Best setup for low maintenance grow?

I'm considering a first grow, and I have read a TON of info on a variety of related topics. It seems there is almost no limit to how detailed or how much you can work to improve your grow.

My question is coming from a slightly different angle - what thoughts does everyone have regarding a low maintenance grow? As in, what is possible regarding how you can set your grow up to be as autopilot as possible? I'm thinking of a situation where you aren't concerned about maximizing yields or efficiency, you just want to make sure you have a reasonably successful grow with as little work as possible after initial setup.

If that is not specific enough, I suppose there are certain seed types, lighting, feeding, and veg/flower strategies you can use so you can minimize the amount of time you need to put into your grow - what are everyone's thoughts on those?

Thanks in advance.

outdoors is the ideal situation for this with autoflowering strains.

Like he said outdoors otherwise you need to be prepared to put in the time and effort. The more you put into it the more you will be rewarded.

Thanks for the quick input guys! I meant to specify indoor in my original post, but forgot. Outdoors is not an option here. Surely there is a fair amount of work involved with indoor grows, just looking for what people thoughts are as to what is necessary to ensure a reasonable grow, etc. It seems to me hydroponic systems might provide a little more of a low maintenance option after they are set up properly, but they are still a little bit confusing to me as a newbie.

twoplustwo said:

. It seems to me hydroponic systems might provide a little more of a low maintenance option after they are set up properly, but they are still a little bit confusing to me as a newbie.

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yeah they look good on paper but the reality is they are a nightmare of cost high maintenance and very easy to fuck up a grow, just one screw up and you'll wake up to dead plants.
Go soil.

The initial set up has proven to be extremely expensive and time consuming. I tried to do everything right though, and cut no corners. Once I get my two rooms completely set up (small grow. Couple pounds a year) I don't anticipate it being nearly as time consuming. 20-30 minutes a night on a regular basis and more time consuming during harvest, cloning, and plant room swaps.

I enjoy it, but I've always loved gardening. My wife can't wait to help with harvest and has making!

grow autos in door on 18/6 light cycle, u never have to change this lighting time,, the bigger the pot the more water it will hold so hence less waterings needed less time for you also bigger plant ! stick this ( say 4 gallon pot ) under a 250 watt hps which has a low heat out put but will look after 1 or 2 autoflowering cannabis plants also buy a non smelly strain ( neutral smelling ) this way u dont have to wory about smell extraction carbon filter etc, so to cap it off / one light 250 watt hps / one pot 4 gallon / 1 autoflowering seed / some decent soil ( best u can afford ) tap water ! done .

ps ive seen it done lovelyplants from tap water no ph ing no nutes just the light n soil and last time i looked is plants looked awsome !

now that is a low cost low maintenance setup that will give u good bud at the end of the day ! good look !

I realize this is a late reply but; Supersoil organic soil or a less ambitious person could do 1:1 fox farms ocean forest and happy frog in a 3-5 gallon pot with a cheap LED like a galaxy hydro 300. Dr. Krippling Incredible Bulk auto is a good yielder for a stoney indica and mine finished in just over 10 weeks.

In the last 5 ish years of growing i have found one thing.
KISS that shit. We all have different proficiencies. Play to your strengths. Im not that mathematical. So i dont care for hydro. However my dad loves numbers and did hydro very well when i was a kid. Course that was 20 years ago. I enjoy gardening. So Organic soil was the way i went. But money was spent making the soil, setting up my watering on automatic timers. But I dont use any nutes, i dont measure anything.

And there are cheap ways of growing. Lol, look into hempy buckets. Ran that for years with lucas formula. Some strains did better then others. But it was easy, no guess work. (you feed the same thing every watering from seed to harvest)

A small tent that can do 3 plants comfortable, a 600w led, clip on fan, 6"exhaust.

Soil or coco as your medium, real easy setup to maintain and cheap to put together for okay yields.

Once its all dialed in, its all pretty low maintenance. Most people crack trying to dial in there room/tent.

-good luck