Going to try and grow my first plants ever and need some advice

[djwintz]

Hey guys, sorry if this is posted in the wrong spot but I just joined yesterday and really don't know what I'm doing. This will be indoors and in soil in my spare room in the house. Start with just 2 plants.

This is going to be my very first attempt at growing and would like to know your thoughts. I have been doing some reading and it is overwhelming. I want to try and keep this first grow as simple as possible. This is what I have bought.

Blueberry seeds
Sun systems Hard Core 600 HPS ballast
Sun systems socket assembly
Plantmax 600 watt HPS 2000K bulb
Flora Nova Grow 7-4-10 liquid fertilizer
Flora Nova Bloom 4-8-7 liquid fertilizer

My plan was to soak the seeds in a cup of water for 24hrs then put them into these little brown puck things they gave me. Then plant these puck things into a big pot with some bag of soil they have at the store, yet to buy the soil. Is there a special type of soil I should buy from them? I would like to plant in the big pot so I don't have to repot. This may all sound stupid but like I said this will be my first time attempting to grow. Any tips or suggestions would be welcomed. Will this work with what I have got?

 

[Mtn Dew]

Welcome to Dj. You might want to check out lucasformula.com. You really don't need the flora nova grow. His simple formula is easy to follow.
Also make sure your bag soil has proper drainage, like perlite, expanded shell, pumice, etc. No miracle grow soil.
You made the right choice choosing this site. Best of the Best farmers will try and guide you on a path of enlightenment. Good luck and be active.

 

[Mtn Dew]

Soils like roots organics or even better check your local Home D pot for soil. I lucked out and found they carry Dr. Earth Pot of Gold container soil for 13 bucks a 1.5 cuft bag. Good stuff

 

[TheNarrator]

Hi djwintz,

I'm currently in the midst of my first grow, also in soil (just from hardware not a specially designed blend) with a bit of perlite. I soaked my seeds for 12-24 hrs and planted them just below the surface in 12L pots, they broke the surface in around 48 hours. The soil was all moist at the time of planting but I did mist the surface area around the seed to stop it drying out.

Mine did grow a little slowly to begin with but I think that was being planted straight into the soil I bought I like the idea I have seen suggested to remove a solo cups or more of coil from the centre of the pot and fill the gap with plainer seedling friendly soil and plant into that, figure it should provide at least some buffer between the roots and the nutrient rich soil.

Looking at your list you're gonna want a decent inline fan to remove stale and hot air from room and vent to outside or somewhere else. If temps are highish in your area you might wanna run some heat tests before starting to see if you will need an air cooled hood for the HPS. Also if stealth's an issue, controlling your airflow will allow you to use a carbon filter to clean that beautiful smell out of the air.

This is going to be my very first attempt at growing and would like to know your thoughts. I have been doing some reading and it is overwhelming. I want to try and keep this first grow as simple as possible. This is what I have bought.

I know that feeling, that was me a few months ago! I found the hardest part of growing was being patient with researching and then even more so with the plants themselves.

 

[TheNarrator]

Also how big is the room?

 

[Faic]

Welcome. First advice is, read the TOS here, and how to upload pictures. If you can, start a journal, but that depends on where you are. Then go read some more faq's on growing, but start at other sites. The faq here is far too large to be useful and needs a heavy reorganization. I read everywhere, but ask questions here.

The first thing to come to mind is "have you asked yourself all the important questions'.

Are you planning to grow 'organic'? If not, you were sold higher priced organic nutes. Unforunately, the market is super saturated with products that all do the same thing pretty much. You want to make sure you have the basics, and you do not need or probably want bud boosters or bloom additives for your first grow. The additions I do think you need or will want to have are a silica additive to boost the plant's structure, and a enzyme to add to keep nasty bacteria at bay. I use hydroguard (bacteria) and silica blast. You'll probably also need a calcium/magnesium suppliment down the road. Anything beyond these is tweaking for better yield, taste, etc. Learn to walk first, then run all you want.

You have a room to use, how big is it, will you need to control odor. You WILL need to control heat, because you have an HPS light (unless you're in a very cold area). Vortex fans are better than inline fans which are better than muffin fans. Get a vortex fan. More expensive, much better performance. If you need to control odor, double your estimate on ventilation and keep your intakes passive.

Will you be setting up seperate veg/flower areas in your room? If you haven't considered that yet, ask yourself this. Do you anticipate being able to grow enough weed to get you to the next harvest/cure (approx 4-5months). If you don't know, plan on being able to cover or section an area to keep vegging plants lit and happy while the others flower. Planning now saves changes later. Do you have an inner Macguyver?

Regarding soil, and soil types, many people will recommend their prefered supersoil or what have you. The basics for dirt is this. It's dirt. What you get at the locals is usually for general gardening and has added ferts that may not be optimal for weed. The simplest thing to do is grab any potting soil, thoroughly rinse it, mix it 70/30 with perlite, and it should be relatively 'cool' or blank and ready for your nutrients. The mistake many make is to grab some MG potting soil, stick a new sprout in it, and burn it up because of the included ferts (which is why I run 5gal of water through 1gallon of soil now for babies). As you get used to growing, you can move toward more tailored soils. At this stage, it's extra money and details you've said you want to avoid at this point. How to feed your plant is another discussion.

There are a lot of threads on repotting. You'll also get some very detailed explinations here why you should repot. It is lazy to plant a seedling in a huge pot to 'save time and effort in repotting', you can fubar and kill your plant because it's much more difficult to water a plant in a large container than it is a properly sized or smaller container. First time growers biggest mistake is overwatering. Everyone has done it, and you will too.

Typically it goes close to this: Germ (paper towel usually), plant tap root down in medium of choice - rapid plug, small cup of dirt, whatever, followed by a week or so of growth, then the plant is moved up in pot size as the root system grows. Some people repot 3-4 times, others once or twice, but it's very rare to see someone put a seedling into a large container and not have problems. Get used to the idea of repotting or your life will be harder.

Have a bottle of H2o2 handy. Contrary to what Narrator is doing, you do not keep the top soil moist. You let it dry out, and most of the soil before you water again. Keeping the top of the soil moist also invites mold (this can ruin your crop and is a thing to watch for always). If you get mold or gnats, that's what the hydrogen peroxide is for.

If you end up with gnats, don't rush out to buy insecticide. Get a bag of sand and your bottle of h202.

You'll also need a pH testing pen, and pH adjusting solutions. Your nutes seem to be buffered iirc, but make sure you have a tester pen to check. The adjusting solutions are cheap in a small 'kit'. Using buffered nutes means you probably won't have to adjust it, but you absolutely must get a handle on pH and get used to checking it if you want to be able to diagnose problems easier down the road.

 

[TheNarrator]

There are a lot of threads on repotting. You'll also get some very detailed explinations here why you should repot. It is lazy to plant a seedling in a huge pot to 'save time and effort in repotting', you can fubar and kill your plant because it's much more difficult to water a plant in a large container than it is a properly sized or smaller container. First time growers biggest mistake is overwatering. Everyone has done it, and you will too.

Typically it goes close to this: Germ (paper towel usually), plant tap root down in medium of choice - rapid plug, small cup of dirt, whatever, followed by a week or so of growth, then the plant is moved up in pot size as the root system grows. Some people repot 3-4 times, others once or twice, but it's very rare to see someone put a seedling into a large container and not have problems. Get used to the idea of repotting or your life will be harder.

I would definitely follow this advice, this is one of the mistakes I made in my own grow, either from overwatering or the root taking a long time to establish 2/3 of my seedlings popped fine but then took a while to start growing properly which has delayed the grow overall, from what I've read since the plants also love being repotted and it can stimulate faster growth, will be doing at least 3 transplants next time.

Same for the pH advice, I dropped the ball on this one and thought it was lower priority equipment for some reason and have had some rust spots and sideways tips because of it at points but hoping yield won't be affected too badly.

 

[Faic]

Heya Narrator, just saw your other thread. Plants as a good rule of thumb do not like being repotted, because this usually invovles some degree of stress. When talking about weed, stress= hermies=bad. I'm paranoid about my girls, but thats a big seperate discussion.

Emilya can explain this so much better than I can, but when people say things like 'the plant likes to be repotted' they're saying the plant will grow into a larger container, and this can help if your plant is rootbound too early, and it can slow things down if it's established and then finds room to grow. It will grow roots then get back to growing leaves.

The easiest way to transplant is to have the same low to no nute soil as the original. Get your bigger pot, and the same size pot that you have. Place a layer of soil down (I use weed screen and sand at the drains) then place the empty container in, and fill in around it. Remove the cup/pot, and you have a perfect socket for your plant to slide into. Do so, then water it in as normal. Just make sure you're in your final container before you flower. The plant chugs along happily, seeming to like the repotting. It doesn't , it just didn't notice because you did everything right.

 

[TheNarrator]

Thanks for clearing that up for me Faic, thought it didn't really make sense that it wouldn't cause the plant to be stressed. Same goes for the misting the surface area, I have just read so much recently that I've clearly ended up with some wrong ideas stuck in my head so was just saying what I had done rather than what I was 100% sure to be correct. Please excuse a beginners knowledge!

So in essence, you mainly transplant to ensure you have better control over the moisture levels in the soil?

The plant chugs along happily, seeming to like the repotting. It doesn't , it just didn't notice because you did everything right.

Thats gonna be my mantra next run

 

[Faic]

Hm Ok, I'll address this here till you get your journal in your sig working. The link takes me to someone else's journal. This also applies to the OP so...

A few things you've mentioned in other threads and the repotting can lead to faster growth. You've got the new grower syndrome. I can't think of a better name at the moment. You know what I mean, the sugar plum fairies dancing around carrying bales of buds....



This is a counter productive mind set, and will bite you in the rear if you let it get the better of you. It basically encompasses all the concious and unconcious expectations you've got as you take the plunge. Everyone gets it. Most come through it ok.

When my plants were all dying is when it hit home. I'm not learning to grow, I'm learning how to not kill my plants. If you don't kill your plants, you'll get some yield. Every day my girls got better, I rejoiced in my new 'how not to kill your weed' knowledge.

Try to identify the why, not just the solution. I'm on my third grow, and more important than saying I know my yield will be bigger this time, is I know exactly why my plants finished the way they did (with a few questions here or there but you get the idea).

When you understand how it all works together, a larger yeild will follow naturally. This will also save you plenty of money later too.

 

[TheNarrator]

Sorry about the signature link, slipped up but think its all good now, appreciate the heads up. On my phone so i wont reply in depthbut basically you have diagnosed me 100% correctly with new growers syndrome! Im very aware of it and try to keep myself under wraps but sometimes i get carried away.

Your input would be appreciated if my link is fixed, not a very impressive journal but im working on it. Feel like it will take something like 5-10 grows before im confident.

 

[Faic]

Narrator, soon as you smoke your first homegrown your not a beginner anymore, you're a journeyman~~

No worries, first grows are terrible now for all the marketing we have to learn to avoid.... The reason you repot is to give the plants room to grow the roots, since the canopy/overall size is determined by the roots (I have a 5month old mother who spent her first four months in a 8oz cup, and I'm growing a clone in a 16oz cup for kicks).

So container size really relates more to finished size of plant and yeild than water management. The bad aspect of too large a pot too soon is the soil will not have a chance to dry properly, because the plant is so small and can't drink fast enough. Fast forward and you're getting root rot or a drowning plant because the soil is staying too wet. Weed needs a wet/dry cycle to oxygenate. Poor oxygen to the roots = poor yeild or plant loss.

A proper container size will dry out in good time because the plant can drink all the water and be ready for more. It's very interesting that you can guide plant growth by light placement, but Emilya was explaining you can also guide root development if you're in a big pot predicament. In a case like that, you water around the outside of the pot to get the roots to grow toward the water.

But once you swtich to flower, she'll turn all her attention to getting pretty. No canopy growth, and no root growth. This is why you always get into final container a week or more before flower. So your girl can acclimate to the new environment and get over any shock.

I ended up with my pots in trays of sand, so rather than lifting them to see if they needed feeding, I just checked if the sand at the bottom was dry or not. When it was, feed. Worked out to every 3 days. The sand is a anti gnat solution, but helped with guaging when to water for me.

 

[TheNarrator]

Narrator, soon as you smoke your first homegrown your not a beginner anymore

I can't wait! not too long now.

Thanks for the info about repotting, was on the wrong track for sure, I plan on only one plant next time so will go for a longer veg and work towards my big pots. For the entire grow I have been very wary about overwatering and have successfully avoided it to my knowledge, but this meant the seedlings had to go a fortnight or more without water. I really think they would have grown faster if their wet to drying out cycle was shorter, and I saw much more rapid growth when it was. I go by the soil at the drainage holes now.

 

[Faic]

If you can, give them a heft before and after watering. It's a good thing to learn even if your current method is working for you. No need to switch, but good to know what's what if it's easy to find out.

 

[djwintz]

The spare room is 11 x 9. and can I not just crack the window open a bit and just put an oscillating fan in the room to move the air around?

 

[Faic]

11 x9? You could do so much with that space.

Yeah, you could get away with cracking a window and running a table fan. That's absolutely a possibility.

But that might not be the best thing to do. First off, if that's how you do it, and people live anywhere near you, they will know when your girls are in full bloom.

Second, that's virtually the same as growing outdoors as far as pests are concerned. Bugs will want to investigate your girls if they can get near them. You'll also not be able to regulate temps in the room that way.

When you're discussing air movement, it's about two seperate things. Most important is making sure you get good co2 rich air to your girls, and move the o2 rich air out, and this is typically dovetailed with odor control.

An ocillating fan in a room is used to stir the air in the room. What this does is keep the air circulating, since dead pockets of air will basically suffocate the plant, and arguably just as important, keeps the branches swaying, which causes them to develop thicker, so they can support the weight of heavy dank buds that will smell up two city blocks from a 11 x 9 room full of them.

;3 So, do you need to control odor, is the most important question. Then, you need a ventilation system powerful enough to exchange 792 cubic feet of air in a few minutes (presumes a 8foot ceiling). This may sound like an exceesive amount of air movement, but with lights, gear and plants all making heat, you need alot of air movement. If this is going to be odor controlled with a carbon scrubber, kit for moving 1400-1500 cubic feet of air. The carbon scrubber puts a big brake on your airflow.

Then you'll need a couple oscillating fans to keep a good steady breeze over the plant tops and keeping the canopy air fresh.

Indoor growing means you should be mother nature. You have to make the sun (lights) the wind (ventilation) and monitor the earth (growing medium of choice), and make it rain when it's supposed to and make sure nothing happens that isn't supposed to. If you don't actively kill it, it'll grow no matter what. But how well is anyone's guess.

 

[djwintz]

I just read about Air conditioning units. I have an Air conditioner. Can I use it in the room as a way to get new air in and old air out of the room instead of using the fan systems, just set the AC unit to say 25c?

Faic, you say to give them a Heft before and after watering, what is this?

 

[Faic]

Yes you could, but you'd be pushing all that stanky air out unfiltered.

AC's in your grow room are used to control the temp, not for exchanging the air. In any grow room, you want to keep negative pressure, so passive intake, active exhaust. This keeps the smelly air going out through the carbon filter.

If you hooked your ac to outside, to draw in fresh air, then had a seperate exhaust fan, the ac would create overpressure and push air out any crack it could find, negating your odor control. Unless your exhaust fan was a monster. That ac is a great thing to 'just have' on hand. Make sure if you have to use it, while you use it, you monitor your RH.

 

[djwintz]

The AC unit I'm thinking of using is the in window type and has an room air exchange setting on it. Takes room air out and brings fresh air in. Where I live I'm not worried about the smell from the plants getting to the outside.

 

[Faic]

Hah. Well, yeah that'd work then perhaps, but I'd still be concerned that the unit would draw out new air over old air, since the in/out is so close. I'd have a fan infront of the aC to blow fresh air into the room from right infront of the unit to get the most co2 circulation to the other fans you'll need strategically placed around the room to keep things fresh everywhere. You'll need seperate veg/flower area's that are light tight between them , unless you're going to use the entire room as either veg or flower.

Just watch for any signs of suffocating. With that much room you could put a co2 burner in there if you wanted too.