Advice For First Grow

High guys, hoping someone can give me some good information, I've been doing a lot of reading up the past few weeks but a lot of what I read seems to be subjective and sometimes contradictory. Basically I'm looking to set up my own grow, my expectations seem fairly modest to myself, but perhaps you can confirm them or blow me out the water either way I have to know. To get self-sufficient I figure id want around 4 ounces per 3 months.
The set up I've been looking at is with a 400watt HPS in a 3ft x 3ft area. I really don’t want to be dishing out more wattage than i necessary as times are pretty hard.
I see a lot of people use CFLs for their grows which seem fine, but it’s always been my understand HPS or even MH would be far in superior. Likewise I'm not sure less than 400watt would get me what i wanted in terms of 4oz (or more) per 3 months.
Another stipulation is that my 3x3 area will be it, I won’t be running a clone area as well. This has lead me investigating auto flowering strains which seem all right but not fantastic in terms of yield.
I'm sorry my post is a little long winded, but I’m basically looking for viable suggestions whereby I could get my 4 ounces every 3 months. Any advice is welcome, thanks for reading.
Muddy

you dont need auto,s, use em if u want. crack a 10 pack of your choice, veg for 2-3 weeks and flip. pull all males, if extra females, bin em. should have no problem pullin a qp every 3 months...peace

Thanks for the brimck, peace!

Your problem will be heat. I only do 2 grows a year in winter for that reason. Ask yourself if you can really grow year around. If so you can't really do more than 3 grows a year from seed to harvest. But my grow space is a little smaller than yours and I get 12 oz a grow for two grows which is 50% more than the quarter per quarter you say you need.

My advice would be if you have to get a 400, make sure its vented because you will need that light like right on top of her if you dont want a ton of stretch(which you dont) also, get an exhaust fan, a 30 dollar one from home depot will be.enpugh for a grow that size. It seems like a trivial addition but heat really really is a factor...so exhaust

Oh yeah thanks for the replies you guys, the set up I have in mind is using a grow tent, has intake and extraction & carbon filter etc. Even worked out where I pump the exhaust etc.
The sort of technical side I am not really worried about I've been around grows and helped set them up even. Their cash grows though and that is not my thing. I just really want to become self sufficient, but in the most minimal way possible. I.E. I don't want more wattage than is necessary for my meagre four ounces per 3 months. I know going for 8oz say over 6 months would be better, and perhaps even an option for the future. For now though I'm more after immediate gratification.

muddyhymnal said:

Oh yeah thanks for the replies you guys, the set up I have in mind is using a grow tent, has intake and extraction & carbon filter etc. Even worked out where I pump the exhaust etc.
The sort of technical side I am not really worried about I've been around grows and helped set them up even. Their cash grows though and that is not my thing. I just really want to become self sufficient, but in the most minimal way possible. I.E. I don't want more wattage than is necessary for my meagre four ounces per 3 months. I know going for 8oz say over 6 months would be better, and perhaps even an option for the future. For now though I'm more after immediate gratification.

Click to expand...

Immediate gratification is a dangerous path to follow while growing my friend...

Well thanks for the advice.

While I agree that using HID lamps is optimal and will net greater yields than either florescent or LED lighting, if you only have a 3' x 3' area available to grow in, I would advise against using one. Either purchase a slightly larger grow tent, so heat is more manageable, or consider using T5 florescent tubes or CFL bulbs in the smaller tent. The intensity that HID bulbs produce is really only necessary when growing larger plants or a great numbers of plants.

Thanks thc&me, this is what I was trying to get at with my original post. I have been looking into CFLs and T5's. I found a place that does 200watt CLFs in blue and red, do you think 200 watt would be sufficient for my needs or would i be better doubling up?

for that amount of gear needed, use cfl's; you won't create an oven, that you then need to cool, and its carbon-friendlier.