I'm building a grow space to feed my 5 ounce a month cannabis habit. It's legal in my state. I'm buying a metal shed, putting a grow tent inside of that, and running a sub panel out to the shed to power lights, a heater, fans, and a dehumidifier. With all the optimization I'm planning to do, I should be able to grow 18 ounces every 3 months, busting my 15 ounce habit.Some things I'm doing to increase yield are:>adding CO2 to the environment from a pressure tank>maxxing lighting watts without burning plants>letting the next crop's clones clones root in a separate area while my current crop is still flowering>Sea Of Green grow technique which requires more plants, but smaller plants. Maximizes light absorption.The shed will be 8x10ft with a 4x8 tent inside it. 4x4 of the tent is for the plants, while the other 4x4 in the tent will have the utilities like heater, dehumidifier, CO2, etc. The rooting clones will also go in the utility area.I live in cold mountains, so the biggest challenge is keeping it warm enough year round. Gemini says that even in my climate, a regular space heater inside a tent inside a shed should be okay. I can't bring in fresh air from outside because it's too cold, but if I add CO2 to the tent I can actually increase yield.Please critique this setup.
>>3011676>5oz a monthHow the fuck can you smoke so much?I'm a disabled NEET, that can smoke everyone I know under the table. I restrict. Myself to .5g oil pen a day and IF, I smoke too much I get a headache. I can't fathom how much you smoke not because I can't tolerate the THC and otherwise cannabinoids, but puffing the fuckin thing too much makes ones head hurt.I say, unironically and with every intention of knowing, What the fuck is wrong with you!?
>>3011713I smoke 4-5 joints a day. Each joint is at least a gram. There's 30.5 days in a month. That's 122-152.5 grams a month, or 4.4-5.5 ounces.4 joints a day is easy.
>>3011716I'll admit by numbers I'm maybe jaded by oil. I dutifully made a half/o last 2 weeks when I smoked flower.Anyway, a secret I always had was I keep a male plant, keep it gelded, trim off its little pollen balls always and without scientific evidence but only anecdotal I felt my plants got 'juicer' and I noticed from a mother plant where I was storing my freshly trimmed male plant.>Wa state grower on and off since 2011
>>3011676ever thought of cutting on your drugs habits?
>>3011752yeah what if you saved 1000$ a month by not being a fucking degenerate
>>3011752Nope >>3011759I'm spending $400 a month now. Growing it myself cuts the cost in half.
eh I suppose its the right thread to ask. I'm thinking of growing hemp because its legal but weed is medicine only and has a lot of red tape. only downside is mandatory THC testing each year is a few hundred and I doubt I'd make my money back on raw plant material I'd be growing. should I do it just for fun and while I wait for my state to catch up to ACT grow laws (2 marijuana plants per person non commercial is allowed). i just like the look of cannabis and hemp desu. i get my cannabis as THC gummies on prescription so its not for smoking or anything
>>3011787I don't understand what you're saying. Why would you grow hemp? Isn't that for like, weaving cloth and things? What is mandatory THC testing? You like your cannabis in gummy form, so are you going to make gummies out of this? >its not for smokingWhat are you doing?
>>3011808growing it because I think its pretty. I'm not really planning to do anything with it since I dont think a few plants will recoup any losses
>>3011810What's THC testing? Do you have to pay $300 a year to prove your pretty plants aren't cannabis? I think there are prettier plants that don't require this oversight.
>>3011815yeah exactly. what would you suggest?
>>3011676you SCROG not SOG. MASS HYDRO CLONESOCTOPOTS FOR MONSTER PLANTS WITH HIGH YIELDSALT NUTESPH TESTING GEARTENT, LIGHT AND FILTER KIT1/5th the cost of bullshit chatgpt ALWAYS FUCKING WRONG ANSWERS
>>3011816I have no idea. ANYTHING but what you're planning.
>>3011676What does the electricity cost? Is the heater electric or gas?What is the shack insulated with?Why aren't you just growing outside during the growing season?How do they nutes and water?
>>3011676Just insulate the shed. Polystyrene is cheap.I dunno how much the CO2 costs, but you could also get some second hand HRV for ventilation.
>>3011858Electricity is estimated $150 per month.I'm running two 120v heaters instead of one big 240v because it spreads out the heat better. The shed will need power for lighting and stuff, so why not use electric heaters? If it was gas, I'd have to vent the exhaust and they're just a headache. Mine you just plug in.The shed won't be insulated at all. The tent inside the shed is sealed and that's where the heat will stay. Trying to insulate a shed is an uphill battle. Hanging foam isn't enough and heat escapes through seems like mad, especially the door. I'd never be able to totally insulate the shed, but I don't need to because the tent keeps the cold air away.I could grow outside, but our season is very short in these cold mountains and I'd still have to build a fence to protect against pests. I already will be using the shed in winter, why not keep it there in summer? I don't want another totally separate grow space on my property.Nutrients and watering will be done by daily by hand.>>3011878I'M NOT GOING TO INSULATE THE SHED. That's something that Gemini keeps suggesting, but it really isn't possible without a huge investment. Just hanging foam won't be enough. Eventually Gemini concedes that if I'm only heating the sealed tent, the shed won't need to be sealed.
>>3011676I'm a retired expert grower with award winning grows. Let me set some expectations. I'll even try to format like an AI so you think it's from the mouth of God himself.## OverviewYour first grow is your worst grow, and every grow is better than your last grow. That being said, "better" can mean a variety of things. Total yield, appearance, THC/CDB content, etc. It's very hard to hit all the boxes of a good grow.Growing at home is relatively easy in the sense you will get something you can smoke, but there are a lot of things that can go wrong and negatively affect your final product. Bear in mind that growing is one step, then you have to effectively dry it, then you have to cure it. Problems can arise at any of these steps that ruin your final product. From seed to smoking typically takes around 4 months. Sometimes 5. The longer you veg your plants is going to increase the final yield, but obviously delays starting your flower period and the following steps. There's a point of optimization for maximizing ounces per month, and I find that to be between 5-7 weeks of flower for indoor grows (can't control these periods outdoor).### Growing in a shed.Temperature and humidity control are going to be very difficult depending on where you live. A general rule of thumb is "if it's comfortable to you, it's comfortable to your plants". You want to keep the tent around 80F and humidity close to 70% during veg, and <60% during flower. I'm not going to explain it here, but learn about VPD and how to target certain VPD ranges based on your temperature to humidity ratio. VPD is what actually matters here. Your tent should feel like a warm jungle during veg. Keep in mind that leaves release humidity by extracting water from the soil (use coco instead of soil and thank me later), which significantly increases the humidity in the tent. A real pain in the ass during flower when you're supposed to avoid mold/bud rot.
>>3011676>>3011893### Yield from a 4x8 tentSome quick maff: until you're good at growing, expect 2-4 ounces per plant. From my experience, plants need about a 2x2 space per plant to avoid overcrowding and shading the lower parts of the plant. That means you can safely get 8 plants in there, or 16-32 ounces total yield over 4-5 months. So expect 3-6 ounces per month averaged out over the course of your grow. My most successful grow was 8 ounces per plant from a 6 week veg, but I don't know what I did to make them go crazy like that. It was an exception. Note that it will be a pain in the ass accessing you plants in the middle of the tent for defoliating and managing the stalks.### Fuckin CO2In summary: don't bother. You don't grasp the amount of CO2 you need to add to the tent to make a substantial difference. Don't buy those snake oil mushroom bags that produce excess CO2. Don't bother with CO2 at all until you've been growing for a couple of years because it doesn't make a tremendous difference on its own, and you can get much better results by improving other parts of your grow. The levels of CO2 required here mean that you can't breathe inside your tent without brain damage.### Sea/Screen of GreenI personally don't like the concept of many small plants going through a net. I've had much better results using a scrog net a week or two into flower to separate the main nodes from the others to ensure they have maximum space and a level canopy. A level canopy is CRUCIAL to getting a higher quality average bud. If you fail to make a level canopy, your plants will have fat buds on the top of the main nodes, mostly mediocre buds right below that, and laughable popcorn nugs below that. Ideally, keep all your bud sites within the same 6 inch height. Light follows the inverse square law where it becomes exponentially weaker the further it is from the light source.
>>3011676>>3011893>>3011894### LightingLights are your most important piece of grow equipment, and this is where most of your money should go. Bar-style lights are the best because they typically have the most power while being able to dissipate the heat, however, that means they're putting more heat into your tent. It makes managing the temperature during flower very difficult because you'll have them cranked up to the highest setting a few weeks before the end of flower. Buy a sensor and a tripod to put it on to measure your light levels at the canopy. Follow a guide for lighting levels on your first few grows, and pay attention to your plants for signs of too much/too little light.### NutrientsOrganic is retarded hippie shit. Organic fertilizers make the soil extremely dense and hard, which makes it hard for the water to penetrate deep enough to keep your roots happy. The most important feature of organics is that it takes about 2 weeks to break down into whatever nutrient it's supposed to contain. Notice your leaves are a little light in color? That means your plants need nitrogen. That means you have 2 weeks of nitrogen levels getting even worse before the plants get anything from the nutrients you added, and the problem is getting worse over those 2 weeks. I personally like General Hydroponics, and their nutrient schedules are actually intended for weed, so you won't burn out your plants following the schedule. Use the 3-part kit they have and start with the "light" schedule. Also learn about mixing nutrients in the correct order and pH balancing the water. pH is EXTREMELY important here and makes a huge difference in the availability of the nutrients.
>>3011676>>3011893>>3011894>>3011896### WateringBuy an Autopot system. It's kinda expensive, but it's a fuckin game changer. I've never had better grows using any other method. It's technically a hydroponic style of growing where you store about a week's worth of water in the reservoir (with nutrients), and perfectly waters your plants from the bottom, promoting very healthy roots. Works best with coco coir grow media; soil is a pain by the end of your grow. As mentioned above, get good at pH balancing. A digital meter is a lot easier than the strips because the color gets fucked up by the color of the water after adding nutrients. I should have put this in the Nutrients section, but get the 3-part series AND the bottle of silica. Silica makes the branches stronger/thicker, and prevents stems from sagging when the buds get fat and heavy. Also plays nice with nitrogen for making more branches/bud sites.### My recommendationAC Infinity makes the best equipment and ecosystem. They're like the Apple of grow equipment in their quality and ease of use. If you're too poor, go with Spiderfarmer. If you have patience, go on Alibaba and look for "Shenzhen Andy Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd." Tell them your tent's dimensions and they'll custom build you a light for less than half the price you'd pay at any of the grow equipment companies, AND it's better quality. Expect 2 months from order to door. As I said above, Autopot's watering system is the shit. They're also a little expensive, but justify it by getting your light from China and saving money on the light.I don't know where else to put it, but I don't really believe in seed genetics for the most part. Your grow conditions make a bigger difference in every sense than the genetics do. The only exception to this might be triploid seeds.Good luck, fag.
>>3011893>>3011894>>3011896>>3011897First let me say how grateful I am to have an experts ear. Thank you for sharing. I'll try to explain what I'm doing. Replying to each of your points:>OverviewI know my first few crops are gonna suck, but I'll get better at it. My crop will be a sativa (Golden Dragon) that grows a lot during it's 12 week bloom. To keep it short enough for my tent, I can only veg for about 2 weeks. It won't be too small though because it continues growing during bloom. I'm planning on taking cuttings during week 4 of bloom and refrigerating them for 5 weeks. Then root for 1, veg for 2, and move them into my 12 week bloom zone. >Growing in a shedThe VPD will be controlled by the dehumidifier in the tent. I'm interested in coco coir now because it says it will increase yield. I don't think I can afford an automatic feeder though, so it would be a lot of hand watering.>Yield from a 4x8 tent It's actually more like a 4x4 bloom zone, 2x4 nursery, and 2x4 utility zone all packed into a 4x8 tent. I'll have 6 plants in the 4x4 bloom area, which kinda breaks your rule. Will I even need to scrog when the plants are this close together?
>>3011893>>3011894>>3011896>>3011897>Fuckin CO2I know man, that was my initial reaction. But the air outside the tent is going to be so cold in winter that I can't bring in fresh air/CO2 from outside. Pumping it in from a tank solves the problem of trying to instantly heat outside cold from outside. The tent doesn't need it if I'm supplying pure CO2. Humidity will build up, but that's why I'm running a dehumidifier. As a bonus, I can increase CO2 levels and probably get a better crop. 1200 ppm won't hurt me.>Sea/Screen Of GreenThis is the part I think will require the most learning. I'm planning on doing it as soon as the 10inch plants are moved into the bloom zone.>LightingI'm using 730w LED lights. I don't think heat will be a problem like with your bar lights. It also lets me grow the canopy taller in a vertically limited tent. I don't think I need a light sensor and a tripod. That seems like a professional's tool.>NutrientsI'll stay away from organic feed. Is pH balancing difficult if I'm hand watering them? I imagine I'll have to measure each watering jug's pH. I would like to just dump in the nutrients and be done, but it seems like I have to be more careful when using coco. Should I only use coco if I can build an automatic feeder?>WateringThis system seems complicated, but you say it's the biggest game changer so I'm interested. I'd probably have to build it myself because I'm poor. The reservoir could fit into the 2x4 utility space, keeping the water warm. I'm strongly considering it.>My RecommendationI'll probably buy spider farm products because I'm poor. I don't think I can afford an Autopot, but I might be able to build my own.
>>3011963>I can only veg for about 2 weeksThen expect about an ounce per plant>it continues growing during bloomOnly the first two weeks, where it should double the size of the plant when it switched to bloom. So if you switched your light schedule when the plant was 10 inches tall, expect it to get 20-25 inches tall>taking cuttings during week 4 of bloomYou have to clone during veg, not bloom>interested in coco coir now because it says it will increase yieldThat's mostly due to using it with hydroponic systems. I'd recommend at least making a bottom feeder to use with fabric pots if you do this. Coco dries out really fast, but still appears wet.>Will I even need to scrog when the plants are this close together?Even more important if you do. You're really risking mold on your buds during flower, or worse yet, one of your plants herming and one single pollen sack turning your whole grow into mids.>>3011964>I can increase CO2 levels and probably get a better crop. 1200ppm won't hurt me1200ppm won't make any difference in your plants either. You can achieve this number by working in your tent for an hour or two and breathing. My old apartment was a basement unit and sat around 1100-1500ppm naturally.>I'm using 730w LED lightsWhen I said the light will make it hot, I was talking about a 400w LED light I used to have. Both the power brick and the LEDs themselves will get hot for a tent.>Is pH balancing difficultNot at all. A $20 kit will last you a very long time and you just drip "higher" or "lower" juice into your nutrients until it's in the range you're looking for>The reservoir could fit into the 2x4 utility space, keeping the water warm. I'm strongly considering it.The reservoir goes outside the tent. The tents have holes on the side you can route the hose through.
Don't build a metal shed, metal conducts heat far too well, it will just absorb all the heat from the inside and emit it outside. Build it out of studs and plywood, it will hold far more heat in and drastically lower the electrical heating costs. You could even go so far as using clear plexiglass for the roof & walls to allow for solar heat gain, lowering the heating costs even more.
>>3011978I have 48in of space to grow vertically before it gets too close to the light. Gemini says the sativa I want to grow (Golden Tiger) will stretch 3-4x on average. That means I should start flowering at 12in and expect them to be 48in when they're done.I have to clone during bloom because the bloom period is so long, I can't start rooting until later or the veg will be too tall after just 3-4 weeks. The cuttings are going in the fridge for 5 weeks, then rooting and vegging. I can't let them root until the current crop is nearer to harvest.Maybe I'll do 1500ppm. I have to use the co2 just because the outside fresh air is too cold.Warm lights will be a plus in the winter.Should I get one of those fancy electronic ph measurers? I guess I should just google the price.The reservoir needs to go in my tent to keep it warm enough for the roots. It'll even act like heat storage, absorbing hear when things spike or releasing heat during a freeze. There's enough space for it, especially if I build shelves.
OP is a true /diy/er, completely ignoring the advice given. But it's ok, he convinced Gemini he doesn't need insulation.
>>3012072I have done literal tons of insulation work and him ignoring insulation is driving me insane. I'm the asshole with the mylar blanket over his cooler, I keep my propane tanks in 'coats' even my 100lb one. Insulation is life.
>>3012073
>>3012074Thank anon. I'm serious about a mylar blanket over ones cooler. I have a compressor driven refrigerator cooler and with a 3 layer mylar blanket it keeps cool more efficiently when I camp in the desert than it does in my average temperature bedroom.>picrel is the cooler
