Buds for Less setup (First Grow)

This will be my first grow. I like many of you have decided that spending good money on bad weed is a complete waste.

Since money is always an issue (at least for me) I am trying to do this as cheaply as possible while still maintaining a good grow. Since I have never grown ANY plant I hovered around RIU for a few months, purchased the "Buds for Less" book from amazon and started planning my setup.

I am currently at work so this starter post wont have any pics but I will post some this evening.

Anyone who has read the "Buds for Less" book will notice that 99% of what I am currently doing comes directly from that book. I have built the light fixture from the book with the overhead and 2 side lights. In total I am running 6x42w 2700k CFL's for a total of 252 watts in an open closet like area.

After reading Hookdoncronic's journals I have decided that I am going to attempt to try out his LST technique. His general setup is similar to mine and his results are exactly what I am looking for. I am currently using an open closet type setup but after seeing some of the grow cabinets on here I think I could maximize my light by building a reflective lined box with ventilation. I have some plans in my head but haven't started building anything yet. I will update as things progress.

I currently have 2 Killing Fields seeds started (still seedlings atm) I planted them on 8/10 and they came through the soil on 8/14. For 5 days old they are looking healthy, they have started developing their second set of "True Leaves" (the first set of leaves are roughly an inch long and 1/2 inch wide). The plants themselves are roughly 2 inches tall.

I am using Miracle Grow soil and my water I am still setting to a PH of 7.4 (I think this was the recommended PH from the "Buds for Less" book when using MG soil, whatever the number was I went by the book ) My side lights are roughly 1 inch above each pot with the "top light" another 6 inches or so above that. If the whole side light / top light thing seems confusing it will make more sense when I post pics later this evening. The plants are currently on a 24hr light cycle for the Veg period and I will be changing to my 12/12 cycle for flowering on 8/30 (using the same 16 day veg as in the BFL book).

I have tried to include as much info as possible so folks can get a good idea of what I have and what I am doing. Please feel free to let me know if you see something I am doing is "wrong" or could be done more efficiently. This Forum contains a lot of very knowledgeable people with much more experience than me and I hope to learn from you all.

I promised pics and pics there shall be. Do I have any worries here or is everything going well so far?

Looks like a decent setup for veg - since you are doing it for less - how much was it all?

looks like itll work. the 6500k bulbs work better for veg, they cost the same. lowes has a 68w cfl (=300watts) thats the size of my head but its a 2700k, there around ten bucks

fictionalgrower said:

Anyone who has read the "Buds for Less" book will notice that 99% of what I am currently doing comes directly from that book. I have built the light fixture from the book with the overhead and 2 side lights. In total I am running 6x42w 2700k CFL's for a total of 252 watts in an open closet like area.

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You should use daylight 42w cfls for vegetation and save your 2700ks for flowering time.

The spectrum would be 5000k-6500k for the daylight cfls.

I'm sure most of this could be done for much less but I pretty much had to buy everything. Here is a rough breakdown of my cost.

Seeds (5 Fem Killing Fields from Sannie) 45.00

Lowes (Y splitters, Timer,thermometer,perlite,ph test kit,steel ring, eye hooks, Bulbs)
$100.00 granted 60.00 was the bulbs alone since the 42w ones were 9.99 + tax

Walmart (soil,pots,extension cords,light fixtures,rope, etc..)
$80.00

All together I am at about 225 in total so far. I have a feeling that I am going to be spending more to build a veg box / flower box setup so I can have a perpetual grow in the future (have to get through my first grow before I can have perpetual lol)

Dr.Hazed said:

You should use daylight 42w cfls for vegetation and save your 2700ks for flowering time.

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I'm sure using the 6500ks would get a better result but I was trying to only buy one type of bulb the first time(to save money) and I read that although not as good the 2700's will work all the way through. This is true isn't it?

I'm pretty sure, one good thing about the 2700ks would be it would cause little to no shock when switching lights to 12/12.

Thanks Dr.

a have no idea what i have spent in mine, but i am a cheap ass. i think i only have about a hundred bucks in mine, but the light is what cost so much, i just had a friend willing to let me borrow his. i dont grow from soil so that saves me alot of money.

No problem, im subbed btw interested in seeing how it goes.

Subbed, gotta love first time grows.

Like everyone else said, 5000-6500 will serve you better at this stage, but if you already spent all your bread you can still use those 2700's. They're looking nice for so young, so I'll give you a tip: Don't do what I did and WAIT TO WATER. I (along with most new growers) have a tendency to overcare for my kids. I've gotten past that now, but overcaring can really hurt your plants. But don't give up if they do start to look really ill, they CAN get better.

Here's my plants after some SEVERE trauma



And here they are just a few short weeks later



Anyway, best of luck! I'll be watching you...

Dr.Hazed said:

No problem, im subbed btw interested in seeing how it goes.

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appreciated

DumpsterKeeper said:

Subbed, gotta love first time grows.

Like everyone else said, 5000-6500 will serve you better at this stage, but if you already spent all your bread you can still use those 2700's. They're looking nice for so young, so I'll give you a tip: Don't do what I did and WAIT TO WATER. I (along with most new growers) have a tendency to overcare for my kids. I've gotten past that now, but overcaring can really hurt your plants. But don't give up if they do start to look really ill, they CAN get better.

Here's my plants after some SEVERE trauma


View attachment 1108304View attachment 1108305

And here they are just a few short weeks later

View attachment 1108313View attachment 1108307

Anyway, best of luck! I'll be watching you...

Click to expand...

I have been trying to water about every 3 days or when the soil feels dry when I stick my finger about two inches down. so far, so good. wish me luck and thanks for subbing

I was doing the same schedule and I may suggest you try and cut it down to once a week for now. The moisture you feel at finger depth can be deceiving, if you can find a moisture meter at your garden/hardware store, invest in it. Mine cost about $4 and it never lies. If you can't locate/afford one, go by the weight of the container. Lift it just after you water and don't water again until it feels SIGNIFICANTLY lighter.

Little seedlings don't need as much water at first. You want the roots to really search around for the water until they expand through the whole container. Bigger plants can handle water every 3 days, but I can say from experience that watering babies that frequently may end up doing more harm than good. You can always add plenty of water if they're too dry, but you can't really take an overabundance of water out of the pot.

DumpsterKeeper said:

I was doing the same schedule and I may suggest you try and cut it down to once a week for now. The moisture you feel at finger depth can be deceiving, if you can find a moisture meter at your garden/hardware store, invest in it. Mine cost about $4 and it never lies. If you can't locate/afford one, go by the weight of the container. Lift it just after you water and don't water again until it feels SIGNIFICANTLY lighter.

Little seedlings don't need as much water at first. You want the roots to really search around for the water until they expand through the whole container. Bigger plants can handle water every 3 days, but I can say from experience that watering babies that frequently may end up doing more harm than good. You can always add plenty of water if they're too dry, but you can't really take an overabundance of water out of the pot.

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Thanks, I will keep your advice in mind.

I plan to add pics once a day from this point. The leaves are coming in pretty well so far.

Here's my Day 7 Pics, enjoy.

I came in today and my room was 88 degree's when I came in. I left the door open for about 10 minutes and the temp came back down to 77 - 78 where it usually stays. I'm sure the temp had to be over 80 for most of the day which I'm none too happy about. I plan on working on a new setup this weekend. I will update as things progress.

Wow man they are looking really nice, what strain are they?
I cant remember what you said they were and i dont feel like reading through it all just finished smoking a huge sesh lmao.

And Dumpster your plants are doing well, i need to look up on FTS some more you look like you know what your doing.