First Grow tips/suggestions

J

JAdedrapport

Active Member
My seeds should be here in a few days and I've been all over these forums picking up whatever I can. I've seen tons of different grow setups. I have dart frogs and reefs, so I'm pretty damn good with tropical plants and dosing water. Here is my plan:

Seeds: 10 White Widow from attitude with 5 free skunk

Lighting: I'm going with what I know and already have and that's an crap load of extra reef lights. Do I want...
http://www.aquatraders.com/aquarium-lightings/metal-halide-system/odyssea-24-380w-metal-halide-system.html or http://www.aquatraders.com/aquarium-lightings/power-compact/odyssea-24-130w-power-compact-light-fixture-advance.html

I'm guessing I should go with the more wattage? How is actinic lighting for marijuana? Or should I switch them out for 12000k's

Medium: Here I am unsure. I have tons of http://www.blackjungle.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=BJTS&Product_Code=TL-10&Category_Code=SUB but I've read for first time growers to start off in soil. How hard is it to build a hydroponic system? They seem easy enough...storage container, holes in the lid with baskets, and a pump. What am I missing that makes them so much more difficult than soil? Is it just the dosing?

Flowering: 2-3 feet sound good for the type of plants I'll be having? I'm just hoping I get a couple females out of the 10 seeds.

Extras...what am I missing/tips?
Right now I haven't bought anything because I'm paranoid and everything I currently have can be explained by my reefs/tropical plants lol so suggest stuff to buy or whatever.
 
mindphuk

mindphuk

Well-Known Member
Welcome. Sorry you had to wait for a response. Hopefully you took that time and read some of the GrowFAQ.

Good to see other reefers here. I, Seamaiden and a few others here are fishy types. Stick around, you will like it here. I don't know why no one replied earlier, it seems out of character for this site.

The first one will be good for flowering, the second for vegging. Do you already own these or are you looking to purchase them? Just like you had aquarium specific lights, like the actinics and high kelvin MH, the horticulture hobby has their specifics too and cannabis is different photosynthetically than the zooxanthellae of coral, and they aren't under water so the flourescent and MH at about 5000-6500K will be good for vegging but you will want to get a high pressure sodium or HPS light for flowering and those are in the 3000K range. Actinic are too blue to do anything for weed. If you already own the metal halides, like I said, you can use them for flowering too, in fact some growers like MH for flowering and claim increased potency, probably though due to UV light, which can be added to the bigger yield that HPS will give. You won't need that LED moon light though.

As for needing to go dirt the first time, I say bullshit. If you want to go hydro first time up, go for it. Lots of folks do and some lose plants but you already have a lot of the technical skills from running a reef, like checking pH and topping off. Yes hydro is less forgiving, the nutrient levels/TDS and water pH have to be in tighter control as soil will act as a buffer. Don't crack all 10 seeds in case you fuck up. But read, read, read. If you want to go hydro, you will have to decide on a system, which you want to incorporate the clay pellets (or not, you can go mediumless), but that does add another layer to your decision and grow room plans. BTW, do you have plans? Is your flowering area completely light proof? Read the GrowFAQ then read it some more.
 
J

JAdedrapport

Active Member
Yea, I already have both of those lights I listed and a few 48" versions. Ok, I'll read up more on using MH, and if I can't find enough ppl using them then I'll switch them out for something else. Plus, I was worried the MH would burn them anyway.

Maybe for hydro I'll start with the 5 free seeds just incase I screw up. I was planning on just building my own unit because the online units I saw for like $200 looked nothing more than a storage box with holes in the top for baskets and a pond pump. Maybe there was some hiden item not shown by the picture or something I duno.

My flower area isn't totally light proof, but pretty close and I'm sure I could make it light proof. Thank you, I didn't know that part. I have my own house, but I don't want guests to find it or whatever so I'm taking a closet 10'x3' for the growing. It has sliding wooden doors that close into groves on the sides so the only light would be coming from the crack under it. A little flap should take care of that. Anything else I should know about growing in a closet.
 
mindphuk

mindphuk

Well-Known Member
JAdedrapport said:
Yea, I already have both of those lights I listed and a few 48" versions. Ok, I'll read up more on using MH, and if I can't find enough ppl using them then I'll switch them out for something else. Plus, I was worried the MH would burn them anyway.

Maybe for hydro I'll start with the 5 free seeds just incase I screw up. I was planning on just building my own unit because the online units I saw for like $200 looked nothing more than a storage box with holes in the top for baskets and a pond pump. Maybe there was some hiden item not shown by the picture or something I duno.

My flower area isn't totally light proof, but pretty close and I'm sure I could make it light proof. Thank you, I didn't know that part. I have my own house, but I don't want guests to find it or whatever so I'm taking a closet 10'x3' for the growing. It has sliding wooden doors that close into groves on the sides so the only light would be coming from the crack under it. A little flap should take care of that. Anything else I should know about growing in a closet.
Click to expand...
Use the MH if you already have it. I used a PFO 250w HQI for my first grow and it was decent.
I also did hydro the first time, DWC. I'm switching to aero now. I have an aerocloner and I'm building Stinkbud's unit from the thread https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/116859-harvest-pound-every-three-weeks-19.html

Heat would be the next biggest thing to worry about in your flowering room. Read some of the stickys on grow room design section of the forum.


Do you have any pictures of your darties?
 
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