topshelf95
New Member
Hello everyone!!
I'd like to start my first grow journal here. Actually my first grow period. My goal is to learn from you more knowledgeable growers along the way that can help me though this. If anything pops out at you that I could improve on, or if you have any suggestions at all, please let me know! I'm really enjoying growing as a hobby so far and I want to learn as much as I can from you
Let me start by saying I'm a licensed caregiver in a state that has passed legalization so everything you see here will be completely above board. I'm not sure if it's necessary to point that out but I guess I'm just dotting my "i's" and all that.
That being said, I'm starting with two tents, in a finished attic space. One 5x10 for veg and one 10x10 for flower. For my first grow, I'll only be using 3 of the 4 quadrants in my 10x10 for flower, since the last spot is being occupied by equipment and to give me more room to work when needed.
I always read posts talking about grams per watt and I want to challenge myself to try to get as many grams per watt as I can with this grow. That however, is second to me not just messing this up completely haha. I'm thinking about using the SCROG method with 5 plants for each of the 3 5x5 areas in the flower tent that I'll be using. If anyone has any other suggestion to improve this idea, let me know, nothing is carved in stone here.
Equipment list so far:
Veg Tent:
Two Viparspectra 1200 (drawing a true 520 watts from the wall)
One Viparspectra 300 (130 true watts)
Humidifier
Heater
Oscillating fan
Humidity controller set to 55% humidity
Temp controller set between 80 and 85 degrees
It is winter here currently and the attic is pretty cool so I at the moment I only need the heater and humidifier to keep conditions "ideal". I'm keeping the temperature between 80 and 85 because all the reputable LED companies seem to agree that the ambient air temperature needs to be higher to make up for the fact that the leaf temperature, which needs to be higher for photosynthesis, is not receiving additional heat from HID in the form of the extra infrared in their spectrum. Once I learned this and turned the heat up from 75 degrees, the seedlings seemed to react very positively so I think there must be something to it. They all seem to be "praying" I'm keeping a close eye on them. Viparspectra 1200 is about 3 feet above the plants currently.
Flower tent:
Two Black Dog Led Phytomax-2 800 (840 actual watts)
One Black Dog Led Phytomax-2 1000 (1050 actual watts)
Co2 burner
Photo-sensitive CO2 monitor
Dual Duct AC
Dehumidifier
6 inch Carbon filter
My considerations for the equipment I chose:
I'm growing in an attic and although it's finished, it can get quite warm in the summers. I'll be cooling the attic space with a large window ac unit but that unit has struggled in the past to keep temps down. The flower tent will have it's own dual duct ac, but I still opted to go with LED for heat savings. I spent countless hours researching the pros and cons of HID vs LED and hopefully I'm not making an expensive mistake here.
Once I settled on LED I spent even more time researching the various options from one company to another, spectrums, PAR, micro-mohls, coverage, penetration, etc, to try to make sure I wouldn't be coming up short in the light dept. The Black Dog Phytomax-2's are their latest line and were just released about a month ago. (I've only received one so far, they have been back ordered) The flowering coverages they list on their site seem incredible and I can't wait to test them. Black Dog seems to have a reputation online for not exaggerating their specs, they seem quite knowledgeable, seem to use the highest quality parts, and I can't find anyone with a negative word about them. Additionally they are supposedly "full spectrum" and although the pics look really purple/pink, the plants under them look natural and not pink themselves. Same goes for the Viparspectras, the plants are easily viewed with the naked eye, no special lenses needed thus far, even though the pics don't tell the same story. (pics are from cell phone so I don't know if that is the reason)
Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Black Dog in any way, They haven't given me anything free and I'm not here to be a cheerleader for the company. Considering the considerable cost, if these lights don't perform it will be a great let down for me and I will be utilizing the 90 day money back guarantee.
I'm going for a sealed tent setup so the dual duct AC was important since they supposedly vent very little to no air from the grow space to conserve Co2.
I went with a Co2 burner simply because it seemed more economical / convenient than a tank, I hopefully can handle the heat since I'm not running HID's, and I turned the burner down so that only two burners will be active and the AC unit will be able to keep up. I can turn it down to one burner if need be. Also, it will help heat the tent in the long cold winters here and I won't have to rely on the electric heater so much.
Strains include:
3 Cookies Kush,
5 Northern lights crossed with big bud
4 Medi Bomb
4 Hash Bomb
I got these strains from using a "strain sorter" on the True north seed bank website. They are indica based, won't get too tall, and were all qualified as large yielding from the seed bank and were supposedly easier to grow for first timers.
Growing medium is Roots organic. I'll be transplanting into 7 gallon smart cloth pots. I'm still researching nutrients for my first grow and I'm open to suggestions. I'm taking my time choosing because the soil is supposedly "hot" and I won't need anything for a few weeks? Looking back I would probably have "cut" the soil as I think it may have initially stunted a few of my seedlings a bit. I have some Mammoth P coming that will be here next week. My last watering was with a half strength dose of Liquid Seaweed, RO water ph'd down to 6.5.
Sorry for the lengthy post, I just wanted you to have a good idea of where I'm at so I can get accurate feedback.
Anyway, that is the long and short of it for right now. Here are some pics! Thank you in advance for help or constructive criticism, I'm open to any ideas that will benefit the grow!
Veg Tent 5x10
Flower Tent 10x10
The ladies, 2 weeks and 5 days from seed
A few of them are growing a bit funny. This one I accidentally dropped when it was just a seedling
and it was pretty stunted for awhile. It only grew one leaf out of it's second node and now it's recovering nicely but it seems to have topped itself because that first node is coming up with two separate shoots of it's own. One less I'll have to top myself I guess. It'll be interesting to watch this one!
This one has grown oddly also, it has much wider leaves and they seem to be kind of wavy or whispy or whatever.
I'd like to start my first grow journal here. Actually my first grow period. My goal is to learn from you more knowledgeable growers along the way that can help me though this. If anything pops out at you that I could improve on, or if you have any suggestions at all, please let me know! I'm really enjoying growing as a hobby so far and I want to learn as much as I can from you
Let me start by saying I'm a licensed caregiver in a state that has passed legalization so everything you see here will be completely above board. I'm not sure if it's necessary to point that out but I guess I'm just dotting my "i's" and all that.
That being said, I'm starting with two tents, in a finished attic space. One 5x10 for veg and one 10x10 for flower. For my first grow, I'll only be using 3 of the 4 quadrants in my 10x10 for flower, since the last spot is being occupied by equipment and to give me more room to work when needed.
I always read posts talking about grams per watt and I want to challenge myself to try to get as many grams per watt as I can with this grow. That however, is second to me not just messing this up completely haha. I'm thinking about using the SCROG method with 5 plants for each of the 3 5x5 areas in the flower tent that I'll be using. If anyone has any other suggestion to improve this idea, let me know, nothing is carved in stone here.
Equipment list so far:
Veg Tent:
Two Viparspectra 1200 (drawing a true 520 watts from the wall)
One Viparspectra 300 (130 true watts)
Humidifier
Heater
Oscillating fan
Humidity controller set to 55% humidity
Temp controller set between 80 and 85 degrees
It is winter here currently and the attic is pretty cool so I at the moment I only need the heater and humidifier to keep conditions "ideal". I'm keeping the temperature between 80 and 85 because all the reputable LED companies seem to agree that the ambient air temperature needs to be higher to make up for the fact that the leaf temperature, which needs to be higher for photosynthesis, is not receiving additional heat from HID in the form of the extra infrared in their spectrum. Once I learned this and turned the heat up from 75 degrees, the seedlings seemed to react very positively so I think there must be something to it. They all seem to be "praying" I'm keeping a close eye on them. Viparspectra 1200 is about 3 feet above the plants currently.
Flower tent:
Two Black Dog Led Phytomax-2 800 (840 actual watts)
One Black Dog Led Phytomax-2 1000 (1050 actual watts)
Co2 burner
Photo-sensitive CO2 monitor
Dual Duct AC
Dehumidifier
6 inch Carbon filter
My considerations for the equipment I chose:
I'm growing in an attic and although it's finished, it can get quite warm in the summers. I'll be cooling the attic space with a large window ac unit but that unit has struggled in the past to keep temps down. The flower tent will have it's own dual duct ac, but I still opted to go with LED for heat savings. I spent countless hours researching the pros and cons of HID vs LED and hopefully I'm not making an expensive mistake here.
Once I settled on LED I spent even more time researching the various options from one company to another, spectrums, PAR, micro-mohls, coverage, penetration, etc, to try to make sure I wouldn't be coming up short in the light dept. The Black Dog Phytomax-2's are their latest line and were just released about a month ago. (I've only received one so far, they have been back ordered) The flowering coverages they list on their site seem incredible and I can't wait to test them. Black Dog seems to have a reputation online for not exaggerating their specs, they seem quite knowledgeable, seem to use the highest quality parts, and I can't find anyone with a negative word about them. Additionally they are supposedly "full spectrum" and although the pics look really purple/pink, the plants under them look natural and not pink themselves. Same goes for the Viparspectras, the plants are easily viewed with the naked eye, no special lenses needed thus far, even though the pics don't tell the same story. (pics are from cell phone so I don't know if that is the reason)
Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Black Dog in any way, They haven't given me anything free and I'm not here to be a cheerleader for the company. Considering the considerable cost, if these lights don't perform it will be a great let down for me and I will be utilizing the 90 day money back guarantee.
I'm going for a sealed tent setup so the dual duct AC was important since they supposedly vent very little to no air from the grow space to conserve Co2.
I went with a Co2 burner simply because it seemed more economical / convenient than a tank, I hopefully can handle the heat since I'm not running HID's, and I turned the burner down so that only two burners will be active and the AC unit will be able to keep up. I can turn it down to one burner if need be. Also, it will help heat the tent in the long cold winters here and I won't have to rely on the electric heater so much.
Strains include:
3 Cookies Kush,
5 Northern lights crossed with big bud
4 Medi Bomb
4 Hash Bomb
I got these strains from using a "strain sorter" on the True north seed bank website. They are indica based, won't get too tall, and were all qualified as large yielding from the seed bank and were supposedly easier to grow for first timers.
Growing medium is Roots organic. I'll be transplanting into 7 gallon smart cloth pots. I'm still researching nutrients for my first grow and I'm open to suggestions. I'm taking my time choosing because the soil is supposedly "hot" and I won't need anything for a few weeks? Looking back I would probably have "cut" the soil as I think it may have initially stunted a few of my seedlings a bit. I have some Mammoth P coming that will be here next week. My last watering was with a half strength dose of Liquid Seaweed, RO water ph'd down to 6.5.
Sorry for the lengthy post, I just wanted you to have a good idea of where I'm at so I can get accurate feedback.
Anyway, that is the long and short of it for right now. Here are some pics! Thank you in advance for help or constructive criticism, I'm open to any ideas that will benefit the grow!
Veg Tent 5x10
Flower Tent 10x10
The ladies, 2 weeks and 5 days from seed
A few of them are growing a bit funny. This one I accidentally dropped when it was just a seedling
and it was pretty stunted for awhile. It only grew one leaf out of it's second node and now it's recovering nicely but it seems to have topped itself because that first node is coming up with two separate shoots of it's own. One less I'll have to top myself I guess. It'll be interesting to watch this one!
This one has grown oddly also, it has much wider leaves and they seem to be kind of wavy or whispy or whatever.
