So, I'm New Here

So, it came over me the other day..

'lets' grow weed'.

Long story short, I smoke and I've enjoyed it for awhile but as I graduated highschool last year and took this year off, I've realized HOW TIGHT MONEY IS LIVING ON MY OWN. I mean, I'm going to university next year (I have my own house) and I DO NOT think I can maintain paying for weed like this.

That said, I have a little bit of bank to spend to start. I don't intend on SELLING but it may be an option later(Not some huge dealer, just amongst people I know).

So I'm trying to learn as much as I can about growing. I don't want to be an ignorant grower. I presume hiding it would be a good idea for now and I can sacrafice size for my first plant as its' not really going to be a huge thing.

I'd like to try a hard plant, as I'd rather fail and learn than grow something easy that won't be beneficial to later growings.

So, my questions off the bat.

Is a large speaker container actually WORTH growing in ? Is that beneficial for me, if I'm trying to hide it, as I said I can sacrafice some size on this first plant.

Is it worth buying feminized seeds ?(Excuse my spelling..).

These 24 hour timers, what are they called. I'm not able to find them.

Will a 450-500 watt bulb work, or should I just go out and invest in a 600 watt ?

When should I expect a plant to be budding, and how much in general ?

One plant or two, in a large speaker ?

And if you have any general knowledge YOU WOULD have had to like to have on your first grow, I'd love to hear it as anything could help.

I'm interested in the money saving, the weed itself but I'm also very interested in just growing something myself. It sounds like its' just self rewarding. I could only imagine how good it would feel after my first grow.

EDIT: SOIL, SOIL BRANDS. What ones would you recomend ? Anything specific I should do ? Also, is it better to go from germinized seeds to 1 gallon pots, or 5?

That's alot of questions lol you might wanna start reading a grow guide.. it will answer most of your question

Here is a good one

greenmanspage.com

I've tried to read them, but as I've tried to read many I find a lot of information isn't 'solid'. One site says one thing and another something else. I know a good bit about the growing itself..But the products, and things I need to purchase are unkown to me.

Find a small room or closet, ditch the speaker. Use a closet upstairs that is attached to the attic. Cut 2 holes in celing, one for intake one for outtake.

2-6 plants

600w

timers can be fount at walmart or sams for $5 in the electrical dept.

start with 1oz in mind per plant. every 4-5 months.

You will need a carbon filter and fan for ventilation and odur control(especially once they start flowering) a few hundred ($400)

wow yeah bro you have a lot to learn but if you need any help you can ask me bro and i will try to give you the best answer i can first things first you need a good light if your doing it indoors and a good bag of soil if thats what you want to do

it would be better if you decided where you are going to grow... ie: in the speaker cab/ a larger cabinet/ a whole romm or bathroom/ etc. once thats answered , the setup design can start. to produce an efficient and "worthwhile" (IMO) garden you will need a start up figure around $1200 - $1500 for a very nice small scale setup that will produce and continue to produce good results. on the low end you could spend $100 at walmart and git er dun. so it would be better if YOU decide where you want to grow, what type of medium you would like to use use (soil/hydro/etc.) ,what kind of power you want to run (how much?), tell us how much money you plan to spend to get started, what are the privacy needs (is the garden in clear view and still needs to be stealth? is the garden out of site out of mind?etc.) . So my point is lay out your specific plan and we can all help you with the fine tuning. you have to appreciate that there are millions of opinions floating around on RIU, and thousands of successful approaches to growing plants in all different types of configurations. there is no "best way" only many ways that can work for better or worse depending on the gardener. that being said: I would recommend a small hydroponic setup consisting of a flood tray, basin, pump, exhaust fan, air cooled light, bulb, ballast, oscillating fan, 2 timers, and high quality nutes (advanced nutrients full line will basically guarantee your success if you follow their instructions). so now for the questions you asked: a speaker cab can definitely be "worth it" but i guess that depends on what you call "worth it", feminized seeds provide an obvious benefit as it will usually remove the guess work and you can plant all yer seeds and just grow em without having to eliminate males, however feminized seeds have a high chance of being hermaphrodites (yield fruit and seed) in my expirience and I now prefer to sort the males and females for myself and a establish a good mama thru a few cycles of clones from the plants from seed and specific labeling on the clones but this takes forever and it is something i do on the side(not my primary garden). you should get yerself some healthy clones from a trusted / competant source if that is a possibility for you. 24hr timers can be found at any hardware store... it's just a timer. with light I always say the more the merrier... but it depends on the size of your grow space/how many plants you want/ and how big you plan to grow em, tell us that and we can advise the right size light. in general a quick variety will take a lil over 6 weeks where as a pure sativa can take as long as 12 weeks, so budding time depends on variety being grown. how big is the speaker... I'd go 1 bigger one LST'd or 4 tiny girls straight shooters. I would have loved to know alot of things on my first time, so get back with the info I asked you for and we can go from there. welcome

Alright, so I'll start looking at buying the pricier things now and get a room together before I start spending on seeds and what not. I'm thinking about trying a box regardless, maybe not a speaker but something because hiding it is something I'm really keen on. but if we're talking a one foot plant VS a 3-4 foot plant..I don't know man, lol. I might get creative, what would you guys think is a good size for a hand made grow box?(I work as a part-time electrician ATM, so I know what Im doing).

Anyway, It looks like I found a good 600 wat bulb, I found a cheap blower and fan. Am I hooking up the carbon filter on the air intake, or outake ? Or does it matter ? I'm new, and still reading multiple websites but people seem to be a better source of information .

For the above poster, what Im growing in is still in the air. I'm looking at materials for a whole room right now, but nothings guarenteed.


I want to grow in soil, I'd LIKE to have this first one hidden. Price wise, I'd think about 500$ would be nice to get started. I can always upgrade and change as circumstances do, though.

As for hydro's, I honestly have no clue about how those systems work. And because of that, I'm skeptical. As I dont have a lot of money(although some) I dont think investing THAT much would be worth while.(However someone may be able to convince me otherwise)


Also, wouldnt my plant dropping seeds be useful, as that may contribute to my next harvast ? That saves quite a bit of money I'd otherwise have to spend on the next batch of seeds ?

If you are interested in hydro, this is a cool diy thread..
https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/412798-diy-double-stack-aero-dwc.html

sure if you dont mind seeds in yer bud... i've had hermie crops that were super dank! people bitch about seeds and headaches that come with smoking hermie bud... but if you dont mind then there you go=). I wouldnt aim for hermie haha, but like i said , it'll still do the trick (again , if you dont mind it). and yes it would provide you with seeds...but the energy your plant puts into seed production will distract from energy it puts into bud development. with $500 you can get a good setup going for sure, you'll probly step it up as you go, but thats down the road. I'm not a soil guy so I'll leave that recommendation to someone who knows better, but foxfarm seems like a popular choice, also I once used oceanforest and had good results outdoors. if you have some building exp. then the construction will be cake for you. I'd say build a chest of drawers that isn't a chest of drawers at all =). make it 5-6' wide , 3-4 ' deep and 6-7' tall. Butt the unit against the wall and then scoot out from the side wall about a foot. leave the back against the wall. on the side of the unit closest to the wall(hidden in the 1 foot aisle) cut a 8 inch hole just off of the floor that will serve as your cool air intake. go to the opposite side of the unit on the top of the unit cut a 6 inch hole that will serve as your exhaust port. cover the entire inside of the unit with reflective material. if installing electrical inside the grow box, do this step next(i'm sure you need no advice on the how-to, but remember to keep all electrical off the floor and away from any potential spillage). next, attach your carbon scrubber to the intake of your blower fan via ducting or mount directly to blower with duct tape to make the filter and fan appear as a singular unit. install the filter/fan combo on the cieling of your built unit with bungee cords(to avoid vibration is the idea) and then attach ducting from the output of your blower to the 6 inch hole you cut up top. you now have a passive intake which will draw cool air from outside the garden- then thru the garden- and then exhausted along with the heat produced by your light. now take your oscillating fan and install a little higher then the mid section of the grow box, or for your application use 2-4 smaller clip on fans and arrange them evenly in the garden to create "wind" activity that is needed by your plants for healthy growth. now install your lighting. try not to loose headspace with the fan/filter and arrange those to the side of your light source- otherwise you will loose at least a foot of headspace that you will need later. now pop in your buckets filled with high quality soil, and check out your spacing. get a digital thermometer from home depot or walmart or whatever, and monitor your temp/humidity in your environment for 24hrs, you want temps in the range of 76-84- ideally 78-82f IMO. and humidity around 40-50%. if all goes well pop in yer girls and ready set- grow! I'm a lil ripped and may have missed something, feel free to holler haha