My first real indoor grow, please help

DrBlaze

Well-Known Member
Yeah hence the light rails. If they don't fail on me would that work? How much actual footprint does one gain with a mover anyway.
Better yet, how do I light that area without spending $1000+ or creating tons of heat?
um...magic :)
 

WeedSexWeightsShakes

Well-Known Member
Yeah hence the light rails. If they don't fail on me would that work? How much actual footprint does one gain with a mover anyway.
Better yet, how do I light that area without spending $1000+ or creating tons of heat?
What's your budget? Growing in a tent? Vegging and flowering at the same time?
When it comes down to it the lights that you have are better than none lol.
Can always start with what you got and upgrade as funds allow you to.

I have a small 4x2 veg tent with 72watts of 6k leds
Flower tent is 5x5 with 3 260w qb kits
A/c in my window with cool air blowing in the bottoms of my tent. And carbon filter in the tent on top with inline fan extracting heat and smell.
 

NewBKind

Well-Known Member
Yeah I really have limited funds to start with and will absolutely be upgrading to better stuff after a few harvests. Until then I have to find a way to make it work and not produce some bunk, or low weight. I was thinking of just using panda to make separate veg/flower zones to save $$ on tents and give me more space. I feel like tents just restrict you. Is active ambient cooling really that important with QB? I thought you don't really need an A.C. with led, one of the benefits?
 

WeedSexWeightsShakes

Well-Known Member
So many variables bro. Hard to say what you need. I use ac cause it's summer and hot no matter what. I love the tent cause I can mostly control my environment. it isn't necessarily cooling that is really important it is just controlling your conditions and environment. In winter I won't have to use my ac. I may even had to turn a heater on. All depends on your situation.

Yeah I really have limited funds to start with and will absolutely be upgrading to better stuff after a few harvests. Until then I have to find a way to make it work and not produce some bunk, or low weight. I was thinking of just using panda to make separate veg/flower zones to save $$ on tents and give me more space. I feel like tents just restrict you. Is active ambient cooling really that important with QB? I thought you don't really need an A.C. with led, one of the benefits?
 

NewBKind

Well-Known Member
So many variables bro. Hard to say what you need. I use ac cause it's summer and hot no matter what. I love the tent cause I can mostly control my environment. it isn't necessarily cooling that is really important it is just controlling your conditions and environment. In winter I won't have to use my ac. I may even had to turn a heater on. All depends on your situation.
Ok awesome that clarifies it for me completetly. I am using my basement for better climate control, I will also have a floor standing A.C. to kick in as needed like you I like that idea
 

WeedSexWeightsShakes

Well-Known Member
Keep in mind do you have to worry about smell? Also need to control humidity. Where I live it's pretty dry so actually works well in the tent. You have windows in your basement so you can extract air if you need to? Also get some fans for some air circulation. Hope this has helped some. If I was you I'd save up till I could get some QBs they also have smaller cheaper that be good too.

https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/diy/products/hlg-65
 

NewBKind

Well-Known Member
Keep in mind do you have to worry about smell? Also need to control humidity. Where I live it's pretty dry so actually works well in the tent. You have windows in your basement so you can extract air if you need to? Also get some fans for some air circulation. Hope this has helped some. If I was you I'd save up till I could get some QBs they also have smaller cheaper that be
Hmm. Smell is no issue bother is humidity or temp really. I already keep about 50 species of tarantula so to avoid soil mites in my enclosures the humidity is always low. I have carbon filter air ionizer to help with the smell of sugar gliders and birds and reptiles and I live alone so the smell would be a welcome fragrance.

I also already have a reverse osmosis system in my faucet that can produce 70 gal/day. It's a perfect place to grow.

All this info is great but im still no closer to figuring out a plan I can get going on now lol. So for the sake of argument let's say I HAVE to use the 2x 900w viparspectra and HAVE to scrog out 6 plants. What would you supplement the light with to get better spectrum and how would you go about getting the coverage footprint from the light given these factors.
 

DrBlaze

Well-Known Member
Hey man I want the elite stuff too, but I can't afford it yet so I have to get a couple harvests under my belt with what I have, or without spending an insane Amount of upfront cash on lights.
lol just sayin, If you do it cheaply (ie hps) there's lots of heat. The way you cut down on heat is efficiency, which costs. The light mover is a way to spread out intense light (think 1000w hps). But if your light is marginal, you can't get 2x coverage by using a light mover. You just wind up with 1/2 the light you would have had over the whole area. Its all about how many photons your plants are absorbing over the 12 hr period. If you give low light levels you will grow 50 square feet of larf.
 

NewBKind

Well-Known Member
lol just sayin, If you do it cheaply (ie hps) there's lots of heat. The way you cut down on heat is efficiency, which costs. The light mover is a way to spread out intense light (think 1000w hps). But if you're light is marginal, you can't get 2x coverage by using a light mover. You just wind up with 1/2 the light you would have had over the whole area. Its all about how many photons your plants are absorbing over the 12 hr period. If you give low light levels you will grow 50 square feet of larf.
Would the cmh balance it though and make the mover effective? Cmh provides almost the same spectrum and intensity as an hps without as much heat or energy consumption.
 

DrBlaze

Well-Known Member
Use the lights you have.
Look at those hlg 65 kits for supplemental lighting or save up.
Start with a 5x5 space maybe?
Exactly! I would forget the light mover, it is a waste of money. You would be better off to put the light mover money into diy led bars. Save up and build a 200-250W bar as you get the money (if you penny pinch around $200) and gradually increase your space then start replacing your existing lights later.

I would start with approx 3x(9 or 10) foot area with the cmh in the middle and a viperspectra on each end. That way the full spectrum from the cmh will supplement the mediocre light from the viperspectras. Your best bud will be under the cmh, but the stuff on the outside shouldn't be too bad this way.
 

NewBKind

Well-Known Member
What would you put above the same scrog footprint if it were cob/qb to achieve optimal yield

Better yet scratch the footprint, if you were to set up the ultimate 6 plant cob/qb scrog what would you do.
 

NewBKind

Well-Known Member
If i dump about $1000 onto better lighting, would it be possible to pull at least 3 lbs on a 6 plant scrog?
 

WeedSexWeightsShakes

Well-Known Member
If i dump about $1000 onto better lighting, would it be possible to pull at least 3 lbs on a 6 plant scrog?
I'd think so. Probably depends on how long you veg them. I don't know enough to really answer the question though. I'd like to hear guys who have experience with it tho!
 
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