Noob Grow question about one off growing strategy

Background info:
I have never grown before, this will be my first time.
I have just built a small grow cabinet 5ft wide, 6ft tall and 2ft deep. that will hold roughly 4 large plants in DWC buckets.. My question is whats the best way to grow without wasting lots of expensive feminized seeds.. I do NOT want to perpetual grow as this is only for me. (I need it for nerve damage pain relief). I will grow the plants, harvest, then stop using the cabinet until I need to grow more.. I will be in and out of town when not growing, so I can not hold onto a permanent mother plant.


My question for the knowledgeable community is this:

Should I just place 4 of the feminized seeds (same strain).in a starter tray with dome, then into the DWC buckets then harvest? Or should I grow the 4 seeds, then pick the best one, wait for it to veg a while, then clone from that plant? What would you guys suggest doing? I feel like any guide or post I read assumes I will be doing a perpetual grow, and since I am not I really have no idea what the best course of action would be. Thank you guys in advance for helping me out on this one!

For your first time, keep it SIMPLE. Even DWC buckets seems a little risky.

But to your question, no. Just plant 4 or 5 of the Fem seeds and roll with them. Don't waste all this time and energy to *pick* one. I suggested planting 5 just in case 1 is a dud...you've still got your 4 then.

Hot Diggity Sog said:

For your first time, keep it SIMPLE. Even DWC buckets seems a little risky.

But to your question, no. Just plant 4 or 5 of the Fem seeds and roll with them. Don't waste all this time and energy to *pick* one. I suggested planting 5 just in case 1 is a dud...you've still got your 4 then.

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Thank you so much for your input!! I will go that route then.. however just to be safe I think I will do a trial run with a bunch of bag seeds i could care less about.

canibobo said:

Thank you so much for your input!! I will go that route then.. however just to be safe I think I will do a trial run with a bunch of bag seeds i could care less about.

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Your call to do that but if you already have some good fem seeds and you've done your research just go for it! Tons of people will be willing to help you along every step of the way as you need it.

Hot D is right ... No matter how much research and questions you ask you just have to dive in... Your going to fuck shit up no matter what .. We all did and still are lol well I am anyway.. Just pop those bitches and show them some love .. Just don't over do it with love lol .. good luck bro!!

I have 4 plants in a 4x4 tent using DWC and the entire footprint of the tent is taken up. The horizontal growth is at a maximum, filled completely. I believe 4 DWC plants will overflow your space. I think you will get an overall higher yield per seed if you grow 2 at a time, plus you have the other 2 seeds if you screw your first grow up.

I would start with a soil grow if this is your first grow. Its more forgiving and you will encounter issues that will bring you right back to this forum, and you will learn and apply it to your next grow. Plus, if you are out of town often DWC may not be ideal. A flower plant can suck up a gallon or 2 a day plus if you have a power outage your roots could drown without you O2 pump running.

On a separate note, if you are growing for pain you may want to look into autoflowers. I did that for my first grow and while the smell and potency wont wow an veteran smoker, you will get plenty of relief and you will get your yield a lot quicker. My 1st grow was 3 autos in a 2x4 under a 400W MP/HPS. From seed to harvest to ~75 days (they advertise 60days which is BS). 2 of them were soil, 1 was a DWC. I got 1.5oz off the 1st soil, 2 oz off the 2nd soil, and 4oz off the DWC. Given drying and a quick cure netted me close to a half pound in less than 3 months. I'd stuff your space with 4 autos and if you are at least running a 400W light you could 2oz a piece, thats over 2oz a month. Just a thought.

But no matter what you grow, keep those sugar leaves and anything else that has some THC. Dry it, freeze it, and run it through a kief grinder. I usually get a kief pellet the size of a 6 side dice cut in half per plant. Very potent stuff

Lol I have 2 in a 6x8 room and im nearly maxded out man I definately wouldnt do 4. No way but good luck dwc ftw!

Dude dwc is what I do and im in a 6x8 room and im nearly touching all 4 walls! Dont try to grow 4, growing the way I am I couldnt fit 1 in that room!

Thank you guys for all the positive feedback! I am not worried about refilling the res as I purchased an auto topoff unit connected to a rain barrel full of R.O. I was looking into autoflowers but I think I would like to try it "the old fashioned" way first. Same idea as learning a stick before automatic while driving. I am planning on two separate DWC totes, I will drill probably 5 netpot holes in each as the wife has expressed interest in using the grow cabinet for vegetables when im not using it.. haha. I hope I find a good ratio of plants to yield. I agree 4 in that space may be slightly crowded but I like the idea of having 4 in case I kill one or something else stupid happens, I am also having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that you can use a bunch of small plants, or fewer larger ones. I have been documenting the whole process and will post a journal later on when I get started!

So the general consensus is really only 2-3 plants? with proper scroging and lst I can see how maxing yields would work. but it just seems cray that 3 seeds can make the same amount of end product as 10 would!

Its hard to scrog in a DWC. You'd have to design the scrog to be removable and remove it as you lift up the netcups. But I use those net cups that fit over 5 gallon buckets and drill small holes along the rim. I use these holes to tie off certain areas to train the plant to have an even canopy. When I change the nutes I can pick up the netcup and the LST comes along with it.

Also, in one of those tubs you need a lot of water to fill it up to the netcup. So much water gets wasted in the seedling stage because they drink so little but you need to keep the water level high. So I will fill gallon jugs with regular water and put them in the reservoir just to displace the water so it rises without having to waste nutrients.

Honestly I say you grab 5 Low Flyer/Low Ryder/Easy Rider Autoflower Fem seeds. These only flower for about 6 weeks and finish super fast.

These would be pretty hard to mess up unless you do something drastic to them, and they will flower on their own schedule. This will give you some decent quick bud, and then you can relax and do a second casual grow with whatever you want and tweak and learn.

I picked up some dwarf low flyers from Crop King Seeds, and also some revolver and jack herer for the future.

I've run Nirvana's Short Rider and they were very easy, super fast, and rigorous plants.

Just an idea.

canibobo said:

Background info:
I have never grown before, this will be my first time.
I have just built a small grow cabinet 5ft wide, 6ft tall and 2ft deep. that will hold roughly 4 large plants in DWC buckets.. My question is whats the best way to grow without wasting lots of expensive feminized seeds.. I do NOT want to perpetual grow as this is only for me. (I need it for nerve damage pain relief). I will grow the plants, harvest, then stop using the cabinet until I need to grow more.. I will be in and out of town when not growing, so I can not hold onto a permanent mother plant.


My question for the knowledgeable community is this:

Should I just place 4 of the feminized seeds (same strain).in a starter tray with dome, then into the DWC buckets then harvest? Or should I grow the 4 seeds, then pick the best one, wait for it to veg a while, then clone from that plant? What would you guys suggest doing? I feel like any guide or post I read assumes I will be doing a perpetual grow, and since I am not I really have no idea what the best course of action would be. Thank you guys in advance for helping me out on this one!

Click to expand...

canibobo said:

I was looking into autoflowers but I think I would like to try it "the old fashioned" way first. Same idea as learning a stick before automatic while driving

Click to expand...

You've made your own cabinet, correct?

I'd flip the lights off, get in and close it up. If you can't see your hand in front of your face then let the photos rip!

Autos should tolerate light leaks more, or you could seal em up (if there are any.)

xSwimToTheMoon said:

You've made your own cabinet, correct?

I'd flip the lights off, get in and close it up. If you can't see your hand in front of your face then let the photos rip!

Autos should tolerate light leaks more, or you could seal em up (if there are any.)

Click to expand...

Thanks! yea, I did make my own cabinet.. not only is it light proof its air tight so the fan can pull air from the inlet hole only. Now that you mention it.. some of my in cabinet equipment does have a small power LED and my powerstrip in there has a few glowing switches.. will this amount of light effect the light cycle?