First time indoor grower: would love some advice please!

[mkono87]

Hey fellas

Long time smoking cunuck but new to indoor growing. Not sure why I didn't start once it became legal in Canada but im ready to travel this journey and have some fun doing it. I have been researching for about a week now and my head kinda hurts but its a good hurt. I would like some input from you pros if Im taking the right approach. Im planning to start with 2, maybe 3 plants to start. Here is some of the equipment I have decided on.
Vivosun 600watt HPS/MH grow light
My friend is looking to upgrade so has offered me his current light.
VIVOSUN Hydroponic 1000 Watt HPS MH Grow Light Bulb Digital Dimmable Ballast Air Cooled Hood Reflector Set


6" Vivosun 390cfm inline fan w/4" carbon filter
Im not sure about an 4" filter on a 6" fan. Thoughts? Worth getting the bigger filter?
VIVOSUN 6 Inch 390 CFM Inline Duct Fan with 6 Inch Carbon Filter Odor Control with Australia Virgin Charcoal


Vivosun 4x4 Tent
Not much to say, should be a good size with decent workable space.
VIVOSUN Horticulture 48"x48"x80" Mylar Hydroponic Grow Tent with Obeservation Window and Floor Tray for Indoor Plant Growing 4' x4'


and then the other stuff; mh meter, mini fans, timers, temp/humidity monitor, ducting ect.

I will be using 5gal fabric pots. Medium choices has been actually difficult to choose. Visited a local shop and was recommended starting off with Gaia Green All Purpose soil then come flower top dress with Power Bloom. I suppose im trying to keep things simple for my first few grows. Is it fine to go from a solo cup right into the 5gal, or should it be transplanted a few times?

 

[423]

The 4"filter and a 6" fan could be an issue, either pulling air through too fast, or too much restriction on the fan. You might get by with reducing the speed of the fan but, could be too much heat and possibly smell.

You can use a filter that is bigger than the fan with no problem as long as you could seal it up with an adapter.
6" filter on a 6" fan would be easiest.

Using intermediate sized pots between the solo cup and the 5 gallon would make it easier to water properly.
Watering correctly makes a HUGE difference. Its easy to water too often. Or sometimes i forget.
A journal really helped me keep track of when I've watered, or made a change in what im doing and if you have problems it's easier for another member to help if you run into problems.

A good thermometer helps getting temprature right, and maybee A circulation fan.
Good luck with your grow.

 

[StoneOtter]

Hi Mkono welcome. 423 has given you good advice I think. Have fun! Keep reading and asking. There's a good watering link in my signature page below if you're inspired. Water for roots, they bring strong shoots.

 

[Billotto]

Hey MK... to the forum.

 

[Pbass]

Welcome @mkono87 looks like you got a great setup going there! A couple things, that light is actually only putting out 270w, and loses some par intensity around the edges. Really going to work for flower more like 2'x2' well, 3x3 pushing it. Probably fine for your two or three plants, but depending on the cost you might be better served with two lights if you ever want to fill that 4x4 from side to side. If it were a cost thing, I'd skip the fan/filter for another light.

Pot plants do smell throughout the process, but after 4 or so full grows in my little pot condo, I don't find they smell that strong and nobody here cares (or has been entirely desensitized to it - wife used to complain every once in a while that she could smell it, but now she doesn't even notice), so I skipped the fan/vent/filter. I just have a fan for circulation in my room. Saves me energy and dollars that otherwise would do nothing to add to my yield.

Third, I totally agree with a up pot between your starter and your final pots. Way easier to dry a plant properly in a appropriate sized pot. "Dry a plant you say?" Yes! The real key to growing weed is how accurately you let your plants dry!

Also make sure you learn the PH of your water right away. Took me nute locking a few plants before the folks here taught me that! I used a pool tester and found mine was high, so I use 4 teaspoons of vinegar in every gallon of water I pour. You want to be in the mid 6's if memory serves.

As far as nutes/soils go...bargain brand, non-fertilized soil and Fox Farms Trio here...can't get much simpler and has done very well for me. I have since added a few extra nutes,...wholly mackeral in early veg, some bloom finisher and molasses during bloom. One nutrient you simply cannot do without though is cal/mag. I think LED lights cause our plants to need extra cal mag on top of what they need naturally...I use about 1.5 times what the manufacturer calls for, and I start it soon after I get roots established.

Be ready when pests arrive! I'd suggest you get some neem oil and bright colored (yellow) fly strips now also. I only grow indoors, it's not even been a year and have already experienced ants, fungus gnats, aphids and spider mites. How well your plants survive them depends on how quickly you react!

Lastly, I'd just say all the fancy gear and premium soil/nutrients in the world can still produce marginal or dead weed plants. It's about you, not your supplies! Read up, use your intuition, don't be afraid to let your plants go VERY DRY! Overwatering is the number one problem we see here with new growers! It can cause many different issues down the road.

CHeers mate, good luck to your grow!

 

[mkono87]

The 4"filter and a 6" fan could be an issue, either pulling air through too fast, or too much restriction on the fan. You might get by with reducing the speed of the fan but, could be too much heat and possibly smell.

You can use a filter that is bigger than the fan with no problem as long as you could seal it up with an adapter.
6" filter on a 6" fan would be easiest.

Using intermediate sized pots between the solo cup and the 5 gallon would make it easier to water properly.
Watering correctly makes a HUGE difference. Its easy to water too often. Or sometimes i forget.
A journal really helped me keep track of when I've watered, or made a change in what im doing and if you have problems it's easier for another member to help if you run into problems.

A good thermometer helps getting temprature right, and maybee A circulation fan.
Good luck with your grow.

Okay im going to go ahead with 6" for both the filter and fan. This combo brought the price down a bit and thats why I was curious about it.

Hi Mkono welcome. 423 has given you good advice I think. Have fun! Keep reading and asking. There's a good watering link in my signature page below if you're inspired. Water for roots, they bring strong shoots.

I just skimmed through it, but im about to finish making a coffee and have a nice morning read, thank you.

Welcome @mkono87 looks like you got a great setup going there! A couple things, that light is actually only putting out 270w, and loses some par intensity around the edges. Really going to work for flower more like 2'x2' well, 3x3 pushing it. Probably fine for your two or three plants, but depending on the cost you might be better served with two lights if you ever want to fill that 4x4 from side to side. If it were a cost thing, I'd skip the fan/filter for another light.

Pot plants do smell throughout the process, but after 4 or so full grows in my little pot condo, I don't find they smell that strong and nobody here cares (or has been entirely desensitized to it - wife used to complain every once in a while that she could smell it, but now she doesn't even notice), so I skipped the fan/vent/filter. I just have a fan for circulation in my room. Saves me energy and dollars that otherwise would do nothing to add to my yield.

Third, I totally agree with a up pot between your starter and your final pots. Way easier to dry a plant properly in a appropriate sized pot. "Dry a plant you say?" Yes! The real key to growing weed is how accurately you let your plants dry!

Also make sure you learn the PH of your water right away. Took me nute locking a few plants before the folks here taught me that! I used a pool tester and found mine was high, so I use 4 teaspoons of vinegar in every gallon of water I pour. You want to be in the mid 6's if memory serves.

As far as nutes/soils go...bargain brand, non-fertilized soil and Fox Farms Trio here...can't get much simpler and has done very well for me. I have since added a few extra nutes,...wholly mackeral in early veg, some bloom finisher and molasses during bloom. One nutrient you simply cannot do without though is cal/mag. I think LED lights cause our plants to need extra cal mag on top of what they need naturally...I use about 1.5 times what the manufacturer calls for, and I start it soon after I get roots established.

Be ready when pests arrive! I'd suggest you get some neem oil and bright colored (yellow) fly strips now also. I only grow indoors, it's not even been a year and have already experienced ants, fungus gnats, aphids and spider mites. How well your plants survive them depends on how quickly you react!

Lastly, I'd just say all the fancy gear and premium soil/nutrients in the world can still produce marginal or dead weed plants. It's about you, not your supplies! Read up, use your intuition, don't be afraid to let your plants go VERY DRY! Overwatering is the number one problem we see here with new growers! It can cause many different issues down the road.

Cheers mate, good luck to your grow!

Okay so originally, I was looking those blurple led lights but then quickly learned that they might not be that effective. I was getting that HPS/MH light for $200cdn. The type of LED lights that are always recommended are way out of price range atm. Unless you can point me to a good set of led lights. I have a vision of keeping my initial costs under a grand cdn.

In the summer months before I finally bought a dehumidifier, my levels in my basement were hitting 70-75% so im thinking the fan could really help to keep the levels in the tent down and then help with whatever smell there is. Also bringing in fresh cool air with also combat the light temperature.

 

[Nunyabiz]

Personally I would suggest using coco mixed with about 30% pumice and and a bit of precharged biochar.

If you're going to feed bottled nutrients then it will be much easier.
It works fine with small 5 gal fabric pots and you dont have to do this water dance.
You just water them every single day, maybe even twice a day in flower.

IMO if you're not able to water at very least every other day then that simply means your soil is wrong.
I am in 25 gallon fabric pots and I water every 24 hours even if I dont have a cannabis plant growing in it I still water everyday for the cover crop, the worms, and the mycorrhazae colony.
I keep my soil moist at all times, NEVER let it dry out even the top 1" under the thick mulch is always moist.
But my soil tilth is as it should be, I can take a 16oz glass of water and just dump it in my soil and it disappears completely in one second. It's like pouring it through a screen door.
That's how "soil" should be but the best way to get your tilth like that is in Living Organic Soil No-till with cover crop and worms.
The cover crop and worms keep the soil loose and airy, lots of oxygen.
And you dont bottle feed with salt based nutrients.

Coco is better for bottle feeding.
You just mix nutrients at 1/4 strength and water daily keeping the coco moist.

 

[mkono87]

Personally I would suggest using coco mixed with about 30% pumice and and a bit of precharged biochar.

If you're going to feed bottled nutrients then it will be much easier.
It works fine with small 5 gal fabric pots and you dont have to do this water dance.
You just water them every single day, maybe even twice a day in flower.

IMO if you're not able to water at very least every other day then that simply means your soil is wrong.
I am in 25 gallon fabric pots and I water every 24 hours even if I dont have a cannabis plant growing in it I still water everyday for the cover crop, the worms, and the mycorrhazae colony.
I keep my soil moist at all times, NEVER let it dry out even the top 1" under the thick mulch is always moist.
But my soil tilth is as it should be, I can take a 16oz glass of water and just dump it in my soil and it disappears completely in one second. It's like pouring it through a screen door.
That's how "soil" should be but the best way to get your tilth like that is in Living Organic Soil No-till with cover crop and worms.
The cover crop and worms keep the soil loose and airy, lots of oxygen.
And you dont bottle feed with salt based nutrients.

Coco is better for bottle feeding.
You just mix nutrients at 1/4 strength and water daily keeping the coco moist.

I was trying to stay away from liquid nutes only for the sake of "kiss" for my first grow. But, while I wait for equipment to start rolling in I'm going to do some more research without complicating things.

 

[mkono87]

Well I finally pulled the trigger on my setup so Im pretty excited to get this started. Multple answers from Amazon state it is indeed a 6"fiter with the fan so il take a chance and return it if need be. Thanks to Prime lol. Im still trying to decide if I want to go to coco route with bottle nutes. Since im new I wasnt sure if it was a good idea. Watching tones of videos late into the night has help me understand better.

 

[Booja]

Congrats on starting your first indoor grow. Mine started out in a tent similar to yours, just a tad smaller. For various reasons my plants have since moved into a shed. With luck I will be harvesting my first grow soon.

I'm doing coco/peralite in fabric pots and bottled nutes. From what I've read it's pretty hard to overwater with this setup. As Nunyabiz mentioned, water soaks in quick. I watered once in the morning and once in the evening. One problem I did run into was runoff through the fabric pots. The tent I used had a floor liner but a lot of water made its way past it despite using a shop vac to remove excess runoff. If I had been growing in the house it would have been a serious problem. I now use a cheap plastic kids pool under my plants to control leaks.

Ph was an issue early on. I was using the paper test strips but they just weren't precise enough. I invested in a ph pen and things have gone much smoother.

 

[mkono87]

Congrats on starting your first indoor grow. Mine started out in a tent similar to yours, just a tad smaller. For various reasons my plants have since moved into a shed. With luck I will be harvesting my first grow soon.

I'm doing coco/peralite in fabric pots and bottled nutes. From what I've read it's pretty hard to overwater with this setup. As Nunyabiz mentioned, water soaks in quick. I watered once in the morning and once in the evening. One problem I did run into was runoff through the fabric pots. The tent I used had a floor liner but a lot of water made its way past it despite using a shop vac to remove excess runoff. If I had been growing in the house it would have been a serious problem. I now use a cheap plastic kids pool under my plants to control leaks.

Ph was an issue early on. I was using the paper test strips but they just weren't precise enough. I invested in a ph pen and things have gone much smoother.

I do have quite the hard water at home. I haven't tested it but I can tell from the mineral deposits all over my shower door and sinks. I ordered a ph water tester but its one of the cheaper ones. Reviews were good so il give it a shot. I did stop by a local shop and like I mentioned above was to use Gaia Green All Purpose soil then come flower top dress with Power Bloom but im still looking at options.

 

[StoneOtter]

I do have quite the hard water at home. I haven't tested it but I can tell from the mineral deposits all over my shower door and sinks. I ordered a ph water tester but its one of the cheaper ones. Reviews were good so il give it a shot. I did stop by a local shop and like I mentioned above was to use Gaia Green All Purpose soil then come flower top dress with Power Bloom but im still looking at options.

Getting your ppm count for hardness might be important.

 

[Silverfox125]

I was trying to stay away from liquid nutes only for the sake of "kiss" for my first grow. But, while I wait for equipment to start rolling in I'm going to do some more research without complicating things.

Have you looked into organic soil? Subcools mix is what I’ve been using for years and depending on strain it rarely needs any extra nutrients but if so it’s just compost tea.

if you start a journal tag me!!! I have a weird fetish for first time growers

 

[mkono87]

Have you looked into organic soil? Subcools mix is what I’ve been using for years and depending on strain it rarely needs any extra nutrients but if so it’s just compost tea.

if you start a journal tag me!!! I have a weird fetish for first time growers

LOL, Il def be starting one.

Soil/soiless decisions has been giving me a headache for some reason. I think im way over thinking things. Il def have a look at it. I received all my equipment. Its just get a good time to set it up but still waiting on my seeds.

 

[Silverfox125]

Cool. Can’t wait to tag along.

 

[noobgrow1]

Warm welcome MKono. I am relative noob as well, I am a believer in KISS methods let me share some of my journey the past year or so as I became a home cultivator, you will find my posts tend to be lets say, "rich" translation = I am long winded! First I second Nunaybiz as coco being an easy medium. For me simple meant Hydro in Coco having at least some experience growing some veggies in soil coco is really similar at least in concept.

I highly recommend staring a grow journal members here will help lickity split! And I think having the journal done properly saves lots of typing when asking for help. Members will want to know a LOT about your setup to assist. I was a lurker here way into Grow #1 & didn't really ask for help much.

I found 420mag to be my favorite forum as I devoured all info I could find on medical and grow info, but lurked for quite a while. I only joined mostly to begin to ask questions in the weaning off pain meds with cannabis. I mostly was in search of strain data after I became convinced all weed is not equal. I became convinced after finding what so far is my fav recreational strain which is Jack 47 for myself and partner by far the best giggle weed thus far!

So glad I de-lurked, feel as though I have beginnings of some possible long term friendships & much fellowship of like minded individuals. Anyway here are some things I have learned the short is thus far Medium is Coco / Hydro & COB LEDs for me is way simple along with hand watering.

For lights I wanted LED to keep electric bill lower. That was a rabbit hole & I bought a way older LED technology and paid way more than needed. I plan on starting a thread or searching for one with experiences of others on how much light & design of the light framing and dissipation. My first light was IMO an overpriced Platinum series blurple type light. It did not seem enough light on my first grow. I vegged what seems to be a long time for most home or stealth grows. So I was on a quick search for less expensive good lighting.

I found these COBs well similar models at least sorry only have a US link they are far from top shelf but cheap enough to almost be disposable for me at least. I think I will disassemble and reuse whatever parts I can when I can get some quiet time & feel better physically. That will be determined after this next grow.

This season I broke down and got a real PAR meter so now I can actually measure outputs. Again this is not needed but I want to design my own lighting ultimately I think. I am curious to see how the Platinum compares to the cheap chinese lights I recommend below.

BTW the Platinum 600 I bought from Amazon for over $600, I have since found sourced from Alibaba or aliexpress even called Platinum P series. You will find with some research most of the lights at least cheaper ones are mostly rebranded imports.

See my attachment that is the claimed1500 watt equivalent the 2000 watt has an additional COB being the main difference. I have not disassembled yet for fear of breaking something, but plan to make a frankenlight perhaps using all the drivers maybe replacing the COBs w / higher quality ones. A 1000 watt version would have only 4 COBs.
They are very small housings with basically large PC fans for cooling like most do. They are bright the LEDs have no covering or lenses. Certainly not the most efficient but they produce and thus far 2 grows as well as some veggies and other home plants.

Just search Amazon for LED COB grow light and you should find something looking like the COB in my attachment then search the net minimally eBay and see what kind of deals you may find. I bought what is advertised as 2000 watt equivalents to MH bulbs the draw from wall is less than 300 watts each. If I was doing it again I would get same light with maybe 4 COBs in each fixture to spread out the foot print. In flowering I "feel" like the footprint is too small.

In a 4x4 tent I would think if you can find similar to the pic included w only 4 cobs and use 3-4 in your tent. You probably can get by with two of them but I lack experience on yields the reason for buying with only 4 COBs is you can adjust accordingly to your canopy. I have not mastered those perfectly even SOG or SCRoG methods but keep trying. I do get them pretty even but I grow several strains at once so each plant may need a little more or usually less than I put out with the 6 COB or 2000 watt model. They are like 18 or 20" long maybe 12" wide so as you lower the footprint rapidly shrinks.

I know CA prices seem to be higher but this type light was cheap enough for my needs & so far two grows I think they actually work better than my Platinum 600P is what I originally bought as it had long warranty and honestly just good marketing. In practice I am not a fan thus far of this type of LED. What happens to me is I can begin reading about a typical light technology only to find out it is about what was cutting edge 12-24 mos ago. Technology is a fickle beast, trust me I am in the biz to a degree. What costs $1000 today can often be 70, 60 or even 50% less in as little as 12 months. Just because it's cheaper now doesn't make it bad, hell maybe 18 mos back it may very well have been bleeding edge tech.

But the type of light I mention seems to work well I use at least 3 -4 in my 8x4 tent depending how many plants. My first grow as mentioned I vegged pretty long and had a 4x4 which I could not really contain my plants with prolonged veg period. They can get quite large as you may know. I was in awe with seeing 1" plus diameter main trunks on my plants. I know to many this is not very big but to me they literally were trees!

Grow #2 - I made less errors with feeding but got over zealous moving lights closer to canopy causing minimal light burn. Suffered 0 pest issues lower electricity bills, trained plants a bit better & yielded more usable good quality product from fewer plants.

The light I refer to is cheap when I purchased I think first was $115 US. I tend to research & have some understanding about electronics manufacturing. So I began looking at similar COB lights on Amazon soon found a source at the time selling what sure looked like the identical light for like $85-$90 US. I bought one of the cheaper lights & guess what they are identical to the pricier model I first bought, right down to a dent that is identical on all 3 I purchased. The difference you ask, just the first guys marketing claims...

I know as a fact not long ago one manufacturer was responsible for ALL led screens, TV, PC whatever. The screens themselves are assembled perhaps with different logic boards or drivers, and mounted in different housings. The issues with it are it's layout I think the COBs are too close together so when flowering the footprint is too small. I am pretty sure my Platinum 600 causes light burn easier than the COBs. I will probably see if I can resell to someone after experimenting further with it.

I suggest if budget allows getting a couple but do not go above the 1000 max 1500 claimed watts. They draw about 50 watts per COB. They seem very versatile for veg and bloom. I got too hung up on the older style LED blurples way overpaying for a Platinum 600 series for approx $600 + US, pic below is from Alibaba same light for under $250 US and almost same exact name, having switches for veg & bloom. The difference is an entrepreneur buying bulk product and good marketing along with uneducated or lazy consumer.

The preferred light I use each COB has up to a 50 watt draw so if you can find them reasonable on AMZ or eBay maybe get the ones with only 4 cobs each - 5 max. I recently checked and they sell for more now in US at least thx in part to Pres. Trump (I still can't quite get over calling this idiot my nation's president! ) and his tariff increases and possibly reseller greed.

Anyway I avoided soil due to being concerned about indoor pests possibly attracted. Coco appeared & in practice easy to manage correct errors etc. Also I went for the original ferts were the General Hydro Grow Box. That was a bit confusing way too many bottles & not being sure what to add when, now I use GH 3 part nutes much simpler along with Hydrogaurd & CalMag+, I don't think I need the plus actually but still have a fair amount of the quart purchased last year. I didn't use any carbon filtering yet & just purchased last year for future grows.

My advice would be which ever method soil vs Hydro keep it as simple as possible most noobs tend to way overthink from what I experienced and read. My goals were to produce quality and enough quantity for personal use, grow one I yielded maybe 1.5 pounds dry. I learned a lot from that first grow patience is the biggest thing to be honest, if you are at all like me the desire to feed my plants the best and most nutes is hard to resist. I say keep it simple as possible and watch.

Fans have been another real PITA, they either don't give enough or too much air flow and or rotation for me. Clip on's, especially in my 4x4 were forever getting knocked over while pruning or training. I suggested recently to another first timer I think a great investment and that is to filter your intake ports, I can't believe how much crap the fan blades collect and fast. That increases electricity costs and makes them less effective so intake filtration is a must. I just saw someone saying 1 gallon fabric pots as a great hack for intake filters. I may do that & build square ones that accept filters next grow. Initially I could not see why filtering intake was needed now I would not do w/o it.


Most of us are very like minded individuals & I do not begrudge anyone from making a buck. I run a business & I, like most in my field claim to be " The Best". To get someone to pay attention unfortunately takes quite a bit. I am not saying I am not the best, but Best is a relative term. We are the best for our customer base in many ways, best can mean "best fit" for my cultivation that means what suits my needs and budget. I should have spent more time doing some comparison shopping but in my excitement when I finally settled on a product or supplier I just was too exhausted to even think to be a savvy consumer.

LED technology constantly evolves and has become IMO the most affordable and flexible lighting method indoors. I was an early adopter way before I decided to do a home grow buying the first bulbs for home lighting when a single bulb was probably between $12-$18 each FF today they are about that for 3-5 packs. BTW they all claimed lifetimes of 5 - 10 years again more hype & BS most last maybe 2-3 years in practice. I am sure the actual diodes are still good but cheap drivers and manufacturing they just don't pan out.

If my budget allowed I would probably be building my own quantum boards or minimally a COB setup with drivers outside the grow space. It's not only budget but time to build & design test and most of all make some mistakes.

It's easy to get lost in reading about advanced feeding, training ,topping etc, on grow one my biggest hurdle was learning to cure especially the amount of harvest I had. I usually end up harvesting and dealing with curing in am before work and pm after. Initially I was so caught up in making the prettiest buds carefully trimming, last grow minimal trim, once you go through getting your snips or scissors so gummed up FAST maybe you will see what I mean. I am not preparing for market after all literally no one but me really even sees my buds!

Last harvest I experimented with curing techniques & was rewarded with some still very potent bud almost 12 months later. When the time comes look up Malawi Cob Cure! I so recommend it, thus far it's my favorite even though I made some pretty big mistakes on my first go at it. For me harvest and curing was surprisingly more labor intensive than the whole grow.

It's a nice problem to have needing to go buy more mason jars because they filled so quickly. I panicked less as I had hygrometers and moisture packs.

Buy supplies as you need and upgrade when you are certain you will continue to keep the passion active. Look at some grow journals. I recently began browsing some and was thrilled to see the same COB I use in someone's journal. It is so easy to get sucked in to the marketing and hype be it lights, tents, nutes, on and on. I began growing because I wanted to know I have a clean product and more so to save boatloads of cash! Avg cost for me is $300 - $400 oz on black market.

I also am a medical user so I want to know strain info tailor to my needs so once I find a strain I want to be able to have my own supply of whatever strains I prefer. The bonus has been an awesome hobby keeping my mind sharp learning new skills & just pure joy of the process and fruits of my labors.

Bottled nutes are simpler for me just be careful and awake when mixing! I went with Tablespoon/Gallon on something grow one accidentally when I think it wanted 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. But with Coco you see the accidents fast, I had an emergency flush which was laborious but simple fix. Just use the basic required nutes and as mentioned earlier less is more, manufacturers are in business to sell us more. That's why it's not called charity, it's about getting us to choose them and part with our hard earned cash.

I recommend the 3 bottle basics, additional add ons that seem to pay off: Botanicare Hydrogaurd, and Silica at least in Vegging for good strong branches. After your first success or two and you have good basics down, then maybe worry about bloom boosters etc. personally I would prefer more control even over my feeding but that is too laborious at present. I am proof that a total Noob who made lots of mistakes can produce decent yields, I see others who post harvested plants and at times am surprised at how much larger my first attempts were. But everyone is not about growing monster plants yielding a pound or multiples of from each grow. I am just cheap & lazy if I am paying for electricity & seeds I want to exploit those resources to the best of my ability.

Another thing if you go hydro / coco there's so much talk about having to use RO or reverse osmosis water. I used mostly roof runoff rain water grow one. But that wasn't possible in winter plus caused me a lot of unnecessary pain hauling it. I have really hard water at home so I get 5 gallon bottles from my office which is only about 200PPM not 1100 like I have at home with a water softener. Which brings me to another embarrassing mistake initially I was looking at others concentrations of nutes & its funny as hell now but I was not considering that I was not using RO or rain water any more so my EC readings always were higher. That maybe saved me though from adding too much concentrated fertilizer to my res. Oh yeah another benefit of the 3 bottle non organic nutes is for one my res no longer smelled like well kinda a rotting garbage can & I didn't have to scrub my air stones or replace much at all.

"The Grow Box" organic stuff can get nasty and would plug up the air stones quite a bit. The DWC, ebb & flow, other hydro methods may be even less work in the long run as I recycle my coco and still am not sure what or how to handle that process but after cleaning my last 5 gallon smart pots and spewing tons of brown dust all over my bedroom need to research how others handle it. It's another topic I see much differing opinions, some say no way to reuse & buy only brand x because it has all the salts washed out already blah blah blah. I have re-used at least mixed with new so far. But that's a bridge to cross on your second grow! I just found a reasonably priced brand brick . First one was too small! I think I get 10lb dried, first time again I washed it several times, second time I didn't rinse at all, guess what similar results.

I will post after grow 3 and ask others what they do and why w coco then experiment but aside from salt buildup I can't see why it cannot be recycled multiple times. Another thing I do that is probably highly controversial is I don't water or feed with run off. Somewhere I read one dude's idea that why would he want to just flush nutes away that he paid for. I concur until I can get more facts and maybe lab results to show salt buildups, I get the theory but thus far I am not convinced. I also do not flush with just water prior to harvest that's another topic that seems to get some peoples dander up. I have read what seemed scientific articles of benefits of flushing only to find guess what, others that say it's total BS. So until I can find some legit science or see in my experiments & lab tests I will continue as I have. I have had times that I feed and need to slide a tray underneath my pots but none of this 20% runoff per feeding or any flushing. Who knows maybe I will sprout a horn and become the first unicorn grower.

I guess my overall point is don't go too crazy reading all special growing techniques and ferts these plants will be very forgiving even when we make mistakes. Last grow I was even able to go away a week by working out a bottom feed wicking type of setup.

I thus far determined Winter grows = lower electric bills for me, and little to no pests. I had gnats grow one & panicked thinking I had other manner of bugs. I was over watering no doubt & spent a ton of cash on cooling, my tent is on second floor & we have central AC my windows are not conducive to a window unit. I hope to move to the basement this next grow. I keep house cold so last years PM temps get cooler than optimal or even recommended once the lights go out. So I will vent to the outside post carbon filtering & will have more even temps all year round. We just made enough space so I can relocate my tents.

My hack for humidifiers has been to just cut a gallon milk jug and use micro cloth towels over a diy hanger made from a wire coat hanger. Not the most high tech but worked enough, have to keep cleaning the towels as they will get moldy with use. I may get an ultrasonic one for my next grow as I now have a power adapter by bluebird w humidity and heat sensors. Not good if using an AC unit BTW they will most likely melt from the high power draw but fine for a humidifier if low wattage. And AC draws similar power as dehumidifier so bear in mind. You can begin to draw a fair amount of power so daisy chaining lights adding AC or Heat please keep safety in mind. I know a guy who was heavy into aquaponics and burned down his house. His basement was a bunch of daisy chained power cords with multi outlet surge protectors. Circuits will draw much more than they are rated so periodically check your wires feel if there is warmth maybe get a Kill A Watt or similar to see how much you are pulling on a circuit, I don't see much discussion about this topic at all.

So in closing (heavy sigh) this is kind of an ad hoc compilation monday morning QB synopsis kinda grow journal and primer based on one guy's beginning into this awesome journey. Hopefully it's not too verbose, I think I mentioned organizing not my strong suite. But I wish I had found something similar when I started out, probably would still have researched a bunch more, but at least you can see someone w/o much of a clue can get it together and have some good success not to mention fun and pride in his hobby.

Oh yeah a big thing, I tend to come here after I have imbibed a bit so often I may be too baked for my own good when experimenting with curing ie: Malawi Cob Cure, and a few other modifications. Who doesn't get motivated to tend to their grows after a good buzz from their labors!

Best of luck & again welcome!

NG1

 

[mkono87]

Warm welcome MKono. I am relative noob as well, I am a believer in KISS methods let me share some of my journey the past year or so as I became a home cultivator, you will find my posts tend to be lets say, "rich" translation = I am long winded! First I second Nunaybiz as coco being an easy medium. For me simple meant Hydro in Coco having at least some experience growing some veggies in soil coco is really similar at least in concept.

I highly recommend staring a grow journal members here will help lickity split! And I think having the journal done properly saves lots of typing when asking for help. Members will want to know a LOT about your setup to assist. I was a lurker here way into Grow #1 & didn't really ask for help much.

I found 420mag to be my favorite forum as I devoured all info I could find on medical and grow info, but lurked for quite a while. I only joined mostly to begin to ask questions in the weaning off pain meds with cannabis. I mostly was in search of strain data after I became convinced all weed is not equal. I became convinced after finding what so far is my fav recreational strain which is Jack 47 for myself and partner by far the best giggle weed thus far!

So glad I de-lurked, feel as though I have beginnings of some possible long term friendships & much fellowship of like minded individuals. Anyway here are some things I have learned the short is thus far Medium is Coco / Hydro & COB LEDs for me is way simple along with hand watering.

For lights I wanted LED to keep electric bill lower. That was a rabbit hole & I bought a way older LED technology and paid way more than needed. I plan on starting a thread or searching for one with experiences of others on how much light & design of the light framing and dissipation. My first light was IMO an overpriced Platinum series blurple type light. It did not seem enough light on my first grow. I vegged what seems to be a long time for most home or stealth grows. So I was on a quick search for less expensive good lighting.

I found these COBs well similar models at least sorry only have a US link they are far from top shelf but cheap enough to almost be disposable for me at least. I think I will disassemble and reuse whatever parts I can when I can get some quiet time & feel better physically. That will be determined after this next grow.

This season I broke down and got a real PAR meter so now I can actually measure outputs. Again this is not needed but I want to design my own lighting ultimately I think. I am curious to see how the Platinum compares to the cheap chinese lights I recommend below.

BTW the Platinum 600 I bought from Amazon for over $600, I have since found sourced from Alibaba or aliexpress even called Platinum P series. You will find with some research most of the lights at least cheaper ones are mostly rebranded imports.

See my attachment that is the claimed1500 watt equivalent the 2000 watt has an additional COB being the main difference. I have not disassembled yet for fear of breaking something, but plan to make a frankenlight perhaps using all the drivers maybe replacing the COBs w / higher quality ones. A 1000 watt version would have only 4 COBs.
They are very small housings with basically large PC fans for cooling like most do. They are bright the LEDs have no covering or lenses. Certainly not the most efficient but they produce and thus far 2 grows as well as some veggies and other home plants.

Just search Amazon for LED COB grow light and you should find something looking like the COB in my attachment then search the net minimally eBay and see what kind of deals you may find. I bought what is advertised as 2000 watt equivalents to MH bulbs the draw from wall is less than 300 watts each. If I was doing it again I would get same light with maybe 4 COBs in each fixture to spread out the foot print. In flowering I "feel" like the footprint is too small.

In a 4x4 tent I would think if you can find similar to the pic included w only 4 cobs and use 3-4 in your tent. You probably can get by with two of them but I lack experience on yields the reason for buying with only 4 COBs is you can adjust accordingly to your canopy. I have not mastered those perfectly even SOG or SCRoG methods but keep trying. I do get them pretty even but I grow several strains at once so each plant may need a little more or usually less than I put out with the 6 COB or 2000 watt model. They are like 18 or 20" long maybe 12" wide so as you lower the footprint rapidly shrinks.

I know CA prices seem to be higher but this type light was cheap enough for my needs & so far two grows I think they actually work better than my Platinum 600P is what I originally bought as it had long warranty and honestly just good marketing. In practice I am not a fan thus far of this type of LED. What happens to me is I can begin reading about a typical light technology only to find out it is about what was cutting edge 12-24 mos ago. Technology is a fickle beast, trust me I am in the biz to a degree. What costs $1000 today can often be 70, 60 or even 50% less in as little as 12 months. Just because it's cheaper now doesn't make it bad, hell maybe 18 mos back it may very well have been bleeding edge tech.

But the type of light I mention seems to work well I use at least 3 -4 in my 8x4 tent depending how many plants. My first grow as mentioned I vegged pretty long and had a 4x4 which I could not really contain my plants with prolonged veg period. They can get quite large as you may know. I was in awe with seeing 1" plus diameter main trunks on my plants. I know to many this is not very big but to me they literally were trees!

Grow #2 - I made less errors with feeding but got over zealous moving lights closer to canopy causing minimal light burn. Suffered 0 pest issues lower electricity bills, trained plants a bit better & yielded more usable good quality product from fewer plants.

The light I refer to is cheap when I purchased I think first was $115 US. I tend to research & have some understanding about electronics manufacturing. So I began looking at similar COB lights on Amazon soon found a source at the time selling what sure looked like the identical light for like $85-$90 US. I bought one of the cheaper lights & guess what they are identical to the pricier model I first bought, right down to a dent that is identical on all 3 I purchased. The difference you ask, just the first guys marketing claims...

I know as a fact not long ago one manufacturer was responsible for ALL led screens, TV, PC whatever. The screens themselves are assembled perhaps with different logic boards or drivers, and mounted in different housings. The issues with it are it's layout I think the COBs are too close together so when flowering the footprint is too small. I am pretty sure my Platinum 600 causes light burn easier than the COBs. I will probably see if I can resell to someone after experimenting further with it.

I suggest if budget allows getting a couple but do not go above the 1000 max 1500 claimed watts. They draw about 50 watts per COB. They seem very versatile for veg and bloom. I got too hung up on the older style LED blurples way overpaying for a Platinum 600 series for approx $600 + US, pic below is from Alibaba same light for under $250 US and almost same exact name, having switches for veg & bloom. The difference is an entrepreneur buying bulk product and good marketing along with uneducated or lazy consumer.

The preferred light I use each COB has up to a 50 watt draw so if you can find them reasonable on AMZ or eBay maybe get the ones with only 4 cobs each - 5 max. I recently checked and they sell for more now in US at least thx in part to Pres. Trump (I still can't quite get over calling this idiot my nation's president! ) and his tariff increases and possibly reseller greed.

Anyway I avoided soil due to being concerned about indoor pests possibly attracted. Coco appeared & in practice easy to manage correct errors etc. Also I went for the original ferts were the General Hydro Grow Box. That was a bit confusing way too many bottles & not being sure what to add when, now I use GH 3 part nutes much simpler along with Hydrogaurd & CalMag+, I don't think I need the plus actually but still have a fair amount of the quart purchased last year. I didn't use any carbon filtering yet & just purchased last year for future grows.

My advice would be which ever method soil vs Hydro keep it as simple as possible most noobs tend to way overthink from what I experienced and read. My goals were to produce quality and enough quantity for personal use, grow one I yielded maybe 1.5 pounds dry. I learned a lot from that first grow patience is the biggest thing to be honest, if you are at all like me the desire to feed my plants the best and most nutes is hard to resist. I say keep it simple as possible and watch.

Fans have been another real PITA, they either don't give enough or too much air flow and or rotation for me. Clip on's, especially in my 4x4 were forever getting knocked over while pruning or training. I suggested recently to another first timer I think a great investment and that is to filter your intake ports, I can't believe how much crap the fan blades collect and fast. That increases electricity costs and makes them less effective so intake filtration is a must. I just saw someone saying 1 gallon fabric pots as a great hack for intake filters. I may do that & build square ones that accept filters next grow. Initially I could not see why filtering intake was needed now I would not do w/o it.


Most of us are very like minded individuals & I do not begrudge anyone from making a buck. I run a business & I, like most in my field claim to be " The Best". To get someone to pay attention unfortunately takes quite a bit. I am not saying I am not the best, but Best is a relative term. We are the best for our customer base in many ways, best can mean "best fit" for my cultivation that means what suits my needs and budget. I should have spent more time doing some comparison shopping but in my excitement when I finally settled on a product or supplier I just was too exhausted to even think to be a savvy consumer.

LED technology constantly evolves and has become IMO the most affordable and flexible lighting method indoors. I was an early adopter way before I decided to do a home grow buying the first bulbs for home lighting when a single bulb was probably between $12-$18 each FF today they are about that for 3-5 packs. BTW they all claimed lifetimes of 5 - 10 years again more hype & BS most last maybe 2-3 years in practice. I am sure the actual diodes are still good but cheap drivers and manufacturing they just don't pan out.

If my budget allowed I would probably be building my own quantum boards or minimally a COB setup with drivers outside the grow space. It's not only budget but time to build & design test and most of all make some mistakes.

It's easy to get lost in reading about advanced feeding, training ,topping etc, on grow one my biggest hurdle was learning to cure especially the amount of harvest I had. I usually end up harvesting and dealing with curing in am before work and pm after. Initially I was so caught up in making the prettiest buds carefully trimming, last grow minimal trim, once you go through getting your snips or scissors so gummed up FAST maybe you will see what I mean. I am not preparing for market after all literally no one but me really even sees my buds!

Last harvest I experimented with curing techniques & was rewarded with some still very potent bud almost 12 months later. When the time comes look up Malawi Cob Cure! I so recommend it, thus far it's my favorite even though I made some pretty big mistakes on my first go at it. For me harvest and curing was surprisingly more labor intensive than the whole grow.

It's a nice problem to have needing to go buy more mason jars because they filled so quickly. I panicked less as I had hygrometers and moisture packs.

Buy supplies as you need and upgrade when you are certain you will continue to keep the passion active. Look at some grow journals. I recently began browsing some and was thrilled to see the same COB I use in someone's journal. It is so easy to get sucked in to the marketing and hype be it lights, tents, nutes, on and on. I began growing because I wanted to know I have a clean product and more so to save boatloads of cash! Avg cost for me is $300 - $400 oz on black market.

I also am a medical user so I want to know strain info tailor to my needs so once I find a strain I want to be able to have my own supply of whatever strains I prefer. The bonus has been an awesome hobby keeping my mind sharp learning new skills & just pure joy of the process and fruits of my labors.

Bottled nutes are simpler for me just be careful and awake when mixing! I went with Tablespoon/Gallon on something grow one accidentally when I think it wanted 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. But with Coco you see the accidents fast, I had an emergency flush which was laborious but simple fix. Just use the basic required nutes and as mentioned earlier less is more, manufacturers are in business to sell us more. That's why it's not called charity, it's about getting us to choose them and part with our hard earned cash.

I recommend the 3 bottle basics, additional add ons that seem to pay off: Botanicare Hydrogaurd, and Silica at least in Vegging for good strong branches. After your first success or two and you have good basics down, then maybe worry about bloom boosters etc. personally I would prefer more control even over my feeding but that is too laborious at present. I am proof that a total Noob who made lots of mistakes can produce decent yields, I see others who post harvested plants and at times am surprised at how much larger my first attempts were. But everyone is not about growing monster plants yielding a pound or multiples of from each grow. I am just cheap & lazy if I am paying for electricity & seeds I want to exploit those resources to the best of my ability.

Another thing if you go hydro / coco there's so much talk about having to use RO or reverse osmosis water. I used mostly roof runoff rain water grow one. But that wasn't possible in winter plus caused me a lot of unnecessary pain hauling it. I have really hard water at home so I get 5 gallon bottles from my office which is only about 200PPM not 1100 like I have at home with a water softener. Which brings me to another embarrassing mistake initially I was looking at others concentrations of nutes & its funny as hell now but I was not considering that I was not using RO or rain water any more so my EC readings always were higher. That maybe saved me though from adding too much concentrated fertilizer to my res. Oh yeah another benefit of the 3 bottle non organic nutes is for one my res no longer smelled like well kinda a rotting garbage can & I didn't have to scrub my air stones or replace much at all.

"The Grow Box" organic stuff can get nasty and would plug up the air stones quite a bit. The DWC, ebb & flow, other hydro methods may be even less work in the long run as I recycle my coco and still am not sure what or how to handle that process but after cleaning my last 5 gallon smart pots and spewing tons of brown dust all over my bedroom need to research how others handle it. It's another topic I see much differing opinions, some say no way to reuse & buy only brand x because it has all the salts washed out already blah blah blah. I have re-used at least mixed with new so far. But that's a bridge to cross on your second grow! I just found a reasonably priced brand brick . First one was too small! I think I get 10lb dried, first time again I washed it several times, second time I didn't rinse at all, guess what similar results.

I will post after grow 3 and ask others what they do and why w coco then experiment but aside from salt buildup I can't see why it cannot be recycled multiple times. Another thing I do that is probably highly controversial is I don't water or feed with run off. Somewhere I read one dude's idea that why would he want to just flush nutes away that he paid for. I concur until I can get more facts and maybe lab results to show salt buildups, I get the theory but thus far I am not convinced. I also do not flush with just water prior to harvest that's another topic that seems to get some peoples dander up. I have read what seemed scientific articles of benefits of flushing only to find guess what, others that say it's total BS. So until I can find some legit science or see in my experiments & lab tests I will continue as I have. I have had times that I feed and need to slide a tray underneath my pots but none of this 20% runoff per feeding or any flushing. Who knows maybe I will sprout a horn and become the first unicorn grower.

I guess my overall point is don't go too crazy reading all special growing techniques and ferts these plants will be very forgiving even when we make mistakes. Last grow I was even able to go away a week by working out a bottom feed wicking type of setup.

I thus far determined Winter grows = lower electric bills for me, and little to no pests. I had gnats grow one & panicked thinking I had other manner of bugs. I was over watering no doubt & spent a ton of cash on cooling, my tent is on second floor & we have central AC my windows are not conducive to a window unit. I hope to move to the basement this next grow. I keep house cold so last years PM temps get cooler than optimal or even recommended once the lights go out. So I will vent to the outside post carbon filtering & will have more even temps all year round. We just made enough space so I can relocate my tents.

My hack for humidifiers has been to just cut a gallon milk jug and use micro cloth towels over a diy hanger made from a wire coat hanger. Not the most high tech but worked enough, have to keep cleaning the towels as they will get moldy with use. I may get an ultrasonic one for my next grow as I now have a power adapter by bluebird w humidity and heat sensors. Not good if using an AC unit BTW they will most likely melt from the high power draw but fine for a humidifier if low wattage. And AC draws similar power as dehumidifier so bear in mind. You can begin to draw a fair amount of power so daisy chaining lights adding AC or Heat please keep safety in mind. I know a guy who was heavy into aquaponics and burned down his house. His basement was a bunch of daisy chained power cords with multi outlet surge protectors. Circuits will draw much more than they are rated so periodically check your wires feel if there is warmth maybe get a Kill A Watt or similar to see how much you are pulling on a circuit, I don't see much discussion about this topic at all.

So in closing (heavy sigh) this is kind of an ad hoc compilation monday morning QB synopsis kinda grow journal and primer based on one guy's beginning into this awesome journey. Hopefully it's not too verbose, I think I mentioned organizing not my strong suite. But I wish I had found something similar when I started out, probably would still have researched a bunch more, but at least you can see someone w/o much of a clue can get it together and have some good success not to mention fun and pride in his hobby.

Oh yeah a big thing, I tend to come here after I have imbibed a bit so often I may be too baked for my own good when experimenting with curing ie: Malawi Cob Cure, and a few other modifications. Who doesn't get motivated to tend to their grows after a good buzz from their labors!

Best of luck & again welcome!

NG1

Hey dude, thanks for all that. It was a great read. Right now im taking the advantage of buying my buddies HPS/MH light but I was first looking at cheap leds as well. If down the road I want to switch to LED I might also DIY build something to fit the whole 4x4. I have had enough experience with leds/strips being in the smart home game that I think it would be a good idea.

I would like to tackle some training on my first grow to try to maximize the yeild as best I can. Iv thought about topping once then just lightly tie down as I go. Havent looked too much into scrog however I know what its all about.

I did buy one of those 6" clip on fans but I did buy a 6" inline fan with a carbon filter. Hopefully it treats my plants very well. We will see come summer as my basement humidity gets pretty high in the summer (70-75) although I have a pretty good dehumidifier to combat that.

I will def be starting a grow journal because i know Im going to have a lot of questions as time goes on. I going to start reading current ones that will most likely answer a bunch of them before hand.

Medium choice is still up in the air, but I have a bit of time to decide that as im still putting the setup together. Still need to punch a hole in the wall so I can vent outside. I do like the idea of all organic. Been looking at those subcool mixes but also noticing its calling for a 30 day "cook" time in the sun. Were in the single digits (C) here in Canada so im not sure how that will work.

 

[mkono87]

So I have been doing more research on mediums to start with. I really like the idea of subcools but im thinking being that winter is coming I cant really do a "cook" time with the cold weather. I at first thought that I didnt want to use liquid nutes as a beginner but im actually starting to lean towards coco/perlite and then feed with nutes. Might actually help me understand feeding properly the first go around, and also give me much more control. What do you guys think.

@Silverfox125 I just read half of your first grow journal (organic bubble), and its been great.

 

[bluter]

check out hempy if you are leaning to coco.

exact same parameters, even cheaper to accomplish. fantastic for first time growers, almost perfectly suited for beginner habits. it is a touch harder to start from seed with, though no worse than coco.

head over to hempy headquarters
then check out the mega crop thread for the easiest and cheapest nute line, perfectly suited to the media.


don't go anywhere near those lights posted here. only bereft sadness will result.

save time, heartache, and anguish by jumping direct to diy QBs. research that.

 

[mkono87]

check out hempy if you are leaning to coco.

exact same parameters, even cheaper to accomplish. fantastic for first time growers, almost perfectly suited for beginner habits. it is a touch harder to start from seed with, though no worse than coco.

head over to hempy headquarters
then check out the mega crop thread for the easiest and cheapest nute line, perfectly suited to the media.


don't go anywhere near those lights posted here. only bereft sadness will result.

save time, heartache, and anguish by jumping direct to diy QBs. research that.

It's too late iv already made plans to pick them up. What is so bad about them? When I was looking at qbs they seemed pretty dang pricey to start off.