ventilation in closet grows

so i'm gonna be getting a new place sometime soon, and i'm thinking of trying my hand at a little horticulture.

i'm going to be renting, though, so i can't exactly add in extra wires, knock holes in walls, etc.

i've seen lots of information and pictures of advanced setups and such, and most of them seem to stress the importance of high quality ventilation systems. i'm unsure of how this is practical in an average closet grow, however.

is it sufficient to simply open the door a few times a day? (while the lights are on, of course, so as not to disrupt the light cycle too much)

i'm only interested in growing 2-4 plants and strictly for personal use and occasionally smoking a bowl with some friends, but would like to grow the highest quality possible (possible for me, a novice), and would like to go organic.


i'm curious as to ventilation solutions people may suggest, if in fact its not simply enough to open up the growing space allowing for air exchange a few times a day.

i'm also torn between an HID setup and CFLs. are HIDs really that much better? i've heard people say they can actually get some really good quality with CFLs if you use enough watts, and that it saves on energy consumption (i'm poor!) and doesnt get nearly as hot as an HID (also helping to alleviate the necessity for constant ventilation, or so i would assume)

im hoping that for a small closet with only a few plants that a few hundred watts from a suspended CFL (400-600?) and some side lighting or a small CFL down low in the middle of the plants, and a small fan might be enough to successfully grow some moderate-high quality grass, or at least a large personal stash of shit better than what i can usually get for 25/eighth on only a semi-regular basis (i hate ohio, and dont like associating with too many drug folks, anyhow...i like to keep my hands clean if possible, but fucking love smoking. i'm not a criminal and don't wish to associate with a lot of....shadier characters)


basically i'm looking for an easy to maintain, relatively affordable setup for a first time grower who is not a homeowner. id like the highest quality i'm able to grow, but it doesnt have to be the highest quality on the face of the earth. i'd like like better than the middies and shwag which are usually all thats available to me, and i'd like to be able to grow enough to smoke whenever i want, and i'd like to, in the end, spend far less money on my smoking habit.

for a final question, i'm also looking up information i can find about various strains of cannabis. i love smoking, and like to smoke a lot when i have it, but i am very aware of different qualities in the experiencing of cannabis. i am equally fond of the up and energetic cerebral effect of a nice sativa and the so-called couchlock, the quasi-narcotic stoning effect of a heavy indica. i tend to drink too much when i can't smoke, especially to help me get to sleep. i definitely would like a nice indica for the evenings, but for the daytime or to change things up, i'd like a more sativa-dominant strain.

i'm thinking citral or hashberry for the indica, but am curious as to how i could comfortably grow an indica and sativa in the same room given the size differences. are there any particularly short, but still high quality sativas? are there any good indica/sativa hybrids which grow more like an indica, but produce a more typically sativa high? this is the sort of thing i'd imagine you'd need to have experience to really learn, but advice will have to do for now


anyway, this is a long, rambling post, so i'll leave it at this. if anyone takes the time to read this and address my questions, i'd be very appreciative. i know the information is out there, but at times its hard to find when i dont always have regular internet access, and what with overgrow being dead and all...well...you know how it is. i should get some books, i know, and probably will next paycheck.

anyway, thanks in advance to anyone willing to help with such remedial information

 

If you can't knock any holes in your walls, then I think it might be better to ditch to entire closet idea and go with a cabinet. Something from ikea or mills pride that's about 2x4 with 6 ft of headroom is perfect for a 400 mh/hps and you'll have plenty of room for all the ventilation, carbon scrubbers, ballasts, etc, etc you're gonna have.

As far as opening the door a few times a day, it's not gonna work if you're using a decent light, these lamps get hot, you gotta cool that shit.

You can get a nice potting soil at you're local garden nursary - stay clear of places like walmart and home depot for soil if you can, it's usually not the best out there. For nutes, there are plenty of organic lines out there that are great. For my main nute I use Pure Blend Pro Veg and Bloom, each respectivly for veg and flower. I also use Liquid Karma throughout, and sometimes Cal-Mag when I need either calcium or magnesium. All these nutes are from botonicare.

Go with the HID lighting, trust me. You can use CFLs and end up with small buds that're quality but wispy (lets say maybe 1 1/2 ozs), or nice big nugs that're covered in resin and rock hard (I don't weigh my buds - I don't sell anything - but if I had to guess I'd say 7-8 lids). Whatever money you spend on this, will come back ti you 10 fold. You will cover the cost after the first grow.

Some other sites you might wanna check out are:
icmag.com
hg420.com
These are the two that pretty much took the place of OG, most of the old characters are around on there. A google search for the OG growfaq will bring it up.

Personally I buy my seeds from seedbay. Be careful in Ohio, lots of seeds get snagged in Chicago. Well not a whole bunch, but the odds are higher. Nothing will come of it if you get caught, but don't order them straight to your grow, hell, don't order anything straight to your grow.

Also if I were you I'd stick to indicas for you're first grow, they are much easier, save the sativas for a grow or two from now. You can read and read and read, but nothing teaches you like experience.

The hashberry sounds bomb, I haven't read anything negative about it, Mandala mike is the shit, I've actually been wanting to pick up a pack.

If you got anymore questions just let me know. Good luck bro, growing is some fun stuff, it's a great hobby and there's alot of interesting stuff to learn.

 

Alright!!! always good to see a new grower

this isn't a problem, but out of curiosity.....how big of a closet do you have??

even in the SMALLEST of grow rooms/cabs/closets, ventilation is a must.....plants don't like the air to go stale, they would much rather prefer fresher air, frequently.

depending on the lights you use, how much work you want to do, how much security your going after.......things of that nature......in my honest opinion it is much better to have a good intake & exhaust setup so you can just have the door closed at all times (except of course, when your visiting them)......makes me sleep easier

Good idea, most beginners try to grow too many at once on their first grow, without realizing how much work you actually have to do for each one.....especially if your growing in individual containers. It is also a good idea to go soil for your first grow........hydroponics takes, IMHO, experience.

i've got a couple links for some great Do-It-Yourself threads for exhaust, intake, cool-tubes, etc. after im done with this post ill go get them and put them in another post.

Ok, big debate, personally i would and do use, CFL's for seedling and vegetative stage.....and i flip over to a 400W HPS for flower. It is true that CFL's stay much cooler and you don't need to use such high powered fans, but, and this is a big BUT, with CFL's you will have decent smoke.......just really airy...not compact, less weight, smaller harvest.

HID's such as MH and HPS do get very hot, but if you take the time to make sure you have enough intake/exhaust from the get go....this doesn't become a problem. You will get excellent, full, compact buds when using HID lighting. Especially in a cool-tube or cooled hood.....you can get the HID pretty darn close to the gals and keep them super dense and compact resulting usually in a fairly good harvest. Ill post more about this at the end of the post.

it is definately do-able to get a decent little stash goin with just a small closet. Many people grow with just CFL's and get decent results.......personally im just sold on HID lighting......it's worth its weight in gold, and easily pays for itself with just 1 succesful grow Not saying you absolutely have to use HID but i would just look into your budget and see if you can.....it's definately worth it in my opinion.

as far as the quality.....you could take a seed from some shwagg you get, plant it, if it's a female, at harvest time that weed(that came from a bag of schwagg mind you) will be 5-10 times better than the bag the seed came from........personal smoke and commercial smoke are two different worlds.....personal smoke your usually the only one handling your buds and you know exactly what you put in them.......commercial, who knows how many hands the buds have been through (damaging trichs), and who knows what chemicals went into them.......roughly saying......your smoke even if from bagseed.....will probably blow away anything you've ever smoked, as long as you wait until peak harvest time (varies, as a general rule of thumb....indica's need about 8-9 wks to finish flowering and sativas can go anywhere from 9-15wks or longer.) and give em' a good dry and cure.

I've taken a huge, huge, likeing to Northern Lights #5.........stays fairly short with an excellent, excellent up high and nice lemony-hashy flavor.....pretty easy to grow too. but there is a vast market of seed vendors and strains out there just browse around and try some your bound to find a keeper strain ......i recommend if your buying seeds either seedbay.com, seedboutique.com, or possibly www,drchronic,com. for cheaper seeds go to either Gypsy Nirvana or Nirvana.....they are listed at these sites and have great prices......i've heard Gypsy Nirvana doesn't have to many "stable" strains but have heard excellent things about their Blue Mystic and White Rhino......as far as Nirvana goes, most of their strains are "stable".


Ok, now as far as giving ya some advice on what to do im going to need a few more details from your...........dimensions of your closet (in inches or feet if ya can), rough-idea of your budget to spend on equipment, how much time you'll be able to put into the grow.....mostly just need to know the closet dimensions and rough-idea of budget then we can get started and the brainstorming, and get you up and running.......so when you can just post those few details and ill get back to ya when i can. wow that was long, and just slightly informative.......i'll be able to better help you when i get those details.......keep rambling, sorry, till next time.

- 42o -

 

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=40637
here is a great, organized, DIY list over at icmag.com..........it pretty much covers anything and everything on DIY projects. Over at hg420.com there is a whole forum for DIY projects but they aren' in an organized list like over at icmag...........this should help alot. check out a bunch of the micro grows in the first section of the list.....

 

thanks for the response, folks!

unfortunately, i'm still in my current apartment and havent gotten another place lined up quite yet. i move out at the end of august.

now i'll have a place to myself, and hopefully a closet or two. i wouldnt expect to use a walk-in for it - more like a standard broom/coat closet with any shelving removed. but if i absolutely need a sophisticated ventilation system, then i suppose a grow cabinet isn't out of the question; i was just hoping to avoid it for a few reasons.

1. (perceived) added expense - of course like every other peice of equipment, the quality and money i save in the long run will pay for it, blah blah blah, but while my job offers wonderful benefits i'm still currently making shit money.

2. i certainly can't afford a nice off-the-shelf stealth cabinet like you see online and in all the magazines. this means i'll have to construct one. while i'm somewhat intelligent, am willing to put effort and care into my project, and have taken it upon myself to learn complicated methods of doing things such as home cultivation of psilocybe cubensis and brewing my own beer...well, to put it simply i'm dedicated and can learn to create through natural processes (growing a mushroom, allowing yeasts to properly and thoroughly ferment a beer, etc.) i have no worries that i won't eventually catch on to growing pot, i'm just not exactly handy. i dont have a lot of standard tools, and certainly no power tools. i dont know how i'd cut open exhaust vents and such for the cabinet, and really dont want to purchase tools i wont likely use again for years simply to build a grow cabinet.

3. i'm looking for stealth, if possible, PARTICULARLY since i'm going to be renting. with a cabinet, when i eventually move out the cab has to come with me. even if it still looks like a normal cabinet from the front, i'm sure the vents in the back or wherever would still look suspicious to the folks on the street.


now i'm torn with the lighting. i really don't want the added heat and energy consumption of HIDs, but i REALLY do want quality buds without having to pay 50-70 bucks for a fucking eighth.

if i were to buy an HID instead of some CFLs, what do you folks think about the lights with...i'm not sure how to say this....the opposite of remote ballasts? would i call it an attached ballast? i've seen them online at any rate. it sounds like it would be simpler...one of the main things attracting me to CFLs is their simplicity to me. i honestly don't even know exactly what a ballast is and does, but simply know that its of great importance in making the light work, and everything i've read seems to suggest some level of electrical knowledge is important. hell, in the high times hydro report issue this year i even saw something about DIY adding of new circuits to the house, etc. etc. etc....while i'm willing and able to learn knew things to do this, i'm no electrician and do NOT trust myself with messing around too much with wiring. i'd like something i can simply plug in with the timer and be done with it! but if theres a simple and easy to comprehend method of describing how to use HIDs properly and safely, i'm more than willing to consider it.

a cabinet, if i use it, should ideally be able to be deconstructed so i dont have to move it whole, in the end.

as for my budget...well....its tight. i'd expect i could squeeze out $200-250 for a light....but....i do want to do things right. i suppose the best course of action is to not buy it all at once, but get what i can now and do it bit by bit till i can start my grow, because i'll never be able to save up a spare 500-600 dollars, really. there is at least one hydroponics store in town that i've yet to scope out. i should do this soon. while i don't want to grow hydro (i definitely want organic, and definitely want soil - i may usually smoke middies but it hasnt always been that way, and more important to me than potency or rapidity of growth is overall quality of the high, quantity, and taste...i like smoking and dont need a one-hit-wonder...i enjoy smoking half a bowl or more to get high, if it tastes good and the high is nice!)

so i suppose whenever i can afford it, the two things i need to invest in immediately are seeds and lights. once i have these two things, i'll be motivated to save up for the rest of it and will not allow it to simply become yet another "pipe dream"

so i guess my biggest questions and concerns at the moment are:
-is there an easy way to go about constructing an affordable and reliable cabinet which is covert when sitting out in a room, and which can be inconspicuously moved out of my place in the end?
-is HID lighting really as complicated to set up as the impression i get, or is my ignorance on the subject simply getting the better of me and making me stress unnecessarily? is there a simple way to understand ballasts, wiring, ventilation, and all that jazz?
-how about the HID lighting with built-in ballasts and vent fans? are they inferior somehow? i dont hear of many people using them
-despite that hydroponics stores are, well, hydroponics stores, do they still usually offer soils and nutrients/ferts for soils? i've heard excellent things about fox farms for fertilizing. i've got a bag of organic miracle grow soil for some potted oregano and basil on my balcony, but would rather use something of a higher quality for my smoke! does fox farms also make soil, and if not what would be a better soil to use?

i'm just really starting to get serious about this. when i was in highschool, it was easier to get pot than booze. right after highschool, even easier still, and higher quality. but as i've grown distant from the vast majority of those folks, things aren't what they used to, and i find myself drinking more and more when i can't smoke, and i'm getting worried about my drinking habits. i want to smoke, and want to smoke quality, and want to severely reduce the amount i drink. i can't get bud regularly, and when i do i never know really who i'm dealing with, and it makes me nervous. i also know from experience that a lot of people involved with the black market drug trade, even with something as benign as marijuana, are often very shady and even criminal...and i dont like to support these folks, even though i think it should be legal and people should be able to make legitimate money off of it. i'm also noticing some early onset arthritic-type pain in my hips, knees, elbows, and at times fingers. arthritis is bad in my family, and i'm convinced its approching quickly, and the pains are getting more and more frequent and bothersome. i've noticed good pot helps ease this, even if i can't use this method of feeling better during work.

i think all of these reasons, along with the vast amount of money and headaches i'd save, and the joy of a new and fulfilling hobby, are all very good motivators for growing my own, its just looking like more and more money...i was hoping i could get away with seeds, soil, fetilizer, a fan, and a CFL in a closet...but....well, i may not be able to drop all the money for a more sophisticated setup right away, but i'm willing to spend the money for a lifetime of affordable, high quality ganja, and a hobby to occupy my time more productively than watching tv or stuffing my face when i smoke


thanks again for all the help, and thanks for the coming responses

 

-is there an easy way to go about constructing an affordable and reliable cabinet which is covert when sitting out in a room, and which can be inconspicuously moved out of my place in the end?

Yes, it's pretty simple. You pretty much have to do 3 basic things to the cabinet
1) Punch holes for intake and outtake
2) Set up some shelving (this should come with the cabinet), and set up some chains to hang the light/fan/scrubber.
3)Buy some weather stripping, which is real cheap, and make the door light proof

You can buy a nice cab, something like a wardobe, for pretty cheap.

-is HID lighting really as complicated to set up as the impression i get, or is my ignorance on the subject simply getting the better of me and making me stress unnecessarily? is there a simple way to understand ballasts, wiring, ventilation, and all that jazz?


HID setups are very simple. There is a ballast, a lamp, and a reflector. The ballast is connected to the lamp, and the lamp sits in the reflector. All you need to do is plug the lamp cord to the ballast, and plug the ballast into any regular socket.

-how about the HID lighting with built-in ballasts and vent fans? are they inferior somehow? i dont hear of many people using them

The ballast itself will produce a bit of heat, so having both both it and the light close together makes for some heat, which most people don't want to deal with.

-despite that hydroponics stores are, well, hydroponics stores, do they still usually offer soils and nutrients/ferts for soils? i've heard excellent things about fox farms for fertilizing. i've got a bag of organic miracle grow soil for some potted oregano and basil on my balcony, but would rather use something of a higher quality for my smoke! does fox farms also make soil, and if not what would be a better soil to use?

You'll find anything you need at a hydro store, any soils, nutes, etc. etc.

Fox Farm is some good stuff, the ocean forest is good, but it's also pretty hot. Add some dolamite lime to it, 1 teaspoon per cubic foot of soil; since ffof is acidic, this is needed to buffer the pH. Also add some perlite to the mix to get some air to the roots. I've never used their nute line, but you're not even going to need nutes for the first month with that soil.

 

-is there an easy way to go about constructing an affordable and reliable cabinet which is covert when sitting out in a room, and which can be inconspicuously moved out of my place in the end?

My advice on this topic is the same as lune's.......it would be best to buy a pre-manufactured cabinet that you put together straight out of the box. Once out of the box make your intake/outtake holes, mount your hardware, light-proof it with weatherstripping and your in business. I understand your concern when your done with it or moving.......but with these pre-manufactured cabinets most of them come apart just as easy as they went together, wich will make for easy portable storage of the cab when not in use or in the middle of a move.

-is HID lighting really as complicated to set up as the impression i get, or is my ignorance on the subject simply getting the better of me and making me stress unnecessarily? is there a simple way to understand ballasts, wiring, ventilation, and all that jazz?

Again im with lune on this one.......they are quite simple.....i know how you feel. when i first started growing i didn't know what to expect when i ordered my HID light but when it got here it had easy-to-follow instructions and literally out of the box it was turned on in about 5 min from receiving the package.....(note i got lucky and ordered my first few items to the house, light and fans but this was before any construction of my grow room had been started.....normally you want to use a P.O. Box or a friends address when ordering grow equip) As far as understanding them, just look at a few of em' at hydro stores online......i like plantitearth.com and mdhydro.com.......after lookin at a few of the HID's at these sites you should have a bit better understanding.

-how about the HID lighting with built-in ballasts and vent fans? are they inferior somehow? i dont hear of many people using them

Yes your correct alot of people including me like the remote ballasts. the ones with an attached ballast are ridiculous heavy.....you have a big awkward hood(reflector) and also as lune said....when the lamp and the ballast are attached, together, they create a ton of heat, when your ballast is hot, the lamp wont run as efficient. With a remote ballast you can place the ballast outside of the cabinet and reduce the heat in the cab and in the ballast itself......i would highly recommend buying a complete setup(lamp, reflector, ballast) with a remote ballast.

-despite that hydroponics stores are, well, hydroponics stores, do they still usually offer soils and nutrients/ferts for soils? i've heard excellent things about fox farms for fertilizing. i've got a bag of organic miracle grow soil for some potted oregano and basil on my balcony, but would rather use something of a higher quality for my smoke! does fox farms also make soil, and if not what would be a better soil to use?

as lune stated you can get anything you need *usually, at a hydro store.

Fox Farm is an excellent product, they make a few soils, Fox Farm Ocean Forest, Fox Farm Light Warrior, Fox Farm Happy Frog. These are all of em' that i know of. Personally i like a 50/50 mix of Happy Frog and Light Warrior, also mixing in some dolomite and perlite as lune said......but with this mix you start adding nutes a bit sooner than with the Ocean Forest......and actually now that i think about it, for your first run keep it simple dont worry about mixing soils or anything just get some Ocean forest and follow lunes instructions with the dolomite and perlite. I haven't used fox farm in awhile as im using my own compost with dolomite, blood and bone meal, and perlite.......anywho to answer your question, yes fox farm makes excellent soils.

I would also like to say, yes you have the right idea.....just start buying a few parts here and there when you can and before you know it youll have everything you need and you'll be able to start. Although the first things i would get is cabinet, light, then exhaust and intake fans, then whatever else (small oscillating fan, hygrometer, *something to check the pH of your water*(<---that one is an absolute must) ..................nutes, soil, pots, DIY carbon scrubber, flat white paint or mylar or whatever you plan on lining the walls of the cab with, maybe some clear plastic to line the floor of the cab with.......im sure im leaving a few small things out but that is about it) Hope this helped, ill be around to give ya any advice i can.

- 42o -

 

alright guys, thanks alot! this has been super helpful.

i've got butterflies in my stomach right now. i went ahead and ordered a pack of seeds. given that i am on a budget, i wanted to get the best seeds for the money. anywhere i've looked for info on mandala seeds, i've found positive feedback, and those pictures of the hashberry in high times were pretty impressive...."top 10 new strains of the year" or whatever it was called...a lot of hype, i'm sure, but it still looks and sounds like some awesome bud

so, considering that they are supposedly great breeders and this strain is getting high praises from a number of people, i was pretty surprised to see they also have some of the lowest prices of any of the breeders i was looking at. i really was pretty keen on trying the bubblegum or citral or any number of other nice strains, but i figure for my first time, and for my budget, it only made sense to order the hashberry if i wanted to use quality genetics rather than bagseed. hopefully it comes without a hitch, but im a little nervous! 32 bucks including shipping for ten seeds...i went through dr.chronic, and it would have been cheaper at seedboutique but i didnt want to wait so long to send in an order via snailmail or sign up for paypal and so on...

anyway, hopefully next paycheck i'll go grab myself a light! i've got the feeling i'm going to need to be living frugally for a couple months to make this all work out in the end....but...it's really going to be worth it i think!

 

i can only hope my plants would look this nice!

 

and any other stuff i'm going to need to buy, i will buy in cash, in person.

but now, i've heard that these lights get super hot....is it actually easy to cool the growing cabinet? i'd think it would be hotter then hades without like a million fans, in such a small space, vents or no...

 

EXCELLENT choice on seeds!!! And as far as needing a million fans......no just 1 or 2 GOOD ones.......fans can be expensive but, but, you'll be so happy you went for the spendy one, when your busting out some super dense chrystal covered hashberry!!!

And on that note what wattage HID are you thinking???......i would go no smaller than 250W and no more than 400W. But once you get a cab or build one, we'll figure out your footprint and help ya decide wich light/fan combo will be best......im sure lune will be along for this aswell. Anywho excellent choice of seeds, keep us posted when they get there, and with any other equipment you acquire over the next coming weeks.

- 42o -

 

http://hg420.com/showthread.php?t=35286&page=1&pp=10&highlight=hashberry

Heres a pretty good hashberry grow journal......check it out.....last page he gets a new camera and takes some pretty tasty lookin pics

 

well, i was thinking 400w, but had reservations, afraid it may be too low...i suppose i'd only need 600 if i went all out and transformed a small closet into a grow room....i guess with a cab 400 would probably be more than sufficient.

so hell, i might look at something slightly less if i can find it and its cheaper, but i do want more than 250w. i want to be as thrifty as possible, but i really DO want to do things right!

unfortunately, i have enough to start buying SOME equipment right now because i've cut way back on food, gas, pot, and alcohol expenses the past couple weeks, but the money is spoken for. a good friend (female) has a bit of a problem with some kind of pervert and things have gotten wierd...so...i want to give her a hundred bucks to help her get a gun like she wants since she lives alone...i haven't told her i am doing this, but i want to at least help. so...not till next paycheck can i get some stuff for me just for fun! i still have to pay bills and all

 

holy cow....this thread you linked to is getting me all sorts of excited! i know lots of leaves mean lots of work manicuring, but i kind of hope that i get a really leafy plant along with dense, full, sticky buds, just like this guys stuff....

to me, leaves = more fun.....butter, hash, oil, whatever i'd want to do playing around with them....

the discussion is also making me feel confident this may be a good choice for a first time grower...less odor control worries, less worries in terms of fertilizing and such, all that stuff....i'm stoked

still, i'm super worried about how i'm going to actually construct my own grow cabinet without any special tools. i can borrow normal stuff like screwdrivers and the like, but i dunno about making my own cabinet from scratch. maybe i should just start socking money away to just buy one of those off-the-shelf units that look like a standard metal storage cabinet, even though they are pricier than making a cabinet. i'm really not too handy when it comes to constructing things...i can follow directions with a kit, but i dont have enough confidence in my abilities as a craftsman...

meh. i'll cross this bridge when i get to it, i guess!

 

now hypothetically, suppose i want to grow four plants, so i germinate four seeds.

i grow until i can tell the sex....

and one of the four is a male.

now i'm unsure of how to word my question....

i understand that seedbearing bud is sometimes (almost always) of lower quality than sinsemilla, but also fully aware that seeds purchased online are quite expensive, and lets face it i want to grow to SAVE money, not to spend a small fortune on every grow. i want the bulk of my expenses to be up front.

if i wanted to allow my girls to seed, how would i do it without going overboard? i wouldnt mind getting a few seeds (10-30 out of the entire harvest, preferably) but i sure as hell dont want to be growing some shwaggy, seedy, unsmokable bullshit just so i can get a ton of seeds with good genes. i want something to show for my first grow, i just also wouldnt mind getting a few seeds if a male pops up.....

so how do i know when the male has begun producing pollen? like, how would i go about getting seeds, but only just a very few seeds? should i just leave the male in there with them for like a week before removing it, or would i have to grow it in a seperate environment and introduce it briefly at a later point in time?

i'm slightly confused on how to get a couple seeds without devastating the quality of the final product.

 

-to me, leaves = more fun.....butter, hash, oil, whatever i'd want to do playing around with them....

yea frosty leaves are always good......i've made butter a few times and didn't really care for it. It's fun to play around with but id rather just make hash/hash oil.......way better in my opinion.

-the discussion is also making me feel confident this may be a good choice for a first time grower...less odor control worries, less worries in terms of fertilizing and such, all that stuff....i'm stoked

Yes it does sound to be a pretty easy plant to grow, and heat resistant, which is always a plus for us indoor growers.

-still, i'm super worried about how i'm going to actually construct my own grow cabinet without any special tools. i can borrow normal stuff like screwdrivers and the like, but i dunno about making my own cabinet from scratch. maybe i should just start socking money away to just buy one of those off-the-shelf units that look like a standard metal storage cabinet, even though they are pricier than making a cabinet. i'm really not too handy when it comes to constructing things...i can follow directions with a kit, but i dont have enough confidence in my abilities as a craftsman...

your best bet would be to go to wal-mart or somewhere similar and look to see what they have for wardrobe closets or something of the like. They don't have to be all fancy, probably made out of particle board. I would advise not getting a metal one......with a HID in a metal cab it could turn into an oven in there. A cheap wooden one will be just fine, i would say it would be best to just build your own as you can build it the specs that you want but, if you don't feel comfortable doing it then i would just buy a pre-manufactured one. To be honest it aint that hard to build a cab, but just do what you feel comfortable with.

 

-if i wanted to allow my girls to seed, how would i do it without going overboard?

You pretty much need a seperate area for keeping males, if you had the area for males, as soon as the pollen starts dropping you would, collect alittle bit in a small container, then take a small crafts paint-brush and brush on pollen to just a few of the white hairs.....if i were you i would get a bit of experience under your belt before making your own seeds, it is kind of tedious and you never can be clean enough when dealing with male pollen.


-so how do i know when the male has begun producing pollen? like, how would i go about getting seeds, but only just a very few seeds? should i just leave the male in there with them for like a week before removing it, or would i have to grow it in a seperate environment and introduce it briefly at a later point in time?

you'll know when males start dropping pollen, there will be a powdery dust all over the place, little white/yellow flowers falling on the floor...

if you were to leave a flowering male in the cab with females for a week, every single female would be heavily pollinated......it only takes a little bit to ruin a crop of females. You would have to grow it in a seperate environment, collect pollen, apply to just a few branches, as soon as you've applied to a few branches you bag off the pollinated branches spray down the plant with plain water to de-activate and pollen that got blown around or landed on a part you didn't want it to, remove the bags from the pollinated branches the next day. About a week later the hairs on the female turn from white to brown/red and you'll see the calyx's swelling huge, about another week later you'll start seeing the calyx's splitting open revealing a immature seed........wait another 4-6 weeks and then you have viable seeds. This sounds easy but it's a bit more complicated than it sounds. Basically, get a few grows under your belt............you can do cloning, there are a bunch of great how-to cloning threads here, or hg420.com, or icmag.com. I would explain it but it would take alot more typing. There are tons out there you'll find em'

 

heres a good cloning tutorial for soil...
http://hg420.com/showthread.php?t=24932

 

ah, well, if its too complex to get seeds, i -may- clone a few times, or i may just keep going from seed. i can live with that seeing as mandala's seeds are significantly cheaper than others.

i'm not too worried about constructing a cabinet except for where ventilation is concerned. i can put peices of wood together and paint it white and all that stuff, i just dont have a means of cutting things to size, and i REALLY dont have a way to cut holes in the middle of a board

 

scratch that. i looked at some more cab/tent guides you directed me to.

"killabrowns 400w tent" looks simple to make, simple and inconspicuous to disassemble and move (or even discard if need be), doesnt have rigid sides (any cuting will be far easier for me to take care of) and is inexpensive to build....i would still need to invest in a few more things than killabrown did, so i might expect it to cost more like 200 or so bucks, but compared to the 600-2000 dollar price range for a commercial cabinet or something, its a real bargain. it just is more conspicuous looking. but still, if i had a walk-in closet or some unused room, i could EASILY assemble this in something like that, it just might take a little worthwhile work!

mmm...this is starting to sound more and more reasonable and plausible....

now my biggest expense worries are lights and carbon filters.

hey, i have a little ozone generator/air purifier i bought from a cigar catolog to help reduce the smell of my stogies when i smoke in the wintertime...its just a small model, and i'm sure it wouldn't really be suited to eliminating the smell of the grow tent....but it might help. i'm really more worried about drying, now. if these plants stink to high heaven when growing, i'm kind of nervous about drying them outside of the tent.