im ready to grow?

[aheadatime]

ok ive been doing some studying and thanks to a few patient experienced growers in this forum i finished my homework. right now i have a complete 400 watt hps system, some potting soil, ferts for 12/12, 1/1/1 maneur, a ph test kit, a lil fan, some mette paint, and my seeds obviously.
now to me, this set up is decent but i know theres a few things missing. some peole suggest that i use another supp light, maybe flour's just to save money, a co2 kit, a dehumidifier, mylar. any suggestions for my grow room? do you guys think im good to go? how many plants would you suggest growing at once under my current system? thanks for the time guys
now to sit back, spark up n let the pros give me advice :jointsmile:

[aheadatime]

ok today i ordered a second light system, this one was 95watt daytime flour to go with my 400 watt hps system. is this enough light to support 4 plants? or should i start with 3? ugh someone pls answer my questions, these forums are so empty lately

[SaanenGoats]

Gotta agree, the forums are awfully empty lately. Makes it harder for me to lurk guiltfree when no one else is taking up the slack. :D

Er, regarding are you ready to grow.... you're ready to grow when you grow. I don't know how much money you've sunk into all that equipment, but I bet it's a lot. At least for me, it's a lot. Now you can sit there with all that expensive crap waiting for someone to tell you when and how and what to do, or you make like Nike and just do it. ('scuse the awful, corporate---and outdated---reference)

Do you have enough stuff to grow? You had enough stuff when all you had was a plastic cup, dirt, seeds, and tap water. You might not have had the most optimal, but for g-d's sake, do you really think you're going to leap out of the gate and run the most professional, highly tuned, and sophisticated grow your first time around?

I'm glad you did your homework, it means that when you run into problems you'll have a foundation to figure out what you did wrong. But if you never make the mistakes, you'll never figure out what went wrong. Now shut up and grow already, don't wait for someone to tell you when it's ok for you to get off your hands and knees and walk. Get up.

That my two cents... feel free to ignore 'em. :jointsmile:

[keeko]

you can deff fit 4 plants under a 400hps. it does sound like your good to go. whats your grow space like?

[Exodus_herbman]

It sounds like you are ready to go. I would also recommend CFLs during the vegetive stage, HPS are red lights, and this is excellent for flowering. But CFL's are an efficient use of energy, plus the blue light is ecspecially good for stem and root growth, and this is useful during the vegetive stages. As for advice I would say your best bet if you want to really fine tune a grow area is just to make a simple investment in a Grow book, like the Cannabis Grow Bible by Greg Green from a bookstore and sit down and read. And always learn from experience. It wouldn't hurt to have a thermometer, and try to aim for 74-78 range, for optimal photosynthesis. Hope your grow goes well. and Jah bless :rastasmoke:

[Weedhound]

Well i think its great that someone wants to do it right. :thumbsup: ....I'm so sick of people who have put NO effort into growing until they have a problem.....or several because they didn't bother to research and spend a few $$ from the start.

My only other suggestions would be to buy a good quality bug spray and good quality fungus spray to have on hand....I hate it when I can't get to the store the next day etc and something is making mincemeat of my plants that I could be doing something about rather than waiting. :(

also something to keep in mind....humidity level in your growing room. ;)

[PharmaCan]

I'm not a pro by any stretch of the imagination, but I am a couple steps ahead of you as far as a first grow goes, so I'm encountering some of the same issues you will very soon.

One thing I noticed is you mentioned a 'lil fan'. If you look at just about any pic of a small grow-op, you almost always see that flexible duct pipe in the pic. As someone who is dealing with a heat issue now, I'll tell you that keeping the temperature down in grow area isn't as easy as one might imagine.

I have a 2' x 2' x 4'H grow box that I'm vegging some clones in. I have 411 (true) watts of cfls. With the door wide open, two fans blowing into the box and an ambient temperature of 75 F, the temps will barely stay below 80 F.

Once I get a couple of intake and exhaust fans, I should be able to more easily control the temp and keep it in the 70's. ... at least I hope anyway.

Be sure to save a some room in your budget for a good ventilation system. It is an absolute necessity.

[aheadatime]

thanks for the advice guys
yeah im going to buy a full spec 95 watt flour to help out with the HPS system.
and as for temps, im gonna have 2 fans and poke some holes in my door (im growing in a closet =]). hmm, i was wondering for anyone out there whos actually finished a plant or two, how much can i get from four plants using 500 watts? i wanna get at least a dry OZ from each plant but i dunno, some ppl are saying to get a good amount is the hardest part of growing =/
and yeah, i agree that experience is key but i dont wana waste my money with these seeds lol i have dutch passion power plant and dutch passion super haze =]

[Weedhound]

Depends on how well you can grow....that's really an impossible question imo. is it possible to get an oz per plant with your setup....absolutely. To get a good yield it WILL cost you money....best equipment, nutes etc...and as Pharma Can said heat will NOT be a small issue. Never saw anyone yet get a quality yield with no effort and no $$. ;)

[aheadatime]

any suggestions for ventalitaion systems then? cuz besides the co2 generator thats the one thing i havent invested in =/ i mean i have a fan but thats def not enough

[evertking]

you know i would get a fire extinguisher... you never know.. your grow or what ever... my girl friend was cooking and caught some shit on fire one time and we HAD to call the fire dept.. they were ALL in the house. i was shitting bricks.. but if i had a fire extinguisher it would have been avoided.... just my 2 cents. Good luck with your grow!

and yes DO NOT skimp on ventilation

[Weedhound]

That is an EXCELLENT suggestion EK....should be standard on the list....something nobody thinks about.

HID lights put out some STRONG heat.....I have 1 1kw in a 16x16 room (approx) and even with cental A/C the room cooked. I stuck an ADDITIONAL room ac in there....couldn't touch it. The only thing that I can think of is a good air-cooled reflector for your light. Cool tubes are also something to think about...they hold the heat in very well. That of course is seperate from a system that brings fresh air into the room and removes the old air.

[aheadatime]

hmm does anyone know of any one room air conditioners that dont require a window? pls leave a link no matter what the price is

[PharmaCan]

Google (http://www.google.com)

:D


Troll

[4x5]

It sounds like you are ready to go. I would also recommend CFLs during the vegetive stage, HPS are red lights, and this is excellent for flowering. But CFL's are an efficient use of energy, plus the blue light is ecspecially good for stem and root growth, and this is useful during the vegetive stages. As for advice I would say your best bet if you want to really fine tune a grow area is just to make a simple investment in a Grow book, like the Cannabis Grow Bible by Greg Green from a bookstore and sit down and read. And always learn from experience. It wouldn't hurt to have a thermometer, and try to aim for 74-78 range, for optimal photosynthesis. Hope your grow goes well. and Jah bless :rastasmoke:

But if all you have is a HPS for veg, why not, bigger faster vegging, plenty of people here use them all the way through.

[4x5]

thanks for the advice guys
yeah im going to buy a full spec 95 watt flour to help out with the HPS system.
and as for temps, im gonna have 2 fans and poke some holes in my door (im growing in a closet =]). hmm, i was wondering for anyone out there whos actually finished a plant or two, how much can i get from four plants using 500 watts? i wanna get at least a dry OZ from each plant but i dunno, some ppl are saying to get a good amount is the hardest part of growing =/
and yeah, i agree that experience is key but i dont wana waste my money with these seeds lol i have dutch passion power plant and dutch passion super haze =]
500w of pure hps could net you 1.5oz dried per plant(start vegging 8; you'll end up with 3-4 plants max at finish), in a few more experience gaining grows from now, you'll hit that number; and be able to do it again on command.