Indoor grow weather quetion

[MoNoXiDe]

I've never had an indoor setup, I would like to. I just get scared of being caught. My question is, with an indoor setup can you grow year round? Also, how big of a setup would I need for just personal use.

 

[4u2sm0ke]

lots of people grow in closets all year long...And Most grow for personal use...Be sure you Dont Tell anyone of the grow and do your Braggin with us

But Above ALL........

 

[MoNoXiDe]

I would love some tips. Some do's and dont's. A basic how to for a noob indoor grower. Would it make my house smell? etc.

 

[4u2sm0ke]

your house will reak if proper steps are not taken to Hide it...Theres tons of great info here in the "Resource" Section...Read through them and find someone with a simular setup as you want to do..and read read read....I am just now getting a room in the house setup...for the past 7 years I been groing in My Shed outback...Hope to see you up and running ......Nothing like growing your own

 

[MoNoXiDe]

THanks, I will check it out. I always hear it spikes your electric bill which tips the leo's. I would like to hear someone's take on that. True / False?

thanks again!

 

[Hushpuppy]

Running an indoor grow doesn't spike your electricity unless you do a majorly huge grow. you can get a 4x4 tent with a single 600watt MH/HPS sealed fixture, a 400cfm exaust fan, and a nice carbon filter and grow all you want without alerting LEO.

Think about this; a typical hair dryer runs on 800-1500watts, while a single mh/hps light can be 600-1000w and do all you want for personal needs. As long as you pay your electricity bill on time, the electric company doesn't care how much MJ you grow. Even if your electric usage doubles in a month's time, they don't know if you installed a jaccuzi, an electronics gameroom with a full home theater, of if your family from Jamaica just moved in with you. All they know is that you paid the bill on time and didn't question why it is higher, and that means you know its higher and don't mind paying the extra money

 

[CatFish]

yes you can grow year round but if you live where it's hot and humidity high you will need ac.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

My first question for new growers is generally what your expectations are and how much money you have to spend on this hobby.

There is really no "basic how-to for noobs". While there are certain "rules" we go by, ultimately each grow has to be set up to fit the individual's needs. Plants have 2 stages--vegetative growth and flowering. Lights for vegging are run 24/7, we want a minimum of 3000 lumens per sq ft, something in the 64500K range. Flowering is 12/12 with a minimum of 5000 lumens per sq ft in the 3000K range. You need ventilation, usually accomplished with the use of a good quality exhaust fan and passive intakes. Odors are taken care of with a carbon filter.

While many may call cannabis a weed, it is not and does not grow like one. It does take knowledge, study, love and money to get a plant from seed to harvest. The more you know, the better your grow will be.

 

[MoNoXiDe]

My first question for new growers is generally what your expectations are and how much money you have to spend on this hobby.

There is really no "basic how-to for noobs". While there are certain "rules" we go by, ultimately each grow has to be set up to fit the individual's needs. Plants have 2 stages--vegetative growth and flowering. Lights for vegging are run 24/7, we want a minimum of 3000 lumens per sq ft, something in the 64500K range. Flowering is 12/12 with a minimum of 5000 lumens per sq ft in the 3000K range. You need ventilation, usually accomplished with the use of a good quality exhaust fan and passive intakes. Odors are taken care of with a carbon filter.

While many may call cannabis a weed, it is not and does not grow like one. It does take knowledge, study, love and money to get a plant from seed to harvest. The more you know, the better your grow will be.

I really have no clue on cost. I have around 1000 - 1500 to get the setup. I want to do it in my basement. Not a finished basement but I can walk in and has about 8-10 foot head room. I can always add more items later. I will have to build flooring for it first. because I live on a sloped property.

 

[Auburn1985]

It was difficult for me my first few grows. Out of my first 5 grows, only 2 yielded a finished product worth bragging about.

You have a pretty sizable learning curve to overcome. But so did we all. You're not gonna get all the information you need in this thread. But people will point you in the right direction to get the information you need.

You need to thoroughly understand grow room design. Location and space requirements (choice of closet or tent), electricity requirements (and safety), types of lighting (T5 and HPS), wall-covering reflectivity (flat white paint or mylar), light-proofing, temperature and humidity control, ventilation, air movement, and odor filtering. It's gonna be much easier if you start with a quality tent. Gorilla and Secret Jardin make quality tents.

You need to thoroughly understand the marijuana plant itself, and its growth stages. Choosing seeds, buying seeds, germinating seeds, nutrients, vegetative growth, training the plant (LST), sexing, flowering growth, when to harvest, how to dry, and how to cure.

For your first few grows, use soil. It's easier and more forgiving of mistakes. You can mix your own (called Super Soil), but for beginners I suggest using a soilless mix and feeding your plants with chemical nutrients (in this case, you'll need a good PH meter). You can advance to full-blown hydroponics later once you get good at the basic growing methodology.

You need to promise yourself that you will never tell anyone about your grow. That's the number one way personal growers get busted.

Most new growers are obsessed with lots of plants and huge yields. Don't make that mistake. A small, modest, well-hidden personal grow of 2-4 plants at a time will supply you with all you need. That's what I do for my wife and myself, and we have plenty. Remember that if busted, the penalty (i.e. prison sentence) you'll get will be based upon how many plants you get caught growing.

Start with bag seeds. Don't spend a bunch of money on quality genetics until you've gotten experience germinating seeds.

Over watering is the biggest newbie mistake.

Use T5 lighting (instead of MH lighting) for the vegetative stage. MH lighting generates way too much heat, and the bulbs are outrageously priced.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I agree with everything Auburn has said except the use of bagseeds. I believe that there is a distinct advantage for new growers to use good genetics. First, they are not that expensive. Second, you know exactly what to expect. You can probably find someone who has grown the same strain or can give you advice on what strains to purchase. Different strains give different kinds of highs from sativa dominant that get you up and moving and help fight depression to the couch-lock indicas that help with pain relief and sleep and everything in between. You will also know how long the strain takes to finish, if it is nute sensitive or a nute hog strain. You will know the growth pattern and how long they take to finish. Plants take 3-5 months from seed to cure. You never really know what you are going to get with bagseed--there is a good chance that it is the result of selfing and is predisposed to hermying. Or it would be pollen from feral ditch weed--something with little to no high. It is heart breaking to spend that much time growing something and take the chance of the seeds hermying or simply being a no-high plant.

 

[Auburn1985]

I agree with everything Auburn has said except the use of bagseeds. I believe that there is a distinct advantage for new growers to use good genetics. First, they are not that expensive. Second, you know exactly what to expect. You can probably find someone who has grown the same strain or can give you advice on what strains to purchase. Different strains give different kinds of highs from sativa dominant that get you up and moving and help fight depression to the couch-lock indicas that help with pain relief and sleep and everything in between. You will also know how long the strain takes to finish, if it is nute sensitive or a nute hog strain. You will know the growth pattern and how long they take to finish. Plants take 3-5 months from seed to cure. You never really know what you are going to get with bagseed--there is a good chance that it is the result of selfing and is predisposed to hermying. Or it would be pollen from feral ditch weed--something with little to no high. It is heart breaking to spend that much time growing something and take the chance of the seeds hermying or simply being a no-high plant.

Although I recommended using bag seeds, I never did myself. I used good genetics from the start, but I was lucky enough to be able to afford them, and didn't get too upset when I made mistakes with them.

And I was unclear in my advice. I didn't mean to go from start to finish with bag seeds. Just to practice germinating with them, just get the hang of it.

 

[Hushpuppy]

Yeah I have to agree with getting good new seeds that have solid genetics, and some that are recommended to be easier for new growers to handle without surprises or inherent difficulties. If you start with bagseed and very little knowledge or experience then if anything goes wrong due to poor genetics, the new grower is left to try to figure out what he or she is doing wrong and then second guess themselves. Experience is a good teacher but it can also be discouraging to a new grower who makes bad decisions as a result of something that wasn't their fault.

I think having good solid genetics gives the inexperienced grower a much better chance of success, even when mistakes are made. I know this from my own personal experience. My brother and I started with some unknown strain and struggled with 3 grows, only to get a bunch of hermy/seedy bud each time. Then we bought some of the Blueberry Punch for $50 for 10 seeds. we made every mistake short of running it over with the lawn mower and it still gave us many great harvests of mega-buds with a great mixed head and body stone.

 

[DrFever]

Running an indoor grow doesn't spike your electricity unless you do a majorly huge grow. you can get a 4x4 tent with a single 600watt MH/HPS sealed fixture, a 400cfm exaust fan, and a nice carbon filter and grow all you want without alerting LEO.

Think about this; a typical hair dryer runs on 800-1500watts, while a single mh/hps light can be 600-1000w and do all you want for personal needs. As long as you pay your electricity bill on time, the electric company doesn't care how much MJ you grow. Even if your electric usage doubles in a month's time, they don't know if you installed a jaccuzi, an electronics gameroom with a full home theater, of if your family from Jamaica just moved in with you. All they know is that you paid the bill on time and didn't question why it is higher, and that means you know its higher and don't mind paying the extra money

TBO even tho household appliances use 600 - 2000 watts its not always on , more n more companies are now watching spikes of electricity times there on and duration of time for instance if you veg 18 / 6 for 3 - 5 weeks thats 18 hrs a day that power is being used ?
? in time they could see it was used for 18 hrs A day as well in flower mode 12 hrs on @ 600 - `1000 or 5000 watts SMART METERS ,
now if your growing 400 watts dont think it would matter , but they can look up last 5 years prior bills and check that way as well , IMO summer grow for free out door and winter buzz off a few big grows to make it for a year like myself hell you can always get away with bigger bills in winter then summer VEG low wattage T5 ho's flower with big power lol
just tell them you use 1000 watt electric heaters in rooms try explaining 5 - 6000 watts in dead of summer with more and more grows being done don't be thinking there DUMB ppl working for Electric company not to hard to figure out

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I have a hard time believing that power companies are looking for spikes in electrical use to bust growers. They are there to sell a commodity--electrical power. As long as you pay your bill, the power company really doesn't care. I have never heard of one credible verifiable case of a person with a personal grow getting busted for spikes in there electrical bill if their bills are paid on time.

 

[Auburn1985]

TBO even tho household appliances use 600 - 2000 watts its not always on , more n more companies are now watching spikes of electricity times there on and duration of time for instance if you veg 18 / 6 for 3 - 5 weeks thats 18 hrs a day that power is being used ?
? in time they could see it was used for 18 hrs A day as well in flower mode 12 hrs on @ 600 - `1000 or 5000 watts SMART METERS ,
now if your growing 400 watts dont think it would matter , but they can look up last 5 years prior bills and check that way as well , IMO summer grow for free out door and winter buzz off a few big grows to make it for a year like myself hell you can always get away with bigger bills in winter then summer VEG low wattage T5 ho's flower with big power lol
just tell them you use 1000 watt electric heaters in rooms try explaining 5 - 6000 watts in dead of summer with more and more grows being done don't be thinking there DUMB ppl working for Electric company not to hard to figure out

I would be more nervous about growing plants outside than inside; even just a few plants. I have 50 acres of farm land, and my nearest neighbors are a quarter-mile away, and I'm still scared to grow outdoors.

 

[ozzydiodude]

Buy a old junk welder to set out in front the garage. Pay the electric bill on time every month, and grow the whole house full if you want. The electric co aint going to say anything about someone paying their bills on time. It's the eletric thieves they turn in.

 

[NorCalHal]

I have a hard time believing that power companies are looking for spikes in electrical use to bust growers. They are there to sell a commodity--electrical power. As long as you pay your bill, the power company really doesn't care. I have never heard of one credible verifiable case of a person with a personal grow getting busted for spikes in there electrical bill if their bills are paid on time.

Absolutely.

I can't get into a lot of details, but I would not worry about your electric company turning you in AS LONG AS YOU PAY YOUR BILL.
I have had 5k+ bills for years now. Do they know what is going on, I am SURE they do, positive. I know many others in the same boat as me. "Funny" comments made by electric company cashiers when paying huge bills with stacks of stinky twenties.
Personally, I pay by other means, never going into the Electric co office.

The ONLY thing I have had the electric company do to me was to raise my rates due to "Demand" charges.
Don't argue...just Pay.

 

[NorCalHal]

It's the eletric thieves they turn in.

Yup.

I have seen a huge increase in the amount of grows being busted BECAUSE they were stealing power. They have finally figured out how to trace it down. I know 3 folks that have been busted for just that reason.
All 3 had to pay restitution to the power company, and charges were dropped.

 

[chazmaine420]

Hey MoNo,
$1000 is a good start up budget. I suggest going over to the grow journal section and see what other people have done and see what might fit your needs. But that money could get you a 4x4 tent,600 watt MH/HPS air cooled light w hood, and an inline fan w carbon filter for odor. Using that as a Veg/flower space could yeild anywhere from 6-20 oz every 4 months. I am fortunate to have legal medical grow so if this is under the radar...keep it way secret.

Heres links to two journals I have done.

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65671

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64532