Growin' on a tight budget and limited space - How do you do it?

[IslandBuds]

I am a true believer in the saying "there's only 2 ways to do things... the right way and the wrong way" unfortunately, when it comes to growing pot, everything I have been led to believe tells me that growing can be very expensive to start off (nutes, lights, meters,etc... not too mention the enormous electric bill) and also the space involved.
I am fed up with buying my smokes at street prices so I thought that I would give "growing on a budget" a try...
Heres my story...
I picked a spot behind a door (door would act as the front-facing wall when opened, but have a sheet of heavy display board to put up as the wall when my door is shut) and covered the walls and backside of door with white light-reflective sheeting, as well as back of door.
The space I chose for my set-up is only 3ft. x 2 ft. because its the only space I have available to do this, and I chose to go with Autoflowering plants for the quick turnaround, not to mention theoverall cost savings involved.
I used P.V.C. for supporting my lights and small fan, chose to go with L.E.D. lighting for power saving as well as no heat signature whatsoever.
Heres my estimated cost involved...
1) 2 sided reflective sheeting @20ft.x10ft. (lots of extra footage for later) $25
2) Misc. P.V.C. pipe and misc. P.V.C. T's and elbow fittings $25
3) Rachet light hangers $15
4) Heat mat for seedlings $30
5) small fan $9
6) a bunch of plastic drip trays $10
7) Misc. pots (2 and 3 gl. for Autos) $25
8) PH meter $85
9) Botanicare CNS17 nutes and misc. supplements in quart size since I am only growing Autos and I use
very sparingly. $200
10) Roots Organic soil $25
11) PH up and down $20
12) Sunshine Systems 90 watt GrowUFO L.E.D. LIGHT $250
13) Sunshine Systems Glow-Panel45 28 watt L.E.D. light $150
14) Hydrogrow LED 180 watt *free* from a friend ( I switch between this and GrowUFO depending on number
of plants growing)
15) 2 cheap 28 watt LED panels (supplemental lighting. 1 veg and 1 flower) $75
16 3 misc. LED spotlights for supplemental lighting when needed $80
17) Misc. pieces of stiff posterboard *free* and good tape $5

Concidering that these L.E.D. lights will last me 10+ years... all I will have to purchase are my seeds, pots etc. and nutes as I need 'em.
With this set-up my electricity bill has only gone up on average $9 a month running at a 18/6 light schedule
Running this set-up, concidering that I am a first-time grower... I am pumping out some pretty-damn-good bud, and I know with trial and error... in time my harvests can only improve!!
Adding up my initial investment... I am at $1,029 and I will never have bulbs to replace (well...not for well over 10 years).
In the 4 months that I have been growing, I have harvested well over 12 oz. and @ $300 an oz. I was paying... I have more than tripled my initial investment in my grow area.
Not bad at all for my first crack at growing.
So... I am like a sponge when it comes to learning more on growing and how to make my grow give me "more-bang-for-my-buck".
Drop by and share your "more bang for your buck" growing set ups and methods...
... so even us "little-guys" can get more, for a whole lot less.

 

[mountaingoat]

like the set up do a journal!

 

[Trunk5]

you should buy a 30x20x60inch wardrobe closet from walmart and use that panda film to line the inside, i bought a 60x60x20 one made it two chamber with a 400w hps on each side.

here is the one i used.
Find the Rubbermaid Garment Closet for an everyday low price at Walmart.com

but i think this one would suit you more.
Rubbermaid 36" Garment Closet - Walmart.com

 

[IslandBuds]

Mahalo for the info... sounds good but, would I then need to run vent fans and filters?
With my current set-up... I dont need more fans than the 1 that I use for circulation and as far as the smell... I just got a small Ona breeze fan and it does just fine.
The Flyin' Hawaiian

 

[Muttt]

Check out my grow journal.

 

[drdoodle]

Good looking plants from such a bare bones grow. good job. If you are growing enough that you don't have to buy anymore, you've succeeded. Now the question is, do you want to grow more?

If you do, my recommendation would be that since you seem to have limited floor space I would definitely go vertical. You have empty space above your plants and it seems like you have extra lights(I'm assuming since they get swapped out in the pics?)

You can find reasonably priced mylar grow tents on amazon. I havent seen a 2x3 but I know 3x3 exist. I like using the metal kitchen shelves, not wood so less mold/bug problems and very light, easy to move/disassemble and you can fit 1-2 shelves perfectly in a 3x3 tent. As for venting a tent, 2x3, 3x3, etc are so small you could get away with 2 cheap fans. one for intake and exhaust. You wouldn't even need ducting, just have the vents pull/exhaust air into the bigger room. fresh air from outside would be ideal but probably not an option in your space. The space is so small you could get really cheap/weak fans for it no problem. With the money you're saving on pot, you could buy a tent and 2 fans for less than a 1/2 an ounce. A tent also gives your plants a much darker 'night time' than an open set up like yours, even with all the lights off, there is light, a good tent will cut that remaining light by a LOT. If your plants get too much random unscheduled light it can confuse them.


If you dont have the room for a tent(or want one), I'd still go vertical if you want to grow more. You could just make shelves out of *anything*. and put smaller plants above, or just have more flowering area since you seem to have extra lights? You could build something to the ceiling, you have that extra space.

If you're growing enough for your needs, no need to expand, but if you want to, theres my 2 cents