New Grower Help direct a new grower in the right direction for his auto grow

[lunarman]

I'm legal to have 15 plants at home. I might not always grow that much, but I'd like the option to so I can experiment with strains.

I was looking at a setting up a photo grow with a flower tent and veg tent and keeping my total of 15 plants spread between the two tents. But I like the idea of autoflower growing better. One of the reasons is cost. I'm hoping I can keep cost lower by setting up for one tent only.

I have no idea what strains I'll be growing or what size they are.

Is there a good ballpark area size tent that would be OK for me to have up to 15 auto's? I don't want to cram plants in the tent. I'd like some space for the plants and for me to work in the tent.

Once I figure out what tent dimension to go with, I'll switch gears to figuring out the lighting.

 

[talkative]

Auto=tent or no tent. Why do you need a tent? Save your money, 15 plants and the lights alone will cost a fortune. Either way, no matter how big a tent is or how many you can legally grow you are limited to the productive footprint of your light (or lights.) Start with a good light and build everything around that. For autos a tent is only necessary for stealth or to micro control environment, but an auto will grow anywhere a house plant will grow and they like the same environment growers like to watch tv in.

 

[lunarman]

My grow area is a garage and I can't do any reno work and build a room or two. And I can't turn the whole garage in to a grow area. I need to carve out a space in the garage and I figured the best way to do this with a tent.

I understand lighting is a key factor and I want a light with the right watts/PAR and coverage for 15 auto plants.

But I also need to know how much area I need my tent to be.

 

[talkative]

My grow area is a garage and I can't do any reno work and build a room or two. And I can't turn the whole garage in to a grow area. I need to carve out a space in the garage and I figured the best way to do this with a tent.

I understand lighting is a key factor and I want a light with the right watts/PAR and coverage for 15 auto plants.

But I also need to know how much area I need my tent to be.

ok, but you don't need to do anything, just hang a light and put plants under it if the temps in the garage are not too cold at night. But I am not comfortable in anything less than 4 square feet per plant. My plants get about 2x2. I like to have more of everything I need rather than to max everything out. Tents were invented by photo growers who need 12 hours of total darkness. Auto growers just use them because they already bought one, they think a tent will be a big secret to anyone who looks at it, or in some cases to provide a more stable environment for their plants. But as far as carving anything out, a roll of yellow police tape will carve out an area just as well as a tent. Keeps the riff raff out and let's family members know to stop stacking their junk in your grow corner.

 

[lunarman]

wow. 15 plants x's 4 sq ft is 60 sq ft. that's one big tent and a lot of lighting. I should probably downsize to 10 plants and a couple of 1000 watt HID and one big 8x4 or so tent.

 

[Starbreaker]

wow. 15 plants x's 4 sq ft is 60 sq ft. that's one big tent and a lot of lighting. I should probably downsize to 10 plants and a couple of 1000 watt HID and one big 8x4 or so tent.

You could easily fit 9 autos in a 4x4 with 2-3 decent lights. I've fit more than that in mine lol. They weren't all in the same stages of growth though.

 

[lunarman]

lets say I have a 4x8 tent and I have anywhere from 10 to 15 autos in there down the road. I can see having some at various stages of growth.

What HID lighting would you use? two 600s? two 1000's? three 600s?

 

[talkative]

lets say I have a 4x8 tent and I have anywhere from 10 to 15 autos in there down the road. I can see having some at various stages of growth.

What HID lighting would you use? two 600s? two 1000's? three 600s?

2 is always better than 1. If 1 goes out all is not lost. Plus buy one, see how you like it, then by the time you figure out you like it they will make a new improved model. Or, like most, after the first light you wish you had more light, but at least you will know better by then. Very few small frowers use HID anymore. I am not familiar with the newer cmh, but that old 600w mh/hps is a great workhorse, has been used for years and grows top shelf, cheap to get into, efficient electricity wise, but not cheap over the long run to operate. For $200 you can't go wrong. Start with just one 600 mh/hps. It will be good for 4 plants, maybe more depending on your style and size pot, could cover 4x4 and 9 plants in 3 gallon pots. My guess is you will eventually go for led, but start with the 600 hid, you can always add led to it or get another one if you like it to cover 12 plants. Be sure you have the proper breaker to handle more than 600w.

 

[talkative]

so, most growers use 3 gallon pots about 12 inches in diameter, you can use that as a guideline. Mine are 8 gallon ([HASHTAG]#10[/HASHTAG] airpot) and 16 inches in diameter and the plants grow about 6 inches more beyond the rim of pot.

 

[lunarman]

I have come to a decision already. Things happened pretty quickly today. There is a local guy who bought a lot of gear in January and has to sell it. So I am now the owner of 3 Secret Jardin tents. an 8x8, 4x4 and 2x2. All in excellent condition. I'm going to use the 8x8 for my crop of 15 plants and go autoflower strains to keep my life easy. 64 sq feet give each plant just over 4 sq ft if I happen to have all 15 at one time. So with this amount of space I should have a good setup for what I want. I'll prob keep the 2x2 for drying and sell the 4x4.

I also got nutes, pots, timers, 8 inch fan and carbon filter and ducting, two 600 HPS light kits with cool tubes and ballasts.

So with an 8x8 tent loaded up with 15 autoflowers I will need additional lighting that did not come with todays haul. I'll have the 2 600's to start with. Now I need to figure out how to up the lighting in this tent to where it needs to be, like around 3000 watts. Not sure what to do about adding more light. Any suggestions? I need to figure out how to add the additional light and then how it all fits together with with cooling/exhaust/air circulation.