First time growing, have just the spot...

[Drewid]

Hey all, I'm new here.

This is going to be my first time growing anything at all, to be honest -- I do not have a green thumb, but I've been given to understand that weed is just that, a weed, and while proper care will help yield and potency, it's pretty easy to avoid screwing up very badly with relatively low effort. Presuming that is the case, I have decided to start my own very small indoor grow (until outdoor season hits -- speaking of which, when is that?). There's a strange alcove in my house that I've never been able to figure out a proper use for until, possibly, now:



This is in my office, which is on the 2nd floor at the front of my house. I'm an OMMP patient, so I don't need to hide anything necessarily, but I feel like having a vent on my front-facing wall would look tacky -- is outdoor ventilation required? I have computers and other electronics in my office, and I just don't know what to expect from a full-time grow closet being so close. I do have a bunch of those the paper-thin, reflective, mylar blankets, and was planning to tacking those to the wall for insulation and optimizing light reflection, putting down some sort of stable surface (it is on carpet) and putting in the analog timer'd (already have), lighting (no idea what to get yet), and putting a few plants in there. I'm so inexperienced I don't even know what questions I need to be asking, so hopefully someone is willing to help someone who is very green!

Also, is it very difficult (i.e. expensive to pay an electrician to...) add another breaker, so that the grow-closet wouldn't be running on the same one as my computers?

[kbag]

Lol these are really hard questions to answer as your basically asking for a complete groom design. Looking at your dimensions height will be your biggest problem you really need a room that is more square in shape and with 2 meters head room. Once you get your lights in there pots etc you soon start to use up the height between plants and light. If this is the only room available to you of course you could make it workable. I would just paint it white carpet is no good does not like spillages and you get plenty of them. as for the electrics really depends on how your property is wired and what draw you already have, and more importantly what you are going to add. Its always a good idea to put your groom on a separate ring and breaker if possible.
Be fire conscious as well a smoke alarm at least in the groom or near to it as possible. You can also buy fire extinguishers that are automatic these do help you sleep better lol.
Theres a start for you and i am sure more will add to this. Anymore questions i will glad to answer just fire away.

[Drewid]

Hmm, good points. I think I might have to do an outdoor grow... Where can I find out when the best time is to plant outside?

[Katzie_Wolf71]

Where i live in Canada near Vancouver, I start my outdoor grow usually in the first weekend of May. You could start them indoors before that but just make sure there is no more frost when you do put them outside. Since Oregon isnt really all that far from Vancouver, Canada i'd say it would be the same time.

[kbag]

I live in a rather humid country and the biggest problem i have faced growing outdoors is when it gets close to harvest in the end of September beginning of October is bud rot. If you do not keep your eye on your plants you can lose them very quickly all that time and effort for nothing. So what i am doing this year is planting some auto's in a guerilla type grow.
Hopefully i will plant them in the ground at the end of may and they will be finished in august. I have the seeds they are Dinafem cheese xxl and they take 80 days from germ to harvest.
They will most likely go longer than that, but i am hoping they will finish before the wet cold humid weather gets here. Saying that you never know what the weather is going to be like where i live.

[kbag]

Sorry for sounding pessimistic but it is very important to plan your grows,this will help you get grips with any eventuality that rears its head.
I would just like to add that i had never grown anything indoors and i am sure if it was not for the information on this site and the friendly people on here it most likely would have ended up in disaster.

[Schmokin]

Hey Drewid. Check out when the first and last frosts are where you live. If you start your seeds off indoors (on a window ledge) or in a greenhouse a few weeks earlier, you will have strong established plants to plants out.
Choose strains with a shorter flowering period if you live in a place that has early frosts. About 7 or 8 weeks will be shortest. Some of the big old sativas take 12 weeks and more and you might struggle to finish them before it gets too cold.
Kbag's comment about humidity is important. I'm not really familiar with Oregon but I get the impression it can be quite damp. If that is true for where you live, choose a strain with good anti mold properties and plant them with plenty of space so that they get good air circulation. Some training may be appropriate if it is damp round your way, try opening up the centre of the plants, again looking for good air circulation.

[Katzie_Wolf71]

I don't think humidity is much of a problem in Oregon but it does get its fair share of rain like where i live. Just google 'marijuana strains resistant to mold & humidity' you'll get tonnes of strains to choose from.

[coconutisland]

I am going to have to agree with Kbag, that's just not going to be a very good space. I do not even think of flowering a plant less than 24 inches, add another 12 at least for drainage and reservoir, you are already at 36 inches. Add another 6 inches for stretch during flower, at least, then 6 inchs for the thickness of a light fixture and you are at 48, leaving you only roughly a foot to work with... all that at the highest point in your 'closet'... This would make a great place for a veg operation, small plants to the back, taller to the front, move them out to flower... but kind of difficult to get at the smaller plants in the back... If this is your office and you can just keep people out of the office, better option would be a tent setup in the corner...

As far as going outdoors, again, that closet would make a great place to start plants destined for the great outdoors, just keep pulling them a little further to the front as they get big... then move them outside to let mother nature take over. Timing would be something like a slow pepper plant (I grow a dozen varieties of peppers) starting indoors about 30 to 60 days before the last frost. For a full indoor grow, this would be the point you might start to induce flowering in a photo plant or be thinking about ripening and finishing an auto. You can get creative at this point, depending on lots of variables, stealth, not so stealth, completely open... Let them run all summer and finish in the fall, or an auto that will finish in a few weeks, or, toss a tarp over one to make it think there are only 12 hours of light and force it to flower in july... or any month you want once you get the timing down

[Drewid]

Yea, I've decided against trying to grow anything in my alcove.

I'm currently scouting around my house trying to find a good place to build a custom closet -- thinking I might attach one to my garage, it would look just like a tool shed... what dimensions should I be going for? I would assume that depends on how much I want to grow, which would be at most 6 mature plants (maximum allowed by OMMP) (plus ~6 in veg just prior to harvest to take their place) As I'm researching this, the return on investment is starting to elude me -- I want the satisfaction of growing my own herb, but I don't want to invest thousands into a proper grow closet without a financial upside, and I don't know enough about the industry to determine how I could recoup my losses. I've considered selling to dispensaries, but I've heard that Oregon already has many well-established growers so the dispensaries probably already have their pick of the litter. At the same time, if it would cost $x to for a single-plant grow closet, and only $x~2 to house 6 plants, it makes more sense to just do that... but I don't smoke nearly enough to justify 6 plants... gah. Sorry, I'm rambling here. If anyone has some insight to offer, I'd greatly appreciate it!

[coconutisland]

I do not know how the laws in OR are going to shake out, here in CO, as I stated before, each jurisdiction is allowed to regulate recreational sales/manufacture/distribution... The first licenses were issued to existing MMJ stores only, then I think it was 6 months later before anyone else could jump in the game. But jumping in the game is not cheap! It is roughly 10 grand a pop for a grow operation, either MMJ or RMJ. Same basic permit. This is my friends operation: http://www.fremontcountycannabis.com/index.html

As you see, that is not a room in a house, it is a full on commercial green house. This is the other local operation, they do most of their growing outdoors: http://maggiesfarmmarijuana.com/

There are some limits as to where they can source their product. MMJ retailers need to source 80% in house the last I heard, but they are making a few changes to allow for transfers between MMJ retailers. But you can not transfer between a RMJ and MMJ operation. The locations have to be secured, even outdoor grows. You must have CCTV connected to the sheriffs office 24/7. Neither can buy on the open market to stock shelves, they can only go to other MMJ or RMJ retailers for transfers. So, if OR laws turn out anything like ours, trying to sell to a dispensary is not going to be easy or inexpensive.

I would take a good hard look at the laws that are being proposed right now and try to figure out which ones are going to pass or at least which way the winds are blowing regarding small scale rec sales... It is not worth it here in CO to garner the permit and only grow 12 to 18 plants at a time. Also, the reason for more in vegetative stage, is to allow for a rotation. I use a general 3 month cycle (more like 4 or 5) as each rotation into flower, will take roughly 60 days (2 months) to mature and ripen. Some take less, some more, but that's roughly what they take, 8 weeks from flowering to harvest. So, if you put 3 plants at a time, a month apart, on the third month, you harvest 3 plants, then move another 3 into flowering. Always keeping 6 in flowering stage. You could just do 6 at a time... Then every 2 months, start another 6...

Hope that helps, probably not what you wanted to hear though...

[Drewid]

That's more or less what I expected. Do you know if it's easier to break into the market (and dispensaries) using edibles and the like, or is that more or less the same situation? I'm wondering if I should just grow my 6 plants and use them to make edibles rather than selling the flowers, I could test the market by giving my edibles away to other OMMP patients and if it becomes viable, buy the licensing required to start selling, and when necessary I would just source the product from another grower.

Thanks for the clarification on the perceived vegetative excess, that makes a lot more sense now.

p.s. Your friend's operation looks amazing -- I don't expect to have anything close to that for a long time, if ever