I understand that, but like I said money is an issue right now. What would be a cheaper alternative to supplement what I have? Would supplementing it with full spectrum CFL’s help?
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Ive never grown autos only photos. With a photo you can send into flower at whatever size you want. So if i wanted a 3 foot or a 6 foot flowered plant its up to me. Autos do their own thing so all control is lost on size. Yeild is quite different. With a 4X4 tent i should be able to average 2 and half pounds each grow with photos. Of course photos take more time and remember when you flip they will double.
You could probably.veg a 2x4 and supplement with red cfls for flower time.
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I picked up the ILGM autoflower mix pack with Northern Lights, Amnesia Haze and Blueberry. I really enjoyed the Northern lights buzz and taste. Mine had a pine scent and citrus and pine taste. It was a very relaxing buzz I prefer in the evening. Amnesia Haze being a sativa is my day time energetic smoke. Good luck and happy growing 
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I think I can work something out by combining it with lights I have in hand.
After consideration I think I’ll build a tent over a PVC frame. Cheap to do and I have lots of opaque tarps for the outside and Mylar for the inside. I’ve blacked out the room, so no worries if I go with photo.
I’ll do a journal after I get this going. I’ve still not settled on what seeds to order, so this is still weeks off. I think a journal on doing it on the cheap would good to do. Not everyone can budget for all the best equipment available. I’m about to retire and pennies become important or I’d just order a tent with all the goodies.
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Now that sounds more like the old stuff I loved so much. Thanks.
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If you are going to build I would go back to the wood frame it would hold more weight if you wanted to put in ventilation or hang fans lights whatever comes up (something always does from my experience) PVC is just too flexible unless you get three or four inch pipe with all the fittings you will be spending more time and money in the long run. Go with what you have and save for a grow tent in the future also I agree with boardsbird go with photos I think they are more forgiving it’s not hard to change a timer from 18/6 to 12/12 but you wait too long to tie down a auto and accidentally break off the top half and there goes a chunk of your finished bud
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Thanks. That sounds like good advice. I’ve pretty much decided to go with photo after more research. Just waiting on a check to come in to get this all started. Probably in about a month.
After a lot of thought I may just put up a false wall in a corner and hang everything from the joist’s. A more permanent solution than a grow tent would be a framed in closet and I have a couple of doors. I think that would be better than a tent anyway. I could vent it straight outdoors and I’ve got two separate 20 amp circuits already going to receptacles in the corner I’m considering. I don’t think the squirrels in my back yard give a damn about the smell either.
I am going to try some auto’s outside next summer. Our growing season is too short here and I grew from some mystery seeds outside last summer. Huge plants, but it just gets too cold too fast. I think those are the solution outdoors without a greenhouse.
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FWhatever you choose good luck I grow in a 2x3 coat closet I covered with Mylar blankets my last grow I grew 1 amnesia haze,1 blueberry,and 1 northern lights all auto a mix pack from ilgm I got 10 oz cured all good smoke in a 4 month period no lst nothing just a little nutes at the end I can get the same amount of weed from two photos in the same closet but it takes a little over 5 months both grows were with a 460watt led blurple light I don’t think your light will be big enough for a 4x4 area but your goals are completely doable with what you have good luck and choose the seed that fits your goals🌱
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Thank you. That is truly helpful information.
This is what I do and it’s cheap and gives me what I need.
I have 12 bulb CFL setup in a 2’x3’ area. I grow 4 White Widow Auto in Fox Farms Ocean Forest. I harvest roughly 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 ounces every grow so far. I do this twice a year. This more than enough for my needs. Cheap easy and No heat problems!
PS
The CFLS are 5400k during vegetation and changed to 2700k
for flower. These are 23watt/100watt equivalent. I top each plant once.
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Thanks so much. With the led light I have and a few of those I should be golden. I actually have some of those sitting in a closet unused.
I ordered the White Widow Auto to try and I’ll get started building this weekend. I decided to use the end of a large closet to make it simpler.
Topping Auto’s was my next question so thanks for that info also.
All I need is at most 3 ounces a year and I’d like a little for edibles. I made my first cannabutter recently and it worked out great. Still prefer to smoke it though.
Cool. Just looked and three stores here carry Fox Farm products.
Well, the seeds actually showed up a few days ago and after they got the payment, it only took a few days, so I’m very satisfied with that.
I’m going to put together my grow closet this weekend and I’ll start a journal then. Thanks folks for your help! 
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I never did get a journal going, but things have gone really well so far. I ended up not actually starting them until the first part of March.
2’x3’ foot homemade tent in a closet. Really simple and since smell is not an issue it’s just a Mylar tent inside a closet with a foil duct going out to a fan I had to move the air and another blowing towards the intake I built into the door. Turned out a King Plus 1500 was perfect.
I followed the simple rule of keep it simple stupid, check them once a day and I’m about 4 weeks into flower with the buds getting very large and fat. Zero issues.
I used plain old Miracle Grow potting soil in fabric pots and have used very limited amounts of Fox Farm nutrients. Flushed them twice. I started with 3 plants but had to move one outside they got so big around. I topped them with great success, so yes top the auto’s in my opinion. My little space is completely filled with and after topping all the branches got to near equal at the top, so heavy buds on all, that have started getting very fat on all. The yield should be decent.
I added four cheap 2700K CFL (100 watt equivalent) bulbs to the mix for more red light when the first started to flower. Seems to be perfect.
All in all, so far so good and unless I do something dumb, I expect to harvest in a couple of weeks, never having had a single issue with the plants or my thrown together grow closet.
The one I put outside is still thriving. It was only around 52 to 55 Fahrenheit in the day here
when I put that outside and still getting down to the lower 40’s at night here in Anchorage, so these are very hardy. Getting ready to start a half dozen for outdoors this summer now that the temps are up. Auto’s are the perfect answer for our far north climate. Summers here are more like spring going straight to fall.
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That’s great. I’d love to see set up and the ladies! What strains are you planning for the outdoors grow this summer?
I need to take some pictures. The setup ain’t pretty but it’s functional.
Each of the three plants is unique. Three different heights. One has long cola’s very dense with flowers. One has shorter cola’s with fatter dense buds. The one outside is taller still and it was a few weeks behind so it just showed the first sign of flower. The two tallest are a few inches taller than the WW Auto’s are supposed to be. Don’t know why. Topped between node 4 and 5 and in the end even the side cola’s are the same height as the main ones, so nice and even at the top.
I still have more White Widow Auto seeds, so I’m going to plant six of them outside. Starting them this weekend. June 1st is traditional planting day here, but normally people use a greenhouse to get a full season. The auto’s are perfect for here. Grow normal plants and you have to have a greenhouse to get through fall.
Here we can have 3 plants in flower and 3 in vegetative stage for each adult and up to a maximum of 6 in each state of growth for a household. I imagine I’ll give away most of the bud as I don’t smoke much myself and my wife does not smoke at all. She does love growing things though.
I think my next indoor will be GG#4 Auto’s. I need to order some seeds.
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I’d like to see some pictures of what you got so far. I top all my autos and just harvested 10oz off one plant
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10 oz from one plant sounds remarkable! I’ll be very happy if I get 4 to 5 oz’s out of my closet. The plants have been perfect all along with zero issues at all. Only problem was I had to remove some branches and leaves that were not getting enough light the fan leaves were so large and close together.
I’ll try and get some pictures this week. Old fart here, old cell phone, but I do have a nice Nikon I need to dig out of the closet and use a good macro lens. I need to find the focusing rail to get pic’s of the buds that are sharp and clear.
I’ve only planted 3 WWA’s so far and I’m new to this. As I mentioned above the three plants are all unique. The two I still have in my 2’ x 3’ closet are very different from each other. One is getting longish cola’s, the other short. Both had lush, large fan leaves. The shorter one is about the height the strain info said they would grow too, the other is by about 8 inches so far.
The one outside is going to be maybe 12 to 18 inches taller than they are supposed to get. Why it even survived the cold is beyond me considering I put it out there so early here in Alaska. These WW’s are very hardy and cold tolerant. It was three weeks younger, so it’s just now getting full into flower. The cold seems to have slowed it down by a couple of weeks also. We are at about 18 1/2 hours of sun right now and just getting days in the mid 60’s F and just above 50 at night. I need a greenhouse.
It looks like even under identical conditions, each one is very unique. Are you having that experience with them?
One mistake I made was not keeping track on a calendar. I think the ones inside are just starting week six of flower. The buds feel rock hard inside, so they may weigh more than I think when dried.
I did not have much money to spend, but it looks like I got the light just right. Like I mentioned I just planted in Miracle Grow potting soil and I’m giving them about half the recommended amount of the Fox Farm nutrients and flushing once a month. No deficiencies and no other issues.
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With mg soil, you don’t want to flush. The more you water, the more the time released nutrients let out
What’s “mg soil” stand for? I’m a newbie on my first grow using Coast of Maine soil. Recently started having issues approximately 8 weeks in and flushed one auto tonight. Everything was going amazing till a couple weeks ago. Been worried about my girls.