My first grow space (Pics) Need Help & Reccomendations!!

[Calijuana]

Hi everyone!

I've been planning on running a small operation at my home since I will be living there with my gf pretty soon alone and have a bathroom that I'd like to convert to a grow room. The bathroom is painted completely white with one large mirror (would be covered with something) - the pics I took were of the other bathroom I have, which is identical to the grow one just with wallpaper.


Anyways, since this is my first grow I really need advice, and I have several questions I hope you can help me out with.


First, I'd like to have anywhere from 5-10 plants going at any given time, if possible. I would be using seeds that I either buy from an online seedbank or perhaps just get my friends to hook me up with a few for 5$ or so. Does this seem like a good amount for this space?


Second, what should I do for ventilation? The smell isn't too big of an issue but the bathroom DOES connect to my room and I can keep the door closed with a towel at the bottom of the door. As seen in the pictures, the bathroom has a fairly large fan in the ceiling to suck air out of the room in general. Will this be enough?

Alternatively, maybe I could put a fan or two on the counter by the sink and blow air up to that vent to help it out and control temps.



Third, is it a good idea to try cloning on your first grow? I figure with the right time and patience I could set up a small cloning op in my bathtub while the other plants grow and mature in the main floor space. What do you think of this?


Fourth, For this setup, what do you suggest for lighting? I'm still in school and I can't afford a HUGE electric bill but it certainly wouldn't be a problem to get some nice (prefferably economical) lights to power this whole setup.

Fifth, should I try soil or hydroponics? I figure I should go with soil first just because it seems more newbie-friendly. Tell me what you think.



and last, is my schedule. How often will I need to check and water/feed nutes to my plants? I will definitely be at home atleast once a day but sometimes I go to my GF's to sleep and so I'd have to leave the plants unattended at night. When would I need to turn the lights on and off? For instance, I could turn them on at 8:30 in the morning and then shut them off sometime after school. What are some cycles like in this way? Could I turn the lights on at 9 PM and off at 8:30 AM in a lightproofed room or something?


I know there's probably lots more and any help on this stuff would be greatly appriciated. You can reply to some or all of my questions, anything helps.



Thanks for reading!

 

[mstrymxer]

first id block off the window but use it as a vent.. if you search on youtube for how to grow marijuana at home a video with a guy with long hair will come up that shows you how to construct a window box that you can vent out of....but it looks like a good spot bro.

on seeds....i would buy good genetics. because even if you got seeds out of good weed they might go bad and there are months of work wasted. but for a first run bagseed is fine.

for lighting just get a few cfls (the twisty lights at walmart. they will work for sprouting seeds and the first weeks of veg. then youll need to buy either a. more cfls. like 4 per plant and keep them close or b. one hps light. a 250 watt or 400 watt will be good and they will produce bigger buds than cfl... check out htgsupply.com...they have good cheap lights. you can upgrade to the air coolable hood but it would take more set up time. they are better though because you can put em close to the lights.... later man good luck

 

[mstrymxer]

YouTube - how to grow marijuana at home-part 1

the video.....its a bit old but good info and they use alot of extras..like an air muffler or something

 

[mstrymxer]

also on the lights i know a hps is a big investment if your poor like me but think this way. if you have 10 plants and only do 3 cfls per plant and could get em on the cheap at 4$ or so each your looking at 120$. then you have to get a fixture for them all and wire it yourself...and hps is way better choice

 

[Calijuana]

also on the lights i know a hps is a big investment if your poor like me but think this way. if you have 10 plants and only do 3 cfls per plant and could get em on the cheap at 4$ or so each your looking at 120$. then you have to get a fixture for them all and wire it yourself...and hps is way better choice

Hey, thanks for the help, I think I will invest in an HPS light. I'm not great with electrical wiring and would rather spend the money to get a good quality product for less work in this situation.

Keep the help coming people!

 

[Calijuana]

Also thanks for that link to the grow video, it's very helpful so far and i'm just watching it now! Thanks!

 

[Calijuana]

Here's a link to a setup with a HPS light and a MH light, says it also includes reflector, digital ballast, and a free 24 hour timer (something I could really use)

The lights don't look like a reputable brand but after all they are just lights.

This setup would cost me around 295$ Canadian, shipped.


What's a good amount of plants to grow off this setup? $300 is alot to spend for me so I would hope to get a fairly good crop from it


Thanks very much!



http://cgi.ebay.com/DIGITAL-OPEN-REFLECTOR-GROW-LIGHT-400-WATT-HPS-MH-400W_W0QQitemZ360036276754QQihZ023QQcategoryZ42225QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

 

[desertrat]

if you use all of the available grow space of a 400 watt light (9 square ft) you should be able to fit 9 square pots in the space.

you should be able to yield at least .5 gm/watt of light or about 1/2 lb per harvest when you;ve gained a little experience. unless you have a green thumb or are very lucky your first grow is not going to get that mich.

 

[Calijuana]

Hi Desert, thanks very much for your input. 9 plants sounds perfect for this area and was just what I was hoping to do. I expect I probably will get much less from my first several runs so perhaps I will try bagseed before investing in some good seeds of my own.


Thanks!

 

[Calijuana]

OK, I've just learned I can get a 600 watt for around the same price, with all the goodies, so this is what I'll be going with. I think I'll be trying 10 seeds and whatever works at the end will be good enough for me.

 

[makinthemagic]

For the first run I'd keep the plant count low even if you don't max out your space. They will expand to fill it. It also reduces your maintenance and possible problems. Depending on your location, the legal situation changes with plant count. < 6 is not a felony in my location, for example, and I don't want to be exposed to that risk.

 

[Calijuana]

Hey, thanks for your post! I live in BC, Canada, and from what I gathered, production of cannabis anywhere from 1-200 plants has supposedly a minimum of 6 months in jail, but I don't know if this is enforced or not, I've heard of cases just being thrown out by judges and people given small sentences for getting caught with pot up here. I'll have to be careful, but I think it's worth mentioning that I live in a town with only about 14,000 people - pretty small.

Hell, there's a drug house litterally 5 meters from our school fence that supplies much harder drugs then marijuana. I think it took the law like 6 months to get enough evidence to get a warrant and charge the people with trafficking and possession etc.

Anyways, as per your reccomendation I'll go with less plants then 10. Do you think it would be a good idea to try 6 and then attempt a few clones?

Let me know.

 

[Calijuana]

For the first run I'd keep the plant count low even if you don't max out your space. They will expand to fill it. It also reduces your maintenance and possible problems. Depending on your location, the legal situation changes with plant count. < 6 is not a felony in my location, for example, and I don't want to be exposed to that risk.

Oh and what do you get for a felony down there? What about if its under 6 plants?

 

[Tanis83]

Hey, thanks for your post! I live in BC, Canada, and from what I gathered, production of cannabis anywhere from 1-200 plants has supposedly a minimum of 6 months in jail, but I don't know if this is enforced or not, I've heard of cases just being thrown out by judges and people given small sentences for getting caught with pot up here. I'll have to be careful, but I think it's worth mentioning that I live in a town with only about 14,000 people - pretty small.

Hell, there's a drug house litterally 5 meters from our school fence that supplies much harder drugs then marijuana. I think it took the law like 6 months to get enough evidence to get a warrant and charge the people with trafficking and possession etc.

Anyways, as per your reccomendation I'll go with less plants then 10. Do you think it would be a good idea to try 6 and then attempt a few clones?


Let me know.

in BC 5 or less plants is called "personal" and they will only take your lights slap you on the hand and say "bad don't do it again"

I knew a guy that was caught with 60 LB dry and had another 50 plants going... he got 6 months house arrest and a $30,000 fine...

I'd also recommend cloning too..... then you'll have some seeds left for another go at it later

 

[Calijuana]

in BC 5 or less plants is called "personal" and they will only take your lights slap you on the hand and say "bad don't do it again"

I knew a guy that was caught with 60 LB dry and had another 50 plants going... he got 6 months house arrest and a $30,000 fine...

I'd also recommend cloning too..... then you'll have some seeds left for another go at it later

Nice! I couldn't find this law but I didn't look all that hard either I'll stick to 5 plants for now then, and do cloning too. Worst case I can start again with the other 5 seeds later if everything somehow gets ruined.

Thanks!

 

[Sparrow]

Since you're starting off, you should look up some "home made plant food" tips, theres a lot you can do for pest control and all. and its always fun to have a few plants on the side to experiment with =]

 

[Calijuana]

Hey Sparrow, I'll definitely be checking out some home fetelizers that can be made, I'm still lookin to save money so this would be great Thanks, never thought of this.

 

[Calijuana]

This is what I have decided on so far.


Do about 8 plants to begin with assuming some will be male.

Buy Cfl's for first stages, buy 600w HPS & MH combo as well for other stages

Take out males and kill. (should I even bother making hash? Probably not worth effort)

Take clones from one female plant when ready and attempt to root in closet space (I'll post pics later)

Continue growing main plants and also growing clones, TRY to get clones ready for the big lights just as the first harvest is produced. Repeat process to save time on next harvest.


What do you guys think?

 

[Sparrow]

well, i'll be more then happy to let you in on a few home made tricks, especially for pest control, thats always key in growing