First time for everything!

[Localboyz]

Hello everyone, I live in norcal and I have made a decision to grow some cannabis. I stumbled on to this site, and found it to be very informative. I hope to gain all the knowledge I need to be successful at my new venture, and make some new friends along the way.

[CovertCarpenter]

....that you've decided to join the (forgive the incessant puns to come) growing ranks of those in the furrows and trenches of the Underground Farming movement! Here learn you many things, young Jedi, if study diligently you will, he he hee hee hee heee

Many here will be mos' hep'ful to ya, particularly if you clearly describe the problems you may be having, but do your research first, before asking questions that might'a bin answered in a FAQ/Sticky thread somewhere here :)

I've received so much good advice and cameraderie here that it is hard to mention all who have helped me! Soooo... in the modern vernacular, a 'shout' out to Weez, peeps, stra8, char, coach, demor, hazem, jer, khykitsu, mniJoe, w-out, phatJ, chill-b, m-peg, trist, LSY, btFinn, and, of course, Rusty, [and any others that have helped me who I may have forgot due to short term memory imparment where the hell was I...? oh yeah!]

Welcome to Cannabinoid Paradise! (from sunny TO)

[Localboyz]

Well thank you much. I need to supplement my income just a bit .Got sucked in to a bad loan on the house, had two kids and wifey lost a good paying job. I just want to keep the things I have. I hate having to sell toys,and tools to make ends meet.

[CovertCarpenter]

...for an excellent and funny movie about the subject, watch Saving Grace, with Brenda Blethyn and Craig Ferguson (circa 2000ish).

Are you medi-legal to grow? If not, you really must think about concealment, or doing a 'small enough' grow that if they kick yer door in, you're not in too bad shape. I would recommend keeping it to four plants or less in this case, but you could make 'em monster-big, and still get away with 'only four plants'... :)

Which state/province/country/city are ye in? (if ye decline to answer, for security reasons, I'll understand ;) )

[Localboyz]

well Ive come this far, I live in northern California, Sacramento don't have a card. never smoked weed never will (smells bad JMO) Any one that is around me calls me a square. I am very concerned about the safety of my family an what trouble I will get into. So that is were this site comes in. I'm hoping to get as much info as I can before I do this. I want to make as little mistakes as possible. I don't have alot of people coming and going at the house. I have a shed out back that will house a refrigerator that will be my growing cabinet. Besides the legal stuff my only two concerns are smell and lighting. I'm an electrician and did the calcs on the power consumption and the 400w hps this type of light and watts will over double my electrical bill. Would like to start with 2 plants and move up to 4. I just hope to make some money, just looking at things I may only break even. Well now that I have aired my Landry I will sit back and study.

[CovertCarpenter]

well Ive come this far, I live in northern California, Sacramento don't have a card. never smoked weed never will (smells bad JMO) Any one that is around me calls me a square. I am very concerned about the safety of my family an what trouble I will get into. So that is were this site comes in. I'm hoping to get as much info as I can before I do this. I want to make as little mistakes as possible. I don't have alot of people coming and going at the house. I have a shed out back that will house a refrigerator that will be my growing cabinet. Besides the legal stuff my only two concerns are smell and lighting. I'm an electrician and did the calcs on the power consumption and the 400w hps this type of light and watts will over double my electrical bill. Would like to start with 2 plants and move up to 4. I just hope to make some money, just looking at things I may only break even. Well now that I have aired my Landry I will sit back and study.

Mistake number one is telling anyone (outside o' yer spouse, and, covertly*, us here on the boards) what you're doing. And even though you don't necessarily need cannabis, or think you need cannabis, I'd pursue the medical exemption angle just so you have a figleaf that will prevent them from ruining yer life, should you ever get busted. No one's actually gonna force you to take the 'erb you're growing... and having the medi.exemption would allow you to go buy clones from one of the co-ops.

Mistake number two would be letting your plants die out from neglect, misinformation, and/or malnourishment. Don't ask me how I Know This. :(

Starting with two plants, and moving up to four, sounds like a great idea. You could use SCRoG or LST to maximize yer harvest, and you should be able to light 'em properly with 400w of HPS. As to electrical consumption, if one postulated ten cents per kWh, and assumed 450w to overcompensate for the ballast, it should work out to:

450w/1hr=.45kWh, x 0.1=$.045 per hour, x18=$0.81 per day, x30=$24.30 extra per month, adjust accordingly if your price per kWh is higher or lower. This is not counting pumps, fans, etc, which are mice nuts next to your light. You may need air conditioning if your garden temperature goes above 82-83 as a working max.

If you wanted the freedom to move 'up' in the wattage world, while still starting at 400w, I'd suggest a digital ballast that will allow you to switch from 400 to 600 to 1000, and will light both HPS and MH. That way, you can try out 400w, and switch up at just the cost of a bulb if you find you need 600w or more.

Lum4t3k are my current preferred choice for ballasts, but they do have minor (correctable) problems with some bulbs. They work great with SunM4st3r, tho!

If one found oneself dealing with budgetary constraints, one could start with a single CFL, and expand little by little until one had a forest of 'em, cheaply. Check out Sunbl4st3r for the most efficient CFLs, but virtually any will do, starting with 23w 6500k or 4100k ones available at any WM or building store, or heaven forbid, your local corner store (gasp!)...

You might also wanna start a hu5hm4!L account just for your correspondance here :) Hope your garden grows well!

[Localboyz]

Everything you have told me so far is right on, from what I have read so far from the two books I've purchesed and the many forms that I visit. the only thing i cant figure out is the"hu5hm4 acount. what might this be?

[Kingpiner]

good luck with the start-up. i been ghosting this site for the last month reading as much as i can and this forum is absolutely packed with a-z. good luck :thumbsup:

[CovertCarpenter]

Everything you have told me so far is right on, from what I have read so far from the two books I've purchesed and the many forms that I visit. the only thing i cant figure out is the"hu5hm4 acount. what might this be?

...cuz the site seems to censor them all by itself, but the place you're looking for is h u s h m a i l . c o m. . . best free 'encryptable' email you can find, tho you have to check in every three weeks or lose the account (or pay for it!)...

Just think H - t m a i l, but with encryption. :)

This post is Not An Endorsement ;)