About to take the plunge.....setup ?'s

hey gang,

Been reading all week and for 2009, this is going to be my hobby. for starters, I am not bob vila or anything like that so the simpler the better, I have never grown anything in my life.

I have space to put a tent (basement closet where water tank is). I was thinking of a 3'x3'x8' tent. Seems pretty dry and not too hot (despite the water tank and heat being there. That being said, just a few questions:

1. Which is the easiest, Soil or Hydroponic?
I think I can manage watering the plants once a day. Hydro seems to be way better and drain once every 2 weeks does not seem to be too hard (I guess I can siphon old water out and put new water in). I take it have to start in soil or rockwool once I get seeds germinated then transplanting them to their final home.

2. 150w hps or 400w hps light?
I guess more is better but I do not want to raise any eyebrows. My meter is outside (I have a condo in a complex) so there is no need to come to the house (unless the water tank is broken or something). What is the cost difference monthly on a 18/6 setup for veg? I think I pay $0.11/kWh or something like that (anyone in the Northeast please chime in if this sounds really wrong). I am leaning 400w if the cost of running this set up is not a big deal (like $20-$40/month more). I can blame it on a new heater or something.

3. How many plants given nine sq. ft?

4. Where can I get seeds in the US? Is ordering online safe?
I was thinking of getting a gift card and then using that (they are not tied to names I do not think)

5. I was thinking about this (not this actual one, but this ingredients list, I can configure it for $300 total).....

What ya think?

Thanks

Rippey

Welcome to RIU

Soil is easier for learning the finer things about growing, but hydro is good too. If I were you, I would stick with soil for a few grows. Personally I would go with 400w MH/HPS conversion. Look around in there and pick something good out. You can always ask more opinions on here.

That site you have with the grow tent is one of the best places to go. I am using coco with monkey juice right now and its going really well. I did mix in about 20-30% perlite in with the coco.

ummm well to answer some of you questions the best I can..

1. Personally i grow soil. Hydroponic is more money up front but you can get faster results. But on the down side is you screw something up it can go down hill faster. If you have the time and money to invest in hydroponics....i would but if you end up hate growing, you don't have the time or whatever you may have wasted more money. Soil less of an investment...but things move slower
2.HPS creates heat, if you are going to be able to vent it...get the 400w you will love the results....with a 150w you are looking at 3 or 4 decent size plants if you set up is perfect.
3. all depends on your grow setup and what method you decide to use..... i could write for hours on this....
4.Online ordering can be safe...just have it delivered to somewhere you are NOT growing. If the seeds get caught by department of homeland security you get a letter saying that its a controlled substance...don't do it again. I've never heard of anyone getting busted because they ordered seeds....i've ordered four times...about 20 seeds each time and never had an issues.

That's not a bad setup you posted there. I think about an ounce per plant is a realistic expectation. I recommend buying seeds from these guys(Attitude).

thanks guys.

I was thinking soil just because it is more like something I know. I really should not be able to not water the girls. I still have to figure out the ph and nuts and stuff like that but that I can figure out I am sure.

If I can figure out the costs, I will go with the 400w hps. that tent has vents which I will put fans on, exhaust and fresh air. I may add a small oscillating fan inside to keep things fairly fresh and girls strong. In the picture they have 10 pots in there, I may try something like six to start and see how they grow. I will order 20 seeds so I can do three good grows (if I dont mess anything up, which I may do I am sure)

my budget is about $300 bucks plus seeds. I may get two types where growing them is easy (I think some of the sites say what is easy to grow, moderate, etc). I will stick to easy or moderate. I do not want super tall girls but I want a really nice yield. I am not expecting pounds but I would like a grow to last me a couple of months. I smoke once every two weeks or so, again a nice hobby for me.

I was not going to have them shipped here but I have several places where they can be shipped with no hassle and I can get them.

Keep the comments coming, I am actually excited (as is wifey, and wifey #2....long story to explain

Rippey

This all sounds good but you need to think about heat issues i am as sure as i can be without having it infront of my face that the 400watt hps/mh light will cause to much heat in the tent so youshould start looking into DIY cooltubes (there cheap, easy and a must for the indoor grower). If you want small(ish)plants then you should go with a predominantly indica strain they finish quicker also, but i say pick the seeds YOU want, it's your hibby and your bud, don't settle for second best!6 plants sounds good. Soil is more forgiving then hydro so you should start with soil and if u feel like progressin go for it. The best way to find shit out is to try it.

you've gotten good advice, a couple of extra things:

on the practical side, you are going to have the most difficulty providing venting to cool the tent. make sure you've got everything set up including lights and get your temps stable. trying to fix things when you're growing is a pain.

you didn't mention odor control- you are probably going to want something to keep your house guests and maintenance people from sharing your hobby.

desertrat said:

you've gotten good advice, a couple of extra things:

on the practical side, you are going to have the most difficulty providing venting to cool the tent. make sure you've got everything set up including lights and get your temps stable. trying to fix things when you're growing is a pain.

you didn't mention odor control- you are probably going to want something to keep your house guests and maintenance people from sharing your hobby.

Click to expand...

I did not think about the odor. Hmm. Can I use some charcoal can or something just sitting in the tent? Also where the tent is, there is no window but the actual room is fairly big (again it has a water tank and the heating system AND a bunch of boxes (like 20) that I am going to break down to put my tent. I guess that means when it vents out into that room, the room is going to smell too. Have to think about that and add to the system costs. Right now, the tent and the light (both about $100) are the most expensive things. Misc supplies I think will run $60 with fans (since I have some already), seeds $60 and now odor control.. Still not too bad, I want to keep it under $400 for the whole set up but it seems self contained and all I have to do is water them (and leave them alone)...

Rippey

search this website and the growfaq here and you'll find lots of ideas on odor control. your options range from a carbon filter to ozone to specialty air fresheners. maybe needless to say, but this is how a lot of people get caught.

as for your heat venting, you may need to vent outside of the room your tent is in. depending on the size of the room, the whole area may get too hot.

desertrat said:

search this website and the growfaq here and you'll find lots of ideas on odor control. your options range from a carbon filter to ozone to specialty air fresheners. maybe needless to say, but this is how a lot of people get caught.

as for your heat venting, you may need to vent outside of the room your tent is in. depending on the size of the room, the whole area may get too hot.

Click to expand...

I am thinking on how to vent out of that room and it's my main concern (the heat) since it is not too bad now (I am actually going to check now how hot it gets in there with nothing). The basement area is cooler than the main level which helps.

As for the odor, it will be in the basement back room so if I can contain the odor, I should hopefully be ok. Maybe what I do is vent to the dropped ceiling and the odor can dissipate there....have to think about that....

I will take a picture and temperature reading of where it is going to be....not cleaned up yet.

Rippey

1. Which is the easiest, Soil or Hydroponic?
After some practice hydroponis is easier to correct problems with. IMO

2. 150w hps or 400w hps light?
400w Say you bought a new computer that is a server, it is on all day.

3. How many plants given nine sq. ft?
I would devide and conquer. Build a cloning area, a mother area, and a flower area. Utilize different lighting of course and by all means keep them light sealed seperate (cone and veg/flowering). Don't worry too much about keeping the clones in the same light area as the mothers as long as their lighting is on the same schedule.


4. Where can I get seeds in the US? Is ordering online safe?
Bag seed is a great starting point IMO, you might be suprised what you can produce.

5. Budget:
I would set out how much you plan on spending. There are several different catagories to think about.

Environment:
Humidity
Temp
Air quality
Water quality
Lighting
Air control
Light control

Nutrients:
This list is varied and can be costly

Plant medium

and from here the list gets crazy. Please expand on your ideas.

By the way consider it a balloon investment. This stuff gets costly the more you progress.

I was just reading the very long hempy thread and i have been looking at the dwc treads as well. dwc seems pretty simple but i am sure it is not. Hempy looks cool, just means i have to water every couple of days. I am not so informed on the nutes just yet, reading on that now.

400w hps is what i am going to do regardless of what room set up i have since it seems to be very good bang for buck so i am good there.

this is going to be my first grow so I am going to buy a bag of aurora indica and plant 9 seeds. I am guessing bagweed is well a seed from a bag i buy... My boy is going to Toronto and Ottowa, maybe I will have him get me some seeds from there.

I will start with starter plugs and use coco to grow 3 gal pots. want to see what i can get with this set up. would like them to grow say 24" before flowering, try to get 3oz from each of the girls. aiming high but hey that is how you learn. Cloning, mothers and that stuff, next grow...if I can get past this one.

Budget is looking to be around $300 or so but no nutes included since I am still learning that part. I am trying to figure out how often to water and what it in it. Lots to learn still but I am willing.

I will take pics of my progress building and growing because examples are best

keep em coming, i've been on the site all day reading (and learning).

One quick question, seems like hempy setup and soil are very similar except it seems you water hempy more, need to know nutes but produces better. Any thoughts on this gang?

As always, thanks in advance!

Rippey

I assure hydro is easier and faster. I got a comparison mother plant going on right now. I'm about to run to the store and get batteries for my camera and I'll show you the difference in mothers grown in soil and hydro. I use the same nutes in soil as I do in hydro at recommended strength. The difference in growth is noticeable.

Test your water. I have a water softener and it is killing my plants. I'm waiting on my RO filter to show up.

Good luck.

DubB83 said:

I assure hydro is easier and faster. I got a comparison mother plant going on right now. I'm about to run to the store and get batteries for my camera and I'll show you the difference in mothers grown in soil and hydro. I use the same nutes in soil as I do in hydro at recommended strength. The difference in growth is noticeable.

Test your water. I have a water softener and it is killing my plants. I'm waiting on my RO filter to show up.

Good luck.

Click to expand...

My main concern really is the maintenance of hydro vs. soil. If I can figure out how to maintain a hydro setup (like Hempy or DWC) which both seem as easy as watering soil every day (or every other day) then I would go for it. In reading however, it seems like I am missing something. In watering a plant, well there is no mystery there.

In Hempy, it seems like a soil plant but I have to know my nutes (maybe easy, maybe not) and I have to do it almost daily.

in DWC, i can see how to build it but how do I maintain water levels, do I add water everyday to keep the splash going (with the airstones)? What are the nutes involved (just put it in when setting things up).

Again, does not seen very hard but I would like to enjoy learning the grow.

You guys rock! Let me see your config DubB83

Rippey

First, I have to appologize for the thread jack...

mrrippey said:

My main concern really is the maintenance of hydro vs. soil. If I can figure out how to maintain a hydro setup (like Hempy or DWC) which both seem as easy as watering soil every day (or every other day) then I would go for it. In reading however, it seems like I am missing something. In watering a plant, well there is no mystery there.

In Hempy, it seems like a soil plant but I have to know my nutes (maybe easy, maybe not) and I have to do it almost daily.

in DWC, i can see how to build it but how do I maintain water levels, do I add water everyday to keep the splash going (with the airstones)? What are the nutes involved (just put it in when setting things up).

Again, does not seen very hard but I would like to enjoy learning the grow.

You guys rock! Let me see your config DubB83

Rippey

Click to expand...

I make basic DWCs with shoe boxes from the $ Store and some basic air stones. Compared to my soil plants maintenance is a breeze.

Here is the maintenance for the soil:
Check the dirt for moisture
I use a soil watering cycle of one day nutes three days RO water
It still has to be measured out and pH corrected
Eventually you trim the root ball and transplant

In my experiments the soil just seems like there quite a few down sides and stunted growth.

Here is the maintenance for the hydro:
Fill the reserviour once a week with a pH'd nute mix
Watch the water level, (a certain range is acceptable)
Add pure RO water every once in a while
Let it grow

There was no stunting in the hydro, just set it and forget it really. I was surprised in the difference.

Don't get me wrong, I thought the soil was going to produce more faster from the way they started out growing.

Here are some pictures taken over time of the experiment:
Soil Seedlings...



Rockwool Seedlings...


Soil in the mother (veg) boxes (11/29/0...





Rockwool in the DWC...


This is them yesterday before I took cuttings (I prune all the large fan leaves to make the clones produce better tops)...(12/22/0




I used the same brand nutes and recommended dosages. When the soil plants showed signs of stunting it took a while for them to recover. The hydro plants react nearly daily.

I have more pictures in my threads as well as my album.

I have made my decision on soil vs hydro. I hope this helps you out.

My conclusion is that soil is easier to start in and hydro is easier to get results.

Good luck!

These are my nutes by the way (and Thrive Alive B1-Red), they can be used in soil or hydro and are easy to measure per gallon. If you ever have any questions about DWC send me a message.