Starting first grow - Would love advice & suggestions

[Jabberwock]

hey, everyone, I'm new here, but i've been reading the forums for some time now.
I've just started my first grow, and while I think I have a reasonable setup and plan, based on my research I'd like the opinions of more experienced growers.

My little babies are currently seedlings. I have 5 Pure Power Plant, and 5 Blackjack, both feminized from Nirvana seeds. Right now they are sitting 3 feet under an LED light. It's advertised as the equivalent of a 250w HPS. (The actual draw is 136w and it's using 5w diodes).
These are the lights (link)
The temp (for new seedlings) stays around 23-26 degrees (75-80 fahrenheit). They are in just plain peat pellets atm. I have some organic soil with worm castings that I'm mixing with some pine bark fines and perlite for when they need a transplant. I'll be using the fox farms trio of nutes when the time comes to fertilize. the plan is to make a clone of each plant. totaling 20 plants by the time I bring them into flowering phase.

I'm planning on setting them up in a tent when they get bigger (when I top them, or otherwise when I begin to train them). I am getting two 60x60x80inch (152x152x203cm) grow tents equipped with 2 of those same LED lights each, and 6inch carbon scrubbers with fans (both exhaust and intake) rated at 442 CFM with little nobs to adjust airflow. Ambient temps in the room are 21 to 23 degrees (70-75 fahrenheit) I have one 3 gal cloth "better pot" pots for each plant.

I was planning on vegging for about a month after this seedling stage, and possibly (I'm torn between the two, so it depends on what I hear from more experienced folks) using a manifold/mainline training technique. or just topping the plants once.

I'm a moderately experienced grower with plants in general, but new to cannabis, so I'd appreciate any advice you guys can provide.

 

[SageGrower]

re: Starting first grow - Would love advice & suggestions

Compliments on a great post! Well designed and informative.

I'm a coco grower now but began developing my skills using soil. I don't see the need for pine bark so perhaps someone will enlighten me. While cloning is great, it will present a problem for you if your intention is to harvest simultaneously. You will lose a couple weeks of growth as the clones root and adapt. You said

I was planning on vegging for about a month after this seedling stage

and I'm not sure this will be possible with clones in the mix. You may need to separate the grows or extend the veg period. While I'm not a big fan of FF products, they should work well for you if you follow the labels.

 

[Jabberwock]

re: Starting first grow - Would love advice & suggestions

Compliments on a great post! Well designed and informative.

I'm a coco grower now but began developing my skills using soil. I don't see the need for pine bark so perhaps someone will enlighten me. While cloning is great, it will present a problem for you if your intention is to harvest simultaneously. You will lose a couple weeks of growth as the clones root and adapt. You said and I'm not sure this will be possible with clones in the mix. You may need to separate the grows or extend the veg period. While I'm not a big fan of FF products, they should work well for you if you follow the labels.

Thanks
The idea was to put the originals in one tent and the clones in the other, so there'll be a bit of time between stages of each set of 10.
I got the pine bark fines because I was told by an organic (non cannabis) grower that they will help regulate PH and improve drainage. I had tried growing before with a single plant, but I overwatered my soil which had poor drainage, and I had issues with PH (maybe because of the water... it was testing at 8.5 from the faucet). The plant died, so I figured to be safe I'd use good water and add those pine bark fines + perlite.
That first attempt was also under a 250w CFL, which was unlikely to be good enough in retrospect. I used a generic organic soil from the hardware store and no fertilizer.

 

[SageGrower]

re: Starting first grow - Would love advice & suggestions

I would have thought the decomposition of wood (pine bark in your case) might induce fluctuations to the pH stability. I'll need to look into this further. Aeration of the medium using perlite (~30%) should resolve most any drainage issue. Forgot to mention that Pure Power Plant and Blackjack are two of my favs!

Keep on Growing,
Sage