My First Grow..cfl veg/hps flower

Hello All!

It's my first grow, smaller tent for flower, closet setup for veg.

tent - 22"x36"x63"

250w hps for flowering(which I have two plants just going in, will get pics later as they are in dark time right now.)

6 23w 5000k cfl's (attaching a photo of the setup)(all from home depot for this veg area)
Basically just on a shelf in a tray, buy the clones from a local dispensary.

A fan in each room running all the time for circulating air.

Hoping to be able to constantly switch from veg to flower with no issues and have regular bud on the go. Hopefully even maybe a small SOG style grow? Any tips on that? Any and all tips/comments welcome.

Cheers!

Not a bad start You got the general idea. Any questions in mind? I don't see much air exchange goin' on... hmm.

I love helping out new guys so I can try to give you info on how to maximize what your doing. Just so you know who your talking to ( not being arrogant, just a lot of blind leading blind on this site lol) this is what I was able to achieve on my first ever grow not three years ago using logic and information given by friends IRL and mostly on this site. This one is about 5 1/2 weeks into flower. this was my very first harvest with 4 1000 waters HID I had my share of problems first time but I was able to succeed with help from good guys.

How small of a SOG you talkin? I can guide you on a tier style setup (max use of space to grow) not SOG, although nothing wrong with it just my way may yield more weight. I like how you wanna go perpetual, way to be, harvest every 8-9 weeks is sweet.

BCBuddy420 said:

How small of a SOG you talkin? I can guide you on a tier style setup (max use of space to grow) not SOG, although nothing wrong with it just my way may yield more weight. I like how you wanna go perpetual, way to be, harvest every 8-9 weeks is sweet.

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Only quoting you one time for the sake of not taking of tons of room! Mad props for the grow and proof! Well my tent for flowering is small, plus only a 250 hps so I figure around 3 plants in the veg at a time, of course entering veg sooner(around 8-10inches tall, running indica strains). I have the door cracked...there is one fan that is blowing 24/7. I'll get pics of the flower(tent) in the am for ya.

On the tent I have a 6" inline fan pulling air in from the top and a fan circulating inside. Going to be purchasing a carbon filter for smells in the very near future, or any recommendations for smell?

I am running 18/6 light schedule here and 12/12 for flower.

I have done nutes about every 3rd watering

Nutes: Aurora Innovations Roots Organics brand
Buddha Grow, Buddha Bloom, Trinity, HP2 5ml per gallon

First of all you have every chance to pull 1/2 lb dry off of your 250 HiD if done simple and correct but I can't stress enough what you have for ventilation is not enough. Your plants need fresh cool air loaded with oxygen circulating within your room. You need to max out your oxygen c02 levels and pull the bad air out at the same time. somehow you need to find a way to run your duct to the outdoor air and draw it into your space with your 6" fan ( how many cfm?) Oh and set it at 20/4 for veg, I used 24 hr for veg but it's a heavily disputed subject since after 20 hours approx. they go into "sleep" mode anyway so 20 is optimal. Indica is great for heavy quick harvests. 3 plants for your 250? Id personally go for 12 or so in smaller pots (sog) until your ready for the stadium style ( ask I will explain ) And lastly on smells, carbon filter will be enough. You can buy a bucket of this anti smell stuff to place by the entrance of your room, this helps out too.

BTW my spacing doesn't happen when I hit enter so my typing is blocky, sorry nothing I can do

If you only have access to 3 plants I can teach you to make them very bushy and low with many bud sites so it almost replicates having 9 plants but you will have to add 304 weeks veg but trust me, well worth the added weight to your first harvest. also to max out your lumens in veg( yes I say the word max a lot because that's my style of growing haha) you may be able to get those plants closer to your cfls, I don't know cfl's at all but I hear you can go pretty darn close so the best test is hold your hand underneath the bulb where you will place the plant for 1 minute and if your hand doesn't get too hot ( uncomfortable) than you will be ok. Just check them for signs of leaf burn or heat stress every so often, if so, raise a couple inches and keep watching. What's your plan with nutes? Tell me your feeding plan in detail, amounts, times, everything.

BCBuddy420 said:

First of all you have every chance to pull 1/2 lb dry off of your 250 HiD if done simple and correct but I can't stress enough what you have for ventilation is not enough. Your plants need fresh cool air loaded with oxygen circulating within your room. You need to max out your oxygen c02 levels and pull the bad air out at the same time. somehow you need to find a way to run your duct to the outdoor air and draw it into your space with your 6" fan ( how many cfm?) Oh and set it at 20/4 for veg, I used 24 hr for veg but it's a heavily disputed subject since after 20 hours approx. they go into "sleep" mode anyway so 20 is optimal. Indica is great for heavy quick harvests. 3 plants for your 250? Id personally go for 12 or so in smaller pots (sog) until your ready for the stadium style ( ask I will explain ) And lastly on smells, carbon filter will be enough. You can buy a bucket of this anti smell stuff to place by the entrance of your room, this helps out too.

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I can definitely get more clones, not an issue.

There's a window right by the tent in the room it is in. The fan is Rated at 250 cfm.

However, I do plan on purchasing a higher powered fan to run the carbon filter. You were referring to the flowering room needing more ventilation correct?

I have the door to the veg room closet open and the door to the hallway/top floor of the upstairs.

Will switch the veg to 20-4 tonight on. What size of pots are we talking here for these plants to be running in the tent? 1 gal or 3 gal?

One other thing, it is winter time where I am. So right now the temps are ranging from 60 to 25....how does this affect directly pulling form the outdoors? I've read(of course not everything is true) but simply opening a door/window the grow room two-three times a day is ample? But I know most grows I've seen all have fans pulling in air...not sure if all are from direct outdoor air...?!

You mean the idea of 12 plants or your 3? I would use 2 ltr pots for 12 and 2 gal for your 3. Thing is when utilizing the space of your approx. 2 ft x 3 ft x 5 ft tall tent you want to fill it with as much green as possible to get the best harvest, whatever method you find to best achieve this. Not necessarily on your first grow but for future projects. For this one you already have these rooted and potted, may as well veg them to a good bushy size and go for flower. I understand the window open is letting in air but it's not quite enough if you want to sufficiently cool your tent plus max your air saturation to the stomata of the leaves You do not want heat issues, trust me. I would create a way to get a fan assisted intake going into your tent at the lowest spot possible in the tent, even if you stick it real close to the window but hidden, as long as it's drawing fresh cool air. I used a cheap inline axial fan for this and it worked great. 250 cfm should be fine for that size tent, just choose your carbon filter accordingly to that 250 cfm.

Or use 3 gal for those 3, that may be better. I was just thinking of that small space but they should fit fine.

heavydoobie said:

One other thing, it is winter time where I am. So right now the temps are ranging from 60 to 25....how does this affect directly pulling form the outdoors? I've read(of course not everything is true) but simply opening a door/window the grow room two-three times a day is ample? But I know most grows I've seen all have fans pulling in air...not sure if all are from direct outdoor air...?!

Click to expand...

My brain only works in Celsius sorry lol you'll have to convert for me. Any guys that are serious about growing are pulling fresh cool air into their space fyi. The 250 watt should be so hot in your small tent that even freezing cold air will not lower your temps too badly. When the light is on try passive intake at first and see where it puts you for temp because on second thought you may just get away with passive intake with your 250 watt. Just make sure it's a direct duct line into your tent from outside air. I had to force feed my room with cold air to keep it cool enough after trying just passive. These are things to find out with practice, it takes time to dial in your setup Optimal temps btw are 24-27 lit and 20-23 dark IMO.

60F-25F sorry about that!!!

In the tent during running hours temps about 75F-78F 29%hum. I believe they stay right around 67F with lights out. This is with the 6" inline fan taking air in on the top left of the tent, holes on bottom are for 4" fans I believe...and it is passive. It's in room with no other running electronics aside the tent. Plus a small 6"fan inside circulating the air.

I mix 5ml(1tsp) of each of those into a 1 gallon jug. Mix, let it sit a while. Then use on the plants. I have realized since then that it's probably TOO much for them at first and need to back it down to diluting it maybe in half or even more so. Basically follow what the manufacturer's specified for feeding has been what I've done thus far.

Basics:
nutes/water monday
molasses 1 tbsp/1gal then water plants wednesday
just regular water friday

Of course if the plants do not need the water I wait. Gauge it off of the finger test about 1-2inches in for dryness and the weight of the pot itself.

I would definitely prefer to maximize as you have stated. These are all in 1 gallon pots I believe? lol
You're saying to go 2 ltr pots with 12 plants per time? What size of pot should I veg them in?

Btw what strain? I have been mostly talking about your tent for vent. not closet even though the plants would benefit HUGE from more fresh air in veg, trust me. Veg is when all the branching/filling happens and this has a large amount to do with determining your final harvest so...up to you your call. I know it's tough to do sometimes, believe me I have destroyed walls, ceilings, floors just to supply my babies with fresh air. Holes can be patched later and exterior duct can be hidden with innovation. It's just such a crucial/beneficial thing in growing to have this air supply. Exhaust can go anywhere but back into your space obviously. I have seen guys vent into attics, bathrooms, next room, chimneys, crawlspaces or just plain outside. I will get into feeding tomorrow as I have some great tips. It's 230am here in Canada and I'm going to bed soon. I'd be happy to help throughout the grow to finish btw I'm not growing atm and bored.

Good job on the weight and 2 inch finger method, served me well lol. I will get serious about feeding tomorrow. Oh and I meant you have to convert to Celsius for me, I'm Canadian and only work in C Just please no more molasses until we talk tomorrow LOL and what medium are you in? I suggest going to the hydro store and getting some HP promix, you can thank me hugely later hehe.

woops, missed your question... yes 12 x 1/2 gal pots should fit tight in the tent with a small veg time maybe 2 weeks or less then onto flowering. I plan on going straight from rooted clone to flowering for my next show. You should see what I have planned!! If plants are untrained they should be around 6-8 inches going in and finish somewhere under 2 feet with less than an ounce on each. Or you could go with 6 in 1 gal pots and veg them to 12 inches. Its a personal choice when it comes to this, it's whatever works best for your situation. For now with the 3 it will take longer to veg and require some training to get bigger plants but you should look forward to 3 ounces( little less) per plant if done optimally. When getting harvests every 8 weeks or so, its key to do a quick veg cycle to get the next batch of plants ready for flowering. Some guys would grow one super plant vegged for 10 weeks, trained heavily and fill that tent but that isn't going to get you the quick harvests you want so I suggest in the future more plants and some minor, if not any, training to achieve your goals. Btw it's beneficial to have a few mother plants to clone from to balance out the timing for this style of growing.

Allright, lol sorry for the confusion, I was sending all this at like 3am my time(Colorado).

Temps: 60F = 15.5C / 25F = 3.8C

Strains: 1 Jilly bean, 1 lambs breath(in tent, flowering now 2nd day of that)
2 Pac 10 and 1 Mr. Nice Guy, and 1 Cali Blue(vegging at a friends, as I didn't have my 'veg' area set up yet) are the 3 in veg now

All are acquired via dispensary from a mother plant there.
[A local shop was telling me of a flo clone they have, 7 weeks for veg...maybe should check into getting those next?]
CoCo based mix i have : http://htgsupply.com/Product-Roots-Organic-Potting-Soil-1.5-Cubic-Feet.asp

So from what I gathered from your last few posts is that I need to get ventilation of FRESH outdoor air IN and also run a vent port to the outdoors/out of the room.
I have a 25ft duct line work, the inline fan however when hooked up with that seemed to barely be able to push all the air through that.

I am in a house, renting, so want to avoid destroying anything IF possible. hahaha I have to go to work in a few hours, I won't be home until tonight. The next feeding cycle is purely just water for them. No molasses or nutes until we can further discuss it! Feel free to PM me if you want as well...either way! Thanks for all the help, I greatly appreciate it!

here is pics of the tent/area around it. let me know what your advice is/comments!

main vent on the back/bottom is open, has a screen underneath that I have open to help with ventilation as well.

I dig the pie pans, how those working? I might just consider that