How do I grow on a budget?

Hi. I'm wondering how do I grow on a very small budget. I mean I'm talking around like $100 or less. What kind of lights should I buy, and stuff like that. Not sure if this is the place to post this, but would really like to know. Thanks.

The biggest issue you will likely have to deal with is temperature control/ air circulation, depending on your space. Soil's cheap, cfl lighting is cheap, bag seed is free (if not the best to work with). Over the counter ferts work fine. Will this be in a closet? a bedroom? Will odor be a problem? Give more details and you'll get a more specific answer.

I grow on a budget. But I only grow for personal smoke, if your intent is to sell ,then you need to invest. Use CFLs daylight for veg and soft white for flower. You can get four packs at Home Depot for like $10 a piece. You want to get 23 watters (true watts, not the watt equivalent). Approximately 100 watts per plant, but you may need to add more depending on how large your plant gets. I have eight bulbs on my one 2 foot plant right now. I also just hook socket to plug connectors to a power strip and use y splitters to insert into the sockets (so that you have two bulbs per socket). These all cost about $2 each at home depot. You can mount the power strip in a number of ways, or fashion a box... etc. CFLs generally dont produce much heat so you may not need a fan at all. I just use a small 10" room fan.

Smell will need to be kept low. I am thinking about growning it in my closet, with something to keep the heat in there like a black out curtain or something.

HID are easy and pretty cheap but are hot and require a bit of extra gear. For cheap cheap grows I would recommend CFLs. To do it cheap focus on 23w CFLs only (other bulb cost much more $/w and $/lumen) and try to find sales. I can find 23w bulb at the dollar store any day for $1/each to $1 for 2. I can often find sales at home depot for 4 packs for $1. For fixtures I would recommend cheap bathroom vanity lights. These 4 bulb fixtures are only $4.50 http://www.lightingdirect.com/maxim-990015pb-four-light-bathroom-fixture-from-the-maxim-collection/p860557

You can easily make adjustable reflectors... With Y splitters ($1.50 each) you can easily double your wattage.

Here's my generic blurb on CFL grows -

I was pulling an oz a week with 388w of CFL here - First CFL Grow - Help appreciated

I would recommend a 3:1 of 6500K:2700K for veg and the opposite for flower.

Keep them small! CFLs don't do nearly as well with large plants unless you keep a clean scrog or LST. I started flowering at this size -

Dropping bulb between plants maximizes plant absorption without the loss of restrike like you would have with a reflector. I tried to cover the canopy in smaller bulbs and submerge larger bulbs between plants.

I would yield ~ 1oz per plant. With 6 in full flower at a time and two others just rotating into the flower box I was able to harvest a plant per week.

This took place in a 2x3x3.5' area of a small closet.




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I will also need to know how to harvest them. I'm going into the buiness for myself. So this is going to be grown for me, and by me. But I might sell a bit here and there. Depending on weather or not I have some left. But I like the pics, and I would need step-by-step instructions, inorder to grow. I'm not that good. And pictures would be a great help.

Here is that journal - Link -> https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/165396-first-cfl-grow-help-appreciated.html

Good set up gastanker. I bought a couple of these ,just got them and the bulbs are over a foot long. 130w cfl .
less than $50 each with fitting.

cheapest way to go is an outdoor....a hedgerow, drainage ditch. wherever you can blend it in or hide it and still get sun. indoors has the ongoing expense of increased electricity bills.

Bagseed.Mg.CFLs.

bluntroller734 said:

Smell will need to be kept low. I am thinking about growning it in my closet, with something to keep the heat in there like a black out curtain or something.

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I would think this ^^ is going to be the biggest cost you will have to deal with. You will need a decent fan to help you filter (and possibly ventilate) the closet. Search this site for DIY filters-- you can put one together pretty cheaply with stockings, activated charcoal and some aluminum ducting. Most strains are pretty smelly, and you don't want to have to kill the plants just as they start to flower.

The CFL setup by Gastankers is great info.