LOL yeah it’s frustrating at first. You’re limited on daily “likes” also which can cause you to get stingy with handing them out haha 
WELCOME to the forum community from ANOTHER old fart 
There is such a wealth of knowledge in grow journals, and knowledgeable PEOPLE here who are willing to help you succeed and need only for you to ask questions Once you get your gear and set up, and begin to grow, create a journal also. MUCH easier to track things as you go and if you include a support ticket from the start, then there is a baseline already to go by to give better answers to your specific issue/need. Happy growing!!! And again, welcome!
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This probably still the most efficient way to grow indoors. Main reason you don’t see more is limits of legality. Most legal states have a plant count limit, and they’re not very high. Even illegal states treat a few plants as misdemeanor or less and treat several plants as a felony. Also a group of people that are just enlightened by large plants, even if it means wasting a bunch of time in veg.
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Welcome to the forums and thus our lovely community @DeadW8life.
Reading your into and the back story gave me a nice smile, yes much has changed but much is still the same.
As @dbrn32 cleared up for you SOG is still the ideal method for yeild but many shy away from it for a handful of reasons, legality, wanting variety (there is so much and it’s easily obtainable today), as well as the space to keep a mother plant healthy.
When it comes to nutrients as @Covertgrower mentioned our first recommendation will be Jack’s nutrients. It’s a 3 part dry nutrient that is hydro quality and checks all the boxes including price, performance, ease of use.
However ignore their sales pitch, just get Jack’s part A, a bag of calcium nitrate which can be found anywhere but jacks sells it also as part B, some Epson salts or magnesium sulfate which also can be found anywhere.
A bottle of PH up and PH down will be needed as well as a cheap TDS pen and a decent PH pen, we recommend Apera starter kit with all the calibration fluid however bluelabs or Hanna also see reliable tools.
If we can all back up and start from the first part in any system it would be your space, 3x5 you said? What are the exact measurements including height?
A 3x4x5 tent can be purchased very easily however modifying the space yourself will give you more room, this means lining the space with mylar you can purchase online or by painting it flat white.
Is there a window nearby or what were you thinking in terms of exhausting your oxygen rich air?
When it comes to exhaust fans AC infinity is making some of the most affordable top quality fans and tents, they have controllers in their T series and a T6 would be ideal for your space.
A cheap duct fan can be used, the standard ones but as your probably aware they are fairly loud and a controller will have to be purchased separately. The downside to aftermarket controllers is they will only be able to control the exhaust fan on one variable, humidty or temperature, even if it can detect both. The AC infinitys however can monitor and control the fan according to both temperature and humidity at the same time. The controllers are key to keeping variables ideal inside the grow space which allows better plant growth.
Next would be your lighting, if you have a bit of time and some basic tools you can build your own which will allow for the most ideal setup and cost. A lighting thread in the lighting section called DIY lighting is the place to discuss this and @dbrn32 leads that conversation along side many other members who enjoy this aspect of the hobby. LED’s are definitely the way to go, if your set on buying something HLG is our favorite American manufacturer, ChilLED has some nice stuff and Growers Choice. If you prefer cost savings and don’t mind Chinese products with the Korean led diodes all the companies are using then Kingbrite from Alibaba would be your go to. Personally I use both HLG and kingbrites, many refuse to buy the Chinese products however due to the overwhelming amount of garbage they flood our markets with however kingbrite is a solid producer who has been proven within the growing community and they products have their own advantages like low cost, water proof options, uva led’s into the boards, etc. This is a highly personal choice and a point of some tension at times such as Ford vs Subaru rally cars if you will lol
Once your space and lighting is chosen then the decision of plant count and growing medium will be your main focus.
Most experinced growers will recommend shying away from soil, unless that’s your goal, soil organic only etc. Organic can also be done in a soil less medium however like coco and coco is the most popular option, due to all soil less options allowing for direct nutrient access leading to bigger yeilds in a much shorter time. There are hydro options and aeroponic options as well however they do have a sharper learning curve and a low tolerance for error in trade for huge yeilds.
Seaa of green or what are your thoughts to fill your new space? It’s totally personal so don’t let anyone tell you that you have to grow this method or these type of plants.
One of my top recommendations is to consider a system of auto watering with a gravity feed reservoir, that water can be just water if you choose to go soil or it can be nutrient water like I use and run nutrients through coco medium.
There are a couple key reasons for this:
#1 you can leave your plants alone and don’t need to water everyday, they self water as they need it and it does a flood and drain with a 3 way valve this allows you more freedom to enjoy your garden or get out of the house Durring the week/weekend.
#2 when running coco or any other soil less nutrient in a traditional system we must always feed & water to 20% run off, this means that runoff needs to be collected daily by you and then you have waste water to deal with. This is also not the most environmentally friendly option. While autopots are a bottom feed system and the only waste water that is left is when you clean your reservoir bottom once and a while. So again you avoid becoming a slave to the watering of plants.
#3 many see improved yeilds.
Here is a guide (at the end of the first post hit the blue be that reads Summerize this thread, to speed things up if you don’t wish to read every single post but the first post is the most important)
So there is a couple key things to consider, again any questions feel free to ask and tag us. When someone doesn’t know for sure they will often give an opinion and tag other members more experienced members for clarity.
On the forums you can tag a person (it will give them a specific notification so they know to read your post) simple use the @ symbol and then type their name with no space @ nicky will show as @Nicky
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Welcome to the community we’re glad to have you.
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Ah, that’s a point I hadn’t considered.
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Thanks for the info. In the past, I ducted out of the top of the closet (3’x5’x8’), and tied the ducting into the exhaust ductwork from an adjacent bathroom.
I’m in a pretty rural area, but learned long ago that there are too many outdoor growers in my area and waaay too many whitetail deer for me to comfortable with outdoor grow. In the past I’ved used hair from a cosmetologist friend of mine around the planting area to keep away deer, hanging up pieces of bar soap, fencing, and it didn’t matter. If the deer want it they will get to it! Finally, after numerous flyovers and LE tearing out hundreds of plants on some hunting acreage adjacent to my land, and another large seizure a few miles from me, I abandoned the guerilla grows.
As far as my indoor grow area, I had access to plenty of white poster paper, so I lined the closet with white poster paper and stapled it in place. Seemed to do the trick.
Again all of the info is appreciated. I’m not in a rush to be up and running within a month or anything. Just gradually getting setup a bit at a time.
Re:growing medium. Before I used a 50/50 mix of potting soil and compost from my compost pile? I generally have access to the odd horse stall or barn to shovel out of horse or cow manure a couple of times/year. Add in veggie scraps from the kitchen, random greenery from working on our property, and ground up woody material/leaves. The finished mix came out nice and loamy. My grow containers were…gangster. Imagine a closet full of the ~12" x 18" pans. Bricks in the bottom, and the pans filled with as many cutoff , 2 liter;drink bottles with drain holes popped in the bottom. Bottles on top of the bricks, draining excess moisture into the pan.
I had a small cabinet I made in another room for my mother plant and cloning trays. All very bargain basement compared to y’all’s setups, lol. I’ll definitely get into the PH pens and dissolved solids doohickeys. Before, I just used my eye and watched my plants to guide my nutrient adjustment when necessary.
So, with all the good information y’all are sharing and my past experience, hopefully things will go well when I start up. In the process of building up my feminized seed varieties now.
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Yea deer are a pain and law enforcement is a hassle, pests can be as well.
Strongly consider coco but of course we will help you with any decision you make, if going soil ensure 30% of the mix is perlite or vermiculite this reduces compaction and aids root growth.
I’m in my first photo grow in 3 years, the last years I have been growing modern autoflowers from better and better breeders and I’m a huge fan of them to be honest.
I would avoid buying to many seeds off the start until you have a couole grows under your belt here and see what others are growing as well as this allows you time and money to later grow something you are Intrested in.
Piling up the seeds early on may lock you into many grows down the road which your mind will. Change later.
Regular non feminized seeds have a cleaner genetic then feminized, less chance to herm and more vigor but the sexting still has to be done.
However for 10$ per test you cna send a leaf sample off to a lab and know the sex of the plant within the first 2-3 weeks of growth (this is how I grew my current regulars with a 50/50 female male ratio perfectly lol)
Modern autoflowers grow and flower fast 3 months from seed to harvest, and their thc has been tested at 28% and I’m sure higher but it’s not something I focus on because we now know terpene profiles is just as important if not more important than thc % as they work together. A bud that tests at 20% with few terpenes will be blown out of the water with a rich terpene bud at a lower thc %.
Lots to consider that’s for sure.
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Welcome from another old schooler, I also came over from the HPS world of growing, started with 4’ flouros even before that then moved to 250 watt HPS, then to 400 watt HPS and eventually 600 watt HPS in cool tubes (air cooled reflectors) when that came out.
I was using 600 watt HPS lights til about 1.5 years ago when I switched to LED. Replaced the 600 watt HPS in my 3x3 flowering tent with a HLG 550 rspec and have been very happy with it, more light, less heat, less hot air to exhaust, can keep more humidity in the grow space.
I still do SOG grows with clones now and then, have one going right now with some Blue Dream clones, very sativa dominant so looks more like I’m growing corn with these tall plants than SOG LOL.
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@Nicky Definitely not building up a crazy inventory. Just a couple that I am a tad familiar with their genetics…Silver Haze and I believe I can handle White Rhino. All of the other new strains that are available now will be on down the road.
I never had a problem sexing plants once there were a few sets of leaves. In the past I have left some veg on the stem and eased the lights back up to create my cuttings for clones but only if the strain performed well.
I really like all of the information and resources available, I could spend hours researching!
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@Hellraiser Oh man, if you go back to the old fluorescent days, you probably remember that octagon shaped doohickey that they swore was the best thing since sliced bread and pockets on pants.
Used to be in High Times magazine a lot…think they called it a Phototron?
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hehe, yep, the were, lol
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LOL, yeah I remember it, had one and actually used it for a while before I just took over the entire closet.
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Had one in High School, think I paid $250 for it, shit come to think about I might still have it in storage! In the graveyard of useless things along with VW Bug sized switchable transformers and reflector hoods for bMH/HPS. It, looked like that weird lamp everyone’s grandma had that dripped oil down the fishing lines like raindrops.
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Hope you ain’t paying monthly for that storage lol
HaHa…One way or another I surely am, time for a good purge, It’s that out of sight out of mind thing!
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Storage units is a huge money making business lol I’ve thought about building some in my town
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Huge biz here in the US too, Americans cant stop buying shit & overstuffing their McMansions.
The Biz model will taper off like Assisted living and Walgreens, its already oversaturated, but at least cheap in the taxing.
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Ohhh assisted living is so hard to find. Huge business. Most can’t afford it though
Anyways sorry off topic
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Ok, gents and ladies. I’ve spent the last couple of hours immersed in the search function researching.
Have read up and saved a copy of checking water pH ( I’m out in the country and on a well, so who knows what it is), Ph of water going in, Ph of runoff, making a slurry and checking soil Ph if you run into issues with nutrients not helping deficiency problems, but …I’m lost on an decent PH pen and EC/TDS meter.
Seems you can drop $50 bucks or you can drop $150. I know you need to buy extra solution to keep your Ph pen calibrated, but honestly…Aspera 60, Aspera 20, Homefront, Bluelab.
I’m not one to buy the cheapest tools and then wear out a set of kneecaps kicking my own butt later on for being tight with my $, but I’m not one to buy the latest and greatest because it is the latest and greatest. Guess my tendency is to buy the workhorse/reliable version of things, not the shiniest pimptastic version.
Y’all have been super helpful already, but I think my eyes have crossed after so much time using the search function. So, any input y’all can offer would be appreciated!!!
Hope this isn’t bad manners to post about Ph tools in my thread about lighting, but I was trying to keep all my questions under one thread until I have moved up to current technology.
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Spend money on your pH pen and you can go cheap on yes.
I use blue lab for pH and Home forest for tds. Wish they woulda had the kawi green when I got that. Only $15 may just need a backup😉
pH pens need storage solution too.
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