what would you do

[memphis man]

i have humored the idea of finally setting up a grow and would like to hear from more exp growers on how they would design a room. the grow will more than likely be done in a rental in which no one will be living and shall be in a seculed location with out neighbors near by. i will furnish the home so that it looks lived in at a glance as well as having lights tv's etc on timers to give the look of people being at home.

what i am wanting to know is if you had a 6k budget to start with and had a goal of at 4lbs per harvest keeping in mind that i would have to veg and clone myself as i am not in a med state how would you set up the grow? i would like to keep the elect bill similar to what a family of three would normally consume in a month as not to give any red flags at the local power company.

would you black out the windows and just grow on trays or would you do tents? would you run 600's or run 1000's

i have seen where people say the goal to shoot for is 1 gram per watt how long would i need to veg my plants to achieve this under a 1000's vs a 600 and how many plants would you run under each light?

i know i have asked a shitload of questions here but im sure i have a ton more that i am forgetting. any help is appreciated thanks for taking the time to help me out on this one.

edit.... i forgot to mention that i would prefer to run a soil grow not hydro

 

[Milwaukee]

you need to do a lot of research dude

 

[Duplicate]

If you've never grown before I would start small in a tent/cabinet in a place that you can have regular access to and learn the plant and how it grows. This is the best way to learn I think. There are just so many thing that you can never learn by reading or asking questions. This also reduces the amount of your capital investment which will leave a lot of padding for supplies and/or materials you hadn't counted on.

I wanted to do this same thing and after setting up a couple of tents with t5 for veg and a couple of 600s I'm glad I didn't put out for a rental house! Plus, if I ever do want to try and move into a house I can set everything up here in my tents and move an army of vegged material, ready to flower, in the house so that the turn around on the first crop will be shorter reducing the amount I'm putting out in rent up front.

There are just so. many. annoying things that can happen when learning I would hate to have all of that investment hanging over my head, aggravating me even further as I'm staring at a scraggly/burned/malnourished/undervegged/overgrown/etc. crop.

 

[supermanlives]

dont waste cash on tent use whole room.

 

[memphis man]

i have researched alot but also value the knowledge and ideas that i can gain here from more exp people than myslef. i have grown under 150 watts before as just kinda a personal stash grow but would like to take it to the next level and could use some guidance. from what my researching and reading here has told me that in a perfect world i could achieve this by flowering under 2k getting the ever elusive i gram per watt but i have talked to growers whom i know personally that grow under 1000's and they say an lb per light is the norm i am looking for somebody who grows under 2 to 3 k worth of light that can consistantly pull more than an lb per light to lead me in the right direction. im not scared to research as that is what i have been doing for the last six months while getting funds together to make this happen so please if you dont have anything valuable to input here please refrain from posting as it is no help to me or anyone else thank you

 

[supermanlives]

i get an lb under 600.your question is so vague.there is more than one way to skin a cat.i would say if you want 4 lbs use 4k lighting to play it safe.

 

[memphis man]

If you've never grown before I would start small in a tent/cabinet in a place that you can have regular access to and learn the plant and how it grows. This is the best way to learn I think. There are just so many thing that you can never learn by reading or asking questions. This also reduces the amount of your capital investment which will leave a lot of padding for supplies and/or materials you hadn't counted on.

I wanted to do this same thing and after setting up a couple of tents with t5 for veg and a couple of 600s I'm glad I didn't put out for a rental house! Plus, if I ever do want to try and move into a house I can set everything up here in my tents and move an army of vegged material, ready to flower, in the house so that the turn around on the first crop will be shorter reducing the amount I'm putting out in rent up front.

There are just so. many. annoying things that can happen when learning I would hate to have all of that investment hanging over my head, aggravating me even further as I'm staring at a scraggly/burned/malnourished/undervegged/overgrown/etc. crop.

i have grown on smaller scales before and i realize that this plant requires much attention lol and that i am willing to give it. i am just wanting to set my self up right from the jump so i dont have to keep investing as time goes on ( which i am sure i will do any way because we all know the object is to overgrow lol) i am setting a goal of a 4 lb harvest because i believe that would be an awesome return on my original investment and i personally just love the plant and the serenity that comes with growing your own herb

 

[memphis man]

superman how long do you veg? how big a pot do you use? do you use smart pot, air pot. hempy bucket etc.?

 

[Duplicate]

i have grown on smaller scales before and i realize that this plant requires much attention lol

Word.

 

[h^2 O]

dude buy like a DOZEN 1k lights....fill the master bedroom or basement with hundreds of plants.
Just kidding.
6k bucks is a lot of money man. Well maybe to some it's not but to me it is. You can get a couple of 1k watters for like under 400 bucks. You'll have 5,400 dollars left.
Figure out what you want to do...soil or hydro...ducting and ventilation...lot of variables.

 

[memphis man]

Word.

dup i have grown on a small scale using 2 liter coke bottles as containers in a closet that i had dived top for veg and bottom for flowering. it was a perpetual grow using two home made converted 150 watt hps in cooltubes. i would add 6 plants per week ever week till week 8 then when i harvested i was pulling a consistant 7 to 11 grams per plant every week. is was a real ghetto grow but i believe if given the right oppurtunity and right equipment i could reach my goal if i apply myslef to the fullest

 

[memphis man]

h20 i am planning on getting the biggest fan and scrubber i can find and put it on a thermostat to help with cooling the room. i want to grow in soil as it is a little more forgiving than hydro (which i have never done and also am scared to death of) i was planning on ducting into a seperate bedroom as not to let heat escape from the home showing infared heat if ever there was a flyover. i have tried to think of everything but i realize its better to ask more knowledgeable people rather than just wing it. this is why i love this site! please guys keep the ideas coming as this is what i really need is input

 

[Zen Master]

i get an lb under 600.

and you have access to top quality clones, no mother selecting required, plus you know its gonna yield and its gonna be dank.

oh and you've been growing for years....

only reason I say it is because I too (many years ago) thought "oh yeah man just throw up a 1000w and pull down pounds".

wrong.



no matter how much reading you've done, NOTHING compares to first hand experience. You WILL encounter unexpected problems.

if you don't have equipment already, 6k for gear+rent+bills is not enough unless you have a good (legit) job on the side, that or you're scraping by on the setup which usually doesn't pan out for first timers.

all this is being said for your 4 lb target.

dont expect even 1 p per 1000w for a first time bigger grow. Its a completely different world than a 150w in a box in the closet.

growers that have been doin it for years and have their strains dialed in get a gram a watt, many below that.... a few get above (yeah yeah Heath isn't human in the yield/watt category so he doesn't count )




this is my advice to anyone looking to set something up beyond small scale personal

double the cost of everything

halve what you THINK you might yield (be realistic with it too).

and halve what you think you can get $$ for it.

and add a few months... if not 3, to the timeline because the first run is when all the kinks show their ugly heads.


there are some people that can throw a few grand into a place and have it churn out A+ herbs for the first time, but I have yet to see it....

 

[memphis man]

You can get a couple of 1k watters for like under 400 bucks. ventilation...lot of variables.

i have looked for lights in this price range but i cant seem to find them. the ones i have been looking at are dig ballast with the magnum aircolled hoods but they are all running around 500. are the cheaper lights you speak of mag ballast or am i missing something? also dont dig ballast run cooler as well as save on elec?

 

[Duplicate]

dup i have grown on a small scale using 2 liter coke bottles as containers in a closet that i had dived top for veg and bottom for flowering. it was a perpetual grow using two home made converted 150 watt hps in cooltubes. i would add 6 plants per week ever week till week 8 then when i harvested i was pulling a consistant 7 to 11 grams per plant every week. is was a real ghetto grow but i believe if given the right oppurtunity and right equipment i could reach my goal if i apply myslef to the fullest

Hey that's pretty cool man! I wasn't questioning your skills btw, just sayin, as you didn't highlight your experience in the OP. You've more experience than I do fwiw.

 

[Milwaukee]

suggesting that you do some serious research is very valuable. The title of your thread is "What would you do?" That is what I'd do instead of asking a bunch of strangers how to spend your 6 grand. There's a learning curve that goes with growing. Good advice helps but people spew out so much bad info, shit they've heard and never tried - then pass this bad info on as fact. Find some people that have had proven success and talk to them. Have you checked out Stinkbud's aero/nft perpetual setup? Personally I haven't tried it but it sounds about right for the size of you wanted to run. Looks pretty simple and inexpensive too.

 

[memphis man]

zen master thanks for your input and your words are spot on for what i am feeling. and also i would agree heath is not your average human being lol his grows fucking rock. i know i will have to do some extensive mother selction but i have access to many starins of killer beans from a buddy in norcal and i dont mind investing the time to find that single special lady that we all search for. i have had to master cloning due to neccesity in my area as we cant just run out and buy clones here so that part i feel comfortable in saying i could produce good clones right out of the gate. ( one hurdle down i hope) also i set my goal at the 4 lb mark with exactly what you were saying in mind that i would probably only reach that by 50% on my first try which still would double my initial investment of 6k. i also dont expect to see any yields for the first four months. the rent on the house is only 500 per month so basically you could say that i am left with 4 k to set up with. in your opinion how would you set up shop to achieve what i am trying to do?

 

[Zen Master]

i have looked for lights in this price range but i cant seem to find them. the ones i have been looking at are dig ballast with the magnum aircolled hoods but they are all running around 500. are the cheaper lights you speak of mag ballast or am i missing something? also dont dig ballast run cooler as well as save on elec?

run cooler? yes.

less electricity for a 1000w digi versus a 1000w mag ballast? no, well maybe like 50w.... the startup peak is insignificant as far as usage IMO.


for a quality light that you aren't sketching it failing on you, you're gonna drop a couple hundred, each, minimum in my mind. Hell my bulbs are $100 a piece....


the biggest scrubber you can find with a big fan is gonna be another 500


an A/C unit (scrubbers dont cool, they just scrub, actually they add heat to the room) is gonna be 500+ for a new one that can handle 4k, if not a few of them needed or one big ass one.

even the mylar and ducting add a few hundred on a bigger grow, shit adds up REAL fast.

if you live in a cheap area or already own the house you could do it, I live in an expensive area and absolutely wouldn't be able to do a 4kW+ grow for <6grand. (saying I had to buy gear and a place/bills to do it)

 

[sso]

agree with zen.

only going from 150w to 1 600w hps was a bit of a jump, took a few grows to get the hang of the vastly greater power at one´s disposal.

its like having driven a toyota and then going to ferrari, you are talking about going to f1.

so id at least do a shitload of research

 

[Yes4Prop215]

its gonna be hard man...your budget is the biggest thing holding you back...6k is no where near enogh money to properly set up a house.

but if you were to throw the budget out of the window.......i would do 3-4 lights per bedroom. since you got to veg yourself you probably cannot afford to do big monster plants on the floor....so i recomend scrog style in the flood trays. you are already doing an illegal state so plant counts dont even matter for the most part.


so 3-4 lights per room on flip flop with trays, dehueys, res, are gonna run around 5grand per room. then you gotta figure out if you are going intake/exhaust or sealed CO2 with AC (more money...)

then for the veg room, you are gonna need at bare minimum, a 400 watt light in a 4x4 veg tent for the mothers. get 2 double decker shelf systems each level holding a 4 light hydrosuns t5 light system, each light runs 200 watts so 200x4 another 800 watts.

to properly set up each room for the electricity you are gonna need to spend another couple thousand to re-wire the rooms and add new breakers and possibly even new subpanel...


to give you rough estimate, i run 1 bedroom with 4 phantom digi 1ks, and 1 veg room with the same setup i described above, all using middle to top of the line equipment no cheap shit. my costs are at least 10 grand probably more....to add another room will cost another 5k i estimate...shit gets expensive but money can be saved. use sawhorses or home depot buckets and 4x8s to save some money....use home depot industrial rubbermaids instead of hydrofarms reservoirs....etc im currently in the processs of automating most of my trays so thats more money to spend on good pumps, tubing, drippers, etc....


then you got to cover rent and other things for the first 3 months.....and thats even considering you get a nice harvest. more likley than not your crop will get hit by something, mites, gnats, mold, but since you are in a non med state quality isnt the most important i guess.....id recomend at least a 20grand saved up before you try this....10k for the rooms with the cheapest possible equipment and ballasts, and 10k for rent and unexpected expenses...