Hello! I'm still waiting on the last few pieces of equipment to finish setting up my 4x4 grow tent and after that it's off to the races! Last week I ordered two packs of Lemon OG and Twisted Cookies from Twisted Tree which are expected to arrive by the end of this week. I've also been eyeing Mephisto beans for a LONG time now, 3-4 years, but I couldn't grow because of travel obligations. I am beyond excited to have ordered Wedding Cake, Sour Stomper, CDLC, and Mango Smile today. I still have not decided which strains I want to grow first! I prefer sativa effects, but I think I will be sticking with a hybrid or an indica strain because I have heard sativas are generally more finicky and more difficult to grow. This sort of sounds like bro-science, I'll let the more experienced growers tell me their opinions on the matter.
I will be documenting my first grow so that I can learn from any mistakes I will undoubtedly make and use it as a reference for future grows. I hope to receive some sage advice and diagnostic help from this community. I've already reached out to Parsing_Trees on Reddit, and he was gracious enough to answer many of my questions. I can't thank him enough for taking time out of his day to answer questions that I'm sure he's been asked a thousand times already.
Now for my set-up. My set-up is a bit wonky, as I initially wanted to do a 2x4, but changed to a 4x4 last minute. Here it is:
Initially, I only relied on CocoForCannabis for information. Upon further research I am beginning to think they might be a little too dogmatic in their recommendations. The biggest point of contention I see between their recommendations and the community's is:
The importance of transplanting autos. CocoForCannabis seems to suggest that planting directly into a 5 gallon pot will set me up for failure and that transplanting is a necessary and, if done properly, low-risk method to ensure the best root development. Yet I've read many testimonials on this forum and reddit that transplanting is an unnecessary risk and planting directly into the final container will not hurt my results. I have jiffy pellets and fabric nursery pots on hand. Should I just ditch the transplant idea and go directly into 5 gallon pots?
I will be documenting my first grow so that I can learn from any mistakes I will undoubtedly make and use it as a reference for future grows. I hope to receive some sage advice and diagnostic help from this community. I've already reached out to Parsing_Trees on Reddit, and he was gracious enough to answer many of my questions. I can't thank him enough for taking time out of his day to answer questions that I'm sure he's been asked a thousand times already.
Now for my set-up. My set-up is a bit wonky, as I initially wanted to do a 2x4, but changed to a 4x4 last minute. Here it is:
- Lights: Had I researched further I would have ordered kingbrites or meijius. We'll find out if these lights are up to the task.
- EnFun 240 watt LED's LM301B diodes and meanwell driver on Amazon.
- Random Chinese 400 watt Bar lights with lm301b diodes. Yuanhui YH400B Bar Light on Amazon. This was an impulse buy. I hope it wasn't a mistake!
- Tent: 4x4
- Light Schedule: Probably 18/6 or 20/4. Undecided, but I don't think it matters all that much as long as I am attentive to the plant's needs and use a DLI chart as my general guideline. Correct me if I'm wrong!
- Strains: I can't decide! Everything looks amazing. Willing to consider your suggestions. I can choose between:
- Twisted Tree: 2x Lemon OG, 2x Twisted Cookies. I chose these strains because they have Amnesia Haze and Lemon Haze genetics. Not a huge cookies fan, but I love me some haze.
- Mephisto: 3x Mephisto's Wedding, 3x Sour Stomper, 1x CDLC, 1x Mango Smile
- Water
- I have very poor quality well water. 500-700+ PPM and needs water softeners.
- I installed a 5 stage RO system last week, the first day or two I was reading 200-300 PPM from the RO unit, but it's gradually gone down to 80-120. Hopefully it'll keep going down.
- Germination method:
- I have no idea. So many ways to skin a cat, it's hard to pick which method to use. Lately I've been looking at Mephisto's DVD case method. Let me know if you suggest a different method. I'm all ears.
- Growing method:
- Hand watering. I chose 5 gallon pots so I can get away with watering once or twice daily.
- Training: This might be hubris, but I want to dive straight into training methods. Of course this is assuming I get out of the seedling stage in one piece.
- I plan on topping two plants above the 4th/5th node if they are healthy during veg. I will probably do some light LST after to ensure an even canopy.
- For the other two plants I want to try some heavy LST where you bend the main stem nearly sideways. I'll be following some of the techniques Bill Ward on YouTube uses.
- Compare results
- Medium: 70/30 Coco/Perlite in 5 gallon fabric pots
- Cocodelphia brand perlite from HTGsupply. The bag says its triple washed and buffered and according to the employee at HTGSupply he prefers Cocodelphia over Canna Coco because Cocodelphia is way cheaper and it's clean enough to use out of the bag. In the interest of keeping things simple, if the Coco seems not too powdery and the run-off PH and EC is in a good range, can I just skip the whole washing/buffering process?
- Nutes: The feeding chart on Dyna-Gro's website seems excessive. I read somewhere (I think ManO'Green) that as a general guideline 65% strength of feeding chart is sufficient for autos. I will follow this recommendation. I will try not to rely too much on a feeding chart for this grow. I will start low with nutes <200ppm during the seedling stage and try to respond according to what the plants are telling me. I hope some of you can help me with this process.
- Dyna-Gro ProTekt
- Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro during veg
- Dyna-Gro Bloom for mid/late flower
- CaliMagic on hand just in case.
- Epsom Salts on hand just in case
- Bennies/Microbial stuff because why not
- Maintain a PH range between 5.6 and 6.2.
- Environment: I will be referencing a VPD and DLI chart to ensure my environment is on point.
Initially, I only relied on CocoForCannabis for information. Upon further research I am beginning to think they might be a little too dogmatic in their recommendations. The biggest point of contention I see between their recommendations and the community's is:
The importance of transplanting autos. CocoForCannabis seems to suggest that planting directly into a 5 gallon pot will set me up for failure and that transplanting is a necessary and, if done properly, low-risk method to ensure the best root development. Yet I've read many testimonials on this forum and reddit that transplanting is an unnecessary risk and planting directly into the final container will not hurt my results. I have jiffy pellets and fabric nursery pots on hand. Should I just ditch the transplant idea and go directly into 5 gallon pots?
Thank you to everyone who stopped by! I am excited to be a part of this amazing community.
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