Newbie questions

[Sooz]

Newbie here I'm just starting to look at setups, am I better off to buy things individually or as a grow tent kit? I'm planning on spending $750 or $800 . I'm looking to grow 4 to 6 plants at a time and was thinking a 4×2×6 tent, am I on the right track? I just dont want to have to buy things twice. And I would like to go LED for lights.

[kingfish]

I think you should get at least a 4x4x7 tent if you plan on growing 4-6 plants. As for the light, I'm still using a 1000w HPS. Someone else will chime in regarding LED.

[D.A.A.S.69]

You want to buy stuff individually, a good 3x3, will do just fine for you.
I'm trying to keep from getting caught,an I use a 2x2, didn't cost but about 60bucks, an a HLG100 quantum board, it wasn't but 150bucks, an it does a fine job, I normally grow 4autos in 2gallon fabric pots, an in less than 3months, most of them have been in jars for a couple of weeks.
Autoflowers is what I try to grow, really quick harvests.
Get ready its very addictive, in a good way, your gonna love growing your own potent medicine.
Plenty of good folks on here that want steer you wrong, jump right in, lots of fun, not hard either,

[Farmbuck]

Good advise for autos for our newbie and don't be shy of asking questions. We may not be experts but we have some knowledges for growing regardless of the medium you will be using.

[Farmbuck]

Maybe you should look at the new quantum board light. Some decent ones on Amazon. I have one and so far I'm happy with it. I'm thinking of replacing my two remaining blurple lights with it.

[buds73]

I would buy separately,gives you more freedom of choice. The chances are when you buy a full kit there may be at least 1 item that may not be of very good quality. At least that's my experience when looking at grow kits. I think this is done to keep prices low. I think kits are more for the budget buyer. With your budget you should be able to build a decent setup. As for the size tent you suggested I think you may get 4 in there but it will be tight, 6 I think is pushing it. I would go with kingfish suggestion above for tent size if you have the room.

[Cheeba]

Fellow newb here, good advice above and you don’t necessarily have to buy everything at once.
Seeds - can take several weeks to receive.
Tent, light, container and medium.
Nutrients, oscillating fan - not necessary for seedling.
Inline exhaust fan - depends on your temp/humidity.
Carbon filter - depends on how stealthy you need to be, some strains can wait until flower.

[growell]

kits are ok its the fans and filters there crap if u can up grade them with supplier be ok mate i got one that issue i had

[bboyfromwayback]

I agree with everyone else, a kit would be fine first grow but you’ll be upgrading your light and exhaust pretty quickly. You’ll have to keep your plants really small in a 2x4. I use mine to veg photos on the sides and I can grow 2-4 autos at the same time but they completely fill it out and I’m turning the dial down on my light so I don’t burn the tops. I recommend getting a 6ft tall tent at the minimum no matter how many sqft you go with. And get a full spectrum quantum board, HLG makes a 150 or 130w quantum board that would be great in a 3x3. A full spectrum led will produce much better than a burple type.

[Gingerbeard]

I have 4, 7 gallon pots in a 3x3x6. That gives me an 18" square for a single pot and plant. Through HST and LST, I can make the plant fit to that space. I can also control the height of the plant through HST and LST, and strain type. An auto will only grow so big. Regular and feminized seeds give you more lee-way as to how long you veg which means you can control it's overall dimensions.

Also consider access to your plants. Depending on how much you're willing to take the plants in and out of your tent, you want to have as much access to your plants as possible. Mine, for instance, will open 360°. I can sit on a stool in front of my tent and rotate it. The tent sits on a dolly I made so I can move it around with one pinky. If you're looking for a corner to put the tent in, you will limit your access by a whole bunch. In my experience, corners are the most apt to get weed issues.

Cheeba mentioned not buying everything you need at once. Real good advice. I did the peanut butter and ramen meal plan for a week when I let the sales lady sell me everything at once.

Initial setup: Growing medium, solo cups, seeds, nutrients (depending on grow medium,) light. You can get real fine results using lights you might have around your house. Do a GWE search on using t5 fluorescents and CFL's. Since you don't need to worry about dark and light in the first bit of veg, you don't need to worry about light depravation. It's later in veg a lot of people go 18-6.

Seedling and early veg: Tent, final or smaller pots, final grow medium, final lights, nutrients (depending on grow medium,) circulation. My neighbor went from solo to 7 gallon. I went solo to 3 to 7. His plants are much bigger because of the pot size. When you put your plants in your tent, you need to make sure you have good circulation. Air filter, depending on the stank of your dank.

Flowering: You should have everything by now. Nutes should be switched to flowering nutes, as your brand suggests. If you need to worry about it, get yourself an air filter. Me, I filter the smell of my weed with my nose. My tent sits in front of my door and is always open since I'm 24/0 on lighting. My door is usually open. The smell of my and my neighbors plants permeate my patio when in flowering. I don't know exactly why they did, but two sheriff's deputies poked their head in my door, one day. One officer dropped his mask, smelled, pulled his mask back up and told me the plants look nice. But that's a different story.

So, Sooz. See? I haven't had a dab since just before writing this and am jonezing something awful. Chipmonkeys on my back. Dung beetles under my skin.

[PLreef]

Welcome to GWE!
I agree with the folks above. Pick out your parts and buy them one by one. The kits ive seen seem cheap. You don't want to buy gear and want to upgrade before your first grow is done.
This site is a great resource and tons of members that will help walk you through the growing and harvest process.

[Sooz]

Thanks for the input, I found a list of things to buy, I will post the list w pics for the led I wss thinking the 3000w not the one listed, if something is junk please let me know or if it's a waste of money.

[PuravidaC]

You will need extra room in your tent for things other than just your plants, i.e. fans, exhaust fan, humidifier (if needed) and just plain ole elbow room. Also buy quality equipment from the get go. I have bought everything in my grow area two or three times and like you said, that can get expensive so upgrade whenever possible and good luck!

[D.A.A.S.69]

PuravidaC Great to see you back here, ole buddy, hope you have been doing well.

[PuravidaC]

Hey D.A.A.S.69 ! I don't hang out here as much as I used to but it was good to see some of the "old heads" again! All's well here in the mountains and I hope you are well down in the Delta!

[Xena]

One noob to another. I like my mars hydro light and will buy more but from research I believe spider farmer is almost exactly the same and priced similarly so my choice would be with one of those although I’m sure there are others that are comparable too. I would definitely get a dim able one.
I would go with “smart pots” (the cloth pots). I started with some in cloth and some in plastic and will never use plastic again, only exception might be (I think this is the name) would be the auto pots.
I’ll not screw around with a ph meter anymore, I bought some test strips. No worries if it’s calibration is good or if you’re storing it right plus they don’t cost that much.
I want to grow autos but I wish for my first time I wish I would have started with a fast flower photo. I stunted mine a little in the beginning and am not going to get much from my first one where if I would have started with a photo I could have put off flowering for a couple weeks and would have been looking really good now.
One more thing on lights. For me, I’d rather have a few smaller lights than one big one.

[Canuck147]

Sirius Fourside posted a while back the quantity of his first 3 grows - which i believe were one plant grows - he got 0.00 grams.

[gbauto]

Welcome, sooz.
As you have probably figured this out from all of the replies, but it really depends on what you want to achieve.
Autoflowers are a viable option, but they have the severe handicap of not allowing you to keep a pheno going.
Grow styles impact the amount of footprint you'll need to get the yield you need, so I tend to work backwards.
I've done single dwc bucket grows with an auto that have yielded a few oz. up to 10, so that's part of it.
Yields on photo's are more dependent on how long you veg the plant and any manifolding/training you employ.
Most of the photo's I grow will occupy a 2x2 footprint and return 12-20 oz/plant.
I veg for 6-7 weeks and then flower, most of the strains I run finish in 9-11 weeks so figure 5 months of time.