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Post edited 1:37 am – April 19, 2009 by Alex

Guys need help with knowing how to grow? Well, here is everything you need to know:

#1) Keep It Simple

Let’s get one thing straight – growing weed isn’t that hard.

All your problems will come from over-thinking, or too much care. The same goes for your grow space. So stick to the basics. You will find out later where and how you have to modify your grow room in order to make it more efficient. But for now, stick with a simple setup.

Don’t start off with elaborate rigs or or way too many plants than you feel comfortable with. Just like any discipline, start off small, learn the ropes, and then expand as much as you want.

#2) A Suitable Space

The first question to answer for any grower is, “Where can I raise my crop?”

There is no straightforward answer for this question. You can setup a grow room all over the places; a small cupboard, a whole room, in a garage or your attic space. Just be aware, not all grow rooms are created equally.

I prefer a whole room that isn’t being used for anything else. Just be creative. I have seen people growing pot in places you couldn’t imagine, with excellent results. However, make sure you have enough electricity sockets for lighting, an extractor vent (with carbon filter) and an air intake.

Don’t forget that your exhaust vents will produce noise. Think about visitors, maintenance work that may have to be done on your house in the future and every kind of emergency that will require anyone to access the room you grow in. Also, do not forget about your water source, and avoid carpeted floors. Carpets are an invite for all kinds of bacteria, mold and other forms of undesirables. Besides that, you will handle soil in there. That’s going to be one hell of a mess to clean. So, just say no to carpets.

The grow room has to be absolutely light-proof. We are talking pitch black here. No light in, because it will mess up your light cycles, and no light out. You don’t want your neighbors to ask stupid questions.

In order to maximize you’re light efficiency, you may want to line, or paint the walls. Some people use Mylar. I prefer white walls. Works just as well, if not better.

#3) Equipment

Let’s start with the obvious – you’re lighting system. I use only High Pressure Sodium Lights (HPS).

Strictly speaking, you would have to buy two separate ones if you plan on using the same room for both seedling stage and the vegetative/flowering stages. A weaker light for your seedlings, and a considerably stronger one for the later stages. This also means more money being spent on bulbs and ballast. So, in the spirit of keeping it simple, stick with a stronger one.

Here is a little chart to give you a rough idea about how strong your lights should be:

• 250 Watt HPS: very popular for a first time light, or for smaller areas like cupboards, still gives good yields
• 400 Watt HPS: very popular, good for vegetative plants, small grow rooms or larger grow rooms with limited headroom
• 600 Watt HPS: the most efficient and popular size. Gives optimum light and good depth over an area of 4 foot by 5 foot or more
• 1000 Watt HPS: Extremely powerful light systems that are best utilized on light rails where they will cover an area of about 9 foot by 5 foot

You will also need a thermometer. I use a digital one that shows humidity and temperature. This will cost you about $20, but it’s well worth it. If you want to make sure your plants will always get the best water quality possible, don’t forget a pH meter. That will cost you another $20, but in my opinion it’s essential.

A good thing to have is duct tape. I will not go deeper into details about pots, soil brand and nutrition. There is far too much to say, and it’s far too important for a little foot note. We will deal with this in future articles.

A little tip for soil though: everything you can use for tomatoes, will work perfectly for weed. As far as electric equipment goes, you should be ready to go now.

#4) Air

I can’t stress enough how important it is that you make sure to have efficient air exchange.

Air has to come in and move around, and air has to get out of the room. For air intakes, you can use something as as simple as a pc vent, and a hole in the wall.

Getting the air out, and all that dank smell, will be a bigger problem. Most likely you are aware that your plants will develop odor, and lots of it. Put 5 Trainwreck plants in a room and the place will smell like an Amsterdam coffeshop. Not good.

I (and most likely everybody else who is serious about not getting caught) am using a carbon filter with my extractor vent. To move air around the room, use a standard ventilator. Anything will do, as long as you provide permanent air movement in the grow room.

#5) Water

You will need water. Well, not you, your plants.

It is never a good idea to have your water source outside your grow room. Better said, make sure you can’t be watched carrying water from your source, to your plants. You will need plenty of water, and people seeing you carrying buckets of water inside a room every day for no apparent reason… well, it’s just one of the things that can get you into trouble. And avoiding it is easy.

So, a tap in your grow room is important. Another point is, in the winter, tap water will be cold. Very cold. In order to avoid stressing your plants out too much, keep a water supply in your grow area, to make sure it gets to the same temperature as your grow area. Your plants will thank you for that.

Keep an eye on the waters pH. Not higher than 7, and not lower than 6. You will have to adjust the pH if you are outside these numbers. Get a pH meter, a cheap one will cost you $20 (as I said earlier), and some adjustment fluid.

Ok everyone, that’s the basics. We will go deeper into every single point on this list. For now, this should give you a rough idea on how and where to start your own grow room. Feel free to ask questions, let’s get a discussion going. If you’re already had a grow set-up, how did your first experience go and what lessons did you learn?

ENJOY!

src: Thefreshscent.com

luke said:

What type of yield per square foot can you expect?  Is there any type of plant that does better in a limited space especially if you have limited height?  How long on average will a plant continue to produce before it has to be replaced?

Thanks

The yield per square foot has alot to do every contributing factor that was mentioned in Jake's post. Also something to think about… without one of the 5 topics that jake touched upon, the other four don't make up for it. what i'm saying is, if you have bad air quality, the best fertilizers, water, soil, aren't gonna make a difference. It goes that way for all contributing factors. with out one of them the others aren't going to perform efficiently.

Limited height issues call for an indica dominant plant. they stay short and fat. like a nice kush. steer away from the sativas (hazes) as they will stretch alot when they 're put in flowering. sometimes growing 3x in size! don't expect too much stretch from and indica. i find they grow another 6-12 inches once flowering is induced.

By replacing i'm assuming you mean mother plants?  i keep my mother plants around for years sometimes. I replace my mother plants usually when they become unruly and are taking up too much room. keep ur moms nice and short by topping early. but i've been pulling clones from the same mothers for years with no loss in potency in the final product. The only way i've found to degrade a mother plant is to let it flower and return it back to vegetative growth. Never let ur clone bearing mothers see a flowering room.

Like Jake said, Keep it simple.   don't go with that 9 part fertilizer program right outta the gate.   Go with a three part, a simple grow, bloom, micro-nutrient system until you figure out how the plant works. start with soil, as it is the most forgiving when it comes to mistakes.  1/2 a gram per watt should be a benchmark that you want to get to. anything less than that, your wasting ur time and need to educate yourself a little more on what the plant needs to live. 

PPS…. I'm not trolling for ROLLITUP just trying to help…..Crispy

is that lst 

 cool like it