New Grower beginnger here :) wud love help

[Nima_orange]

Well i am going to start the seedlings in soil like the Top soil u get from gardening shops... or would layering it be better rather than transplanting for autos?? Like first layer the top soil and after that the soil mix? Or would i go for something like Biobizz all mix organic soil potting compost to start the seedlings and use this soil as the base of my soil mix?

 

[Son of Hobbes]

Hey well decided to give it a go. Do a few plants or so just for some medicinal smoke. I have been planning this for a while and for me a box/tent would be ideal. for my first time I shall be constructing my own box made of wood. My friend is going to supply me with one 400w HID and I have heard these get very warm so i may be making my own cooltube ( Just ducting through the light, to take hot air out... Do i need to do anything else with this? ). Also half of my soil will be using the usual soil mixes with the normal fertz but the other half will be organic. I was just wonderinh how many would go be fine under a 400w and would i have to get a reflector? I will be installing mylar in the box for good reflectivity. how far would my 400 w lights have to be from the plant? I might be using just cheap CFL's for seedlings and is it right to keep CFL 1 inch away and HID 1.5 foot away? When is the exact time i should change them to HID? From start I am going to be using an 18/6 cycle and veg it for as long as i can then gradually lessen the light to 17 to 15 and then 12/12. I will make my soil mix 1.5 weeks prior to using and before using i know to make it slightly moist but how moist? And can anyone reccomend me a nice and easy soil mix which prevents mould and all the other nasties.... With watering i shal be using tap water but i will leave the tap water out for a few days to lower the PH. How much should you exactly water from the start to the end? The intake at the bottom does a fan+ducting need to be there because i have seen just fans used here. Iv got a little plan below how i will be constructing my box but how would i get "Fresh-air" in from? Will using an exhaust and an intake fan be enough for plants to breathe or do i need to bring in extra air from outside? Or if i cant vent air from outside will I need to use co2 and how much co2? I was thinking about getting a tank of co2 but I dont know how much co2 to use and when. What extra precautions should i take for this not to be a fail? things like temp , humidity etc....... Thanks!

Hey Nima, good to see your journal so far! Fleshing out ideas on paper and taking notes is a great idea; props for thinking things out and not flying by the seat of your pants! :High 5:

I've got a few questions that maybe you could answer or look into for us:

1. When you say you're friend has an 400W HID for you; would that be safe to assume it's an HPS/MH fixture? Does it have a ballast (a big electronic box that connects separately via a heavy gauge cable?) Any chance you could post a picture of it so we can see what you're working with? Can you also find out what kind of bulbs he has for it; are they metal halide (MH) or high pressure sodium (HPS)?

When you say you're going to make your own cool tube, could you elaborate on that?

You will want a reflector if there is none on the light. A picture is worth a thousand words here :smokebuds:

2. Thumbs up on the mylar for your reflective material! Try to steer clear of the mylar thermal blankets if you've seen them, they are cheap but very thin, very see through, and can create reflective hot spots in the material.

3. For your soil mix; remember that the seedlings can get stunted or grow poorly in growing medium that is too hot (full of nutrients.) The two round leaves that first emerge on the seedling are called cotyledons, these provide the plant it's initial nutrients while it's developing it's initial root system and leaves. You'll want a nice light nute to no nute mix for your seedlings. If you still want to mix them that's fine; you can mix up your soil, put them in your pots, then scoop out a grape fruit sized hole in the top middle of the pot. Replace that soil with the low/no nute mix and you're seedlings can thrive initially and then take off like a dress on prom night.

4. You could use the HID from seedling if you wanted; you would just place them higher up as to not stress out the plants. I use CFL's for my germ/seedlings personally, so if you have access to them, it might be a little safer bet for your first time around (less fickle.) HID lights produce heat; depending on the air exchange and ambient temperatures inside and outside your grow space, you may or may not need (or want) a vented hood or actual cool tube.

The HID can be open air with a reflector on top. This is the least amount of work on your part, but offers the least amount of control over the heat produced by the light.

The HID can be in a vented hood. These are enclosed fixtures with vented ports of various sizes on both ends that allow duct to be attached. They typically offer the most uniform light dispersion. They also tend to be the heaviest option, as well as taking up the largest physical area in space compared to the other options.

The HID can be placed in a cool tube, which is a cylindrical fixture with vented ports on either side. The advantage cool tubes have over vented hoods is that they are much lighter, can be placed vertically, take up much less physical space, and by construction allow superior air flow over the vented hood as there are far less angles for the moving air to deflect against (which creates turbulence, reducing air flow and increasing the decibel level.)

The CFL's will produce the least amount of heat.

5.

And can anyone reccomend me a nice and easy soil mix which prevents mould and all the other nasties.... With watering i shal be using tap water but i will leave the tap water out for a few days to lower the PH. How much should you exactly water from the start to the end?

I really like Pro-Mix BX if you can get your hands on. Very light (little nutes,) use it straight for seedlings. I like to add in some earthworm castings and perlite for the actual mix.

I am going to be making a mix of the usual stuff like 50 % peat moss 25 % worm casting and 25 percent of perlite. Now with this i am going to add 20 lb kelp , 20 lb dolomite lime , 20 lb dried bone meal , 10 lb rock phospate and 25 lb of calcium chips 5 lb blood meal 5 lb bat guano 5 lb fish bone meal.Is my soil overkill or will that be enough..? Then i will mix all together and moisten and let it sit for 3 weeks. Now the problem i have is What is the difference between organic and normal? is it the soil mix or is it the ferts that u use? Also when you feed them with nutes every other watering Is it the ferts u use to feed now makes it either organic or chemicalized? I am planning to do an organic one but I am also going to do a few chemicals one to see if i can see the difference in taste between them. I may be use a 2 part A+B nutes which i have heard is good for organic and not too over complicated. If i used another "chemical" fert it would change my plant from an organic to a normal one right???? Are teas helpful? And wud using an ozone generator + a carbon scrubber help with odour or having just a carbon scrubber is neccesary. I know all of my Q are not Soil related so sorry!

What size pots are you planning on using and how many plants? That's a heavy poundage of fertilizer you've got listed there. I've started to shy away from using bone meal and blood meal fertilizers, I've been advised they are relatively slow releasing fertilizers and by the time they've broken down enough to do any good, your autos are most likely past that stage of growth. I'm going to advise the KISS concept. KISS stands for "Keep It Simple Stupid." It's universally accepted as a base platform for restructuring a plan when it starts to become too complex. "MW" I myself am a member and a user of the KISS concept. Welcome friend! Let me do a little digging for you; if you're dead set on using some of that stock up, I'll try to find something that will work for you and the ladies.

6.

The intake at the bottom does a fan+ducting need to be there because i have seen just fans used here. Iv got a little plan below how i will be constructing my box but how would i get "Fresh-air" in from? Will using an exhaust and an intake fan be enough for plants to breathe or do i need to bring in extra air from outside? Or if i cant vent air from outside will I need to use co2 and how much co2? I was thinking about getting a tank of co2 but I dont know how much co2 to use and when.

If it were me personally, I would use the duct + inline fan for your intake at the bottom. Without the duct, your pulling air from the point of entry to the grow space, so you're at the mercy of whatever dust, particles, and other things that are at the base of your grow space. With the duct, you now have control over the point of entry for the air. Remember, one of the reasons for growing inside is that you have near complete control over the environment that you subject the plants to.

If you can get fresh air into the tent; that's preferable. They will grow using recirculated room air, but depending on your grow area you could be pulling in all sorts of things (dust and pathogens.) I'm sure there are plenty of people on here that don't have their intake hooked directly up to a window or to the outside; so if it looks like that's going to be an insurmountable feat don't sweat it.

You will want to have air movement inside the tent over the actual plants. You can do this with a simple 6" clip on fan, or an oscillating fan on a stand. The idea is to create a gentle breeze that moves the branches and stems around, which strengthens the plant and should promote thicker stems and growth. It also lessens the chance of a hot spot being created by an area of the plant staying still in one spot under the HID for too long.

It's just my opinion, but skip the CO2 for now. Get down some of the basics and incorporate CO2 into it when you've got a little better understanding of what you're doing. You can grow some epic buds without CO2 supplement. CO2 is like... CO2 is like wearing socks and sandals. There's a time and a place. Know what I mean? :smokebuds:

7.

And wud using an ozone generator + a carbon scrubber help with odour or having just a carbon scrubber is neccesary. I know all of my Q are not Soil related so sorry!

I would personally just stick with the carbon scrubber. For the amount of the plants you'll have under a 400W HID, a carbon scrubber should be more than adequate. Remember, you need a strong enough rated fan for the scrubber to have enough power to suck the air effectively through it (most store bought scrubbers have a CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) rating on them, do a quick search for inline fans and you'll see a plethora of different sizes and flow rates. I have a 6" 400 CFM centrifuge fan on my 6" carbon scrubber (it's a monster.)

8. As for the amount of plants, there's a lot of factors that play in here. What size pots do you want to use? The size of the pot greatly affects the size of the plant. The smaller the pot, smaller the plant, larger the pot, larger the plant.

You can incorporate techniques like LST (Low Stress Training,) which keeps vertical growth under control and tries to create a more level horizontal canopy.

The strain of the plant is HUGE. I have some Dutch Passion Think Differents that are a couple feet tall and bushy bush bush monsters "MW" There are short plant; there are dwarf plants. You can usually find reviews of the strains if you're online ordering along with plant characteristics.

I don't know your situation or how big your space is (unless I missed that, it's late and these eyes don't see well!) but I would stick with fewer plants instead of more. I know it's temping to think more plants will give you more yield, but if you're not experienced, it's more opportunity for disease, pests, deficiencies, user error, and other non pleasant growing experiences to raise their ugly head. You do what you want for sure; but I would stick with a couple plants, learn the basics, see how they grow similarly and differently (same strains can grow differently depending on the phenotype.)

Anyways hope that's not too long winded for you. If it makes you feel better, this is the short version of my response. Kidding. Peace out bro and good karma to you on your grow and decisions. Keep asking questions and we'll keep answering them! :karma Cloud:

 

[Nima_orange]

!
1. The thing is i havent even seen it!! he says he has some 400 w light for me its been used for growing before and i dont know myself if its HPS/MH fixture? Would a ballast be needed for one light fixture? I am planning to have 4 normal sized plants under this light i get OR i might even buy my own lights and what would you reccomend LED OR Hid? I know u use a blueish light spectrum for veg and u use a reddish light spectrum for flowering. but i also know mh/hps can also be used all the way through you just gotta watch the temps.

3. So if you would normally just have ur soil mix as it is. and like a little portion on the top and like 2 inches below have a no nute mix? After 2 inches of root growth should Veg start and so i should have the top 2 inches of soil a no nute mix?

4. I have decided to buy a cool tube now. I do want it to be simple and i rather have proper equipment than half assed equipment thats gonner break down on me half way. Iv seen some cool tubes around 60 dollars that is around my budget i dont want to spend 1000s. i have seen one that has a reflector and acool tube with it so i might just get that and run ducting through that. But i dont thinkany lights come with this so will i have to get another set of bulbs to put in this fixture? This is the one im looking at. 6" Hydroponics Wing Glass Cool Air Tube Reflector Hood HPS MH Grow Light Fixture | eBay

5. What im planning to do is a few autos and a few normal ones. So im thinknig of putting the autos in 7 gal pots and the others in 15 gal pots. Sound fine to you?

6. With the intake i was just going to havea standard fan inside some ducting half assed again. I might just get a intake fan and apply some ducting to it for the intake. I have been looknig at this do you think it would be enough? Airflow Aventa Fan 100mm Mixed Flow 2 Speed [9041085]

7. iv read about LST , cropping etc. but i have decided to stay away from this. Its my first time and i will only attempt this if they go out of control but i am doing indicas for my first time for ease.

The 2 links i sent you may not be the best equipment but i am on a budget Appreciate ur help

 

[Nima_orange]

ALSO its going to be cold cos its winter so how additional heat be added? Im sure with lights off they could get cold... heater in the room? this would really help. What degrees should a seedling be?? dont want to kill them.. and its 75-80 Degrees during veg and flower right? Not fahrenheit? and 65 degrees when lights off?

 

[wwwillie]

I use one of those oil filled radiator types with a thermostat. Took a few attempts but it is dialed in nicely and keeps the tent at 75 F at night. The temps in my basement where the tent is gets to the mid 40s F. I keep the circulation fan on all the time.

 

[Nima_orange]

AHH RIGHT. well iv been reading abit and there was always one thing that confused me. The tempratures. It should be between 65 F and 85 F right? and like 60 F during lights off right? So thats between 18 degrees celcius to 30 degrees celcius right? and lights off at 15 degrees right? Iv seen people say 80 degrees and i think they have been referring to celcius and surely 85 degrees celcius is close to boiling water lol so i was abit confused....

 

[wwwillie]

Ahhh yes, international forums. Difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit is critical to say the least!!