600 watt HPS perpetual grow

G

Greggl4321

Active Member
Hi all

So I'm thinking of going with a 600 watt high pressure sodium light from ipower

And putting it into a 4x4 tent, from I power.

To which I'll be adding 16 plants, in 3 gallon pots, vegged for 1 week before flowering.

Any comments or suggestions?



Originally I planned for this to be a budget grow, but so far my expenses have mounted up to about $550.00 USD.


Im getting:
ipower 600 watt HP's with cool tube ad a wing deflector for $135.55 USD.
6" 8' ducting with 2 clamps for $11.00 USD.
ipower 48"x48"x80" grow tent for $85.00 USD
2 6" inline duct booster fans for around $40.00 USD
2' 4 lamp HO T5 for $55.00 USD
24" x24" x48" vegging tent for $36.00 USD
2 6" oscillating fans for $25.00 USD
General hydroponics pH down for $9.00 USD
25 3 gallon poly grow bags for $15.00 USD
I'll be using CNS17 for Nutrients
The grow, ripe, and bloom is around $53.00 USD
2 5kg bricks of coco coir for $40.00 USD
Lastly, a digital TDS/pH meter for $12.00 USD.


Any suggestions?
Any suggestions on the CNS17? How much will I need, do I only need a quart of each?
Any suggestions on the poly bags?
Any suggestions on budgeting?


Any suggestions appreciated 8-)
 
Last edited:
a mongo frog

a mongo frog

Well-Known Member
Greggl4321 said:
Hi all

So I'm thinking of going with a 600 watt high pressure sodium light from ipower

And putting it into a 4x4 tent, from I power.

To which I'll be adding 16 plants, in 3 gallon pots, begged for 1 week before flowering.

Any comments or suggestions?



Originally I planned for this to be a budget grow, but so far my see have mounted up to about $550.00 USD.


Im getting:
ipower 600 watt HP's with cool tube ad a wing deflector for $135.55 USD.
6" 8' ducting with 2 clamps for $11.00 USD.
ipower 48"x48"x80" grow tent for $85.00 USD
2 6" inline duct booster fans for around $40.00 USD
2' 4 lamp HO T5 for $55.00 USD
24" x24" x48" vegging tent for $36.00 USD
2 6" oscillating fans for $25.00 USD
General hydroponics pH down for $9.00 USD
25 3 gallon poly grow bags for $15.00 USD
I'll be using CNS17 for Nutrients
The grow, ripe, and bloom is around $53.00 USD
2 5kg bricks of coco coir for $40.00 USD
Lastly, a digital TDS/pH meter for $12.00 USD.


Any suggestions?
Any suggestions on the CNS17? How much will I need, do I only need a quart of each?
Any suggestions on the poly bags?
Any suggestions on budgeting?


Any suggestions appreciated 8-)
Click to expand...
What strain/strains? Sounds like a great grow!!!
 
G

Greggl4321

Active Member
Any suggestions on strain? I was wanting to go with purple kush, but I'm unsure about yields. I've heard good things about blue dream and sour diesel being high yielders. Where can I get seeds? Would I'd be to source a mother plant locally?
 
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BMWEATER

BMWEATER

Well-Known Member
Greggl4321 said:
Any suggestions on tents? Are they all basically light proof? HELP!!!
Click to expand...

No they are not all light proof. The higher end ones like Apollo are better than the generic ones.

Question, how will you have a perpetual grow if you only have one tent? Will you be dividing it? I'm basically using the same setup as you, 600 watt HPS Ipower with a cool tube, but inside a big cabinet. I had to create two more seperate inclosures to have the perpetual grow. One small one to fit the Cloneing Dome with lights on 24 hours and a seperate Veg and Mother Chamber to get them ready for the flower cycle (this is actually the biggest cabinet)...just some ideas to help you out, more space is always better you'll be surprised how big some of those plants can get espically Blue Dream and Sour D
 
BMWEATER

BMWEATER

Well-Known Member
BMWEATER said:
No they are not all light proof. The higher end ones like Apollo are better than the generic ones.

Question, how will you have a perpetual grow if you only have one tent? Will you be dividing it? I'm basically using the same setup as you, 600 watt HPS Ipower with a cool tube, but inside a big cabinet. I had to create two more seperate inclosures to have the perpetual grow. One small one to fit the Cloneing Dome with lights on 24 hours and a seperate Veg and Mother Chamber to get them ready for the flower cycle (this is actually the biggest cabinet)...just some ideas to help you out, more space is always better you'll be surprised how big some of those plants can get espically Blue Dream and Sour D
Click to expand...

Wait never mind I saw your Veg tent. Disregard my stuff about the seperate chambers you got it all set up!
 
G

Greggl4321

Active Member
Are you sure the tents aren't now all light proof nowadays? I'm hiking it doesnt leak tii much. Its just a tent to cut out light, why get the more expensive ones?
 
BMWEATER

BMWEATER

Well-Known Member
Greggl4321 said:
Are you sure the tents aren't now all light proof nowadays? I'm hiking it doesnt leak tii much. Its just a tent to cut out light, why get the more expensive ones?
Click to expand...

You get light leaks around the zipper seals. The thread holding the seams together is not rolled over twice and then sewed together. Also the zippers break or start seperating in the teeth-- just read all the reviews in Amazon you'll get the point. You don't have to break the bank but a nice $150 tent will last you. If you want to do something cheaper try Craigslist and get a used tent. Just make sure to wash it down inside
 
OrganicGorilla

OrganicGorilla

Well-Known Member
I've heard great things about Blue Dream. Quality and large yields. If you just want 1 or 2 female seeds I'd recommend Midweek Song. They sell singles seeds and only take 4-5 business days for delivery.
 
G

Greggl4321

Active Member
Can more people chime in and offer advice? Would it be best to top the 16 plants or not? (I haven't heard it being recommended to top the plants)

Any additional advice on my setup would be much appreciated.
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
In my exp to run perpetually you need the power of three:
1) you need a small veg area to start seeds & root clones.
2) You need a larger veg area for vegging plants to grow as they reach the size you want to flower them at
3) you need a dedicated bloom area always set to flowering cycle

Doing a perpetual in a single tent is going to be tricky....I couldn't figure out how to do it at first myself; in the end I had to add another small grow tent and DIY a sectioned off area for the flower room.
Your decision to top them or not depends upon if you plan to flower all 16 out at the same time or if you want to stagger them and harvest one at a time. If you want to do a SOG style grow then I would advise you to do nothing to them, give 'em a short veg & you'll end up with a single cola on each plant.
If you want to do a perpetual grow & harvest a plant every 2-3 weeks then I would top/LST each one & give them extra veg time to recover.
 
G

Greggl4321

Active Member
Why does it make a difference whether they are staggered or not?

To answer my own question...
I'm guessing that it'll produce an uneven canopy, and light won't hit the shorter plants?

If I topped them and lsted them they'd still be bigger, and taller, but not as big. the light would be closer?

But wouldn't they be bushy if I topped them and choke out the other plants?

Should I just go LST?


I'm going to do 16 plants, 4 in every other week. (For reference)
2 tents, one for veg, clones, mother and one for flowering

Perhaps I'll need a bigger vegging tent to contain the mother and the 4 clones vegging


Any additional advice on this dilemma's?


The bottom line is I'm scared of topping my plants, I'm never sure how tall they should be and I'm afraid of breaking branches with LST.

Would you still recommend 16 plants if I did top/LST ?
 
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azpharmer

azpharmer

New Member
I would do SOG or SCOG in a small tent. Don't top or do anything and you'll get one big cola on every plant. With a 4x4 tent, I don't see how else you could run 16 plants in there at a time.

I had a 5x9' Gorilla tent, it was great quality, no light leaks and the zippers were good quality also. It had a roof that won't show light or plant sigs from helicopters looking for indoor grows as well.

I ordered from Midweek Song a few months ago, it took a month to get to AZ. I like Oregon Elite Seeds, they are local and get to you in no time. There are other domestic seed banks too that don't have to go through customs.
 
BMWEATER

BMWEATER

Well-Known Member
Greggl4321 said:
Why does it make a difference whether they are staggered or not?

To answer my own question...
I'm guessing that it'll produce an uneven canopy, and light won't hit the shorter plants?

If I topped them and lsted them they'd still be bigger, and taller, but not as big. the light would be closer?

But wouldn't they be bushy if I topped them and choke out the other plants?

Should I just go LST?


I'm going to do 16 plants, 4 in every other week. (For reference)
2 tents, one for veg, clones, mother and one for flowering

Perhaps I'll need a bigger vegging tent to contain the mother and the 4 clones vegging


Any additional advice on this dilemma's?


The bottom line is I'm scared of topping my plants, I'm never sure how tall they should be and I'm afraid of breaking branches with LST.

Would you still recommend 16 plants if I did top/LST ?
Click to expand...

Why do you need to grow so many plants? Do you intend to sell your harvests? You seem to be boxed in because you keep saying x-amount of plants. If you grow personally for yourself, say 6-8 plants you'll be able to achieve everything you have set out to do without any issues.


By trying to push the envelope in an attempt to have larger yields you will sacrifice your crop and more than likely quit growing within 2 cycles due to the low quality harvests. I see it all the time on the boards. Dont be like them, use their failures to propel your success.
 
G

Greggl4321

Active Member
Why do you say 6 or 8 won't pose the same problems?

Im growing a lot of plants for a high yield, hopefully. -- By having a lot of small plants light penetration isn't really an issue.

If you have a few big ones, only the tops will get light, unless you do training that adds time to the growing cycle.

I believe this is the philosophy behind the sea of green.
 
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