It’s a general consensus that growing herb is best done with a good hydro system. Hydroponics is the process of growing a plant without soil. There are a couple of different ways to grow with hydro, but regardless you need to pick up the following:
• Lighting
• Nutrient System (usually a 3-bottle system)
• 1 PPM Meter (measures nutrients in parts per million)
• 5 gallons of purified H20 (or more depending on setup)
• Seeds
• Grow medium (I prefer hydroton, but more on this later)
Choosing your lighting will be the first task. There are several technologies out there, all of which have advantages and disadvantages.
Compact fluorescent lighting is the cheapest way to grow herb. Of course, it is also the least effective. For vegetative growth, use the most blue temperature (5000k+), and for flowering use predominantly warm light (2500k-3000k).
This system combines an HID metal halide bulb with a digital ballast. Metal Halide has a blue hue that makes it very effective for vegetative growth but not for flowering. These systems do use a lot of electricity and give off a decent amount of heat so you should always use them in conjunction with good ventilation.
LED technology is probably the future of growing. NASA is developing LED technology is hopes of using it to sustain life in outer-space. A good LED panel is expensive but gives off virtually no heat and uses less electricity than your television. The light is tuned red and blue, surprisingly the only 2 colors marijuana needs to flourish.
HPS is another HID system and as such uses a bulb and a ballast. This system is recognized as the most effective way to grow. It does use a lot of electricity and give off some heat so only use HPS lighting in conjunction with good ventilation.
Hopefully you have a better idea of which lighting system to use. No matter what your choice, ventilation is always important. Stale air will stunt growth and invite insects, mildew, and other things you don’t need around your girls. You really can’t have too many fans! Anyway, lighting is usually the most expensive part of the setup, so once you figure that out its time to select some nutrients.
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