2nd Grow, 1st Journal: Indoor 3x3x8 Siberian Haze Auto & Taison Auto

[UndercutTanuki]

1st grow Summary
Bucket Size - 3.5 gallon
Medium - 33% peat-moss, 33% Mushroom Compost, 22% per lite, 11% vermiculite , 1% love
Lights - (2) 300W Roledero LED
Nutrients - Spartan Feeding Regimen
Strain(s) - Berry Bomb Auto
# of Plants: 4
Yield : 82 grams

Hi Guys! I found this Forum a little late into my first grow and thought id start a grow journal for my second grow. Not sure how best to format this so il start out with mistakes I think I made during the growing process. I used auto flower seeds for the first grow and will be using auto flowers again this time around.

-I was attempting to grow 4 plants in a 3x3 tent with x2 300W Roledero Grow lights in the room
- Unstable humidity the first 3 weeks of the grow the room was all over the place, ranging from 30% to 80% - the next 7 weeks of the grow I was able to stabilize the humidity between 60%-75%
-I presoaked my growing media (3 parts peat moss 3 parts mushroom compost 2 parts perlite 1 part vermiculite) I mixed these up with a concrete mixer and poured them into 5 Gallon pots (turns out my 5 gallon pots where only really 3 gallon pots) , I wet the media under tap water till it was 100% soaked and let it sit in the grow room for 3 days before planting the seeds. it took 2 1/2 weeks for the dirt to fully dry before I was able to water the plants with nutrients
- I am using the Spartan Feeding regiment Nutrients. from start to finish I only fed each plant 5 gallons of nutrient rich water each.
-My "smart grow pots" where cheap and lined with plastic. I had to stab holes around them because they where not letting the dirt breathe and I was getting lots off moss growth early on.
-I did not have fans circulating the air in the grow tent
- I believe the airflow into the tent was off. I had a 4'' exhaust and a 6'' intake fan. I had way more air blowing in then I had being extracted

1 positive. I never delt with temperature issues. I was at a even 75 degrees for the duration of the grow (70 days) - all in all from 4 plants I was able to yield 82 grams.



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Plan for 2nd grow

Bucket Size - 5 gallon
Medium - 33% peat-moss, 33% Mushroom Compost, 22% per lite, 11% vermiculite , 1% love
Lights - (2) 300W Roledero LED
Nutrients - Spartan Feeding Regimen
Strain(s) - Siberian Haze Auto x3 / x1 Taison Auto
# of Plants: 4 (can I put 6 in a 3x3?)
Yield : aiming for atleast 2oz per plant. LETS DO IT!

Il start adding pictures as I set the tent up again. waiting for a few new toys in the mail.

 

[UndercutTanuki]

Pictures with the grow bags I used for the first grow. VS the ones i will be using for the 2nd grow... Looks like the bag was actually a 2gallon. I'm feeling a lot better about the 80grams I yielded on the first grow

 

[dick23rk]

Hey, I like seeing new journals pop up. I will grab a seat for this grow. Looks like the new grow bags you got will be a decent improvement in size. I find some of the bags are not actually the size they say they are. I ordered some 5 gallon bags from a hydro store and they say 16 litre right on them, so only 4 gallon but still seemed smaller.

Some pictures would be great if the grow space once you set it up. For that sized tent 4 autos would be comfortable, 6 would be pushing it depending on the size they get. As for your fans and exhaust, you can get away with 1 oscillating fan and just the 6" exhaust fan, you can use the tents intake vents as passive air ducts. Once you turn on your exhaust, this will create negative pressure in your tent and actually pull the fresh air in they your intake vents, no need for the intake fan really unless temps become an issue.

This time around when you wet your medium for the first time, just use a solo cup with holes in the bottom for a container, then use roughly 1 cup of water to dampen your medium and place your popped seed (tap root pointing up) in a hole about 3/4" deep and cover it over loosely. 1 week after they break ground you should be able to transplant to your final grow bags. Some say not to transplant an auto, but if you do it right, you will not harm the plant or the roots. I can help you thru this when the time comes if you'd like.

Anyways, hope to see everything set up soon. I will be around to watch and help if needed. Cheers!

 

[UndercutTanuki]

Good looking out Dick23rk! - I will be pretty active on this journal. I had trouble keeping up with Notebook journal on the first grow, I feel posting on a Forum will be something more sustainable for me.


I had a basic question. I am using x2 300W LED's. Is this to much light for a 3x3? can I keep the lights 24'' + from the plants at all times?

During the first grow I played around with light height. I kept them at 12'' - 18'' and 24'' I found the plants showed the most growth when they where at 24''+

 

[dick23rk]

Good to hear, it's a lot easier keeping things in line on the forum I find because you get people to talk to at the same time, lots of helpful people here.

As for your lights, no that won't be too much light. I personally start my seeds out under t5 bulbs and then they go to brighter light after a week or 2. You could start them off with just 1 panel, then after a week or so add in the 2nd one. Are there any specific on the panels themselves? How much wattage they pull or what amperage rating they have or even lumen output? I looked them up but they don't give much for specs. Either way, these panels will not overpower any tent in my opinion.

 

[UndercutTanuki]

Not sure how to read the label. I do have access to an electrometer though.

Keeping both lights on an 18/6 schedule. I only paid 40 bucks more in electricity.

 

[dick23rk]

Yeah it doesn't say on the label. I will grab a picture of my label and show you. But yes, the electrometer will tell you, hook it up to one of those panels for a couple minutes and see what it runs at, I'm curious. Good quality panels will run at about 40-45% of the output wattage.

Also forgot to comment on your hanging height, no closer than 12" and likely not farther away that 24", I like around 18". You likely seen a spurt of growth at 24" because those panels aren't that powerful and the plants were stretching for the light.

 

[dick23rk]

Here is what my meizhi 1200 watt panel has on it, shows all the specs

IMG_20190124_150725.jpg

• dick23rk
• Jan 24, 2019

 

[High Wally]

They look like the mars300 units which draw about 135 actual watts per light. As dick mentioned 1 should be good for a while. I add a light when the plants growth demands it. If I am right about the 135W draw, you might need one more for flower phase. Cheers! Tagging along!

 

[dick23rk]

They look like the mars300 units which draw about 135 actual watts per light. As dick mentioned 1 should be good for a while. I add a light when the plants growth demands it. If I am right about the 135W draw, you might need one more for flower phase. Cheers! Tagging along!

I am hoping they pull at least that much from the wall. He has a meter to test them so will be interesting so see since they are a very low priced light. I paid just over $500 for my 1200w panel after tax

 

[UndercutTanuki]

Not looking to good boys... Looks like I'm in the market for a 3rd light pulling 115-116v on each light.

I did pick up both of them for only 40 bucks on sale though! So not bad for the price

 

[dick23rk]

That's not horrible but I was expecting more like 130-140 watts. And if you only paid $40 a piece you cant really complain. When I looked on Amazon they were like $130 cad. If you plan to buy another light do some research on a decent panel or go with an hid ballast and bulb. I got my 600w with batwing reflector for $160 cad.

 

[UndercutTanuki]

Im looking into that meizhi brand. definitely going to go for something UL listed this time around -- I am guessing it would be ok to start off with what I have and just have the new light here for Flowering stage. right?

Il be posting pictures of the set up of the tent hopefully by Monday!

Im so excited to see these grow in 5 gallon pots!

 

[dick23rk]

Yeah they are a decent brand, basically a knock off of Mars I figure, but still worth the money. Yeah you'll be fine for veg with what you have in a 3x3. You can always upgrade at a later date. Do you plan on using just the 1 tent for veg and flower? If so, buy a light that you know is good for veg and bloom. If you go HID then you need 2 different bulbs, 1 for veg and 1 for bloom. If you go with a decent led panel there is normally 2 switches, 1 for veg and 1 for bloom and gives you different color spectrums. Normally turn on both switches in flowering. Just some things for you to look at and think about. Kind of depends on what your budget is for a light. HID lights are a lot cheaper now due to the rising technology of LEDs. LEDs are more expensive initially but use less power, only downside is lumen output compared to HID.

 

[UndercutTanuki]

Who can I talk to to change the name of this grow journal? Im no longer growing I. A 3x3.... I just purchased1200W LED Grow Light MEIZHI Updated Version off Amazon and a new 4x4 tent

 

[dick23rk]

Who can I talk to to change the name of this grow journal? Im no longer growing I. A 3x3.... I just purchased1200W LED Grow Light MEIZHI Updated Version off Amazon and a new 4x4 tent

You would need to talk to a forum moderator. I'm sure there is a list of them somewhere, I don't remember them all. @Teddy Edwards can you help?

 

[dick23rk]

Congrats on the new grow light as well. I'm interested to see if there's much different in the updated version.

 

[UndercutTanuki]

Il be sure to post pictures of the unboxing... IT wouldve arrived today if I had purchased it two hours sooner!!! - Found someone to sell my Roleadroe grow lights to. I was going to rip them off for a nice profit but my concious wouldnt let me haha Still managed to make a $40 profit on them though so Im a happy camper.

Big thanks to you for putting me onto those MEIZHI lights... Im exited to have what I feel is a more "professional" set up.

I think im going to SCROG these bad boys. whats your opinion. after my last grow and reading all the information you guys had to offer and inspecting my plants I feel like the lights I had deffinetly didnt penetrate the lower canopy enough for the lower buds on the stem to have nice growth. to my understanding SCROG would clear this up by widening the plant and increasing light penetration?

 

[dick23rk]

Hey no problem on helping ya out. It's the only led panel I've bought and I did a ton of research before buying one. They aren't the best out there but for the price and lumen output it's a good deal. Could have kept those other lights as additional light or backups but ya got your money back so that counts for something.

As far as scrogging goes, you'll have to top your plants at least once to make it work but topping twice is likely best. There are lots of other scroggers around here. You can check out a journal in my sig below called Garden Adventures and I did some scrogging in there. Went real nice, until I ended up with aphids. It's a very beneficial way to spread out your plants and achieve some more tops

 

[UndercutTanuki]

I prepped the pots today. ended up using 33% pete moss 33% vermiculite 33% potting soil

This is the soil I used

This is the fertilizer (not sure if i needed this but it was on clearance)

Step 1

Step 2 (hand mixing sucks. didn't want to clean my mixer out haha!)

Step 3 : Finished up (mixing a picture but here they are in the 4x4) should I reconfigure this. I'm not to happy with the positioning.)

I did a PH and Slurry test. (1/4 cup of dirt 1/4 cup of water) all the pots are within 5.9ph-6.2ph , The ppm meter red out 285 on the low end and 297 on the high. I am about to do some research on the ideal pph, I skipped this step on my last growth.

Sorry for the low quality pictures! il get better as the journal gets going!

I also have a bag of worm castings. would it be okay to layer the top of the pot with it for germinating the seed? I was going to put the seeds into a cup of water and then move them into a moist paper towel in a zip lock and then drop them into the seed with the sprout facing downwards. thats the method I used last time. is there something more recommendable?