Hello! I'm new to growing and would love any help that you could give!

RandyMarshT

Active Member
Hello I have 7 autoflowers growing right now and have harvested and smoked 1 plant so far! My first plant that I harvested was afghan mass and it yielded 19.8 grams. I was pretty dissapointed with this yield (I know I'm still learning so the yield was to be expected) but this is the main reason I joined the forum to help grow healthier larger plants! I currently have an lsd and northern lights in flower only a few weeks from harvest and the closest next set is a caramel cream and sweet soma they went into flower alittle over a week ago.

They are planted in 3 gallons pots (I think that's part of the yield problem) in Coco loco potting mix by foxfarms using down to earth organic nutrients 4-4-4 and 4-8-4. I am pH-ing the water and have started to pay attention to over watering, I believe that could be a problem as well, but I am not using reverse osmosis on the water.

The plants were moved to a new environment in the past month to remove the smell from the house. The environment before was perfect but this one has some flaws. They are in an uninsulated 11x22 basement right now and is the only thing down there but I am planning on doing alot of the work to the room in the near future to turn into a full size grow environment. The temp is consistent between 64-71° and humidity is in the higher range of 70-80% I am monitoring for bud rought and have a dehumidifier on the way. So all flaws should be fixed soon.

The light that I am using is a sunraise 1000W LED that is rated at 165w draw from the wall. I know that I was alittle ambitious with how many plants I have with such a small and underpowered light. I have realized that I made a mistake and have stopped planting until the girls finish. I am also planning on buying a Mars hydro tsw2000 hoping that it's at a good price and can add more lights to the grow as I start to expand. Is this a good budget light that scales well? Or should I go with the Mars hydro 300 and spend the extra money.

Thanks in advance for all of your help!
 

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Hiya @RandyMarshT® we all started somewhere right? You got weed and have more cooking, you're on the right track to success! A perpetual grow is the way to go for sure! That light is 165w of less than top quality light, but the cheapest light is the light you own already right? You definitely need more, but it will fit fine next to a Mars Hydro white light, many people just keep adding. CHeers mate, gl to your grow! :yahoo:
 
I did watch a video by from seed to stoned on YouTube and he said that autoflowers don't need light schedules and can benefit from the light always being on. I've tried using that for the past week hoping it can help my plants get the light they aren't receiving from my weak light and the buds seems to have liked it. What do you think? Have you heard anything or could think of any risk of them receiving constant light?
 
Curious on the Down to Earth nutes, is it liquid, water soluble, or the dry mix?
What’s you input pH?
 
Hello I have 7 autoflowers growing right now and have harvested and smoked 1 plant so far! My first plant that I harvested was afghan mass and it yielded 19.8 grams. I was pretty dissapointed with this yield (I know I'm still learning so the yield was to be expected) but this is the main reason I joined the forum to help grow healthier larger plants! I currently have an lsd and northern lights in flower only a few weeks from harvest and the closest next set is a caramel cream and sweet soma they went into flower alittle over a week ago.

They are planted in 3 gallons pots (I think that's part of the yield problem) in Coco loco potting mix by foxfarms using down to earth organic nutrients 4-4-4 and 4-8-4. I am pH-ing the water and have started to pay attention to over watering, I believe that could be a problem as well, but I am not using reverse osmosis on the water.

The plants were moved to a new environment in the past month to remove the smell from the house. The environment before was perfect but this one has some flaws. They are in an uninsulated 11x22 basement right now and is the only thing down there but I am planning on doing alot of the work to the room in the near future to turn into a full size grow environment. The temp is consistent between 64-71° and humidity is in the higher range of 70-80% I am monitoring for bud rought and have a dehumidifier on the way. So all flaws should be fixed soon.

The light that I am using is a sunraise 1000W LED that is rated at 165w draw from the wall. I know that I was alittle ambitious with how many plants I have with such a small and underpowered light. I have realized that I made a mistake and have stopped planting until the girls finish. I am also planning on buying a Mars hydro tsw2000 hoping that it's at a good price and can add more lights to the grow as I start to expand. Is this a good budget light that scales well? Or should I go with the Mars hydro 300 and spend the extra money.

Thanks in advance for all of your help!
I would also recommend getting the temps up a big. 64F is not great for growth. 75-80F day, 70-75F night is optimal.
 
I would also recommend getting the temps up a big. 64F is not great for growth. 75-80F day, 70-75F night is optimal.
Thanks for you recommendation! I had the plants in a 4x4 room before I moved them to the basement. The environment was much better up there, 70-75° and humidity was steady at 60-65%. I'm starting to do some insulation work on the basement so hopefully soon I'll get the temp and humidity back under control. Unfortunately until then I'll be sacrificing health and yeild but I'm trying my best to keep it consistent.
 
Curious on the Down to Earth nutes, is it liquid, water soluble, or the dry mix?
What’s you input pH?
The down to earth nutrients are a dry nutrient so far I have put 8 tbsp of 4-4-4 and 4-8-4 when I planted then and when they go into flower. I usually try to pH the water in between 6.5 and 6.8 I unfortunately don't know exactly what I'm doing with the nutrient schedule yet. Any help would be much appreciated. (Non of the girls have shown any sign of nutrient deficiencies)
 
You really should not use dry nutes in coco. It’s not meant for that style of organics because it doesn’t support the microbial life required to break down the raw ingredients in the mix like soil does.

Id recommend getting a water soluble (Mega Crop) or liquid nutrient (Fox Farm Trio), and go from there.

With coco, you need to treat it like hydro. Your input pH should be 5.8, and you have to feed one or more times a day at 1/4 strength of whatever nute you are using. Never let it dry as you would soil.

I use the dry mix Down to Earth for my organic soil grows. I preload my soil with it. Without microbes being present, the bone meal, feather meal, kelp, etc..... doesn’t get broken down to become available to the plant.
 
Thanks for you recommendation! I had the plants in a 4x4 room before I moved them to the basement. The environment was much better up there, 70-75° and humidity was steady at 60-65%. I'm starting to do some insulation work on the basement so hopefully soon I'll get the temp and humidity back under control. Unfortunately until then I'll be sacrificing health and yeild but I'm trying my best to keep it consistent.
I set a small heater outside of my tent and have it blow in the direction of the bottom intake vent on the tent.
I set it to off during the day, and 75 at night. Mine are in the basement too so it’s cold at night, but with the heater going, it balances out around 69-71F at night. Without it, it’s drops to 64F.
 
I set a small heater outside of my tent and have it blow in the direction of the bottom intake vent on the tent.
I set it to off during the day, and 75 at night. Mine are in the basement too so it’s cold at night, but with the heater going, it balances out around 69-71F at night. Without it, it’s drops to 64F.
Part of my temperature problem is that the plants are not in a tent or anything so keeping their area warm is pretty difficult. I'm going to be buying more heaters as the grow starts to expand through the room
 
You really should not use dry nutes in coco. It’s not meant for that style of organics because it doesn’t support the microbial life required to break down the raw ingredients in the mix like soil does.

Id recommend getting a water soluble (Mega Crop) or liquid nutrient (Fox Farm Trio), and go from there.

With coco, you need to treat it like hydro. Your input pH should be 5.8, and you have to feed one or more times a day at 1/4 strength of whatever nute you are using. Never let it dry as you would soil.

I use the dry mix Down to Earth for my organic soil grows. I preload my soil with it. Without microbes being present, the bone meal, feather meal, kelp, etc..... doesn’t get broken down to become available to the plant.
I really appreciate that input I would've never guessed that could be a problem. I've started doing research into hydro ponics and would love to start planting in hydroponics instead of soil. I like having a reusable median like hydroton or clay pebbles and I wanted to move away from the dry nutrients and use liquid nutrients. But obviously I have very little knowledge into growing as it is so I've been hesitant into switching my grow styles.
 
I really appreciate that input I would've never guessed that could be a problem. I've started doing research into hydro ponics and would love to start planting in hydroponics instead of soil. I like having a reusable median like hydroton or clay pebbles and I wanted to move away from the dry nutrients and use liquid nutrients. But obviously I have very little knowledge into growing as it is so I've been hesitant into switching my grow styles.
Have you ever tried hydroponics and have any tips or tricks with it?
 
Have you ever tried hydroponics and have any tips or tricks with it?
No... too much trouble in my opinion. Soil is way more forgiving and I like my organics.
Building soil up is kinda cool.
 
Ive reused the mix 3 times now. I amend it every time after use, inoculate with a good compost tea, then let cook for a couple months while whatever run is vegging.

My soil is too hot for seedlings so I usually start with a fresh bag of Happy Frog, then when I go from gallons into 5 gallon pots, they get transferred into the “super soil” mix. It’s built more for the flowering stage.


 
You can see the process here....

 
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