Am I Ready to Grow?

I have read so much info over the last few weeks from a variety of books and sources. I am, for sure a newbie and need some input.

My mission is to make FECO when complete

I will be growing Northern Light Auto in a 4X3X6 tent. I know I will need a fan for circulation, a digital timer, a Hydrometer and 450 watt, full spectrum grow light.

Once I receive the seeds (fem), I plan on planting in 5 gallon pots. Do I need to do anything to seeds before planting? Should they be smart pots or fabric pots? Do I bury them or place them on surface of soil?

I've read about High Quality Soil/Organic and fertilizers. How much do I use of each of these and how much water? What kind of light do the plants need first, Veg or Bloom and for how long? How many hours of light?

What should the tent temp should be? What should the humidity be?

When do I harvest?

Please add, subtract or give me any advice you may have.

Thank you in advance for any help.

dont start seeds in 5 gallon pots. I start them inside root riot cubes personally, but you can place them 1/4" under some soil in a solo cup (with tons of holes drilled in it for drainage and aeration.) Grow them in solo cups for a few weeks. Let the Soil dry out between each watering.

It is pretty safe to just follow a feeding chart for the nutrients you choose. Everyone has their preference of nutrient brand. Just choose something and roll with it for now. In soil don't give nutrients every feeding, alternate with plain water. I prefer any type of fabric pot over plastic for soil. brand isnt huge tbh.

LED's are pretty universal for veg/flower. only use one of them to start for the first week or so, and raise them up fairly high. you can lower it and turn on the 2nd one after they have established themselves. dont get leds much closer than 12" after the first few weeks to avoid bleaching.

Veg under 18 hours of light for a month or so then flower under 12 hours.

Veg temps can be 80 or higher to start. Flower temps can be 78 to start but should get lower as they get further along. down to 72-74. most strains take 8-9 weeks to flower. depends on the strain. buy a loupe/magnifying lens to look at the trics starting around 7 weeks. you will want mostly cloudy, some clear/amber. too much amber and you waited too long.

Start small. Don't over think it. Keep them alive and you will learn as you go.

vilify said:

dont start seeds in 5 gallon pots.

Click to expand...

Autos you should start em in the final container, they dont like to be moved at all...

You don't want any led grow light that is advertised as a "450W full spectrum". You need a high quality light. If you are looking at cheap led's like Mars or Viparspectra you will need at minimum 2 lights that are advertised as 600W. And even then according to led users here you will get sub par results, but they will work. You will need close to 400-500 real watts with those cheaper ones.

Maybe something like this: https://growerslights.com/collections/horticulture-lighting-group-quantum-board-led-kits/products/horticulture-lighting-group-320-watt-xl-quantum-board-led-kit.

Or a 400-600W hid that is capable of using both metal halide and high pressure sodium.

The easiest way of growing is dwc .
No soil mixes,low maintenance,exceptional growth,a love and leave way of growing.
There are 2 phases of growth and 2 phases in flower, I normally expect my plants to take around 12 weeks max as I use autos.
As long as you have the required nutes to do this, then it's just a case of watching ppm and ph and water level.
I also used a 300w led for my 1st grow and got 5 1/2 oz dry with auto pounder.
I have now got a quality 600w and also the 300w on together and the result so far is awesome compared to the last 1.

I mentioned the 4 stages but I forgot to mention this is when I would do a full bucket change with new water and fresh mutes. The water level will drop within every 3 weeks .so I always mix up more than needed.

vilify said:

dont start seeds in 5 gallon pots. I start them inside root riot cubes personally, but you can place them 1/4" under some soil in a solo cup (with tons of holes drilled in it for drainage and aeration.) Grow them in solo cups for a few weeks. Let the Soil dry out between each watering.

It is pretty safe to just follow a feeding chart for the nutrients you choose. Everyone has their preference of nutrient brand. Just choose something and roll with it for now. In soil don't give nutrients every feeding, alternate with plain water. I prefer any type of fabric pot over plastic for soil. brand isnt huge tbh.

LED's are pretty universal for veg/flower. only use one of them to start for the first week or so, and raise them up fairly high. you can lower it and turn on the 2nd one after they have established themselves. dont get leds much closer than 12" after the first few weeks to avoid bleaching.

Veg under 18 hours of light for a month or so then flower under 12 hours.

Veg temps can be 80 or higher to start. Flower temps can be 78 to start but should get lower as they get further along. down to 72-74. most strains take 8-9 weeks to flower. depends on the strain. buy a loupe/magnifying lens to look at the trics starting around 7 weeks. you will want mostly cloudy, some clear/amber. too much amber and you waited too long.

Click to expand...

You are giving the poor guy bad advise. He’s growing autos and autos don’t like being transplanted. Autos go in final container from seed. Also you tell him to flower with 12 hours? That’s for photoperiod again. You want 18+ hours light with autos. I’d recommend a 20/4 schedule.

I found every question I had answered in the first chapters in several of these
grow bibles. I suggest rosenthal, cervantes grow bibles
http://catnews.org/FREE Pot Books/

GrowGorilla said:

You are giving the poor guy bad advise. He’s growing autos and autos don’t like being transplanted. Autos go in final container from seed. Also you tell him to flower with 12 hours? That’s for photoperiod again. You want 18+ hours light with autos. I’d recommend a 20/4 schedule.

Click to expand...

Exactly grow gorilla..
18/6 all the way and no transplant ing in to different size pots.

GrowGorilla said:

You are giving the poor guy bad advise. He’s growing autos and autos don’t like being transplanted. Autos go in final container from seed. Also you tell him to flower with 12 hours? That’s for photoperiod again. You want 18+ hours light with autos. I’d recommend a 20/4 schedule.

Click to expand...

Seem to have slipped my mind he was growing an auto. Never have an never will grow an auto.

Would be my advice to not grow autos lol.

This is the light that was recommended for the size tent I will be using (since I can't post link because I am still too new, I'll include full info)

SOLD ON AMAZON

Advanced Platinum Series P450 450w 12-band LED Grow Light - DUAL VEG/FLOWER FULL SPECTRUM
Welcome to the next generation of PlatinumLED Grow Lights – The most powerful LED grow lights available on the market today! We feature the highest PAR per watt of any other LED grow light along with the most complete 12-band spectrum available which ensures maximum yield with minimum power usage and heat. PAR and spectral output equal a quality, powerful LED grow light – not wattage draw! Our lights far out perform the cheaper units that consume excess power and yet emit a fraction of the intensity with an inferior spectral output compared to our professional quality LED grow lights. There is a remarkable difference between LED grow lights and it's extremely important to choose wisely in a high yield, high payback situation. Higher yields, lower growing temperatures, better efficiency.

This is PlatinumLED.

The P450 effectively replaces a conventional 600w HPS grow light while only consuming 250 watts of actual power, giving your plants 100% usable light that is perfectly tuned to create maximum photosynthetic response. The P450 is well suited for larger closet grows, hydroponic trays, small/medium tents or even large tent grows. Anywhere you would traditionally use a 600w HPS, use the P450 which consumes fraction of the heat and energy use but with far exceeded benefits.

The secret to the PlatinumLED success is combining an optimal blend of 12 different bands of complete light spectrum all the way from the depths of UV to the upper IR - giving your plants exactly the finely tuned spectrum that they need. Further intensified by integrated 90 degree secondary focusing lenses that penetrate deep within the canopy, our higher-output, cooler running, more efficient 3W LEDs simply blow away the competition.

What’s more, all of our lights feature selectable veg and bloom light spectrums to deliver maximum performance from seedling through final flower and harvest. The veg spectrum features a more purple/blue heavy output which leaf development favors. Simply engage the bloom switch together with the veg switch to enable 100% panel power while shifting the spectral output to a bloom happy, pink/red heavy output. No need for any supplemental lighting as we have you covered from seedling to harvest.

Combine all of this with our industry leading 5 year warranty and 90-day money back guarantee and you’ll see why we offer the absolute best option for your LED grow lighting solution. You simply cannot find a better performing LED grow light at any price.

if its not a COB or a quantum board based led light its not going to give ya what you want.....