Linkorien
New Member
After searching, reading, studying, and at last setting up my grow, i have decided to give back as much as i can by submitting this quick guide for any new growers to have an idea of how they can set up a new grow that is cheap and efficient. hope it helps someone
you can set up a grow almost anywhere, a closet, a box, a full room or as some have shown us even inside a computer.... tho i don't recommend a laptop..
where you set up a grow is up to you, the best way to make a good grow room is to keep your imagination open! i will concentrate on a smaller area for this guide but keep in mind even a big room uses the same principles.
lets start with an empty closet, CLEAN IT, vacuum, sweep, disinfect with cleaners you want to start with a CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN space, think of this, if you just set up a grow in an old musty closet and cover the walls with a film or mylar, who's to say there was no mold in your sheet rock... your running HIGH humidity levels.. youv provided that mold a closed dark area behind some tarps with all the humidity it needs to grow blossom and spread its spores all over your new friends..... not good, so CLEAN is the word.
if your closet has a door GREAT! get in, shut the door, look for light... the best way to do this is with the light in your closet off..... you may have figured that out lol... ok see that light creeping in under the door or by the cracks.. you NEED to stop it if you plan on flowering in that space. a Great way of doing this is with weather stripping, it runs cheap about $5-$10 and works!! just run it along the edges of your door, as far as the door bottom you can do one of two things, a weather guard door attachment which works well or even a board nailed flush to the floor and door.. if your door opens in to your room then nail a board to the floor behind it in the closet, line the edge that touches the door with your weather stripping and presto you made a light seal rather then dropping $20 on one of thous under door weather jams..
next you'll want to cover that CLEAN area in a reflective surface, mylar is prime the reason being, it has a very high reflective % don't quote me but i believe up to 98% reflective take that in comparison to house hold tin foil which is rated at about 20% again don't quote me..
that reflective rating is the amount of USABLE light reflected off the material,
you want to utilize every bit of light emitted for the health of your plants and the health of your wallet.. why run 1000 watts and not use 1000 watts
CHEAP OPTION: Emergency blanket $1-$5 walmart or camp supplier store
next will be air flow, you will want a fan in your area to move air around your plants, this helps to strengthen the stems and limbs of your new plants, the stronger the plants stem the bigger buds you can hold on them.
as well as needing a fan you will need a way to replace air in the room an exhaust vent, or an inline fan will work nicely, this is to keep the room at the right temp and to replace CO2, which is vital for your plants growth.
a cheap and efficient way of moving air in and out of a box/closet grow is a bathroom vent fan, you can buy this at any home improvement store, they install very easy, and work great, keep in mind if you do want to go with a bathroom fan look for one with a low sone rating, a "sone" is a unit of perceived loudness equal to the loudness of a 1000-hertz tone at 40 dB above threshold "thanks gangalicious"
the lower the sone the lower the noise a 1.0 reading you will not hear easily
CHEAP OPTION: bathroom fan $25-$150
another great buy is a weather station, you can buy a digital thermometer/humidity meter that comes in 2 parts the reading station, and the antenna, this works good because you can keep the antenna in your box and place your station by your bed, your TV anywhere you want, i like this because it allows me to monitor my room without having to open my box or go to it exposing it if people are around.
another option would be hang the station high in your room and the antenna low, most of these stations have 2 readings outside temp and RH and inside temp and RH, this feature is nice because it allows you to read the temps of your grow rooms floor Vs. the ceiling its only $25 for something like this so its cheap and efficient
CHEAP OPTION: Weather station $20-$60
ok so far so good we have a room, its reflective, we have ventilation and a way to read the atmosphere, the next step is a big one LIGHTS
i cant get to deep in to lighting there is just to much and to many options but i will leave you with a tip i gave "obliviconsent"
The more lumens a bulb gives off the more usable light is emitted from the bulb. thus the more lumens you can get in your space the better.
kalven is the spectrum of that usable light, 2700K being in the red spectrum and 6500k being in the blue spectrum.
some people think its good to have a mix of these kalven, wile favoring one over the other during different cycles, i.e. six blue and three red during veg then six red and three blue during flowering. other people use just one spectrum during each phase or never change them at all ,your open to chose how you feel fit but keep this in mind....
Just as humans need a balanced diet, plants need balanced, full-spectrum light for good health and optimum growth. The quality of light is as important as quantity. Plants are sensitive to a similar portion of the spectrum as is the human eye. This portion of the light spectrum is referred to as photosynthetically active radiation or PAR, namely about 400 to 700 nanometers in wavelength. Plants respond more effectively to red light and to blue light, the peak being in the red region at around 630 nanometers.
In the same way fat provides the most efficient calories for humans, red light provides the most efficient food for plants. However, a plant illuminated only with red or orange light will fail to develop sufficient bulk Leafy growth (vegetative growth) bulk require blue light. Many other complex processes are triggered by light required from different regions of the spectrum.
think of it like this, blue makes you grow red makes you fat,
if your vegging, blue is very important your growing leaves and height, red isn't so important but still needed.
so when you go in to flowering and you get that last good sprint of growth blue is still important at that point as well as red cause your flowering, but after that point red will pack on the fat for your buds, BUT new leaves or green growth still need that blue light.
CFL's are becoming quite popular due to there inexpensive coasts and heat output a good read on CFL's can be found hear
compact fluorescents thanks gos to "SmokeyMacPot"
CHEAP OPTION: CFL's $5-$35 or more
on to soil and fertilizer
to keep it short and simple.... fox farm ocean forest soil. go threw this forum, go threw any forum, 90% of the time people are using this, the people speak for the product..
for fertilizers i will leave you with a reference guide from our great founder "420" hope you don't mind buddy!
NUTES - What To Use and How to use them
of course you can use miracle grow, BUT BE WARNED its not recommended, your bound to run in to Ph problems and Nute problems and will not have as much success as you could with a higher end product.
IF you must use MG flush it before you plant FLUSH FLUSH FLUSH, try and brake down thous poisonous time release fertz that's whats going to kill you later.
POTTING YOUR POT, whatever you chose to start your sprouts in is one thing, but the end product should be a nice size pot, a good rule of thumb is 1 gallon per foot for your plant. i recommend trash buckets, 1) there cheap. 2) they come rectangular or square which in my opinion is a must, you want to utilize all the space you can, flat edges can meet perfectly.. circular edges cannot it doesn't take a mathematician to see how much more space is used with square pots, and finally volume they make some nice sizes plus they are cheap about $2 to $10, tho planting pots do have them beat on price running closer to $0.50 or more its up to you.
CHEAP OPTION TRASH BARRELS $2-$10
at this point you have a CLEAN, Reflective, vented, room that's monitored, you have your Lights your Soil, Nutes, and Pots, now you need the seed
95% of what you grow is found in your seed.. not your lights not your soil or your nutes its all in your seed, sure you can make it ALL better or worse with these thing, but your end product will be determined by your beginning products value.
i truly recommend ordering your seeds from a credited seed bank, its worth it in the end, sure you have hundreds of bag seeds lying around, but don't you want to smoke something better then what you have? if you have good seeds available to you by all means go and grow, but if your just picking a seed out of a pile i would suggest you take a week or two to have that genetic seed arrive at your door.
Take a look at some of our "sponsors" you can find Great deals at different times and it is truly worth it, just look at the variates available to you!
well that's it you just built your first grow box for under $200.. MY GROW was about $250-$300 to set up compare that to some $1000 setups or even more WAY MORE and its not a bad start staying on a budget.
To you who are about to take your first steps down the road to liberation i wish you peace, love and luck my friends! there are many more products available to you and many many tools you will need and can use, weather hydro or soil, indoor or out, you will find growing a wonderful and joyous experience! stick around these boards and you will learn a thing or two
at this time i would like to thank a few people who have contributed and shared their vast knowledge with me and who have provided us the people with a great environment to speak about our passions.
Founder: 420 without you we would not be hear.
Boss for your CFL grow thanks for the inspiration .
the attitude seed co. for your services.
"for your tips and advice"
bigman151
SK-Slappy
dfw-guy, a scholar and a gentleman
mary_juana420
MacMota
gangalicious a true CFL grower
DroJo, your knowledge is a value you will never lose
weedtastic
and many many more, to all who have posted guides and charts and all who provide us the learning experience so many of us seek, i thank you from the bottom of my heart, and hope this may help a new grower in return.
remember to keep your imagination open, and your mouth shut....
~fin~
you can set up a grow almost anywhere, a closet, a box, a full room or as some have shown us even inside a computer.... tho i don't recommend a laptop..
where you set up a grow is up to you, the best way to make a good grow room is to keep your imagination open! i will concentrate on a smaller area for this guide but keep in mind even a big room uses the same principles.
lets start with an empty closet, CLEAN IT, vacuum, sweep, disinfect with cleaners you want to start with a CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN space, think of this, if you just set up a grow in an old musty closet and cover the walls with a film or mylar, who's to say there was no mold in your sheet rock... your running HIGH humidity levels.. youv provided that mold a closed dark area behind some tarps with all the humidity it needs to grow blossom and spread its spores all over your new friends..... not good, so CLEAN is the word.
if your closet has a door GREAT! get in, shut the door, look for light... the best way to do this is with the light in your closet off..... you may have figured that out lol... ok see that light creeping in under the door or by the cracks.. you NEED to stop it if you plan on flowering in that space. a Great way of doing this is with weather stripping, it runs cheap about $5-$10 and works!! just run it along the edges of your door, as far as the door bottom you can do one of two things, a weather guard door attachment which works well or even a board nailed flush to the floor and door.. if your door opens in to your room then nail a board to the floor behind it in the closet, line the edge that touches the door with your weather stripping and presto you made a light seal rather then dropping $20 on one of thous under door weather jams..
next you'll want to cover that CLEAN area in a reflective surface, mylar is prime the reason being, it has a very high reflective % don't quote me but i believe up to 98% reflective take that in comparison to house hold tin foil which is rated at about 20% again don't quote me..
that reflective rating is the amount of USABLE light reflected off the material,
you want to utilize every bit of light emitted for the health of your plants and the health of your wallet.. why run 1000 watts and not use 1000 watts
CHEAP OPTION: Emergency blanket $1-$5 walmart or camp supplier store
next will be air flow, you will want a fan in your area to move air around your plants, this helps to strengthen the stems and limbs of your new plants, the stronger the plants stem the bigger buds you can hold on them.
as well as needing a fan you will need a way to replace air in the room an exhaust vent, or an inline fan will work nicely, this is to keep the room at the right temp and to replace CO2, which is vital for your plants growth.
a cheap and efficient way of moving air in and out of a box/closet grow is a bathroom vent fan, you can buy this at any home improvement store, they install very easy, and work great, keep in mind if you do want to go with a bathroom fan look for one with a low sone rating, a "sone" is a unit of perceived loudness equal to the loudness of a 1000-hertz tone at 40 dB above threshold "thanks gangalicious"
the lower the sone the lower the noise a 1.0 reading you will not hear easily
CHEAP OPTION: bathroom fan $25-$150
another great buy is a weather station, you can buy a digital thermometer/humidity meter that comes in 2 parts the reading station, and the antenna, this works good because you can keep the antenna in your box and place your station by your bed, your TV anywhere you want, i like this because it allows me to monitor my room without having to open my box or go to it exposing it if people are around.
another option would be hang the station high in your room and the antenna low, most of these stations have 2 readings outside temp and RH and inside temp and RH, this feature is nice because it allows you to read the temps of your grow rooms floor Vs. the ceiling its only $25 for something like this so its cheap and efficient
CHEAP OPTION: Weather station $20-$60
ok so far so good we have a room, its reflective, we have ventilation and a way to read the atmosphere, the next step is a big one LIGHTS
i cant get to deep in to lighting there is just to much and to many options but i will leave you with a tip i gave "obliviconsent"
The more lumens a bulb gives off the more usable light is emitted from the bulb. thus the more lumens you can get in your space the better.
kalven is the spectrum of that usable light, 2700K being in the red spectrum and 6500k being in the blue spectrum.
some people think its good to have a mix of these kalven, wile favoring one over the other during different cycles, i.e. six blue and three red during veg then six red and three blue during flowering. other people use just one spectrum during each phase or never change them at all ,your open to chose how you feel fit but keep this in mind....
Just as humans need a balanced diet, plants need balanced, full-spectrum light for good health and optimum growth. The quality of light is as important as quantity. Plants are sensitive to a similar portion of the spectrum as is the human eye. This portion of the light spectrum is referred to as photosynthetically active radiation or PAR, namely about 400 to 700 nanometers in wavelength. Plants respond more effectively to red light and to blue light, the peak being in the red region at around 630 nanometers.
In the same way fat provides the most efficient calories for humans, red light provides the most efficient food for plants. However, a plant illuminated only with red or orange light will fail to develop sufficient bulk Leafy growth (vegetative growth) bulk require blue light. Many other complex processes are triggered by light required from different regions of the spectrum.
think of it like this, blue makes you grow red makes you fat,
if your vegging, blue is very important your growing leaves and height, red isn't so important but still needed.
so when you go in to flowering and you get that last good sprint of growth blue is still important at that point as well as red cause your flowering, but after that point red will pack on the fat for your buds, BUT new leaves or green growth still need that blue light.
CFL's are becoming quite popular due to there inexpensive coasts and heat output a good read on CFL's can be found hear
compact fluorescents thanks gos to "SmokeyMacPot"
CHEAP OPTION: CFL's $5-$35 or more
on to soil and fertilizer
to keep it short and simple.... fox farm ocean forest soil. go threw this forum, go threw any forum, 90% of the time people are using this, the people speak for the product..
for fertilizers i will leave you with a reference guide from our great founder "420" hope you don't mind buddy!
NUTES - What To Use and How to use them
of course you can use miracle grow, BUT BE WARNED its not recommended, your bound to run in to Ph problems and Nute problems and will not have as much success as you could with a higher end product.
IF you must use MG flush it before you plant FLUSH FLUSH FLUSH, try and brake down thous poisonous time release fertz that's whats going to kill you later.
POTTING YOUR POT, whatever you chose to start your sprouts in is one thing, but the end product should be a nice size pot, a good rule of thumb is 1 gallon per foot for your plant. i recommend trash buckets, 1) there cheap. 2) they come rectangular or square which in my opinion is a must, you want to utilize all the space you can, flat edges can meet perfectly.. circular edges cannot it doesn't take a mathematician to see how much more space is used with square pots, and finally volume they make some nice sizes plus they are cheap about $2 to $10, tho planting pots do have them beat on price running closer to $0.50 or more its up to you.
CHEAP OPTION TRASH BARRELS $2-$10
at this point you have a CLEAN, Reflective, vented, room that's monitored, you have your Lights your Soil, Nutes, and Pots, now you need the seed
95% of what you grow is found in your seed.. not your lights not your soil or your nutes its all in your seed, sure you can make it ALL better or worse with these thing, but your end product will be determined by your beginning products value.
i truly recommend ordering your seeds from a credited seed bank, its worth it in the end, sure you have hundreds of bag seeds lying around, but don't you want to smoke something better then what you have? if you have good seeds available to you by all means go and grow, but if your just picking a seed out of a pile i would suggest you take a week or two to have that genetic seed arrive at your door.
Take a look at some of our "sponsors" you can find Great deals at different times and it is truly worth it, just look at the variates available to you!
well that's it you just built your first grow box for under $200.. MY GROW was about $250-$300 to set up compare that to some $1000 setups or even more WAY MORE and its not a bad start staying on a budget.
To you who are about to take your first steps down the road to liberation i wish you peace, love and luck my friends! there are many more products available to you and many many tools you will need and can use, weather hydro or soil, indoor or out, you will find growing a wonderful and joyous experience! stick around these boards and you will learn a thing or two
at this time i would like to thank a few people who have contributed and shared their vast knowledge with me and who have provided us the people with a great environment to speak about our passions.
Founder: 420 without you we would not be hear.
Boss for your CFL grow thanks for the inspiration .
the attitude seed co. for your services.
"for your tips and advice"
bigman151
SK-Slappy
dfw-guy, a scholar and a gentleman
mary_juana420
MacMota
gangalicious a true CFL grower
DroJo, your knowledge is a value you will never lose
weedtastic
and many many more, to all who have posted guides and charts and all who provide us the learning experience so many of us seek, i thank you from the bottom of my heart, and hope this may help a new grower in return.
remember to keep your imagination open, and your mouth shut....
~fin~
thank you no never a preacher lol, im rather distent from religon as a matter of fact, im just a happy guy! im glad you like it.
Link!
on bringing up some areas often overlooked that growers can optimize. 
!
page bookmarked!
for good information.
