Hello all: newb grower here

[Weedian2112]

Beautiful stuff DrBud! GG4 is one of my favorites. I have 4 sets of seeds on the way, Acapulco Gold, LSD, Alaskan Purple and White Widow. It's like being a kid in the candy store!

 

[Old Salt]

I want to do things right from the start, so I am taking a bit of time to get the right setup in place to get some gear growing.

The place to start is determining how much you want or need to grow.

Next, take a look at the strains you want to grow, what is their indoor yield. As a new grower you'll get 1/3 to 1/2 of that, even with coaching.

Next decide on whether you want to grow photoperiods or autoflowers. Generally you'll have more control over the shape of your plants with photoperiods, while autoflowers generally mature faster. You can get 2-3 harvests from photoperiods, and 4-5 harvests from autoflowers per year. This is strain dependent.

Now you need to determine the size and shape of your grow area. The size is dependent on the strain and how much you want to harvest. The shape is linked to your physical abilities. You need to access all the plants for training and trimming. If your tent is more than your arm's reach deep, you will need to move the plants around.

Then decide on what you will grow your plants in. The two basic choices are soil, or hydroponics. There are literally dozens of variations for both, every one of them has their own requirements. I settled on coco/perlite, in a drain-to-waste hydroponics system. This is probably the simplest form of hydroponics, and uses far less water than a Deep Water Culture (DWC) hydroponics system.

OK. now that you have the basics, you can fill in the details.

What size footprint of tent will you use? Always get the tallest tent that will fit in the area you will put it. You may want multiple tents if you don't want to move your plants. The other alternative is a tent large enough to work on your plants in. Don't forget that as a general rule of thumb you'll lose 3 feet of tent height to the space above the light for your filter, the space between the canopy and your light, and the containers for your plants. A five foot tall tent only has about 24" of height for your plant, and a seven foot tent has about four feet. I increased this to five feet in my seven foot tent by moving the filter out of the tent.

Now you can decide on your lights. If you decided on a large tent that you can work in, only the area occupied by the plants needs to be covered.

Ventilation is next. At an absolute minimum you need a complete air change every five minutes. I recommend at least once per minute if you don't use CO2. A 4' X 4' X 6' tent is 96 cubic feet, so you'll need at least 100 CFM. Double this figure to account for the filter, and bends or restrictions in the ducting. Your carbon filter should match your in-line fan.

You'll need fans in the tent to keep the air moving. This strengthens the plants, and helps prevent bud rot.

What about environment control? You will need to heat, cool, humidify, and dehumidify your grow space. You can do this outside the tent or within.

Then there's the light, which we already covered.

This will get you started. There are many more details to cover, but what they are depends on your answers above.
What containers will you use for your plants?
What substrate (growing medium) will you use?
Will you need air and/or water pumps for hydroponics?
What nutrients will you use? There are literally hundreds of choices.
What do you need to support your nutrient and growing choices? You may need instruments to measure volume, weight, pH, and TDS or EC.

Is all this necessary to start growing? Not really, BUT if not addressed before you start, it will need to be addressed during your grow as you run into problems.

 

[Weedian2112]

The place to start is determining how much you want or need to grow.

Next, take a look at the strains you want to grow, what is their indoor yield. As a new grower you'll get 1/3 to 1/2 of that, even with coaching.

Next decide on whether you want to grow photoperiods or autoflowers. Generally you'll have more control over the shape of your plants with photoperiods, while autoflowers generally mature faster. You can get 2-3 harvests from photoperiods, and 4-5 harvests from autoflowers per year. This is strain dependent.

Now you need to determine the size and shape of your grow area. The size is dependent on the strain and how much you want to harvest. The shape is linked to your physical abilities. You need to access all the plants for training and trimming. If your tent is more than your arm's reach deep, you will need to move the plants around.

Then decide on what you will grow your plants in. The two basic choices are soil, or hydroponics. There are literally dozens of variations for both, every one of them has their own requirements. I settled on coco/perlite, in a drain-to-waste hydroponics system. This is probably the simplest form of hydroponics, and uses far less water than a Deep Water Culture (DWC) hydroponics system.

OK. now that you have the basics, you can fill in the details.

What size footprint of tent will you use? Always get the tallest tent that will fit in the area you will put it. You may want multiple tents if you don't want to move your plants. The other alternative is a tent large enough to work on your plants in. Don't forget that as a general rule of thumb you'll lose 3 feet of tent height to the space above the light for your filter, the space between the canopy and your light, and the containers for your plants. A five foot tall tent only has about 24" of height for your plant, and a seven foot tent has about four feet. I increased this to five feet in my seven foot tent by moving the filter out of the tent.

Now you can decide on your lights. If you decided on a large tent that you can work in, only the area occupied by the plants needs to be covered.

Ventilation is next. At an absolute minimum you need a complete air change every five minutes. I recommend at least once per minute if you don't use CO2. A 4' X 4' X 6' tent is 96 cubic feet, so you'll need at least 100 CFM. Double this figure to account for the filter, and bends or restrictions in the ducting. Your carbon filter should match your in-line fan.

You'll need fans in the tent to keep the air moving. This strengthens the plants, and helps prevent bud rot.

What about environment control? You will need to heat, cool, humidify, and dehumidify your grow space. You can do this outside the tent or within.

Then there's the light, which we already covered.

This will get you started. There are many more details to cover, but what they are depends on your answers above.
What containers will you use for your plants?
What substrate (growing medium) will you use?
Will you need air and/or water pumps for hydroponics?
What nutrients will you use? There are literally hundreds of choices.
What do you need to support your nutrient and growing choices? You may need instruments to measure volume, weight, pH, and TDS or EC.

Is all this necessary to start growing? Not really, BUT if not addressed before you start, it will need to be addressed during your grow as you run into problems.

Thanks again for the wisdom!

The seeds I have ordered are femenized, but not autos. I have been doing a lot of reading on LST and the sea of green method, so I was going to go that route. I figured that two plants at a time would fit in the tent. I have actually seen so many different things on how many plants you can fit in a space, but I figure starting with two is safe.

So, I am going with a 3x3x6 tent, and based on what I have already learned here will be getting a Mars Hydro light - actually I am just going to get the 3x3 grow kit that includes the light and tent. I'm not sure if it would be better to get the TS2000 with it, or two SP150s, but that is the tent kit I am going to buy this week.

I am ordering 150 cfm inline fan with carbon filter from Amazon, along with small clip fans and the humidity sensor. I have a humidifier already to help nudge up the humidity. I already have the PH meter due to my background in home brewing and I am getting a TDS meter.

The growing medium is soil in grow bags/fabric pots. I'm using Dirt Martini soil from a local grow shop and the Fox Farms nutrients. The grow is indoors in a spare bedroom, so environmentally it will be stable. Temps in that room vary between 70-75 degrees, but a vent could be closed to warm that up a bit. There is also a portable AC unit available to cool it further if needed during curing.

If there is anything I am missing, please feel free to tell me - I am here to learn from you guys and any information to make my first grow a good one is greatly appreciated.

 

[Old Salt]

The 3' X 3' Mars Hydro tent is actually 1m X 1m or about 39 - 3/8" square.

I'd go bigger on the fan, to a 6". A 150 CFM fan will really struggle to provide the air flow you need.

I'd put the environmentals in the room with the tent.

If this is your first major container growing venture, reading Emilya's The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant, and her current journal can help you avoid many problems.

Why not start a grow journal? I will serve as a handy reference for future grows, and help us help you should you run into problems.

 

[Alafornia]

Welcome. Hope you find the light you are looking for.