Alot of questions...

[Aristotle420]

1. Are CFL bulbs sufficient for the whole process? I would be able to make relitively large rigs for this what should I have for a balance of wattage etc.?

2. What strain is the best? I want to grow something that no one can touch in my area. I just want to grow about 5-10 plants clone the females and sell what I dont smoke cheap and share the love.

3. Is their a full setup that I can buy lights, ballasts, etc. because I dont understand what I will need for a decent flourescent arrangement.

4. What can I use to dissaoate the smell? I can get tubing and rig up a fan how do I rig up a filter to kill the smell and what do I use for a filter?

5. Is there an indoor pre-packaged setup that will take me through the whole process?

[felix the cat]

Some people use CFL's for the whole process. Maybe one of them can tell us the actual wattage per square foot for good results. Do a search for T5 grow lights, HTG Supply has a few setups. It takes 4 54 watt T5 tubes to equal a 400 watt MH.

Check the on-line catalogs for seed descriptions. Compare growing conditions, flowering time, and THC levels. Then pick something that nobody else has.

For an air filter, you can get a bag of charcoal from an aquarium store. Rig a fan to make air pass through the charcoal.

There are a lot of plug-n-play starter kits. Go to Ebay and search for "hydroponic". You will need two setups to veg clones and flower adults at the same time.

[Racefan]

Felix has some good ideas but he's extremely vague in areas. Just buying a bag of charcoal and blowing the air through it won't work like a real charcoal filter would. There are posts with pics showing home made charcoal filters on here. Do a search.
I would grow with bag seeds first to make sure the set up works and to assure that you have a green thumb. If it was good enough to buy and smoke it should be good enough to grow.
Ebay has tons of stuff. they also have a open door policy for LEO. No warrants or subpenas neccessary so be careful what you buy. We have sponsors that sell exactly what you are looking for and they offer a warranty and advice on setting up and using their products. You won't get any of that off ebay. Look at the sponsor forum.

[Aristotle420]

do you need balasts for the t5's? or just a fixture because i have fixtures for both long flourescents and just simple cfl's.

do the cfl's produce as good weed? because i can easily do that

[Aristotle420]

i was also wondering about how to go about buying things online like seeds etc.

[StonerGrower]

Im pretty sure T5's need their own flourescent fixture thats made for T5s. To be honest I dont use T5's and know little about them. HIDs are my specialty...Floros arent my thing. But you can produce just as potent weed with CFLs. The only difference is the yield will be lower.

[felix the cat]

The T5 isn't compatible with the 4 foot 40 watt fixture. You want the high output/high wattage tubes for enough lumens, and they need a high wattage fixture.

I tried KenoFlo's (studio lights) in a shop light fixture just to see if they would strike. They lit up but they were dimmer than the 40 watt tubes.


You can find the things you want online, and a lot of sources can be contacted directly. You can make a mail order purchase instead of sending your address across the internet. It's also good to know someone in the Shipping/Receiving Department of a place that does a lot of shipping and receiving. A lot of UPS deliveries at your house looks funny.

[Aristotle420]

i figure i can get everything besides lights off the internet

[Andy Botwin]

There a few 'turn-key' packages being sold at the moment, that basically have everything pre-programmed, from lights to ventilation (smell and air flow), to nutrition to CO2. I have no personal experience with them, but them seem to save the time and effort of assembling your system and allow you to concentrate and begin studying and reading up on the Art of growing. Although, they are expensive...$3Gs and up.

In the 'Grow Room' there is a journal in progress by member SmokinHerbz that is using a Producer from Canadian company BC Northern Lights, and would be along the lines of what you were asking about. 420magazine.com members Ms. Fox and berrydizzle also have growing experience with the BCNL boxes I believe.

And check out the Ontario Seed Bank in Toronto, they are legit. Telephone/Mail Order only. No website, no credit cards, no bullshit, all business. I sound like a pitch-man, but I have been very satisfied with the O.S.B.

Good luck...hope you get rollin'...

[VAGUEtrain]

Originally Posted by Aristotle420

2. What strain is the best? I want to grow something that no one can touch in my area. I just want to grow about 5-10 plants clone the females and sell what I dont smoke cheap and share the love.

i beleive its opinion of the effect and the effects youre looking for that would allow YOU to judge the best strain for yourself. honestly i look at all these memebr growing bagseed.. and theyre beautiful mysterious plants! im intrigued to try it, but i have boughten seeds off of a store in Uk. and we used greenhouseseeds which i do like. especially the feminised. but i would think you would have to let us know what kind of high youre looking for to reccomend strains.

cheers

[Aristotle420]

i want like the deepest stone and the highest high... i was looking at northern lights and "red rock x ak-47"

[PermaFried]

Just check out Boss's Poor Mans Grow. As for seeds, make sure you got it down b4 spending $$ on high quality seeds. I mean i would be pissed if i spent $100 on seeds just to find out i had a black thumb and they all died.

[Andy Botwin]

I definitely made that mistake...
Shelled out 300 clams (Canadian Dollars are made from mollusks), for Feminised seeds and got too excited. I started germinating a few of them before my pH tester arrived and figured I could eyeball the addition of pH DOWN - ended up basically mixing up a batch of straight acid and turned my seeds' taproots into slime.

Patience may be the greatest lesson learned during the Grow process.

If I were an American, I would try to avoid using my credit card for seed purchases and simply send cash or a postal Money Order.

I mentioned Ontario Seed Bank (O.S.B.) already, in Toronto, they are legit, mail order only and carry Brand name and local genetics. HighGrade seeds has an order form online, and they only accept cash, but are very well priced.

seedbankupdate.com seems to be a reliable, up-to-date listing for worldwide banks. Check 'em out and do some comparisons. Personally, I have never ordered from an overseas bank, although I would imagine the risk/liability is the same whether they come from Canada or from across the pond.

Budget about $50-100CAD for ten (10) seeds and you should find something easy to grow that satisfies your tastes and expectations. Aristotle has it right, start with low-cost on the brain (i.e. Boss's Poor Mans Grow), and like VAGUE said, the 'high' has so much to do with individual preferences. I agree with Racefan: make your big purchases (Lights, Hydro, pH/TDS meters, etc.) from reliable companies with customer support and then you can save a few bucks on smaller purchases (nutes, thermometers, fans, ducting, etc.) on Ebay.

And I wish I knew more about Fluorescent lighting, but like Stoner I am passionate about HIDs at the moment. However, I like to dig and test, so if you have anymore specific questions, Uncle Andy will try to find some concrete answers for you. Doesn't planning your grow get you all...mmmm...?

- El Andy

[Aristotle420]

yeah i was gonna build two rigs with cfl's grow about 3 plants the first time and let the go regardless of sex... take the seeds from that grow to build up on the strain i buy... ive looked into the timers and the testers and i think ive got a pretty concrete understanding of everything... i just am trying to figure out smell dissapation. i figure i can do it right for about 200 and be growing somewhere around 4 females after the first grow... my plan is ultimately just to grow small and stay small with a pretty constant turnaround. I have a friend who has a ton of seeds so i might go with just some regular saved seeds until i figure out which strain im gonna grow... i really want that body high feeling still havent got it narrowed down to what i want but i really would like to grow something that in plant form just looks insane and then smokes good and feels good...