New Grower First Grow Plan for White and Red dwarf and either Deimos or Syrup

[Panic]

OK Bought the Herbie's Auto Fem 10 Pack I am going with the Dwarf duo and either Deimos or syrup (suggestions?)
Medium: Fox Farm Ocean Forest
Pot: 3x 3 gallons
Grow Space: Built Closet in shed 3'x3'x~8
Lights: Starting 4 Bulbs each at (100 w equiv)CFL 1,600 Lum 50,000K and Dual T-12 Fixture 65000K

Other Elements: 1x1500 watt space heater (its almost winter ill test distances for vent and Temp consistency), one Square fan (1.5'x1.5'), Temp/Hum meter Analog

Other known s: Germ by wet covered Napkin, Seedling directly into 3 gallon, Lights are on a pulley system, Flat white Paint, No Nutrients till week 4-6(based on observation of plant, and suggested by numerous written articles )

Now, the questions lol
1. What other specie is more tolerant for first grow? (syrup,or Deimos)
2. How much more lighting? (kinda going CFLs)
4. Can i use a piece of white poster board hanging above the lights to reflect?
3. Good Nutrients ? and How Much? and When? (going Cheap/ Willing to order since i have time)
4. Due to winter (its in a good shed in a closet) It has no Heat, but i have the space heater, any suggestions from previous experience? ( climate at night outside can drop to 30F typically will be around 40-50, and During the day will be typically 60-80F (South East Georgia, USA))

I've spent two weeks or more doing research, so as you can guess i know everything ....lol. But any advice is helpful, also anything you guys have in terms of direct observation on previously grown matching species will help. I Haven't started yet. I will post information/pics as they come. Thank you all, and thank god for the internet so there will be a lot less trial and error.

Panic

 

[Panic]

By chance does anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[Rp365]

Panic I am no expert but I got a couple things for you. Fox farm ocean forest is hot I have burnt a few seeds starting directly in ocean forest. They don't need any nutes with ocean forest for a least a couple weeks but I would give them a root booster. Good luck! Be sure to post any questions the afn community is awesome help peace

 

[namvet25]

(By chance does anyone have any thoughts on this?) Welcome to our forum,sorry it took awhile to get to you.I would go with the syrup.I grew it and liked it for fast growth,good yield,and strong and tasty buds.What is the 50,000 k or is that 5000k? Those t12s aren't the best so I would add some more cfls instead of the t12s. I wouldn't use poster board for reflectors,they could catch on fire.aluminum pie plates work or some other metal like a piece of heating ducting cut to size.There are too mant nutes for me to choose from so do some reading in our fertilizer sec or go online and check there.Pic some out and get back to us and we will go from there.You will have to play with your heater and set it so it gets about 75 to 80 degrees lights on and 65 to 70 at lights out.I'm sure you will have more questions so just get back to us later.:karma Cloud::stylez rasta smoke:

 

[mjdregba]

Welcome to AFN panic, I have a very similar setup to you - being my grow box is in the garage and the UK winters get below zero. I will also have a bash at answering some of your questions;

Did I read you right, in that your grow box is 8ft high? wow thats awesome if it is - wish mine was.

So my opinion on the lights and low temperature issues... first off Autoflowers can grow with a light schedule of 24/0 - so the first thing I do during the winter is run 24/0 so I dont have to worry about night time temperatures. Second thing I do, is bung loads of lights in - I am using 420watts (actual watts) of CFL right now on one plant and keeping her just at the right temperature. Doing this is obviously using way more lights than I need, but it is saving me money by not using a heater - you quoted 1500W heater, so I am using a 1/3 of that in electricity whilst saturating her in lovely light. However, given the height of your grow box, I would seriously look into a 250 or 400w HPS, and either have a fan blowing down through the bulb or use a cool tube and dump the heat to the bottom of the box. Secondly on your lights, you have specified 100w equivalent - unfortunatly equivalent matters not for growing and you need to quote actual watts. I am not using HPS because my box is just under 5 foot tall and with CF and fans I only have about 3-4 foot grow space. So in short, an HPS ran 24/0 will be cheaper than a heater ran 24/0 and give you much better results.

Invest in a fan speed controller - or build one yourself. This is great when winter temps vary and you can increase/decrease the fan speed to accomodate.

On the nutrients, it really depends on your soil, most soil will last around 2 weeks before you need to add grow nutrients - I add root boosters from around day 2-3. I love the simplicity of organics, in my sig is an organic grow with soil I mixed myself, suplemented by small bottles of Biobizz grow, bloom and mollases.

I wouldnt use poster board above an HPS - go nothing or cool tube.

Have you thought about odor control? A good CF is a must as one small smell spoils everything.

PH, PH is most overlooked but most important - buy a PH pen and calibration fluid; I bought this one and works okay - saved my grow too Digital Ph Meter Tester Pocket Aquarium Pool Water Wine Urine LCD Pen Monitor | eBay

The most important thing.. test, test and test some more - get your setup working, know what affects those temps, make sure its light tight and odor free.

And sorry I dont know the strains.

 

[Panic]

Well written thanks. I will definitely take a lot of your advice. ph is the only unaccounted for item. What temp do you hover around? and the bulb wattage is 23. Thanks again.

 

[mjdregba]

Well written thanks. I will definitely take a lot of your advice. ph is the only unaccounted for item. What temp do you hover around? and the bulb wattage is 23. Thanks again.

I always aim for around 23c - but you will be fine in anything between 19c-29c really. The lights you have arent really going to keep the grow box warm in winter m8.

Keep us posted on your progress - you are in for a very interesting ride

 

[wwwillie]

Hey! And welcome to AFN.
More light for sure, I put together an eight bulb set up for about $20.00 not including bulbs. One of those would give you just shy of 200 watts with the 23watt bulbs. That gives me enough heat during the day, at night I have one of those oil filled electric radiators. I was able to set the thermostat on it so it stays at 77, with my circulation fan in the tent I feel pretty good that the whole tent is fairly even. My tent is in the basement and the nighttime and day when no one is home gets to the mid fortys.
Nutes is a tough one there are so many good ones out there. I bought Fox Farms, but then Nam80232 Made such a convincing case for Rock, that I went and bought a Rock Box kit of their stuff. Read what folk have to say, don't think you can go too terribly wrong and just be careful not to use to much!
Happy Frog was a bit to hot for my 1st try. I ended up cutting it with other soil and perlite.
Good luck and happy growing. Peace :karma Cloud:

 

[Panic]

Thanks Ill take a look at Rock box kit. I have to figure out the heating issues. I am going to look at that seedling mix and just implant the Styrofoam cup with the young plant into the OF. Do/does anyone think it will still be hot?

 

[Rp365]

I like the ffof I use it for my photo mothers to be and in several grows it is just a bit hot for some seedlings. I use general hydroponics flora series nutes the only reason I do is because I traded some things off for a hydro setup and the nutes came with it so that's what I am using. I always use a root booster without good roots you have nothing on top is my theory. Best of luck in your grow