First solo grow, my mentor died recently and need help from knowledgable growers. PLS

[Nerotik]

Hi all,

I am new here, just joined tonight and I really need some expert/knowledgeable help setting up my first grow. I have helped maintain crops before with my best friend who was an expert grower and he taught me a bit when the opportunity arose but I have never started my own grow from scratch. i would ask my best friend, the guy who dedicated his life to mastering growing techniques and being a passionate and active force in the fight for medical and recreational legalization. Unfortunately he was killed in a car accident two months ago and now not only did I lose my best friend since high school but also my mentor as well. So i am hoping some of you will have the knowledge and generosity to help me design my grow tent for maximum yield and maximum discretion when it comes to odor. I live in Oregon and it is now legal for me to grow here so my only real concern is controlling the odor just out of respect for my neighbors who are great people and I would feel bad if they had to endure an overpowering scent of my herb garden anytime they went into their backyard. Now down to specifics. i plan on getting a Gorilla Grow tent which as I understand is designed to help keep in odor but I doubt it's 100% effective. At first I was going to get the 10x10ft tent but considering the price and the limited space in my backyard shop building I think I am going to get either the 5x9 or the 4x8 tent which will fit better inside my shop and are both also more affordable. Now i should also mention that my goal is to harvest at least 3-5lbs every few months if that is possible.

I really need to maximize my yield because I need it for the pain I have in almost all my joints that is pretty major pain and I have been on oxycodone for the past 5 almost 6 years to manage that pain but my best friend who died was always after me to ditch the pills and go for a natural medicine instead and I am ready to do that. Also I need to provide for my girlfriends uncle who was diagnosed with cancer in his mouth that has spread to his jaw and now up towards his brain and also my girlfriends grandma who also has cancer in fact she just had a relapse after being cancer free for months and on top of that she had a complication where the vein in her leg formed a massive clot almost the entire length of her leg and she required emergency surgery to save her life and the use of her leg. So I need to grow enough to provide a quality, reliable supply for three people, enough to last each of us a few months until the next harvest is ready. Now, on to the topic at hand. Like I said a Gorilla Tent inside a decent sized workshop building. I plan on running at least one probably two 1000HPS lights, a small fan inside the tent for air circulation, only organic nutes, and I will be growing various Indica strains from seed until I can gt a second setup for a clone nursery. Now one problem I am looking at is temperature in the tent. It's cold here in Oregon most of the year and I need to take the temp from the 30's and 40's up to the 70's inside the tent and I was thinking that if the lights don't keep the tent heated I would use one of those radiator style electric heaters you know the ones that just heat and give off heat without any heating elements or fans, and hopefully I can connect it to a thermostat switch so when the tent gets warm enough the heater shuts off as it cools down the switch turns the heater back on. Do they even make one of those? Maybe a humidifier if that is something I need and hopefully it too can be connected to an auto shut off/on switch, do they make those? I also need some kind of fan or pump to blow air into the tent and keep it fresh for my girls to breath, suggestions? now when it comes to the lights do i have to run ducting to them and pump air through to keep them cool even though I need the heat to keep the tent warm or will the bulbs overheat and burn out without it? Also i saw an ozone generator for odor control and was wondering if they are worth it or do I just pump air out a duct and into a filter and let that vent inside the shop instead of blowing it out a window giving it more time to dissipate and hopefully attract less attention if at all. I was also hoping some of you could tell me how many plants I could grow in this kind of setup in a 5x9 or 4x8 tent and if I need to grow them in a SoG pattern or what, do I need to top them during veg and let them get bushy instead of tall?

Also, how many sugar leaves etc do i need to be able to produce a good amount of BHO? I plan on buying one of those Co2 reusable extractors unless one of you can tell me why I would be better off using something else. But I don't want anything to go to waste and I want to get decent/good quantities of BHO but I have no idea how many plants/leaves I need to harvest and process to get a sizable amount of the stuff. Ok, I am gonna stop now, I'm sorry i apparently just lost control of my fingers and typed way more than I had intended but I really need some help from you knowledgeable experienced people and guess i just put all my questions out there at once. I apologize for the long post, but please help any good info you can give me would be appreciated beyond measure and if you have any questions about my plans or proposed setup please ask away, and don't be afraid to correct me or tell me what to do or to something different than how I spoke about it here. Like I said I have been a growers assistant a few times mostly just watering and trimming but now it's time I step up and pilot a show of my own. Thank you all so much, I hope to hear from all of you and again i apologize for such a long post.

[Fieldy]

Sorry to hear about your friend, I'm not an outside grower so don't know much but sure someone will be along soon

[Murdock]

good luck on your venture and welcome to the talk, theres a good few organic growers on here but i don,t think you,ll maximise yield growing with them, i,ve never looked into this but if your making bho why do you need to go organic ? i think you,d be better off growing in coco, easy to work with and yields like hydro, i,m sure you,ll get all the help you need here

atb m

[Nerotik]

I don't need to go organic i just like the idea of using natural nutes over chemicals. My bread and butter for me and those depending on me to grow their medicine with pretty much only get the buds. But making BHO from the leftover sugar leaves for my own use just makes me feel better about not wasting anything. I really just need help on what items I need for my grow in the tent which will be inside a fairly large shop in my backyard with locking doors to keep it secure. the only down side is it's not insulated or heated so i need to use a space heater to keep the temp up so my ladies don't freeze to death. I am really just in the need of finding someone who can basically make me a list of what accessories I need such as carbon filter and ozone generator for Odor elimination and how many indica plants I can efficiently grow in a5x9 grow tent without over crowding them, what strains have both high yields and are potent and effective for pain and anxiety. Also what line of nutes should I use? Fox Farms maybe? And if I am running 1 or 2 1000HPS lights do i need 2 lights in a tent that size? Do i need to run ducting to them and blow air to keep them from overheating and burning out? if you could please answer at least some of these questions i would be forever in your debt. Thank you.

[The budda]

Hi bro, sorry to hear about your pal dying it's not easy to lose a trusted brother, my first friend in the canna world passed on soon after he got me started il never forget him everytime I harvest a crop he's in my thoughts
I grow with two 1 k lights in soil if I can be of any help to you I will
I use a 10 inch geeko fan and carbon filter and it keeps my temps right with 9 inch occilating fans clearing the warm air from the canopy but I use a 4x4 m2 grow room, what size is that tent of yours

[The Aspie Toker]

My bread and butter for me and those depending on me to grow their medicine with pretty much only get the buds.

In the UK, bread and butter means income.

How many plants are you growing?

[Ye Old Pioneer]

welcome to the talk mate one BIG piece of advice keep it simple

[Nerotik]

I haven't decided for sure on a tent size. I was gonna do a 10x10 but I think that's more than i need so I am looking at a 5x9 which should fit perfectly inside my backyard shop with plenty of room left over. Then I was gonna use 1 or 2 1000HS lights but an experienced grower talked me into using 2 or 3 600w lights instead, and as far as plants go i am probably gonna start small with just a couple but would very much like to get p to 10 or more. All Indica's and they will be topped and trimmed as needed. I need to find a good organic nute line to use. Like I said this is my first ever solo grow, I used to help out my buddy who passed away but it was more of watering here and there and trimming at harvest. he always wanted to teach me but we kept putting it off and no it will never. So I feel driven to learn from someone knowledgeable and carry on his passion to the best of my ability. I also need help deciding on some good Indica strains to grow to get me started.

[Ye Old Pioneer]

if you aint got the experiance buddy why not start small learn what ur doing and when your doing it and then slowly increase over a few grows?? yes it might set u back a bit but like the plants youl be growing ul find nothing can be rushed and its best to go with the flow. Get yourself a diary started when your ready and these guys are great they will help you through it as they have done for me on my current one with any questions or problems that may arise.
As for nutes if your growing soil then Plant Magic old timers range comes highly reccomended by these guys and after currently using it, myself too take it slow and do say 5 plants first then progress up use one plant to practise LST supercropping etc etc there is loads of stickies and info on this site which can be found when you search enough and if you cant some one will deffo point you in the right direction, hey if i can do it anyone can.... i wish you all the best buddy

[The Aspie Toker]

and as far as plants go i am probably gonna start small with just a couple but would very much like to get p to 10 or more.

Don't do more than 10 plants on here mate. Take five minutes to read the rules. It already sounds like you will be selling - which isn't wise to mention.

HTH
TAT