Beginner Yields???

[poker2]

I had done one grow before, small closet grow with 6 cfl's and two girls. Ended up with a whopping 14grams dry... yeah not much at all although it was a fun experience. *this was a natural grow, no nutes*

I am considering trying this again for numerous reasons (chronic PAINNNNN, don't want to buy off the streets ..). But I don't want to "cheap" out as much as I did with the cfl's.

What I'm looking at:
600w HPS and a MH
Grow Tent OR Build One???
I have about 5feet(60") x 3feet(40") x 6feet(70") of space (WxLxH)
nutes?
seeds/soil/other misc..
This will cost approx. $400-600.

Although it depends on MANY factors will I be able to yield AT LEAST 2 ounces per girl?
Reason being I do NOT want to spend MORE money on supplies and end up with a yield worth less than what I spend to start up! I remember "researching" and people were getting multiple ounces per girl with CFL'S! And I was quite disappointed by my yield. At least the quality cheered me up!

[aggerts]

Hay poker2 i am glad to see your 1st experience was fun and you are keen to have another crack at it. My opinion would be to go with the 600 w both HPS And MH, if you are only doing a few plants a 600 w is the best bang for your buck. Regarding yield i would go grab some organic nutes for both Veg and flower, there is plenty of info regarding the different mediums and what would work best for you. Regarding a grow tent or make your own i would make your own, then you can make it to whatever spec you require. I have just started my own grow not that long ago and its not going as well as expected but the wealth of knowledge on this site & others has helped me get back on track. K.I.S.S theory works well. ( Light, Fresh air in, Hot stale air out, PH, Food ) I hope you enjoy your grow a bit better this time around & have a bumper crop.

[poker2]

Yeah, during that first one I had a lot of help from here. I also spent a lot of time sharing what I learned and from all of that I myself learned a whole lot. Nutes are the only thing I need to learn more about, they confuse me:(. I'm leaning more to making one just because of you point of the custom dimensions. I couldn't find a tent for the space needed, it's either too big or too small.
and how were you guys' first grow with 600's or 400's.

[LOC NAR on probation]

With a 600w if you do good you should be expecting 1/2 grams per watt of light. So 300 grams. Some nutrients and a addon or two wil get you there. That's a good size light for your space. i have a 1000w in a 4x5x8. over kill I know but just got a lumateck dial a watt ballast. So I maybe will turn it down to 600 and see watt happens. If its below a pound it's back to overkill.

[XXXJAYXXX]

It really depends on how big you grow them, and how much attention to detail you pay.. I have seen guys yeild 3 pounds per 1000 watts of light.. but their set up is a LOT more complicated than yours! Organic nutes can be VERY fussy, and they tend to gum up equipment like pumps and stuff, they are quite messy.. and smell bad.. lol. I personally would not recommend an organic formula for a beginner just because they can be a LOT less forgiving! Your best bet starting out.. would be to go for a cheap 3 part food like GH flora.. and then stick to the feeding schedual they recommend untill you get used to how the plants respond to nutes.. These plants can handle up to 3X more than what they recommend.. but the conditions for the plant have to be OPTIMUM in all areas for it to be effective. Just keep it simple till you get the hang of it.. then add more to the formula as you see fit! I also recommend using "Growth Plus" as a foilar feed, mist your plants daily at lights on.. and it will help prevent molds and mildew from forming, as well as give your plants a good organic boost!

Good call on setting up your own tent.. it will be MUCH cheaper... but they are much harder to seal in smell and light.. so just keep that in mind depending on your circumstance.. you may want to go for a smell and light proof tent if you are worried about lookyloo's ;-)

My suggestion if you already have a bunch of CFL's kicking around.. would be to grow your plants as tall as you can in your space (I mean 5 or 6 feet tall if possible). Use the 600 HPS for top lighting, and spread your cfl's along the sides and bottom of your tent to give the lower branches more light. Use string and stakes to seperate your branches by pulling them away from the middle of the plant. this will expose more of the buds to light ;-) and make sure you LOLLYPOP your branches! Getting rid of the tiny little bud sites at the base of the branches will dramatically increase the size of the buds on top;-) If done properly you could easily yeild a few pounds off of 2 plants... good luck!

[Plantguardian]

Sounds like you're a quick learner poker2.
I've had several closets at various places but I'm liking the tents now-a-days. Started out w/a 3' x 3' and traded up to a 4' x 4'.
Personally, I'd go with a switchable MH/HPS unit (mine will do 400 or 600 watts and MH or HPS + I got heat-shields too) that way you can go MH for veg (blue spectrum) and HPS (red/orange spectrum) for flower. I've got 240 watt Blackstar LEDs cross covering w/my HPS and gettin' excellent results. The pics will give ya an idea. For nutes I like Fox Farm, but a touch of Beasty Bloom and a little Zyme Alive will work wonders as well. DO NOT over-feed. The Zyme Alive even makes the plants ripen faster. It's amazing. This link has pics that'll show why. Untitled Document (http://zymealive.com/contactus.html) Good luck to ya! :thumbsup: