Growing has changed

I'm a disabled Vet living in Oregon. When I retired in 2005, I got my medical card and I started growing. Had 2x400 and 1x1000 lights. One of the 400 was for veg and I ran the other two in flower. Grew some great TGA strains for a couple of years. Life changes forced me to stop growing. Fast forward to today and I am living in a Recreation State, so time to start growing again.

Was planning to buy a 3x3 or 4x4 tent and run a 600Watt HID. I apologize in advance, but, what are your recommendations on lights? I have a limited budget, but don't want to go too cheap. Any great deals on setup tents?

Can someone help a brother out with some info?

Namaste

What's up man? I'd check out amazon for some deals on tents. Lighthouse hydro makes some good ones for cheap. For the size, honestly I'd go as big as you can fit. Are you planning on having a veg and flower tent, or just one tent for both? If you go with two I would set up a 3x3 with a 600w for veg and a 5x5 with a 1000w for flower. You could always get dimmable ballasts and knock watts back when you need to. It really just depends on how many plants and how big you want to grow them. Personally I just run a single 600w 3x3 at the moment because I live in a townhouse and don't want to stink out my neighbors. It provides me with plenty of smoke but the turn around is slow.

Ushio bulbs.

Yoda-X said:

I'm a disabled Vet living in Oregon. When I retired in 2005, I got my medical card and I started growing. Had 2x400 and 1x1000 lights. One of the 400 was for veg and I ran the other two in flower. Grew some great TGA strains for a couple of years. Life changes forced me to stop growing. Fast forward to today and I am living in a Recreation State, so time to start growing again.

Was planning to buy a 3x3 or 4x4 tent and run a 600Watt HID. I apologize in advance, but, what are your recommendations on lights? I have a limited budget, but don't want to go too cheap. Any great deals on setup tents?

Can someone help a brother out with some info?

Namaste

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If I were just getting back into this, I'd want a cheap setup that still delivers the goods; consider 860W CDM lamps on bare vertical socket, powered by a thousand watt magnetic ballast. This is well under $200. The lamp must be operated vertically, base up or down. Grow your plants in a circle around it. Very effective.

ttystikk said:

If I were just getting back into this, I'd want a cheap setup that still delivers the goods; consider 860W CDM lamps on bare vertical socket, powered by a thousand watt magnetic ballast. This is well under $200. The lamp must be operated vertically, base up or down. Grow your plants in a circle around it. Very effective.

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CDM is still mostly unheard of for some reason. It is the wave besides LED.

Yoda-X said:

I'm a disabled Vet living in Oregon. When I retired in 2005, I got my medical card and I started growing. Had 2x400 and 1x1000 lights. One of the 400 was for veg and I ran the other two in flower. Grew some great TGA strains for a couple of years. Life changes forced me to stop growing. Fast forward to today and I am living in a Recreation State, so time to start growing again.

Was planning to buy a 3x3 or 4x4 tent and run a 600Watt HID. I apologize in advance, but, what are your recommendations on lights? I have a limited budget, but don't want to go too cheap. Any great deals on setup tents?

Can someone help a brother out with some info?

Namaste

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Semper Fi, brother. Why do you need a tent in a legal state? Just wondering.

My veg and flower room consist of 2x4's, panda paper and gorilla tape. I DIY all of it and Im a chic

Thanks for all the replies. I will be growing in my garage so figured a tent would be best for containment from bugs and to help with temperature regulation. I am also trying to keep it low key so our kids aren't seeing it on a regular basis. The more I think about it, the more I think building a double room would work better. Make a main flower room (4x4 or 5x5) and a veg room (2x2). Run florescent in the veg and not sure in the flower. Was initially thinking a 600 watt MH/HPS, but read good things on the 315watt CMH. The 600 is easy to find and cheaper on initial setup cost, but the 315 would probably save me more in the long run with power usage. Thoughts??

hotrodharley said:

CDM is still mostly unheard of for some reason. It is the wave besides LED.

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Well, everyone's heard of the little expensive fuckers, the 315W version. They ARE better, but they are not cheap per watt.

The 'unknown' 860W CDM is cheap but you pay for it every day you run it, as it's a relatively inefficient HID option. My best advice is to run it until you have money for upgrading to COB LED, LOL

Yoda-X said:

Thanks for all the replies. I will be growing in my garage so figured a tent would be best for containment from bugs and to help with temperature regulation. I am also trying to keep it low key so our kids aren't seeing it on a regular basis. The more I think about it, the more I think building a double room would work better. Make a main flower room (4x4 or 5x5) and a veg room (2x2). Run florescent in the veg and not sure in the flower. Was initially thinking a 600 watt MH/HPS, but read good things on the 315watt CMH. The 600 is easy to find and cheaper on initial setup cost, but the 315 would probably save me more in the long run with power usage. Thoughts??

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First, no matter what you read, treat the 315W CMH as if it's a 400W HPS. That will get you closer to the optimal W/ft².

Second, you'll notice it has excellent spectrum so it's easier to grow very healthy plants with lots of frost!

315W CDM is about the most efficient lamp in HID for horticulture right now, it's even slightly better than DE HPS- and nothing else touches their CRI.

Honestly, choosing light tech based on it saving a couple dollars of electricity is a false economy- how much is your bud worth... per gram? It doesn't matter of you aren't selling it; it's replacing what you'd otherwise have to buy, isn't it?

Very god point on the quality piece. I plan to build using the best, but don't want to shock my wife with huge start up costs. I figure if I can get up and running with good gear, then upgrading will make it seem less of an initial pinch to the pocket book, lol.

Yoda-X said:

Very god point on the quality piece. I plan to build using the best, but don't want to shock my wife with huge start up costs. I figure if I can get up and running with good gear, then upgrading will make it seem less of an initial pinch to the pocket book, lol.

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If you could give us an idea of your goals, we could be of more assistance.

Gotcha, sorry, a little slow this morning.

My wife and I both toke everyday. Usually an evening thing for her, but I use it to replace most of the meds the VA wants me to take. So, our goals would be to grow enough of our favorite strains to keep us in edibles for the day (Sativa Dom) and heavy Indicas to smoke in the evenings. NOT looking to sell any. Just want enough for me and maybe some extra for my Vet buddies to help with our PTSD issues.

Yoda-X said:

Gotcha, sorry, a little slow this morning.

My wife and I both toke everyday. Usually an evening thing for her, but I use it to replace most of the meds the VA wants me to take. So, our goals would be to grow enough of our favorite strains to keep us in edibles for the day (Sativa Dom) and heavy Indicas to smoke in the evenings. NOT looking to sell any. Just want enough for me and maybe some extra for my Vet buddies to help with our PTSD issues.

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No problem. Now, to quantify this desire into... x ounces per month?

How much space do you have to devote to this? Money? Time n effort? Some folks live to putter in their gardens, others have better things to do.

Are there local ordinances you're trying to abide by?

Looking at 1-2 ounces a month. Probably a little less, but a great starting point. I live in Oregon and right now I can have 4 plants total for recreational growing. Might get my card again just so I can have more flexibility.

We are in the process of looking for a new house to buy with a tiny bit of land, so for now I am setting up in my garage. I can do 3x3 to about 5x5 till we move. Once we find the right house I will get a more permanent grow room.

Trying to keep my expenses under $500 for this initial set up. I work from home and really enjoy growing. Not a constant tinkerer, but do tend to go a little overboard on plant care.

So that's 8 plants with your wife's allotment. Kinda tight, but doable. You'll find your consumption increases substantially when there's a nice fat cheap supply, so I'm going to go with 4 zips monthly.

Set up a perpetual garden with stages of two plants each, advancing monthly;

2 clones (or a few more to ensure you get two survivors), rooted and repotted by the end of the month.

2 veggers, growing into shape and size for your bloom zone, topped, trained and ready to flower at the end of the month.

2 in early bloom. These will stretch and set flower by the end if their cycle.

2 in late bloom. These are stacking buds and getting frosty, ready to harvest at the end of their last month to be dried, cured and enjoyed!

Obvi, this takes time so jump starting is encouraged. I'd run a single 600W HPS over your bloom- or if you like frost as much as I do, consider the 860W CDM lamp. It must be run on a magnetic ballast and operated vertically- but that's how you get the best light from any lamp, lol

Just for giggles........

What would be the energy consumption difference between the 600 HPS and the 860CDM? My wife is a penny pincher and I know if I can keep the electric bill from blowing up she will be happy.

ttystikk said:

So that's 8 plants with your wife's allotment.

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No. In Oregon its per Household not per Person. 4 plants per household.


If you can jump through the hoops to get your medical status, it is the way to go. You can have up to 24oz. dry bud vs. 8 oz., comes in handy after your outdoor harvest comes in.

Humanrob said:

No. In Oregon its per Household not per Person. 4 plants per household.


If you can jump through the hoops to get your medical status, it is the way to go. You can have up to 24oz. dry but vs. 8 oz., comes in handy after your outdoor harvest comes in.

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Ok, that's different from Colorado. My bad!

Yoda-X said:

Just for giggles........

What would be the energy consumption difference between the 600 HPS and the 860CDM? My wife is a penny pincher and I know if I can keep the electric bill from blowing up she will be happy.

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About 260 watts?