New 1-3 plants COMPACT. Hydro? Aero? Soil?

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sativaftw

Active Member
Hello,
I've been a fan and a reader for sometime and finally decided after drooling over everyones pictures to try and become self sufficient. We've had a pretty bad dryspell in the area and I only need enough for myself. I normally vape and only use about 2 to 3 pinches to do the trick.

Anyways, I ordered some seeds skunk x haze, and i'm only looking to grow 1 to 3 plants. I own my own house but my wife says "she doesn't want to know about it" in other words she wants it hidden. I was considering growing in a closet in the basement in a fully contained enviroment. I have seen some amazing setups enclosed inside file cabinets and they seem like the right track. However, After reading everything it seems like Aero is the best way to go.. but then I see most setups are much larger than what i'm looking to do.

I guess I would just like to ask the pros what they feel the most compact setup would be. I had considered the aerogarden but after reading all the negative posts i'm a bit on the fence...

For mysetup i'm willing to spend a fair amount of money i'm just trying to keep it under $1000 and extremely stealth, I was thinking of at the very least following the DIY carbon filter and also using ONA to help with smell.

Sorry for the extremely long first post but I have a lot on my mind.
Thanks in advance for taking the time to read my post and thanks again if you have any suggestions, comments or advice.

EDIT: I was considering following this guide projects.bootstrap - Aeroponic Unit V1.1: The Lid and trying to scale it down ALOT... lol
 
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Mr. Vapor

Mr. Vapor

Active Member
have you considered a rubbermaid grow? much cheaper on the wallet and if its only for your own consumption, it should be plenty. im growing for just my wife and I too, we just burn a bowl here and there. ive got two plants going, check the link in my signature.
 
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sativaftw

Active Member
nice. I think i'll try this for my first grow then, for some reason I thought a hydro or aero setup would be the most compact but after reading about "rubbermaid grow box" people were saying with alot of CFL's it was about as compact as it gets.

I see that you did the double box thing, did you end up having height problems?

Also check out this guys setup.
https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/57664-built-me-rubbermaid-tote.html

I think i'm going to go with something in between, I like how reflective his is but I like how your lights are.. lol i'll prolly end up getting a 100+ cfm server fan for the case and hopefully that will keep it cool enough because i wanna pack in the CFL's
 
HoLE

HoLE

Well-Known Member
use the closet,,,here are 2 plants over 3 feet tall in a closet under a 600 watter,,enough pot for a couple pinches vapo user for at least 4 months,,if you want little plants you gotta grow a lot ,,or use the space you have to grow a couple biggies and be done with it:hump:,,if you grow rubbermaid,,you will be limited,,and need to grow over and over,,use your closet and a good light,,and you only need to grow once,,maybe twice a year,,you decide which is more stealth

Keep on Growin

HoLE
 

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S

smokeh

Well-Known Member
sativaftw said:
Hello,
I've been a fan and a reader for sometime and finally decided after drooling over everyones pictures to try and become self sufficient. We've had a pretty bad dryspell in the area and I only need enough for myself. I normally vape and only use about 2 to 3 pinches to do the trick.

Anyways, I ordered some seeds skunk x haze, and i'm only looking to grow 1 to 3 plants. I own my own house but my wife says "she doesn't want to know about it" in other words she wants it hidden. I was considering growing in a closet in the basement in a fully contained enviroment. I have seen some amazing setups enclosed inside file cabinets and they seem like the right track. However, After reading everything it seems like Aero is the best way to go.. but then I see most setups are much larger than what i'm looking to do.

I guess I would just like to ask the pros what they feel the most compact setup would be. I had considered the aerogarden but after reading all the negative posts i'm a bit on the fence...

For mysetup i'm willing to spend a fair amount of money i'm just trying to keep it under $1000 and extremely stealth, I was thinking of at the very least following the DIY carbon filter and also using ONA to help with smell.

Sorry for the extremely long first post but I have a lot on my mind.
Thanks in advance for taking the time to read my post and thanks again if you have any suggestions, comments or advice.

EDIT: I was considering following this guide projects.bootstrap - Aeroponic Unit V1.1: The Lid and trying to scale it down ALOT... lol
Click to expand...

hi, i am in the same boat as u. i am moving into my 1st new house soonish and just gathering infomation. my gf doesnt agree with it and also doesnt want to know its in the house.

i was also lookin at the aerogarden. thing is, u could buy it for £130 or w/e currency ur using, but u wont get as good results.

after contemplating the aerogarden for awhile i decided to ask here. people advised me to save my money and make my own. so what im lookin at buyin now for cheaper is:

2x125w blue spectrum bulbs,
2x125w red spectrum bulbs,
a room(s) which is easy enough for only 2 or 3 plants
pots - easy enough. get down to the garden centre.
vent - PC fan wired to an old mobile phone charger i dont use.

and that is everythin i will probably be buying for my 1st grow. the lights are going to set me back about 80 quid, so really its not gonna cost more than £100 (GBP) which i think is about $200.

i looked at other peoples boxes and set ups an there really good and i have learnt quite abit from them.

Good luck
 
HoLE

HoLE

Well-Known Member
smokeh said:
hi, i am in the same boat as u. i am moving into my 1st new house soonish and just gathering infomation. my gf doesnt agree with it and also doesnt want to know its in the house.

i was also lookin at the aerogarden. thing is, u could buy it for £130 or w/e currency ur using, but u wont get as good results.

after contemplating the aerogarden for awhile i decided to ask here. people advised me to save my money and make my own. so what im lookin at buyin now for cheaper is:

2x125w blue spectrum bulbs,
2x125w red spectrum bulbs,
a room(s) which is easy enough for only 2 or 3 plants
pots - easy enough. get down to the garden centre.
vent - PC fan wired to an old mobile phone charger i dont use.

and that is everythin i will probably be buying for my 1st grow. the lights are going to set me back about 80 quid, so really its not gonna cost more than £100 (GBP) which i think is about $200.

i looked at other peoples boxes and set ups an there really good and i have learnt quite abit from them.

Good luck
Click to expand...
he wants semi stealth,,his wife knows,,but doesnt wanna,,it's his own home,,,grow with HID lighting and he has to do it once,,maybe twice a year,,,growing pot takes time and commitment,,how happy will his wife be when he is constantly maintaining a grow all year round,,trust me,,I have a wife,,,she knows,,but approves,,but I still hear a lot about it,,it's time consuming,,and you become consumed by it,,,caring for your growing pot is not all easy,,when your other half is not involved,,,so,,,grow with cfls in a rubbermaid ,,and get an ounce,,or grow in a closet with HID and get a half pound

Keep on Growin

HoLE
 
S

sativaftw

Active Member
My setup as to remain completly enclosed since the closet is used for other things, its a closet that also contains the oil tank for house, its basicly 2 closets that connect togather under the front door landing. Hard to explain i suppose... half of the area is finished and i'll be using the back half of that area. I only hope there is an outlet in there lol.

Also I think i'll be snagging a wifi webcam and hooking it up so i can keep an eye on PH, temp, humidity etc without having to go in the room, the biggest issue i saw was watering so i was thinking of a way i can water it remotely via a timer or something, this is part of the reason i considered a aero / hydro setup. I did see an interesting setup that was 3 rubbermaids hookded togather with base of it holding the roots and elevated sprayers, the middle unit basicly hiding the plants and being reflective and the 3rd layer have the lights and cooling.

I figured I could limit my need to access the unit and help to avoid the newbie mistake of being overly caring.

By the way thanks to everyone so far for your contributions to this thread its been a great help. I had a talk yesterday and it seems that the situation at home has gotten better, also i'm an ex-World of warcraft player and she was able to deal with that... and believe me nothing in this world can consume your time like that can.

EDIT: Amazing update! I will now be able to use a large cabinet in the garage. I think this will make thing vastly easier.
 
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sativaftw

Active Member
ok new question...
I'm thinking of using an 18gal container for DWC with 2 to 3, 5 inch netted pots. My biggest concerns right now are:
1) how to keep an eye on the water level ( I know i can make a tube coming out the side that would show it but doesn't this expose the water to light and cause algae growth?)

2) how to check the PH, PPM without exposing the water to light

3) is it really 100 to 200 for a ph ppm detector?

4) adding more nutrients... again with exposing the water to light, how am i going to get the nuets in.

Any ideas?
 
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