Doing my research first

[Jonny Fly]

I'm getting ready to start growing. I'm taking my time and doing my homework. I have all the lighting I need to start. I purchased everything from Amazon. This includes a 4 foot 8 lamp 6500K T5 for seedlings and clones costing $130, two 115 watt LED lights from Parfectworks (spelling is correct) costing $70 each, and a 600 watt MH/HPS light with a gull wing reflector by Vivosun which was $130. I still need a tent-4'x4'x80" and an a 6" inline fan and air filter. Those three items will cost between $200 and $225. I also need an air cooled reflector for my HID lighting. I think I'm going to purchase a cool tube with a wide reflector. That will run about $70. I'm kind of experimenting with the LED lighting. The two lights I bought emit a natural looking light which is much nicer to look at than the "blurple" LED's that are so popular. They're very bright and claim to be as bright as a 1000 watt MH/HPS. This is inaccurate. I'd say they're as bright as a 400 watt MH/HPS at the most. They do run cool and quiet though.
What I am unsure of is which strains I want and what type of seeds I should buy- regular, feminized, or autoflower. I could use some advise on that. I'm leaning towards feminized, but I'm still undecided. Decisions, decisions.
Well, I just wanted to introduce myself and let you all know where I'm at. I'll be grateful for any advice.

 

[Lerugged]

Welcome to 420. You will find all the help you need here to get you to your first harvest.

 

[MochaBud]

to Jonny Fly

And a word of advice, don't limit yourself to Amazon. We have many great sponsors here who give discounts to members. If I can't find it here first I go here...

Grow Light, LED Growlights, HPS Grow Lights, Grow Tents, Hydroponics

 

[Buds Buddy]

I would avoid the HPS light if you can. Sure they grow great bud, but it's really hard to cool your tent with them; even if you use an air cooled reflector. The only way I'd use HPS again is with co2 because it's hard to keep temps under 88 F & it's usually more like 91 F. White LED's are way better & you can get a very good yield with them without fighting all the heat issues. Your lights are probably the most important part of growing so you don't want to go cheap with them. Not sure of your budget but 2 of the Mars Hydro TSL 2000 lights would be perfect for your 4' x 4' or 5' x 5' tent.
Use your other light in a 2nd tent to start seeds & clones & keep a rotation going that way & you'll have never ending weed.

 

[Buds Buddy]

As far as seeds go ... Regs suck as you will have to sort out the Males from the Females. My experience is I get 1 female out of 4 seeds with regs. Auto's are OK if you want to run your lights 20 - 24 hours per day for 12 - 16 weeks. Don't believe what the breeder claims that it will be ready for harvest in 8 - 10 weeks. Never works that way. I had a Northern Lights Auto take 17 weeks to finish. Also, it seems Auto's aren't quite as potent as Fems. You can't Clone an Auto either so you have to buy seeds again. I did 3 - 4 Auto grows but I went back to Photo's. I have control on how big I want my plants & when I want them to go into flower. I have more time to Top & Train to get bigger, bushier plants that yield more. On top of that I run my lights 18 hours per day through Veg for 5 - 8 weeks depending on how big I want my plants. Then run my lights 12 hours per day for about 8 more weeks in flower.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Here's how I see the difference in electric for lights : If your Auto takes 14 weeks (that's about average) & you run your lights 20 hours per day you are running them for 1960 hours through the grow. If you run your lights 24/7 you run your lights 2352 hours per grow.
If you grow Fem Photo's with 6 weeks Veg at 18 hours per day you run your lights for 756 hours of Veg. Then you switch to flower for 8 weeks at 12 hours per day & you run your lights 672 hours per flower cycle. 756 veg + 672 Flower = 1428 hours of light / electric use. About 1000 hours less electric used saving you money in the long run. Besides that you can Clone Photo's & never have to buy another seed.

 

[StoneOtter]

Welcome Jonny, good start!

 

[Rosti]

Welcome to the Mag! Your already getting great advice, my man buds buddy up there was spot on with the lighting. And I also agree that you should atleast take a look at our sponsors before you buy anything from amazon. My advice when it comes to seeds, is to stick with feminized photoperiods... I grew autos once, and most likely never will again, not that it was bad, it was a great yield and potent smoke I just like having control over my flowering times, and as mentioned before you save $ on electricity. I also imagine your decreasing the lifespan of your light and the effectiveness of your diodes over time when running them non stop like that, there’s a reason the manuals say not to run the light for x amount hours without a cool down period etc... as for regulars I have never grown any but I have heard that they grow bigger, faster, and more potent smoke then their feminized counterpart... but I’m not willing to grow 30 plants just to throw the 15 males away. With feminized seeds I know I’m going to get a female every time and with the limited space I have that’s exactly what I need. Hope this helped you out!

 

[MochaBud]

Ahh, this debate again...HPS is too hot....It was 85F- 90F for a few days here in the Ozarks last week, and my tents, after 8hrs of run time were a comfortable 75F with 1600 watts of HIDs in my 4 x 8...

I'll say it again, it's not that hard to keep HIDs cool

 

[Pbass]

I'll say it again, it's not that hard to keep HIDs cool

I'm thinking of getting myself a HPS. LED's are great for sure but there is more than one way to light a weed! Just a matter of time before I find someone who doesn't know how to use it properly and want's to off it for cheap!

THey all grow great weed. I got a $11 blurple that pushed 3 ounces out of a little 3g pot. IT's not the light really anyway, its the guy/gal who flips the switch.

 

[Tomuk17]

Welcome to the forum, happy growing and hope to see a journal in progress shortly

 

[Buds Buddy]

Ahh, this debate again...HPS is too hot....It was 85F- 90F for a few days here in the Ozarks last week, and my tents, after 8hrs of run time were a comfortable 75F with 1600 watts of HIDs in my 4 x 8...

I'll say it again, it's not that hard to keep HIDs cool

OK, So what's your secret ??? I've never been able to keep a 4' x 4' tent cool with 1 - 1000 Watt HPS with a Magnum XXL Hood. Best I could get was 88 F. Used 8" Max Fan & Filter to cool the light. So without adding A/C I couldn't accomplish it.

 

[MochaBud]

I'm thinking of getting myself a HPS. LED's are great for sure but there is more than one way to light a weed! Just a matter of time before I find someone who doesn't know how to use it properly and want's to off it for cheap!

THey all grow great weed. I got a $11 blurple that pushed 3 ounces out of a little 3g pot. IT's not the light really anyway, its the guy/gal who flips the switch.

Not to mention the up front cost is about a thousand dollars cheaper in comparison

OK, So what's your secret ??? I've never been able to keep a 4' x 4' tent cool with 1 - 1000 Watt HPS with a Magnum XXL Hood. Best I could get was 88 F. Used 8" Max Fan & Filter to cool the light. So without adding A/C I couldn't accomplish it.

Well Buds, IDK about a 1000 watter in a 4 x 4 ...my 4 x 4 has a 600 watter, but it also stays around 70 - 75...
The secret, I like it cold no really, I just have good ventilation apparently, and that "Magnum XXL Hood" it has an air flow restriction, mine are "cool tubes", the bulb is in a glass tube running through the hood for better air flow, not inside a glass box for the heat/air to get trapped...

you can see the glass tube running through

 

[Buds Buddy]

I reckon that could have something to do with it.

 

[MochaBud]

I reckon that could have something to do with it.

Plus, I really do like it cold my house stays a comfy 68-69 constant, even in winter, if you're cold in my house we have plenty of hoodies for guests except for my wife's woman cave, she has her own thermostat for a couple rooms

 

[Jonny Fly]

to Jonny Fly

And a word of advice, don't limit yourself to Amazon. We have many great sponsors here who give discounts to members. If I can't find it here first I go here...

Grow Light, LED Growlights, HPS Grow Lights, Grow Tents, Hydroponics

I'll check them out. I'd rather give my money to a smaller business than Amazon anyways.

 

[Jonny Fly]

Here's how I see the difference in electric for lights : If your Auto takes 14 weeks (that's about average) & you run your lights 20 hours per day you are running them for 1960 hours through the grow. If you run your lights 24/7 you run your lights 2352 hours per grow.
If you grow Fem Photo's with 6 weeks Veg at 18 hours per day you run your lights for 756 hours of Veg. Then you switch to flower for 8 weeks at 12 hours per day & you run your lights 672 hours per flower cycle. 756 veg + 672 Flower = 1428 hours of light / electric use. About 1000 hours less electric used saving you money in the long run. Besides that you can Clone Photo's & never have to buy another seed.

Thanks for your response. I'm not going to check your math, I'll take your word for it, I'm not . I've decided not to deal with auto's. I agree with what you said about feminized seeds. Now I just need to decide which strains I want to grow, but that's part of the fun in growing...