Newbie - Would like mentoring please!

[CannaKitty]

Hey Rowan! Unfortunately we have to get your post count up to 50 before I can send you a private message...it's just part of the rules. I tried ..

I will write a more detailed post addressing your last post's questions when I have a bit more time. If you can... try to post in community threads. If you find a member's journal interesting all you have to say is 'Hi, I would like to sub in' or if easier simply 'subbed' which means you will get notifications when that journal is updated and that simple post will count towards your post count. I have two journals going right now. You can start there. Don't be afraid to just chime in and simply saying a couple words is fine.

Also... there is a Mars Hydro thread here with Sara their rep at the helm. You could post there and ask her about their leds. Note that some things are lost in translation but she tries her best and will always help you find the right light for your budget and size requirements. They do have some deals on lamp/tent combos you may want to check out.

I want to address your last post thoroughly and I don't have time to do that this second but I will in the next few hours.

I'll be back in here shortly!
XxKitty

 

[Weaselcracker]

Calmag+ recipe - thank you! That’s perfect. I know someone who has a couple of pampered chickens so I’m comfortable enough with using their shells. I wonder if old snail shells would work the same, they can be easily collected over time. It’ll be interesting to learn about differing feeding needs between strains as I go with this. It seems like it might be fun to do 2+ strains at once to learn how different they can all be.

* Any sort of high calcium shell- crustaceans, shellfish, etc. Also dolomite lime (chalk) provides the same minerals and I would think may suit your needs better. It's what they make the bottled Calmag supplement from.

Lighting - I really need to get something that covers a 120cm square / 16 sq ft tent fully and is powerful enough for flowering if I can. I know the dimmable 600W HPS would do that. I’ve looked into the LEDs now and it’s a bit confusing! There are unbranded ones that are relatively cheap, but the Mars Hydro ones look the same but are more expensive.

- I’m assuming I should stay away from the unbranded ones?

* Yes.

- I have seen posts with people complaining about ‘blurple’ not being as good as whole spectrum, would supplementing with the 400W HPS sometimes be helpful if I used LEDs?

*Probably, if you're short on lighting. I haven't done this but many have.

- Would 2 x 600W LED panels do a 120cm square tent? That’s about 16 sq ft and so would be 37.5W per sq foot. That seems to be cheaper than 1 x 1200W. I can only do one grow now and then not again for maybe quite a long time. I need enough medicine to last about a year just in case I can’t grow again before then. I’m thinking 4 plants would be enough but less wouldn’t last as long?

*Two smaller lights can provide better coverage and be more practical than one big one.
Re the plant number. With photo (non-auto) plants it's your choice how big you want them depending how long you veg for. 4 square feet per plant (four plants total in your space) is a good size. Most of mine are around that size. I SCROG many of those ones. For that size you probably want pots around ten gallons, depending how you grow them.
It's up to you whether you want to grow a higher number of small ones or fewer big ones. Lots of fairly obvious pros and cons to either.

- Could I start the grow (4 plants, 120cm sq tent) on the 400W HPS and then switch it up later?

*Yes. You can also use cfls or almost any regular fluorescent tube light for the early days, and save power.

Blackout - I’m assuming that if they’re in a quality tent that’s zipped up that it should provide full blackout so it’s OK if there’s a bit of light that gets around the blackout blind on the window? Or would I still need to tape it down?

* As long as there isn't even the faintest glimmer of light in your tent at lights-out then its fine. Also cover over any small electric indicator lights.
This doesn't apply to autos which don't care about light schedules so much.

Filtering - So with yours Weaselcracker you actually duct the exhaust out of the whole room the tent is in or just out of the tent / grow space? I was trying to work out if you need to vent outside the actual room itself as this will make things more difficult. Can carbon filters be 100% effective at removing smells? I’m going to have to filter out smell as much as possible and use ozone to kill anything outside the tent sometimes.

* Well- I built the grow rooms for the purpose- they're not contained in a larger room so yes they vent directly outside. But yes you could recirculate the filtered air from the tent inside a larger room, and yes filters do a good job of removing 100% of odours. The key is to have a sealed system so that all grow air exits through the filter.
Ozone works if you're set up for it properly. It's toxic to us so you don't want to breathe it. I found carbon filters easier to work with in my case.

-Heating & Cooling - I don’t have AC and temp is variable. I let it drop to 15 C / 59 F overnight (depends on the time of year whether it actually drops that much) and I have it between 18 C / 65 F and 22 C / 72 F during the day. Sometimes but not often it will get up to 35 C / 95 F inside. So I am guessing I will need intake and outlet fans or at least an outlet fan with passive intake. I like the idea of your thermostat automatically switching on the fan Weaselcracker I guess that would work with any fan system, just need to get hold of the right kind of thermostat? Do you have it hanging inside the tent so the plug for the fan is inside the tent connecting to the thermostat? Is that not a risk with humidity?

*No risk with humidity. Yes the thermostat (called an inline thermostat) is a simple heat activated switch/outlet and and will power anything you plug into it, shuts on and off based on the temps.
Your low temps are totally fine- about the low end of the temp range you'd want. You won't need to add extra heat. In any case your light will be enough to do that for you, including LEDs.
Your high temps shouldn't get past the low to mid 80's. 90°F and over will definitely not make the plants happy.
You generally don't need to have an intake fan- just an out-vent one. Get one rated at about 3 times the CFM of your grow space. For example if your grow space is 200 cubic feet- get a fan rated at a minimum of about 500 CFM. I'll let you do the metric conversion if you prefer.

-So it seems like the big difference for me with set up between HPS vs LED would be electricity use of the actual lights as I (think I) still need to have all the cooling and possibly even a way of heating?

* There are differences in quality depending on what lights you get. HID lights will outperform all cheap LEDs, at the expense of a larger electrical bill. A good LED will cost more, use less power, and possibly grow denser buds- though sometimes smaller ones.
There have been many many threads and studies analyzing the differences and cost effectiveness of HID vs LED. LEDs on average save you about 30% on your electrical bill over a comparable HID. At this point there are no electrical savings from LED that are capable of balancing out the higher initial cost. Also, the cheap LEDs, including the Mars stuff, have a short lifespan and are constantly breaking- whereas I've been using the same three HID ballasts for ten years now, and have a bunch of ancient magnetic ballasts that are at least 30 years old and still work fine though I've retired them. Bulb replacement once a year.
However- initial cost isn't everything, and a better quality LED may grow higher quality and denser bud. Add to that the heat factor of HID (which in my case is a positive thing), and a few other factors. It's a matter of tailoring to your personal circumstances. Pros and cons to both. You'll find a lot of people pounding their chests saying one is 'better' (meaning- whichever one they happen to use). But in reality they both have their uses and just provide more options to us growers.

-Other questions:

- What’s SCROG and SOG? I tried searching but didn’t come up with anything. I know what SCROG looks like but didn’t find any info on why you do it, how you do it, when you do it etc.

*Scrog is simply a type of trellis system- a net or screen around the plant which gives you something to tie to- so you can arrange and spread out the plant to maximize the light/space best. I use to scrog all my plants, now I do about half.

SOG is a system of growing many small plants in small pots, giving you a faster harvest turnaround at the expense of higher numbers, more plants to manage, and possibly using more seeds.

You may need a different search engine because there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of examples of these methods online.

- Would doing LST make the lighting go further? I’m not sure my 5 gallon tubs would be big enough for that

* Yes probably. LST just means any sort of simple plant training- tying back limbs and arranging things, usually to make a flatter plant canopy.


I'd encourage you to search around the forum a bit. Also scroll through this link- there are lots of articles on most basic growing questions here- How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know

Happy to answer any questions, but my writing isn't necessarily any better or easier to understand than anyone else's, and you'll probably find better answers on the forum from people who may have put more time into writing out a good article on whatever the subject at hand is.

 

[CannaKitty]

Looks like weasel took the brunt of the work on that one! Thanks so much! Weah weah! (That's the sound a weasel makes... don't ask me how I know). I also just searched through allll the iPhone emojis and there is NO weasel/ferret/mongoose looking animal to be found. Wtf apple??? The closest there is is this squirrel... . they have a freaking BAT but NO WEASEL! I'm writing apple immediately.

I think he addressed everything you needed! I see you have become more adjusted to navigating the forums! Awesome! I know it's much easier to have a list of questions and get one set of straight answers... but as you can tell there are many many answers and exploring on your own helps you reach personal conclusions instead on relying on what my growpinions are... or anyone else's.

The only thing I will reiterate is that no matter what kind of light you end up with, indoor temps should never be above 32 at the VERY highest. If you are looking to grow during the months where it is above that temperature INSIDE your house... you will have issues. Many growers invest in minisplits for this very reason. I mentioned before they are the ductless ac/heating units you find in use in most European homes.

I agree with weasel that their are pros and cons when deciding on every aspect of your grow and what it comes down to what works best for you in the moment.

eBay is also a great source for used Grow equipment. I see you checked out my grow so you can see just how much I have relied on second hand buys to get the kind of Grow equipment I normally could not afford.

Hope you are doing well... please let me know if we missed any questions or if you have further ones.

XxKitty

 

[Lady Antheia]

I also just searched through allll the iPhone emojis and there is NO weasel/ferret/mongoose looking animal to be found. Wtf apple??? The closest there is is this squirrel... . they have a freaking BAT but NO WEASEL! I'm writing apple immediately.

 

[Rowan]

Got knocked out of action for a bit. It seems me + RSO = not a good combination. Thought I'd found a way of not having to grow but it seems like I may still have to.

Thank you for your long responses Weasel & Kitty, I will read and digest soon. I appreciate all your efforts to help educate me without me having to read through lots of posts and end up sicker from it.

Hope you've had a good week

Time to

 

[Lady Antheia]

Sorry to hear the RSO isn't a good match for you. Everybody is different, and I feel confident you will find something that is a good fit. Unfortunately, that just takes time and patience. (Listen to me; I sound like I've been around forever and am so wise. ) I guess I'm also reminding myself to give it time since I am in the same boat.

If it helps you, know that my Dr who suggested I try MMJ even said it would take some time to find the strain and/or strains that will help the most. So, I'm here learning all I can to grow. Specific strains just aren't something I can find without doing it myself.

 

[Parrot99]

interesting read and looks like you got some pros in here giving you lots of help Rowan which is good to see! have you started up yet mate?