Pro advice fpr the newbie please

[24Merlin]

Hi i,am completely new to indoor growing so here are my starting ?,s.What is the mininum height most strains can be harvested at.And still be fairly potent.Also anyone know about cashcrop brand grow boxes as far as quality they do come with a lifetime warranty.Will odor absorbing gel eliminate odor when curing in a 3ft by 5ft closet.Would indica be a good strain for a beginer to start with info i,ve read in elsewhere in this forum states it grows faster than some other strains and is fairly potent.One last question should distilled water be used since it has no minirals.Would be best for hydro gardening.Should hard tap water be avoided.Depending on hardnes level and PH level.For my first grow i want it to get done as fast as possable and still be worth my time and effort.Answers to these questions will greatly apreciated by myself and my roomie who luckly for me is footing the bill for the supplies.to start.24Merlin

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Height of plant does not generally nominate harvest time !

More of total lenght of flowering time depending on strain e.g indica, hybrids & sativa which may well lead to how well you like your trichome development for end high...

Grow tents as far as i'm aware don't come with a warrenty ?


Odour asborbing gels etc do help eliminate odours when drying... i use em all the time now for drying & even when growing with a carbon filter


Indica dominate strains are pretty good if you are looking for a shorter flowering time which are normally ready to harvest between the 7th to 9th week on average & bit more cost effective when compared to longer flowering strains such as sativa which may take 12 to 14 weeks before harvesting...



Unfortunaly i can not answer hydroponic questions so well as i'm a soil grower at present

 

[GreatLife4All]

Also anyone know about cashcrop brand grow boxes as far as quality they do come with a lifetime warranty.

That is one small grow box! I had to go and look to see what this grow system looked like. It looks like you are trading stealth for grow space. And with this type of grow system - you should definitely look into using autos - as they will work much better. If you are new to growing - you may not know what an auto is

Will odor absorbing gel eliminate odor when curing in a 3ft by 5ft closet.Would indica be a good strain for a beginer to start with info i,ve read in elsewhere in this forum states it grows faster than some other strains and is fairly potent.

As I stated above, I would look into using an auto - rather than a pure sativa or indica.

One last question should distilled water be used since it has no minirals.Would be best for hydro gardening.Should hard tap water be avoided.

For this type of system, Reverse Osmosis systems will be best. You can purchase R/O water at many local places - even the grocery store and it is fairly cheap. Tap water typically has a lot of chorine and other additives which are not best for the plants. You can get rid of the chlorine by simply allowing the water to set for a day before use.

Hard water should be avoided, IMO, especially for a first time grower. In order to get things right, you really need to understand what is in the "hard" water. Depending on where you are at - there could be small quantities of iron, calcium, sodium, cadmium, and other heavy metals in the water. This can lead to strange problems that are hard to diagnose - best to avoid.

pH is also harder to control when you are using hard water - you get much larger daily fluctuations.

One other point... In a hydro system, you can only feed them a certain amount at any one time. They measure this using Electrical Conductivity (EC) or Parts Per Million (PPM). Why does this matter? Let's say that you are allowed to feed your plants 1000 ppm before they will burn up from too many nutrients. Typical city water will contain somewhere between 200 and 300 ppm, hard water can be as high as 700 ppm, and R/O water is between 0 and 100 - depending on the source.

So if you are only allowed 1000 ppm - and the water is using 700 - then you will only have the ability to add 300 ppm of nutrients.

Given this same example, R/O water is at 100. So when we subtract 100 from 1000 we are left with 900. So you can use 900 ppm of nutrients. This means that you are giving the plant a lot more of what it needs when you use R/O water.

For my first grow i want it to get done as fast as possable and still be worth my time and effort.Answers to these questions will greatly apreciated by myself and my roomie who luckly for me is footing the bill for the supplies.to start.24Merlin

An auto really will fill the bill for you quite well - and Lowryder would be a very popular strain for this type of use. They can be done in as little as 60 days (from seed) in a system like what you are wanting to use. Nothing else I have seen is that fast and will work as well in that system.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Indica dominate strains are pretty good if you are looking for a shorter flowering time which are normally ready to harvest between the 7th to 9th week on average & bit more cost effective when compared to longer flowering strains such as sativa which may take 12 to 14 weeks before harvesting...

Just a point of clarification since the OP is new to growing. What FD is referring to is known as the flowering stage - so it will take a normal indica about 8 weeks to complete the flowering stage. However, there are also seedling and vegetative stages that must be honored - especially when starting from seed. A typical seedling phase will take two weeks, followed by approximately a 3 week vegetative cycle.

So a typical cycle from seed to harvest would be 2 weeks (Seedling) + 3 weeks (Vegetative growth) + 8 weeks (flowering) - for a total of 13 weeks from seed to harvest.

The time frames stated will vary depending on the type of plant that you are growing - but it should give you an idea of what you are looking at if you start with "normal" indica seeds. A pure sativa will typically have a shorter vegetative period (maybe none for some strains) and a longer flowering period (10 to 16 weeks).

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Ye i forgot to mention veg time...


All depends on grow style tho !

I prefer perpetual system vegging plants whilst others are in flower... requires two different tents/rooms tho... which equals a harvest every 2 months/8 weeks with an indica dominate strain

 

[GreatLife4All]

I do the same - it is an awesome way to grow.

Get's a little hard to keep things in sync sometimes...

Ye i forgot to mention veg time...


All depends on grow style tho !

I prefer perpetual system vegging plants whilst others are in flower... requires two different tents/rooms tho... which equals a harvest every 2 months/8 weeks with an indica dominate strain

 

[WizHigh]

More good info.

 

[24Merlin]

Hey everybody thank you very much all the info it probably will save a lot of hassle for.Especially about auto flowering plants and the r/o water.Just to clarify I,ll useing a grow box not a tent with built in carbon filter fans built with specail reflective walls light and odor proof.Odor is of a great concern I cant have my next door neighbors smelling it.I plan to use a 6 plant 36 inch tall hydroponic growbox.Growing the plants all the way to roof and then some.Will this yield engough for two people for 8 to 12 weeks.while waiting for the next grow to complete.In the case of a power failure as l as the plants have flowerd.Could they be harvested and at a short height.And still be usable.Again I ask do,es anyone kniow about cashcrop brand grow boxes these come with lifetime email and telephone support.They been around for a few years as far as I can tell.That,s all for now.Answers to these questions will be greatly apreciated.I Want Thank Everyone who answerd my previous post Hopefully after a few grow,s I,ll be able answer questions from other newbies when they start.As My grandad would say teach others to prepetuate and you,ll feel great.Thank you all so very much for your time and kindness.24Merlin