New grower need advice

[Radium012]

Hello..I am new to growing and was researching on here. I have decided on what I was wanting to do and so far I only purchased the lights and I have the rest in mind just want to make sure the setup im going to do is going to work. What I plan on purchasing is a grow tent that is 48x48x78. A 6 inch inline fan rated at 440 cfm with carbon filter combo, a speed controller, duct work, I don't want any odors as we have visitors from time to time. I already purchased a Apollo Horticulture MH HPS Grow Light Digital Dimmable Ballast System for Plants - Gull Wing Hood Reflector Set that is 600 watts, it comes with the ballast, hood, timer, 1 of each bulb. I plan on growing in a basement. The questions im still kicking is, do I need a intake fan at the bottom of the tent? It has flaps at the bottom on 3 sides but im not sure if that will leak out lots of a bad odor using those for intake instead. Im also puzzled about soil and nutrients. How many plants could I fit in a tent of that size? I was wanting to start off by growing autoflower ak47. Then maybe after a few grows venture out from autoflowering. I am trying to achieve enough smoke to last me from grow to grow and little more would always be nice. Any input you guys could throw me would be greatly appreciated.

 

[burner]

radium, welcome to the forum. Take a look at my recent thread here. From what the experts say, you really want a 1000watt for that size tent. I decided to stay with a 600watt and drop to a 48x24 tent. You dont need an intake fan. Your tent will be negative pressure, the exhaust fan will pull in fresh air thru the intake flaps and exhaust air out (and will be odorless scrubbed air while flowering ). So the only air leaving your tent if thru the exhaust fan, no where else.

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67524

 

[Radium012]

Hey thanks burner. I took a look at your thread and I see your interest..to me it looked good on paper but actual feed back is the best word of advice for me. The only downside is I have already purchased the lights..I can downgrade the tent but really wanted the space for more yield. I was thinking the same on the pressure just wanted to make sure that during flowering the intake flaps would not allow odor to creep out.

 

[Hushpuppy]

Welcome to MP and to your new addiction Growing your own MJ is very addicting and soo worth doing if you love MJ. I hate that you ordered that light set at this point but that is ok, you can still work with it just fine. Burner is correct about the "negative pressure". When you set the exhaust ffan so that it is pulling the air from within the tent, through the carbon ffilter, it will create a vacuum within the tent that will pull fresh air in through the lower vents and will pull the heated, stale air out at the top.

The reason I hate the light choice is more because of the reflective hood than the wattage. A 600w MH/HPS will work in a 4x4 tent just fine, and will produce plenty off quality smoke for you, but the higher wattage (1000w) is best for making top quality smoke. The problem that you (may have) is with heat control. The HID lights really put out a lot of heat and having the bulbs in an enclosed, vented hood is better for controlling this heat. I would highly recommend that unless your basement is constantly very cool (50s) that you go back and buy a properly vented hood. Getting just the hood is not that expensive. Here is what I highly recommend:http://www.hpsgrowlightstore.com/hp...xtures/ipower-grow-lights-6-cool-tube-xl.html
This fixture will allow the heated air that is around the bulb to continually be pulled out of the tent before it can be spread around the inside of the tent by your "plant fans". It is very important to have 1-2 smaller fans to keep the air moving around the plants so that they get fresh air and are kept cool from the radiant heat of the light shining on the leaves. The light tube is ideal for allowing the light to be efficiently reflected down to the plants by the external reflector while the vacuum force pulls the heated air from the tent by the bulb, which cools it at the same time.

I recommend that you get some 6" fflex hose to connect the carbon filter to the light hood so that the filter can be hung from the ceiling within the tent where it can ffilter the warmest air. Then you can also mount the fan outside the tent and connect it to the other side of the hood with the flex hose as this is how most off us do it, and it works quite well this way.

If you want to begin with autoflowers then I would suggest that you read up on the size off the plants that you will grow and fill the tent so that the plants will not be crammed in too tight. I grow photoperiod plants and I only run 4 plants to a 5x5 tent. However, autos are typically smaller than photos so you could probably get from 4-6 autos in a 4x4. Just remember that more plants does not mean more bud. Take a close look at some of the methods here to see how to get the most from your plants.

Don't be afraid to ask questions in the future as we are glad to help.

 

[burner]

to add on what hushpuppy said about the light. If you ordered that light with amazon prime ...just print a return label and send it back. I bought the 600watt hps/mh with the XL hood he recommended, it was $215 shipped with 10% off coupon code.

 

[Radium012]

Thanks for the good feedback hushpuppy. After the first post from burner and reading some more topics on it. I went to amazon and quickly cancelled that light..hopefully it was in time as it hasn't been shipping yet but was paid for. A day or 2 should give me the answer to that. If it doesn't I will look into that hood for sure and ditch this one for something else. If it does cancel, im going to go ahead and do with what you was saying. I would just take my filter-duck-hood-duck-to outside of tent to fan. Would the 440 be good enough for to exhaust that far from the filter? Also If the get the 1000 watt light im amusing I wont the fan controller? The main reason I was wanting to autoflower was the timing for the harvest I figured if I could do 2 harvest in the same amount of time as one. That possibily it could give me the same amount of yield and have different strains to smoke as well as I like to change things up.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

It is really hard to keep things cool with a batwing reflector. I am with Hushpuppy on the air coolable hood. I don't see you being able to kep your space cool with a batwing reflector.

What do you actually KNOW about autos? I would also like to encourage you to rethink the autos. Maybe throw a couple in with a couple of photoperiod plants so you have something to smoke while the photos are flowering. Autos simply are not going to give you the high and the yield that photoperiod plants do. Also, any little mistake you make is going to affect yield further. I cannot think of a single grower that prefers autos over photoperiod plants. Autos are 1/2 ruderalis and simply will not give you the potency or the yield that photoperiod plants will. And you will find out that it takes about 2/3s the time to run autos that it does photoperiod plants--you will not get 2 runs and 2 runs of autos will most likely not yield 1 run of photoperiod plants. Also if you run clones, you can have about the same turnaround and still have quality plants.

 

[Hushpuppy]

Yeah the 440cfm fan will cool that tent and the 1000wHPS even when pulling through the carbon ffilter. You will still want to get the fan speed controller for slowing the fan if you ffind that it is keeping them too cold in the winter, or iff it is too loud. I was using about the same size on 2 600w lights in a 5x5 tent and was still able to turn it down some to reduce the noise. I also had my exhaust fans about 6' away from my tents and flex hose connected it back to the 2 lights and carbon ffilter. Because the vacuuming action of these fans, they will pull air quite efficiently from a good distance.

I agree with THG on the autofflower plants. You will not find them to give you more bud over time than the photo period plants. You will always get less due to the nature off autos. However, if you are just starting out and want to get some smoke sooner, then one run of the autos is a good way to get some experience on personal growing. Iff you want to maximize your yield over time there are better ways to do that. The easiest way to do that is to have 2 tents so that while one tent is flowering plants the other can be vegging the next set of plants. But I warn you!! don't get ahead of yourself. Growing quality bud is not easy work. My buddy found out the hard way that trying to grow a lot is just like a ffull time job.

 

[DrFever]

You have to decide what is more practical for you situation,
my self personally would run 1000 open reflector in a heart beat, and why well obviously your going to gain more yield for one .
Open reflector will reflect light more evenly through out your area rather then tube style there reflectors direct downward , and also you lose lots of light waves as it bounces between glass and reflector. you want it hitting actual leafs of plant
You probably going to here well you can run lights closer to plants ??? True that but again closer you place light to plant less it lights up complete area.
i run 1000's 14 - 18 " above tops with no issues sure i run fans inbetween lights and tops so the heat moves out fast
You can always add more vent power if need be who ever said you only need one i ran 2 per room 2600 watts for that alone to keep my room at perfect 83 - 86 degrees ... Now everyone is going to say ?? that is to hot ?? to be honest i used to run 72 - 76 temps although that is the normal temps most growers tend to dial in there rooms at .
But when getting into the actual science and personal experience i have seen faster , better yields with hotter temps ... Faster meaning stomata stays open longer allowing better C02 uptake which in turn growth rates increased 40 percent
Down fall from running hotter temps was watering more regular , humidity increase
Humidity seems almost like a 4 letter word for most but TBO humidity is plants best friend in veg get it up as high as you can you ever walk into a green house ???? you see them plants there amazing and why ?? well when a person walks into one the almost lose there breath cause its so hot and humid take this style into your room and your going to see amazing things happen
Cheers DOC

 

[Radium012]

Awesome feedback guys. Well the good news is the light was cancelled and now im searching for a nice 1000 watt cool tube at the moment. I did some research and was wanting to try autos for the first run for the experience and quick smoke sooner, so I can save in the pockets. After that I will be looking into photoperiod plants for the more yield and enjoyment from watching the plant. At a later time after a few grows I may venture into another growing tent as you was saying hushpuppy just wanna get through a couple grows before going that commited.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I am still going to try and dissuade you from autos. There is no way that they are easier on the pocketbook--you cannot clone them, they lack potency, and you will not get much yield out of them. If you want the truth, I simply cannot believe someone took a great plant like cannabis and crossed it with something like ruderalis. IMO, they should be shot--it is a weakening of the genetics and in no way has it contributed anything to the betterment of the cannabis genetics.

Talk to people who started out with autos and then went to photoperiod....I doubt that you will find a single one of them encouraging you to grow autos.

 

[sunakard2000]

ill agree to what THG says... although i did NOT start with autos i have run a full batch and well it was a waste of time. the autos just didnt produce anywhere near the anount of trichs i wanted nor were as dense as i wanted. granted all in all they finish about 20-30 days sooner then photoperiod plants BUT they stay so small even with a 18inch+ deep pot, go with good photoperiod genetics and learn how to clone. above all other pros photoperiod plants bring to the table compaired to autos the ability to CLONE and KEEP that genetic line around for many harvests to come compleatly out weights everything about autos. even if you do hit the jackpot and get a really good auto thats just it you got A really good auto, just 1, and possibly never again will you find that pheno type that was amazing, but with photoperiod plants if you find that killer gal that produces weight and lays on the trichs you can keep her genetics for years to come, heck iv got a Lemon Twist thats already in her 3rd generation of clones, still just as dense and full of trichs as the orginal seed produced.
take it from someone who had the same idea, fast return, well it is fast but not worth it. stick with photo period plants for sure.

 

[Radium012]

Alright sounds like a good plan. I got a few auto cheese seeds that was free to me, I may just pitch in the backyard and watch what happens. But yeah I agree the cloning and keeping the genetics pretty much outweighs it autos all together if your gonna keep growing which is what I intend. THG thanks for your advice and sunakard you explained that perfectly to me.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Maybe a compromise....Get a couple of (fast-finishing) autos and the rest photoperiod plants. Start the autos a couple of weeks before the photoperiod plants. Try to time it so the photoperiod plants get 8 weeks of veg. Veg the photoperiod plants until the 2 autos are done, then harvest the autos, take some clones, flip the lights to 12/12 and have something to smoke while the photoperiod plants are finishing.

 

[Radium012]

I was just gonna pitch them autocheese in the tent with some photo plants maybe 3 weeks earlier as it says 60 to 70 days from seed to finish. But amusing a few more. And do excatly to what you was saying and see how it all rolls out.

 

[lindseyj]

Before you get started familiarize yourself with the basics of growing cannabis, do some reading on growing, grow room design, and the other basics. It will save you a lot of headaches down the road.