Hey all, I am a complete newbie, never grown anything ever! Just to quickly fill you all in - I am a 28 year old from Australia who is now looking into growing weed in her closet as medicine. The pharmaceuticals I’m on are horrible and aren’t even working. I’ve recently had to leave my job due to the severity of my physical pain (Fibromyalgia and Hashimoto’s).
I’ve been researching a lot, reading these message boards, the grow bible and other sites but I’m still trying to figure out my best plan of action. Really my main issue is my complete lack of money.
Ok so now that I’ve rambled on (sorry!) I’ll get to my specific questions.
Pretty much I just want to know what I can get by using at the absolute bare minimum cost. I really hate to not do this properly but I’m so poor and desperate for some pain relief (I can already feel my passion for growing becoming strong so trust me, the thought of doing a dodgy job with all of this is painful! But I have no choice)
Is my closet space enough for one plant? (I will only be growing one plant at a time for now). Dimensions are about 1 meter wide, 0.6 meters deep, 1.2 meter height.
Is a 150 watt HPS light pheasable to use for one plant for vegetation and flower? I realise this wouldn’t be ideal for flowering at all but I have read that it emits less heat so therefore eliminates need for exhaust system etc.
I can’t afford a grow tent so I figured I would put up foil on the walls of my closet. Should I also jerry build some sort of “protection” around my plant so that no light gets in from my bedroom?
If I open my closet during “daylight hours” as well as my window that’s near it, is that useful? I know the plant needs some fresh air flow and at this point I just cannot afford a proper fan / ventilation system (other than a shitty little fan inside the wardrobe perhaps). Also, yes I realise my room is going to smell pretty damn strong when she flowers!
Anyway, I’ll admit I feel embarrassed about this post as I realise this is such a cheap and nasty way to grow. I guess I’ll just say again that I’m in a desperate situation and I don’t know what else to do!
Thanks in advance if anyone manages to read all of this!
Do you guys think it’s worth me buying a small grow tent to put inside my closet? I feel like that’d be safer for the plant, rather than it just sitting bare inside my closet! The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that it might be a good idea? Buying that would take several weeks to save up (see, I really am poor! ) but maybe worth waiting for?
Ok first let me say hello and welcome to ilgm. And 1 growing in your closet would be fine for a grow room. Just clean it good. There are many people who grow this way. And you should go with an led light set up. Its cheaper on your pocket and electrical bill. The window would be a good thing fresh air is so important. What do you plan to grow in? Soil?
Its quite small but you should be able to grow a small plant. If you look around the forum you will see plenty of people do it without a tent. If you do some LST or low stress training you should be able to keep the plant short but wide. Anything that’s going to reflect the light is good.
As for the light, hps generates a lot of heat so you may be better looking at cfl or led which you can get dual spectrum so the single light does both vedge and flower and will generate a lot less heat. Cheaper to run too. A small fan will help with the air circulation and temperature.
You do need to black it out when you switch to flowering but in my limited experience if you use an autoflower variety, they seem to be more resilient ti a little bit of light having grown some outside where there was light pollution from street lights and they flowered no problem
Hi @Dopehat welcome to the forum. Your plan will work and you don’t need a tent to start. I wouldn’t use foil as it may cause a hot spot just some white paint is ok. As for lights it may be best to start with a CFL because they are less expensive up front and don’t cause as much heat as HPS.
Air circulation is very important but a small fan will do fine.
The folks here are the BEST and will help you get started but be prepared to find you love growing as much as the end product. Good luck and I am a newby as well so others may have better advice @garrigan62@Aquaponic_Dumme@latewood
I have called in the big guns for you.
Thank you so much for the responses everyone! Very much appreciated and I’m excited to be here
I’ve been searching all night for the best light for my money and I’ve come across an LED that I think could be good (I have little to no knowledge but I believe it will run less hot and the price I can pay for it here in Australia isn’t too crazy)
I will be growing in soil (FoxFarm if I can find it). Also, is there anything else I can do for reflecting light on the walls, I can’t paint them as I’m renting and they won’t let me )
Hi welcome aboard. Mylar works great as a reflector. Have you.checked your local hydroponic store to see if they carry that soil? If you can’t find it try using a organic soil
Thanks for the responses again guys! I’ve actually already looked at the MarsHydro but they don’t ship to Australia unfortunately. I’m hoping the other brand is somewhat similar but it’s very difficult to know! A lot of recommended brands don’t ship to Australia. I’ve found Foxfarm soil and nutrients on Amazon and prices are definitely affordable ($30 AUD for soil) so I think I’ll go with them, Foxfarm seems to be a safe bet!
Anyway, thanks again everyone. Such an awesome community here! I really look forward to learning and perfecting.
Welcome @Dopehat
It would be worth it to invest in a few cheap items. A oscillating fan, hygrometer(measures the temp and humidity) and a PH meter.
When your plants are small you want around 80 degrees at 60% humidity(seedling stage usually first 21 days)
In Veg you want about 75 degrees at 55% humidity
In Flower 65-70 degrees at 40% humidity.
The hygrometer will help you keep track.
Just some general information.
Foxfarm soil is perfectly fine to start with, Your on the right track.
I don’t want to overwhelm you with info right now. If you have any other questions moving forward feel free to ask. We are all here to help.
Thanks @SativaStone, perfectly informative! Everything is starting to make sense. I guess I’ll just buy one or two things at a time. I guess if I just figure out which LED Light to get (the biggest purchase) then it’ll all be slightly easier from there.
I found a website which sells the MarsHydro light to Australia (Amazon doesn’t) but I can’t tell if legit. Is there any chance one of you could have a quick look at the following link and tell me your thoughts if possible?
Only Amazon or Dealzer commercial links allowed on the ILGM forum. Thank You. Admin
You have a decent plan. Yes a 150 hps is fine for 1 plant, and many growers use hps for entire grow; This is common, as opposed to your statement to the contrary. You can only go so cheap or you will end up with little to show for your efforts.
Make sure to paint your closet with “flat” white paint. Do not use a glossy paint. Probably cheaper to buy flat white than all the foil you would need.
Get some Panda plastic (black on one side white on the other). You need a piece big enough to go from above door to floor and with 6" overlap on each side
I would not use CFL, unless you can afford 100+ watt CFL. The LED lamps shown below might grow one plant successfully. Let me know if you have any more questions.
You absolutely need a recirculating fan in that closet or your plants will be miserable.
Welcome to the community @dopehat! Hopefully we can get you on track and growing some exceptional bud!
Ok, so if I were you, I wouldn’t be worried about buying a tent, specially if money is a concern. If you REALLY want a tent, I suggest you simply build your own, it will cost WAY less than buying one online.
For lights, I would definitely go with a LED fixture for your closet. It emits little heat, but tons of great light, so you shouldn’t have to exhaust the heat unless for some reason it becomes a problem.
Fox Farm soil is a great buy too, and I personally used their nutrients for a while before eventually switching to General Hydroponics nutrients.
You’ll definitely want to “light proof” your closet, so that when the door is closed absolutely no light is getting through. A light leak is a nuisance and will cause your plant to hermie.
Lastly, I wish you the best of luck with everything! I hope your pain subsides, or at least lessens. I always feel terrible for you guys with health issues, because I just smoke because it helps with anxiety and I like being high, I’m a hippie at heart lol. If you need any info on making RSO (Rick Simpson Oil) just let us know, many of the members on here use it for various reasons. It will definitely help, in my opinion
This is what I would try to find if I were you. You can change this 250watt switchable digital lamp from full power - 250w down to 75% or 50%; 187.5w down to 125w respectively. Check it out
I use this brand and have 2 systems a 400w and a 600w. Awesome lamps.
again; If you can get the LED; You can make the choice, yourself.
Evidently Amazon Australia does not allow grow lamps to be sold. Wow??? I always wanted to go there but, my interest is waning.
Sorry, I was trying to help you out there, “Sis”
You guys are so great, this has been extremely helpful and I now feel ready to start setting this up… I’ve been wanting to do this for years!
@Latewood You’re right, Amazon Australia doesn’t sell grow lamps at all. It’s funny because people openly smoke weed here yet it’s still very illegal. We can’t even buy bongs here anymore
@Ktreez420 Thank you for your kind words. I hope that growing my own plant will eventually lead to growing my own good quality medicine, what a beautiful scenario! I’m a hippie at heart too, I live in a forest and I’m currently laying on the grass wishing I was smoking some of my own stash!
So just one last question to both of you and then I will try to stop pestering…
There’s a website (not Amazon) that ships the “MarsHydro 300 Mars600 LED Grow Light 132W / 278W Draw Power Full Spectrum” to Australia.
Costs $133 for 132W or $246 for 278W (AUD - Australian dollars).
Should I go with the cheaper 132W or save my money for a bit and get the more expensive 278W? Thinking of purchasing tomorrow.
Do you think autoflowers are much easier for noobs? From what I gather the main difference is I wouldn’t need to change light schedule for flowering but that doesn’t seem like a big deal at all to me? Is it correct that autoflowers won’t be sensitive to light accidentally coming into my grow space when it’s dark? I still don’t know if the difference matters to me… But I am so new to this
That’s exactly it. With Autos, you wouldnt need to get a 24 hour timer. 18-24 hours of “lights on” is completely acceptable the full grow, and light leakage is not an issue.
If you get non-auto seeds, these two things are very important. If light leaks in while the plant sleeping (12 hours of lights out while in flower) you could trigger it to hermie.
If you feel theses are not going to be a problem, I recommend non-auto seeds, as you can control how much Veg-time you do.
) but maybe worth waiting for?
)
