Just starting - Want to do it right!

Hey everyone! I'm new to the site and this is my very first post. My friend told me about this site, and I would like to grow one successful plant, I know some of the basics but I would like advice on any or all of the following subjects, I would like to gather all necessary supplies and begin setting this up tomorrow, if possible. I would like to keep this project as low-budget and efficient as possible.

Plant: I'm going to ask around and either get a nice seed or clone from one of my friends, not sure what strand it will be just yet though.

Ventilation: I'm growing indoors and do not want the place to absolutely reek! So what kind of low-cost intake/exhaust fans should I use to eliminate odour and nicely vent my plant?

Growbox: I'm planning on making myself an air-tight box with small intake/exhaust fans as described above, I have a good idea of how to design my box, but I'm not sure how big my plant will end up, so if anyone could recommend some good dimensions that would be awesome.

Lighting: I'm thinking about using several CFL bulbs to do the trick, probably a light on all four walls and one on the ceiling, so 5 in total. If this is not a good idea please let me know lol

Soil & Nutrition: I wanna grow this baby is soil, so what is my best bet for soil to use? And I don't know much about fertilizer or nutrients, or at what stage of the plant's life to begin feeding it anything aside from clean water. Any wisdom in this area is welcome, or even pointing me in the direction of a thread that can help me decide would be great.

Container: What size of pot should I plant it in so that it does not need to be transplanted and can just grow to a good size? I plan on having a moisturemeter and thermometer to monitor the plant as well. I've heard a bit about a pH meter when using fertilizer but I really don't know much about it.


I'm also looking for a good thread to teach me about the plant itself and how to control it to do what you want, and what stages/cycles that it goes through in it's life so I know what I'm doing.
Thanks!

low budget grows are hard to pull off because the better your equipement, the less chance of problems. usually you end up doing an upgrade on everything and cost more in the long run.

for a lot of your questions the answers to some will effect the answers to others. such as.

plant- indica is generally shorter. a sativa is generally taller. this could determine the size of growroom.

ventilation will be determined by size of growroom and lighting used.

growroom will be determined by type of plants and how many you want to grow.

lighting will be determined by how many plants and how big you will grow them. MH and HPS is best. with cfl's the more the better.

soil and nutes you will get a lot of different answers for. i use sunshine mix and foxfarm nutes.

container size will be determined by the size of the plant. the bigger the plant the bigger the pot it will need. pot size may also be determined by how many you can fit in your growroom.

good luck man....

First read I recommend is this... read it... it's not a negative thing as some think...

Noobs: If you fail to plan... plan to fail!

Best of luck...

GypsyBush said:

First read I recommend is this... read it... it's not a negative thing as some think...

Noobs: If you fail to plan... plan to fail!

Best of luck...

Click to expand...

that link doesnt work for me.

smoke and coke said:

that link doesnt work for me.

Click to expand...

I am so sorry...

Thanks for letting me know...

I recommend ALL of Al B. Fuct's threads...

Try this link...

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/12071-noobs-if-you-fail-plan.html

GypsyBush said:

I am so sorry...

Thanks for letting me know...

I recommend ALL of Al B. Fuct's threads...

Try this link...

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/12071-noobs-if-you-fail-plan.html

Click to expand...

thanks for the link, but he states this in there about ventilation and i disagree with his figures on size fan. isnt that fan too small

The space needs to have enough airflow to both remove heat from the lighting, moisture in the air put there by the plants and provide adequate CO2 for the plants. This means a ventilation system that will exchange the entire volume of the room air in about 3-5 mins max. Work out your room volume by multiplying room length x width x height and then go shopping for exhaust fans based on that figure. A 1000 cubic foot room needs a 200 CFM (cubic foot/min) exhaust fan. If you can't ventilate the space, you can't grow in it.

smoke and coke said:

thanks for the link, but he states this in there about ventilation and i disagree with his figures on size fan. isnt that fan too small

Click to expand...

I am not sure what to tell other than to look at his op...

The man gets a pound every two weeks from 2x 1k HPS...

I follow his teachings and get the same thing with 4x 600HPS... and I am a 6 month newb...

I believe he has more than proven himself to this community... but you do not have to believe him...

I say look at his op... Get a harvest every 2 weeks

The space needs to have enough airflow to both remove heat from the lighting, moisture in the air put there by the plants and provide adequate CO2 for the plants. This means a ventilation system that will exchange the entire volume of the room air in about 3-5 mins max. Work out your room volume by multiplying room length x width x height and then go shopping for exhaust fans based on that figure. A 1000 cubic foot room needs a 200 CFM (cubic foot/min) exhaust fan. If you can't ventilate the space, you can't grow in it.

Click to expand...

Here is a very simple illustration, courtesy of Al B. Fuct... it portrays his recommendation for setting up ventilation...

As I said before... I follow his word and have the same results as he does...

and sorry to hijack.. I mean no disresoect... I'm just sharing...

but words are easy to write... pictures speak a little louder...

I adjusted my op for a daily harvest... I get a zip a day...

of this... all by following Al B. Fuct...

check...

Lol those are some sick buds! I wish I had the time and space to do that, I'm planning working very small scale because of the nature of my living quarters, I want a small but complex and effective growbow, I'm thinking one plant in a 1 cubic foot pot and a box around it that gives it enough room to grow however big it will get in a pot that size, after all, if the roots can't expand anymore than the space they are given won't the plant stop getting bigger? And then I can control my veg/flower stages with my lights and nutes? Forgive me if I'm completely mistaken though lol, I'm only going off of what I have learned in the past couple hours on this site

Fractus said:

Lol those are some sick buds!

Click to expand...

Thanks Bro...

Yours can be just like it... it has taken me 6 months to get here, but I am happy...

I wish I had the time and space to do that, I'm planning working very small scale because of the nature of my living quarters,

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I totally understand... I didn't have this from day one either...

Check this link...

This is a tent I built.. it worked really well until I got the whole room...

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/122687-gypsys-600-watt-home-made.html

I want a small but complex and effective growbow,

Click to expand...

I'll point you to another box idea...

This is one of the most efficien personal set ups I haveseen on RIU...

Mad Props for DeweyKox

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/175322-white-rhino-belladonna.html

I'm thinking one plant in a 1 cubic foot pot and a box around it that gives it enough room to grow however big it will get in a pot that size, after all, if the roots can't expand anymore than the space they are given won't the plant stop getting bigger?

Click to expand...

You can apply Al's perpetual SoG to any size op...

you could have a box that is 1 square foot... have 4 single cola lollipops... and harvest one every 2 weeks...

Or go a little bigger...

With a little math you can even turn a 9 week strain into a 3 plant grow... harvesting one every 3 weeks...

Do not be intimidated by the SIZE of his op... what he does works on many levels...

Plus harvest is always just around the corner...

It sucks to wait 2 months every time...

And then I can control my veg/flower stages with my lights and nutes?

Click to expand...

Yup... light is the "trigger"... switch to 12/12 and the plant metabolism changes... and starts to flower...

and the nutes are "enablers" allowing, even helping, the plant to fulfill it's genetic desire of producing flowers..

Forgive me if I'm completely mistaken though lol, I'm only going off of what I have learned in the past couple hours on this site

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I'll use a quote by Al B. Fuct to reply to your statement...

Al B. Fuct said:

There's absolutely no sin in being a noob grower. It's totally OK to be a noob! In fact, there's a lot worse to be encountered by those who really are noobs but who think they're w33d b4R0nz.

Everyone is a noob once. It's much better to know you're a noob and learn how to find and apply good information than to think you know what's going on or try to guess your way through using old wives' tales and rumours.

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I hope you don't think I am being pushy or rude..

I'm just trying to help...

I listen to direct "shut up" commands really well...


Cheers Bro!!!

You're not being pushy or rude at all, advice is what I asked for and that's exactly what you gave me, along with plenty of background and references. I appreciate the help! I've been working on a design for a box that I think will work just fine, tomorrow I'm planning on drawing out a schematic and pricing the parts I'm going to need, and I'll post it up here for you to criticize haha, I'm just here to learn bro. I'll smoke a joint tomorrow morning - simply for inspirational purposes, and maybe I'll surprise you with my design. I'm sure sooner or later I'll need to upgrade, but this will do for what I want right now.

GypsyBush said:

I am not sure what to tell other than to look at his op...

The man gets a pound every two weeks from 2x 1k HPS...

I follow his teachings and get the same thing with 4x 600HPS... and I am a 6 month newb...

I believe he has more than proven himself to this community... but you do not have to believe him...

I say look at his op... Get a harvest every 2 weeks







Here is a very simple illustration, courtesy of Al B. Fuct... it portrays his recommendation for setting up ventilation...

As I said before... I follow his word and have the same results as he does...

​

Click to expand...

no im not saying i dont beleive in him, its just that i thought i wanted to exchange my air 3-5 times in 1 minute. not once in 3-5 minutes.

so 1000 cu.ft. room would need 3000-5000 cfm fan not 200 cfm fan. am i missing something here? just thinking it was a typo.

Well... my thought is that with the cool tube arrangement, the heat escaping responsabilities of the exhaust diminish...

Since most of the heat never even enters the op, the exhaust flow doesn't need to be as great...

I dunno mate...

It's the only way I have done it... and I have never had issues...

My op is 10x12x8... I run 4x 600watts... and I use a 6" 440 cfm fan with a very restricting 40lbs carbon filter...

But I am a newb.. so don't take my word for it...

Cheers Bro...

And just so we are clear... I think it's 127% cool that you call it out....

RIU needs more people willing to call things out and asking for the facts.... and more people to not take offense to it...

Right on bro... people like you make RIU a better place to learn...

GypsyBush said:

Well... my thought is that with the cool tube arrangement, the heat escaping responsabilities of the exhaust diminish...

Since most of the heat never even enters the op, the exhaust flow doesn't need to be as great...

I dunno mate...

It's the only way I have done it... and I have never had issues...

My op is 10x12x8... I run 4x 600watts... and I use a 6" 440 cfm fan with a very restricting 40lbs carbon filter...

But I am a newb.. so don't take my word for it...

Cheers Bro...

And just so we are clear... I think it's 127% cool that you call it out....

RIU needs more people willing to call things out and asking for the facts.... and more people to not take offense to it...

Right on bro... people like you make RIU a better place to learn...

Click to expand...

ty very much but im not trying to call anyone out. lol i was thinking it was a typo. i will go and read the whole thread and see if there is further talk about venting. i know that every room is different and i was curious about the air exchange per minute not just for the heat issue but for fresh air also.
thanks again for the kind words + rep. for you.

i dont use co2 and i do use cooltubes but i bring in outside air and its hot in the summer. for me the more air exchanges the better. i have a room that is about 180 cu.ft. and i use a stanley blower on high speed this time of year. the blower is 3 speeds 190 / 260 / 310 cfm 6" exhaust and 7" passive intake. will be an 8" passive intake next year. i have a lot of negative pressure. no carbon filter to restrict flow.

Another thing worth mentioning... is that I live in the Arctic... and I have easy access to -30F air for 9 months of the year...

I HEAT my op 10 months of the year.. and cook it for 2

here's more bud porn from the House of Gypsy...

Ok so I went out and picked up a few things today, I spent almost 60$ total on all of the supplies I am about to show you, and I expect to spend another 20 before finishing because I haven't picked up my fans (or a carbon filter) yet. Anyway let me know if you think this will work to grow one successful plant


The box I decided to go with - A styrofoam cooler, air tight, spacious, easy to work with, inexpensive, and already white!



Box interior, 2 sets of 2 soft white CFL's, 1600 lumens/23 watts (=100 watt incandescent)




The cover to the box - that is a 3300 lumen soft white CFL @ 55 watts (= 150 watt incandescent). I plan to have this mounted in such a way that I can adjust the height of it to sit just over the plant at all time. (And when the plant is too high, I have an extra cooler, and will set one bottom piece inverted on top of the other and remount my dome light)



The red squares are where I intend to install my fans. Later on, when I need it I want to install a carbon filter on my exhaust fan.
The black circles are where those light fixtures are going to be mounted horizontally, I think all of the lights together will give an even and adequate light distribution for my plant.



92mm Fan I intend you install


Please share all your thoughts and concerns I am aware that I do not have any form of watering system set up, but I think I can manage watering one plant regurly by hand haha

Oh Please tell me you are not serious...

If you really want to start a fire that bad just buy a gallon of gas...

Haha, it's not as bad as you think, check out my thread dude
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-...lding-single-plant-growbox-i.html#post2701219

Fractus said:

Haha, it's not as bad as you think, check out my thread dude
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-...lding-single-plant-growbox-i.html#post2701219

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I will.. but styrofoam has a very low flash point (the temperature at which it will ignite...

I would nit want that within 3 feet of a bulb ...

It can melt and drop your lights...

Dude... I used to think cardboard was a bad idea...

You have just convinced me it's not so bad...

All I can say is good luck...

Hope you own the house you are putting at risk... I'd be pissed if someone did that in mine...