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This issue we discuss your lighting needs. 80% of police busts of growers (they say) is from the heavy
cannabis smell leaking out into public access areas where unsympathetic Stalinist weasels (ie. your
neighbours) rat on you. Next issue we cover your ventilation needs and address that potential hazard.
However, electricity an be a safety (and thus legal...) problem if you don't do it properly. For sure if a fire
starts because you have improperly wired your grow room and the fire department comes a calling, you are
in trouble. That's the end of your grow operation. So...
Now that you have done your safety precautions first, we can proceed to actual setup. This discussion is for
no more than 8 plants, likely 4-6 plants, in a small to modest grow room.
If you have outlets or existing lighting that is suitable only for 100 watt bulbs or wall outlets that are used to
standard hosehold usage, it would be wise to upgrade with a new feed of BX cable from your electrical panel
to wherever you want to establish your grow operation. This is not as big a deal as it sounds. You get some
eectrical guy to come in and you tell him you're setting up a workshop for your power tools, things that draw
a lot of current, like sanders, skill saws, etc. Get a few heavy duty wall outlets put in and an overhead BX
cable for a strong fan/light.
Or you could do it yourself or have a friend install the wiring, but you must be sure your electrical panel is modern
and capable of handling the stress of your lights on 75% of the day. Again, it's not that complicated, but it has
to be done right! I don't believe in theft of electricity (seriously), so it is important to know how much your
electricity costs so your usage doesn't quadruple overnight.
For example, one kilowatt-hour in British Columbia, with taxes, costs about 6 cents. If you use one 1000 watt
metal halide bulb, this is the same as one kilowatt, so one hour of this bulb in use costs 6 cents. Multiply by
18 hours (one day's lighting) and that's $1.08 per 1000 watt lamp per day. Electrical bills in BC are
bi-monthly, so one 1000 watt metal halide bulb in use every day for 18 hours is $1.08 x 60 days = $64.80.
That kind of consumption wouldn't be too noticeable.
Two 1000 watt bulbs would be $129.60 in two months, somewhat noticeable, but in the great cosmic scheme
of things, among over 600,000 electrical customers in lower mainland, not likely to draw attention to
yourself if all other things are "normal". But I would say that's about tops if you want to remain discreet, and
keep your growing affordable. Normal household bi-monthly electrical bills in a suburban home might be
$150 to $275. If your regular bi-monthly bills are only $50 to $100, then no more than 1000 watts
total is recommended. If you rent your premises monthly and the electricity is included in your monthly rent,
you've a bit of a problem. Your landlord is going to notice any increase that is more than 20% above
previously "normal" usage. If the situation is tight you could down-size your grow operation, say one 400
watt metal halide for 4 plants with our mylar light reflection method (explained below): this is only a $25
per two month increase, an acceptable and discreet increase. But really, this is inadequate for what we really
want. The best thing if you live in an apartment situation and you want to grow indoors but the landlord pays
the bills is to tell him up front you want to grow tomatoes, but you'll pay your own electrical bills
directly. The ideal time to begin your grow operation is when you move into a new residence: this way you
establish consistent and regular high-use patterns, not unusual for new tenants/homeowners.
Remember, the Vancouver area police have a narcotics team of 8 officers to keep on top of the thousands of
more substantial grow operations in the Vancouver area, with dozens of new home-grow operations
coming online every day, so your 2 to 10 plants are not a magnet for their attention unless you are very
careless.
Here we go:
For the first 3 to 4 months, the plants move upward in what we call the vegetative or grow stage. What we want
are bushy, vigorous, helathy plants. For 2 or 3 plants, I recommend a 1000 watt metal halide ceiling
lamp and fixture. Realistically, for 4 to 6 plants, 2000 watts of light would be recommended. Metal halides
and fixtures aren't cheap but they are the best. Ad if it's a choice between growing your own marijuana or
buying from the street, you'll save a lot of money buying a very good lamp and fixture and never needing to
buy on the street again. Go for a good lamp. Metal halides provide an outstanding range of the light
spectrum that effectively mimics the light from the sun, thus activating 18 hours a day of uninterrupted
photosynthesis. This can produce outstanding and rapid growth of your plants.
Metal halides produce heat, so they should be far enough away so the heat does not wither the plants,
particularly in the earlier stages. Lights should be no closer than 3 feet away. Your lights should have
hoods to aim all light downward towards the pants.
1000 watt metal halide "kits" include a 1000 watt super halide lamp, a 1000 watt ballast, a mogul socket and
lampwire, power cord, and add a 4 foot parabolic lamp shade. This would come to $320 Canadian plus GST and
PST. Look for a horticultural metal halide that is now on the market in growing stores.
Ideally, by the way, if this is possible, for a modest room (say 15' x 15' x 8' high), I'd recommend
a minimum of 4000 watts of light. This would be a kick-ass grow environment, but you'd need proper
wiring and a suitable electrical panel. It'd cost $260 every two months in electrical consumption, and that kind
of draw may be noiceable if it occurs in a home not normally noted for heavy electrical consumption. A
5-bedroom home in North Vancouver will have no trouble with increased power loads (the jacuzzi, pool, etc.)
that might seem extraordinary in a 2-bedroom home in southeast Vancouver. Unfortunately, this is why
electrical theft occurs, because the prohibition created by this irrational government makes it impossible
for us to act legally without creating an obvious situation of self-incrimination, particularly for those who want
to cultivate 25 or 50 or 100 + plants. Acting legally and honestly in these cases could land a person in jail
and with their plants seized. This is one more reason among the hundreds of other good arguments for
legalization. It's costing BC Hydro and the taxpayer money because of the government's vicious and bigoted
laws regarding home-grow cultivation. By the way, if you're that worried, buy a generator and
produce your own electrical power.
Go to a lighting shop or grow tore, but if you want their help, do not use the "M" word, it'll scare 'em off. Do
not use credit cards when buying your equipment.
Your room should be almost entirely covered in a double-thick layer of mylar reflective material,
although a single layer is adequate. The mylar material makes the most efficient use of light: virtually none is
lost as it is constantly reflected back at the plant, which absorbs it.
Mylar is mirror material without glass. You could use aluminum foil, but you get crinkly lines in it when you
put it on the wall which makes it less effective than mylar, which holds up to abuse fairly well. Double thickness
mylar allows no light to escape, whereas single-thick mylar allows a little light to seep out into the wall behind
the mylar. Cover the entire ceiling and walls of your grow room with mylar. Mylar extends your
light vale by 50% over bulbs without mylar. Two lights with mylar are equal to 3 lights without. Saves a lot
of electrical expense, so mylar actually pays for itself in just 3 months.
Some people use only, or recommend HPS (High Pressure Sodium) lamps. This is wrong! Bogus advice!
Even if you get a few generations of decent marijuana plants out of HPS lamps, all you will ever have with
HPS-only is a degeneration, a weakening of the strain, over time. Metal halides are the closest spectrum of
light to the sun, it is a very balanced output of light. High Pressure Sodium is a supplementary bulb for growing,
(it's very high in the red, orange, and yellow light ranges), that's a helpful supplement in the flowering/bud
stages. These HPS lights were designed for use as outdoor security lamps and highway night lights, etc., not
as horticultural bulbs (they cut through fog well). HPS bulbs do not deliver the blue light necessary for
a healthy grow cycle, (and green light, as a footnote, simply isn't that important to a green plant).
I use an HPS bulb strictly during the bud stage (when you cut back to 12 hours light/12 hours dark).
I do not recommend fluorescent tubes, "grow" bulbs, or ordinary incandescent bulbs if you have any
serious expectations of getting a healthy, worthwhile yield. Time will be your biggest investment if you
do your indoor growing properly or sloppily. Good planning and a modest investment at the outset will yield
you 10 to 100 times the smokable bud value (in weight and quality) compared to cheating yourself on the
initial setup investment and using cheesy equipment.
For the first 3 to 4 months of growing, the optimum amount of light for your plants is 18 hours a day, with 6
hours darkness. This does not change until you want your plant to go into its flowering stage. You make
your plant flower by cutting back the light to 12 hours a day. With a clone, you can cut back in one
go, and with a seedling, cut back an hour a day for about a week until it's 12 hours light/12 hours dark. This
simulates nature's shortening of sunlight (in nature, sunlight peaks June 21st, then declines). In nature (ie.
outdoor conditions), as July and August come along, the plants are fully concerned with reproduction (flowering
and pollination), brought on by the shortening of summer light. This is nature's way of telling the plant
"reproduce now, because winter frost! is approaching", which means reproduction must be
accomplished. frost = death.
Determining when to go to bud stage, that is, the flowering of the female plant into resinous THC active
buds depends on whether your plant was a seedling (from germinated seed) or from a cutting (cloned).
If you started from a seedling, it is important to get the plant to full vegetative height before cutting back light.
A seedling needs to get to its maximum potential in the grow stage so its genetic code is strong, especially
if you want to take cuttings later on from that plant. Therefore, go a full 14 weeks, even 5 weeks, then cut
back your light.
With a cutting, since it is already a mature plant (in its genetic code), you can cause it to go into bud stage
by cutting back to 12 hours light/12 hours dark (all at once) whenever you like. When your plant
reaches a stage of growth (height, bushiness, or you jut have to have some smoke in the near future), cut
back your light and your plant goes immediately into flowering. We recommend nonetheless to get as large
and prosperous a plant as possible, so 10 to 12 weeks would be a generous bud time. Harvest when
the resin sacs on the female flowers are full, clear, and bulbous. The Marijuana Grower's Guide by Frank
and Rosenthal has excellent photographs of the resin glands on a female bract, at a magnification of 25 times.
If the round resin glands (bubble-like things) are clear and full, that means it's time to harvest.
So, when you go to bud stage, your power consumption drops 33%. At this point, add the HPS light. Thus, you
should be using 3 bulbs now where there were 2, but at 33% less time, and the overall power consumption is
identical. This is a good idea in creating constant, non-conspicuous electrical use, while increasing the plant's
bud stage health (more resins, more bud!).
It would be useful if your electrical use was not going up and down according to a pattern (you know, 3 months:
18 hours a day, then 12 hours a day for 2 months, etc., then maybe no lights for a month and then this
repetitive cycle). Power companies are hip to indoor grow cycles and power consumption.
The next column is here.
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