Hi, new and I would love a critique!

[Punani Jack]

Hello everyone,

I have long wanted to grow nice buds ever since I started smoking in HighSchool around 8 years ago. Now I am finally undertaking the dream.

My area is a 2nd floor bedroom of a 2 story townhouse. It is 10'x8' with an 8' ceiling.

I am considering buying a 600watt HPS setup and a 400watt MH setup. I am also debating whether to just get a conversion bulb for the 600 and use it for HPS and MH... Do they make MH conversion bulbs for 600watt setups? What do you guys think?

Also I should post my goals. I would like to ultimately harvest 4lb's of dry weed every 4 months. I really hope this is possible, but please tell me if that is out of my league.

I will be making a home made carbon scrubber. I will be airconditioning the room with a window unit. outside temp is around 68-80F. I will also have an exhaust fan going out the window.

I am starting from seed. I plan to start enough seeds to ultimately get 10 strong females. I am undecided on how I will go about germinating right now.

And I hope you do not think I am getting ahead of myself, but I plan do do this the HYDRO method. I am thinking that the wick system would be easiest for me... I would buy large rubbermaid containers and using them for reseviours and putting pots into the cover, then run wicks from the plant to the water below. Im sure I need more knowledge about this topic.

After round 1 and I have 10 "adult" females I will take clones from the best plants, id like 20 or more, then start to root and veg them. Also I will start to re-veg the 10 adults. At this point they can all be together in the room. After a couple weeks of this I put the clones into the closet and continue to veg them. Now I put the 10 mature plants on 12/12 and try to get another harvest. After about 30 days the clones from the closet can be taken out and put into the 12/12 fruit cycle with the adults. Does this sound like a good plan?

Thanks so much if u read all this. I really appreciate it.

[BlueDragonSmoke]

WOW... got it all planned out i see ...lol You gonna support a family off of the 4lbs a month ? Why so much at the start.... build your room, plan it all out and try to keep a couple happy , healthy and cool....work the kinks out of your room set up : temps , light, smell...and the thing with the A/C out one window and a exaust out a nother on same floor ...?... Wouldnt that catch your eye if you was to see that ? Just think... if you are gonna get into it 4lbs worth a month and all....There is a lot of better ways than the wick method....and keep in mind if you want 4lbs dry weight ...WOW that is a lot fresh....and a lot of stink....where you drying ALL that? Same room? How you gonna cure ALL that ? Where? Not trying to sound harsh but MAN SLOW DOWN A LITTLE...First time ... be happy if you even keep them alive..lol..and then be real happy that you dried it slow as possible with no mold and then curing it right so it even smokes like bud and not like a brush fire out in the woods...lol all harsh and hottt... just trying to help ...peace

[BlueDragonSmoke]

My honest opinon, a 4 foot fluor. light that holds 2 bulbs is better for cloning and starting plants from seed..no stretch, hardly no heat at all, you can keep them with in a inch of the plant tips.and there easier on the electric bill than a mh or hps..So I would start with fluor. 1 1/2 weeks mh400w vegg to the hight you want then hps600w for 12/12 ...they will bud good with the 200w increase, the hps will be a little hotter so look out for that and DONT crank up your A/C to help cause when its 12 dark it will be to cold for your plants.I would grow 4 plants max first grow, use the rubber tots though but get net pots and cut holes in the lids to fit them in. Either use air (bubbles) to feed the roots or some sorta drip or even eb and flow... the wick set up might work for you ,but there is home made , bubble, drip,and flow systems that will work WAY better and give you a better end result....

[Garden Knowm]

PUNANI..

I LOVE YOUR NAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

POO NANI

POON

tremendous !!!!!!!!!

HATS off
iloveyou

[Jerrodg]

He isn't trying for 4 pounds a month, rather 4 pounds every four months. My calculations are that using 80 square feet, you are going to need more than the 2 lights you suggested, you may want to look into 2 1000 watt lights. (Ideal lighting is 80 watts per square foot, which is 6400 watts for your room). If you have a seperate veg area to grow clones, and can handle a large perpetual garden you can keep plants always being in the flowering stage allowing almost 2 harvests every 4 months, meaning you need 2 lbs per harvest. 32oz in an 80 sq foot area should be rather easy to attain. Perhaps others may see logic differently. I will admit I am not an expert, in fact I am nearing completion of my first grow. I did however stay at a holiday inn express last night. (And have done a lot of reading on the subject.) Hope that helps.

[MrGuy]

Hate ta burst yer bubble, guy, but ya won't make it.
First of all, the A/C just won't handle it. Ya need FRESH air and a lot of air flow.
Remember, the rule of thumb is 1/2gram per Watt. Best case scenario is 500 grams in 4 months. Thats best case. Upstairs in a T/H would be really hard ta disinfect, so yer probably gonna have some pests. Home-made carbon filters are great, but depending on the size of yer op, they have ta be changed frequently.
What type of plants will you be growing? Sativa's take longer to bloom and have less yield, while indica's tend ta have less THC.
I agree with everyone else in starting small. Master things like PH, airflow and light wavelength (and density).
Test things out. Lets face it, if it's small and things work out, great! You go bigger! If it's small and there r problems, it's easier to fix, less time consuming and less stress.

All in all, its up to you. Nobody here is sayin don't do it, because we all want ya to succeed.
Good on ya!
PLUR

[LIP]

I'd say get a conversion bulb beacuse its easier and more cost efficent then getting 2 differnt ballasts. Make sure they're the same wattage though (So either both 400 (MH) or 600 (HPS) )

[Punani Jack]

Thanks for all the great replys!

Yes my ultimate goal is 1lb per month. And I understand that I wont get that right away. I will be starting out somewhat small because I am limited to working with seeds at first.

I will be getting some big bud and white widow seeds. I had some white widow while in amsterdamn some years ago and it was just wonderfull.

After thinking about it I will need at least 2 ballasts. I want to use the bedroom's closet as a 2ndary grow area where I can continue to Veg plants while the main room is for flowering. Would a 400w MH be to hot for a 8'x8'x2' closet? Should I go with a 250 instead?

Also I think I saw the bubbler method DIY post already. I dont quite get how it keeps the plants well fed. I cant see how air stones at the bottom of the reservoir make enough agitation to get water to the roots...

And I was planning to buy all or most of my stuff from insidesun.

I am not as worried about the smell as I am the electric bill. I dont care about the added cost to run the lights, I am worried about getting reported to the cops. What If I just turned my water heater off for good? MY water heater has a control box, and it has a timer, but It doesnt have the "things" on the timer to make it go on and off. Not that I can see anyway. However there is a switch to manually turn it off. If I did that then how much lighting can I have? And when my lights are off during the 12/12 should I turn on lots of lights in my house to compensate so the electric company doesnt see a huge pattern... what do you think?

As for the A/C and ventilation thing... The room has 1 window. It is about 2 feet wide and goes from the floor to the ceiling and is in a corner of the room next to the closet. I was thinking about leaving the windows open and still have the A/C installed. Then I would seal off the window from the rest of the room about 2 feet bacl from the window. Then I would install the venting fans into the "fake wall" I made. That is one idea I have. That way it looks normal if anyone looks at the window. But There is some trees the do a good job of blocking the view of that window. I rather not have to go that far, but I guess I could...

Anyhow I really really need to produce at least 1lb of dry bud every 4 months or this is really not worth it for me. But I am not worried because I have found this nice place. =D