Treat Yourself, Grow Your Own

How much do you spend a month to buy weed? If it’s over $80 a month you’re paying too much. For as little as $80 a month you could be harvesting your own plants. Maybe you’re just tired of buying overpriced, low-quality buds. Whatever the reason you can start planning your grow today and be harvesting buds in just a few months.

By slowly building your own grow you can avoid suspicion and not have to drop a hefty chunk of your hard earned money all at once to do it. Once you have all the supplies, maintaining your grow is cheap and easy.

Whether you want to grow for medical or personal reasons, you should consider a few things and abide by some simple rules in order to grow successfully with a reduced risk of being caught. Don’t talk about your grow to anyone. If you have to talk about it, tell your friends about your buddies grow he lets you in on.

Don’t sell your harvest. This violates the ‘Don’t Tell Anyone’ Rule as well. If you’re selling, your buds are telling. Should you ever be caught selling, your residence will probably be searched also leading to more trouble for you when they find your glowing closet. Do you smoke enough to make growing worth it?

If you only smoke a few times a month and a $40 bag lasts forever, you may not want to spend the money or the time doing it yourself. Can you really afford to buy the equipment? If you’re having problems making rent or bills, you probably shouldn’t start growing either. Being evicted or having the power turned off can be enough bad news without worrying about what to do about your grow. Do you have the space to grow? If you’re crammed into a house or apartment with a few other people, you might not have space. Exactly how much space you will need depends on many factors. For most personal grows a small closet can be enough space.

Even if by accident, can I live with the consequences if I’m busted? If you’re a student, you can lose your financial aid. If you’re a homeowner, you can lose your house. In either case, you may face jail. Are you prepared for that?
Barring that, what do you need to get started? What do you need to be successful? There are so many questions that it may seem daunting at first. Read over all the information you can before buy- ing anything. A hasty purchase now is worse than an informed purchase later. Should I grow in soil or should I try hydroponics? Fluorescent lights or HID’s? What is an
HID? I’ll try to cover some of the basics here, but there’s so much more to know that I’ll just have to wait for you to send me questions once you’ve done your reading.

Space: Space depends on how many plants you want to grow. This will also determine how much light you will need. Do you want one small plant or many small ones? One large plant or many large plants? Generally, indoors you are limited by the amount of light you can give your plants. More is better up to a certain point. It is best to find out how big of space your light can support and fill in from there. However, you may be limited by the available space in your house. If you can curtain off a section of your closet (not preferred), or build a small grow box (getting better), or use a little room with a locked door (best!) in your house, you will have a starting point to work from. Finding an area with enough space to work in, a way to bring in the fresh air and a way to exhaust heat should be the first priority. From there you should determine how many lights you will need to fill up space.

Light: Fluorescents are good for small plants, seedlings and clones. Larger plants generally do not get enough light from floros to be efficient. HID’s
(High-Intensity Discharge), are better for larger plants and come in two main flavours: High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) and Metal Halide (MH). As a general rule, the HPS’s are preferred for flowering plants while plants without flowers prefer the Halides. There is a significant debate over whether you need both types for the best growth. You can grow successfully with either of the two, I prefer HPS because they are more efficient.

With HID’s you should use between 60w and 100w per square foot of floor space you intend to use for growing. That is one 600w or 1000w light for every 3ft x 3ft space. Just remember that the more lights you use the more heat you will need exhaust.

Soil or Hydro: Soil is probably the easiest way to go with respect to maintenance.

Just water the plant and it’s good to go. Occasionally giving the plant nutrients will certainly increase your harvest. With hydroponics, there are several different methods for you to choose from. I recommend building your own hydro setup to save money. The individual methods are as much about your style as they are about the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Learning how each one works is important because you will need to choose which style you want based on your environment and gardening habits. Invariably questions will arise. Maybe you don’t have the experience to build your own grow box or the money to buy the high-end toys you want. I’ll show you ways to reduce the cost and maximize your money to get the most out of your grow. Once you have a good plan I’ll help you through the planning to the harvest.

Send in your questions to Mendrel@treatingyourself.com.