1ST GROW! 400w Mh/HPS Tent Grow (Nirvana Blackberry & White Castle)

It's finally come down to the evening that I am able to site here and smoke a nice doob and start my journal. I honestly thought this day would never come and even though my girls have been in the ground a week today I just needed it to feel right.

First and foremost. Kudos to those that have been doing this for +years and all the helpful advice and guidance you have provided to get me here... My head has almost exploded a few times trying to figure out all this what seems like Sanscrit. Lumens, PPM, FIM, SoG/SCRoG. Even though this is my first time and i know not to get to technical/advanced I still find all of this highly =) interesting.

After all the research and debating on what to buy and trying to find the best deals I'm proud to introduce my little setup

Secret Jardin DR100 (3'X3'X6')
Lumatek 400w digital ballast (Mh/HPS)
Viagrow 6" Cooltube
HTG Supply 4" 175cfm inline fan w/ Carbon scrubber
(2nd fan for light cooling will be here sometime end of week)
Simple Tray and Plug Propagation setup w/ 2' t5 flouro
FFLW & FFOF w/ Nutrient Line (solubles will be ordered closer to flowering)
A few clip on fans for canopy strength (purchased at Lowes)



I do have some general concerns about my seedlings as I kind of kept the light to far away from them forgetting i could keep it like 2" from the top. So they are kind of reaching a little bit. Nothing that cant be fixed i think. Thinking about putting them under Mh in about a week.

Decided i'd just see what happens and moved my plants into the tent this evening at the beginning of their grow cycle. I have my tube hanging about 3' from my plants.

Let me know what you guys think.

Toke on

sick dude! lemme try it when it's done k?

Transplanted my girls last night into 3gal pots and added a humidifier to the tent to keep my humidity levels in check... was running in the 40% range before i picked it up and now its hovering at a steady 60-65% when the tent is closed. New pictures to come as soon as its lights on

Just an update on where im at.... How are they looking? Opinions welcome )

Guess they are looking healthy. No one has really commented on how they look so I guess I'll go with my gut. Here they are at day 12 into veg. Had to tie one up that I'm worried about that might be growing to fast for its own britches. I'm lowering my light an inch to an inch and a half every light cycle and are watering them every 2 days or so when I feel the soil dry about 2 knuckles into the soil. I think i will start feeding them very light amounts of FF Grow Big in a few more waterings. Going to start on a small dose per gallon was thinking 1/2 what is recommended then slowly move it up.

Here's the girls at day 12 right before lights out. (in fact they just turned off as i typed this sentence.... Weird.)



Cheers

Hey dude, very nice setup as well! Thanks for stopping in over at mine, I sub'd this as well and Im lookin forward to following eachother's and comparing.

I actually grew two plants in soil before this try at the hydro, and they turned out really good so i'm hoping that carries over.

I don't think your stretch will be a problem, looks like you're tying up the ones that need it. You could get them all propped up securely like the first one, and set an oscillating fan on them, which would let you bring the light closer. And I mean when the cooltube fan comes you can go as close as 10" so I've been told.

Good luck m8!

Thanks bro. Looking forward to the days to come. It's amazing the difference I see at the beginning of each light cycle right now. I have to go out of town tonight though so i'm gonna be worried something bad is gonna happen, but i fed them before lights out and should be back early tomorrow.

in regards to the tube i have a t5 attached to it hanging under it right about the plants so they dont stretch anymore than they already have. I lower the cooltube about 1-2" per light cycle, started at 3' away. its about 2' 5" right now.

Gonna buy an oscillating fan on the way back home (there is a hydro shop on the way home i pass by) and i need to pick up something to catch my run off.... gets messy when i feed them lol.

get yur light as close as u can get it....put yur hand at the top of tha plants to check heat n go from there,you could probly drop yur light down 5 more inches...yur plants r not in vegetative state and r currently in seedling stage,DO NOT give them food at half strength or they will probly burn and die!! yur grow room temps need to b at 72f to 76f for best growth,plants stop growing at 60f and 90f & i keep mine at 74 or 75f,yur growin in soil so u need to have a ph range of 6.5 to 7.0,,6.8 being best!! .......OH N BY THA WAY,if u want to get the most bud outta yur plants as u possibly can go on utube and get info on topping,fimming and supercropping yur plants..............."sure wish someone would of told me that when i 1st started growin!!!!!!!!!!" yur seedlings arent far away from entering veg state so look it up very soon!! good luck n keep us posted W/ pics!

Thanks for the advice. I guess I was misguided when a few people told me veg starts as soon as they get their first set of true leaves... If it's not at that point then what should I look for to see that they have entered their vegetative state? As for the light issue in order to prevent burning the plants with to much heat I just setup my t5 above the plants (2" from the tallest seedling) with the MH still going over head. I gave them one dose of grow big and they seemed to like that but that was when I put them from starter plug into a party cup of fox farms light warrior. When they got to big for my seed tray/dome I had to move them to the tent.

Lol seems you edited right as I was posting. I'm gonna try topping this round and see how they like it.

You would get much better airflow if you turned the light 45 degrees. That would allow your ducting to bend easier.

Discordantmindfck said:

Thanks for the advice. I guess I was misguided when a few people told me veg starts as soon as they get their first set of true leaves... If it's not at that point then what should I look for to see that they have entered their vegetative state? As for the light issue in order to prevent burning the plants with to much heat I just setup my t5 above the plants (2" from the tallest seedling) with the MH still going over head. I gave them one dose of grow big and they seemed to like that but that was when I put them from starter plug into a party cup of fox farms light warrior. When they got to big for my seed tray/dome I had to move them to the tent.

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U WERE IN FACT MISGUIDED!!!! the seedling growth stage lasts for about 2 to 3 weeks after seeds have germinated. once a strong root system is established and foilage growth increases rapidly,seedlings enter the vegatative growth stage WHICH IS THE 2ND OF THE 4TH STAGE. ,germination,seedling,vegatative and flower. as far as light,what u want is a light that will put out as many lumens as u can get,metal halide and high pressure sodium lights are known as "hid lamps" which stands for high intensity discharge.....compact flourescent lights r fine for growing seedlings and rooting clones and if it were me id just shut off yur t5 n use the metal halide because it will put out more lumens than yur t5 ever thought of doin,even tho hid puts out heat n cfl's dont but with a inline fan n ducting that can b resolved,id go get a bag of foxfarm ocean forest and mix it w/ the light warrior u have n r using now.....its all organic! soo all u gotta do is add water "rain water prefered" n u dont gotta feed it cause thier plenty of nutrients n tha soil already........................if i were u id go on amazon.com n order marijuana horticulture the indoor/outdoor medical growers bible by author jeorge cervantes its his 5th edition book "a world renowned pro grower"....it will show u everything from a to z and even show u how to make hash using yur leaves after u harvest.............hope this helps,good luck n keep us posted

greenhydro420 said:

U WERE IN FACT MISGUIDED!!!! the seedling growth stage lasts for about 2 to 3 weeks after seeds have germinated. once a strong root system is established and foilage growth increases rapidly,seedlings enter the vegatative growth stage WHICH IS THE 2ND OF THE 4TH STAGE. ,germination,seedling,vegatative and flower. as far as light,what u want is a light that will put out as many lumens as u can get,metal halide and high pressure sodium lights are known as "hid lamps" which stands for high intensity discharge.....compact flourescent lights r fine for growing seedlings and rooting clones and if it were me id just shut off yur t5 n use the metal halide because it will put out more lumens than yur t5 ever thought of doin,even tho hid puts out heat n cfl's dont but with a inline fan n ducting that can b resolved,id go get a bag of foxfarm ocean forest and mix it w/ the light warrior u have n r using now.....its all organic! soo all u gotta do is add water "rain water prefered" n u dont gotta feed it cause thier plenty of nutrients n tha soil already........................if i were u id go on amazon.com n order marijuana horticulture the indoor/outdoor medical growers bible by author jeorge cervantes its his 5th edition book "a world renowned pro grower"....it will show u everything from a to z and even show u how to make hash using yur leaves after u harvest.............hope this helps,good luck n keep us posted

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You know whats funny... I was cleaning out the house I grew up in this weekend cause it finally sold and some of my stuff from college was there and i actually forgot i have Jorge Cervantes' book but it's only the 3rd edition.

When i transplanted i actually put them into a 25/75 mix of Light warrior and Ocean forest. The ocean forest being the higher soil value. I came back today and grabbed my LED and went to take a look and they are already about to put out their 3rd set of true leaves and when i left only the 2nd set was starting. it actually looks to be putting out the beginnings of some fans too but im not sure... i moved the light down a good bit before i left and they dont seem to be getting taller just wider which is a good thing i guess

Pictures to come when its lights on (30 mins)...

here are some updated pictures of my girls. Last night i started spraying the top soil with water that has a very small mixture (i mean less than a 1/4 or the recommended dose for the size im using) of big bloom and grow big. Woke up this morning and they seemed to have reacted well to it. Some people say that its to early to start feeding them but im only giving them very small amounts (they seem to love it) and don't plan on having them on their full feeding schedule for at least another 2 weeks.

Temp 74-77 during the day (67-72 at night)
Humidity 55-65% during the day (40-50% at night)
Average soil PH is 6.87 (each container falls between 6.5-7)
Finding that i need to water ever 3-4 days (while at the same time keeping the top soil moist)

Anyways here they are.



I believe the smaller of the 5 to be the white castle as I had originally planted 3 White Castles but had to oust 2 seeds as they never grew once they cracked (left them in the dome up until about 3 days ago) the other 4 that all have very similiar growth traits i believe to be the blackberry (nom nom nom)

here and im staying tuned haha

gobears4eva said:

here and im staying tuned haha

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Cheers! Welcome aboard. There be wenches and grog down below.... (I wish)

Your set up looks great! good luck on your grow, I'm following alongside. Will start mine soon, just getting it all together. how you like your Secret Jarden tent? I'm looking at another on Amazon for less $$
sorry to hear your White Castle didn't pop, that's one I'm trying out.

luckandleather said:

Your set up looks great! good luck on your grow, I'm following alongside. Will start mine soon, just getting it all together. how you like your Secret Jarden tent? I'm looking at another on Amazon for less $$
sorry to hear your White Castle didn't pop, that's one I'm trying out.

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I love my Jardin. I wish I had more space to work with because a funny story... I originally ordered a 4x4x7' Viagrow tent but it was very poorly manufactured so the shop I ordered it from sent me the Jardin I am using now for free... Ideally I'd like to use the Jardin as a mother room (propagation kit for clones) or veg room and use the larger tent (after some simple repairs i did with a camping tent repair kit) for flowering.

One of my White Castles did pop. Its the smaller of the 5 with the wide leaves. (the 2nd picture in the most recent set of pics i uploaded.

Discordantmindfck said:

I love my Jardin. I wish I had more space to work with because a funny story... I originally ordered a 4x4x7' Viagrow tent but it was very poorly manufactured so the shop I ordered it from sent me the Jardin I am using now for free... Ideally I'd like to use the Jardin as a mother room (propagation kit for clones) or veg room and use the larger tent (after some simple repairs i did with a camping tent repair kit) for flowering.

One of my White Castles did pop. Its the smaller of the 5 with the wide leaves. (the 2nd picture in the most recent set of pics i uploaded.

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Free!!! Holy smokes!!!