SunnyJim
Well-Known Member
Hi folks,
I've been lurking on this site for approximately a month now, reading up on other grows and such. This is an awesome forum, btw. I learn something new every time I read a thread. You might want to skin up for this read, it's quite long.
I'm so close to biting the bullet, and starting my own humble grow. My concerns are not groundbreaking. I'm worried about spending cash and completely fucking up my grow. I'm worried about spending cash in the wrong places, and I'm worried about spending cash I can't really afford to piss away, being a poor student. That said, I currently spend more than I should on pot, and worse still I directly contribute towards criminal activity by buy from a dealer. My guy is no doubt a middle man, who buys in bulk off of another guy who probably has a source in a Vietnamese grow house full of illegals who steal electric power and destroy (usually) rented accommodation. Real criminals.
I do not believe cannabis for personal consumption should be illegal in any country. Smoking in your own home, not causing trouble, not stealing in order to fund the buying/growing of weed should never be a crime, imo. Therefore I'm leaning towards growing my own 2, maybe 3 plants to bypass all the actual criminality the government seems too stubborn to address. Decriminalise the growing of cannabis for personal consumption only (I do not plan on growing and dispensing my harvest to my friends, give or sell some to them.. call me selfish, but I would rather everyone took it upon themselves to grow their own supply) and you'll see an immediate demand for illegal grow houses drop. Simples.
The real irony, for me, is that every individual component needed for a home grow, even down to the seeds themselves, can be purchased completely legally. Throw them all together, and all of a sudden you're criminalised. Absurd logic.
/end rant
Assuming I go ahead with my plan, I figure I should start with a forgiving plant, so I'm pretty sure I'm going for Easy Ryder feminised, from www.lowryder.co.uk.
Any comments on the seller? Reputable?
I haven't quite decided on germinating all three, or just two to start off, given the space I have available (a stealth cupboard 110cm H x 60cm L x 42.5cm D).
I'll line the walls with this stuff – Diamond Sheeting from Metagro.
And I'll use 2 x 120mm PC fans, one intake about 30cm up the left wall, and one exhaust near the top of the right wall. I'll fix a slim pc fan filter on both, not for the smell which I'm not concerned about, but more to try to keep dust particles and maybe bugs out of the cabinet. Is this sufficient cooling/air flow?
Now on to the things I'm really not sure about..
Lighting is a big concern, probably the biggest because it is the single most expensive component of the project. Because I'm growing in such a small space, I am pretty convinced by some of the other growers here that CFLs can yield decent results, assuming you have enough lumens and the lights are close enough to the plants without burning them. I know most will recommend using an HPS, but they are expensive to buy and they throw out a lot of heat which needs to be dealt with at even more cost.
With CFLs in mind, I plan on using 2 x 125W Envirolites Blue/White 6400K for the first 4 weeks, giving me time to save enough money to replace the two blues with 2 x 125W Envirolites Red 2700K for flowering. From start to finish, I will also be using 4 x Helix Energy Savers 30W Warm White at 1535 lumens each (2 bulbs on the left and right side of the cabinet, which will hopefully get some light below the canopy during flower). The two 125Wers give out 9,000 lumens each, so with the four other bulbs, that's around 24,000 lumens total for two Easy Ryders on an 18/6 light cycle. I welcome debate on this one, because I'm on the verge of going for this set up. All the bulbs would come in at around £80 and I have some bulb holders I can wire up. No need to worry about too much heat, or an expensive ballast. If I had a spare £150, I would definitely go for the 125mm Cool Tube kit, with extractor etc.
The last two things I'm not so sure about is the soil I should use, or the nutes I should buy. I live in the UK, and I cannot find Fox Farm soil which is what most seem to go for stateside. Anyone know of a good UK equivalent? Next is whether I should mix the soil with perlite – 2 parts soil, 1 part perlite.. and what the size the pots should be. I think these 7.5L (approx 2 US gallons) ones should be ok from seed to harvest, but again, feedback would be cool.
Finally, nutes. I've read that Easy/Low Ryders should only be watered with PH balanced water for the first week or two. So what nutes (available to UK growers) does everyone recommend? I've heard of people using Big Bud for a couple weeks during flower. Thoughts on that?
I'm sure I need to buy a temp/humidity gauge along with a PH meter.. Hopefully I'll source some for much cheapness.
That's it. What does everyone think? With a little gentle persuasion from people here, I'm probably 3 weeks away from planting.
SunnyJim out.
I've been lurking on this site for approximately a month now, reading up on other grows and such. This is an awesome forum, btw. I learn something new every time I read a thread. You might want to skin up for this read, it's quite long.
I'm so close to biting the bullet, and starting my own humble grow. My concerns are not groundbreaking. I'm worried about spending cash and completely fucking up my grow. I'm worried about spending cash in the wrong places, and I'm worried about spending cash I can't really afford to piss away, being a poor student. That said, I currently spend more than I should on pot, and worse still I directly contribute towards criminal activity by buy from a dealer. My guy is no doubt a middle man, who buys in bulk off of another guy who probably has a source in a Vietnamese grow house full of illegals who steal electric power and destroy (usually) rented accommodation. Real criminals.
I do not believe cannabis for personal consumption should be illegal in any country. Smoking in your own home, not causing trouble, not stealing in order to fund the buying/growing of weed should never be a crime, imo. Therefore I'm leaning towards growing my own 2, maybe 3 plants to bypass all the actual criminality the government seems too stubborn to address. Decriminalise the growing of cannabis for personal consumption only (I do not plan on growing and dispensing my harvest to my friends, give or sell some to them.. call me selfish, but I would rather everyone took it upon themselves to grow their own supply) and you'll see an immediate demand for illegal grow houses drop. Simples.
The real irony, for me, is that every individual component needed for a home grow, even down to the seeds themselves, can be purchased completely legally. Throw them all together, and all of a sudden you're criminalised. Absurd logic.
/end rant
Assuming I go ahead with my plan, I figure I should start with a forgiving plant, so I'm pretty sure I'm going for Easy Ryder feminised, from www.lowryder.co.uk.
Any comments on the seller? Reputable?
I haven't quite decided on germinating all three, or just two to start off, given the space I have available (a stealth cupboard 110cm H x 60cm L x 42.5cm D).
I'll line the walls with this stuff – Diamond Sheeting from Metagro.
And I'll use 2 x 120mm PC fans, one intake about 30cm up the left wall, and one exhaust near the top of the right wall. I'll fix a slim pc fan filter on both, not for the smell which I'm not concerned about, but more to try to keep dust particles and maybe bugs out of the cabinet. Is this sufficient cooling/air flow?
Now on to the things I'm really not sure about..
Lighting is a big concern, probably the biggest because it is the single most expensive component of the project. Because I'm growing in such a small space, I am pretty convinced by some of the other growers here that CFLs can yield decent results, assuming you have enough lumens and the lights are close enough to the plants without burning them. I know most will recommend using an HPS, but they are expensive to buy and they throw out a lot of heat which needs to be dealt with at even more cost.
With CFLs in mind, I plan on using 2 x 125W Envirolites Blue/White 6400K for the first 4 weeks, giving me time to save enough money to replace the two blues with 2 x 125W Envirolites Red 2700K for flowering. From start to finish, I will also be using 4 x Helix Energy Savers 30W Warm White at 1535 lumens each (2 bulbs on the left and right side of the cabinet, which will hopefully get some light below the canopy during flower). The two 125Wers give out 9,000 lumens each, so with the four other bulbs, that's around 24,000 lumens total for two Easy Ryders on an 18/6 light cycle. I welcome debate on this one, because I'm on the verge of going for this set up. All the bulbs would come in at around £80 and I have some bulb holders I can wire up. No need to worry about too much heat, or an expensive ballast. If I had a spare £150, I would definitely go for the 125mm Cool Tube kit, with extractor etc.
The last two things I'm not so sure about is the soil I should use, or the nutes I should buy. I live in the UK, and I cannot find Fox Farm soil which is what most seem to go for stateside. Anyone know of a good UK equivalent? Next is whether I should mix the soil with perlite – 2 parts soil, 1 part perlite.. and what the size the pots should be. I think these 7.5L (approx 2 US gallons) ones should be ok from seed to harvest, but again, feedback would be cool.
Finally, nutes. I've read that Easy/Low Ryders should only be watered with PH balanced water for the first week or two. So what nutes (available to UK growers) does everyone recommend? I've heard of people using Big Bud for a couple weeks during flower. Thoughts on that?
I'm sure I need to buy a temp/humidity gauge along with a PH meter.. Hopefully I'll source some for much cheapness.
That's it. What does everyone think? With a little gentle persuasion from people here, I'm probably 3 weeks away from planting.
SunnyJim out.
