Advice for a newbie - Indoor closet grow

[berniceblack]

Hello everybody,
Aussie here that's wanted to grow for about 5 years but due to various reasons has not had the opportunity to untill now. Ive been spending alot of time researching but as you guys can probably understand there is some gaps in my knowledge. I generally would just love the input/advice of people with more experience then me on some things im not to sure on.
(After advice has been given I plan on starting a grow journal so you guys can follow my growing experience if you wish to)



Well well well, where to start guys
probably best by stating my budget is limited. I am prepared to spend the money required to produce a decent plants with decent yeilds but do not want top of the line products that cost a arm and leg. (yes i am fully aware being a newbie im probably going to get no/small yeilds for my first grow but i am hopeful!)

I plan on converting an old wardrobe into a stealth grow. It measures 100cmx50cmx160cm giving me 1/2 a square meter of floor space and a reasonable amount of height for some small autos to grow. How many plants do you think I can grow in this? for the sake of the rest of the post im presuming 2 .

Lighting: I plan on using LEDs for my first grow as they seem foolproof and result in good yields. I've been looking at Mars Hydro 600w OR Viparspectra 450w can anyone recommend which one they think would be better. Im leaning to the Mars Hydro 600w due to the cheaper price and higher watts.

Substrate: I plan on using a soil mix of 50% coir-peat 50% perlite OR 50% cheap potting mix 50%perlite. Again good/bad recommendations?

Pots: Been looking those smart pots the breathable fabric type. Is there any better pots i know this is quite subjective but yeah. Also is 3 gal sufficient for a small auto?

Water: My pH and ppm meter is due to arrive over the next couple days. The first thing I plan on doing is checking my tap water water quality. If it reads under 80ppm I would probably use that to water my plants. What ppm would you guys consider safe to use on the plants? Anyway I expect my water quality to be trash as im living in an older house. I will most likely be buying demineralized water but at $4 for 5L this could get costy? Anyone know a cheaper method?

Ventilation: Im lacking some knowledge in this department. Would a simple desk fan be enough to circulate the air accompanied by some ona gel. For example i have a small 6" desk fan could I simply cut a round 6" hole in the bottom of the wardrobe and attach the fan directly onto this hole so its always pushing fresh air into the tent. Of course a exhaust hole would be cut in the top of the wardrobe, could i simply cut the exhaust hole and tape a sheet of activated carbon over the hole as a cheapy air filter. Then just sit a tub of ona gel on top of the whole wardrobe. Would this be enough for both the plants and the smell? Would this work well or would it just be better to go down the inline fan, ducting and homemade carbon scrubber road? It would be real nice if there was no smell of cannabis before opening up the wardrobe.

Nutes: Again lacking some knowledge in this department but I believe you want high Nitrogen and phosphorus during veg and more phosphorus and potassium during bloom. Can someone point me in the direction of some nutes i can simply add into my water when feeding my plants. Could someone recommend me some nutes? ive seen a crazy variance in nute prices, remember im looking for the right mix between decent quality and cheap price. Also i believe its not as simple and just a veg and bloom nute a mag/cal nute is needed aswell? when is this applied and whats its purpose ?

Strain and LST: taking into account ill be using LEDs that require plants to be at least 60cm(24") away from the top of the plants and the height of the pots themselfs being 30cm(12"). 160-90 leaves me with plants that can only grow about 70cm tall for this reason I plan on growing the strain Habiba auto-fem as its grows up to 70cm. If i preform LST obviously the plant wont grow as tall? Im sorry if this is a stupid question just want to confirm. How much space does LST save? for example would it be safe to buy a strain that grows upto 90cm tall if i am preforming LST on it as i know it wont grow as tall?

Ive probably missed something if not whole topics so please inform me if i have. Thanks to anyone in advance thats willing to spend some of there time helping me out and answering questions, it really is appreciated guys.

Happy growing and smoking

 

[LiveAndLetGro]

Welcome bernice! Sounds like you are on the right track. Remember when shopping for LED's that when they say a light is 600 watts is usually is really only pulling about half that from the wall so it is really like 270 watts if it says its a "600 watt" and so on. Mars Hydro is a site sponsor so you can find a discount code for their website so be sure to do that. I use viparspectra 600 watt lights and like them a lot but I hear good things about mars hydro.

You should have no trouble growing 2 little autos in that space. I grew one in about half that. LED's run a little cooler than hps lights so even though 24" is recommended, mine have gotten as close as 10-12 inches without any trouble. LST definitely helps keep them smaller and more compact, especially with fast growing autos.

I am a hydro/DWC grower and the tap water I use is about the same ppm as yours. I just ph it down (it comes out just over 7 ph) throw in my nutes and use it. I have never had any trouble, I don't think you would either. As far as nutes go I use the Flora series from General Hydroponics. I always keep feedings below recommended and still produce really great ladies. I don't have any experience with anything other than hydro/DWC as far as growing medium goes so I can't comment on the soil mix.

Welcome to 420 and Happy Growing!

 

[daTenshi]

Hey and welcome to

I'll try to answer as many of your questions as I can.

Your plan so far sounds great, in that space really I wouldn't put more then two plants personally, because they do require space around the pot too (specially if you will lst), and having leaves touching the sides can cause some issues with low ventilation. Think your fan will be enough with a led panel, if you get autoflowers don't worry about light leaks, you can keep the doors opened to get more fresh air to the ladies. Also would either paint the walls with white paint or get some reflective material (not aluminum foil) for maximum light efficiency. As seedlings yes, 60 cm away from the led is great, but as they get bigger and start to flower they can grow up into the light with now issues, I have had girls touching the light and didn't get any ill effects from it, but in flower around 30 cm is a good reference point you should aim for.
Fabric pots are awesome, 3 gallons is good for auto's, you can even go bigger if you want, I am happy with the 3 gallon one to be honest.
I use trash tap water, has been great, just let it sit out for a day before watering and make sure you let the girls dry out and not overwater. You can use the lift method (lift the pot and when it's light and the top soil is dry).
As for nutrients, I went the easy way, got myself Advanced Nutrients Sensi bloom, they don't require ph adjustments, so that made my life a bit better. I don't use vegetative nutrients on my autoflowers because the soil I get is already pre fertilized, and by the time in their life cycle it's time to be fed they're already in flowering and I saved some money there. For medium recommendations, I have used a substrate with soil + coco + peat, was decent, but last time I needed soil they were out of that brand so I went with a more expensive one that was just soil and I feel like it was better for nutrients. Also in that substrate I had loads of salts build up, and now I didn't notice that happening so much. Important thing when choosing the substrate/soil, check it's ph, it will say on the bag, went for 6-6.5, and of course to have perlite.
LST is a great method of keeping the plants short, I never actually "trust" what the breeder says the height will end up being, because that can vary and will be confusing. You can either start early and tie them down, or just let them grow and tie down if it's necessary when you get into flower, I've done both and worked for me. When you tie the dominant top down, it creates an even canopy and the rest of the smaller tops will get more light and growing hormones distributed to them.
There are loads of strains you can choose from, only advice here I would have is choose a reputable breeder, a sponsor would be ideal, as they are 100% safe and also helps the community

 

[berniceblack]

Welcome bernice! Sounds like you are on the right track. Remember when shopping for LED's that when they say a light is 600 watts is usually is really only pulling about half that from the wall so it is really like 270 watts if it says its a "600 watt" and so on. Mars Hydro is a site sponsor so you can find a discount code for their website so be sure to do that. I use viparspectra 600 watt lights and like them a lot but I hear good things about mars hydro.

You should have no trouble growing 2 little autos in that space. I grew one in about half that. LED's run a little cooler than hps lights so even though 24" is recommended, mine have gotten as close as 10-12 inches without any trouble. LST definitely helps keep them smaller and more compact, especially with fast growing autos.

I am a hydro/DWC grower and the tap water I use is about the same ppm as yours. I just ph it down (it comes out just over 7 ph) throw in my nutes and use it. I have never had any trouble, I don't think you would either. As far as nutes go I use the Flora series from General Hydroponics. I always keep feedings below recommended and still produce really great ladies. I don't have any experience with anything other than hydro/DWC as far as growing medium goes so I can't comment on the soil mix.

Welcome to 420 and Happy Growing!

Awesome I feel so much more confident after hearing what you have to say. I was aware that LEDs run cooler then HPS bulbs but I thought the LED burns came from something to do with the led wavelength or something and not the actual heat factor? As you can tell I really have no idea what im talking about so you are probably right

 

[berniceblack]

Hey and welcome to

I'll try to answer as many of your questions as I can.

Your plan so far sounds great, in that space really I wouldn't put more then two plants personally, because they do require space around the pot too (specially if you will lst), and having leaves touching the sides can cause some issues with low ventilation. Think your fan will be enough with a led panel, if you get autoflowers don't worry about light leaks, you can keep the doors opened to get more fresh air to the ladies. Also would either paint the walls with white paint or get some reflective material (not aluminum foil) for maximum light efficiency. As seedlings yes, 60 cm away from the led is great, but as they get bigger and start to flower they can grow up into the light with now issues, I have had girls touching the light and didn't get any ill effects from it, but in flower around 30 cm is a good reference point you should aim for.
Fabric pots are awesome, 3 gallons is good for auto's, you can even go bigger if you want, I am happy with the 3 gallon one to be honest.
I use trash tap water, has been great, just let it sit out for a day before watering and make sure you let the girls dry out and not overwater. You can use the lift method (lift the pot and when it's light and the top soil is dry).
As for nutrients, I went the easy way, got myself Advanced Nutrients Sensi bloom, they don't require ph adjustments, so that made my life a bit better. I don't use vegetative nutrients on my autoflowers because the soil I get is already pre fertilized, and by the time in their life cycle it's time to be fed they're already in flowering and I saved some money there. For medium recommendations, I have used a substrate with soil + coco + peat, was decent, but last time I needed soil they were out of that brand so I went with a more expensive one that was just soil and I feel like it was better for nutrients. Also in that substrate I had loads of salts build up, and now I didn't notice that happening so much. Important thing when choosing the substrate/soil, check it's ph, it will say on the bag, went for 6-6.5, and of course to have perlite.
LST is a great method of keeping the plants short, I never actually "trust" what the breeder says the height will end up being, because that can vary and will be confusing. You can either start early and tie them down, or just let them grow and tie down if it's necessary when you get into flower, I've done both and worked for me. When you tie the dominant top down, it creates an even canopy and the rest of the smaller tops will get more light and growing hormones distributed to them.
There are loads of strains you can choose from, only advice here I would have is choose a reputable breeder, a sponsor would be ideal, as they are 100% safe and also helps the community

Thanks for the response! As for not using aluminum foil, why is this exactly as it was my original plan? Although it wouldn't take much for me to paint the inside of the wardrobe white. Also thanks for the tips with letting the plant get closer during flowering. ill keep out for an eye on the pH when purchasing soil.

As for seedbanks this is a major hurdle for me as I would like to avoid international shipping at all costs (I know its fine over 90% of the time but knowing my luck they'd get held up in customs then id get a knock on the door from the boys in blue). For this reason I think im going to ship with AMS as they are supposedly domestic. Can anyone confirm this because there is multiple website/forum posts that say AMS ships domestically within australia although on the AMS website it states that all of the orders are shipped from Amsterdam. Do you (or anyone else for that matter) know the situation here? Is it just a legality thing. I dont think AMS is a site sponsor but I have heard good things about them.

 

[daTenshi]

Thanks for the response! As for not using aluminum foil, why is this exactly as it was my original plan? Although it wouldn't take much for me to paint the inside of the wardrobe white. Also thanks for the tips with letting the plant get closer during flowering. ill keep out for an eye on the pH when purchasing soil.

The foil might create hot spots and burn the plant. Can also get dirty and would be a bigger hassle to clean, plenty of spaces for bugs to hide in etc. Just a white paint, let it dry, let it air out for a few days until the chemical smell is gone, and should work better. Another way to go is to look for mylar, or a white reflective film. Whichever works for you, to me paint seems easy enough to do.
Think on most sites you can choose stealth shipping, haven't read any negative complaints. Am not familiar with AMS so can't help you with that one. Always good to read the FAQ's and conditions wherever you choose to buy from, can also try to email them if you are unsure of some things.
And lastly don't overthink things, may be overwhelming to do everything at once. Important thing is to start and focus on keeping the plants alive and happy, you can always add and better things as the grow advances. Also keep reading, read some grow journals, some guides, use the search tool and look for the strains you want to get. I am sure other people here tried them and shared the grow with us. And don't forget to let us know when you get started, maybe you can make a grow journal so we can come along with you on the ride!