Back in the 90's I supported myself in college for awhile by growing in the walk-in closet of my one bedroom apartment. Like most growers, I started out by just throwing some bag seeds into dirt. The first attempt used some shop lights in a closet (with the plants in coin buckets from Vegas hehe). I moved before they finished, but I kept at it. I finished a couple plants in the next place before finally moving into the apartment with the big closet, and more importantly, no roommates. 
The first grow there was bag seed in dirt again, but I bought a 400W MH and a 400W HPS. I had split the closet in half to make a flower and veg side. Obviously this wasn't the best idea, but that's how we all learn, right? I quickly realized flowering space was more important. I took out the divider and switched to a DIY ebb & flow tray system. I cloned under the shop lights in the bedroom, then veged in the trays under just the MH and added the HPS during flowering. I added AC and CO2 also. It worked pretty well, but I had trouble managing the plant heights. Eventually I took a volleyball net and strung it over the trays. 15+ years later, I've discovered this is now referred to as SCROG.
I can't recall the title, but there was a book I used to constantly refer to. Something about the growers handbook or something? Being in "the scene", I met lots of other growers and we all shared ideas with each other. I got to help setup lots of grow rooms. That was always my favorite part. I grew to be a huge fan of "bucket systems".
Fast forward to today... College is long gone. I've taken a couple short hiatuses from smoking over the years, but never really "quit". I worked in local government for a decade, so I always kept my smoke discrete. The wife doesn't really smoke (tried it a couple times, but didn't care for it), but recognizes the benefits it provides me. Last year we quit our jobs to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (hence my username ). After the trail, I got a new job in another state. I was excited when we bought our home here because I was getting a garage and a workshop, but I didn't even think about how I could make use of my new basement! I've always disliked how expensive quality smoke was. I found that it is significantly cheaper here, but hard to find reliably. My solution is to grow my own. I explained to the wife that I could cover the costs of equipment and supplies by selling the excess. Knowing how difficult it is to find sometimes, I'm also happy I'll also be helping the other smokers in my area! The wife is onboard at the prospect of a little extra cash as we both took pay cuts.
I'm super excited about the space I have. I know the basement stays dry year round after being here a full year now. There is plenty of room to expand down the road. I think I could have 2 large flowering rooms and still have room for some mothers, clones, and supplies. I may have to cure down there also though, since this will be a stealth grow. I know the same environment for the plants is not ideal for curing, so I'll have to figure out how to deal with that when the time comes. The more I've been reading lately has got me interested in doing some breeding. I may be able to do that down the road too.
My plan is to start with an order of about 10 seeds of 2-3 strains. I've been trying to locate the strains I'm familiar with from the 90's. Back in the day, my buddies and I grew strains we got from Marc Emery himself! They were smuggled from BC inside the tires of mountain bikes I recall being really impressed with Blueberry and Kush, so I think I will order this one https://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/dutch-passion-blueberry/prod_532.html and this one http://www.nirvanashop.com/en/regular-marijuana-seeds/771-master-kush-10-seeds.html. I'm thinking about also ordering this strain http://www.nirvanashop.com/en/regular-marijuana-seeds/762-chrystal-10-seeds.html. If I germinate 30 seeds, I am hoping to end up with 12 females. From those, I hope to select a mother of each strain. This is why I'm unsure about how many seeds to buy. It might be better to start with 2 strains in case I want to choose 2 different phenotypes for mothers. I really only want 2 or 3 mothers, max 4.
I'll take clones from each plant a couple weeks after changing the photoperiod and keep track of which came from each plant. After I cull my males, I can also thin the clones since I probably won't know the sex of the clones when I take them. I'll grow the seed plants as bushes in the ebb & flow "bucket system". After I've decided which variants to make mothers, I will keep the best clone of each to make mothers and grow out the rest, again as bushes. After that, I will switch to SOG. I don't want to setup a proper vegitation area, so I like the idea of SOG. I did always enjoy the SCROG method too though, so I may setup some trays down the road, but I'm a little limited in vertical space in the basement. I have about 7', which I know is enough, but it's one of the reasons I like the buckets as they let me get the plants lower to the ground.
Anyway, I spent several hours tonight researching which seeds to order. This weekend, I should be picking up some of the equipment to start building the grow room. I'm getting pretty excited so I wanted to come introduce myself. If anyone actually reads this far, I'd welcome any and all advice and suggestions. I've for lots of ideas about how I want to setup the room. I'm planning to start a thread for the grow, so I'll discuss more details there. I'm pretty well decided on most aspects of the grow other than which genetics to buy. I may also have questions about managing humidity as the environment here is very different from when I was in San Diego back in the day.
The first grow there was bag seed in dirt again, but I bought a 400W MH and a 400W HPS. I had split the closet in half to make a flower and veg side. Obviously this wasn't the best idea, but that's how we all learn, right? I quickly realized flowering space was more important. I took out the divider and switched to a DIY ebb & flow tray system. I cloned under the shop lights in the bedroom, then veged in the trays under just the MH and added the HPS during flowering. I added AC and CO2 also. It worked pretty well, but I had trouble managing the plant heights. Eventually I took a volleyball net and strung it over the trays. 15+ years later, I've discovered this is now referred to as SCROG.
I can't recall the title, but there was a book I used to constantly refer to. Something about the growers handbook or something? Being in "the scene", I met lots of other growers and we all shared ideas with each other. I got to help setup lots of grow rooms. That was always my favorite part. I grew to be a huge fan of "bucket systems".Fast forward to today... College is long gone. I've taken a couple short hiatuses from smoking over the years, but never really "quit". I worked in local government for a decade, so I always kept my smoke discrete. The wife doesn't really smoke (tried it a couple times, but didn't care for it), but recognizes the benefits it provides me. Last year we quit our jobs to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (hence my username
). After the trail, I got a new job in another state. I was excited when we bought our home here because I was getting a garage and a workshop, but I didn't even think about how I could make use of my new basement! I've always disliked how expensive quality smoke was. I found that it is significantly cheaper here, but hard to find reliably. My solution is to grow my own. I explained to the wife that I could cover the costs of equipment and supplies by selling the excess. Knowing how difficult it is to find sometimes, I'm also happy I'll also be helping the other smokers in my area! The wife is onboard at the prospect of a little extra cash as we both took pay cuts.I'm super excited about the space I have. I know the basement stays dry year round after being here a full year now. There is plenty of room to expand down the road. I think I could have 2 large flowering rooms and still have room for some mothers, clones, and supplies. I may have to cure down there also though, since this will be a stealth grow. I know the same environment for the plants is not ideal for curing, so I'll have to figure out how to deal with that when the time comes. The more I've been reading lately has got me interested in doing some breeding. I may be able to do that down the road too.
My plan is to start with an order of about 10 seeds of 2-3 strains. I've been trying to locate the strains I'm familiar with from the 90's. Back in the day, my buddies and I grew strains we got from Marc Emery himself! They were smuggled from BC inside the tires of mountain bikes
I recall being really impressed with Blueberry and Kush, so I think I will order this one https://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/dutch-passion-blueberry/prod_532.html and this one http://www.nirvanashop.com/en/regular-marijuana-seeds/771-master-kush-10-seeds.html. I'm thinking about also ordering this strain http://www.nirvanashop.com/en/regular-marijuana-seeds/762-chrystal-10-seeds.html. If I germinate 30 seeds, I am hoping to end up with 12 females. From those, I hope to select a mother of each strain. This is why I'm unsure about how many seeds to buy. It might be better to start with 2 strains in case I want to choose 2 different phenotypes for mothers. I really only want 2 or 3 mothers, max 4.I'll take clones from each plant a couple weeks after changing the photoperiod and keep track of which came from each plant. After I cull my males, I can also thin the clones since I probably won't know the sex of the clones when I take them. I'll grow the seed plants as bushes in the ebb & flow "bucket system". After I've decided which variants to make mothers, I will keep the best clone of each to make mothers and grow out the rest, again as bushes. After that, I will switch to SOG. I don't want to setup a proper vegitation area, so I like the idea of SOG. I did always enjoy the SCROG method too though, so I may setup some trays down the road, but I'm a little limited in vertical space in the basement. I have about 7', which I know is enough, but it's one of the reasons I like the buckets as they let me get the plants lower to the ground.
Anyway, I spent several hours tonight researching which seeds to order. This weekend, I should be picking up some of the equipment to start building the grow room. I'm getting pretty excited so I wanted to come introduce myself. If anyone actually reads this far, I'd welcome any and all advice and suggestions. I've for lots of ideas about how I want to setup the room. I'm planning to start a thread for the grow, so I'll discuss more details there. I'm pretty well decided on most aspects of the grow other than which genetics to buy. I may also have questions about managing humidity as the environment here is very different from when I was in San Diego back in the day.
