Starting from scratch

[Ketimaj]

Hello guys, I have quite a few questions for you. So sorry about that... Becouse i belive this was answered quite a few time befor but i dont have mutch time to decide and looking at this forum for answers. Let me explain. I have 2 grow boxes. One is 100x100x200mm and the other one is 180x110x240mm. I was planning to use 600mw hps for the smaller grow box and a 1000mw hps for the bigger tent. I was planning to use a smaller tent for vegetative stage and the bigger one for flowering. I was planning to have a 1000g yeild per 3months by doing so. Am I wrong? What would you do? How to best exploit both tents? Is it better to have one for vegetation stage and the other for flowering (like i plan) or is it better to have both tents through the whole process? How to optimize time/yield for those two growboxes? Which lamps would you use? Is it 600hps still good enough for 180x110x240 tent or should i bought 1000w?also,how many plants? I was planning to have 20 plants in the first stage in 100x100x200 tent )vegetation stage) and then move 15 of those in 180x110x240 tent for flowering. Is this to much or too litle plants? So, i need to know everything about that? How many plants? Wich lights? How long to have plants in the vegetative stage? To optimize time/yield? I was thinking to have plants in the vegetative stage the same amount of time previous flowers needed to flower. So that both tents would be full at all times. Becose otherwise its better to use both boxes seperatly ang have in both tents vegetation and flowering stage right? Allso, wich technic? Scrog, lst, prunning? If u have sog with 20/15 plants should you stil prune or something else? Plese tel me how to optimize everything as mutch ass posible. Also, pot size? I was thinking 10L in small tent and 15 in bigger? IS that ok? I have read that a 15l pot can support a 280g plant. But this is then too mutch considering there would be 15 plants in a 180x110 tent and there is no way each plant would give me 280 grams. That would mean 8 pounds per harvest, wich is obviusly ilusion. I would be incredibly happy with 1000g per harvest.So agein, wich size pot? Is it feasible to have 2 tents for vegetation/flowering or not? Is it better to have in both tents vegetation and flowering stage? What is my potential with those 2 growboxes? And what is a potential with just a bigger tent, without small one? I can still return tent to the suplier so i have to know. Thanx you werry mutch to all of you!

[Flockshot]

You have studied and came up with a plan, which is good for setting goals, but not necessarily a reasonable expectation for a new grower. The first thing you must do, to be successful, is learn to grow a plant from seed to harvest without deficiencies. Do this using any method you want and any training methods you want.

Also consider the strain you want to grow. You may need to grow that strain a few times to get the most that the genetics allow.

Once you have done this, you will be able to answer all the questions in your post, and you will have realistic harvest expectation numbers.

It is difficult, to go from zero experience, to commercial grower, in one big step.

[Ketimaj]

thank you werry mutch. I understand what u are saying but still, i would much aprisiate straight answers as mutch as possible. Are 2 tents feasible? Is 1000w hps necesary in 180x110x240 growbox or should i still use 600w? Pot size? Its strange to me that 600w hps is good enough for both tents, small and large? Becouse i read (on this website) that 1000w hps are not feasible... What would you do? Have 2 tents and have seperated vegetation and flowering phase, have 2 tents and have in both the whole process or should i use just big one and return small one? How mutch quicker would i get to harves with 2 tents vs 1? Please help And how to best use both tents to maximize time/yield.

[freddyyola]

if i could id love to have a veg and flower room separate and the lights should be plenty if anything you could get something cheaper for the veg and double up in the flower if it can fit with out getting to hot 1000 watts is plenty as well it just depends on how many plants you are trying to flower.. but yes with two tents you could set it up to get a harvest every 2 months or whatever works for you it depends on how long you wait in between adding plants to the flower tent if they are a month apart then you would get a harvest and then another a month later..

what nutes do you plan on feeding with and soil or hydro strains?

just start with a few plants and a few weeks later start a few more that way the first few plants will be your test plants / learning curve that way if you kill the first set of plants or anything bad to them you can figure out what happened and keep from killing the second batch and if you see something the plants like you can give it to the second batch also this is how you will be able to have a harvest every other month or whatever works for you.. and just keep adding a few more plants to the grow and every batch you will learn a little and eventually harvest after harvest they will become better and better..

[Flockshot]

2 tents is feasible for a harvest every 8-12 weeks depending on strain
most growers subscribe to the more light is better but you must control heat - I prefer 600
pot size equals plant size, for a 4 plant tent (which is about all that will fit if you are veging for 8-12 weeks). If you clone when going into flower, you will veg the next batch for the same length of time as your flowering in a 2 tent system - this will require a minimum of 5 gallon pots
When you say 'read (on this website) that 1000w hps are not feasible", did you read that from the GWE website tutorials, or from some growers 'opinion' in the forum? If you got it from GWE tutorials, you can take it to the bank, and if it is the other it has considerably less credibility.
Your question "what would you do"....well I would get a third tent and harvest once a month with a high quality 8 week flowering strain running 3 600w (highest efficiency) MH/HPS. If you want to be a drug dealer, that is the fastest way to get there.
Yield: If you can get 1 lb from a 600w, or 1.5 lbs from a 1000w you are one of the premier growers in the world. You will not get those numbers starting out. As a matter of fact the best growers I know (not that I know that many) are getting 1 lb out of 1000w.

[PaganRich]

First off, having an idea structured like this and presented to the Forum was a sound move mate. Most growers here have learnt the expensive hard way. Your main error in thinking is prediction of yield. That can`t go from zero to full simply because there are various `tricks` and factors that need to be learnt but what you are seeking is a perpetual harvest and that can be quite time consuming.
So, lets look at your veg tent. You need to set up a schedule and lets assume you grow soil. In that schedule you need to not only time manage the plant`s growth but anticipate when to take cuttings, how many and how to stagger this growth so it becomes like a conveyor belt. Also, vegging is for me the most important part of the grow followed by the curing then flowering. If you screw the veg stage up then you`re royally shagged. Also, strain info, growth times etc. In veg you would do the same strain twice to really get a feel for her. Tactics would involve what pots you use (I use airpots and only fabrics if I have to), LST, Supercropping, defoliating, manifolding, topping, lollypopping and Schwazzing...and there are more. All will cause comment and debate but none so much as defoliation. You don`t need a veg tent that high as you usually flip around the 20" height but if you are using a 600 you will need a MH bulb, extraction and passive intact. Light leakage isn`t the end of the world. You may be able to work a cooler, better system with a 400MH. Veg plants need less light intensity and slightly higher humidity. This could also help with costs.
Flowering tent-If you think a veg stage can take 4-6 weeks say but a flowering stage from flipping to harvest can easily be 12 weeks then you will soon back up with too many veg plants. Scrog is alright but once started you have to let it do it`s thing. Growing your girls under 12/12 and moving them along to rotate fresh plants in will help with regular harvesting that isn`t overly time consuming. A 1,000 HID would be suicidal unless you rigged up CO2. I`d be inclined to go with either 2x400 or 2x600 and I think the 600`s may be a tad too strong. I`d definately hit it hard with three fans, one on the floor and two between bulbs and buds, strong intact fan...6" works well and extraction fans on air cooled tubes or hood. I would also run a dehumifier in there 24/7. Pots-5 gal would be right for that tent and indica/ indica hybrids my suggestion. You also need to structure a watering system as well as a scrubber and a way to get rid of the after grow waste. A 1,000 ballast will burn energy like no one`s business and I think you`d bleach everything in sight or have mega heat exhaustion issues. Your set up will be expensive to run. Your `return` overly optimistic until you are further down the line. If you want the returns you seek then I would suggest a larger flowering tent but looking at 40 oz`s roughly from scratch? Unlikely but doable down the line. Anyway, compliments upon your question. If you don`t ask, you don`t learn and you asked questions ever good grower has---many, many times over in their heads

[freddyyola]

i did my research and most people here can tell you i was way to excited and had to much going on for a beginner. first try at growing.. i wasted a bunch of money on about 50 seeds and because i just jumped into it and bought the seeds before soil nutrients lights tent ph tds pens all of it.. i thoguht id figure it out as i go which i am but i was in over my head thinking i could just get a bunch of plants growing with no problems..

my first tip to you is just start with a few plants so you can learn to treat defficenies and watching youtube dont count i thought i could learn as i go when i was overwatering and having lockouts i had no clue what i was doing i kept trying to findout what my plant needed and giving it this and that to fix it when all i was doing was making it worse cause what it needed was for me to stop guessing my ph which was way to low and you cant treat something if you dont know whats wrong.. i know you are still gonna try and go all out but im telling you its not as easy as it looks on youtube and shit like that.. its a learning curve the best way to learn is being hands on and learning from mixtakes and there wil be mistakes im just saying dont invest to much into your first grow cause it might not make it to harvest instead use it as a chance to learn to grow thats what im doing now cause i know my next grow will be on point!

keep posting updates on your grow and alot of guys here will give you tips on what you should do. and we can help diagnose your plants and so on but even with all the info in the world you will still mess up nothing goes perfect epecially on your first grow..

[freddyyola]

if you have not bought any nutes megacrop is having a free promo just pay the 3.18 for shipping and so far ive seen noone hate or complain about it only good stuff and not just cause its free.. its also as close to a 1 size fits all nute you can get.. that i know of so far and it literally has everything cannabis needs to grow good.. maybe the amounts of each ingredient could be a little better but im not complaining acuse with every set of nutes you can always add moreor take away a little of something to make it better...

so far im really liking megacrop and plan on stocking up on it! check out the dark harvest grow challenge alot of guys here will be growing the same 2 strains dark ghost train and some other one and itll start in the middle of august itll be chance to compare what everyone does and use for their grows and itll be a chance to see how megacrop turns out..

https://greenleafnutrients.com/?v=7516fd43adaa promo code megacropromo

[Ketimaj]

Thank you werry mutch mate. I know. I agree with you... that its almost impossible to go as planed in first grow. I have 1 experience though. Once i planted (in a growbox 600hps) just one autoflowering strain and get 65 grams out of it. Out of 1 plant. Thats all my experience. But still mate. In a perfect world, if anything goes acording to plan... How should i try? I need info about 2 tents, about light, pot size and how many plants. My concern is that if i have smaller tent for vegetation, 20 plants in 100x100 growbox, that this tent would get full too soon. that when i would get them transplanted in a bigger pot and throw them in a bigger tent that i should still have 18/6 lights for few weeks in a bigger tent befor flowering? Please try to be exact. Becouse i will spend "a lot" of money and i need to know what a profesional need and would do. So that if i get to that stage, that i already have what i need and not some things that i dont. For example, i bought expensive bigger tent becouse it has an option to combine multiple tents. Just in case i would need that. I want best eqipment and setup from the start. I know i will learn my self but... I dont want to spend money for something i dont need. So again... Is 2 tents feasible to seperate vegetation/flowering stage or not? Should this two tents be same size or is it ok that the one for vegetation is 1x smaller than the one intended for flowering... Please help more. Thanx

[freddyyola]

what are the size of the tents in feets like 4x4.. how many plants you grow is up to how you want to grow them like a sea of green you just shove as many plants as you can fit in a tent and grow a bunch of smaller plants or do you rather grow less plants in total but bigger in size.. i think you should see how many full size plants you can fit in your flower tent..

lets just say 10 for example id try to have 20 plants in the veg tent so every 2 months or so i can take 10 of them to put in the flower tent and and put them into flower and add 10 seedlings/clones to the veg tent to keep the rotations going.. rinse and repeat.. the first batch might not be great but batch after batch the quality should go up as you gain experience..

if i could have anything i needed to grow id like to start seeds ina peat pellet or cup or rockwool etc then go into a peat cup about the size of solo cup for about 2-3 weeks and then id put them in a fabric pot as big as you tent can handle i think 5 gallon fabric pots will be perfect til you figure you want bigger or not but alot of ppl i see growing in 3 gallon pots it just comes down to how many plants and how big you plan on growing them like... if i were using 5 gallon pots id only be to fit 3 of them but if i used 3 gallon pots i could use 5 of them the plants will be different sizes but if the lights twent and everything e;se was the same except for the pot sizes and plant amount the yields should be close.. for example the 3 5 gallon plant came out to be around 1 pound each totaling at 3 pounds.. and the 5 3 gallon plants came out smaller but also came out at 3 pounds total.. i hope you understand what im trying to say here..

i guess you could go with peat pellet/rockwool to start then a peat cup if you want to then a 1 gallon or straight to a 3 gallon pot and 2 weeks before flower if you want to thats a good time to transplant to 5 gallon pots.. if you are trying to grow huge monsters than youd go bigger but thats for outside grow or a actual grow room a tent is to small for a couple of 7 gallon pots.. but its up to you.. if you wanna grow 2 monsters instead of a sea of green smaller plants thats up to you.. i think less plants less trouble even though i want the most yield possible i think its best to go for medium size pots and stick in between growing a bunch of small plants or 2 huge plants...

[Sheesh]

You must mean cm, not mm on your tent sizes, correct? If so, the tent sizes are great sizes for veg and flower. For veg you're better off with 600w metal halide (mh). Use HPS for flowering but not veg. I agree with flockshot, you need to keep it small and simple at first. Grow a couple plants out and try to harvest around 40-60 grams each plant at first. Do you have good control over your temp and humidity? Good ventilation? I would run the lights with the tent closed for a couple of days and see how the temps are (HID lighting runs hot). You may need AC to control temperature. Same with humidity. If you are in a humid area you'll need a strong dehumidifier especially for flower stage. Don't forget that mature plants will increase humidity quite a bit through transpiration. Once you have the basics down and have made it to harvest then start expanding. You can probably grow 4-6 plants at a time in your flower tent unless running a sog. You have a great setup for scrog because you can use your veg tent to grow a plant for clones. Use the clones for a sog grow and you can run 12 or more in small pots and flip them to flower early. You end up with many small plants but the yield adds up. Maybe get an ounce each for 16 plants in a sog. That would be a very large harvest IMO (1 pound).

[farmerjim]

welcome

a few tips to get the most out of the forum. You may want to limit your questions in each post. break them into separate posts on your thread based on topic. People will comment to each post with their answers on that topic and it'll be much more organized. I would suggest Grow Space/Environment, Medium, Nutrients, Lighting as a starting point... just a thought

I'm a newb but agree with flockshot's signature... environment matters more than nutes... you can lose an entire crop from heat stress in a matter of hours depending on the temp. do you have your environment control plan setup or are you in a climate where it shouldn't matter much?

Oh yea, everyone likes pics

[Ketimaj]

Thanx. Yes, i plan to use 600w mh in a small tent. But what for a bigger tent? 600 or 1000 hps? I hoped to buy 20 seeds, have them in small tent to veg and after they fill up the space transplant them and move 15 of those in a big tent. Is that ok. Or should be better to go as u sugested? To have smaler tent for mother plants and have bigger one for everything else...

[farmerjim]

I had a 4x3 ft tent and almost filled the entire scrog with 1 plant during my 1st grow. I think 4x3 is 120x90cm... not sure how you'd fit 20 plants in either of those... I yielded 2.3oz from it after 49 days of veg and 49 days of flower (Nirvana SuperSkunk) but likely lost 1/2 the yield due to a heat stress issue early in flower... I was using a 315w cmh throughout the entire grow...

[Ketimaj]

I was thinking that i could have 20 (16 - 4 rows x 4) plants in 100x100x200 in the early stage. Let say to week 5 from germinating. And than put them in the bigger tent... I dont know actually what would be best. Thats why im asking you guys. What would you do with those 2 tents and if you would even consider have 2 tents to speed up the proces or not. Thanx.

[Ketimaj]

hey. When i first grew just one plant (auto) in a growbox (600whps) i have the setup indor and have an exaust outside. The temps were around 30 C. This time i have setup outdoor on a balcony. Some friends gime me a concern that it will be to humid. I have this tents in a semi enclosed balcony, balcony like they are in a neighborhood in citys. It should not get too hot, my only concern is that it will get to cold in the winter at the times the light is of...

[farmerjim]

30C is kinda high throughout the entire grow. cannabis likes cool temps... think 20s (70sF)

how cold does it get during winter nights? you'll want an environment somewhere in the 60-85 (20-30C) range throughout the entire grow)

[Ketimaj]

But i like the answer from Sheesh.
I need to know how to best exploit the 2 tents. The whole procedure of getting tha max out of those 2 tents.

[Ketimaj]

Yes but i need to know what is the best option. And than try to chase that. I dont want to grow my first grow in both tents, just to be said in the next month, that this is not feasible.

[Ketimaj]

I also was thinking, that maybe for my first grow i should plant Autoflowering strain in the bigger thent, while waiting for the first real plants in the vegetation stage in small tent. But the problem is that 13 weeks or so that the autos need is too mutch time for plants in the vegetation tent...U see? I want to maximize time/yield from the start. What is the best way to exploit both tents from the start. 1000w or 600 in a bigger tent? Thanks!

[PaganRich]

If you go for auto`s try the Red strains or Six Shooter...good, stable strains. Saying that though, you switch the lights to 12/12 when photo`s go in and yield goes down

[Ketimaj]

Any one else please?

[Ketimaj]

Thnx guys... Sounds really complicated... I will try to first understand what has been writen and then ask more. If someone else have an opinion on this thread it would be mutch apprishiated. Thanx again. Im not sure how to achive what has benn written. lol

[PaganRich]

My advice....Loads of folks have put their grow reports on here with photo`s, scedules, strains, etc and the Tutorials by Nebula really clarify stuff. I`d get stoned, read a few reports then give it a-while to worm it`s way round your head and I bet you`ll come out with a damn good idea of how you want to achieve this. All the best, mate.

[Ketimaj]

Thats what i am doing past few weeks lol

[Potted]

What ever is desided you’ll be in bud soon enough good luck. Just do your research from a trusted source like GWE main site.