Hi all, brand new here with some Gold Leaf seeds supposedly arriving Friday. I plan to put two in containers outside, but I am also planning a little closet cultivation. I’m not looking to get everything perfect and have the best yield ever. I’d like to know the minimum ideal set up for a space about 2x4x5 or 6. I’ve been reading for days. This is just a starter hobby for me at this point. Anyone able to offer recommendations for me? Tent, light, medium (requiring minimal additives along the way), etc. I do appreciate the help and any guidance. First grow since the edge of a cow field in 1994.
3 Likes
Auto flower
2 Likes
Welcome to the community ! you can grow two nice plants in your 2x4 space. HLG 260 v2 rspec XL would be a good choice of light for your 2x4 space. This light will take you through veg and flower.
6 Likes
You can go cheap but make sure you just stay away from miracle gro and soils that have time release. Other than that you wanna go fairly cheap and organic get you some epsom salt, bone meal, molasses, neem oil you can have a nice healthy for the most part “organic” growing plant.
Get you some $80-$100 full spectrum lights (one/two per plant) a small fan and exhaust fan. Basically my whole set up. You can check out my plant on my page. Auto flower from a pot for pot. (This is for a low budget grow, you won’t get any award winning buds but this helps to get the feet wet and gives a better success rate than constantly being frustrated figuring out nute problems)
5 Likes
Soil is super important you can order fox farm happy frog and stuff. You going to spend money do it on the soil. Lights UBER important too but on a cheap scale never go cheap on good soil. Good soil will give you baby the food she needs without you having to go out and buy a bunch of excess. The molasses will be microbes food for your soil! Hope that helps happy growing
4 Likes
Awesome. Thanks y’all for offering up some feedback. Good stuff. I’m taking notes!
3 Likes
You are suggesting Fox Farm (I got the ocean variety) + molasses (dry or wet?), + epsom salt, + been oil, + bone meal?
I saw kinds of bone meal: one for nitrogen and one for phosphorus, i believe.
Do you have a budget in mind, or a particular amount of dried cannabis per day/month/quarter you need?
3 Likes
This is the molasses I use it as soil feed, mix tbs per gallon it also brings my ph down. (It can attract animals)
Epsom salt is a good source of Mag. You can also use it as a Foliar spray. Mix that in water as well.
Bone meal phosphorus for the Cal. (Can attract animals and house pets)
Neem oil mix with dawn dish soap I spray once a week.
Make sure you left the leaves dry a good hour or so before putting the lights back on.
If using FFOF I wouldn’t add bone meal until your headed into flower. Your pretty good the first month or so with FFOF.
Hope this helps
5 Likes
Not shooting for any specific quantity, per se, but 14g a month should suffice. Ideally would like to keep start up expenses south of $400, preferably $300, but I’m not sure if thats realistic. I can afford more, but if I tire of the hobby, I don’t want to be stuck with $1k worth of equipment. I’m not trying to spend an hour a day messing around with it either. I can devote time every day though.
2 Likes
I’m also generous with friends, so surplus is not an issue
2 Likes
Let’s do some math.
A cycle will probably average 4 months. You can’t control it very well with autos, but I think it’s safe to estimate an average of 4 months seed to harvest. We can also estimate 1 ounce dried flower per square foot of light coverage.
If you want 4 months of supply, that’s 2 ounces, or 2 square feet of canopy. Very doable on a small budget.
The tricky part is you want a tent that is just big enough, because the light bounces off the walls and close walls are essential for efficiency. But the small footprint tents tend to be short too, which isn’t ideal. You might want to look at an appliance store for a refrigerator/appliance box that you can seal up and adapt. Or buy a cardboard box that’s 1.5’ x 1.5’ x 6’. It will some work, but you can get cardboard for free.
For lights, I would browse the HLG lights at Rightbud. You only need about 50watts of HLG light in the 3k spectrum. The HLG 65 is the right wattage, but the 3k is hard to find. The HLG 100 can be found on amazon in 3k, but it isn’t dimmable out of the box. @dbrn32 can you use an inline potentiometer to safely dim the HLG 100?
You’ll need an in-line fan and carbon filter. You can go with a 4” diameter system. Features like thermostatic control are nice. Worth the money, IMO.
You should start with 1 plant and a 2-3 gallon pot. This is my opinion.
You’ll need incidental things, like a fan to move air, soil/soilless medium/nutrients/optics/pH testing. My advice is to use a quality bagged soil and ignore pH of your tap water. If you plants start looking weird, but a Hanna meter.
Personally, I think $700 is a good budget to play with, so I’m cutting corners with my recommendations.
Hope this helps.
3 Likes
Negative. Owa driver won’t work like that.
2 Likes
Can you speak more on this? Since it is not dimmable, are there options to use the same light for the whole cycle?
Also, I see some 2x2x6 tents. I know I said I want low cost, but I’d be willing to buy one of those unless there is a reason not to. I’m also good doubling up with 2 plants in a bigger space if lights, fan and filters are the same as the smaller space. I can swing $700, but was not originally anticipating that cost. I’m not restricted by cost too much, I’m just frugal by nature
2 Likes
The inability to dim won’t be an issue, as long as you can move the light up and down. In a 1.5’ x 1.5’ smaller tent, a 100 would be fine, but it would be ideal to dim it slightly during veg. Don’t sweat it.
Keep in mind that you don’t need a larger tent. If you can swing an HLG 100 V2 3k ($150 on amazon), a 2’ x 2’ x 6’ tent, and a good inline fan/filter, and the other misc stuff I eluded to. The HLG 100 will produce a good harvest, although going forward I would move to Goldleaf photoperiod seeds, since you will have more control over vegetative growth. All in all, this will be a very efficient setup to run, and once you dial it in you’ll be able to plan breaks between cycles while still meeting your 14g/m need.
You can also look at the HLG 135 kit. It is more light than the 100, and will likely maximize your yields out of a 2’ x 2’ tent. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s more efficient though. It’s more money up front and more costly to operate.
Don’t forget about the HLG 65. It would be the least expensive route, and it’s a premium light. It would completely meet your needs.
You’ll want to buy a light hanger setup with whatever light you buy.
2 Likes
@FrostyBuds do you mind sharing how much you paid for that complete HLG 135 V2 R-Spec setup?
1 Like
@KeystoneCops I paid AU$320 for it from Quick Bloom Lights.
1 Like
Thank you. I meant for your ENTIRE setup. @Bonzo doesn’t own any equipment.
2 Likes
Probably blood meal for nitrogen.
Bone meal is phosphorous. I use both.
When looking at lights keep reading and find the actual specs. Watts drawn, actual power something like that. Rule of thumb is 35 - 50 watts per sq ft of grow space. The lower watt is ok for high quality quantum boards like the HLG mentioned. Blurples will need to be closer to 50.
2 Likes
With the HLGs using the samsung chips, 25w per square foot works for estimation.
2 Likes