Halp with my first grow plz

[suiaunoa]

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to check out this post.

I have just gotten my first grow set up.

Some info about my grow:
I have 2 clones. One is dutch treat and the other is blue dream. I chose those because I heard they are good beginner strains.The clones are about 1 foot tall. I only expect to keep one of the clones unless I Put together another set up in time...That may happen.
2 150 watt HPS lights.
1 4x4x7 grow tent (7 feet tall)
1 small industrial fan (small but pretty strong and made entirely out of metal. Looks like its from the 50s or some shit)
I chose molbaks soil because a friend recommended it.
I do not have a nutrient yet.
Right now I am keeping the lights on for 18 hours a day.

QUESTIONS I NEED HELP WITH!!!:

What kind of nutrient should I get?
How often should I give the plants nutrient?
What method should I use to give the plants nutrient? (I heard it was very easy to mess this part up)
Is two 150 watt HPS lights good enough for a decent Yield? If so how much do you think? (I am hoping for just like a QP worth of final product)
The fan is pretty small and just creates an extremely gentle breeze in the tent. Is that enough?
How tall should my plants be before I put them into the budding phase? (Considering my tent is 7 feet tall minus the room that the lights need to hang)

any kind of recommendations or constructive criticism is Highly encouraged. I will post pics of my set up later when I get home tonight.



Once again thank you so much for checking out this thread if you post a reply I will be even more grateful.

-Suiaunoa

 

[Got4m2e0]

Nutrients are tough, since everyone has one that they like and swear by. It sort like books on raising dogs, or even children for that matter. One person says to spank the dog with a newspaper another says that you need to use positive reinforcement and I say do what works well for the situation. Best bet is find a brand that is tested and proven to be good for pot. Fox farm seems to be popular amount soil growers (I'm a coco guy myself) and I believe with fox farm nutrients you want to feed at half the suggested feed ratio. Hopefully someone else can help you with that feeding schedules.

you have a total of 300 watts and the ideal yield would be 1 to 1.5 grams per watt of light used. I say ideal because it is also dependent on strain, environmental conditions and length of veg time.

Since you have 150 watts you may find it has a hard time with getting light to the bottom parts of the plant. Some LST (low stress training) such as timing branches down to keep the plant as flat as possible could help maximize yield by allowing light to more of the branches of the plants. I do know that blue dream is very good quality although I know very little about expected pheno's and strain stability. And I will tell you know that each cross has different pheno's and some time you get a winner and other times you get a not so great pheno. So even though it's blue dream it may not be the same pheno your friends bragged about smoking a few years ago. So expected yield is hard to predict unless you clone your plants and keep running them.

for light you may find it better for that size tent to run a 1000 watt HPS, with a vented hood and a 190 or higher com blower to suck cool air threw the fan to control heat. But if you keep one light light per plant and everything works out good you should be able to pull a QP of bud with what you have to work with. If you get 1 gram per watt than you will be styling. Not to say you can't but odds are for your first run you will run into a few snags along the road and lose a bit of yield here and there. Just take it easy and when it comes to feeding, less if more. It's better to under feed and slowly increase nutrients then to over feed and run into problems and having to flush, and mess with stuff and end up with some pretty nasty tasting over fed weed. Nutrient def happen because you feed to much of nutrient and that locks out another nutrient. Like to much potassium locks out MG and calcium. Too much nitrogen can impede phosphorus uptake. And overwatering can slow nitrogen uptake and kill off roots and cause a whole lot of other issues. If your growing in soil, nutrient def happen from too much of one or two things. Start on the low side and let the plant grow. From time to time you will noticed that plant growth stagnates, like near mid to late flowering. DONT FEED MORE to speed up growth. It will cause more harm than good. And near the end of flowering, they don't need as much food any more if any.

Remember to flush! Around week 7,8, or 9 depending on when you want to harvest, you want to flush the soil two weeks prior to harvest. This will allow the plant to eat what's left in its tissue and improve flavor. To flush use 3 gallons water for every 1 gallon of soil.

Keep a log. It's a great way to improve your skills and hone them in so you have a nutrient plan that works and a nutrient line you like and have figured out. Get good with base nutrients NPK before trying any boosters or flowering enhancer.

 

[blackforest]

In a 4x4 I would recommend a 600w setup. Here's a key.... Commercial growers get about 1/2 gram/watt. If you are a grow God, you can get 1 gram/watt. Some vertical growers claim 2 gram/watt on a bare bulb system... If I can get 1/2 gram/watt in a tent, I'm happy.

 

[Got4m2e0]

If you don't already have pots I would suggest grow pot, smart pot or any other fabric pot. They make it harder to overwater, increase yield potential for the size pot and are just superior to plastic any day of the week. For a first time grower, I feel they are a must to help build confidence in growing and reduce the risk of overwatering which is a surprisingly easy thing to do for a first time grower. Do not use ceramic as it wicks away water and drys out the medium too quick. As far as heat try to keep it below 80 and above 65. Anything beyond those ranges will slow growth. They can handle it just fine but if you want faster growth then you don't want it to stray outside those temps.

humidty during veg is best at 60% and during flower you want 45% or you risk bud rot. If one leaf starts curling and slide out with ease from the bud than you got,bud rot. So e strains can take lower humidity than 45% but imoe I have had too much stress for low humidity that locked out potassium and cause a few plants to produce little pollen sacks which can really ruin a crop fast. That and light leaks can cause the buds to stretch and pollen sacks to form from stress.

 

[Got4m2e0]

So in conclusion find a brand, I'm hoping someone chimes in although I have good luck with canna in coco I have no idea about there terra line which is for soil and there online nutrient calculator was having me over feed them and I had to cut it back to 1/5 what they suggest. Then again I use blumats and have very little drain to waste happening. Once you get good at reading you plants or have a few grow under your belt I would suggest giving coco a go. You will never regret it. I have never had such amazing results from the same clones I use to run in soil. And I may add, on many levels, it is easier to grow in then soil. If you ever want to give it a shot I plan on writing a very long guide to it soon that would assist you with using canna line and blu mats for automating you grow. Good luck, I hope this helps and happy growing!!

 

[indicat33]

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to check out this post.

I have just gotten my first grow set up.

Some info about my grow:
I have 2 clones. One is dutch treat and the other is blue dream. I chose those because I heard they are good beginner strains.The clones are about 1 foot tall. I only expect to keep one of the clones unless I Put together another set up in time...That may happen.
2 150 watt HPS lights.
1 4x4x7 grow tent (7 feet tall)
1 small industrial fan (small but pretty strong and made entirely out of metal. Looks like its from the 50s or some shit)
I chose molbaks soil because a friend recommended it.
I do not have a nutrient yet.
Right now I am keeping the lights on for 18 hours a day.

QUESTIONS I NEED HELP WITH!!!:

What kind of nutrient should I get?
How often should I give the plants nutrient?
What method should I use to give the plants nutrient? (I heard it was very easy to mess this part up)
Is two 150 watt HPS lights good enough for a decent Yield? If so how much do you think? (I am hoping for just like a QP worth of final product)
The fan is pretty small and just creates an extremely gentle breeze in the tent. Is that enough?
How tall should my plants be before I put them into the budding phase? (Considering my tent is 7 feet tall minus the room that the lights need to hang)

any kind of recommendations or constructive criticism is Highly encouraged. I will post pics of my set up later when I get home tonight.



Once again thank you so much for checking out this thread if you post a reply I will be even more grateful.

-Suiaunoa

Growing is very easy dude- read everything on this site for a successful grow ! Here is my Speed Haze grown under a single 67w CFL in a small bathroom cab- fish emulsion in veg. bloom from Lowes in flower. Easy Peasy _~

 

[suiaunoa]

Thank you very much for all the wonderful advice. I will still be posting pics later I just forgot to last night sorry.

 

[suiaunoa]

Nutrients are tough, since everyone has one that they like and swear by. It sort like books on raising dogs, or even children for that matter. One person says to spank the dog with a newspaper another says that you need to use positive reinforcement and I say do what works well for the situation. Best bet is find a brand that is tested and proven to be good for pot. Fox farm seems to be popular amount soil growers (I'm a coco guy myself) and I believe with fox farm nutrients you want to feed at half the suggested feed ratio. Hopefully someone else can help you with that feeding schedules.

you have a total of 300 watts and the ideal yield would be 1 to 1.5 grams per watt of light used. I say ideal because it is also dependent on strain, environmental conditions and length of veg time.

Since you have 150 watts you may find it has a hard time with getting light to the bottom parts of the plant. Some LST (low stress training) such as timing branches down to keep the plant as flat as possible could help maximize yield by allowing light to more of the branches of the plants. I do know that blue dream is very good quality although I know very little about expected pheno's and strain stability. And I will tell you know that each cross has different pheno's and some time you get a winner and other times you get a not so great pheno. So even though it's blue dream it may not be the same pheno your friends bragged about smoking a few years ago. So expected yield is hard to predict unless you clone your plants and keep running them.

for light you may find it better for that size tent to run a 1000 watt HPS, with a vented hood and a 190 or higher com blower to suck cool air threw the fan to control heat. But if you keep one light light per plant and everything works out good you should be able to pull a QP of bud with what you have to work with. If you get 1 gram per watt than you will be styling. Not to say you can't but odds are for your first run you will run into a few snags along the road and lose a bit of yield here and there. Just take it easy and when it comes to feeding, less if more. It's better to under feed and slowly increase nutrients then to over feed and run into problems and having to flush, and mess with stuff and end up with some pretty nasty tasting over fed weed. Nutrient def happen because you feed to much of nutrient and that locks out another nutrient. Like to much potassium locks out MG and calcium. Too much nitrogen can impede phosphorus uptake. And overwatering can slow nitrogen uptake and kill off roots and cause a whole lot of other issues. If your growing in soil, nutrient def happen from too much of one or two things. Start on the low side and let the plant grow. From time to time you will noticed that plant growth stagnates, like near mid to late flowering. DONT FEED MORE to speed up growth. It will cause more harm than good. And near the end of flowering, they don't need as much food any more if any.

Remember to flush! Around week 7,8, or 9 depending on when you want to harvest, you want to flush the soil two weeks prior to harvest. This will allow the plant to eat what's left in its tissue and improve flavor. To flush use 3 gallons water for every 1 gallon of soil.

Keep a log. It's a great way to improve your skills and hone them in so you have a nutrient plan that works and a nutrient line you like and have figured out. Get good with base nutrients NPK before trying any boosters or flowering enhancer.

TYVM for the great help. I think that I will try out the coco stuff that you are talking about. what kind of coco do you suggest? i see there are many different types.

 

[suiaunoa]

Growing is very easy dude- read everything on this site for a successful grow ! Here is my Speed Haze grown under a single 67w CFL in a small bathroom cab- fish emulsion in veg. bloom from Lowes in flower. Easy Peasy _~

Thank you I will try. I have found some really great stuff on this site so far.

 

[suiaunoa]

In a 4x4 I would recommend a 600w setup. Here's a key.... Commercial growers get about 1/2 gram/watt. If you are a grow God, you can get 1 gram/watt. Some vertical growers claim 2 gram/watt on a bare bulb system... If I can get 1/2 gram/watt in a tent, I'm happy.

Yes I am currently still investing in my grow. I am getting another tent and two more lights. the lights will be 250 watt a piece with a 400 watt setting. I am not sure about the electrical wiring in the house so I think that I am just going stick to the 250 watt setting at first till I can make sure that its good enough to do 240v

 

[zander19]

• Suiaunoa do you have skype?​
  
  
  
  

 

[suiaunoa]

So in conclusion find a brand, I'm hoping someone chimes in although I have good luck with canna in coco I have no idea about there terra line which is for soil and there online nutrient calculator was having me over feed them and I had to cut it back to 1/5 what they suggest. Then again I use blumats and have very little drain to waste happening. Once you get good at reading you plants or have a few grow under your belt I would suggest giving coco a go. You will never regret it. I have never had such amazing results from the same clones I use to run in soil. And I may add, on many levels, it is easier to grow in then soil. If you ever want to give it a shot I plan on writing a very long guide to it soon that would assist you with using canna line and blu mats for automating you grow. Good luck, I hope this helps and happy growing!!

yes thank you so much i will look into it all.

 

[suiaunoa]

• Suiaunoa do you have skype?​
  
  

yea i do sorry I am just slow at responding

 

[Nandeezy]

i could use a little help. im about 5 days in since i planted the germinated seeds into their pots. Where do i go from here? A little about my setup: 4x4x6.5 tent, 1000w bulb (adjusted to 750w), adjustable ballast and a vented hood. I have a big window fan blowing air around and through bottom vents of the tent, Also a 6" fan inside circulating more air. Planning on getting more but no one sells them dead winter in my state. i also have a humidifier cause it is dry here in winter. Currently 5 plants in the veg room only 4 will be in the flower room at a time. Questions, when do i start supplying nutrients? i have two part sensi grow A&B ( recomended by my local grow supply store) for veg and flowering stage. Plants are getting distilled water when feeding. Any help would be good

 

[Nandeezy]

I posted this through my iPhone so some pictures may be sideways. Anyways it is an 8x4x6.5 but I split it and made two 4x4 rooms. I'm not too worried about the flowering room still need another hood and ballast and that room is complete. I'm growing with coco may I add in there. Thanks

 

[suiaunoa]

Hi nandeezy. Really thats your first grow?!?!?! way to one up me so hardcore....LOL. Well yea the people on here have been super helpful to me so far. I think that some of the responses in here may have the answers you are looking for. Also If I was you I would make a new thread describing your set up, include pictures. That way people with have responses more tailored for your exact position. Thats what I am going to do I am going to make a new thread in the journal section with all my stuff so that people can give me feedback ASAP.

 

[Got4m2e0]

Coco is a bit tricky in the fact that you want to make sure your nutrient line is made for the coco medium. Some say that if you just add calmag to your water then you can get away with using any hydro line. I find that calmag plus adds to much nitrogen, and calimagic also adds too much esp during flower. I'm not aware of what advance nutrient has for a coco nutrient, I don't believe sensi grow is for coco but I can't remember it's been a long time since I shopped for nutrients.

With coco it it is best to always feed even during flush. A good, buffered coco mix requires a light feed with every water to maintain the buffer. Although I have flushed with oh water and didn't have any problem with reusing that coco, I would still suggest at least feeding a VERY light mix with every watering. Make sure you have a good PH pen, it's worth the investment to buy a nice brand. I have a blue lab and LOVE IT. Make sure you ph your water to 5.8 after you mix all your nutrients.

A TDS meter is also a must. You can buy a TDS / PH combined device, since I rarely need the TDS pen and use the PH pen daily I figure it's better to keep them separate so I don't have to calibrate the TDS meter that often since it doesn't get used to much.

when buying a coco nutrient make sure there is an Part A and part B. you mix equal parts of A and B into the same water. Reason they are separate is because if they are mixed without water the will become insoluble in water. So alway mix one, stir, then add the other.

I use Canna myself, they were the first to create a nutrient line made for coco and they also have the highest price tag to them as well. I can't vouch for other lines but have heard good things about all of them esp house and garden line. Just have not been ab
e to bring myself to make any kind of switch since I have no problems with the line I have. I did however substitute a few things. Instead of cannas Pk I use koolbloom. Also roots excel instead of rhizotonic, cyco coco brand with orca instead of buying cannas coco brand. And topshooter and bloombastic. Topshooter adds a couple weeks to flowering and bloombastic is for the finish and really makes the bud extremely dense and colorful IMHE.

For canna, a light feed for starting is 2 ml of A+B, I would also add 1 ml of roots excel if they are seedlings along with 10 ML or orca. All these are for a gallon of water. I use tap water since I know what is in my water is iron, calcium and manganese. I know this because I find that knowing you water is very important when using coco. And canna prefers that you use water with an EC of 400 or .4. They assume you will mostly have calcium and magnesium in your water. My water is ec of 231 and I add very little cal mag to bring it to 400 although I only do so in veg since it gives them to much nitrogen in flower and I got the claw starting once from it. Beside I have yet to a def in cal and mag in flower so I find I don't need any but I keep a bottle of general organic co+mg handy which has no nitrogen in case the day comes I need it. Every strain is different.

 

[Got4m2e0]

I write multiple post since I'm on my iPad and don't want to get timed out and lose everything I write, so sorry about blowing up your thread like this I will be using my computer more but the iPad is much better to use while laying in bed at night.

now for the first few weeks while waiting for your little ones to get a bigger root system I find that letting the pots get a little dry keeps your plant from being lazy and not growing roots. In coco that can happen when you start in a big pot. They have plenty of moisture and take forever to get anywhere. So it is best to start in a small pot so it doesn't take long for it to dry out. Some people add perlite to there coco but I can tell you there is no need. Coco can only hold capillary water, roots can only uptake capillary water. So coco cannot become to saturated. It's really cool, cause once you water it and it has all the wart a plant can take every drop over that runs right off instantly. But not letting them get dry when young makes them lazy and they just don't seem to grow. In fact they will take longer then soil if you try to keep the medium wet when first starting plants. Fabric pots work great for coco and I do suggest giving it a try but keep in mind that a small 1 liter pot filled with coco can outperform a 7 gallon pot of soil. Only thing is, if you don't have some type of autowatering setup, you won't be able to keep the medium wet for very long in a 1 liter pot vs a 2 liter pot. I don't put blumats (my auto watering device) into my 1 liter pots till I can water and they are almost bone dry 3-4 hours later. When you get a root system like that and through some type of auto watering setup on them, they blowup with an explosive growth and buds so large that I have to stake plants and stint branches so they don't break and fall over from the weight. I have grown these same strains for year from cloning and soil was never able to do what coco can do. If you water coco like soil, then you get really good soil results, if you treat it like hydro then you get hydro like results. Although hydro people claim hydro does out perform coco a little bit but if you ask me it's a pretty close race. I think of coco as a very easy form of hydro, since the medium does add a small amount of buffering and stability.

 

[Got4m2e0]

Now that I covered the basics of coco and some of the things I do, I wish I could help you with your nutrient line. Hopefully someone more familiar with your line will chime in and offer some help with feeding. If no one helps I would start off with 1/4 of the suggested feeding and go from there. With coco it is VERY important that you can read your plants. And know when they want more or less food. Look up "plant abuse" in Google and find the deficiency guide that has picture and print it out. It will come in handy but don't just look at the pictures since every strain show a deficiency in there own little way and the description may have a few things mentioned that won't be seen in the pictures. For the flush, with coco 3 days of a light feed with plenty of runoff work great if your doing RTW or Run To Waste. Which is great for coco, although I know some people use coco instead of rock wool in ebb and flow systems. So it is a diverse medium. From the picture it looks like run to waste is what your setup for. Make sure the bottom of the pots are raised over a drip pan otherwise the medium with soak and you will have a salt buildup happen and it won't be fun. Aim for 10 to 20 percent runoff with every watering or you can use dripclean but that product is better for keeping drip lines from clogging. And not so good at keeping salt from building up. Although that is what most people believe. It mainly works on keeping potassium and phosphorus form building up by using potassium oxide Ana phosphoric acid that frees up both ions by keeping them from being sequestered by the medium. I won't get into the science of it since it is a lot to type on my iPad and I don't feel it is nesassary to know that anyways, just keep it in mind. Although I have not had any issues with major salt buildup and my blumats don't give much draining other than a light trickle from time to time, so it seems to work on some level to help alleviate salt build up. Also I feed lighter than canna would suggest, so that I don't need as much runoff either way. I do check here and there by testing some runoff with my TDS meter. About once a week or so depending on how things are looking.

 

[Got4m2e0]

I will say nandeezy it looks like you have the right equipment to get you started. I would normally suggest soil first since it can require less knowledge of growth and flowering. And it is helpful to get a few grows under your belt before jumping into coco. But your off to a good start nonetheless so I would keep at it. I would start a thread on the how to use the nutrient linenyounhave with coco. I'm sure someone with more background with that line will chime in and offer some basic feed amounts. I hope what wrote will help you with a little basic knowledge and I'm hoping someone will be able to tell you how to apply it to the nutrient line you have. Best wishes on your journey into growing. Remember that pot is not addictive... But growing it is!!!!! So win, lose or draw, you will no doubt have a journey you won't forget and most likely some good home grown when your done. Best wishes and happy growing!