Noobies unite

Hello everyone. The names MzanziMarijuana and I'm pretty new to growing. I've read threads all over RIU and live it. So much helpful info on here.

I recently started a hydro grow (dwc) and experimenting with organic nutes to see how well I can grow and what issue i will run into.

I have a 150w hps in a cabinet that I made which is 1m X 1m X 1,5m tall.

I also have supplemental light from cfls that equal to about 150w of actual output.

The seeds are bashers as it in an experiment so it will be interesting to see the outcome. I look forward to posting some pics soon.

Feel free to give me some advice as I am a noobie.

Anyone new to growing please feel free to post questions and hopefully some experienced growers can help you too.

Cheers from africa.

If ur from Africa why the hell aren't you growing outside?

Laws don't really allow us to grow in the open, and I live in a communal house and don't want others to see what I'm doing.

theslipperbandit said:

If ur from Africa why the hell aren't you growing outside?

Click to expand...

Okay, so I made a reflector from a bread baking dish for my hps. It's unorthodox but it works. I will post pics later when I get home. The girls are looking great, had them flower from seed basically. More pics to follow later.

Cheers

MzanziMarijuana said:

Hello everyone. The names MzanziMarijuana and I'm pretty new to growing. I've read threads all over RIU and live it. So much helpful info on here.

I recently started a hydro grow (dwc) and experimenting with organic nutes to see how well I can grow and what issue i will run into.

I have a 150w hps in a cabinet that I made which is 1m X 1m X 1,5m tall.

I also have supplemental light from cfls that equal to about 150w of actual output.

The seeds are bashers as it in an experiment so it will be interesting to see the outcome. I look forward to posting some pics soon.

Feel free to give me some advice as I am a noobie.

Anyone new to growing please feel free to post questions and hopefully some experienced growers can help you too.

Cheers from africa.

Click to expand...

Welcome to RIU.
I want to compliment your 150W hps before someone bashes it saying you need a higher watt bulb. 150W will grow crystal just like the bigger bulbs, just smaller buds. Plus the 150W has a lower power use and probably benefits your stealth grow.
Post pics along the way, people will be happy to help.

Buba Blend said:

Welcome to RIU.
I want to compliment your 150W hps before someone bashes it saying you need a higher watt bulb. 150W will grow crystal just like the bigger bulbs, just smaller buds. Plus the 150W has a lower power use and probably benefits your stealth grow.
Post pics along the way, people will be happy to help.

Click to expand...

Hey man, thanks for the reply. I have got some supplementary light from 9 cfls of 15-23watts which I hope will help.
I will post pics soon.

Happy growing man

Okay

This is an update on my home made 150w hps reflector. I made it all on my own by buying the parts individually and putting them together. The ballast and bulb cost me R300 ($13,40US). And the materials I used to make the reflector hood were all recycled from my house.

I've added some pics. Any advice would be appreciated.

Happy growing

Forgot to attach pics

So I just did some research on my 150watt hps bulb and it says I'm emitting 16000 lumens in my grow space which is 3ftX3ftX5ft. Do you think it is sufficient with my 148watts (cumulative) to flower?

Thanks guys.

Happy growing.

Just thought I'd post some pics of my babies and the cfl fixture I made.

Side note: the grow box is still in progress!!

Happy growing!!

MzanziMarijuana said:

So I just did some research on my 150watt hps bulb and it says I'm emitting 16000 lumens in my grow space which is 3ftX3ftX5ft. Do you think it is sufficient with my 148watts (cumulative) to flower?

Thanks guys.

Happy growing.

Click to expand...

Sorry. 400 watts of hps is suggested to flower a 3x3 space.

You could spread the cfl's around for more coverage but they need to be very close to the plant and moved constantly for best results.

Yeah! I was never thinking of you growing 3x3x5. I was thinking of you growing one or two small plants.
Do your plants have a bit of a sativa leaning look? If they are they might get big during the flower stretch and that could cause problems with a 150W. One modest size indica or hybrid plant could grow good crystal but you will have problems with as much space as you want to fill. 600W would probably work better for that space.

Okay, so looking at what you guys have to say, I am thinking maybe if I do a scrog with intense training, I might be able to get a decent plant from this setup. I know it's a big space, but for now I don't need to utilise all of it for growing, much like in a grow room, you don't utilise all the space as some of it is used as walkways and such. Any thoughts?

Happy growing!!

So I have decided after speak to a friend of mine who has been growing for a while longer than I have, to go with the screen of green method. I will only grow one plant at first, then once I have saved some cash I will get a more powerful light. I'm trying to decide whether to get another 150w hps and use both as well as cfls to grow or to just get a 400w hps.

I bought the materials to build a string screen which I will use for the ScrOG and will build it tonight. I will post pics later.

Happy growing!!
MzanziMaryJ

just get the 400w hps u will be alot happier with the results

I will go out and look for one, it also depends on how expensive it will be. It's also pretty difficult to find where I am. The 150w cost me the equivalent of 13 dollars, while the 250w was closer to the equivalent of 50 dollars. So I'm not sure what a 400w will cost me. Cooling is also and issue as a good vent and cooling system will cost me around 200 dollars. So will have to see at the end of the month haha.

Thanks for all the advice so far!

Happy growing!!
MzanziMaryJ

Okay, so the hps is installed, and I rearranged the cfls to make a wall.

I have made the screen from a 2x2 pics of wood that were cut to size. The spacing is 5cmX5cm.

Any comments welcome?

Happy growing!!

You seem to build stuff pretty well...id only mention to improve the reflector on the light...make it larger and angled so as to direct the light more downward towards the plants...I think you're losing a good quantity of light going by the pic...g/l

Hey Walter,

Thanks for the reply, I am kind of forced to make the stuff I use as I can't really afford the high end equipment needed to grow, but I really enjoy it, so I don't mind at all.

I've been looking around for a 400w hps, but can't find one that is affordable for me right now, so I'm looking to get another 150w and making a double bulb reflector unit, so this one is temporary.

I am looking to build a carbon filter that is connected to a air cooled hood just to see how well (or badly) I can make it.

I build rustic furniture as a hobby, so building stuff is in my blood haha

I'll post some pics later...

Happy growing!!

MzanziM

Okay, so now that I've got the screen built, I've germinated some seeds and they're looking good after only a week. These are the girls I'm going to be using for the ScrOG. Tomorrow I will be putting them under the cfls and transferring them to the dwc and will feed them daily from the rez by hand.

Looking forward to it!!

Happy growing!!

MzanziM