A model 3000 watt cannabis grow set-up would need at
least one nice sized bedroom and a walk-in closet. The room should be
at least 24', double that would be ideal for work space and room to
walk around the bloom room. The goal is to create a 16' line of
cannabis plants 4 plants wide. 54 to 60 plants can be in various
states of blooming, with 4 to 6 plants harvested weekly.
Clones, vegetating pot plants, and mothers plants for
cloning are on 18 to 24 hours a day light cycle and require enough
space for growing plants out to a size of 3 to 4 feet in 4 to 5
gallon soil containers. Two shallow closets can sometime be better
than one walk-in, splitting smaller plants and clones from larger
vegging cannabis improving flow in a full scale version of a weekly
sea-of-green harvesting routine. More on cloning
cannabis at: Cloning Cannabis Plants
Growing in a Small Home
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Two 4' round reflector hoods on a light mover / rail
that covers 10' linear space over rows, 4 plants deep, of blooming
bud in the new grow room space. This setup uses 2000 watts for
blooming. New dual metal-halide and high pressure sodium bulbs
produce a hybrid full spectrum. One special combo 1000 watt bulb in
one hood and one high pressure sodium bulb in the other will give you
very healthy bountiful buds from 5 1/2' plants averaging about 1 1/2
to 2 ounces of dry cannabis sensimilla buds. More on
light movers at: Light Movers for Bud
Growth
Four Foot Reflector Hood
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A quantity of two 250 watt Metal Halide rectangular
hood / ballast lighting High Intensity Discharge Systems( HIDs ) and
two 165 watt Metal Halide rectangular hood / ballast run continuously
in a vented vegetation closet. HID lighting small vegging plants will
add another 830 watts. More on lighting at
Lighting Indoor Cannabis
Two shelves or areas are are then set up for small vegging and large
vegetative cannabis plants and clone mothers using the four smaller
HIDs.
Rectangular Hood and Ballast
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Unless you are living in a self-contained bio-dome that
is in perfect balance, which most of us are not, every closet or room
that is used to grow plants indoors needs venting to move
hot air out and fresh air in.
Replacing the air five times an hour is optimal. Replacing the air in
grow rooms four times an hour is the minimal requirement for healthy
plants. This can be calculated for any room by taking the volume of
the room - height x length x depth in centimeters( cm ) to come out
with a number in cubic centimeters. Vent fans are rated by
how many cubic centimeters per minute of air they can move out of a
room, so divide that vent fan number into the volume number of the
growroom. That will tell you how long in minutes that it will take
that fan to evacuate the room one time. From there you will be able
to tell how big a vent fan or how many vent fans will be needed to
evacuate the air completely 5 times an hour.
Gable Vent Fan
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Another circulating fan blowing air gently through the
gap between the light hoods and plant tops allows for the optimal
distances for growing or budding without scorching of cannabis plants
by moving fresh, cooler air over the plants. A small reciprocating
circulating fan can sweep back and forth and provide all the air
movement that is necessary if the room is vented properly. The power
usage costs of these fans are small but add a few more watts to a
good cannabis grow set up.
Reciprocating Table Fan
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Finally, two 40 watt 4-foot Fluorescent Shop light
hoods or 4' fish tank hoods and a 60 watt bent one-socket fluoro with
hood or reflector. This is enough light to keep three 10 gallon
cloning tanks producing 10 new clones a week each. Make your own cloner at: Make a Plant
Cloner
Commercial Plant Cloner
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This cannabis grow setup is designed for economy of
both energy use but also work load. Two people working as a team can
give each other work breaks on tasks, since there will always be
something to do on a daily basis. Indoor Cannabis Farming is very
satisfying if you size your project both to your needs and your work
habits and NOT to "get rich quick". In the end, this would be an
ideal size set-up for 1 to 2 people working out of a small house with
a spare bedroom.
Starting with seeds, potting soil and the fluorescent
light set-up. You can build your rig week-by-week with the next
larger wattage set of lights as your marijuana plants grow, creating
the next level for growing as needed. This cannabis set-up technique
of building the different areas in the grow room step-by-step from
smallest to largest is only interupted by the need to clone your
vegetating plants before being put into the bloom room. That occurs
after about six weeks of weed vegetation beginning your first set of
cannabis clones. More on Seed Germination:
Cannabis Seed Germination
4 foot fluoros
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For soil grows, the addition of worm castings, which
are truly "black gold" to farmers can be made at home by setting up a
5 tray worm bin system. You will be surprised by the fresh earthy
smell. Both economic and eco- friendly, even without a grow set up.
Everyone should have a worm bin for vegetation waste disposal.
More on Composters at: Worm Composters and Black
Gold
Plastic Multi-Tray Worm Bin or
Composter
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There are two things that should be left to larger,
more experienced pro growers. Hydroponics equipment is more expensive
than soil and more complicated to take care of than organic soil
growing methods, so I would only recommend hydroponics after working
a soil grow for a year or two. Most people find that indoor organic
soil growing methods provide ALL they need in producing fine
sensimilla.
CO2 Tanks or CO2 Machines are used to increase the growth rate of
cannabis plants and they work. The problem is that they are expensive
and can be dangerous to people living in the house if the equipment
is not used correctly. Most growers DO NOT use this stuff in there
set-up for those two reasons. However, they are wonderful when used
correctly in greenhouses. Plants thrive in high CO2 atmospheres!
You can use the above as a template to modify or to use
as-is in the step by step installation of "Grow Room On A Larger
Scale Sea-Of-Green Style"( GROALS SOGS ) based methodology and based
on the growing cycles of marijuana physiology. More
on Cannabis Growth Cycle at: Cannabis
Growth Cycle
Particularly suited are the short growing varieties of Cannabis
Sativa, Cannabis Indica, and Hybrid Cannabis Strains from Dutch Seed
Sellers. These varieties have been collected from around the world
and are genetically modified to meet scientifically high standards of
agronomy based on the Dutch Tulip Industry Technologies and Culture.
The Dutch are serious horticulturalists and are well respected in the
cannabis seed marketplace. The Swiss and Spanish are highly respected
as well and are worth taking note for a different group of highly
cultivated strains. More on The Top 10 Greatest
Cannabis Strains to Start With at: Good Pot Strains for
Beginners
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