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Cannabis grow setup – Marty’s grow report, chapter 1

29.10.2020

Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson

Legal cannabis products? Great idea! Paying for them? Terrible idea! That’s why I’m making them myself. And you’re welcome to watch. In this chapter: my grower setup.

Welcome to my broom cupboard. Hidden away from prying eyes is where I keep my green fingers’ pride and joy. A 220-centimetre tall tent with a surface area that spans 90 by 90 centimetres.

The tent let’s you grow plants all year round. Plants tolerated by society and the law, such as the highly toxic angel’s trumpet, for example. Or plants that have only recently become tolerated, such as low-THC cannabis. Less edgy plants, including tomatoes or orchids, would also thrive wonderfully in this tent.

An activated carbon filter and diagonal fan prevent seductive scents from escaping the tent.

While both legal and illegal weed is either expensive compared to the cost of growing it or stems from untrustworthy sources, I decided to get my own tent. No way am I buying buds or oil – not even from our shop. With my own little nursery, I’ll be in charge of making my plants thrive and can reduce the use of fertiliser to an absolute minimum. After all, I don’t want the final product to contain any harmful residues. This includes making sure my buds are free from hairspray or other pollutants that would add to their weight.

The contents of my tent, i.e. a sodium vapour lamp and some other things, are what I’d like to present in this first article. If everything goes to plan, my equipment will pay for itself with just five cannabis plants. For my tally, I’ll be weighing the dried buds my plants might yield and calculate what the market value of my home-grown grass is. The basis for the calculation is the prices in our shop.

Just one more thing before we get started: even though my report is about CBD plants that are legal in Switzerland and produce flowers with less than one percent THC, I’d like to point out that I won’t be selling any of it. 😉

Foreword by Dr. Greenthumb

With my grow report, I’d like to show that, with a bit of background knowledge, growing hemp can be as fun and easy as growing tomatoes or peppermint. I’d also like to point out that the high price tag of CBD products is hard to justify, in my opinion.

When alcohol was banned in the US during the prohibition from 1920 to 1933, there were countless underground distilleries. Similarly, there are many hidden cannabis tents out there today. Just like mine. Back in the day, many a bottle of moonshine was not distilled properly and cost the lives of countless consumers. But even if you’re drinking today’s clean stuff – alcohol, our number one legal neurotoxin, can potentially kill off countless grey cells and steal years of your life. In other words, drinking alcohol makes you absinthe minded.

When it comes to pure cannabis, a harmful effect on the body has not yet been proven, provided that it’s administered correctly. This means by heating (using a vapouriser) or by oral ingestion of CBD/THC dissolved in fat. This is not the case for smoking the herb (in German). THC does not make you physically dependent. However, there is a risk of mental dependence. What other damage it can cause to your psyche is best assessed by experts. But it’s worth mentioning that THC and CBD do not make you aggressive in a way alcohol can. However, THC and CBD is said to impede the development of young brains and cause damage to people who are mentally unstable. In other words, the same potential alcohol has. This is why I don’t fully understand on what grounds certain substances are banned or allowed in this country.

But enough of my foreword for now. I might get back to one of these points in the coming weeks. In view of the fact that I’m not growing anything illegal and don’t want to glorify or demonise anything, THC shall play a subordinate role from now on. Which is a pity really. I would’ve used seeds high in THC if it were legal. In any case, the whole project will definitely be exciting. I can already picture the resinous buds and smell the sweet, seductive scent of fresh grass.

My setup: Dark Room, activated carbon filter and other stuff

If you plan on growing indoor hemp, you’ll need a bit of background knowledge and the proper equipment. You can use a converted cupboard or a tent, as I did. At 220 centimetres, my Dark Room tent is big enough to grow both the relatively low-growing bushy Indica strains and most of the higher growing Sativa cannabis strains.

Mum always told me not to look straight at the sun.

After all, I don’t want my neighbours knocking on the door because of odour nuisance. That’s why I’ve installed an activated carbon filter. It’s hanging from the top left of my tent and is connected to a diagonal fan with a 120 mm ventilation hose. The hose leads to a cool tube, a transparent pipe with a bulb socket, reflectors and a connection point for the ventilation hose.

The cool tube has the advantage that it lets you place the very hot sodium vapour lamp, which will simulate the sun, closer to the plants. Without the cool tube, the heat of the lamp would burn any plant closer than 25 centimetres to a frazzle. But with the tube, you don’t have to be crazy careful about the distance. Having said that, I wouldn’t get too close to the glass tube either. There’s one more hose that leads away from the glass tube and out of the tent. This hose prevents the smell of weed seeping into my apartment and provides a constant supply of air to the tent. The power cable shown in the picture above is connected to a ballast outside the tent. This, in turn, is connected to a timer.

Taking a look at all the equipment I’ve invested in so far, this is what I’ve got and how much it set me back:

Tent (Dark Room) 90 × 90 × 220 cm for 195 francs
Activated carbon filter for 32 francs
125 mm diagonal fan for 45 francs
125 mm cool tube (bulb socket for active cooling and reflector) for 49 francs
127 mm Combiblack ventilation hose , 5 m for 22 francs
2 × lamp yoyo (Easy Rolls) for 8 francs
Lumatek 400 Watt ballast for 169 francs
Philips HPI-T Plus 400 Watt bulb for 25 francs
Philips SON-T PIA Green Power NDL 400 Watt bulb for 35 francs
Omni Rex T analog 16A timer for 18 francs
Three small ventilators for 34 francs
5 × plastic plant pots, 25 × 25 × 26 cm, 13 l for 12 francs
Canna Terra Flores bloom fertiliser, 1 l for 15 francs
Canna Cannazym enzymes, 1 l for 17 francs
Culturelux PH pen and calibration solution for 49 francs
Pocket LED microscope for 24 francs
6 × drying trays, 69 × 69 cm for 54 francs

So far, I’ve spent 803 francs on my growing kit – not including electricity, water or seeds. So in order to amortise the equipment, I’ll have to produce around 134 grammes of dried buds.

I’ve already decided on a cannabis strain for my growing project and planted it yesterday. Find out what kind of plants are on the photo in the next chapter. I’ll also be explaining which kind of soil I used and how colour temperature and light influences growth in the vegetation phase and the flowering phase.

Right. My watch says it’s 4:20. Time to...

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Martin Jud

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martin.jud@digitecgalaxus.ch

I find my muse in everything. When I don’t, I draw inspiration from daydreaming. After all, if you dream, you don’t sleep through life.

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