Dvillefarmer's First Grow

[dvillefarmer]

This is my first grow ever and I started with some bag seed. I do have northern lights on the way but this was my tests. My soil composition is 50% peat moss, 30% mushroom compost and 15% perlite. I know that not 100% but the recipe called for vermiculite at 10 % and I didn't have any. So i just added alittle bit more perlite. On top of that i added about a 1/4 cup of blood meal.

My lighting system is 6-23 watt (100 watt equivalent) cfl's. Planning on adding more cfl's and a hps. And continuing this through flowering. Right now I have a 16-8 schedule until I get to flowering.

I germinated the seed in a modified paper towel system and placed it in a bio-degradable seed pot. Right a week after it broke ground I placed the small pot in a 5 gallon bucket. I know most don't do this but I figured I would try it.

I came up with a diy drip irrigation with 3-1 gph nozzles and formed the hose into a ring that mounts on a 5 gallon bucket. I haven't put it in action yet though.

I haven't done any nutes yet but I do have fox farms big grow ordered and plan to buy big bloom and tiger bloom. I will follow the schedule off fox farms for the first grow.



What do you guys think?

 

[Light Addict]

Sounds good my friend and a warm welcome to 420. Looking forward to your work. I think alot of people start at half the recommended dose for nutes. Start gentle and build up as she does.

 

[dvillefarmer]

That was my plan. Just go easy the first round. I'm trying to get the feel of things before I mess round with seeds I payed for. Is there a suggested wattage. Oh by the way my grow room is 63" wide x 24" deep x 96" high. With rounding numbers it was 80 square feet. Forair flow I went cheap and did 70 cfm as intake and 70cfm exhaust. I have just some cheap bathroom exhaust fans. It empties the room quickly and holds the temperature roughly 82 degrees.

 

[dvillefarmer]

I know my ventilation is my weak link but is it sufficient. I know inlines are the popular choice but, it seems more for the stealth build and running a carbon filter. I don't need a carbon because it routes through my attic and out my roof. On top of that I don't have neighbors close by.

 

[OG1969]

Nice start on the grow, the ventilation will be fine for the CFL's but it will need a bumping up for the HPS a lot more heat. As for the buckets just watch how deep you are letting it soak remember there aren't any roots down there to use the water/food. Look forward o some pictures. OG.

 

[KingJohnC]

subscribed. I recommend you start using 1/4 strength nutrients when your plants are 4-5 inches tall and have 5 nodes growing and not before.

 

[dvillefarmer]

this is my drip irrigation I am working on. It has 1 gph nozzles on it but I recently found some .5 gph nozzles I will use instead. the 1/4" tubing going into the bucket isn't at a set length I just put them on for demonstration. I probably plan to extend them to the bottom to a sponge that will be placed at the bottom or the sides for water absorption. There is am 80 gph pump at Home depot I have my eyes on that I will use to move the water. I haven't figured out a recirculation system yet.

The only down fall I can see with the system is pressure building up and I have leaks. So I will run a test and see if a return line is needed. That should equalize pressure in the hose and possibly work for recirculation. Also with going alittle over kill on the water pump with a manifold set up or even just some inline splitters I could easily supply multiple buckets with water.

Do you guys see any obvious problems with this set up?

 

[KingJohnC]

what is the sponge for in your design? a sponge is not a common item for a grow medium.

 

[Wacky Kush]

Really like your bucket . Carbon filter.... Neighbors, attic or no, what is your freedom worth? Be careful..

Peace

I know my ventilation is my weak link but is it sufficient. I know inlines are the popular choice but, it seems more for the stealth build and running a carbon filter. I don't need a carbon because it routes through my attic and out my roof. On top of that I don't have neighbors close by.

 

[dvillefarmer]

I am literally in the middle of 100 acres. So no carbon filter for me. The sponge is something I use in my gardening for water retention. It allows the soil to pull from it with out over saturating the soil. I'm not set on doing a sponge. Just something i might try

 

[Wacky Kush]

Hey Bud,

If your good with it then I wish you the best.
On the pump are you sure its 80 gph not 280 gph ?
80 sounds small can't imagine it having the ability to push a hole bunch very far especially if needing to go up.

I am literally in the middle of 100 acres. So no carbon filter for me. The sponge is something I use in my gardening for water retention. It allows the soil to pull from it with out over saturating the soil. I'm not set on doing a sponge. Just something i might try

 

[Growingnow]

Depending on the pumps cycle the sponge most likely not be needed. Also at what height the water is going to be circulating in the bucket as well.

 

[dvillefarmer]

It is an 80 gph. Now i am growing in a closet so of course its a small space with short distance. But if you feel 80 gph is too small of a pump then increasing the size wouldn't be a problem. They are fairly cheap

 

[Wacky Kush]

How many 5 gal buckets to you plan to feed and what is the height from the pump to the top of the bucket?

It is an 80 gph. Now i am growing in a closet so of course its a small space with short distance. But if you feel 80 gph is too small of a pump then increasing the size wouldn't be a problem. They are fairly cheap

 

[dvillefarmer]

Right now its just one plant. At most it would be six. But the is in the distant future and that would be capacity of my growroom. From the to of the bucket to where my pump will be is roughly 20". Just the height of a bucket really.

 

[Wacky Kush]

I would suggest to start researching water pumps used in hydroponic applications. Your going to want to start thinking about resivour capacity size of feed line and future usage. In my opinion I normally purchase a size up leaving room for expansion.

Good luck

Right now its just one plant. At most it would be six. But the is in the distant future and that would be capacity of my growroom. From the to of the bucket to where my pump will be is roughly 20". Just the height of a bucket really.

 

[dvillefarmer]

Well just for testing phase and maybe even temporarily I am going to use a 15 gallon aquarium that I have. It would sustain a plant or two I would assume even through flowering. And I am going to use the water pump and filtering system that came with aquarium as my circulation system. I just wont use the filter it self. That will keep the water from being stagnant and keep the nutrients mixed up when I do put them in there. Then I will just put my water pump in the tank and test for leaks. I will have to do research about a pump. I am debating about the 130 gph and the 80 gph. Going bigger is great for expansion but, my concerns are more gph is more pressure and my system is more likely to fail. Then again the return line I am talking about would alleviate the pressure.

Ill just have to spend some time researching hydroponic systems and doing test runs.

 

[dvillefarmer]

Here is my light I built today. I have roughly 30 bucks into it. It holds 6 100 watt equivalent cfl's. I don't have 6 bulbs so I have one that is a 60 watt equivalent until I get another. I have room for a lot more lights but those will be added later. I built it in a away that it fits in to my grow room sideways. That way when the plant is more mature I can build one for each light. and have more control and tinker with different plants and different lights. Also if you notice the electrical box is actually an outlet. The power runs through the receptacle making it live and also giving me two outlets to power my watering system or a heating pad. Just all around gives me room for future planning. I still have to paint the wood white for better reflectivity. Also my plan is to later add a fan into the wood that to cool the heat, even though cfl's don't put off much. But what this will do is focus air movement around the plant. It will be a great place for me to add a co2 purge system for the plant.

One thing I want to ask is does different wattage cfl's fall into different parts of the light spectrum. If so is it wise to put different wattage lights to cover more of the spectrum?

 

[KingJohnC]

for vegetative growth you want a 6500 kelvin cool white light bulb and for flowering you want a 2700 kelvin warm white light bulb.

 

[dvillefarmer]

I will have to see what mine are. But does a 13 watt and a 23 watt cover different spectrum of light?