I had 3lbs from feb, half is gone, yes I smoke a lot
It sounds like a 4x4 7' tall tent would work. I grow 4 large plants in 3-gal containers. Depending on the strain, you should be able to get a pound every grow. If you grow outdoors in the summer, that amount from the tent should meet your needs.
I like CMH. But, a 315 LEC is sized for a 3x3 space. You'd have to supplement a 6" margin all the way around. That's not hard. You can use 1-2 tube 4-foot T5HO. Those fixtures fit between the tent legs nicely. You'd have to rig it up a little, like
the mounts you saw in the AK-47 thread you replied to. (<<link). I like to use household LED lightbulbs. I have tent-leg mounts and "fixtues." You could just mount 6 sockets in a 4' length of 1x4 board (make four, use 9w LED lightbulbs with the diffusion globe cut off. That would be 216w. Plenty for sidelighting arund that 6" margin. You'd only turn those lights on when plants grow into that space. ). Hang those from the top as a fixture (around the sides), or mount it to the tent legs.
I have documented
how I work with LED lightbulbs (<<link).
If you can't afford a CMH, you can make "fixtures" for lightbulbs. That's cheap. I show how to make two types. But,a fixture can be just wood with sockets installed. But, I think you'd like CMH better (easier to use, emits UV which these bulbs don't).
LED grow-light fixtures may be a better choice. But, I got out of that a few years ago because there's so much flim-flam in the LED grow-light market. I like standardized, componetized, commoditized t5ho & CMH. (Growing with the lightbulbs is fun too.).
This is
the soil I use. (<<link) And
the nutrients. (<<link) That stuff works very well for me. It's all dialed in. You don't need cannabis-themed multi-bottle "lineups." Those are just franchised feeding programs that abstract what you're feeding. You can create the same NPK ratios and strengths using virtually anything (for much less expense). I use Grow More - Sea Grow as my base nutrient, and vary the ratios with other things (as shown in that linked document). Many people use Jack's Classic All Purpose from veg through harvest. I've used my Sea Grow that way too. (I've grown a plant veg to harvest using MiracleGro Tomato. That's easily available at the hardware store. But, I think Jacks or Sea Grow would be better (I'm not a swinging fan of Scotts. But, now that they own
Botanicare, General Hydropnics, Sun Systems.... It's increasingly hard to avoid Big Agro now.).
I really like my soil. But, I'd like to replace the Pro-Mix HP with something more generic, that doesn't require visiting a specialty-shop (I don't think cannabis is that special. I think it should be possible to grow using just stuff from the hardware store.). I'm growing
two plants right now in Kellogg Cactus mix. (<<link) I'm wondering how my soil would work if I substituted the Pro-Mix HP with that cactus mix. They're both soilless, fast draining/drying, nutrient-free. I'm thinking about trying that next. (I saw someone using Kellogg Raised Bed. It looked a lot like the texture I tried to create with my soil. It might need 30% perlite. I need to buy a bag and look at it. That could be a simple, hardware-store soil without getting into mixing two soils the way I do. (Anyway, I'm just saying the Pro-Mix HP is the one thing that makes my soil more expensive than I'd like it to be. That's something I want to experiement with. I think the whole specialty-shop, specialty nutrients, specialty lights, etc. markets are rip-offs. I try to stay away from all that. I suppose in the scale of things, those areas aren't bad. If you're getting 200 grams from a plant, what's a few dollars for cartoon-labeled nutrients? Or, specialty medium like Pro-Mix HP? I'm averse to all that stuff, price-per-gram, it's probably nothing to worry about.
