Our growing grow space

[CptGeorge414]

Hello everyone! I had a quick question for you guys. So I’ll be attempting my first grow in the cash crop 5.0, dumb I know, and I’ll be growing white widow inside of it. So I literally got the seeds 30 minutes ago and there germinating now. The cash crop comes with one 20w led light that’s all the way at the top which seemed kinda silly for the beginning of the growing process. So I lowered the light right over the hydro box but no too close. I’ll upload pictures as soon as I can.

Now my question is what Can I do to maximize my yield with the limited space ? The cash crop box is about 34 inches so a little over 2ft. What should I do when the plant starts to out grow the box ? Can I pre harvest? All advice is appreciated. Btw these are auto seeds as well. Thanks!

 

[TorturedSoul]

I guess I'd grow a mother plant so I could put rooted clones into that thing and go directly into flowering phase with basically zero vegetative phase time. That, plus choosing a really short / stumpy / 100% indica strain to begin with might allow me to deal with only having 3' of height (maybe, lol?).

Or grow one auto-flowering plant and train the living <BLEEP> out of it, more or less constantly (daily).

OR... Call the company, tell them your eight-year old kid ordered it by mistake and keep giving them grief until they offer to just refund your $370 (as I hope you got the 3' tall model instead of the $295 2' one) to get you to go away, lol... and use the money to buy a decent-sized grow tent and light, instead. That's actually the option I'd choose, if at all possible. But, failing that, I'd use it to flower clones of a short-height strain mother (if I had to). Or I suppose I might grow some "plants in 18-ounce Solo cups" just for the novelty of saying that I had.

I assume that you meant it comes with a 20-watt LED for seedlings, lol, and not that that's the only light you have for the thing?

 

[CptGeorge414]

I guess I'd grow a mother plant so I could put rooted clones into that thing and go directly into flowering phase with basically zero vegetative phase time. That, plus choosing a really short / stumpy / 100% indica strain to begin with might allow me to deal with only having 3' of height (maybe, lol?).

Or grow one auto-flowering plant and train the living <BLEEP> out of it, more or less constantly (daily).

OR... Call the company, tell them your eight-year old kid ordered it by mistake and keep giving them grief until they offer to just refund your $370 (as I hope you got the 3' tall model instead of the $295 2' one) to get you to go away, lol... and use the money to buy a decent-sized grow tent and light, instead. That's actually the option I'd choose, if at all possible. But, failing that, I'd use it to flower clones of a short-height strain mother (if I had to). Or I suppose I might grow some "plants in 18-ounce Solo cups" just for the novelty of saying that I had.

I assume that you meant it comes with a 20-watt LED for seedlings, lol, and not that that's the only light you have for the thing?

Great News! I just filed a dispute and got all of my money back! I'm so happy because now i can spend that money on a good grow tent versus that dumb fucking cash crop box, only problem is that I still have it haha. Idk what to do with it

 

[TorturedSoul]

Lol. O... kay. Mini-mother / clone box.

 

[CptGeorge414]

Lol. O... kay. Mini-mother / clone box.

any advice on what I should get to start out ? I know for a fact a 4x4 tent. I'm looking to get the mars hydro 600w but im skeptical because im not sure how the light bill will turn out. I need something pretty discrete since im not in the most friendly state. Any products I should absolutely get ? Links would be appreciated as well! Thank you

 

[HigherTheHigh]

If your in an illegal state and worried about what your electric company may say, just tell them your mining cryptocoin and thats why your using alot more power.

As for lighting, iv only ever grown with CFL & HPS, cfl and mh for veg and hps for flower, this will maximise your yield a lot, many people will say use LED for the cheaper route but always remember if your using any LED products and they claim they only use half the power then all your getting is half the power, so if your using a 600w mars your only getting 300 true watts.

Now if your buying a 4x4 tent that would be great for a 600w HPS, i grow in 4x4's with 600w hps and get amazing results, 4 plants, 10-20L pots, coco/perlite mix, from 4-6 weeks veg and i average around 20+ oz aslong as the environment is great.

As for autos they will flower when ever they feel, depending on what light your going to be using i would start training the plants main stem, slightly bend it over so that it can stay low, if your do get a 4x4 tent you should be fine, iv had some tall autos running in my tents.

 

[TorturedSoul]

You can grow fine cannabis in a 3'x3' tent - and use less light to fully illuminate it; A 3'x3' tent is 9 square feet, while a 4'x4' jumps to 16 square feet. Assuming the same type of lighting and the same watts per square foot for both spaces, you'd be using 56.25% as much electricity (for the lighting) and be producing roughly that much heat. Both sizes can be found in decent heights.

You mentioned "discrete." Sometimes a slightly smaller tent turns out to be far easier to hide (or to find a place where it can be hidden). Venting requirements should be somewhat less, too.

The downside is getting less cannabis in the same amount of time, of course.

I'd think around 38 watts per square foot of good LED, 50 watts per square foot of cheapo LED, and 50 watts per square foot of HPS ought to be minimum targets. People use 400-watt HPS in 3'x3' tents; it's not ideal, but... If one chooses to go that route, I'd probably suggest some small supplemental lighting, perhaps a 2' double-bulb fluorescent fixture along each of the HID's footprint's "short sides." Or some CFLs there and in the corners, with homemade "pop can reflectors to direct as much of that light as possible downwards." With either of those things, the grower can choose to use a reptile bulb for supplemental UV, such as the ReptiSun 10.0 brand. That won't help with yield amounts, but it can be beneficial to trichome production and (speculation) might help with aromatics/terpine production as well.

Increasing above the minimum helps, especially if one likes sativas and/or sativa-leaning hybrids. I've seen *nice* setups with COB LEDs spaced at one per square foot, running at 50 watts per. You start getting into higher prices for lights, but the upside is being able to choose specific, quality components - and being able to purchase a little bit at a time.

A 250-watt HPS and an LED panel might make a reasonable lighting mix for a 3'x3' tent, depending on the quality/wattage of the LED panel.

One can get away with using less watts per square foot during the vegetative growth phase. Choosing to grow auto-flowering strains only should, logically, allow for less light in flower due to having the lights on more hours per day - but that pretty severely limits your strain choices.

You can fit anything from one rather large plant if growing a free-standing tree ( ) or a super SCROG, to as many as 81 if growing a tightly-packed SOG at nine plants per square foot (high plant densities not recommended for beginners, lol) in a 3'x3' tent, depending on how fully you choose to use the space. Four reasonably sized and trained plants seems pretty common. Or a couple of those and somewhat more in smaller containers, perhaps trained to only grow a single main stalk (and/or auto-flowers around/amidst two or three photoperiodic plants). Or you could grow one photoperiodic plant in the center of the tent with a screen attached, leaving a 6" or so gap all around between it and your tent's walls (making the SCROG area 2'x2'), and grow a parade of clones and/or auto-flowering plants around the perimeter. If you don't have enough little plants to fill the border, you can allow part of the SCROG to grow upwards in that area (but this will slow down the act of filling the screen). Having a SCROG in the center of a tent with other plants around it does present quite a challenge if one's tent only has one access point (the door), so a person wishing to go that route should either choose a tent with a second access point or plan for the SCROG portion to be against a couple walls (and corresponding corner) away from the door.

The same holds true for a 4'x4' tent, basically, only with slightly larger plants.

Et cetera.

 

[CptGeorge414]

So as of now this is my amazon cart, the total is $430.51, I think its a fairly decent set up and I still have more money to spare in case I missed anything. Oh By the way sorry about the format I copied and pasted right from amazon.

Pro Breeze Electric Mini Dehumidifier, 1200 Cubic Feet (150 sq ft), Compact and Portable for Damp Air, Mold, Moisture in Home, Kitchen, Bedroom, Basement, Caravan, Office, Garage

Jellas Pocket Size pH Meter Digital Water Quality Tester for Household Drinking Water, Swimming Pools, Aquariums, Hydroponics, pH Measurement for 0-14.0 pH, ± 0.1 Accuracy, 0.1 Resolution.(Yellow)

ThermoPro TP50 Digital Hygrometer Indoor Thermometer Humidity Monitor with Temperature Humidity Gauge

iPower 4 Inch 190 CFM Duct Inline Fan with 4" Carbon Filter 8 Feet Ducting Combo for Grow Tent Ventilation
247Garden 5-Pack 3 Gallon Grow Bags/Aeration Fabric Pots w/Handles (Black)

MarsHydro Mars 600W Led Grow Light Full Spectrum ETL Certificate for Hydroponic Indoor Plants Growing $139.98

Fox Farm FX14082 Happy Frog Soil Potting Soil Bag, 12 quart

iPower Exhaust Fan Speed Controller Adjuster for Duct Inline Fan Vent Blower 350W

VIVOSUN 6.5" Gardening Hand Pruner Pruning Shear with Straight Stainless Steel Blades Orange

iPower 2-Pack 1/8 Inch 8-Feet Long Adjustable Heavy Duty Rope Clip Hanger, Reinforced Metal Internal Gears,150lb Capacity

Helios 48" x 24" x 60" Grow Tent – Indoor Mylar Hydroponic Plant Growing Room

 

[Buddaman]

Hey Cpt how are ya, list looks good, go check out my new grow journal i posted, much similar situation, have a 2.5x2.5 tent but wish I would have gone bigger, have 2 big healthy girls at 3 weeks of flower now. It's on current journals, like page 3ish, blue dream seed first grow led.

 

[Buddaman]

Ohh btw id recommend higher wattage if you could, i run a 900 watt with food results so far first time.

 

[CptGeorge414]

Ohh btw id recommend higher wattage if you could, i run a 900 watt with food results so far first time.

Thanks for the tips. I’m just playing it safe with the 600w simply because I don’t want any unexpected visits. Everything has been planted already and once has actually sprouted up. Now I have two more germinating and plan on potting those soon.

 

[MrFortwenty]

Thanks for the tips. I’m just playing it safe with the 600w simply because I don’t want any unexpected visits. Everything has been planted already and once has actually sprouted up. Now I have two more germinating and plan on potting those soon.

That "600w" led really only pulls 265w from the wall. For a 4x2 using blurple LEDs you're going to want somewhere around 400w

 

[Buddaman]

That "600w" led really only pulls 265w from the wall. For a 4x2 using blurple LEDs you're going to want somewhere around 400w

I believe my 900 watt pulls approx 365 watts.

 

[Icemann420]

Lol. O... kay. Mini-mother / clone box.

Yes

 

[Zincite]

I believe my 900 watt pulls approx 365 watts.

Trying not to be nosey, how bad did your electric bill go up?

 

[Icemann420]

I’m running 2000 Watts only pulling 800 from the wall I average 1500 killawatts a month for a total of 220 a month on electric. But I also have a 300 gall fish tank an out door pond and a large garage. The idea that I use is change all lighting to led run the washer and dryer at night when there is little usage get black out curtains to lower the solar rays to keep the house cool keep the air filters clean and power down any in used electric equipment. Doing that I really didn’t notice any difference.

 

[Zincite]

Thanks Icemann, that was kinda of what was in the back of my mind.

 

[Buddaman]

Trying not to be nosey, how bad did your electric bill go up?

Tbh not sure yet, we have solar so only pay a payment at the end of year, I have the 900 watt led, small fan and 4" carbon filter and fan