My plans for coco set up - Your comments appreciated!

[justsomedude]

Hi all and thanks in advance for reading!

I plan on starting my first indoor grow within the next few months. I am a MMJ patient in CA growing for the fun of it and for personal use. My goal is a successful first grow with the ability to add more later while minimizing replacement/repurchasing in the future.

I am going to list my plans along with the specific equipment I plan to procure and would appreciate your comments on any aspect. I do have a few specific questions related to certain aspects.

Plants: 4 total plants, non-auto, clones from the local dispensary. Probably 2 of one indica strain and 2 of one sativa. [Should I do more plants? Less? Should I start more and plan on picking the 4 best to finish?]

Tent: 3x3x7 SecretJardin darkroom II [Is a gorilla tent worth twice as much?]

Light: Mars II 900w (~400w actual draw) full spectrum [I think this is a nice middle-ground between having enough for now while being able to add more later, probably more of the same or bloom spectrum supplements]

Ventilation: 4" inline exhaust with carbon filter up top [Is this necessary for such a small grow or should I wait to see?]
12'" oscillating desk fan on floor

Pots: ProCal Premium Nursury pot with saucer 5-gallon (actual fluid volume is 3.7Gallon). Two questions here, is it normal to list pot size this way, when people usually say 5-gallon pot do they mean something like this, or actual 5 gallon liquid volume? And, is 3.7 enough, too much?

Medium: 80/20 cocotek coco from brick and chunky perlite

Nutrients: GH floranova bloom for veg+bloom, GH silica armor, Mad Farmer MOAB, calimagic, phupdown

Meters: I was going to get the cheap ~$12 ph and ppm meters unless someone can recommend a significantly better alternative, or justify the cost of the bluelabs

I also plan on using tap water but will try to get it tested first and can easily switch to buying R/O or distilled from the grocer if necessary.

I know that's a lot and don't expect anyone to have the time to answer all my questions, but I would really appreciate any comments or advice you can share with me!

 

[grimmreefer]

Sound like you're on the right track. One thing you should consider is the height. If you get two indicas and two sativas the sativa will more than likely stretch alot more when you switch to flower. You could top/train them to stay low.

As far as the meters go, you get what you pay for. I have had a couple and I like the Hanna the best. It has both Ph and ppm, and unlike the bluelab the ph probe is replaceable. I have also noticed that is holds its calibration better. You might want to try with the cheapos. You might find that you don't even really need them. I usually only check if I see a problem.

 

[Terp]

I have had many PH pens and to me they seem to be a hassle and eventually mess up. You can always count on good PH drops in a vial

 

[arellanobrian]

sounds really good man, i would say that you want to rinse out the cocotek blocks as they seem to have a few more residual salts than most loose coco. i actually emailed general hydro (now owned by Monsanto by the way) and they said to use cal-mag when expanding to help combat this. but i used the same coco perlite mix pretty much maybe a little less perlite but had amazing results for being such a new grower. hope you post your grow here so i can check it out man

 

[grimmreefer]

sounds really good man, i would say that you want to rinse out the cocotek blocks as they seem to have a few more residual salts than most loose coco. i actually emailed general hydro (now owned by Monsanto by the way) and they said to use cal-mag when expanding to help combat this. but i used the same coco perlite mix pretty much maybe a little less perlite but had amazing results for being such a new grower. hope you post your grow here so i can check it out man

agreed the coco blocks need to be washed thoroughly. I use a tarp and the hose for 20-30 mins then, if I were running salts,I would run PH water through the pots before planting.

This batch was done about a month ago and will "cook" with organic ferts.

The dude at my hydro shop told me that Scotts/Miracle Grow bought Gen Hydro. Mabey Monsanto owns them??

 

[DickDuck]

Good description. I will follow your thread. It is interesting what will happen in result.

 

[BrodyNitro]

Instead of measuring ppm or EC I've always just used one of those medicine syringes (with the blunt plastic tip) to measure the amount of nutrients going into a gallon and adjusted pH as needed, checking using the drops in a vial. I'm not an expert grower or anything but I've never had a problem I'd attribute to doing it that way

 

[grimmreefer]

Good call Brody! Usually the feeding schedules will not lead you wrong. It's when you start using mixed brands, or see burning that someone might want to know.

I have never used mine other than to check water but I know alot of hydro guys swear by them.

 

[justsomedude]

Thanks to all of you for your replies!

I do plan on washing the coco, I took a lot from LEDRF but added a few things I saw in a couple other coco posts like washing the medium out before use.

I think I'll get cheapo ppm and tds meters for now.

I will probably not start growing until after the holidays else I might be out of town during harvest time! But I will definitely give back to the online growers community with a grow journal.

I am now thinking about building a 400watt light using 4 Bridgelux Vero29 emitters rather than buying the Mars so I'll show how I build that as well.