Please critique/comment on my plan for small personal medical grow. *kind of long*

Background: I am a medical cannabis patient licensed in the state of NM to both use and produce my own medicine. Being a cheapskate as well as having a therapist's strong recommendation to "play in the dirt more, gardening is extremely theraputic for PTSD and CPTSD" I've been poring over these forums for the past week for far too many hours before I even made a profile. My reasoning being absorbing the ideas of folks who are out there doing it already will save me pain from their mistakes as well as help with suggestions. And you all seem quite nice.

Here in the Land of Entrapment, err Enchantment, nights and winters can be downright chilly (even summer nights) while daytime summer temps can easily top 100 or even 110 every single day for 60+ straight. My house is not brand new and the wiring isn't great. The thought of running a HID and dealing with the juice of it + cooling + exhaust is daunting even if I shut down for 1/4-1/2 of the year. Given this, my plan is go fairly headfirst into T5, with a mix of cheap(ish) 6500/2700 and hopefully some PAR bulbs if funds allow. Suggestions on PAR bulbs/brands you personally recommend are greatly encouraged! If you're just going to tell me to go get a MH/HPS rig please save time and don't post. No offense intended, but it simply is not an option for me at this time. I swear to god Forrest Gump rewired my house during a remodel at some point, to give an idea of how bad it is every single overhead light in the house . . . is on the same circuit. I'm not even kidding. So no HID. This same problem makes aeroponics a pain in the ass, on top of the fact it's already a pain in the ass, and that's where my meager previous grow experience lies. I got to do fun things like cleaning stones and cups, lugging 20 gal water jugs, trimming, etc. Never did learn nutes well though anyway. I'm planning on going organic if possible, with my local shop offering only Fox Farms choices in soil but a variety of good looking bottled teas. They're an organic shop, which is nice as I wasn't expecting to find convient big jugs of tea in the middle of nowhere, relatively speaking. From what I've read soil and particularly organic is usually a longer grow period overall, which I feel would give PAR bulbs more time to do their stuff and help overcome the (relative) "deficiencies" in t5 growing. I'm also honestly strongly attracted to the thought of a soil mix and bulbs that can possibly last a year each.

Specifics:

Exact grow size is not yet determined but I want to go small but not micro. I'm state-legal so I'm not going for stealth so much as discretion, as such I will be building a tent inside or lining a closet or cabinet within a walk-in closet. I'm only planning on growing one plant at a time, as this is my first time and if I kill my crop I'd rather lose one plant than multiple. Also, my state has some of the strictest medical cannabis laws in the nation with only 6oz dried and a max of 4 budding plants. I'm think along the lines of 3x3 feet for the tent and a 2.5 ft T5 fixture with 6 or 8 bulbs? Money is a factor so may have to downgrade plan to 4 bulb. Relative humidity and temp may be a problem with my available location(s) within my home, both the cold in summer and heat in winter. I am hoping the tent will help solve that with a combination of bulb heat and a warm mist humidifier on low in winter and a freestanding swamp (evaporative) cooler in winter. RH here can be downright brutally low all the time, high desert and all. I forsee some problems with CO2 starvation as venting/odor control will be an issue. Having worked in the medical field I was thinking of positive pressure rooms and having hubby just vent air in from the house and out through a DIY activated carbon and a small fan, say a computer fan? Would this be sufficient for a single plant grow? Your standard mylar/space blanket lining of tent once I see how temps in my space work out. Very interested in using yeast for a natural and cheap form of *some* CO2 generation as it'd be better than my other option which is none at all. I'm lucky to have access to a former brew your own beer store owner's brain and I intend to take advantage of that soon.

I have access to 2 strains in clone form: LSD and Lemon Skunk. Dispensary says the LSD is 100% Indica and the Lemon Skunk is 80/20% Indica dominant. The Lemon Skunk is a workhorse for them, one of their higher yielding and faster growing/flowering strains, so I'm planning to get one of those first to get myself some medicine sooner. I won't be scrogging that first grow but I am going to try my hand at FIMing/topping. From what I've seen firsthand and in guides here worst I can do is do one instead of the other, I know how to be gentle. Plus I'll need the experience to scrog my LSD, but I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll have the dispensary grower establishing my clones in my medium, I think I'm going to ask to take them home after the 3rd or 4th set of leaves, to give me time to get well over any transport shock before trying FIM, thoughts?

For soil/amendments/"fertilizer" I think my local organics shop will be my first go-to resource, given that acess and funds for subcool's super soil is not in my reach at this particular time. I get things at cost there as a patient. Praise goddess! I'm probably going to be looking at a budget of $300-400 dollars, and definitely no more than $500 for this grow and other than soil/"nutes"/bulbs most likely for the year. But my husband is very handy and amazing at building things. Like, built our twins bunkbeds in 9 hours with zero help from anyone all wood slatted and OCD square with two twin beds side by side on bottom each and a double bed sized platform up top that's currently the "toy jail" The top and head-half of all bed spaces are slatted in, the bottom ones all the way up forming cubbies. He also installed our dishwashing machine in about 30 minutes with zero help. I tried to offer but he kept saying he could just do it faster. He was right. He is not a resource to be taken lightly. He doesn't know it yet but he will be building me a cedar scrog box if funds allow. Any other projects to suggest for the honey-do list? All comments welcome! Peace be with you.

aoyanagi,

Hello and welcome to RIU. This is a great community with some great information, and some not-so-great.

It sounds like you've considered all of the aspects of a grow here; good - planning is the key. I'll do my best to be brief and don't let the dollars scare you, I estimate high.

First of all - space and lights; if you're considering a 3x3 space, your best bet is the 2ft 8 bulb T5. However, if you can get a 4x3 (even 4x2) tent, a 4ft Quantum Badboy fixture would be of much more benefit to you than any of the 2ft fixtures... the QBBs and bulbs do get expensive. Considering price, an 2ft 8 bulb T5 will produce high quality meds in a 3x3 tent and runs about $200 after shipping. They'll usually send 6,500k/3,000k bulbs in combination if you wish. Though these bulbs are effective, you will produce better meds with the PAR bulbs that the pr0fesseur recommends. In an 2ft 8 bulb fixture @ ~ $20/bulb you're looking at a total lighting investment of about $325. If that's too steep, consider a smaller tent and lighting fixture. For comparison, a 4ft 6 bulb QBB ~ $225 + ~ $25x6 PAR bulbs for a total lighting cost of $375 and a much higher return on investment.

A quick note about bulbs; on the pr0fesseur's thread there is much debate about the efficacy of PAR bulbs. This is usually in comparison to HID lighting and hardly ever compared to "standard" T5s. The PAR and standard bulbs have both proven to be effective but the results for PAR spectrum lighting are overwhelming superior than that of standard T5 bulbs. My advice here is to opt for the PAR bulbs that the pr0fesseur recommends - he even tells the order in which to purchase the bulbs, so the pocketbook doesn't hurt.


Second - regarding media; I cannot recommend organic gardening enough. The feeling of being completely independent from "bottled nutes" and hydroshops is overwhelmingly exquisite - and it's not as hard as people make it out to be. You can brew your own teas to compliment your soil mix. Part of the organic gardening is the mindset that paying for the transportation of water - via bottled nutes - is wrong and the opposite of ecofriendly. Not to mention that "organic bottled nutes" are somewhat of a contradiction - aerobic vs. anaerobic.

The best thing I have ever done for my gardening hobby was read Teaming With Microbes, Jeff Lowenfells and the SoilFoodWeb Inc. It's a great resource and a fun read. Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhoff is more specifically about vermicomposting but is also a weapon in the organic armada for the home gardener. Check them out if you have time!

Soil mixes can be made from materials available at local greenhouses and even big box stores like the Home Depot. If the soil food web you create and maintain is diverse and healthy, this soil can even be reused.


Finally - some others; hold off on the CO2. It seems like a good idea/simple addition in the planning stages but is not necessary and will complicate things further than needed... at least for the first grow. Your walls can exchange enough air to keep your plants healthy. CO2 is the last thing to "dial in".

Take into account ventilation, even a DIY ventilation and circulation system will cost ~ $50. I use a booster fan, PC fans, and a DIY carbon filter and I probably spent near $100.



Sorry for the long write-up. You asked for it!

Again, welcome to RIU. Keep us updated and be sure to have fun.

Happy growing.

For comparison planning here are my price points.

Grow Tent 2.5'x1.5'x3 (LxWxH): $100
2ft 4 Bulb High Output T5: $90
PAR bulbs: $100
Ventilation: $60
Circulation: $30
Soil and Amendments: $70

Total: $450


This is the pricing with a properly executed plan, how it should have been done the first time. It cost loads for me to understand the value in planning an activity like this.

Hey bro, welcome. I think t5s are an okay idea, they're not hot, u can use an overhead 1 and maybe even a side, whatever. Do what's in your budget, just try not to grow to many under a small light...... peace

overTHEman said:

For comparison planning here are my price points.

Grow Tent 2.5'x1.5'x3 (LxWxH): $100
2ft 4 Bulb High Output T5: $90
PAR bulbs: $100
Ventilation: $60
Circulation: $30
Soil and Amendments: $70

Total: $450


This is the pricing with a properly executed plan, how it should have been done the first time. It cost loads for me to understand the value in planning an activity like this.

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This is exactly what I needed someone to do, thank you!!! I hate shopping with a blinding burning passion. That tent size should still be great for an indica single grow trained short, no?

aoyanagi said:

This is exactly what I needed someone to do, thank you!!! I hate shopping with a blinding burning passion. That tent size should still be great for an indica single grow trained short, no?

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Yes, this works well with one plant in a 3 gallon pot but there is room for another. Two plants in 3gal pots would work well if they were flipped early and trained throughout flowering.

The more interesting concept here would be a single stout shared bed with six or more plants. Really a shared bed SOG. This would work very well as very little vertical space would be used and there would still be room for root development. Think about using a rubbermaid bin as your pot for many plants; shared rootzone means a more diverse fungal network.

Right now the headband that I'm growing works well and she even has some sativa in her.

check ebay for fixtures, the seller is growzebo but just search "8 bulb t5 2 ft" or similar and you'll find both grow lights with 6500k/3000k and aqurium lights with 10000k/460actinics. 150$ for a 4ft 8 bulb, or 100ea for 4ft 4 bulbs. Im not sure about the 2ft size but im sure its much less... they have 4x2ft for 70$ea w free shipping prob 8 bulbs for $100-120. I would get 2x 4bulb units so you can adjust the light 4bulbs at a time to better fit your plants (angle them individually) and would get better coverage over two plants better than one rather squarish 4x8bulb. but for a 2ft unit you'd def need 8total bulbs for a decent return from one plant (of course it would be possible just like growing with cfl's but you want to get enough yield from it to last until your next harvest also. you could get two of these radiion fixtures for the price of one of the badboy's They are refurbished but work fine and come with whatever bubs you choose depending on grow/aquarium. I like the blue460 bulbs cuz they are the same as the expensive $20bulbs you would have had to get on your own. If you're flowering w the t5's I'd say the 8bulb would be the way (even with just one plant), 4 bulbs is fine to veg but for flowering you'll want/need abit more. And they'll make enough of their own ambient heat that your plants will be fine in their tent/closet/box in the winter with no external heat, even if the rest of the room is quite chilly. In the summer, as long as the rest of the room is below 80 your tent should be fine with the minimal exhaust ventilation (my veg box is only 4deg warmer at 9" under the bulbs than the rest of the room is) In the winter, put your exhaust fan on an intermittent timer to let the heat build a little. the normal fan youll have breezing through the canopy for stem strengthening and rustling of the leaves will be enough to dissipate heat build up from the bulbs, so you're good there. I have primary/fan leaves grow onto tubes I use for sidelighting and the tubes dont even burn em, they just get light-bleached and the pigment is whitened where the contact was made, but the backside is still green and alive for my 8bulb 4ft fixture I have one 95cfm fan for intake and one for exhaust, so roughtly 185cfm for my 4x3x2 veg box. for half the total wattage (you're using 2ft vs my 4ft) I would say you'd be good with a single 95cfm fan (4in.) for exhaust as long as you have free flowing passive intake to your box/closet/wherever you may grow.

Undercover Cop's experience and realism is good. The plan I posted could easily be well executed while saving $150-200.

why thank you I tend to learn the hardway, so I like to help save others the headache lol. I also like to do it for the absolute cheapest possible, so a big chunk of whatever I choose to do is influenced by budget. Is my setup the best possible. LOL no, but for what it cost me to assemble most people would barely have their ventillation setup DIY baby!

just to add about why I'd say to splurge the extra bit on two 4bulb fixtures rather than one 8 bulb. you'll want to top your plants when using T5's, if they arent topped they'll put all that energy into vertical growth especially in flower, then most of the plant will be out of range of the bulbs. When you top you'll have the horizontal branching and it will get wide, I like to grow 6 tops and try to train em to about the same height. I cant scrog with my buckets due to needing to remove them individually for flushing/maintenance, but I can tie branches to each other to help em along or for internal support to try to keep the top pretty even.
So when topping and growing bushier plants, you can tilt the T5 fixtures independently to give top and side lighting simultaneously. The wire hangers that come with them allow you to slide the hanging point side to side to adjust the tilt. tilt them both at an angle towards each other and you make a light tent that the plant grows up into almost like this -> /^\ lol wow.

I hope you guys helping me have imbibed when you read this: I'm so happy with this specific and money+time saving advice I'm doing my "happy chicken dance" in between typing. This involves a large curvy but not overly obese woman jumping and flapping her arms like a 4 year old. Enjoy that visual picture. Oh, first time I ever did it was when I got the phone call that I'd won the scholarship for my year long exchange student progam to Tokyo. That level of happy.

Now that's happy!

Actually my plan was to try my hand at FIM and aim for a fairly horizontal canopy top. The Lemon Skunk's the faster grower so I'll probably only go out to 16 or so induced branches, once and then once more on each resulting branch from the first split if all goes well. If all doesn't go well, I can still push into flower and likely get a decent crop anyway. I'm not jonesing for my crop nao so much as I want to play with it. Then when I get my LSD scrog started I can really play DominatrixPlantGoddess. I am a mean goddess, I shall pinch and pinch and force her into a cedar shackle, mwahaha! But that's probably about 6 months away, realistically with PAR bulb backorders. There must be a lot of folks out there ordering but never ever posting.

yeah, Aquarium specialty are out of both Fiji Purples and UVL Red Suns, they still have to replace my two red suns that went out. I told them I want the Fiji Purps instead but they're out of those too

FIM is a very effective technique to promote branching, especially early with plants from seed. There is also an added benefit to small spaces when incorporated with LST. This could be maximized with Undercover Cop's "light tent" idea. That's an original thought - same number of bulbs; just smaller ones and fewer per fixture. Is that right UCC?

Side note; Aquarium Specialty must love us.

overTHEman said:

FIM is a very effective technique to promote branching, especially early with plants from seed. There is also an added benefit to small spaces when incorporated with LST. This could be maximized with Undercover Cop's "light tent" idea. That's an original thought - same number of bulbs; just smaller ones and fewer per fixture. Is that right UCC?

Side note; Aquarium Specialty must love us.

Click to expand...

basically, its taking advantage of the wider bulb spacing and individual reflectors that come with the 4 bulb radiion units I was reccomending. The 8 bulbs are a better deal for price per bulb, but they are only 4 inches wider than a 4bulb unit. so you dont get quite the footprint that you would if you had the same 8 bulbs being run by two seperate 4 bulb fixtures. The 8 bulb fixtures put 2 bulbs per reflector so they shine on each other and some of the light is wasted. So my opinion is (having both models to compare) the extra cost of getting 2 4bulb fixtures is worth it when you factor in the flexibility and added efficiency the two fixtures will give over one single fixture.


You can see that the 4 bulb fixtures cover almost the same area as the 8 bulb, and seem almost as bright. its only 50$ more to get two fixtures, prob less when factoring in that she's looking towards 2ft fixtures. But however you figure, 2 or 4ft, 1 or 2 fixtures, I still think you'll need 8 total bulbs to get enough intensity/coverage for flowering.

The light tent would basically be like this, except coming closer to touching at the top (I have a wide gap between mine for my HPS to shine through)

I like being happy. Go get'em....just promise me you'll take a look at a possible, small, one bulb, probably less heat, simple bat wing-no heavy box or glass, hps light upgrade. Vixon like you get bord with the flows. Lotta ink here for stoners.

Papaoscartango said:

I like being happy. Go get'em....just promise me you'll take a look at a possible, small, one bulb, probably less heat, simple bat wing-no heavy box or glass, hps light upgrade. Vixon like you get bord with the flows. Lotta ink here for stoners.

Click to expand...

Libraries are the second defense against tyranny, reading is the first. I'm sorry if you feel like we wrote too much in response to thorough and detailed questions.

The HPS route is tried and tested and will produce quality bud. If you don't mind some "ink" with your pictures, have a look at this: https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/358190-led-without-leds-my-first.html

...

Undercover Cop,

It's a great idea either way and the HPS/T5 combination you have is awesome! That angle showed it perfectly and it just clicked; NICE LIGHTS UCC. It made me feel something that wouldn't be acceptable to write in a lady's thread.

...

aoyanagi,

Keep us updated; we'll love to see what happens!




Happy growing.

Wasn't looking for trouble, just offering an alternative & i think a better fit. Come on........ the ink thing was a good joke! Where's Joan Rivers when you need her.
I just want you to be happy 6 months from now is all. Shit man am i old or what!

No trouble here; just bear in mind the OP. HPS grows good herb, she's just already looking at T5s.

Peace and love.