Fire Hose!

[Sm0ke]

Hi Folks,

I have been lurking and reading and I am a little overwhelmed by all the information.

I am going to build a grow room out of a storage space in my basement and I am clueless on how I want to set it up. Hell, where to begin even!

The room is 6 feet by 11 feet and has an enclosed sump pump in it as well as shelving already, and a small window. There are outlets and getting water in the room wouldn't be too hard to do.

My budget is to try and keep it under $1000, but have some wiggle room if I do it in stages.

I have seeds from a failed outdoors try, so I have a few tries to get the system working before I start getting into "good" strains and cloning.

Thanks for your time and suggestions!

 

[Rosebud]

I guess the first thing to do is to paint the walls white. Just flat white. It reflects the most.

Then your going to have to figure out how to move the air in there and bring in fresh air for the plants. Is smell a problem? If so you will need an air filter. You need to decide how you want to grow. Water, dirt, organic, non organic. Then we need to discuss lights and what kind and how many for that space.

You can't really put plants on shelves but they will come in handy i am sure. More people will come and offer much more.... stay tuned and let us know what some of your plans are.

Oops, i forgot, welcome to MP, glad you are here.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I would divide the space into 2 different sections--one for vegetative growth and one for flowering. There are advantages in having 2 spaces. And you can not equip a space that is 6 x 11 for under a thousand. I would look at maybe 8-12 sq ft for vegging and 16-25 sq ft for flowering. Put the shelves in part of the space you are not growing in. The shelves can hold nutrients and other supplies. If you are not handy at building things, look into buying tents.

Check and see what else if anything is on the same electrical circuit to make sure you have enough amperage into the space.

Lighting and ventilation will be determined by the size of the spaces you decide on. Ventilation will also depend on several other factors. Basements are great to grow in!

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

Welcome smoke, what are the dimensions of your space? How many plants do you plan on doing, what method etc. this will all depend on what equipment you'll need, and supplies etc. MP is a great place to hone your skills brother. Remember no question is stupid, we love to offer our knowledge and experience here. We were all new and clueless at one point lmao!

 

[Sm0ke]

The room is 6x11 with shelves and a sump pump (which I think will work to my advantage).

The sump pump has a radon pump so it vents outside, and is covered my clear plexiglass. What I was thinking was to drill holes in the plexiglass and mount one or two PC fans to it, pushing room air into the pump area. This would keep positive pressure for the radon pump, and vent out smells. I would have a open vent to the next room so fresh air can enter.

As far as number of plants, until I get my green legs, and "other" things change I was looking at four at most. Once I get more experience under my belt I may put a couple more in, but mainly its to keep myself in supply.

As far as being handy, I am retired military and spent two deployments creating living and working spaces out of nothing, so the only thing I'm not keen on is electrical work. However, a complete remodel of the basement is coming so I can arrange it so that the room is on its own circuit with the amperage it needs.

Soil/hydro/organic is something I haven't thought of really. I'm a firm believer in "K.I.S.S."
Keep It Simple Stupid
That being said, I would like to start out with the basics until I get those down, and go from there.

I have a small bag of seeds from a failed attempt that I will be starting with and then as I get better, work on clones and strains for specific purposes. (Pain relief, anxiety, pleasure, etc etc)

This photo is of the sump area (please excuse the clutter)

View attachment image.jpg

 

[Rosebud]

I am an organic dirt grower and you can't get much simpler than that or you can make it complicated, not necessary. It can be as simple as buying a good organic soil like fox farm ocean forest that has nutrients for 5-6 weeks and you add your own till the end. If you want to get crazy you can make your own soil.

I have never grow any other way, but lots of folks have great luck with different methods, just wanted to pipe in about kiss.

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

OMG, I'm so mad! I just wrote like 8 paragraphs of info for you smoke, went to post it and it said I needed to be logged in, which I had already done, so I put my login info in again, and it said I was already logged in. Then I went back to post and it was all deleted. FML! I'm not re typing all that again. Lol

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

This bag of seeds you have, are they good genetics? If not, I wouldn't bother with those. order some good genetics, that's the most important thing when growing! $100 is not a lot when you consider the money, time, and problems associated with unknown genetics! Imagine putting your all into a grow, only to have a hermie seed everything and ruin your crop. UGH! Trust me you don't want that, you'll be back to square one again. The goal is to find a plant pheno that is worthy of cloning! There are even a few budget seed packs available for the budget oriented. I order from attitude seedbank. Never had a problem with them.

Like THG said divide that room up into two different spaces. You'll need a lil work bench for working with the plants and those shelves will come in handy as well.
There's so much more , but it's getting late here and I'm tired, I'll post more info tomorrow, hope this helps!

 

[Sm0ke]

Lol at HBM!

I did that last night and said screw it, I'll hop on the iPad tomorrow.

The seeds are from California and I made some mistakes and the plants died. I clipped everything off the stems (leaves etc) and threw them into my MB2 and they (cookies I made with the butter) were nice and mellow for me, strong for my wife.

I'm fairly confident that they will work decently, and I haven't figured out Bitcoin and my bank won't let me order from online with my card.

I'm sure I'll be visiting family or they visiting me this spring and I can probably sweet talk my Mother-in-law and Aunt-in-law to bring a clone or seeds out. They are both card carrying Californians, and travel in a RV everywhere.

The first strain I'm looking at seriously though is something for pain. I have spinal stenosis in my neck and moderate to severe arthritis in my back, I'm only forty so I have a long road ahead of me of pain and discomfort. The next is something for sleep/anxiety/PTSD, I was medically retired from the military for PTSD, they didn't want me, well I didn't want to as well, running around and punching people in the face when they didn't think like me (I'm pretty mellow now though). So, that being said, I'm fairly patient and willing to deal with some heartburn if the seeds are not up to expectations, and I can get "meds" locally without major issues.

 

[Sm0ke]

To clarify that last paragraph, I'm currently on six different meds for PTSD/sleep/pain and have already told my doc I want off all of it!

I'm not a health nut, but I am a firm believer in the medicinal properties of THC/CBD and just wish the main stream would get with the program. I'm not wanting to addicted to man made pain meds and mood stabilizers when I can eat a cookie, smoke, or take a capsule that I have made from start to finish.

 

[Rosebud]

I am a health nut. I have gotten off a couple of pharm drugs. CBD's really do help with pain as most pot does. I think food is medicine now.. Good luck to you Sm0ke.

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

Yeah I hear you smoke like rose said something high in CBD would be great for your pain, something indica will be good for your anxiety and sleep. I too have PTSD but not from military or wartime, but I have learned to deal with that in other ways, lol! I recently was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma and had to have my kidney removed, which caused me to have anxiety about my health. It still plagues me from time to time, but I refuse to be on prescription mind altering meds. Any med that treats anxiety, but has side affects that are worse Thant the anxiety itself, ie. Suicide, depression,....uh no thank you. I'll deal with the anxiety. I find that if I'm not drinking a little and have a little buzz, I cannot smoke too much, it makes me anxious, I've tried all different strains! But if I have a drinking buzz, I smoke down! I guess the alcohol relaxes me and offsets the anxiety. I know weird, right? Lol. The act of growing and tending to my garden soothes me when I'm feeling anxious and takes me to a different place, as well as work. I actually love my job! Have you thought about how you wanna grow, what style? How many plants?

 

[Rosebud]

Wow highbrix, you have been through a lot. Keep smoking and good luck to you.

 

[Sm0ke]

Sorry about your health issues HBM.

PTSD can be a *****, especially when things are fine and then you hit a trigger.

As I get older I have to check my "badassness" because my body can't cash the checks my mind wants to write.

 

[oldfogey8]

i started out growing on a budget. i spent under $500 on a small 4x4x2 tent, a 4 bulb 4 foot t5 lamp fixture, a small exhaust fan and some nutrients, soil and pots. i bought some seeds for about $100 since i had no bag seed. i had to invest another $150 approx for a better exhaust fan and a charcoal filter as the plants got bigger and started to stink. i may have blown another $100 for some assorted cfl bulbs and fixtures as i got into flowering. to start out, i think you should be more than good spending under $1000. i have heat issues(both hot and cold) in my basement but it sounds like you can build stuff and are probably good at improvising so you will be able to deal with heat/cold as issues arise. for a first grow, it is not rocket science. ask questions here as they arise. i grew 4 plants in my first attempt and screwed the pooch on 2 but still wound up with close to a quarter pound of smoke that was better than i had had in years. i now am on my 4th grow and i am tweaking things as i go. the thing i'd do differently if i had the cash to do so is get an hps lamp for flowering. i vegged and flowered under the t5/cfl bulbs i have(and still do). the problem with the hps lamps for flowering is heat but like i said, you can go the whole grow with just the t5's and cfls and come out with some really nice smoke. if you have a hydro shop close, go and talk with them. they will try to sell you on stuff but you can get ideas from them. they may have starter kits (which is what i have and use) that will take some of the guess work out of it. if you k.i.s.s. to start, you can build up from there over time as you get better at it. good luck and welcome to the fun.

 

[yooper420]

Welcome to the addiction of growing.

 

[Kraven]

Morning and welcome Smoke, I'll be following along. It sounds like you have plenty of advice so i just watch for now. Good luck with the grow

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

Wow highbrix, you have been through a lot. Keep smoking and good luck to you.

Thanks rose, things these days are getting better. I'm paying way more attention to my health and wellbeing. You're so sweet!

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

Sorry about your health issues HBM.

PTSD can be a *****, especially when things are fine and then you hit a trigger.

As I get older I have to check my "badassness" because my body can't cash the checks my mind wants to write.

Thanks for your concern smoke, I too have the problem of writing checks my body can't cash, I mean I do cash em, but I pay for it dearly! I want my youth back! One day at a time. Focus on the positive, that's all we can do!