First Grow, High Risk :?

Its such a relief to find a forum that seems to have all the answers! I am a SOON to be first time grower. I have about 8K in the bank all for spending on growing. I only wish to spend about 2K on growing stuff because i am going to be moving into an apartment so i need money for that.

My goal is to grow 18 plants. I can grow 6 and I'm going to be growing for my 2 friends as well (proper paperwork will be filled out at my Dr.s office). I am planing on getting HPS lights to grow but I'm not sure if i should get 2 600w or 2 400w or just 1 600w!?!?

Also, I'm planning on getting 20 Armageddon Skunk seeds (all fems.) and i its going to cost me a pretty penny for those seeds. So let me slow down and talk about my thoughts on this so far. I this I'm going to get a 2 bedroom apartment and sleep in one and grow 18 plants in the other. Can this be done? Will i just get kicked out because of the smell? That is why this is "risky" for me because I don't want to spend all this money to just get kicked out and lose all my plants and wasted all my money ><

When it comes to the lights, with out getting into to much depth, my gut feeling tells me i should get 2 600w HPS lights with coolers and grow 2 sets of 9 plants (one light per 9 plants). This is the kind of light i want to get unless better advice is given.
Hydroempire, Organic Hydroponic Nutrients, Indoor Grow Lights and Supplies - 600W HPS System w/ Super Sun 2 Reflector [HLHPS6SS] - $459.00
I also don't know what kind of bulb to use when it comes to that.


Does anyone know by chance if Armageddon Skunk is a hard plant to grow for a first time grower? Any tips or advice on growing Armageddon Skunk would be greatly appreciated. Well, I'm sure this forum will answer most of my dire questions, any PM's or replys etc. with help/links/advice would be awesome!

-Daniel

Welcome Higgins

K. i am also knew at this but i love to read and I absorb info like a sponge.

Doing that size of a grow in an apartment can be tricky, but i think you could pull it off. Here are some of my ideas for you.

1. Smell will be you #1 problem. If your doing this size of grow in an apartment i would highly recommend getting a very good powerful inline fan. Use this to cool both your lights, then put a huge carbon scrubber filter on the end.

2. 1200W of light should do the trick for 18 plants.

When looking for a light, or anything involved with your grow i would check this website out. THey have lights, ballasts, inline fans, bulbs, and everything else needed to grow indoor plants.

High Tech Garden Supply

3. As for bulbs. A HPS bulb can be used through the whole grow. But for the vegging period the MH bulbs have more of a blue spectrum, which causes the plants to focus on growth.

Good luck with this one, you should start a journal for everyone to follow.

Hey thanks a lot for the advice. I had no idea i should use an inline fan and a MH light for veg. Thanks for the link for the lights and your time spent for a newbie Thanks!

i personally like the t-5 fluro light for vegging...i have never used mh though so am not saying they are bad by any means. for 18 i would get one 1000 watt light. i have used 600 watt before and wished i had more power

Ditto on the 1,000w; you'll need that to grow 18 plants. As you get into the grow, your number of actual plants will change based on how bad you suck at growing and how many turn out to be males. You could start off a couple of hundred babies but when they start getting big they take up a lot of room, especially if you are going to let them grow to 6' tall. Get two of these and you can forget about the high priced carbon scrubber; I'm serious.
IONIC BALL AIR PURIFIER IONIZER CLEANER W BREEZER OZONE - eBay (item 220208267983 end time Mar-03-08 18:15:00 PST)

since you got the money i would do 2 600W HPS!! that would be better than 1 1000W for sure because you would be covering more area.


do 2 of these w/ the air coolable 6" hood...
High Tech Garden Supply

1 of these...
High Tech Garden Supply

then some good potting soil w/ 3 gallon containers and that would be a nice grow..

jt339 said:

since you got the money i would do 2 600W HPS!! that would be better than 1 1000W for sure because you would be covering more area.


do 2 of these w/ the air coolable 6" hood...
High Tech Garden Supply

1 of these...
High Tech Garden Supply

then some good potting soil w/ 3 gallon containers and that would be a nice grow..

Click to expand...

i agree that 2x 600 watt covers more area...i was being economical. 2 hps lights, 2 inline fans, 2 hoods gets expensive

jt339 said:

since you got the money i would do 2 600W HPS!! that would be better than 1 1000W for sure because you would be covering more area.


do 2 of these w/ the air coolable 6" hood...
High Tech Garden Supply

1 of these...
High Tech Garden Supply

then some good potting soil w/ 3 gallon containers and that would be a nice grow..

Click to expand...

potpimp said:

Ditto on the 1,000w; you'll need that to grow 18 plants. As you get into the grow, your number of actual plants will change based on how bad you suck at growing and how many turn out to be males. You could start off a couple of hundred babies but when they start getting big they take up a lot of room, especially if you are going to let them grow to 6' tall. Get two of these and you can forget about the high priced carbon scrubber; I'm serious.
IONIC BALL AIR PURIFIER IONIZER CLEANER W BREEZER OZONE - eBay (item 220208267983 end time Mar-03-08 18:15:00 PST)

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for the advice on the Inline Fan. I think if i get 1 of those and a couple ionizers, i think i will be golden. Anyone know where you get that plastic stuff to put around your growing area? Also, what kind of HPS light system is the best and also, what kind of MH light should i use for veg and how many watts? Thanks for your time!

-Daniel

"what kind of MH light should i use for veg and how many watts?"

I'm new here too daniel, but i will try to help you. I would say that one 400watt MH light, and 4 fluro bulbs would be enough for 18 plants.

I have also heard that T5-48 fixtures are good for veging, and some people say they are also good for flowering. check 'em out! Sun Blaze T5 - 48 (4ft, 8 lamp) High Output Fluorescent

The plastic stuff i think your talking about is white/black poly. You can get it at the HTGS website, or at your local hydro shop. I havent heard of anywhere else though, maybe someone know?

The best HPS system for you would be 2 600w DIGITAL ballasts. The hood choice is really up to you. The cool tubes are nice, keeps the bulb virtually heat free. *EDIT* Just make sure you get a hood that has holes for ducting to attach to, other wise an inline fan is useless.

If you got the cash, get the systems with both the MH and HPS bulbs. When purchasing the lamp you can just scroll down and customize your order. Upgrading lights, hoods, ballast's. Take your time and find out what you want to spend, and what to spend on. Essentially the higher priced items mean better quality.

Higgins said:

Thanks a lot for the advice on the Inline Fan. I think if i get 1 of those and a couple ionizers, i think i will be golden. Anyone know where you get that plastic stuff to put around your growing area? Also, what kind of HPS light system is the best and also, what kind of MH light should i use for veg and how many watts? Thanks for your time!

-Daniel

Click to expand...

No need to go anywhere else to buy your stuff; HTG Supply is THE place to shop. Some places suck, others are so so but HTG always delivers promptly and usually has the best price. When I ordered my MH/HPS system they sent me a note saying they were out of the lamps I had ordered so they were upgrading me to the more expensive lamps at no charge! They even upgraded the spare that I ordered. You'll find a ton of people on here that feel the same way I do about them.