First off, thanks to all the journal, article, etc. authors here and elsewhere. I've gained a lot of information already and will likely avoid some common mistakes thanks to them. I appreciate to their generosity with sharing info, sometimes at significant risk.
I decided to grow mostly for the challenge, I have the opposite of a green thumb. Also, the type of weed I like to use is harder to find, I prefer the higher CBD:THC varieties such as Charlotte's Web or Critical Mass. Critical Mass has been my favorite, so I bought some of those seeds and they're coming in the mail. If this works out and I process/store the yields well, it could be the last $ I ever spend on MJ (I'm an extremely lightweight, occasional user). I figure 2 plants should do.
Where I live it's legal to grow for personal use, and a lot of cannabis-specific grow shops have opened up. I stopped by one and got some soil "direct from Humboldt County" that's supposed to be ideal for cannabis. I also bought a plant-growing specific LED light panel and a bunch of CFL floodlights I found for cheap, along with some LED bulbs.
So far the lighting setup is;
1x 45W LED panel, red/blue spectrum, ~4500 lumens
4x 8W LED bulbs, "natural light", 800 lumens each
6x 23W CFL floodlight bulbs, 1300 lumens each
4x 13W CFL floodlight bulbs, ~730 lumens each
That's a combined lumen of about 18,420
(the last three digits a total coincidence but I'm taking it as a good omen =D )
I'll likely buy another LED panel or two as they grow. There's also a possibility I could supplement all this with natural light, depending on the enclosure.
Power consumption will be about 267 watts (less if I add LEDs) so with cheap electricity here it should cost well under $15/month. However, I will likely need to add a dehumidifier - but I need one anyways. I live in the NW in a ground-level apartment. The air is so wet my towels take forever to dry.
I thought I'd use soil for its simplicity. I bought a bag of cannabis-specific stuff. But, since my biggest concerns are environmental, I may settle on hydroponics. Either way, I figure I'll put the plants in the best-ventilated part of the place which is by the patio sliding glass doors. I understand mold could be an issue, and pests in soil.
Although I could easily just grow in the open (the sliding glass doors have a frosted-glass coating), I think I'm going to build, or buy, a grow tent/box if only to control the ecosystem better, and keep the cat from eating the plants.
This journal seems pretty close to what I'm trying to do, so I figure I'll mostly try to replicate their methods. I especially like the ScrOG technique. But, man, hydroponic growing seems like it can get a bit complicated!
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I'll keep this journal up to date as I go.
I decided to grow mostly for the challenge, I have the opposite of a green thumb. Also, the type of weed I like to use is harder to find, I prefer the higher CBD:THC varieties such as Charlotte's Web or Critical Mass. Critical Mass has been my favorite, so I bought some of those seeds and they're coming in the mail. If this works out and I process/store the yields well, it could be the last $ I ever spend on MJ (I'm an extremely lightweight, occasional user). I figure 2 plants should do.
Where I live it's legal to grow for personal use, and a lot of cannabis-specific grow shops have opened up. I stopped by one and got some soil "direct from Humboldt County" that's supposed to be ideal for cannabis. I also bought a plant-growing specific LED light panel and a bunch of CFL floodlights I found for cheap, along with some LED bulbs.
So far the lighting setup is;
1x 45W LED panel, red/blue spectrum, ~4500 lumens
4x 8W LED bulbs, "natural light", 800 lumens each
6x 23W CFL floodlight bulbs, 1300 lumens each
4x 13W CFL floodlight bulbs, ~730 lumens each
That's a combined lumen of about 18,420
(the last three digits a total coincidence but I'm taking it as a good omen =D )
I'll likely buy another LED panel or two as they grow. There's also a possibility I could supplement all this with natural light, depending on the enclosure.
Power consumption will be about 267 watts (less if I add LEDs) so with cheap electricity here it should cost well under $15/month. However, I will likely need to add a dehumidifier - but I need one anyways. I live in the NW in a ground-level apartment. The air is so wet my towels take forever to dry.
I thought I'd use soil for its simplicity. I bought a bag of cannabis-specific stuff. But, since my biggest concerns are environmental, I may settle on hydroponics. Either way, I figure I'll put the plants in the best-ventilated part of the place which is by the patio sliding glass doors. I understand mold could be an issue, and pests in soil.
Although I could easily just grow in the open (the sliding glass doors have a frosted-glass coating), I think I'm going to build, or buy, a grow tent/box if only to control the ecosystem better, and keep the cat from eating the plants.
This journal seems pretty close to what I'm trying to do, so I figure I'll mostly try to replicate their methods. I especially like the ScrOG technique. But, man, hydroponic growing seems like it can get a bit complicated!
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I'll keep this journal up to date as I go.