Need advice for perpetual grow

Plan on grabbing a tent of this kind https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XYKLJ76/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&smid=A1CLX3M21C6YH2&th=1 Wondering what kind of lights would I want to use in the two side chambers, Top would probably be Veg, Bottom SoG(?) and the 24x24 One big plant SCrOG or SoG under one 400/600w light, thinking for 300w LEDs for side areas. Help me brethren! Ideas all welcomed. I have an idea for exhaust, but stuck at what kind of lights I should use because it's so close.

LEDs give off little heat so wouldn't need an actual exhaust? Other than smell
What ones do you find work best for you?
Should I not use LEDs? I want to try it out

I would use T5 or LED in the small parts
The big spot would be LED or CMH .
I would make one spot for a Mom or 2 , the other would be clone veg ,

You need venting!
Intake & exhaust, the plants will eat all the CO2 in the air, your humidity is goin to spike at dark, mold, etc .

Before jumping head 1st and start learning from your failures , I’d read a book or two and gain some knowledge.

Here is one to get you start, let me know if u want more.
http://catnews.org/FREE Pot Books/Cannabis Grow Bible, 4th Edition.pdf

Buying “plug-n-play” items in this hobby usually only leads to extreme frustration with bouts of dry wallet . Imo, the best and first thing you could buy would be a large t5 light. That’s got me growing robust plants while I was figuring out everything else...cannabis during the first month or two are in veg and therefore don’t need a tent...so you would have one to two months of time to figure out all the details while getting a good head start. It’s what I did years ago

$99 Tent, hope you like duck tape, got some advise from someone who has been there. Didn't do a $99 tent, but, I tried going the cheap route for my first few yrs of indoors.
Buddy, it cost to grow good cannabis, once you put down the initial cost, then it is only maintenance and grow cost. Expect to spend $500 to 1,000 for set up, then around $300 or so during the grow. More at first as you will need to find out what works for you but once you are dialed in your good to go.
Go for a reasonable expectation and all will be good.
But you have to remember that whatever you grow, will be better than you can buy because it was your grow, and when you figure that most are paying $$$ to buy cannabis you will end up being way ahead.

Good luck,

gr865 said:

$99 Tent, hope you like duck tape, got some advise from someone who has been there. Didn't do a $99 tent, but, I tried going the cheap route for my first few yrs of indoors.
Buddy, it cost to grow good cannabis, once you put down the initial cost, then it is only maintenance and grow cost. Expect to spend $500 to 1,000 for set up, then around $300 or so during the grow. More at first as you will need to find out what works for you but once you are dialed in your good to go.
Go for a reasonable expectation and all will be good.
But you have to remember that whatever you grow, will be better than you can buy because it was your grow, and when you figure that most are paying $$$ to buy cannabis you will end up being way ahead.

Good luck,

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Unfortunately, a lot of what he said is true. “You get what you pay for” applies very much in this hobby, ime. I’ll just give one example. For my first 3 years of growing used Hannah ph pens bc I didn’t want to spend a hundred on bluelab. Thanks to my genius, I spent my first three years of growing using frustrated and constantly calibrating and buying new ph pens. Only recently did I give in and bought all bluelab products. I killed my wallet, but WOW...it takes the guesswork out of what your plants are receiving. My advise, based on my own experience of spending too much time and money on areas that I didn’t need to,...buy t5 lighting fixture and build from there. Sorry if I already suggested that

Hydrowannabe said:

Unfortunately, a lot of what he said is true. “You get what you pay for” applies very much in this hobby, ime. I’ll just give one example. For my first 3 years of growing used Hannah ph pens bc I didn’t want to spend a hundred on bluelab. Thanks to my genius, I spent my first three years of growing using frustrated and constantly calibrating and buying new ph pens. Only recently did I give in and bought all bluelab products. I killed my wallet, but WOW...it takes the guesswork out of what your plants are receiving. My advise, based on my own experience of spending too much time and money on areas that I didn’t need to,...buy t5 lighting fixture and build from there. Sorry if I already suggested that

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So far, I see all that both you have said is true, pH pen, I don't know what to say...need new one, the tent I have was inexpensive, zipper, trash, few pin holes, but holds up. For the first grow, hoping everything goes decently, I'll be able to invest more once I have a better idea of what the process is Thanks for all the advice guys and girls!

i have an 8$ ph meter that works great.... no its not digital so you cant see EXACTLY what the ph is.. still beats the shit out of spending a $$$ i'm not even about to read again....
From what i understand in the LED game is no good specifically for the price and you aren't sure of what you're getting unless you spend 1000$+ which.... if you have the money, more power to you i guess.. but if anything goes wrong you have to replace the whole thing. you cant just go to home depot and get your fix asap or a whole new set up in only a couple days. unless you built it from scratch and have that kind of time.
even if i had the money i would opt for the same to better quality MH/HPS set up at half the cost for those last 2 reasons alone.

MY opinion is do what you FEEL.. There's so many ways to grow and so many opinions and different situations.
read your face off, do you best to gather the info you are looking for and follow your gut!
i was about to upgrade to LED but.... after reading and reading and reading...
i went with 4 150w hps ballasts and they have lasted me for many years and the bulbs i can just go to home depot or other hardware store to get... the plug n play set ups their self were only 80$ a piece.. on amazon..
and do a very very satisfying job i might add. so i have 600w "spread out" and i only spent 340$
TO ME... That dominates the 800+ dollars i was going to spend on ONE LED 600w LIGHT. It doesn't even make sense to me unless you have a warehouse and a HUGE electric bill.

to perpetual grow you have to do a bit of math yourself.
how long are you going to veg? how long do your ladies flower?
attempt to have another plant to the height you want it and beginning to flower around the half way point or sooner of your currently flowering plant.


This is just how i feel! good luck on your first grow! write down everything!
today starts my first grow with fem seeds!

I also went with a "package deal" start up.

Only thing I didn't replace in the first 12 months was the tent and the HID light.. The tents a cheap one to but its held up OK but I will be replacing that fairy soon id say.

You have to do the research and spend what you have to on a few things. Light/s, Extraction fan/silencer, and filter. Everything else you can work around IMO.

Sometimes this forum can be a little daunting for the beginner's and people sometimes forget what they used to grow with. The plant grows in a basic set up and a 100k set up. If you learn to grow the plant well you can grow it in just about anything.

The tent of choice will vertically challenge you(my first was way to short: 2 by 4 by 52"); factor light and container to give you total height- 1 315 cmh and a couple of small T-5 would cover whole tent without producing too much heat. Nice all-in-one other than height

The first thing to say is repeated but worth saying 10x

You must ventilate unless running a closed co2 setup and AC.
LEDs do create heat too.

But if your interested in LEDs then do it right and don't buy crap or you will end up either been disappointed or using more wattage than you need.

The good news is its more affordable when starting smaller like you seem to be planning.
So your looking at a 2x2 with two small 2x1s.
For the 2x2 a 135w Quantum board will do nice.
https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/diy/products/135w-led-board-kit


For the smaller chambers HLG65s
https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/products/hlg-65

Perfect for your size spaces and low wattage that performs. You still need to ventilate to remove heat and exchange air and clean your air for smell purposes.

There are other options. COBs , DIY or premade or DIY strip builds.

As far as your plan to go perpetual I would be more inclined to run a couple of 2x2s and stagger the harvests, better yet go bigger and don't limit yourself. But if all your looking for is some personal smoke then a couple of 2x2s can produce 8-10 oz per 2x2. (once you have the hang of it)

Sorry guys, I said that all wrong, it will be ventilated, that was me being a newb, I've gained one level since this post COB and those QBs looks nice, might try DIY Strip build, so spendy for me, for now. Thanks for all this advice guys and girls! Much appreciated