From start to finish

[inthecountry]

Well bongs and joints, how are you? I am a beginner in growing and will post my start to finish cycle w/pics on my long awaited journey into the abiss of my own crop. My first step in this process was building my lighting. First I started with (1) hps and (1) (mh) light rated at 250 watts each. For this I built my own ballast box containing the 2 ballasts for the 2 lights. I am using a 12x12x6 stainless steel closed panel box. I incorporated a power supply for both ballasts seperatly so that I could use them both together during the vegetive state. Then when I am ready to flower I can unplug the hp light and use the hps light for the flowering. Also I found a roll of mylar 50" wide X 50' long to line the walls with.. My grow area is going to be 5x5x8 high.. Also I will be using a staircase method of trimming to incorporate more lighting at the bottom. Also I am planning on a quick cycle. A turn around of about 30 to 45 days from start to finish. My concern is not quantity but quality. At about one foot I will start the flowering stage, sexing and then taking it from there. Well my fellow compatriots wish me luck and many blooms. :smokin3:

 

[NoDirtWeed4Me]

30 to 45 days and you want to flower at 1 foot? Not gonna happen, sorry. Flowering takes at least 2 months no matter when you flower. Plus to get it a foot high before you flower will take about a month. Just wanted to warn you that usual turn around time is about 3 months. Even if you flower right away, without any veg time, you are still looking at atleast 2 months.

 

[inthecountry]

Well thank you for the advice, I appreciate it. Told ya I was new to this, at least I'm in the ballpark. So I should at least start to flower 30 days? thanks

 

[snugglefunked]

LMAO!!! if you want quality, you'll go organic soil, not flowering until the plant shows preflowers under 24/0, THEN flower... it'll take 4-5 months... NO WAY you're gonna get a plant done in a month to a month and a half... they don't do that... it'll take a month for it to get one foot tall anyways... 2 months till it shows preflowers on its own... then another 2 months to flower... then another week to dry... then another 3 to cure... that's a full 5 months for quality bud... also, i'd say go the other way around... keep JUST the MH on during veg... then have them both on for flowering... you want MORE light for flowering... not less... the shortest you can have good bud is with strains like lowryder... lowryder autoflowers when it's ready... you can keep it under 24/0 the whole time... but still, lowryder takes 2 whole months to finish, not to mention drying and curing...

 

[inthecountry]

Hey if anyone wants to save a little dough I can tell ya how to build your own ballast set up for a complete light kit. My light kit incorporates both mh and hps for both flowering and vegetative. It cost me no more than $300..When I shopped around It would have costed me at lease $400 to $500 for 2 seperate light systems. Oh by the way, your going to love this.. I kept thinking about how to build my light hood. After about 2 days of pondering this I was standing on the porch looking at my new round barbeque grill there next to me and the great big light in my brain started flashing. Wallah!!!! Bingo we got a winner... I took the bottom of the grills legs off, cleaned it up good with some sos pads. Painted the top heat proof white. Took a square junction box and attached the big mogule to it and used an L bracket to secure it to the hood... Attached a couple of chains, plugged it in and what do ya know...BRIGHT LIGHT....Also I did this with the top which is not as deep as the bottom. Now the trick was to figure out which light for which hood. So I used the mh in the big and deeper bottom of the grill for vegetative. And I am using the top part of the grill which is not as deep for the flowering. The reason for this is the bottom keeps the light more tight in a narrower space..And the top for flowering light uses a bigger area to make up for the size of the plants being bigger when flowering.., Isn't being an educated free american cool? :smokin3:

 

[Brett2theMax]

Wow this thread is nuts. There some Info here that is confusing, but I understand the grow process. Talk to the experience growers here man, if you are new and want advice I suggest reading up on more experienced growers and the mods.

 

[Urdedpal]

I agree with everything snuggles said except the soil part.I am a hydro man and my weed taste just fine with my growing methods.And you don't have to wait for preflowers,that does not effect taste or quality only yeild. Take clones during veg to shorten ur grow times.Unless you go with lowryder. Lowryder is a ruderalis hybrid that auto flowers.Rueralis plant cannot be cloned.

 

[inthecountry]

Well Snugglefunked It was nice to read your reply. But first my dear friend all your writing is hurting my head. Please read my post again. I do not believe That I mentioned what type of strain I was using, nor did my post state anything about curing, which is beside the point and has nothing to do with my start to finish. See the trick to what I am doing is in the strain, which I will call Annonymous...Rest assured it is not your everyday strain that you might be accustomed to..I am by the way a herbologist...I know my plants very well. Just never grew any skunk. And for your information I do not believe that I mentioned whether or not it was a hydro system or a soil system...
Now if anyone is going to post to my thread please read carefully
and try not to read something that is not there..What is there is there and is not something assumed... Thanks

 

[Urdedpal]

I can buy parts for a mh or hps but I don't know how to put it together.I do know electricity very well.You gotta schematic? And snuggle and us are just trying to help.

 

[inthecountry]

urdedpal........ Sorry I wasn't trying to be rude and I apologize...It is that I just made a post and some people are reading things that are not there. And making assumtions...
Now when you buy your ballast there is a schematic that comes with it for the wiring..... But I can break it down for you on how I built my box...
A 12x12x6 stainless still solid box cost about $20..Use the brackets that come with the ballast so that you can free hang the ballast to keep it off of the box and allow air to circulate around it. your ballast will be floating at the botton and you will have no way to attach it to the bottom with the supplied brackets.... So what you will need to do is drill two holes in the box coinciding with the mounting holes on the ballast. Nut your 4" rod on either side of the the box to secure it and use a lock washer...depending on whether or not you are going to install a mh and a hps ballast in the same box as I did you will have also mount your capacitor and your ignitor, but do not fret there is plenty of room. Since this type of box does not come with knock-outs, you will need a 1/2" drill bit to drill two holes towards the edge of the box approximately in the center of the short side for your two power lines with male adapters attached to plug in for power. These need only to be about 2 feet. Then when your lines go out for the lamp side of the box, do the same thing. But make sure that you have at least 15 feet of line from the box to the light fixture.. And there ya go... When I can find my other digital camera I will take a pic for you to see... I am thinking about building these boxes to sell eventually....It is a lot cheaper and easier than most people think to build these ballast boxes..And a lot safer and secure than ordering them from the web where anyone can get your info.....HINT HINT

 

[NoDirtWeed4Me]

LMAO!!! if you want quality, you'll go organic soil, not flowering until the plant shows preflowers under 24/0, THEN flower... it'll take 4-5 months... NO WAY you're gonna get a plant done in a month to a month and a half... they don't do that... it'll take a month for it to get one foot tall anyways... 2 months till it shows preflowers on its own... then another 2 months to flower... then another week to dry... then another 3 to cure... that's a full 5 months for quality bud... also, i'd say go the other way around... keep JUST the MH on during veg... then have them both on for flowering... you want MORE light for flowering... not less... the shortest you can have good bud is with strains like lowryder... lowryder autoflowers when it's ready... you can keep it under 24/0 the whole time... but still, lowryder takes 2 whole months to finish, not to mention drying and curing...

A bit harshly put, but some good info if you can pick through the unnessesary, non-applicable, and pure opinion info. Such as the lighting, I agree that your better off using just the MH for veg and go to both for flowering.

But like urdedpal said waiting for it to preflower during veg only increases your yield not your quality.


Just thought I'd try and clarify a little. By the way I love the setup you're describing for your lights you will have to post some pics of it sometime. I'm more of a visual person as far as firguring that kind of stuff out, but sounds like something I'd be interested in trying out.

 

[inthecountry]

Sure thing man. Like I said earlier I apologize if I sounded a little harsh, really wasn't trying to come off like that. I am looking for my digicam so that I can take some pics of the set up... As soon as I find it I will post the pices.. Thanks for the reply

 

[snugglefunked]

yeah it was a little wordy and opinionated. sorry... the organic soil thing.. definitely opinion... but take into consideration I had no THC in my system, besides residuals... i was also pissed cuz i was getting ready for work... but whatever... sorry if I was rude. and clones CAN finish in 80 days, with good results... my bad... I'd love to see how you work this grow tho... sounds very intresting... good luck!

 

[inthecountry]

Its all good dude. What matters most is to keep on toking..

 

[inthecountry]

11 days later and everything is doing very well. 2nd set of leaves are up and I got a nice 4 inch spread going..plants have been transplanted and the fan is blowing to build stamina...nice gre green lush..my oh my what a beautiful day... :smokin3: