Newb Small grow questions light/vent?

[indi420]

Hi everyone as this is my first real thread i'll try and keep it simple and to stick to the rules,I believe the use of SWIM is not condoned here?

 

First of all Happy 4/20 to all!

 

A little about my situation, I am currently looking into the possibility of starting a small 1 plant grow (I have been advised to go two but personally I want everything to be as simple as possible).

I am going for a 100% stealth indoor setup in a small bedside table i had made in the past the size is roughly  h350/w280/d310  this would have to include the whole shabang, lights/ventilation/plant/and anything else required to grow. 

 

The main list of things that I need personally due to my living situations are 

 

Having no smell if possible,

Not having it sound like a jet engine anything more than say the sound of a good gaming rig pc would not work 

Keeping it stealth as previously mentioned

Finally Power cost i cannot use the best of the best lights due to the demanding power cost.

 

I have been reading across this forum among others for the past few weeks now and to be quite honest it is all quite daunting but anyhow from what i have gathered to try and ask some at least not 100% stupid questions are.

 

1. Probably the most obvious first question ..Can i actually grow in that space with the requirements that my situation demands or am i dreaming to think this will work. 

 

2. What lights would you recommend, (and please be detailed about lumens/type/wattage I'm a noob) from what I have gathered  using led lights would funnily enough work perfectly for what i need ... but I have read they yield horrible... so my next thought was buying a single CFL package complete with the single bulb, socket, a power cord and bracket to screw into the roof of my bedside table here. I'm not fooling myself to play sparky and risk burning my house down  . What do you guys think? something like this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GROLITE-FLUORO-SMALL-WHITE-SHADE-KIT-6400K-130W-CFL-/400292160150?pt=AU_Seed_Starting_Hydroponics&hash=item5d3345a296#ht_1405wt_1163 but not as large unless you think that wont fry my plants if i bend the reflector down to fit (its the smallest i could find)

 

3.The ventilation. Now obviously i know there will be smell, controlling that smell in as small a package as i can is my dilemma, i was thinking of going with a small activated carbon filter ... currently the smallest i can find is this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/CAN-FILTER-1500-100-X-250MM-/190782163940?pt=AU_Seed_Starting_Hydroponics&hash=item2c6b80cbe4#ht_1396wt_906, would this work, what kind of fan would i need to pull enough air through it... again would love to use a PC fan or 3 or some other small quiet fan ... i believe inline fans are made to fit into that air piping right?  help?  I'm lost here

 

4. I know this might not be the right section for this question but i was thinking of going soil to make it easier and to not use all the chemicals that hydro does, any opinions, 

 

4b. again the same but i was thinking of growing with some northern lights autos (not having to worry about changing lighting times ect i believe) what do you think a seed like that could yield in such a small setup like mine (I can learn about topping to widen the plant and clipping to let the plant use more energy on buds and less on the vegetation and all that ..)  I know it is a vague question  (probably like most of my others) but what do you think?

 

If anyone here actually takes the time to read my thread I very much appreciate it. Cheers 

 

[buzzo]

1. you will find the area particualarly the height will be an issue...the height of the pot and the light at the top will only give you around 15cm of actual grow height.

 

2. But if you really want to give it a go..around 30 to 50 watts of fluro for that small size.....have no experience with LEDS sorry.

 

3. you won't need anymore than a computer fan for that size area...yeah filter will work OK

 

4. unless you have experience with soil grows I wouldn't use it...Try Coco growing medium with Coco Nutes

 

4A.  will be lucky to get 15 grams with the setup you are thinking of.

 

I would try and use a fridge as the grow room and use Coco and HPS if you really want anything worth discussing.

[DoctorWho]

1) the space is far too small.  You want stealth which means having a carbon filter, ducting and an extraction fan.  combine that with a pot and you have literally no room for the plant to grow in.

 

2) a low wattage CFL would be ideal such as a 42w one from bunnings.

 

3)  Good luck finding a 4" fan that doesn't sound like a mini jet engine.  Since stealth is what you want you simply can't have a fan making that much noise.  Ideally you would go for a larger fan and use a speed reducer to reduce the speed down to the desired rate of air flow.  Bigger fans running at the same air flow rate as smaller ones make considerably less noise.

 

4) soil can be good, coco would be better.  Either way you will have to invest in nutrients to get a plant to harvest.

 

4b) Autos aren't what you want simply because you want to control the rate of growth.  Autos don't give two shits about your grow room dimensions, they'll flower when they damn well please.  You also can't keep mother plants which is another downer.

 

In summary, buy yourself a second hand wardrobe, deck it out properly and buy yourself some good genetics.  This is a hobby that requires investment in time, money and education and if you go for anything less than all 3 you're going to have a bad time.

[forgetiwashere]

yeah the space is very small. its not going to be really productive no matter how you look at it and the size is going to present a lot of obstacles. all that aside micro grows can be a lot of fun and a great learning experience.

 

i suggest flat tube fluoro lights. your hydro store might stock something to get you going but your best bet would be an aquarium store as they have all sizes of lights to fit on top of all sizes of fish tanks ranging from tiny to large, plus they can have specific tubes designed to grow aquarium plants that work just as well for real plants. because they are flat they will save you some space over the one you saw on ebay.

 

the other guys are correct and coco is quite a good medium to start on. plus you can grow in a fairly shallow pot and save some space again. height is going to be a constant issue, LST or a small scrog will be a must.

 

as for ventilation your definitely going to need airflow its one of the most important aspects of growing IMO. one or 2 computer fans might be enough in that space and wont make a lot of noise since they are the same as whats in your PC anyway. as for odour you might just have to wear a little smell. its not going to be massive because your not going to be growing a whole lot of weed but it will be noticeable if you have people hanging around it all the time, if its just the odd guest every now and then something like nilodour might be enough to get you buy. i doubt you will get enough power through a pc fan to pull through a carbon filter and if you upgrade your fan its going to be noisy

 

also i think a photo plant grown 12/12 from seed is pretty much the same as an auto anyway so its up to you what you get. i prefer photo plants myself.

[indi420]

Thanks for the quick replies guys, 

 

1. Ok so the growspace is too small, i thought that might have been the case but its not a huge issue because nothing is actually set up yet so no time lost! I was planning on going to salvos/garage sales around my area and try to pick up a larger bedside chest of draws or a mini bar fridge i have seen those work, maybe something around 500mm'ish all round with some plastic netting at the top to help grow out instead of up? what do you think, (im not looking to make any money here just to be able to supply myself in as discrete a manor as possible, meaning I can't just go use my wardrobe or the spare shower ect) if even that is too small what would you suggest? (maybe i could make myself a box to size)

 

2. I had a look at bunnings online and found these http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_globe-triple-tube-cfl-nelson-48w-es-els-wrm-white-melq48ess_P4342208.aspx?filter=categoryname--CFL+Lights&page=7 thats a 48w bulb as suggested, I can figure out the socketing and everything else. As for Lumens and growing photo instead of auto will this light be enough on its own to supply a plant with the light it needs to grow strong (the flat long ones i have yet to see a size that fits what im after)

 

3,I was under the impression smaller fan meant less noise my bad, I'm quite lost with what fan to get that will work with the carbon filter and having it all be as small as possible sound is not a huge concern smell and size is so any links to a fan/pipe or anything that works well with the filter i have in my original post would be greatly appreciated. Something i may not have mentioned before is sound as long as its not too loud is fine but the smell has to be kept to a minimum pref nill, I do live with other people so the smell would be my main problem with such a project, sadly I can't just have the beautiful smell of bud roaming through out the room.

 

4.wow.. apparently coco is quite popular, which is strange from all the research i have done its been mainly soil grows or hydro (which i dont really want)  ..coco I will need to do more reading up on but from what i have seen its some strange mix of the two ? i will have to get back to you on this once i do some more reading, as for scrog/lst i will have to do the same, I am now considering growing two plants .. I will post back after i read up enough about coco, scrog/lst enough to give a proper reply. I did however think a soil grow was the easiest method, you know finger in soil... germinated seed in hole made by finger..cover...water.. done as far as the soil goes ... but it is probably naive to think that.

 

4a/b 15g on one plant in the setup i first posted, that is crazy, having to grow for 6-8 weeks or so and have maybe...maybe a week of supply from that  im thinking of now going photo seeds if you guys think it will be just as easy and not to much for a first timer to handle, I'm now looking into these seeds as they seems to yield very highly in a small area and are naturally short and wide http://bonzaseeds.com/products.php?product=Big-Bang-Feminised-Cannabis-Seedsbut for my smoking needs I would much prefer a seed like http://bonzaseeds.com/products.php?product=Pineapple-Chunk-Feminised-Cannabis-Seeds ... discuss?

 

Thanks again guys, hopefully soon I can get my mindmap if you will in order and be ready to start buying things and can get photos up. Cheers

[Naycha]

If you want to grow a worthwhile amount you will have to be realistic about space and lighting requirements. Maybe work out how much yield you want and work back from there. You cannot magically grow a satisfying quality/quantity in an inadequate space with inadequate lighting.

 

Naycha

[DoctorWho]

Since you tend to smoke more when growing lets say you want around 20g of bud a week, it takes 10 weeks to fully flower the strain and a minimum of a week for drying.  Thats 11 weeks or 220g of bud you need.  Assuming you want to keep plant numbers down you will need to have 4 decent sized plants that will require 3, maybe 4 weeks of vegging before flowering.  Assuming that it takes 4 weeks that is another 80g you need bringing your total up to 300g.  So with that in mind you're looking at needing at least a 400w hps light in at least a 1m x 1m x 1.6+m grow space. 

 

Now you can reduce the time needed to pull a harvest by having more plants, keeping mothers alive for cuttings and having separate areas for vege and flowering.  This however makes stealth an issue as well as considerably raising your setup costs.  Its a hard choice to make, but just remember that you only get out what you put in so if you cheap out and have a grow that doesn't suit your needs you will run out of bud and either have to buy it or go without, both of which defeat the purpose of taking the risk of growing your own.

[indi420]

If you want to grow a worthwhile amount you will have to be realistic about space and lighting requirements. Maybe work out how much yield you want and work back from there. You cannot magically grow a satisfying quality/quantity in an inadequate space with inadequate lighting.

 

Naycha

very good idea Naycha I did not think of that 

 

 

 

Since you tend to smoke more when growing lets say you want around 20g of bud a week, it takes 10 weeks to fully flower the strain and a minimum of a week for drying.  Thats 11 weeks or 220g of bud you need.  Assuming you want to keep plant numbers down you will need to have 4 decent sized plants that will require 3, maybe 4 weeks of vegging before flowering.  Assuming that it takes 4 weeks that is another 80g you need bringing your total up to 300g.  So with that in mind you're looking at needing at least a 400w hps light in at least a 1m x 1m x 1.6+m grow space. 

 

Now you can reduce the time needed to pull a harvest by having more plants, keeping mothers alive for cuttings and having separate areas for vege and flowering.  This however makes stealth an issue as well as considerably raising your setup costs.  Its a hard choice to make, but just remember that you only get out what you put in so if you cheap out and have a grow that doesn't suit your needs you will run out of bud and either have to buy it or go without, both of which defeat the purpose of taking the risk of growing your own.

 

I am confused the yield guides on the seed websites I have been looking at (you can see in my past post) have said that one plant can yield anything from 300-800 per m2 half that to 500 and that works out to be 150-400g a plant obviously under optimal conditions so say 100-350 for me that makes me assume two plants will be plenty enough, are the yield guides on the seed sites an average, a lie or just a general what the best grower can pull under the best conditions kind of thing.

Also thanks for being so detailed into your explanation that helps so much when trying to put this idea from mind to paper to reality, lets say i do need a larger 4+ plant setup what would the risk be if caught as opposed to a single/duel plant setup obviously for personal use (i cant see a cop believing 300g of bud and 4 plants to be personal use even though that is what I would actually need for personal use alone) I am currently located in NSW. 

 

If a larger grow was my only smart option to supply the yield that I find necessary, (depending on what replies i get from the seed yield question i posted above) I would put it on hold as I do not have the ability to do such at the moment (in 6 months time i would), until that time though I would still like to continue with a one or two plant 'micro grow' as stated above,  could someone explain SoG/ScroG as opposed to normal two standalone plants. 

 

..maybe this thread is moving into a different direction than just plain "lighting and ventilation".

 

Thanks again, Cheers 

[DoctorWho]

When a seed company says a strain will yield 500g m2 it means that is the maximum the strain will yield given optimal conditions.  Its not actually per plant, you might need 25 plants in a 5x5 SOG to get that or 4 plants with a 6 week vege period.  It really depends on the strain, growing method, lighting, etc.  Far too many factors come into play to make what they quote an accurate number so it should only be considered a best case scenario.  At the end of the day though more smaller plant will yield around the same as fewer larger plants, the difference is the vege time required and with the laws the way they are you are far better off vegging for a little bit longer with fewer plants.

 

As for the risk that really depends on you.  If you can acquire genetics privately such as through a seedbank, don't show your grow to friends or family and don't commit any other crimes such as stealing power the chances of you getting caught are slim to none provided you take precautions such as using a carbon filter.  If the grow can't be seen, heard or smelt and no-one but you knows about it you would have to be extremely unlucky to get caught.  Electricity spikes and stuff like that don't matter one bit for small time growers and the electricity company is going to be all too happy to get extra money from you.  As for what the police believe its irrelevant, their job is to make a judge's job easier, nothing more, nothing less.  You don't say shit to them and plead your case infront of the judge and you can be damn sure that they'll believe 4 plants is personal.  It wouldn't matter if you got caught with a freshly harvested 300g crop and had only just put another 4 plants in to grow, once the facts are presented and provided there is no evidence of you selling anything it would be classed as personal and you would honestly get around the same punishment as you would having only grown two plants.

 

A normal size grow is what you need to supply yourself, there is no way around it.  In the meantime if I were you I would order both of those strains, maybe 5 seeds of each while you don't have a grow going on.  If you follow the guide here you should be a-ok getting them in and plausible deniability is a bitch in the eyes of the law.  So provided you get the seeds what you can do is set yourself that micro grow, sprout all the seeds, take some cuttings, sex the original plants, remove the males and then let the females grow out.  Now this crop wouldn't be great, but it does three things, first and foremost it gives you growing experience, secondly it gives you female cuttings to work with and last but definitely not least it will give you an area to keep mothers and clones in once you get set up properly.  You will be able to see which plants branch out more, which plants give you a better product, etc. and you can weed the inferior plants out so you are left with a single great lady of each strain.  At that point which would be about 6 months or so down the line you will have plants you know are a great smoke, will yield well, are female and instantly ready for action once you are setup in a larger area.  Combine that with the growing experience you'll gain from that first crop and you are all but assured of a secessful crop of two different strains which will be great because you can become tolerant to a single strain if you only smoke it long enough so being able to go back and forth between them will make the most out of the space available to you.

[indi420]

Hey guys

 

I'm Still reading up on what method to grow with while I gather the things needed for the micro grow, (looks like the space i will be able to use in afew months will be alot more private some good news there)

 

Doctor who i figured that may have been the case with seeds i was hoping it was not though, ohwell  I have been reading up on online seeds and it atually seems pretty easy to get them the only thing that i am worried about is what address to get them sent too prepaid CCard and proxying online i am okay with however. 

 

I will be buying seeds soon and will post back, ... although cloning, plant sexing getting rid of males.... all sounds quite daunting for a first grow..

 

Anyway to my actual Question I have access to these Lights and i think they would be great for size/heat problems   can someone tell me if the lumens, wattage ect will be okay for say one of these to light a plant or two, and two of these to light say 3 or 4

 

http://www.sla.net.au/content/558354p