First grow

Hi, so I’m very new to growing. This will be my first grow. It just became legal in my state medically, so I thought I would take advantage of it. I have just purchased a small set up. I was wondering if somebody experienced can tell me what they think about it/ if I’m missing any equipment. I was going to grow 4 plants to start out. I was thinking about doing veg for about 8 weeks and Flower for another 8-10 weeks.

Materials:
-48”x48”x80” grow tent (Apollo Horticulture)
-Growers Choice 1000W Grow Light HPS Complete Fixture 120V/240V Commercial Quality
-Small Dehumidifier for 1200 cu ft (150 sq ft)
- Farm Fox nutes. Big bloom, grow big, tiger bloom
-instecho Digital PH Meter, 0.01 Resolution Pocket Size Water Quality Tester with ATC 0-14 pH Measurement
-AcuRite 00613 Humidity Monitor with Indoor Thermometer, Digital Hygrometer and Humidity Gauge Indicator
-iPower 6 Inch 442 CFM Inline Fan Carbon Filter Combo with Variable Speed Controller 8 Feet Rope Hanger for Grow Tent Ventilation.
-iPower 4 Inch 8 Feet Non-Insulated Flex Air Aluminum Ducting Dryer Vent Hose HVAC Ventilation, 2 Clamps included
-2 clip fans.

I am basically just waiting on the seeds andmaterials to get in. I was thinking about using co2 in the tent. I’ve read tons and tons of threads on co2 and tents, but I hear that it’s pointless because the tent need to be sealedoff completely. I was possibly thinking about putting co2 in there at certain times of the day and not having it run 24/7 (or when there is light on) since it needs to be ventilated so Idon’t suffocate the plants and kill them (fromwhat I understand from previous posts). I’mvery anxious and excited to start the grow and just want to know what you think and throwrecommendations on how I should go about it. I was thinking about maybe adding a smallhumidifier in there as well. Am I heading in the right direction? Any opinions from people who know what they are talking about would beMUCH appreciated.

You should get bigger ducting to fit the fan. Or larger ducting with a duct reducer. That way there's not too much air friction.

I personally don't get too technical with humidity. Just make sure to have enough air movement to prevent stagnant air
-I'll leave the humidity thing for someone else. And Co2.

And 4 plants will fill a 4x4 tent quickly. 8 weeks from seed is about right. 5 or 6 weeks from clone. I'm speaking about soil. Hydro is quicker.

Also,what's your medium? Hydro or soil?
That's all I can think of at the moment. And always remember, Keep It Simple Stupid. (K.I.S.S.)

T macc said:

You should get bigger ducting to fit the fan. Or larger ducting with a duct reducer. That way there's not too much air friction.

I personally don't get too technical with humidity. Just make sure to have enough air movement to prevent stagnant air
-I'll leave the humidity thing for someone else. And Co2.

And 4 plants will fill a 4x4 tent quickly. 8 weeks from seed is about right. 5 or 6 weeks from clone. I'm speaking about soil. Hydro is quicker.

Also,what's your medium? Hydro or soil?
That's all I can think of at the moment. And always remember, Keep It Simple Stupid. (K.I.S.S.)

Click to expand...

Ok, I went with 6inch ducting. I plan on doing soil/ coco. I was going to do a little more research on the two and see which would be better/ easier. What do you think? Maybe hydro once I get a little more experienced

TreeFiddy350 said:

Ok, I went with 6inch ducting. I plan on doing soil/ coco. I was going to do a little more research on the two and see which would be better/ easier. What do you think? Maybe hydro once I get a little more experienced

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Soil is more forgiving than hydro. Which would make it the easier choice

You must be in the same state as me. I have a grow going right now and things have went great but this isnt my first grow. Checkout my channel if you search for the918farmer on YouTube I'll have tons of videos and recommendations on beginners to get people going. Personally I would start with fox farm happy frog or ocean forest. Leave c02 alone unless you're doing a massive grow it will be a waste in a tent. Keep a decent humidifier in there you dont want it to drop below 40 percent and once flowering begins use the dehumidifier and keep it around 35 to 40 and not much higher to avoid mold. Would also suggest starting with autos. I have a video up on the channel that talks about a seed company in the USA that was recieved in 3 days flat. Hope some of this helped! & if you have a 6" inline fan why do you have 4" ducting? Maybe a typo or I'm just too high lol

TreeFiddy350 said:

Ok, I went with 6inch ducting. I plan on doing soil/ coco. I was going to do a little more research on the two and see which would be better/ easier. What do you think? Maybe hydro once I get a little more experienced

Click to expand...

Def would stick to soil on a first grow far more forgiving. Coco tends to be less forgiving and you have to water much more. Remember less is always more in the growing world.

918Farmer said:

Def would stick to soil on a first grow far more forgiving. Coco tends to be less forgiving and you have to water much more. Remember less is always more in the growing world.

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Ok cool cool. Thank you. I recognize the area code lol are you in the Tulsa area? Ywah I will prob do without co2 for the first time, then maybe on second try with co2 and have another tent or something. I purchased a few seeds from Seedsman, but they still haven’t shipped. I’m anxious af lol ready to get it all going!

TreeFiddy350 said:

Ok cool cool. Thank you. I recognize the area code lol are you in the Tulsa area? Ywah I will prob do without co2 for the first time, then maybe on second try with co2 and have another tent or something. I purchased a few seeds from Seedsman, but they still haven’t shipped. I’m anxious af lol ready to get it all going!

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Yes I am in the owasso area. I have ordered with seedsman I actually have a video up of the unboxing of my package on my channel along with a recommendation of a US based company that I recieved in 3 days and have had great results. I wouldn't worry too much about c02. Just sit in there and talk to em a little bit lol. Are you starting autos or photo plants? My seedsman order took about 2 weeks or so. And a ppm meter has been a much needed tool although alot of guys dont use them in soil I always do to test my feed and my runoff to make sure theres no lockout or too high of feeding.

And you're using a few things that I am also using in my grows and being in the same area would def be a help if any issues were ran into. Here's a quick pic of one that was into 2-3 weeks of flower

T macc said:

You should get bigger ducting to fit the fan. Or larger ducting with a duct reducer. That way there's not too much air friction.

I personally don't get too technical with humidity. Just make sure to have enough air movement to prevent stagnant air
-I'll leave the humidity thing for someone else. And Co2.

And 4 plants will fill a 4x4 tent quickly. 8 weeks from seed is about right. 5 or 6 weeks from clone. I'm speaking about soil. Hydro is quicker.

Also,what's your medium? Hydro or soil?
That's all I can think of at the moment. And always remember, Keep It Simple Stupid. (K.I.S.S.)

Click to expand...

All good points and I second. Including duct size.

I wouldn't say coco is a bad start either. A great intro to hydro. Yea, soil is more forgiving. I tried coco once and also coco ebb&flow but soil is what I'm more comfortable with.
If you do decide to do coco, keep it moist; best to have a drip system on a timer. There are easy nute products out there. I used kelp4less grow and bloom with cal mag. If I did go back to coco, which I doubt, I want to try maxicrop from start to finish
Only reason I like soil is cause I don't need to constantly check PH and ppm's. But your effort will be rewarded

Once I transport the germinated seeds to dirt, how close should the light be to them? Do you think just having the light at the top of the tent at 600watts would be good until it’s flower time?

Also, which type of soil/ mixture would you recommend?

Certainly going to need larger ducting as stated above. Depending on where you live, that fan may not be powerful enough to keep things cool for you. I use a 700-800cfm fan for my 1000w (forgot specifically what cfm) with 8" ducting and there are still days that I'm struggling to keep the canopy temps below 80 degrees F. Also, perhaps look into some clip on fans to keep the air stirring and moving across your canopy. Your light will need to be a nice ways off from the tops of the plants as babies. But this period of light sensitivity will be fairly short, you should be able to restore your light's settings to the full 1000w after about 1-2 weeks after germinating, no need to wait until she starts flowering, you want them to get that full 1000w's as soon as she's capable of handling it. Coco would be a great option, but I'm not very experienced with it so I'll leave that to the vets to advise on. For soil, back when I did grow in soil, FoxFarm Happy Frog always treated me well for seedlings. I would then transplant them about 1-2 weeks later into a mixture of perlite (25+%), happy frog (15-25%), and Fox Farm Ocean Forest for the other 50-65%, along with a little bit of dolomite lime for PH stability.. This may not be exactly what I used because it's been so long I can't remember, but that's around/about the mixture of soil that worked great for me,

TreeFiddy350 said:

Once I transport the germinated seeds to dirt, how close should the light be to them? Do you think just having the light at the top of the tent at 600watts would be good until it’s flower time?

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I would say about 3 feet from sprout. If you see stretching, then lower the light some. That's what I did with my 600w hps. I think i just ended up with 2 feet above the canopy using a wing reflector. I didn't turn down my lights for sprouts; In nature, there's no dimming of the sun. And I read it could shorten the life span of the bulb.
But, to save on electricity, you could turn down the light for veg. And your plants will respond nicely to higher wattage come flower time.

For soil recipes, I'm lazy. I bought a premade super soil mix. Follow the directions and be done lol. I have kelp4less super soil mix in something like 60% coco, 20% cheap dirt from the store, and 20% perlite. I reuse my soil and now have two 30 gal no-tills with Blumat drippers on their first run.

This was a high ramble.

T macc said:

I would say about 3 feet from sprout. If you see stretching, then lower the light some. That's what I did with my 600w hps. I think i just ended up with 2 feet above the canopy using a wing reflector. I didn't turn down my lights for sprouts; In nature, there's no dimming of the sun. And I read it could shorten the life span of the bulb.
But, to save on electricity, you could turn down the light for veg. And your plants will respond nicely to higher wattage come flower time.

For soil recipes, I'm lazy. I bought a premade super soil mix. Follow the directions and be done lol. I have kelp4less super soil mix in something like 60% coco, 20% cheap dirt from the store, and 20% perlite. I reuse my soil and now have two 30 gal no-tills with Blumat drippers on their first run.

This was a high ramble.

Click to expand...

Those are the best kind of rambles I’ve seen videos of people putting the germinated seeds into I guess they’re like... premise durt? Like you would just drop them in then cover them up and drop them in either a solo cup/then a larger container once it gets too big for the cup. What are those “premade” dirt things called? Lol

TreeFiddy350 said:

Those are the best kind of rambles I’ve seen videos of people putting the germinated seeds into I guess they’re like... premise durt? Like you would just drop them in then cover them up and drop them in either a solo cup/then a larger container once it gets too big for the cup. What are those “premade” dirt things called? Lol

Click to expand...

Since we're talking soil, I'm assuming a rapid rooter? Or similar concept

What I do Is, soak your seed(s) for 12 hours and plant in a solo cup for a future transplant, or straight to the final container. This method avoids any damage to the tap root. However, the seed will take a little time to come up, about 2- 5 days

Since it is your first grow, I would recommend starting in a solo cup. No need for a plug. Just keep the soil moist until the seed sprouts.