Questions about first indoor grow #

[Tjalfe]

Wassup icmag.. I am about to plan my first indoor grow, and i need some help and comments on my thoughts.. I've done some outdoor grows a couple of times but now its time to get more serious..

I want my grow to be hydroponic, but before dealing with that i need to get the closet up running.. My intensions is not to get insanely high yield, but i need my yield to be insanely high quality. My grow is just to cover my own needs, so i thought 3 plants would do fine. I think i'm going for 250w, but after some thinking and reading i'm in doubt if 150w could do the job.. what do you think? and how would the extra lumen affect the quality of the outcome? The grow should make less noise as possible, but i will not compromise if the 250w would be much better? .. And about carbondioxid, what is your experience?

 

[Pompey_Monkey]

1. Stick with soil, it's more forgiving and quieter than hydro.

2. If you can cool a 250W, go with that. Lower wattages can achieve very good results, but it's a lot easier with more lumens!

3. Don't even consider CO2 until you're really good at growing with normal ventilation - CO2 will add expense and you'll have no idea what effect it's having (if any) unless you have a baseline to compare against.

4. Have fun doing it!

 

[Tjalfe]

yea, you are probably right about the soil, since this is my first indoor grow. What would be an appropiate size for the closet, if i stick with 3 plants and 250w? The extra lumen must require more space to avoid too much heat, right.

 

[Pompey_Monkey]

About 4-5 square feet should give you sufficient light intensity. So a 2 by 2 1/2 foot 'drobe will do you nicely and will give you a bit of headroom for the stretch that seems to catch out plenty of new growers (no offence intended here - it's just an observation).

You can start with three plants, but once you get the knack of training or scrogging (which you'll need to with a 250 to get the best results), you'll probably drop it to just two or maybe even one plant.

As for cooling, I'm not an expert at the size you're working at, but it probably could be done with some beefy PC fans. These will also be fairly quiet. To be sure though, I suggest that you look through some guides for micro-grows on the link-o-rama: http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=40637

 

[Tjalfe]

Sweet. Thanks for the advices dude.. Can't wait to get started.

 

[nanalyly072]

Both indoor and outdoor cannabis cultivation have advantages and disadvantages. It's crucial to be aware of both the benefits and drawbacks so that you can prepare for potential problems.
nerdle

 

[Creeperpark]

Plant 10 dixie cups with one seed each. As the plants grow and fill up the growing space you can thin them out. Keep the canopy as full as you can until you find your best females. In the end, pick 1 or 3 of the very best plants.

 

[Creeperpark]

Fill the cups with quality potting soil like FoxFarms Ocean Forest, or Happy Frog or Pro-mix HP. If you use reg seed and not feminized you need to germinate at least 10 seeds at a time. You will have to chop down your males. You can double the 25O watt or just add a little extra light by the time the plants are flowering. The temps will be cold by then and the tent will need extra heat. When the plants get too big for the cups, you can up-pott into one-gallon pots.

 

[Spaceman_Spiff]

If you haven't bought a light yet you might want to consider LED. It is way easier to control your heat and the light quality can be significantly better if you get the right lamp. Talk to the dude at the horticulture shop they will steer you in the right direction.

Indoors the light will diminish by 1/16 per foot of travel. I believe that's the right number so imagine the formula you need to use....think about your light foot print and heat output.

A 250 watt light is going to output roughly 27,500 lumens. Divide that into your foot print. 5 square ft and you have 5,500 lumens per square foot.

Understand that for every foot you have to elevate above your canopy you are going to lose 1/16 of that or 0.0625.

250 watt light 27,500 lumens:
lumen loss 343.75 per foot:
so 1 ft is lumen loss 343.75 = 5156.25 lumens per square foot
2 ft is lumen loss 687.5 = 4812.5
3 ft is lumen loss 1031.25 = 4468.75

The more heat you are generating the higher you have to move your light and the more light you are losing.
LED make less heat and run much more efficiently. Can be dialed into optimal visual light ranges for plant growth. A 250 watt LED will get you much better results and make your life easier. my 2 cents.

If you absolutely wanted to do hydro but you don't want to mess with tons of complicated stuff. You can just go soilless and use coco as a medium and run it like a soil grow.
If you absolutely want to grow in water and you wanted the easiest hydro setup ever just do a DWC- Deep Water Culture.
Five gallon bucket. Basket. Clay Pellets. Air stone. Hydroponic food. Keep it Simple. I've seen first timers have a blast with the "science experiment" and get excellent results from DWC.

 

[Cannapot1]

Cannabis plants may be male, female or hermaphrodites. This means that each plant has male or female reproductive organs. Female cannabis plants produce female flowers or “buds” and, in order to produce seeds, they need to be pollinated by a male cannabis plant. Cannabis is an annual plant, its flowering period is determined by the seasons and when the cycle ends, the plant dies. Photoperiodism is a developmental response to the changes of duration in the cycles of light and dark periods.

 

[St. Phatty]

And about carbondioxid, what is your experience?

I agree it's educational to witness the difference with & without CO2.

BUT since you said you want Serious Quality (serious resin, serious trichomes) CO2 is a good idea.

If you happen to have a friend with 3 pet bunnies or 15 pet rats in a cage, that will help provide CO2.

Of course you need Serious Ventilation - e.g. 2 oscillating fans - to blow the CO2 at the plants.

Also the most important source of CO2 is, room ventilation. If you don't have an inlet fan and an outlet fan, you're jinxing your grow.

Normally I use a solution of sugar water to make the CO2. Basically replicating the wine making process, but using Table Sugar instead of Grape Sugar.

I use 2 gallons of warm water, 2 pounds of sugar, maybe 2 tablespoons of Active Dry Yeast, and one 1/2 teaspoon of Wine Yeast.

The solution generates CO2 and creates Alcohol at the same time.

Eventually the Alcohol kills the yeast, that's why you use the Wine (or champagne) Yeast, it has greater alcohol tolerance.

All it does is bubble like a big glass of soda, but, for 3 or 4 days.

If you have a compost pile it can use the sugar water when the solution stops bubbling.

In one of the botany textbooks I read 30 years ago, when CO2 ppm naturally was about 350 ppm, I remember some of the textbooks advocated raising CO2 levels to 389 ppm.

Now the natural CO2 level is 420 ppm, so, if you are giving your plants ventilation (inlet-outlet ventilation, and room air circulation ventilation) they are getting CO2 even without buckets of cheap champagne fermenting and bubbling.