Budget Grow Template = 2x2x4 Tent - 400w HPS - Greenhouse Seeds

This could be the cheapest "prosumer" setup to date. Prices included.

I have a few grows under my belt and have assisted, so we should expect the grow to yield. I'm hoping this could be a template for others looking to go as cheap and "real" as you can. My day job is fancy machines, it lets me understand the gizmos that power our lives as we know it. So I expect to not burn my house down and believe the operation should go well with the parts invested into this.

I had in mind to do this as cheap as I could while not doing much DIY and keeping things "proper". By cheap I mean I researched prices between Amazon and Ebay for several days sorting through filters and looking through sellers to find the CHEAPEST possible. By "proper" I mean using real equipment that should generate results, as little as DIY needed, plug and play. I chose HPS over LED because its reliable/predictable and cheap.

Lighting kit - $49.35


The ballast has no fan. My conditions will be okay for this unit as long as the quality of the internal components keep up with the lighting cycles. Try to keep it cool with a fan or something. Never hot to the touch, warm is okay. Only the cool tube is 6" duct, I will use a reducer to match the 4" fan and filter. This can create noise. Wrapping some duct tape around tubing helps act as dampening. This isn't a problem for me.

Fan - $28.99

This is a generic plastic fan found all over the internet. This and the ballast are the two biggest concerns for failure and fire hazards.


Here is the tent - Common knock off - $36.09

Zippers are good quality. Metal corners and hardware. Good find for price.

Filter - $19.99

Nice cheap 4" filter. We are working in a confined space on top of the small tent.

Seeds - $25.72

Ive always grown some green house seeds in my grows. IMO they are one of the best banks ever and their seeds have always grown into amazing plants.

Grow nook


The whole area is about 25sqft tops. It is connected to my garage which is also connected to my house. I prefer growing in the fall to have the temps naturally be cool. There will be plenty of air to come into the area.

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MAIN GROW ROOM PARTS TOTAL: $134.02 (not inlcuding seeds, bucket etc.)

Several items are still in the mail including seeds. I will get most supplies from walmart, lowes or home depot. Which ever is cheapest at the time. Waiting on shipping then will update more. Questions and comments welcome.
-Thanks.

400w is a lot for that area, it's going to be hard to keep the temperature down
I have the same size tent and I used a 250w hps, which was plenty
I now use a 135w quantum board which performes similar but without the heat

The set up looks great though!

jasperr said:

400w is a lot for that area, it's going to be hard to keep the temperature down
I have the same size tent and I used a 250w hps, which was plenty
I now use a 135w quantum board which performes similar but without the heat

The set up looks great though!

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I agree with 400 being a lot! I can do whatever needed to keep it cool, run a small hvac duct line from in the house inside the nook area, but trying to do it all as if I couldn't. What was your yields like with the 250w in the tent? Thanks!

i8urbabi said:

I agree with 400 being a lot! I can do whatever needed to keep it cool, run a small hvac duct line from in the house inside the nook area, but trying to do it all as if I couldn't. What was your yields like with the 250w in the tent? Thanks!

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If you can manage to keep it cool and your electrical bill isn't that much of an issue you're going to have a sick grow with that 400w! Just be careful to not bleach the top part of the plant, keep the plant as low as possible because 4" is not much for height, i had this problem with my 250w already and i have a 5", so keep it in mind before it's too late

My biggest yield so far was around 230 grams from 1 huge autoflower, but now I'm getting more around 150-200 grams total from 2 or 3 smaller plants, but better quality buds

Light might be too big, fan might be today small.
400watt - 3x3 (pretty sure)
I know 8” is for 1000 I use em for 1200 Watts (2x600w) so maybe 4” will be fine.
I’d go with a magnetic ballast though. Much more reliable and really easy and cheap to fix I’m actually switching back to magnetic right now because 2 of my digitally broke and so I ran off an old magnetic and I’m getting 2x the light output. Even swapped the magnetic to the digital ones and they still ran brighter on the magnetic ballast.
You can open the tent if heat is a problem while the lights are on. Still my first light setup was about 500$ 600 watt light/air/ dwc systems/ nutrients/ meters/ I did a lot off diy too- Box& hydro systems.
I’f your looking into cheap nutrients
Jacks 321
Chem-gro 420
There’s another one to just search dry nutrients