New room. Thoughts on best setup.

[Instrumike]

Hi there,
Newish grower
Have a new room. 12'x9' insulated. So far I have a 1000 watt combo MH/HPS, temp control with intake and exhaust fans. Dehumidifier. Mylared walls.
Trying to decide whether to go with pots/soil or some kind of hydroponic system. Will be starting with a White Widow.
Any suggestions on how to maximize my yield?
My last attemp was cloned WW in pots/soil and got good smoke but low yield. It sure does shrink when it dries out!

 

[hotrodharley]

Soil. Promise you. Soil.

 

[Instrumike]

Yup.
People keep telling me soil.....more forgiving.
Sounds like lights are my weak spot and I need at least 1 more.
4'x4' area per bulb is what I've been told.

 

[WaterDog]

Are you sure you wanna tackle WW for first grow? Not first I guess, Why did it yield low first time?

Personally never soil...Hydro ebb and flow trays or buckets. Soil sucks, slow buggy and dirty....Lol I'm a newb...

 

[Instrumike]

I don't know why it was a low yield. I've been told having just 1 light (1000w) is most likely my problem. I really don't know. What do you think?
I'm told WW is a good strain for new growers. Naturally bug resistant and just generally an easy strain to grow.

 

[coreywebster]

I don't know why it was a low yield. I've been told having just 1 light (1000w) is most likely my problem. I really don't know. What do you think?
I'm told WW is a good strain for new growers. Naturally bug resistant and just generally an easy strain to grow.

Depends on how much you were trying to light up. No more than 5x5 space with good reflective walls (unless using multiple lights in a warehouse)
The common thing for newbs is to chop early, plants change so much in last half of flower its easy to think they are done when they are not, especially when folks seem to rely on just trichomes as the only indicator.

 

[PopeyeSpinach]

I started on soil, did 4 mildly successful grows, switched to hydro ebb and flow and ill never do soil indoors again.

Hydro is so much easier imo.

There may be three four days in a row where all I do is go down there check the pH of my water do a little LST and thats it.

I went to Vegas in January for vacation. Left some pineapple chunk that were about 3 weeks into flower for 5 days. Came back to no problems.

I don't have to worry about mixing gallon jugs of nutrients every 2-3 days.

Hydroton is reusable
soil isn't
and if u use FF soil it's really expensive, good soil I use it for my mother's butt spendy

When I mix a reservoir of nutrients I don't have to dump it into something and watch half of it and run out into a tray

Pumps and lights run on timers that you set and forget

I'm not knocking soil Growers, I'll be doing it Outdoors once it's a hundred percent legal here. But I remember being afraid of hydro and thinking soil sounded easier. But imo soil is a lot more work.

My hydro system is just Hydro fittings with a Lowe's mortar mixing tub for my media,

a Rubbermaid container from Lowe's for my reservoir.

And then a fountain pump from Harbor Freight as well as a pump timer from Harbor Freight

 

[Instrumike]

Depends on how much you were trying to light up. No more than 5x5 space with good reflective walls (unless using multiple lights in a warehouse)
The common thing for newbs is to chop early, plants change so much in last half of flower its easy to think they are done when they are not, especially when folks seem to rely on just trichomes as the only indicator.

Yes,
I was using just trichomes. How else is the "right" time determined?

 

[coreywebster]

Yes,
I was using just trichomes. How else is the "right" time determined?

By appearance, hair recession and swell of calyx's. Trichomes can be misleading if they start to degrade too soon. Although they are a better indication on the type of high, not always so good for knowing when maximum weight has been reached.

 

[Bob006600]

I started on soil, did 4 mildly successful grows, switched to hydro ebb and flow and ill never do soil indoors again.

Hydro is so much easier imo.

There may be three four days in a row where all I do is go down there check the pH of my water do a little LST and thats it.

I went to Vegas in January for vacation. Left some pineapple chunk that were about 3 weeks into flower for 5 days. Came back to no problems.

I don't have to worry about mixing gallon jugs of nutrients every 2-3 days.

Hydroton is reusable
soil isn't
and if u use FF soil it's really expensive, good soil I use it for my mother's butt spendy

When I mix a reservoir of nutrients I don't have to dump it into something and watch half of it and run out into a tray

Pumps and lights run on timers that you set and forget

I'm not knocking soil Growers, I'll be doing it Outdoors once it's a hundred percent legal here. But I remember being afraid of hydro and thinking soil sounded easier. But imo soil is a lot more work.

My hydro system is just Hydro fittings with a Lowe's mortar mixing tub for my media,

a Rubbermaid container from Lowe's for my reservoir.

And then a fountain pump from Harbor Freight as well as a pump timer from Harbor Freight

*I re-use my indoor soil and it works prefect every time. I would check out TLO growing style or making your own super soil. You can re-amend your soil and use it over and over again.

 

[PopeyeSpinach]

*I re-use my indoor soil and it works prefect every time. I would check out TLO growing style or making your own super soil. You can re-amend your soil and use it over and over again.

That sounds like a helluva lot more work than just boiling and rinsing hydroton

 

[hotrodharley]

Soil rarely gives root rot. Doesn't require a chiller or meters.

 

[raggyb]

everybody's making good points. I think soil but heck it's your grow. You can master soil and then move on to hydro if you want. 1000 watt's is plenty for 4x4 area. Then you'll have room to move around in your tent while you work on them. That's not such a bad thing. If you're just growing 1 you got everything you need and then some. For yield could be many things that could go wrong. I think WW is a good yielder.

 

[Big Perm]

Whatever you decide to do, run some bagseed through first. You don't have to take it to harvest, but use it to iron out all of the bugs.
You do not want to be in a panic because something is going wrong and you have to fix it right now. Who cares about bag seed? But say you have 5 WWF in there 3 weeks into flower -that's a game changer. I can describe what it is like being up at 3am trying to fix something. Bagseed can wait until tomorrow.
If you don't have time for that do it anyway, and run autos through to catch back up.

 

[Bob006600]

That sounds like a helluva lot more work than just boiling and rinsing hydroton

Its not really that much work. Im a disabled Veteran and get it all done just fine =)