1st Grow - $1500 budget 4x4 HELP PLS

welcome to the farm what type of medium are you wanting to grow in there are a few options and many pitfalls along the way maybe do some repurchase before you just wander in to pick the community brains you must have some idea of what type of grow you want to try to grow .

I would go with a decent light as the first priority big chunk out of your budget. That’s the most important gadget for growing imo. Try looking at spider farmer lights. We use the sf4000 and the plants love it. Everything Else, like grow bags and soil are pretty simple and affordable. You can easily grow 4 plants with a great yield with some good fertilizer for probably under $1000. A grow tent is pretty easy to pick as long as it has a place to hang your light, Mylar reflective siding, and good ventilation. Good luck! I believe this will run you under $1200 if you buy right.
Depending how you pay for electricity, our cost to run the sf4000 for 17 hours per day on grid power comes to about $65/month extra and that is an equivalent to a 1000 watt light. It only consumes 450 watts while outputting virtually 1000 watts of lighting. Plus you don’t get that blurple color from those other leds.
GL

One drop said:

welcome to the farm what type of medium are you wanting to grow in there are a few options and many pitfalls along the way maybe do some repurchase before you just wander in to pick the community brains you must have some idea of what type of grow you want to try to grow .

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hey man! Glad to be here. I’ll be honest, I’m a complete noob. I see all the books like the grow bible and I check reviews and people say info is “outdated and useless” etc. So I’m not so sure where to start, I’m worried I’ll be thrown in the wrong direction. I know I want to go hydro but I’ve heard it’s much easier to start with soil or coco. I’m very detail orientated and stay on top of things. I want to get it as good as I can but I accept it’s a journey and I’ll make mistakes.

Tlegacy said:

I would go with a decent light as the first priority big chunk out of your budget. That’s the most important gadget for growing imo. Try looking at spider farmer lights. We use the sf4000 and the plants love it. Everything Else, like grow bags and soil are pretty simple and affordable. You can easily grow 4 plants with a great yield with some good fertilizer for probably under $1000. A grow tent is pretty easy to pick as long as it has a place to hang your light, Mylar reflective siding, and good ventilation. Good luck! I believe this will run you under $1200 if you buy right.
Depending how you pay for electricity, our cost to run the sf4000 for 17 hours per day on grid power comes to about $65/month extra and that is an equivalent to a 1000 watt light. It only consumes 450 watts while outputting virtually 1000 watts of lighting. Plus you don’t get that blurple color from those other leds.
GL

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Really appreciate your advice!! I can go over budget if it’s needed. Heard good things about the spider farmer lights. Would I be naive to start with hydro? As I’ve heard it’s harder than soil and I’m a complete noob. I’m looking for a complete start to finish inventory list, I’d really appreciate it if you could guide me. I’ll be making a grow diary here too :)

Honestly, hydro can be really easy. One of the most common mistakes new growers make is over/under watering. It's easy to curb that with stone, and even rockwool. Most would agree, however, that you don't get the richest flavor in totally inert medium.

My advice would be to pick a way that fits you and your sensibilities. Forums can be overwhelming because you inevitably get so many differing and conflicting opinions.

Build your space as tall as you possibly can, be it a tent or whatever.

Hi,
you should have no problem
getting a decent setup with $1500
I started with a 3x3 setup for under 1000
As said above the biggest cost is the light, I cheaped out
with 1 SF1000 and 4 23w CFL's in a 3x3.
Still ended up with over 7oz of trimmed bud and 3.5oz of trim
going to grab another 240w board type led
for flower.
shooting for 30-35w sq ft.
will likely grab a Chinese knock off as SF
seems to have jacked the prices up.

Depending on how you are going to grow you
may want to get a wet vac to suck up you run off.
Buy a decent PH meter, bluelab have a nice one.
or use drops but make sure you PH.
You may want an EC pen but I found once things were
dialed in I hardly ever use it.
I usually ran 1/2 strength nutes and all was good.
At least a 6 inch exaust fan
You should research |Hempy Buckets.
After lots of reading I decided to go with Hempy.
Cheap to start with
Easy way to grow Hydro
very clean had no issues with bugs
have to watch the nutes but after you get them dialed in wow.
super easy not alot of work, after they hit the reservoir you
water every 2 or 3 days.
I used 90:10 perlite vermiculite mix but will
am using just perlite this time.

good luck.

indoorgrowz said:

hey man! Glad to be here. I’ll be honest, I’m a complete noob. I see all the books like the grow bible and I check reviews and people say info is “outdated and useless” etc. So I’m not so sure where to start, I’m worried I’ll be thrown in the wrong direction. I know I want to go hydro but I’ve heard it’s much easier to start with soil or coco. I’m very detail orientated and stay on top of things. I want to get it as good as I can but I accept it’s a journey and I’ll make mistakes.

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Hey. I love that you are willing to do hydro. Are you pretty handy? do you have tools to do DIY stuff?

Tell us about your growing environment. Is it humid there normally? Do you need to hide the smell?

When I first started I had a similar budget. I actually have every expense Calculated... My total cost was around $900, everything from the tent and lighting, to the pots, soil and nutrients. Not including seeds and home electric modifications, but seeds are reasonably priced for first time growing. I did auto flowers for a while. and my first couple grows with this budget were a %100 success rate.

Also growing in a clean environment makes all the difference keep that in mind. You want to grow in a clean, dry, less likely to get bugs, mold resistant type of environment and what ever or how ever your growing should be more likely to thrive.

Here is my list take it or leave it, do your research. Keep in mind this was 5 years ago, and everything I bought was online for the most part, or my local grow shop. Since then I have changed so much in the way I grow, this is just what worked for me then. Good Luck!

First you want a grow area big enough to walk all the way around. A simple flood and drain (lots of YTVs) will simplify your life once you understand pH, ppm and rez temps, which need to be checked DAILY to avoid a huge disappointment. In a 4 x 4 you will likely only have room for 3 mature plants

There are various net pots that can be incorporated to be filled with a variety of media. Most common is clay balls, but they are dirty, break down, and can clog drains and feed pump. I have successfully used various size polished ornamental stones (smaller nearest the roots). I recently bought a new media called Bright Water, which looks promising I start in 4" net pots which can then be directly transferred into larger net pots without trauma

Instead of a SF 4000, I recommend 2SFs @ 2000., which provides flexibility when some of the plants are smaller. Plus, it's better to veg under a 2000 since veg plants don't require that much light

Look into Grow Ace they have a terrific Oxygen pot system

Good luck

hth