The first time you started

[needmorelight]

I am seeking experienced growers to help me setup for the very first time.
I am inexperienced but I am willing to learn & listen
I have seen a few setups & the one i liked the most is what i will explain here and see what you guys think
This is where your experience comes in.

Im working with a 2.4x1.2x2m Grow Tent
I am going for biggest yield & will be working with coco coir.
I am using the screen of green (SOG) method and having 6 plants under 2 600 hps lights
I am looking at getting 2x 600watt HPS globes but unsure on the reflectors

Do we all agree that i should be going for Air cooled hoods for this?

 

[Bobthe420Builder]

So 1st time

And your starting in a 8'x4' tent

Pretty ambitious don't you think

 

[RedZedHead]

I remember my first time...

 

[Ycfro]

I run 2/ 1000 HPS in a 4x8 room and with vented hoods. They are a must for me.

 

[Mariguana]

I am seeking experienced growers to help me setup for the very first time.
I am inexperienced but I am willing to learn & listen
I have seen a few setups & the one i liked the most is what i will explain here and see what you guys think
This is where your experience comes in.

Im working with a 2.4x1.2x2m Grow Tent
I am going for biggest yield & will be working with coco coir.
I am using the screen of green (SOG) method and having 6 plants under 2 600 hps lights
I am looking at getting 2x 600watt HPS globes but unsure on the reflectors

Do we all agree that i should be going for Air cooled hoods for this?

ill help you as best I can. That’s a lot of big time stuff for a newbie. Most starting growers will work with some kind of cheap LED or CFL for indoor growers. It gives them a chance to find their footing and see what methods they like, etc. can you provide pictures of your setup? Idk to what extent you know about lighting but if your new you’ll want to make sure you home wiring can handle that much power and your going to have a good sized electrical bill from those. What questions do you have specifically about growing? I’ll answer as quickly as possible

 

[AdaminCO]

Coco is a lot less forgiving, and requires daily feedings. I’d recommend using soil your first round. It is very hard to keep up with a 6 plant SCROG if you’re not prepared for it. The point of a SCROG is to get the most, with the less plants.

This was my 5x7’ SCROG with 6 plants.

As for lighting, I’m not sure that’s going to give you the best coverage for that many plants.

 

[AdaminCO]

If you want to do 6 in coco, I recommend autos, no SCROG your first time around.

LST will get you big yields too.

 

[MochaBud]

@needmorelight

I am seeking experienced growers to help me setup for the very first time.
I am inexperienced but I am willing to learn & listen
I have seen a few setups & the one i liked the most is what i will explain here and see what you guys think
This is where your experience comes in.

Im working with a 2.4x1.2x2m Grow Tent
I am going for biggest yield & will be working with coco coir.
I am using the screen of green (SOG) method and having 6 plants under 2 600 hps lights
I am looking at getting 2x 600watt HPS globes but unsure on the reflectors

Do we all agree that i should be going for Air cooled hoods for this?

Not just air cooled but "Cool Tubes"

Mochas Garden-Jungle.jpg

• MochaBud
• May 10, 2020

I remember my first time...

Well, at 21, I would sure hope so

I run 2/ 1000 HPS in a 4x8 room and with vented hoods. They are a must for me.

Yeah man, another old school

 

[needmorelight]

Coco is a lot less forgiving, and requires daily feedings. I’d recommend using soil your first round. It is very hard to keep up with a 6 plant SCROG if you’re not prepared for it. The point of a SCROG is to get the most, with the less plants.

This was my 5x7’ SCROG with 6 plants.

As for lighting, I’m not sure that’s going to give you the best coverage for that many plants.

What lighting would you recommend?
What are you using here & could you give us a break down to that setup
This looks neat.

 

[needmorelight]

@needmorelight

Not just air cooled but "Cool Tubes"

Mochas Garden-Jungle.jpg

• MochaBud
• May 10, 2020

Well, at 21, I would sure hope so

Yeah man, another old school

Hey mate how are you going, this looks good.
So I was thinking of running whats going on here more or less.
Adamins setup in the above post would be ideal, its neat.. what do you think?

 

[needmorelight]

ill help you as best I can. That’s a lot of big time stuff for a newbie. Most starting growers will work with some kind of cheap LED or CFL for indoor growers. It gives them a chance to find their footing and see what methods they like, etc. can you provide pictures of your setup? Idk to what extent you know about lighting but if your new you’ll want to make sure you home wiring can handle that much power and your going to have a good sized electrical bill from those. What questions do you have specifically about growing? I’ll answer as quickly as possible

Yeah there is a lot of big time stuff for a newbie.
I first looked at what lights, and i asked around and read.
Most growers that I have found have been using HPS lights didn't have to much bad to say about them..besides the electrical bill.
You have done this build before?

 

[Mariguana]

Yeah there is a lot of big time stuff for a newbie.
I first looked at what lights, and i asked around and read.
Most growers that I have found have been using HPS lights didn't have to much bad to say about them..besides the electrical bill.
You have done this build before?

overthe years I’ve done a plethora of growing methods with different lights and sizes. Indoors and out. In the sense of what makes the most efficient method of growing. I can offer reasonably helpful advice and answer questions and if I don’t know the answer I will tell you I don’t and either find someone for you who does and find a thread to share with you that addresses your topic of concern

 

[novawolf034]

So 1st time

And your starting in a 8'x4' tent

Pretty ambitious don't you think

I'm probably doing way too ambitious for my first time as well.

I did go for soil and LEDs though to keep it a little simple. Kinda a learn as I go.

 

[BigDannel]

I agree with the others above, soil and LEDs will be simpler and help you learn about the plants before spending money and time you don't need to.

I like Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil, I use that in smart pots and let them dry out each time before rewatering. My first time I went too heavy on feeding and burnt the plants a bit, no major harm but still a learning experience. I had several different strains and made the mistake of assuming that all of them will like the same nutes. One tip I have when growing multiple plants is to treat each one individually, even if they are all the same strain. I also like the Fox Farm trio for feeding, it is simple and has worked great for me. Good luck!

 

[MochaBud]

Hey mate how are you going, this looks good.
So I was thinking of running whats going on here more or less.
Adamins setup in the above post would be ideal, its neat.. what do you think?

I'm a minimalist, I only get what I need and then as cheap as possible
His set-ups nice, I like the drip system he's got, and he keeps his tents clean

Yeah there is a lot of big time stuff for a newbie.
I first looked at what lights, and i asked around and read.
Most growers that I have found have been using HPS lights didn't have to much bad to say about them..besides the electrical bill.
You have done this build before?

My electric bill is pretty small compared to my buds

 

[AdaminCO]

What lighting would you recommend?
What are you using here & could you give us a break down to that setup
This looks neat.

Lighting?... depends on your budget. I’d go quantum board, either one from @Budget LED or I’d build one for a 5x5’ footprint, and run 4 plants. You want 24x24” per plant ideally. Watering tends to be a pain in the ass when you SCROG. I built an auto irrigation system, but ended up clogging because I was feeding compost teas, not synthetic nutes.
I got mites and had to pull the SCROG mid flower. It was a pain in the ass, and almost lost the whole crop.
The grow journal is in my signature.

I tore down the room and bought a 5x5 tent because I wanted to be able to see from all sides. With the room I couldn’t. That’s ultimately how the mites got so bad, I missed them because they started in the back.
Here’s my current setup. 4 (not cheap) Amazon LEDs. If you go that route, know what you’re looking at. My smaller ones are Yescense or something like that, and I love them... besides the blurple. The 4’ are for flower only. I add them at flip. Over 800w total at the wall. The smaller are advertised at “1500w”, but are actually 230w I believe.

I only used the net for bud support, but ended up pulling it because I needed to be able to move the plants around.

I ran 6, one was a male, and still I think 5 was too many. They need to breathe and have room to move around.

I just harvested one, so now there is plenty of room with just 4. I plan on running 2or 3 in a SCROG next time.

Another recommendation... run the same strain (or 2) if you’re doing that many. Especially in SCROG because one might finish sooner. It really messes things up when you have to cut the SCROG away. Make sure you have all females before you drop net.

 

[AdaminCO]

This was probably one of my best tools... it’s an absolute must if you want to water more efficiently. (Emilyas process)

 

[AdaminCO]

I'm a minimalist, I only get what I need and then as cheap as possible
His set-ups nice, I like the drip system he's got, and he keeps his tents clean

My electric bill is pretty small compared to my buds

I built that room with 8, 4x8’ sheets of radon barrier ($10/st) from the Depot. It ended up being 8x6x8. The SCROG I made from copper piping and garden lattice. I think the small LEDs were $120 each and the 4’ were $150 each.
Those trolleys were actually pretty cool, but when watering 20% runoff, those little trays filled up fast. It ended up being a mess. The trays and pot elevators I have now are very helpful in keeping everything clean, and providing good airflow. (Very Important to me) I made a reverse pump to suck all the runoff out when they get half full.

 

[bobrown14]

If you want to do 6 in coco, I recommend autos, no SCROG your first time around.

LST will get you big yields too.

This - I would not run a scrog for a first run. Can experiment scrogging with 1 plant in the corner or something like that.

I'm from the old school of growing plants out to see how they perform before I start training them the next round.

New growers have a lot to learn besides just growing plants. There's more to it than yields.

Get your plants growing and your methods down and the yields will come.

On the yields, careful what you wish for. A 4x8 scrog at trim time all of a sudden you have a 2-3 day full time job doing something you've never done before. You can literally have buckets of weed and you need to deal with that or they will go bad and you toss all your hard work. Just like that in 3 days down the shitter.

I still just grow plants natural. Get plenty of yields and can stagger my harvest times for each plant so I'm not messing up the drying process or overworked at the trim table which is a real thing. If the weed is good I cant trim after about 4 hours. Cant see my hands or focus. So there's that.

Its good to develop your skills. When you see guys running scrogs and big ass harvests, they didnt start there.

Learn how the plants grow. Tweek your skill set to your grow technique. Everyone develops their own style.

 

[multiVortex]

Get plenty of yields and can stagger my harvest times for each plant so I'm not messing up the drying process or overworked at the trim table which is a real thing. If the weed is good I cant trim after about 4 hours. Cant see my hands or focus.

Definitely this. I switched to dry trimming with a trimmer (tumbler), and not looking back. It takes me about a full day to wet trim an entire bigger plant. Yeah, I'm a little slow in the trimming speed department.

Now it's chop big branches, hang, and wait. Take off any remaining big fans after about 5 days, and they've been ready in about 10. Then buck them down, tumble the buds, and into a bucket for curing. It has made the entire harvest process significantly faster, and better for me.

I was able to chop 3 plants and get them hanging to dry in about an hour and a half. The next process took about 2 hours or so to buck it all down, then about 20 minutes to tumble and get into curing buckets. End result is about 90 minutes per plant, total. That's also broken across 2 different days that are a little over a week apart, and pushing 2 weeks. I'll take it. Of course pure hand trimmed would be optimal, but I've been very surprised by the tumbler. It's been a joy to use, and works as advertised. No loss of potency or anything you hear about.