Joshnorton
New Member
Hello everyone,
This is my first post. I don't know if I'm "introducing myself" correctly, so if not, please point me in the right direction.
So, I'm a new patient, I've grown outdoors for 5ish years but this will be my first attempt at indoor cultivation. I listed my ideas for my setup below. I'm looking for opinions and yield expectations from everyone with real world experience. We can all read all day, there's no substitute for experience.
Everything will be in a large basement that stays around 65 F.
VEG:
3-4x 2 bulb 32w T8 Fixtures w/ 6500k bulbs (can't remember lumen output, but I'm planning blue-ish spectrum)
2.5 gal pots w/ Schultz All Purpose Potting Soil (I know, I know, but I've used it outside w/ plenty success, it's what I know)
No tent, I got a space in the corner behind the furnace/ductwork that's perfect size, the temp is maybe a few degrees higher
Maybe an oscillating fan kinda blowing at the plants
I have maybe 10 bags seeds from higher quality bags. I can order seeds and get into cloning on later grows. I plan to start seeds in peat pellets, then transplant to pots (maybe into solo cups first, then pots) and veg them to 2ish feet tall (topped and lst'd) under the fluoros 18/6. I don't know if I'll use all the seeds or exactly how I will start, but I plan to use clones and have 4 females vegging in this setup eventually.
FLOWER TENT:
3x3x6.5 ft or 4x4x6.5 ft mylar tent (I've looked at various brands, I'm leaning toward the $100-150 range)
Apollo 600 watt hps w/ air-cooled hood and digital ballast (no worries about the RF interference)
Ventech 6 inch 440 cfm fan
HydroCrunch 440 cfm carbon filter
5 gal buckets w/ same soil (I understand that I'll have to veg them for a little while after transplanting from the 2.5 gal pots)
I'm going to run passive intake then either filter>duct>hood>duct>basement window and outside with the Ventech in there somewhere. In the tent or out I haven't decided. As I said above, I plan to eventually be vegging 4 plants until they're 2ish feet tall (topped and lst'd) then flowering them in the tent. I'll have a speed control on the fan and I'll run it 24/7, full-ish power during lights on and half-ish power during lights off to start with tweaking later if needed.
As far as nutes, the first time out I'm going to use Miracle Grow Tomato Food 18-18-21 for veg and Shultz Bloom Builder 10-60-10 (or Booster, I can't remember which) for flower. Again, I know the stigma around MG and similar fertilizer, but I've already got enough of both leftover from this year and I've used it outdoors with great success, so for my first attempt, I'd like to go with what I know and worry about complicating things when I have more experience. I will be getting a cheap PH test kit just to get experience with PH as I've never bothered with it before. 6.5 to 7.0 is where you want the soil, right?
I understand about the fluoros and distance from plants, but I'm still on the fence about my veg setup. I could just veg in the tent and forget about the fluoros, but I'd really like a faster cycle. So I'm wondering: is this veg/flower setup valid for say, 2 months veg 2 months flower? Will the fluoros get them to 2 feet and respectably bushy plants? How will the fluoros affect yield versus just vegging and flowering them under the hps and waiting longer between harvests? What yields can I expect with the flouros versus the single-light setup? Will either setup even allow 2 month veg given the height of the tent?
I'm sure there are a few things I forgot to add, but that's pretty much it. I'm sure I'm forgetting some questions also. Again, I'm only going with those nutes because it's what worked in the past and it's what I know. I'll be upgrading in the future, I'm trying to keep a $800-900 budget for now. Thank you very much for any info and opinions you guys provide. I'm sure you guys get tired of answering the same newbie questions over and over again. Just know that I've researched my ass off and I've done my best to put in a lot of work before coming here.
This is my first post. I don't know if I'm "introducing myself" correctly, so if not, please point me in the right direction.
So, I'm a new patient, I've grown outdoors for 5ish years but this will be my first attempt at indoor cultivation. I listed my ideas for my setup below. I'm looking for opinions and yield expectations from everyone with real world experience. We can all read all day, there's no substitute for experience.
Everything will be in a large basement that stays around 65 F.
VEG:
3-4x 2 bulb 32w T8 Fixtures w/ 6500k bulbs (can't remember lumen output, but I'm planning blue-ish spectrum)
2.5 gal pots w/ Schultz All Purpose Potting Soil (I know, I know, but I've used it outside w/ plenty success, it's what I know)
No tent, I got a space in the corner behind the furnace/ductwork that's perfect size, the temp is maybe a few degrees higher
Maybe an oscillating fan kinda blowing at the plants
I have maybe 10 bags seeds from higher quality bags. I can order seeds and get into cloning on later grows. I plan to start seeds in peat pellets, then transplant to pots (maybe into solo cups first, then pots) and veg them to 2ish feet tall (topped and lst'd) under the fluoros 18/6. I don't know if I'll use all the seeds or exactly how I will start, but I plan to use clones and have 4 females vegging in this setup eventually.
FLOWER TENT:
3x3x6.5 ft or 4x4x6.5 ft mylar tent (I've looked at various brands, I'm leaning toward the $100-150 range)
Apollo 600 watt hps w/ air-cooled hood and digital ballast (no worries about the RF interference)
Ventech 6 inch 440 cfm fan
HydroCrunch 440 cfm carbon filter
5 gal buckets w/ same soil (I understand that I'll have to veg them for a little while after transplanting from the 2.5 gal pots)
I'm going to run passive intake then either filter>duct>hood>duct>basement window and outside with the Ventech in there somewhere. In the tent or out I haven't decided. As I said above, I plan to eventually be vegging 4 plants until they're 2ish feet tall (topped and lst'd) then flowering them in the tent. I'll have a speed control on the fan and I'll run it 24/7, full-ish power during lights on and half-ish power during lights off to start with tweaking later if needed.
As far as nutes, the first time out I'm going to use Miracle Grow Tomato Food 18-18-21 for veg and Shultz Bloom Builder 10-60-10 (or Booster, I can't remember which) for flower. Again, I know the stigma around MG and similar fertilizer, but I've already got enough of both leftover from this year and I've used it outdoors with great success, so for my first attempt, I'd like to go with what I know and worry about complicating things when I have more experience. I will be getting a cheap PH test kit just to get experience with PH as I've never bothered with it before. 6.5 to 7.0 is where you want the soil, right?
I understand about the fluoros and distance from plants, but I'm still on the fence about my veg setup. I could just veg in the tent and forget about the fluoros, but I'd really like a faster cycle. So I'm wondering: is this veg/flower setup valid for say, 2 months veg 2 months flower? Will the fluoros get them to 2 feet and respectably bushy plants? How will the fluoros affect yield versus just vegging and flowering them under the hps and waiting longer between harvests? What yields can I expect with the flouros versus the single-light setup? Will either setup even allow 2 month veg given the height of the tent?
I'm sure there are a few things I forgot to add, but that's pretty much it. I'm sure I'm forgetting some questions also. Again, I'm only going with those nutes because it's what worked in the past and it's what I know. I'll be upgrading in the future, I'm trying to keep a $800-900 budget for now. Thank you very much for any info and opinions you guys provide. I'm sure you guys get tired of answering the same newbie questions over and over again. Just know that I've researched my ass off and I've done my best to put in a lot of work before coming here.