Complete novice, need guidance!

[GEORGE]

Hi George would you think I would be better off buying two of these

"2024 Newest Version Spider Farmer® SF4000 450W Samsung lm301H EVO LED Grow Light"

and having both of these in the tent at the same time for maximum light?

Seems like id probably achieve the same result whilst saving about £600

if you have any advice id love to hear it thank you

You need to PM SpiderFarmer and tell then your Tent set up, and they will give you their best advice. whoop whoop But those are the newer Lights 4 finger Fred was talking about.

[Samwise Gamgee]

Hi John,

I have just refreshed most my grow equipment with new kit, and also gone RDWC roots in hydro, and I am enjoying it now. I am only growing two plants this grow, in 120cm x 120cm x 220cm grow tent, but could get 4 in this space.

Like you, I only do a couple of grows a year, in the cooler months, or the house gets too warm in the summer, so I grow from Sept to April. In that time I can grow about 32oz, which is enough for me and my wife for a year, that is under a 500w LED to you give you some perspective

I would highly recommend you look at the AC Infinity kit as well, they have a very good ecosystem for the environmental aspects of your grow, which are reasonably priced, and the controllers are a must have in my opinion.

I bought the Alien Silver RDWC 4 x 20 litre pots, which are a good all in one setup, and you can essentially use 2 or 4 pots so its ideal for my space, and I have decided to use just two pots this grow.

Good luck with your grow, love the nick, I was a big Lostie back in the day

[JohnLockesBaldHead]

Hi John,

I have just refreshed most my grow equipment with new kit, and also gone RDWC roots in hydro, and I am enjoying it now. I am only growing two plants this grow, in 120cm x 120cm x 220cm grow tent, but could get 4 in this space.

Like you, I only do a couple of grows a year, in the cooler months, or the house gets too warm in the summer, so I grow from Sept to April. In that time I can grow about 32oz, which is enough for me and my wife for a year, that is under a 500w LED to you give you some perspective

I would highly recommend you look at the AC Infinity kit as well, they have a very good ecosystem for the environmental aspects of your grow, which are reasonably priced, and the controllers are a must have in my opinion.

I bought the Alien Silver RDWC 4 x 20 litre pots, which are a good all in one setup, and you can essentially use 2 or 4 pots so its ideal for my space, and I have decided to use just two pots this grow.

Good luck with your grow, love the nick, I was a big Lostie back in the day

Wow thanks for this!

If you don't mind I have some questions.

is the Alien kit noisy? I love the look of it and dont mind spending the money if it is easy to use and produce a good enough yield. Am I right in guessing that if I was to double the lighting and have 4 plants in the pots Id be expecting an even greater yield? Im doing about 1oz per week smoke at the moment and the hassle of sourcing it all the time and travelling to and from to get it just isn't good for me especially as my local guy is no longer around.

When I grew years back it would be with HPS lights, which seemed to keep everything warm enough, do these new LED lights still give the right amount of warmth or do you guys supplement some heat in with a mini oil radiator or something?

Sorry for all these nooby questions ive just completely forgot how to go about this Im clearly not as sharp as I once was in my younger days haha

Am I better off buying 1x 1000w light for this kind of set up?

thanks again!

[Samwise Gamgee]

Wow thanks for this!

If you don't mind I have some questions.

is the Alien kit noisy? I love the look of it and dont mind spending the money if it is easy to use and produce a good enough yield. Am I right in guessing that if I was to double the lighting and have 4 plants in the pots Id be expecting an even greater yield? Im doing about 1oz per week smoke at the moment and the hassle of sourcing it all the time and travelling to and from to get it just isn't good for me especially as my local guy is no longer around.

When I grew years back it would be with HPS lights, which seemed to keep everything warm enough, do these new LED lights still give the right amount of warmth or do you guys supplement some heat in with a mini oil radiator or something?

Sorry for all these nooby questions ive just completely forgot how to go about this Im clearly not as sharp as I once was in my younger days haha

Am I better off buying 1x 1000w light for this kind of set up?

thanks again!

Hi John,

Happy to help with any questions you have fella, the only stupid question, is the one you don't ask!.

So in turn:

1. The kit isnt overly noisy, and with the AC Infinity controller you can set the exhaust fans and circulation fans to run as quiet as possible, well keeping anything in range. I did find my air pump made a really weird hum in my house, until I isolated it, and added some foam underneath it, and now I cant hear the tent unless im actually listening for it.

2. 32 oz, I would get with 2 grows of 2 plants (so 4 plants total), I may get a bit more this time, but I generally get 8oz per plant under 500w of LED, my personal best was 34oz off 4 plants, in the same space as now, under a 500w HPS.

3. LED's do not give off as much heat as HPS, they run cooler, which tbh is great if your tent is indoors, as I find I can keep the noise low, the temps within range, when I am flowering under 500w.

4. Personally I think you could grow enough weed with 2 x 4 plant grows, under 500w, to give you 4oz per week for 52 weeks

1000w in light for me is over kill, and adds too much heat to the tent, which means the fans need to run at higher speeds, and the water cooler needs to run at a higher wattage to keep the feed cooled. If your UK based, and growing indoors, you will need to buy a water chiller, a water pump, and an Air pump, to go with the Alien System.

Have to admit my first impression of the Alien kit have been really good!

I noticed you made a comment on my diary as well, keep following as I will give you updates once a week, on roughly the EC and Ph you need to look at to grow big bushy plants

[Samwise Gamgee]

(Cont)

As a UK grower as well with a fair bit of experience, of both the UK and growing canna indoors I would also add the following advice, that believe me will help you grow bigger plants, I was lucky as I got taught by wiser growers than me in this forum, but also have learnt from 9 years of experience what works and what doesn't.

If your growing hydro you will need to be able to check the Ph/EC and temps of your water, you can buy cheap pens but the cheap ones often dont stay calibrated for long, and can cause you issues. Personally I would buy BlueLabs pens or products. I have had 2 blue EC and Ph pens since I started growing in 2015, and these still work well, if you calibrate them every month. I invested in a BlueLabs Guardian thou, which isn't cheap, but allows me to monitor water temp/EC/Ph without going in the tent.

Nutrient wise, I would recommend a company called Growth Technology Ionic range, they do a big range of nutes especially formulated for hydro or coco, and even soft water, and hard water nutrients. GT do calibration fluid as well, and also do Ph down, which you will need.

To grow well in the UK indoors you need to factor some other things as well, as in where in the UK you live. I will explain, water isnt the same in different parts of the UK, I live in the south and a hard water area, so straight out the tap my water has an EC of 0.5. If you live in a soft water area things arent as bad, but in a hard water area you have to take it into account. You will generally know if you live in a hard water area by the state of your kettle.

The biggest piece of advice I can give is to start a diary here, I am even happy to offer my services as a mentor, if you would like someone co-driving?.

[Samwise Gamgee]

(cont)

Haha sorry for so many posts but I am posting as I think of advice I would give myself 9 years ago. so one last thing:

Double the light watts, doesn't equal double the yield, it does equal double the electricity used thou, there are lots of variables growing plants, and you have to get them all correct to grow big plants

[JohnLockesBaldHead]

Wow, thanks so much for taking the time to talk me through this mate, what a top guy! I will absolutely love for your mentoring, and guidance if you're happy with that, that'd be amazing!

I do still have a bluely truncheon and a PH pen, from YEARS ago its still in mu downstairs cupboard, I do remember always maintaining water PH to 5.5 and "ec reading 1.4" something like that?

Would you list me everything I need to buy? I need something that would make it not smell, I used to use a carbon filter previously and that worked very well but it was quite loud and I have promised the person Im sharing the space with that it wouldn't be a super loud grow haha Im hoping there more technologically advanced options now? Like silent carbon filters or something

If you could list me everything I need Id appreciate it a lot! (I know thats a lot to ask but if it's something you want to do that would be amazing!)

thanks so much, so glad I found this place again!

LOVE

[JohnLockesBaldHead]

Ok perfect, I'm guessing you dont want to use too much electricity cause they may notice it? Thats another thing Im worried about, is do these lights give off enough heat to be detected by "outside forces" (you know who) Im more cautious and a bit paranoid now Im a bit older as to when I previously done it and have a lot more to lose now!

Again, thanks so much!

[Samwise Gamgee]

Wow, thanks so much for taking the time to talk me through this mate, what a top guy! I will absolutely love for your mentoring, and guidance if you're happy with that, that'd be amazing!

I do still have a bluely truncheon and a PH pen, from YEARS ago its still in mu downstairs cupboard, I do remember always maintaining water PH to 5.5 and "ec reading 1.4" something like that?

Would you list me everything I need to buy? I need something that would make it not smell, I used to use a carbon filter previously and that worked very well but it was quite loud and I have promised the person Im sharing the space with that it wouldn't be a super loud grow haha Im hoping there more technologically advanced options now? Like silent carbon filters or something

If you could list me everything I need Id appreciate it a lot! (I know thats a lot to ask but if it's something you want to do that would be amazing!)

thanks so much, so glad I found this place again!

LOVE

Hey John,

It maybe better to list what you already have first fella, but the one thing I can advise from what you have stated above, is the more wattage of light you use, the noisier things will get, I also dont know how much space you have, but if you want to grow quietly, look at going for less wattage light wise, as otherwise you have to keep it cool, and that does bet noisier

Have a look at my diary I have listed all the kit I am using in the diary, and my tent is located in a spare room, and from a noise level perspective, we have visitors over, and no one has ever mentioned anything about the noise. If they went in the room that would be a different matter, its hard to hide a black TARDIS.

My diary should give you some idea's thou fella, have a read

[Samwise Gamgee]

Ok perfect, I'm guessing you dont want to use too much electricity cause they may notice it? Thats another thing Im worried about, is do these lights give off enough heat to be detected by "outside forces" (you know who) Im more cautious and a bit paranoid now Im a bit older as to when I previously done it and have a lot more to lose now!

Again, thanks so much!

I dont like using too much electricity because I have to pay for it, I try and grow the best, cheapest weed I can

With a 500w LED, my computer runs warmer so yes less chance it can be detected through power usuage and heat signature.

3 rules we stress in forum, aimed at UK home growers is the below:

Don't sell, that person you decide to sell weed to will dob you if they get caught with it.

Don't tell, as much as you might want to brag to your mates about the big cannabis plants you have, the less people who know the safer you are, brag about the plants here, we will appreciate it more

Don't smell, keeps smells to a minimum, neighbours will complain about it, if you don't and its the easiest way of getting caught. Personally this is another reason I grow in the winter, I can harvest with all windows and doors are closed, and put the carbon filter on max well I do it.

More than happy to mentor you fella, but you need to start a diary really, that way we can keep all info central to that diary