2 Room flat (apartment) 1st real grow - advice?

Firstly - its good to be back on RIU.. I used to read a lot on here and gained all my basic knowledge from this site and grow videos and general interest in plant biology.

Anyway its time to grow that high grade and I need a little help setting up as I am a nervous wreck until i see thing working. I don't want to spend loads of money and then realize i could have done it more efficiently another way!

So.. I have 2 rectangular shaped rooms about 10m x 4m i think.. I should measure properly next time I go to the room. 1 window in each rooms. 2 small closets in 1 of the rooms (ROOM A) .. Room B (the second room) is on the corner of the building joining to somebody else flat (and window) on the other wall. _| <-- bottom line me, standing line neighbors.. I am on the top floor so no real worry of smells going up and theres not many other buildings around.

I want to yield around 2000g over or a certain amount a month. this is because i am doing with couple other people.

The electric is on key pay as you go style. the box is outside in the hallway. I'm clueless when it comes to electric stuff. I ideally think i need around 6 x 600w for that king of yield? I am planning to use fans / filter + either seperate wilma 9 pots or big ebb and flow kit.. Or should i start small with a tent and keep adding tents every 2 months?

I dont want to type too much just want to know the community's thoughts really.. much appreciated, thanks.

Also, I pretty much need to start this week! and strains will be probably super lemon haze and greenhouse co exodus cheese (if thats even real? lol)

If your using the room I'd seperate the biggest one in half and have a veg and flower room

...it's much easier and cheaper to just use the whole room as a grow room rather than popping up several tents....just paint all the walls with flat white paint, save the money for more equipment.

You got a lot of space mate, so your options are endless.

Price is your biggest hinderance so like trichome just said skip the tents. Get some 5mil black white poly and use that as temp walls if you need it, which I don't think you do.

What I would do is follow Al B Fuct's harvest every 2 weeks. Use Room A and use the closet for a mom area and the other closet for clones. Get 4 flood and drain setups with 4 55 gal barrels for their reservoirs. Get a 600w over each table or like he does 1k over two tables. 1k's would be cheaper since you only have to buy 2 ballasts, but 4 600w's would rock that shit harder.

Get like 6 moms setup to provide those amounts of cuttings. A 400w MH would be enough for those, i'd probably got 4ft 6 or 8 tube t5ho as the footprint will be much larger. Get a few 48" t8's or t12s for the clones and SOG that room out. You can go as much as 4 plants a square foot. ABF does 2.7/per because he puts 24 buckets in each of his 900mm tables. With that amount he says he gets 16-20oz every harvest. Thats 1792-2240g per 8 weeks.

SOGing with 0 veg time is good cause now you don't need separate lighting for veg, just a mom light a clone light and your flowering lights. It's the cheapest and easiest way you're going to get those yields.

If you're a beginner there will be a learning curve. Took me a few months to learn hydro and a month to learn cloning.

Good luck.

That's a big investment for your first grow. Dont fuck up. Don't skimp on the carbon filter.

Wow thanks for the responses.. just reading and thinking then will post my thoughts after i roll this haze up! Thanks a lot guys!

firsttimeARE said:

Price is your biggest hinderance

What I would do is follow Al B Fuct's harvest every 2 weeks. Use Room A and use the closet for a mom area and the other closet for clones. Get 4 flood and drain setups with 4 55 gal barrels for their reservoirs.

Click to expand...

Hmm i have roughly around £2000 (around $3200) to spend on this grow but i would rather keep the costs down as much as possible as i don't really believe in spending all that unless its gonna make a significant difference to yield / quality..

I will try search for Al B fuct's harvest method after this. The closets are quite small mind you, both are roughly 1.5m x 1.5m but as i said i shall redo all measurements next time I go to the room. I would probably roll with 2 x 1000w as I fear electricity and overloading circuits and losing crops!

I always wanted to do sog but I thought thats generally for people who dont have much space. But I love the idea of 0 veg time, thats awesome!

Any other thoughts RIU?

Id love to grow with this style.. Please post a journal if you ever get down doing it..

I will show pics of the set up on this thread, and then start a grow journal when i plant seeds / flower clones! I'm not one of those talkers I have been eager to do this for years!

...looks similar to the "stinkbuddie" setup ---> https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/116859-harvest-pound-every-three-weeks-3.html

Herbzman said:

Hmm i have roughly around £2000 (around $3200) to spend on this grow but i would rather keep the costs down as much as possible as i don't really believe in spending all that unless its gonna make a significant difference to yield / quality..

I will try search for Al B fuct's harvest method after this. The closets are quite small mind you, both are roughly 1.5m x 1.5m but as i said i shall redo all measurements next time I go to the room. I would probably roll with 2 x 1000w as I fear electricity and overloading circuits and losing crops!

I always wanted to do sog but I thought thats generally for people who dont have much space. But I love the idea of 0 veg time, thats awesome!

Any other thoughts RIU?

Click to expand...

A setup like his would run about that. $3200. But you can throw all the money in the world at this hobby.

A SOG is for anyone with big enough balls that don't care about the potential of getting caught with 100+ plants. Not for everyone. You could do this whole setup in a 3mx3m room, so you're right it is primarily for space concerns. But aside from some vertical setups like heath robinsons flooded tube spiral setup he did and got 2.2g/watt a SOG is your best bet for maximizing gram per wattage. Close third would be a perpetual SCROG method with CO2 supplemental and you could rock 8oz plants and fit 2 under a 1k maybe 4 if youre lucky. This is with a 5 week+ veg and an 8 week flower so 13 weeks tied up vs 10 weeks with a SOG. Even if you can fit 4 per 1k thats 8 plants and 8 oz each thats 64oz for 13 weeks. SOG at 72oz for 10 weeks. Granted these are all numbers of skilled growers and yours may differ. But if you DO get caught, getting caught with 8 flowering plants and possibly 8 clones, making 16 total is a lot better than 100 flowering plants, possibly 25 clones and 6 moms. Which in America could be the difference of serving time or getting a slap on the wrist.

Electricity should be your big concern before all. You said the box was outside your apartment, do you know the amperage of the circuits?

I would think hard about all the negatives and positives and then decide.

i wish i had a nice space like that to setup my grow.

My concern would be 6x600w in a 2 bedroom flat.

Assuming you would be using 2x600w for veg and 4x600w for flower you would be using
600w x 18hours of use = 10.8kwh x2lights = 21.6kwh for your veg room


Then
600w x 12hours = 7.2kwh x 4lights = 28.8kwh


That's a total of 50.4kwh of electricity per day just on lights.


Most UK electricity companies allow 1kwh of electric per hour per bedroom. That's 48kwh of electric for a 2 bedroom flat per day before red flags start showing.


50.4 kwh is before AC and any fan being used.




I would think long and hard about this venture if it were me.








J

firsttimeARE said:

You got a lot of space mate, so your options are endless.

Price is your biggest hinderance so like trichome just said skip the tents. Get some 5mil black white poly and use that as temp walls if you need it, which I don't think you do.

What I would do is follow Al B Fuct's harvest every 2 weeks. Use Room A and use the closet for a mom area and the other closet for clones. Get 4 flood and drain setups with 4 55 gal barrels for their reservoirs. Get a 600w over each table or like he does 1k over two tables. 1k's would be cheaper since you only have to buy 2 ballasts, but 4 600w's would rock that shit harder.

Get like 6 moms setup to provide those amounts of cuttings. A 400w MH would be enough for those, i'd probably got 4ft 6 or 8 tube t5ho as the footprint will be much larger. Get a few 48" t8's or t12s for the clones and SOG that room out. You can go as much as 4 plants a square foot. ABF does 2.7/per because he puts 24 buckets in each of his 900mm tables. With that amount he says he gets 16-20oz every harvest. Thats 1792-2240g per 8 weeks.

SOGing with 0 veg time is good cause now you don't need separate lighting for veg, just a mom light a clone light and your flowering lights. It's the cheapest and easiest way you're going to get those yields.

If you're a beginner there will be a learning curve. Took me a few months to learn hydro and a month to learn cloning.

Click to expand...

All of this stuff is a must for what you are wanting to do. Except of course the flood and drain system. If you wanted something cheaper, you could grow in soil as well. The downside is they wont grow as fast. Not to sure about yield.

jondamon said:

That's a total of 50.4kwh of electricity per day just on lights.

J

Click to expand...

Ok so i got back from the place a little while ago.. I learned that on the fuse boxes inside the flat there are 2 panels.. one of them says storage heaters.. the other has a mix of things but includes " main circuit" or something. the total 63amp for each panel. Then the main box outside says "off peak", some other flats say "on peak".. and the amp label there says 60 amps ( a bit confusing)..

Does this help decide whether its too much? To be honest im looking at max 4x600w (or 2x 1000w) and maybe those t5 jobbys.. and after first cycle i want to invest in LED lighting so i dont have to worry so much... any thoughts?

Thinking flood and drain but the tables set up might be hassel for me.. I also learned one of the closets is around 90 x 90cm the other is 90 width and slightly less going back.

trichome fiend said:

...looks similar to the "stinkbuddie" setup ---> https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/116859-harvest-pound-every-three-weeks-3.html

Click to expand...

That looks good but slightly more complicated.. I think im probably just gonna go with what Budup said, it was exactly the kind of setup I was looking for I just couldn't get the cycles right in my mind. I just seriously dont want to f*** this up!

My only concerns right now are.. the tables.. and figuring out why i need them? im sure i already did but i forgot.
also the electricity load for just room A.. also whether i need any special reflectors or vented hoods for 2 1000w systems.. hmm.

Amperage etc in the uk is pointless worrying about.

get yourself a power star contactor. This reduces the draw on the circuit and you can get them with built in timers.

Made by ecotechnics.



J

Why is it pointless worrying about? :s so whats the problem then? I'm not stupid just stoned!
Will get one of those thanks for the heads up.. is see it on Prowgrow uk website.
Nice lookin buds by the way ..

Do you reckon I will need to fork out on vented hoods or will the standard reflectors do?
I plan to vent the room anyway .. I want great air circulation..
I'm thinking take air from the hallway and push it out the window which i will block.

pics of the room and closets coming soon i just need to get them off my phone.

Right guys I need to rush into buying this setup the only thing i cannot figure out is where to get the flood and drain setup and tables from?! help!!