Wanted: Feedback on First Grow Plan

[Guido Sarducci]

I am ramping up for my first shot at growing weed. I probably still have about a month before I am ready for full go as I am still constructing my grow space (and growing won’t be legal here until July 1, anyway). I have been lurking around a lot of forums and soaking up all of the knowledge that I can. I kinda feel like I have been studying for an exam, but I want this first one to go as good as it possibly can because I know I am going to make myriad mistakes along the way. But, from what I have seen this is the forum I need to be in right now because there is a lot of knowledge and tons of helpful souls here. Both of which I am sure I will need quite a bit.

I have formulated a basic plan, cobbled together from what I have learned, and I would like to get some feedback on my plan. I will be growing 3 White Widow Autos in 3 gal fabric pots. My planned grow medium is 50% Pro Mix BX with myco, 25% composted cow manure, and 25% perlite. I plan to mix in some earthworm castings as well (maybe ½ to 1 cup per 3 gal pot). So, mostly soilless but not entirely hydroponic. I have a 3’x3’x6’ Vivosun grow tent and a Viparspectra P2000 led light. I also have a exhaust fan with a charcoal filter and 2 small circ fans. I plan to feed them Mega Crop one-part nutes when they are ready (starting with .25 recommended concentration and moving up from there), but I also have some kelp extract that I plan to start them on from the beginning to help with root development. My planned weekly feed schedule will be to feed nutes every other day, but on day 7 to give only plain water (or maybe plain water with kelp extract). I have read in many places that the kelp is very beneficial, so I may use it throughout (in addition to nutes and with plain water).

There are many who say that nothing else is needed with the Mega Crop, but I am still trying to decide whether to use something like Sweet Candy or Bud Explosion when I get to the flowering stage. If I do, I am sure that I will need to ease up on the nutes a bit. Finally, I have been advised to run my light at 18” and 50% power for seedlings (first 2 weeks?), then go to 100% on an 18/6 schedule maintaining 18” above the canopy for the rest of the grow. As an afterthought, I also wondered whether I should employ some basic LST with this grow, and, if so, whether I should do it with all three plants or just experiment with one or two. So there it is, I am sure that I have forgotten something but that’s where I am right now. Any constructive comments or suggestions will be welcomed and appreciated.

 

[DCLXVI]

Welcome! AFN is fantastic. Loads of helpful, knowledgeable, nice people here. I'm still pretty new but I think your plan looks solid.

Two things I overlooked as a new grower that ended up being more important than I realized:

1) Do you have a pH meter/pen? You will need one. pH is very important so get a decent one along with a pH up/down kit, calibration fluid, and storage solution for your meter or pen.

2) Do you have a ppm/ec meter? You will need to measure the concentration of your nutrients and even the water you are using. Knowing the starting value of your water can make a large difference in how you add and adjust things.

Best of luck!


(I bought a Milwaukee Instruments ph600 pen, its ~$20 or so and I thought it a step better than the really cheap ph pens on amazon. I also picked up a HM Digital Com-80 ppm/ec meter for about ~$30 at the advice of some guys on here. Those two items plus calibration fluid, storage solution, and ph up/down is a solid bit of $$ but well worth it and will last you several grows)

 

[Mizzo81]

I’ll add some tips, VPD is extremely important as is ph and don’t over feed. I’m in a hydro style medium and I don’t go over 500 ppms using autopots (bottom feed). Usually lol I’ve had a strain or two that wanted a little more.
Edit: 500 ppms on the 500 scale.

 

[Guido Sarducci]

Welcome! AFN is fantastic. Loads of helpful, knowledgeable, nice people here. I'm still pretty new but I think your plan looks solid.

Two things I overlooked as a new grower that ended up being more important than I realized:

1) Do you have a pH meter/pen? You will need one. pH is very important so get a decent one along with a pH up/down kit, calibration fluid, and storage solution for your meter or pen.

2) Do you have a ppm/ec meter? You will need to measure the concentration of your nutrients and even the water you are using. Knowing the starting value of your water can make a large difference in how you add and adjust things.

Best of luck!


(I bought a Milwaukee Instruments ph600 pen, its ~$20 or so and I thought it a step better than the really cheap ph pens on amazon. I also picked up a HM Digital Com-80 ppm/ec meter for about ~$30 at the advice of some guys on here. Those two items plus calibration fluid, storage solution, and ph up/down is a solid bit of $$ but well worth it and will last you several grows)

Thanks for the info! I plan to get both, but have not done so yet. I am still wavering on exactly which ones I want. This is an area where there are many opinions, but not much consensus. I will certainly have a look at the ones you referred to though, as all options are on the table at the moment.

 

[Mizzo81]

Here is a great vpd chart for cannabis. And ph for promix is 5.6-6.2. With the added manure I’m not sure if that’s gonna change it. It’s an organic material and will mix things up a bit. Also I add sweet candy about two to three reservoirs but only because I already have it. I’m pretty much just using the two part mega crop.

 

[Guido Sarducci]

View attachment 1325402Here is a great vpd chart for cannabis. And ph for promix is 5.6-6.2. With the added manure I’m not sure if that’s gonna change it. It’s an organic material and will mix things up a bit. Also I add sweet candy about two to three reservoirs but only because I already have it. I’m pretty much just using the two part mega crop.

Thanks a bunch! You just got me started on a whole new line of study, LOL. Seriously though, I knew relative humidity was important to keep within a certain range, but I had never actually read anything specifically about vapor pressure deficit. But, I guess I will now... The chart you provided will be a good resource to refer back to as I attempt to soak up more knowledge (although I feel that I am almost saturated at this point).

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@Guido Sarducci Welcome to AFNPro Mix BX is peat based so it is more soil than hydro. Then when you add compost of any kind you are now firmly in soil not hydro. The worm castings are a soil treatment. You are headed toward an organic living soil but you are not quite there. I do recommend going full TLS - True Living Soil over feeding soil with salt fertilizer or go full hydro with coco or rock wool. The reason I say this is it is difficult even for a seasoned grower to know when and how much to fertilize soil. Your plan is underfeeding and over-feeding at the same time. TLS is simple, you don't fertilize it you feed it. @Proph or @WildBill can give you some pointers if you go that way. I am a hydro guy and I am doing a lot of work with dialing in GreenLeaf Mega Crop 2 part for autos.

Truth be told if I could lift a container of soil I would look at growing with TLS in an Earth Box.

Have fun and .

 

[Guido Sarducci]

Thanks for the input, MOG! I am, of course, trying to avoid any costly mistakes, so I would like to better understand your concerns. My understanding, while limited, is that ProMix is basically neutral in that it contains little or no plant nutrient sources (in fact, I have seen posts describing growing in ProMix and perlite with added nutrients as hydroponics). And, I also have read that feeding seedlings for the first week or so is dicey (they could get burned with the wrong concentration of nutes). Therefore, I thought that adding something (the composted manure) would provide some nutrient value to the peat for the very early life of the plants. I didn't really think about the fact that adding the nutrients later could throw things out of balance because of the presence of the manure (the earthworm castings were simply an afterthought because so many people seem to swear by their usefulness either as an amendment or in a tea form). However, I have seen that many people use Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil mix along with the Fox Farm trio of nutrients, and that confuses me a little. The Ocean Forest has a high nutrient level from what I understand (some even describe it as "too hot"), so it would seem that adding the trio to the OF soil mix would pose the same overfeeding problem. So, I am wondering why my proposition fails while the FF OF and FF nutes combo is ok to use? Please understand that I am not trying to deny that what you are saying is correct, because I certainly value any input that I can get and have no real-life basis to confirm or deny any of this, but I just want to go into this with my eyes as wide-open as possible. Thanks, again!

 

[TheFerret]

IMO I dont think you would need the manure if you are using EWC. I personally don't think there is anything wrong with using mega crop but I think maybe MOG was getting at if you are using soil, why not go fully organic? You would not need to be feeding with every/other watering like Mega Crop (which I think is syn and not organic?). Compared to my first grow where I did not pre-ammend my living soil Vs my 2 runs after where ive literally had to just give it plain water and top dress once the whole using living soil with Microbes has become so easy I could not imagine doing anything else. You are welcome to get as fancy with it as you want thats the fun part.