Build with me (Need advice)

[Starter]

Hi guys, hoping you can give me some good advice. I am a big DIY kind of person and this will be my first grow. Been researching and learning, reading books, everything and this is my first grow. I am also a go balls deep or don't start type. I am about ready to to get started (don't mind some trial and error).

So intro over, I am trying to figure out how big I need to make my diy tent. It will be framed with wood and cover with grow tent material (the black outside, reflective material inside). My main question is sizes. I have the space to go big but I don't really want to use up all the space of my basement. I will be using the diy guide for building a Samsung f series COB led, but size will be dependent on how much space I actually need, rather than funds. The goal is 2-3 plants at a time when growing sativa dom plants. (I will be doing LST, scrog, and topping, maybe not all at once first time through)

How much space should I plan for each plant needing? I understand sativa grows a ton during flower and can get huge, goal would be having the plant no more than 6ft ever so I have at least 20-24" of clearance above between lights and canopy (so I would probably be changing to 12/12 at 20-24" during veg.)

Also will be making a separate tent/cabinet for veg and compartment for drying/curing. How much space should I need for those? Like I said, I have the space to go big if I need but let's keep it to a minimum if we can. I was thinking veg space would be half the size of the flower.

It's really space requirement knowledge that I am not sure of that is stopping me from beginning this new project thanks for any input!

[fdashty]

Hey Starter, some basic rules of thumb to give you an idea through your first grow is such: 1 watt of power will yield approximately 1 gram of dried flower/bud. The yield is also largely dependent upon the power of your lights, not the number of your plants. So a better question to ask yourself is how much yield do you want. If you want 1 lb at the end of day, then you'll need about 1000 watts of light. COB lighting can generally be a little less but for a first timer, you'll likely need at least 600-1000 watts of light. You can get this yield from 1 plant or 5 plants. The plants size is reflective of the light power you feed them. If you're going to scrog, top, lollipop, supercrop etc. etc. etc., your plants aren't going to get 6 feet. And even if you weren't using those methods, 6 feet is about as tall as they'll ever get inside.

Decide first, what yield you want at the end of cycle. Also, consider how often you want to harvest. If you want to harvest every 30 days, you'll need quite a bit of space: mother plant for clones in 24 hour veg permanently, true veg for 4 weeks, flowering 8 weeks. You'll have to set up a cycle. If you plan to harvest only every 12 weeks then you need much less space but you'll find that can be pretty boring. You'll basically be waiting around for 12 weeks.

[Grower]

1 watt of power will yield approximately 1 gram of dried flower/bud.
If you want 1 lb at the end of day, then you'll need about 1000 watts of light.

Am I missing something?
1 gram per watt
1 lb = 450gr
450watt
no?

[Starter]

Decide first, what yield you want at the end of cycle. Also, consider how often you want to harvest. If you want to harvest every 30 days, you'll need quite a bit of space: mother plant for clones in 24 hour veg permanently, true veg for 4 weeks, flowering 8 weeks. You'll have to set up a cycle.

I will be wanting to harvest probably once every other month or so I imagine but want to grow at least 2 different strains at a time. Since different plants give different highs even if all grown the same, I want to try out a bunch of different ones that I grow myself for the experience. Reason I would like to grow 2-3 plants at a time, with the space available for sativa that takes up more space than Indica.

I'm not so concerned about yield per say (not that I do not want to get the best out of what I am growing) since this is all for self and spouses use.

Assume we are using 5gal pots (soil grows), would 4x4 (4.5x4.5 maybe)hold approximately 2-3 good sized sativa dom scrogs? If so, what would be the recommended size of a veg tent? How much actual space is needed to dry and cure a yield that could come off that number of plants? (I understand that if I perfectly manicure a sativa dom scrog, I could make use of an entire 4x4 or 5x5 tent, but let's just go with averages. If I get awesome at the training of the plants I may just drop to a single plant sometime in the future)

As a diy, I can build my veg and cure spaces to fit my needs, knowing my needs are 2-3 plants. I do want to use at least 600w led and do not mind 1000w if the space needed would accomodate it. I don't want to put 1000w into a space that is just going to overpower the plants or be wasteful of electric.

[Jolly Green Giant]

welcome to the forum first off

I run 4-8 plants in a 4x4 tray with a 4x4 scrog net inside my 5x5 tent... I try to switch every 3 months.. ( 3 weeks veg or so then flower for 60-70 days) I use 5/7/10 gallon pots.. it depends on how many plants.. 4 I use the 10's. 8 I use the 5's = the same growing medium no matter which I do. with my DIY 4 board quantum board build on a 4x4 frame with a hlg480h-c2100b driver I have harvested between 1.5-2g/w the last 3 runs!! ( they got pissed off at me this time.. probably 1.2 range)

the main thing on number of plants is your style of growing and how long you want to veg them to fill the space.. you can take your time and veg for 3 months with just 1 plant... or stick a dozen with a week of veg then flip them... with just 2-4 plants you could get away with a 3x3 canopy and scrog area in a 4x4 tent... I always like having that little bit of extra room instead of cramming everything to tight together.. especially with sativas. give the giants the room they want .

light wise... once you figure out your grow space... figure 30watts per sqft.. of the strips ran at 75% of max power. my 480 over 4x4 (16sqft) = dead on the 30w per sqft.

you'll get a hundred different answers from a hundred different people... you just got to trial and error until you figure out what works for you!!!

again welcome

edit; drying tent figure at lease the same space if not slightly bigger... I use another area same size as my tent and a closet sometimes to dry all of it.

[Starter]

@jolly green giant

So with scrog it is hard to maintain a separate veg space isn't it?

How do you do your starting clones or mother for a perpetual grow?

Do you use a different light on the veg phase or just stick to the different light times?

Appreciate the help!

[Sativant]

Decide first, what yield you want at the end of cycle. Also, consider how often you want to harvest. If you want to harvest every 30 days, you'll need quite a bit of space: mother plant for clones in 24 hour veg permanently, true veg for 4 weeks, flowering 8 weeks. You'll have to set up a cycle.

I will be wanting to harvest probably once every other month or so I imagine but want to grow at least 2 different strains at a time. Since different plants give different highs even if all grown the same, I want to try out a bunch of different ones that I grow myself for the experience. Reason I would like to grow 2-3 plants at a time, with the space available for sativa that takes up more space than Indica.

I'm not so concerned about yield per say (not that I do not want to get the best out of what I am growing) since this is all for self and spouses use.

Assume we are using 5gal pots (soil grows), would 4x4 (4.5x4.5 maybe)hold approximately 2-3 good sized sativa dom scrogs? If so, what would be the recommended size of a veg tent? How much actual space is needed to dry and cure a yield that could come off that number of plants? (I understand that if I perfectly manicure a sativa dom scrog, I could make use of an entire 4x4 or 5x5 tent, but let's just go with averages. If I get awesome at the training of the plants I may just drop to a single plant sometime in the future)

As a diy, I can build my veg and cure spaces to fit my needs, knowing my needs are 2-3 plants. I do want to use at least 600w led and do not mind 1000w if the space needed would accomodate it. I don't want to put 1000w into a space that is just going to overpower the plants or be wasteful of electric.

I think a 4'x4' space should be plenty big enough for your needs (from what you said). It can hold a decent number of plants. I started with a tiny 2'x2'x48" tent and was able to get over 4 oz on my first grow. I was happy, but eventually got tired of the inevitable crowding. I just built myself a 3x'3'x7 ½' closet. Lots of headroom, with a small veg space underneath. You'll need two spaces if you want to harvest more often than the amount of time it takes to veg and flower a crop. Vegetating plants need 18- 24 hours of light, flowering plants need no more than 12 hours.

Listen to Jolly Green Giant- he knows his stuff. I also recommend Quantum Boards or strips instead of cobs. In a 4'x4' space you can build a 3'x3" light that really covers your canopy and penetrates below too, with no fans or hot spots. Check out the list of builds on this site- everything you need to build a kickass light is there .

[Sativant]

@jolly green giant

So with scrog it is hard to maintain a separate veg space isn't it?

How do you do your starting clones or mother for a perpetual grow?

Do you use a different light on the veg phase or just stick to the different light times?

Appreciate the help!

You might want to check out some grow journals on 420mag's forums. They have an excellent app for phones and tablets too. You can learn a lot about this stuff by following along on grows. It will also help you figure out your space.

[Jolly Green Giant]

@jolly green giant

So with scrog it is hard to maintain a separate veg space isn't it?

How do you do your starting clones or mother for a perpetual grow?

Do you use a different light on the veg phase or just stick to the different light times?

Appreciate the help!

yea trying to veg separate from the scrog can be a pain... I start with clones normally and get them started next to my mother's a few weeks before I finish and clean out the tent.. that way they are almost to the bottom of the scrog.. then my 2-3 weeks before flip I weave them thru.. ( sometimes still weaving durning the stretch if they get that massive jump in height.)

atm I have a 90w and 135w quantum board kits for veg lights... I use the 135w which is 4000k over my 3' x 16" raised no-till bed for my mother's... and the 90w kit is 5000k over my vegging plants and clones. my tent is 4 3500k QB's that get used for both veg n flower.. so they start and finish under quantums.. just more blue to start.. and I love the 3500k for for both veg and flower.. I can see my starts getting really tight node spacing from the 5k... but that 2-3 weeks under 3500k takes them to right like I want!!!

time wise I run veg 18/6 or 16/8 (my max outdoor amount is 16 hrs.. if I plan on moving them outside) flower I do both 12/12 and 11/13... 11/13 if I know they run longer than 60-70days.. it does speed them up by a few days.. at lease in my experience it does.. but it could be the spectrum of the leds also... because with my hps I tried 11/13 it only finished maybe a day sooner..

no problem

[Maxxor]

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