The Learners First Grow - 1000W HPS/MH - Hydroponics - Short Rider Auto Fem

[TheLearner]

Hey,

Okay first I'll start with a little about me (since I'm new and no one knows me) I'm from the United Kingdom but live in Southern California now and In my very early 20s. That's enough now let's move on

I have never grown before but have always had an interest in growing since I started smoking in the UK about 2 years ago. When starting out in something I like to give myself a head start and research as much information as I can about what I'm doing and have done the same with growing. I wanted to give myself a good setup, including all the nutrients, growing medium, seeds, etc into my budget with my total Budget being around $1050.

I have everything apart from the seeds at the moment and currently getting everything set up in the tent. So we will start with the equipment that I'm using and then some pictures of my tent, and what I have done so far.

• 4 x 4 x 6.5 Grow Tent
• 1000W Air Cooled Hood 8" Ports
• 1000W HPS and MH Bulb
• 1000W Analogue Ballast (I know digital is better but this was my only option to fit in the budget at 1000W)
• 6" Carbon Filter
• 6" 335PPM Fan
• 8" Ducting
• 2 x 6" to 8" Ducting Converts
• Digit Thermometer & Hygrometer
• Rope Ratchet
• Gorilla Tape

I included some miscellaneous items there as I realised I needed some of these items that I didn't know about until I had bought some things already (Such as forgetting Ducting, Rope Ratchet, Gorilla Tape, ect), little things that are overlooked.

At the moment I have partially set up everything. I have the tent set up with the light carbon filter and fan all in place, but I have yet to connect all the ducting and connect it all to power. So I'll show you what has been done at the moment and update as I progress.



So that's my Set up so far, I know it's not finished on it but I am finishing all of that tomorrow, I plan to have everything set up and start putting all the equipment in a cycle of 18/6 with fan on 24/7 and monitor temperatures in the room and make sure everything is running smoothly. I want to do this because I know that 75% of the a success harvest is down to the environment if it's too warm my plants will die. This is important for me because I like to do things right and successfully. Please note that there is no AC unit in the grow room yet, I will be adding in a AC unit directly in the room as I can foresee it being way too warm in there as temperatures in the room that the tent is in are normally around 30°C.

Now the other 25% Would be down to me remembering to take care of my plants properly (Which I obviously will do) Below is a list of my growing mediums, pots, etc

• Growing Mix - 60% Coco Coir, 30% Perlite, 10% Vermiculite (Good Mix?)
• Dyna-Grow Grow, Bloom & Pro-Tekt (I read a lot about Dyna-Grow being a good product so I choose them)
• Heavy 16 Heavy Foliar (Free sample from store - what is your opinion on this product?)
• 5 Gal Smart Pots (Read a lot about them being better than standard pots)

I plan on growing Short Rider Auto Fem (This may change and I will update if it does, the seeds are in the post but if I do not receive them in a timely manner I will get some from my local Dispensary)

A little about the seeds (Maybe I'm providing too much information here I'm new so I don't know haha)
Vendor - Nirvana
White Strain - No
Feminized Seeds - Yes
Medical Use - No
Effect - Stoned (Body Buzz, Relaxing Effect)
Flowering Period - 6 - 8 weeks
Average Yield - 200 - 300 g/m² in SOG
Flavor - Pungent, Fruity
Plant Height - Short
Cultivation - Indoor as well as Outdoor
Plant Type Hybrid

I think that just about covers everything at the moment, so let me know what you think about my set up, any tips, suggestions or even to point out anything I'm doing wrong. I love to learn and get better at what I commit myself to do so anything you can share with me to help me out throughout my process of learning would be greatly appreciated.

Look forward to chatting to you all!

 

[TheLearner]

It's been a while since I last posted here but a lot has changed and have learnt a lot of things while trying to get my Environment right as I had a lot of problems getting things in proper temp/humidity levels.

I started germinating my seeds 5th in soil - then reverted to starting 3 in cubes and 3 in soil as I had a feeling it would be better that way. Anyway all of the seedlings started germinating on the 7/8th of August and have started growing. They are watered through a sprinklet+drip system at the top of the coco which I turn on and let water until run off when the top inch or so of soil is starting to dry out.

The water is taken from a 15L reservoir that I fill with distilled water. I started using nutrients a lot earlier than I probably should of, about 3 days after they started growing. At the moment when the reservoir was changed yesterday they were given half strength Roots(1ml/gal), Grow (2ml/gal), Pro-teKt(1ml/gal) and H16 Foliar(20ml/L in spray bottle). They were fed that just over 24 hours ago and the plants seem to look a little healthier. No signs of anything bad or that I can see.

And here is pictures of each of my plants at the moment.

Let me know what you think I think they all look pretty healthy except one of them, they seem to slow down growing over the past 1-1 1/2 days but have started growing again at a decent rate. One of them looks like it's dead in my opinion (Seed still stuck to one of the leaves but the first two serrated leaves appeared and seem to be changing a little everyday, so maybe it is a live (I've still been feeding at same amount as other plants)

 

[budnoob2]

Did you happen to thoroughly soak and rinse your coco?

 

[TheLearner]

Did you happen to thoroughly soak and rinse your coco?

Yeah I soaked and rinsed my Coco before anything was planted. Should I have did this? Or was that the right thing to do?

 

[budnoob2]

that was definitely the right thing to do

 

[TheLearner]

that was definitely the right thing to do

Haha I was starting to second guess myself thinking I made a mistake when you asked that question, glad my little babies got the right start. Had a look at your High Brix Kit journal, looks very cool I was reading a lot about High Brix on Doc Bud's journals yesterday. I'm thinking about using that method next time around or the time after that.

 

[budnoob2]

Yeah, very excited about the High Brix, my herbs and veggies love it

 

[TheLearner]

So I have a question about lighting schedule. The seeds are from Nirvana Short Ryder Fem Autos. I have been running my lights 24 hours on, so far. I've heard that it's best to run Auto's with 24 hour light? Or is it better to do something like 20/4 18/6 to give the plants time to rest and use their stored resources to grow?

What lighting schedule would you recommend for this strain?

 

[budnoob2]

The beauty of autos is that you don't need to worry so much about lighting schedule - I know of people that grow them in their LR or bedroom. I don't grow autos but for photos I use 18/6 or GLR for veg and 12/12 for flower.

 

[TheLearner]

The beauty of autos is that you don't need to worry so much about lighting schedule - I know of people that grow them in their LR or bedroom. I don't grow autos but for photos I use 18/6 or GLR for veg and 12/12 for flower.

Yeah I know that the Auto's will flower no matter the light schedule and will go from seed to harvest at 24 hour light if that's what they are given, but more generally would say adding maybe four hours of darkness have a slight benefit or do you think it would have negative effect?

 

[budnoob2]

I'm a firm believer in giving them a little rest, but that's just me. If it were me and I had 2 autos to play with and the space I'd consider running a little test by giving one 24 and the other 18/6 or something like that.

 

[TheLearner]

I'm a firm believer in giving them a little rest, but that's just me. If it were me and I had 2 autos to play with and the space I'd consider running a little test by giving one 24 and the other 18/6 or something like that.

I think this is something I will do in the future on this run I will just stick with the 24 hour lights and see how that goes for me, when I get more space to run a test like that to see what the results are. I think it would be really interesting to see what different lighting schedules effects auto's for certain strains and what the difference is in yields from the same plant under a different lightening schedule and if it can be reproduced consistently at that schedule.

 

[TheLearner]

Not much to update with other than a little picture I took of the largest of the Auto's, they are all 7 days from germinating now but this is the one that has grown more and continues to grow at the fastest pace. I have no idea if this is big for a 7 day old auto, so I'm hoping it's growing at the pace that It should be.

Also I colour edited the picture as I wanted it too look more green than whatever the HPS light does to pictures, so I hope the picture is fine ^

 

[budnoob2]

That appears normal for 7 days and depending upon your camera you might be able to customize the white balance to make pics clearer. typically in menu there is option to take a pic of white or grey background while in the lighting conditions you're using to customize the white balance. If camera does not have that option you might be able to find a lens filter with appropriate color you can hold in front of lens to correct the color.

 

[TheLearner]

Hey Budnoob,

I am using a iPhone 5 for taking those pictures so it's not a great solution but I will definitely be buying a good camera before the end of this journal as I want to take better pictures.

 

[budnoob2]

More info on the lighting as I was thinking more about it. I would avoid 24 hour lighting for any plant period. Plants transport chemicals and enzymes throughout the dark hours to repair and prepare for the following day so I'd be sticking with an 18/6 schedule if anything.

 

[TheLearner]

More info on the lighting as I was thinking more about it. I would avoid 24 hour lighting for any plant period. Plants transport chemicals and enzymes throughout the dark hours to repair and prepare for the following day so I'd be sticking with an 18/6 schedule if anything.

The plants are actually in a dark period right now, I can't remember why but yesterday I stuck the timer on so the lights go off for 4 hours in the middle of the afternoon, I will increase this to 6 hours tomorrow. I'm thinking about watering them today, as I haven't given them water for two days now, but they still seem to have been growing showing no signs of under watering (from my limited knowledge). I guess I could wait until the leaves start dropping a little and they tell me they need some, I'm not sure. I don't want to end up killing them from over zealous watering.

 

[budnoob2]

3 top things that will hurt plants - lights too close, too much water, and too many nutes. Also, don't get so concerned about over watering that you under water either. I judge by the weight of the pot when it's time to water. By picking up pots frequently you'll get a sense for it.

 

[TheLearner]

3 top things that will hurt plants - lights too close, too much water, and too many nutes. Also, don't get so concerned about over watering that you under water either. I judge by the weight of the pot when it's time to water. By picking up pots frequently you'll get a sense for it.

I've heard a about the picking up the pot method a lot, I'll check to see what the medium is like when I go in today and lift the pots and then water and re-lift to get an idea of weight. I have been giving my plants nutes from around day 4 (I realised this was way too soon, albeit a little late). The plants haven't showed any negative signs to the nutes yet - which I assume means they have taken to them fairly well?

They were given 1/2 strength doses of all products according to this chart https://www.dyna-gro.com/Website pdf Files/Dyna Gro Feeding Chart.pdf (Drain to waste)

Half dose of everything in week 1 except K-L-N which is not needed since I started from seed and not clone, substitute that product with H16 Roots (As they were given this at half strength as well. The only other thing they have been given was one spray of H16 Foliar (which I've been told won't cause any problems at all)

Although the description of Short Ryder said they were perfect was beginner growers as they tend to be very hardy plants and very forgiving, so as far as I can see all feeding hasn't caused problems - leaves are fine, no spots, holes, dis-colouring, ect.

EDIT:

Just checked on the plants, I noticed some of the leaves had started to point down a little, and they have been watered again. I checked the weights of the pots before and after the watering so I now have a general idea of when they should be watered.

They all grown amazingly overnight, I seen a huge difference in the first set of leaves getting really big and they have all got there second set of leaves. I also noticed some tiny little leaves in larger groups starting to grow on some of the plants.

It's amazing how fast these tiny plants grow, it amazes me every time I look at them.

 

[budnoob2]

All plants will have different tolerances and nutritional needs will vary so taking notes helps a lot. I tend to follow a schedule of feed, water, water, water, feed because I live by the less is more philosophy and it's way easier to add when needed. I typically start with 1/4 strength nutes from week 1 through week 2 1/2 or so, then bump up to 50% for the next week and move up to 75% until the end of veg. Then I bump up to 100% for weeks 1-4 in flower with a boost at beginning of week 4 to 150% and back off to 100% for week 6, taper off to 50% at end of week 6 and then I give no more base nutes. Then I only add a Mg-sulphur supplement as necessary and carbs in the form of unsulfured molasses. Finally I flush a couple weeks before harvest by watering until I have somwhere between 1 gallon and up to the size of the container worth of runoff.