If I gave up after one little fire, i would still be living in my van down by the river🤣
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then by all means go for it, just be aware of the monthly cost of running them as well as heat management - what seems cheap up front may be a false economy in the long run, but saying that I grew with T5’s and T8’s for years and grew some great bud.
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I am the king of budget I think, so always have ways to do it “low budget…outfuckingstanding results”
I live life proving “you get what you pay for” is a straight up lie👍
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Will only be for a crop or two, LEDs are a first priority as well as a good tent. The savings I get off my $65 an 1/8 dispensary flower twice a week will cover some decent upgrades in a hurry.
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Check out the DIY thread for tons of info on that, but I think lots of people are going with 3500k for a middle of the road spectrum. If you mixed you could do some 2700 (red/orange) and 5000 (blue) for a good blend. You can even get UV strips now to add a bit of that in, just be careful because I believe they can fry your eyes.
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@ChemicalDependant man I wish there was a huge laughing emoji I could put for your fire comment:rofl: 
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Eyes, skin too up around UVC. Non visible light ain’t no joke. I won’t be the one tending the plants, except remotely (fortunately I love automation) so anything I set up needs to be caretaker friendly for daily maintenance. I should be able to automate most of it but the trimming and training. I should be able to do them myself.
Edit I ran out of replies for my first day, so I’ll have to get back to you guys tomorrow, but trust me I’m reading. Y’all don’t know how happy I am to be here, this is a life changer. Other sites I’ve found are outdated and give conflicting info. Love this place.
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I thought this was a budget build🤣
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Ya anything uv is really optional so I wouldn’t bother for your first grow.
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In my experience of myself and some friends, its easy to waste money, I say think hard and long,not just the present but your plans for later. I am watching someone right now start out, they bought all these cheap led lights that don’t amount to a hill of beans,honestly he could do better with cfls . But in the end these are his mistakes to make, I did try to offer advice lol. I did it myself, I bought digital fans and humidifiers and dehumids then the power goes out,and they dont come back on…And they dont allow the use of controllers.
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It can be done, some potting soil and some old fluorescent lighting should get you a crop. Its not going to be top shelf, but should offset those $60 eighths until you can invest in better equipment.
@ToddMcC tells a story about how he started growing with some pots, soil, and fluorescent lights he found at his grandmother’s. I love that story.
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same problem here 20 years of growing inside
equals a shit ton of equipment 
peace and be safe
Dequilo
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Don’t know about saving on nutes with LED. When I swapped from hps to led I had to up my feed. I also went from 1000w to 840 true watts of led
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Guys I want to start growing for the first time, besides the fact I have no seeds available to me, and besides the technical debates about equipment, what’s the best and cheapest way to monitor/feed nutrients to a grow?
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I keep reading here about the “cheap LED lights” as if they are all useless, which is total BS. If we are discussing blurple lights then I agree, however there are a lot of really btright 3500k LED boards out there now that are pretty kickass that don’t break the bank.
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Check out this article:
As room temperatures get higher, water evaporation from pots/media increases, which then increases nutrient concentrations in the dryer regions of the media. This process can create toxic levels of nutrient concentration in the root zone if not addressed. So with the higher room temps required for optimal LED results, experienced growers recommend reducing nutrient concentrations (by around 25-30%) to compensate. An alternative to lower nutrient levels is to water with plain water (Reverse Osmosis PH adjusted water) 1 out of every 2-3 watering cycles to balance the root zone nutrient levels. This is extremely important with air pots i.e. fabric or other highly aerated pots with soilless media. In general, the number one mistake inexperienced growers make are over watering and over fertilizing .
https://news.californialightworks.com/tips-tricks-best-practices-for-growing-with-leds/
Figure ill chip in my part as i setup a relatively cheap grow this year, my box is 2ft by 2ft made out of plywood that i bashed together for free but the materials can be obtained for £10 or so.
space blanket lined £1
Plastic 1L pots 50 for £4.50
LED Light 17 bridgelux strips eb2 3500k (for veg and flower) + 240w driver + sonoff controller + dimmer knob + aluminum corner + bolts and nuts + wire for < £150 (overkill, my next light is 150w and under £100 
)
Nutes im using the megacrop sample (use the code) and epsom salt which totals about £10
Ph down+ up £5 + ph tester £30 cause its important + scales £5
Fan for inside £5
Extraction inline fan and carbon filter new with 4 inch ducting £60
Cococoir for £12 for lots (i forgot)
My harvest just paid for this setup 8 times over and im very proud of my little seeds
Seeds were kindly donated by fellow og members so scary seed costs were nil.
Upgrades i have got for security and ease were the small RH detectors 3 for £4 and a small dehumidifier for £20
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Impossible for me to over water lol, mine live in water full time. I run dwc. I won’t bring a single grain of dirt in my house ever again. Every time I have there’s always a bug infestation of one type or another that soon follows. I had to up my pH, and nutes.
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Just grab some cheap nutrients (veg and bloom) that get good reviews online. Start them at 50% of what it says on the bottle and mix them stronger if the plants show deficiencies. It’s really that easy.
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just look at the plants & if uncertain post pictures on here & ask for help 
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