the water and everything didn’ come in on time but since I started anyway, I wernt with what I had at the time. I didn’t have the chlorine eliminator yet, or the PH up/down either but I did notice that as soon as I started using the tap water (even with the chlorine) they all took off growing quickly (noticeable daily) they were half the size as the ones in the pics. I have all the chemicals now and I think that I will keep them going to see if I can resurrect this mess. Perhaps a second harvest or similar. What do ya think? I have more seeds of several different types and a second grow tent waiting for some residents. I also have a bag of seed starter from miracle grow. I’ll get a smaller tent and use it for a drying room. Perhaps a 27X27. It takes it 2 days to get up here from LA Just over the mountain. I’ll set that one up with a dehumidifier, exhaust fan and heater, just in case I ever get some buds LOL! Damn, I wish we could talk, you can convey so much more in a short time. One day I’d like to do a scrog with bigger buds. Any way, this is a lot of fun. I LOVE growing plants, veggies etc also . The Tomatoes I talked about in the beginning cost me $256/ month electric bill. I can definitely eat canned tomatoes. Awaiting your thoughts.
@bob31 hahaha yep ok on all that. See that the forums at ilgm will even help you hone your computer skills!
What most of us do is either collect and use rainwater or get a couple of old water jugs and fill them from the tap and let them set open a couple of days and the chlorine evaporates off.
Always pH after adding nutrients to water. And you might have an issue with that ffof and Coco Noir as one is an enriched soil and Coco is not soil. Coco usually requires a 5.8 pH and ffof requires 6.5 or so. I think ffof is actually pH adjusted to 6.8
I’m also going to caution you about adding fertilizer or nutrients to ffof as it is already pretty enriched. Just keep your eyes in things and ease them on like you’re doing. Most recommended alternate between water and nutrients and maybe even water water feed water water depending…
Also you need to get your Rh up a bit. See that chart above.
Looks like you have a good grow going and the plants look good.
Since you gave nutrients this watering on the next watering give them some extra water so you can check the pH of the runoff water.
You’re doing great. Just a few very minor tweaks and you’ll be on your way!
Also on the miracle-gro seedling starter it is a soiless mix. 5.8 pH when using that. And it contains fertilizer so be careful using that as well!
@bob31 Thanks for the honest, constructive critique. I’ll give you a progress report periodically. This is a great site for people like me and so many others. Thanks for taking the time to do what you do… C
We encourage folks to chronicle their grows or a “grow Journal” if you will so that we can all follow along on your grow and follow your progress. Something you might consider doing?!
