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  • New and looking for solid advice to get started

    I'm just getting started and looking for some sound advice. I'm growing indoors, looking to start off with 20-30 plants. I plan on growing bigger grows once my finances allow and when I get it figured out.

    1. What type of hydroponic system do you recommend that's easy to build, provides the best quality, the bigger yields and faster harvests? I've been researching Aeroponics systems, because I have the ability, I can build my own custom setup. Can I use the Aeroponics setup from start to harvest?

    2. Grow Lights? I'm working with a budget, I know you get what you pay for but any suggestions on the best light setup at budget price?

    3. I plan on purchasing seeds from herbies... This is one area where I'm going to push my budget to its limits... Any suggestions on what seeds that would be good for a beginner but is very high in quality, has a high yield and short harvest time?

    I know I have asked a lot, some of my questions are probably redundant and most likely "dumb" but I really appreciate the time and advice!

    ScCali831

  • #2
    first off, I would do some more research on hydroponics systems before you jump into that game. Unless you have someone to show you how a system works, hands on, not the best way to get your feet wet. To put that in perspective, I moved a couple years ago and started a new grow, I have been growing for years, it still took me a year to get a hydro system fully functional to the point I wanted. I could, and did, pop off a few dirt plants in the meantime. Much easier to get into it that way. Then start building from there.

    Lighting is as you noted, bang for the buck. You can grow under just about any light, just not as well, not as fast and not as many plants. 20 to 30 plants all flowering together, is a serious grow! Again, for perspective, under a single 1000 watt top of the line HPS or MH light, you can flower about 10 plants at a time, figure at least 5 or 6 hundred at least, for a decent 1000 watt light/ballast/bulb as a new package.

    If you are a smoker and can find some bag seeds, and you will see this mentioned in this forum a few times, start with that. Learn to germinate, veg and then transition, sex and then flower, with a seed you found in a bag. Before you waste money killing a $20 seed...

    Only dumb questions, are the ones you never asked my friend!

    Now, getting into the hydroponics systems and a good 'system' to get started, I would have to recommend rockwool for its pure simplicity. This is what my rockwool setup looks like:

    IMG00443.jpg

    The square blocks replace dirt and your flower pot. The clear container on the floor in lower right, is the nutrient solution. The pump is either a 13 dollar cheapie, or the next model up at about 20. 160 or 250 gallons per hour are the two size pumps I have. Simple little garden fountain pumps is all you need. Most expensive part of this setup, the actual rockwool blocks, that cost about $3.00 a piece, and the bottles of nutrients, that run from small containers for about $10 (I need at least 3 of those) but last for a long time as you only use a few millliters at a time (roughly the amount of a shot glass per gallon, of the nutrient 'cocktail' ) But notice, even I have plants in dirt, right next to plants in hydro... This was as I got the hydro system up and running, started getting all the hoses, the pumps, the plastic drain trays... I knew what to get and it still took me a year to put it all together, get the plants I wanted into the blocks ( I did not want to waste a $3.00 block on a male seed!) Now, the system has expanded to be outdoors as well:
    IMG00576.jpg

    Now, I have done a few things that are unique to me to make it so I can move hydro plants in and out, personally never seen anyone do this and I know ALOT of people who grow, both indoors, outdoors, soil, soilless.... As far as I know, I am the first person to have a hydro plant site that I can move into the sun, without damage to the root zone. At least as far as using the rockwool is concerned? I know a few people with smartpots or dutch master pots, that the pot goes outside, but those are typically what is referred to as DWC (Deep Water Culture).

    Hydroponics have a few variations in how the nutrients are delivered and handled. That's why it is hard to say, use this one method... There are drip systems (rockwool is a drip system generally) Then there are Ebb and Flo systems (large table that gets flooded up to the root zone of the plants, Ebb tide, then drained, FLO) My 2 liter bottle setup, is an Ebb Flo Hydroponic system:

    IMG00571.jpg

    Then there are NFT's (Nutrient Film Technique, where the nutrients are a constant bath running over the roots with no dirt or medium like rockwool, just the liquid)

    Those systems can be made out of standard 3 to 6 inch PVC pipe. Cut holes in the pipe, set the plant in the hole with roots extending into the pipe, run the nutrients down the pipe.

    In DWC culture systems, most common being the 'dutch masters' method, you fill a 5 gallon bucket with the nutrient solution, put a fish tank bubbler in the bottom, the plant in the top, let the roots hang down into the nutrients. Only pump is an air pump, just like at the pet store in the fish tank supplies, $10

    So, best advice, start with bag seeds for a grow or two, best investment to make will be your light. Start in dirt, with some basic if that's all you can afford to start, off the shelf potting soil. Try to avoid the slow, timed release fertilizer stuff, but you can get by with it to start. Unless you have really good, REALLY REALLY good, garden soil, forget about that. A bag of Miracle Gro is probably better than that. This is another area, you will get a TON of advice on what kind of dirt, what fertilizers to use, organic, or not, bat poop, seaweed, fish shit.... the list is endless of all the things people feed their plants. and almost all of them work! So, you need to play around, figure out what works for YOU... That's going to take a little time...

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    • #3
      Start with seeds from a bag and do it in soil for some experience. I ruined my first grow, thankfully was bag seeds. Killing expensive seeds with a mistake is a hard lesson to learn.

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