Dville Farmer - Northern Lights

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dvillefarmer

New Member
Well my seeds I ordered from Nirvana came in and I am ready to start my next grow.

Germination- I am putting them in a cup of water until they sink. I am considering leaving them in there until the tap root comes out but I will probably revert back to the paper towel wick method.

Soil- 60% Mushroom compost, 30% sphagnum moss, 10% perlite. I want to find out if to start the seeds if I should put any additives in the soil. I do have blood meal and super thrive on hand. Think I should add any? Being I don't have a hydroponic store on hand its hard to get a lot of the premix stuff I see on here. I did put a layer of rocks to cover the bottom of my germination planters this time.

Lights- To start I am running 4 300 watt equivalent day light cfl's and 2 300 watt equivalent soft white. Just to cover more of the spectrum. I still have to buy it but I will be switching to an hps 600 watt system.

Fan- right now I grow in a spare bedroom so I don't use much more then an oscillating and the ceiling fan to move the air around the plants.

Pictures will be coming in later today and for the next few days. Before I get to far ahead thought, any suggestions or last minute changes?
 
Re: Dville farmer: Northern lights

I am already tired of growing in a closet. So I decided to step out and do a few upgrades. Here are a few pics of progress on this grow. The seeds were in a bowl of water until they sank and then I put them in a paper towel and did a wick system.

IMG_20131017_185410.jpg


Here is what I plan to start the seeds in. I added pebbles into the bottom this time for extra drainage. I think that is one huge fault I had on the first grow. None of my containers had drainage.

IMG_20131016_155045.jpg


Then this is my new set up, I have to get alittle bit more hardware to hang a light I made. But it doubles as my storage so its not just cluttering up the house. Its a rack sold at home depot and holds up to 8k #'s.

IMG_20131017_185349.jpg
 
Re: Dville farmer: Northern lights

Since my new set up I am trying to figure out air circulation and ventilation. As of right now all my plants are really young and the air in the room are plenty for them. But when the demands go up how do I treat this grow area? I am assuming I still don't need to recirculate the air every minute. Its a roughly 13x13 room. So how big of a fan should I be prepared to put in there?
 
Re: Dville farmer: Northern lights

Hi, Dvillefarmer.

I'm rather new, but I've been studying a lot so I'll try to point you in direction of some good information.

I wouldn't put any additives in the soil for the seeds. Sproutlings need very little nutrients and adding anything is more likely to burn them than to help them. I see several people start seeds in rockwool or soiless mixes that have no nutrients at all and their sprouts are able to go without being fed for a couple weeks or so. I think the rule of thumb I've seen is ~5" high with 5 nodes before they should be fed and then at a 1/4 or less strength. Amending your soil may help later down the road (or may not), but I wouldn't worry about it at this stage.

Are there drainage holes beneath those rocks? You definitely want more drainage than just the rocks in the bottom. In the future I think it might be more beneficial to ditch the rocks and make sure that your soil itself drains very well. I don't know much about the mushroom compost or peat moss, but the perlite is good for drainage. I think if you feel like your soil is draining well enough, you shouldn't need the rocks (as long as there are holes on the bottom for the water to escape).


For the HPS light, I can only point you to some threads with some information. All I know is beware capacitors, as they can hold a fatal charge even after they're disassembled or whatever it is. It scared me away from building my own, but I'm a wuss and sometimes a bit air-headed. (At least I know my own limitations, eh :laughtwo:)


There are a few really good threads about ventilation here

How Do I add Ventilation to my Grow Area, What Can I Do about Smell?

How Much Ventilation Do I Need in My Grow Room?


I'm going to post in my journal and see if we can't get some whiz-kids in here to help. I just wanted to let you know you're not alone!
 
Re: Dville farmer: Northern lights

Well Dresney, I'm no Whiz-kid, but I'm here nonetheless, lol. You have a decent start here, the rocks won't hurt, unless they have certain bacteria on them, as long as you use perlite, or vermiculite, you don't need them. In the seedling stage you just need enough air to gently shake the stems, then you'll need more as the plants grow. As for the root enhancer, I've never used it, so wouldn't be the person to comment on that. Good job so far, and I'll answer any questions I can.
 
Re: Dville farmer: Northern lights

Subbed :)

Seedlings need very little other than plain water for the first couple of weeks of their life. Many people wait until they are showing deficiencies before adding any fertiliser. It might be worth adding some perlite to your mix to improve drainage, cannabis plants need a good draining soil to grow well.

If you buy a HPS, with a ballast then it will be able to plug directly into a household socket as the ballast regulates the voltage etc. I would not recommend wiring one up yourself unless you are an experienced electrician. One of the biggest dangers in a grow is dodgy wiring. Also remember that HPS lights get hot, really hot so you will need to purchase one in conjunction with some form of extraction fan, and possibly a carbon filter if you want to control smell.

Air is one of the most overlooked part of growing. Even if you just place a small fan near the plants to stir the air immediately around them, they will thank you for it. If I remember rightly, you want to change the air in your grow room anywhere from every 5 minutes to every hour. Although I may be wrong.

To work out how big a fan you need, find out how many cubic feet the room is, how often you want exchange the air and calculate that to how many cubic feet you need to exchange per minute. I am sure there is an easier way though lol

How are you going to enclose the grow area to keep light out during the dark period?

:peace: Mono
 
Re: Dville farmer: Northern lights

Hi Dville, Your setup looks good, but I agree with Mono, do you have a plan to enclose the grow area to control the light when you flip to 12/12?
I would recommend LED over HPS lights, they are a little more expensive at first, but they do save on electricity usage and heat is a non-issue with LED which make them worth it in my opinion.
Good luck with your grow.;)
 
Re: Dville farmer: Northern lights

I appreciate all the help guys

I do have perlite roughly about 15% of my soil mix is perlite. the rocks is just the soil I just an extra measure. And there are holes on the bottom of my pots. to Drensey peat moss is used to make an airy fluffy soil for the roots to expand nicely.

I am debating on adding sides to enclose the area. I really don't need it because the room is a spare room and has the ability to be blacked out. If I were to do it, it would be to add reflectivity.

For air circulation I know you are suppose to recycle the room every 5 mins but that's is more with smaller grow rooms or at least grow rooms full of plants. My plants will take up a very small portion of the room. The number that sticks out in my head is once every thirty minutes or so. Just because there will be so much air in the room as long as its being circulated with fans, it wouldn't need to empty the room as often

As for adding things in the first 3-4 weeks of life. I know that is the rule of thumb with nutes. Which I completely agree. But what about a root enhancer. Its not necessarily a nutrient. And wouldn't want you to apply it early in the plants life so the roots take in the beginning? By the way I am using Botone rooting powder.

And for building the HPS light. What I was thinking was getting a 2x2 or a 4x2 fluorescent reflector and install mogul bases to screw in the hps or Metal Halide with the mogul base. I wanted to buy a digital ballast and not build one. From research that's when things get sketchy. Home built ballast scare me. But I am an electrician so wiring isn't an issue. Any inputs on this would be great appreciated
 
Re: Dville farmer: Northern lights

Forgot to include about the LEDS. I am wanting to include LEDS in my grow but have to wait until alittle bit more funs. I want to do cfls and hps for this grow. And maybe include a metal halide for vegetative in the future. But I have to get my ventilation down pack before I start throwing a lot more heat in there.
 
Re: Dville farmer: Northern lights

Root enhancer is used quite commonly on clones just cut. So I would say give the seeds a week of water then add a bit of root enhancer at a very reduced rate, say 1/8 recommended dosage.

If you can black out the room the plants are in then you should be okay for air exchange if you train a oscillating fan or two gently on them. Plants can grow in the room so long as you can breathe in there lol.

As for veg lights, Cfls will stop stretch and keep nodes as tight as a nuns... :)
 
Re: Dville farmer: Northern lights

One day my goal is to have a cfl and metal halide for veg and a led and hps for flowering. But for now I am going to run cfls through all the way through flowering and put in an hps for the flowering as well. We shall see how it does. If I happen to come into some funds something else might happen. I plan to get a few oscillating fans but for now I just have that little fan because the plans are so small. The temperatures are running right at 80 degrees.

I wouldn't mind toying around with t5's especially because my hood is a narrow one that house my cfls. They wont have the light footprint to have proper coverage for multiple plants. I assume some 4' t5's would aid in this. Speaking of this I see home depot has a 6 light for considerably cheaper then the online hydro stores. It is a six light HO t5 light for 79 I think. These are any different then the ones monster gardens are selling are they? It would help with shipping as well
 
Re: Dville farmer: Northern lights

I use T5's on the side of my cabinets to help with overall light penetration, and in my small clone/veg chamber, they work great. If you can get a couple at Home Depot cheap, I'm sure you could find a good use for them. As long as the bulbs are "T5" bulbs, those are the right ones to use. ;)
 
Re: Dville farmer: Northern lights

I double checked and they are t5's I am going to pick 2 up I think. I my plan is to put one on the back side of the rack facing towards the plant or if you look in the pictures, towards the camera. And have one on top for veg. Would leaving the t5's there with addition of the hps be beneficial in flowering? I figured more of the light spectrum the better correct?
 

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