Small scale-large scale grow-op

I am a very newbie and I only want a couple plants growing in my house(cultivation laws). I am only growing for personal(tired of going to work everyday and buying smoke off someone who doesn't need to work because I give him tax free money). Anyway my questions are
What is the best size pot?
What is the best medium?
What is the best size light?
How do I get enough smoke every month so I dont give to criminals?
I'm hoping some of you experienced self sufficients can help me.
I'm tired of this game!!
Thank you

anton,

How much money are you starting with?

How large is the space you can dedicate to your garden?

I can alocate about $1000 start-up for a garden, if I can cut corners I will. I've got a lot of space to work with and if the garden is small enough(3plants)I can build to suit. I just want to do it right the first time and have a good yield. Now saying that, I'm not a fool and do understand that to get really good bud you do need experience but what I want is a nice yield and good smoke. If anyone can help me get started I would appreciate.
Thank you

Anton,

It sounds like you are on the right track. You've got plenty to work with.

You'll do great.


Now tell us about the footprint of your space (physical dimensions). Are you going to rig-up a corner in the basement or attic using 2"x2" and panda film? Attic? Closet? Unused bedroom??

I've got two spaces I can use.
1:44"x40"x44" tall
2:3ft x 2ft x 6.5ft tall
The first is a crawl space, the second is a corner that I can fix with 2x2 like you said.
Thank you very much for replying

the second option sounds better. What are the temps in this area? Plants grow best anywheres from 65-80 degrees. anywhere below 65 slows growth and any thing above 80 is no good either. For lighting I would recommend a 600 watt hps/mh. Mh being for veg and HPS for flowering the plant. Also probably need a fan to circulate air. Note: you could also drop down to a 400 watt or even 250 if you wanted to save energy and you noted it was for personal use. The 600 watt could grow roughly 6 decent plants. A soil grow will definitely be the easiest for an inexperienced gardener. But I'm sure you could figure out hydroponics.

the space is a fruit cellar but I will try to insulate.
Will a bigger pot mean higher yield?
Is diameter or height more important with pot size?
How long should I veg?
Would a pro-mix medium be better than the red pellets?

Anton,

I concur with tehdan.

Home Depot and some 12" pots will work just great. The orange clay/plastic type or the fancier decorative stuff, your choice. Load it up with a Fox Farm Brand Dirt - Ocean Forrest. Mix in like 2 parts perlite 4 parts OcFo.

If you buy a 10 pack of seeds plan on starting 5. Shoot for one female out of 5 tries.

Let them grow for 3 months or until the shortest is 24". 24/24 or 18/6 light schedule.

If any are female, Pre-flowers will start showing up. You'll tear out all the males in a passionate frustration.

If you get only one female, that's OK. Clone all the lower branches. After about 3 weeks in a Daisy Cloner, put it all on 12/12 for 8 or so weeks. You'll just know when your plant is ready. (OR post pics here asking more).

Going with the 600 switchable will yield a years supply easy.

Anton,

I had an unlucky streak. It took me like 18 seeds (and a year!) to finally get a female.

I did a clone job first thing. I used the cloner I mentioned. I was going to flower in the cloner but the top started leaking. Plant size I suppose. I had to dump them into dirt quick, grow basket and all! It worked fine. Thessse things are durable.

Cloning was begun on the little ones 12/29. After two weeks +/- a day or so, I switched the entire thing to 12/12. They're 24" tall now. They've been flowering 2 days less than 6 weeks.

The other is the Big Mom - 45". I've got 3 or so more weeks to go before I hack her down. (I hide that fact from her.)

LOL -

with that size you should get 400w mh/hps switchable. unless your gonna do two areas. then get like a 200 cfm fan and carbon filter combo. thatll def keep smells down