Auto flower grow journal
4 years ago my sister Angela who is suffering with MS contacted me about growing due to the ridiculous prices at the compassion centers here in RI. I said ok and set out to put together a small grow room. I went to our local grow store and walked around with the owner putting everything together. By the end I was totally disillusioned. The equipment alone was in the thousands. Never mind the mini split ac unit and the cost of an electrician. On top of that the cost of on going expenses for nutes , grow medium and electricity made the whole project way out of our budget. On top of all that was the problem of keeping the whole project stealth. The monthly electric bill was going to be a red flag and hiding the heat signature of the lights would be hard to hide. The authorities here use temperature guns to identify houses with grows. So began the quest for a new way to grow. There was a great deal of trial and error but eventually the “underfeed grow method” was born. Our goal was to be able grow enough product for a medical patient in a small space for a price that is affordable. We call our system "one square yard " . Our first tent was 3x3. This system provides 8 ounces of medical grade cannabis for around 1dollar a gram!
In the next few weeks I will explain the system and the equipment needed. I know everyone will have lots of questions and I will do my best to answer them. All I ask is you have an open mind. Thanks for reading this!
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I’m following along
sounds interesting enough. watching.
We decided we needed to find alternate solutions to every part of the grow process. Lighting, nutrients, grow pots and genetics to name a few.
Plants need certain basic things in order to grow successfully. Light , water, nutrition and oxygen. We use leds. They are basic leds but without fans. They use graphene coated heat sinks . They are efficient as well as quiet. They also have a switch for flower stage. It adds red ! Lol.
We use our own proprietary grow medium. A mix of coco choir and grow stones .
Since most of the patients we work with have no growing we needed to keep the nutrients simple. We supply them with our own premixed , ph balanced. There are 4 formulas for the 8 weeks of veg and flower and a flush. All they do is add according to the preset feed schedule.
We use 4 gallon white Dutch buckets with red lids!
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How are you getting the ph to stay in the right spot with using city tap water? Mine is high ph 7.3 out the tap.
The police are just driving around with ir temperature sensor scanning houses for to bust people growing.? If so wow a police state.
Your just sourcing water soluble organic nutrients and having the customer and the water?
For 2 or 3 hundred bucks you can have a top of the line 3x3 tent with a hlg light and everything else you need to make it work and no electrician needed i got 500 in my 4x4x6 grow tent. I think your grow store was giving you the weed tax.
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I following sounds interesting
When we first started I was looking at a 8 x10 tent that was $ 1000 alone along with all the equipment required for 24 plants.
As far as ph we are at 10.1 from the tap.
I mix my nutrients then adjust the ph. Then it’s fine. We are not running hydroponics so ph adjustment after that isn’t needed.
We think the cops are using electric bills and heat signatures . I believe the cops are protecting the interests of the compassion centers. In my next post I’ll explain how our underfeed system works.
Absolutely a tent that size is expensive, 24 plants isn’t exactly the typical grow lol. Even lighting with leds would be expensive
Sorry to be a sceptic here, but a pH of 10.1 from tap water is highly unlikely. I’m felling we are being fed a line of BS.
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I’ll make a video testing with my meter
We are now using a tent that is 2x4x5 with 3 300 watt leds
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Flint, Michigan maybe? 
LED’s are key to cost effectiveness. My whole system including 900W of LED runs about 245 on my wattmeter. Most TV’s use more power than that.
Still… ammonia is PH 11. Tap water in the 10’s seems a bit dangerous?
If you have a 900watt led that pulls 245 watts from the wall you have a 245watt led and is not very efficient at all
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Cops don’t look at light bills and most flir imagining done on peoples house is not random they are checking you out because of a snitch or a controlled by was done or your name keeps getting brought up then they get 2yrs to investigate and drop or get a warrant.
You said you were coming up with your own nutrients that are ph balanced that is the assumption that you just add water and go no ph adjustment.
You didn’t mention a big tent you just said a 3x3. Basically you have recreated the store but with your own nutrients but most people source their dry ingredients and and cut the bottle nutrients or cut them down to 1/4 strength also there are good soil mix recipe on here where you just water and grow and use no nutrients. Hope this helps you figure out what you are trying to accomplish better
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No… that’s my whole setup. Pump, fans, heating pads for germination… the whole deal.
Then you have a over marketed light with great pictures and advertisements i blew 2400 dollars on leds that were supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread and had to go back to mh/hps and now using a quantum board with them
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