Stealth rubbermaid autos 300w led, first grow.

Hello all,
I have been lurking on here for a while and finally decided to create an account to document my upcoming grow. I did study horticulture some in college so I don't feel like I am going in completely blind, however, this is my first time growing anything with artificial lighting. After much research(probably about at least six months) I've decided to use an LED and Autoflower seeds.

Though I was nervous about ordering seeds online I did do my due diligence in researching where to order and settled for Midweek Song as my choice. At that point I of course ran into the problem of what strain to choose, lol. After agonizing for hours I settled on World of Seeds Auto Collection containing: 2 Northern Lights x Big Bud Auto, 2 Sugar Mango Ryder, 2 Pakistan Ryder and 2 Sweet Coffee Ryder. The freebies I selected with the order were the auto blueberry, Cinderella 99, and girl scout cookie(mmm...). I placed the order last night, I did get a text right after from my bank about a possible fraudulent charge but just texted them back that I had indeed ordered something from the UK.

Now onto my setup:
2 34 gallon off-brand rubbermaid tubs w/ locking lids (12 each at target)
6" fan (6 at walmart)
2 2" 90 degree pvc plumbing connectors for ventilation (2 each at lowes)
2x powerstrips (2 pack was 5 at target)
6' extension cord(3 at target)
Digital timer (18 on amazon)

MarsHydro 300w LED (100 on amazon)

Tools:
Duct tape (free I go crazy with the stuff sometimes)
Fast drying caulk(about 4 at target)
Utility blade
drill

I am not going to go into extreme detail on how I assembled this, if you are interested just ask, but it is very straightforward.

Growing media: Superior soil from a local nursery (organic), a small amount of compost(there was already a significant amount in the soil), and perlite(Yup, organic too).
Nutrients: The only kind of nutrients I will use is a sea tea (compost tea mixed with kelp and fish emulsion).
Pots: 1 gallon smart pots due to limited height (height of box is about 4' and LED takes up at least 4-5" of that at it's highest placement)

I've included pictures of both my grow box as well as my soil waiting in their smart pots. Sorry for the quality, cheap cell.

Any input or advice is always appreciated

Also, forgot to note for odor control I have purchased a few Ona blocks, forget the price on those but I am hoping they will do the job.

I am completely new to this to but I am very curious as of how this will turn out. I am roughly 5 weeks into my first grow so not sure really what advice I could give. I have a journal going on here I'm also doing the northern light, and blueberry autos. Good luck

Thanks! I am worried about doing one of the NLxBB in the space I have because the description lists an indoor height of around 1.5m which is taller than I have room for in my box. I was thinking of doing 1 each of the sweet coffee ryder, Pakistan ryder, sugar mango ryder, as well as the free auto blueberry. The space I have in the box is 28"x19" and clearance now that I look at the numbers again is 42". So I think for those shorter strains I should be fine because they list as usually under 1m in height. I don't really want to do any kind of training because they are autos and have such a short veg cycle.

Smokie,
You might be fine with the blueberry if you Lst them, that should help keep them lower I think my blueberry is about a foot and a half and just finished it's stretch. You can look at the ones I have in my journal.

Got an e-mail this morning saying my beans are on the way yay! I've moved my 1 gallon smart pots w/ my soil mix into the box so that it can dry out a bit (left the bag of soil and compost in the rain before i mixed it yesterday). I've also included 2 more images of my setup this is with 4 1 gallon smart pots, as the images should show height and space is limited for the time being. I am not expecting a fantastic yield, however I do hope to get at least a couple of ozs off the 4 I will be growing.


This second Image shows the positioning of the fan and lights, I can attach a string/rope to the mount on the light to raise it about 5-6" up if needed.



In hindsight I realize that that surge protector I have mounted inside is not necessary(have one mounted on the outside too) and could be a potential hazard when humidity builds up in the box. So going to remove that and wait on my beans... mmm... tacos...

Dude im calling it right now... you will not have room for 4 autos in that space. But i do hope im wrong cause this looks awesome. Im along for the ride. Best of luck.

I am somewhat concerned that you are correct on that point, I was originally only planning on doing 3 in there, do you think I would be fine with that? I know they are going to get fairly bushy but I do have close to 4 sq ft of footprint with the box. Also beans already made it to the states, I am impressed so far with Midweek song, though I can't say anything for sure until I get my order.

My first grow i did 2 bagseed plants under a 125w cfl with some smaller cfls as supplemental light. I got almost 2.5 oz growing in an old dresser i converted. I used only LST no topping or anthing else to keep them short. They bushed out a bit and it was getting tight in there. Space was 2.5ftX2ft 4ft high. They werent autos so i vegged for 3 weeks and flipped. I could not have made a 3rd one fit.

Here is where my head is at, being its your first grow, i would pick 2 seeds. 1 each from seperate strains like youre mentioning and grow them. That will do 2 important things for you.

1. You get the experience of a first time grow and only have 2 plants to possibly accidentally kill or maim.

2. You will get a real good idea of the size of these and how they will grow so youre next round will be even better. If you think you can fit a 3rd at that point then rock on.

Just how i would go about it.

Hmm... if I reduce the plant count to two, should I increase my smart pot size to maybe 2 or 3 gallons from the 1?

Well seeds not here yet, but hopefully this week. I did pick up some 2 gal smart pots since I am going to only do 2 this go, also picked up some Mykos. I am not sure if the Mykos will make a difference but I have seen several people in youtube videos using it, and it was for sale at my local garden center right by the register(impulse buy). I will sprinkle a few grains in with the seeds when I plant them and see how it goes(though I have nothing to compare it to).

The setup looks good, a lot better with just the 2 pots, the grow space will fill up quick.

Well I thought that the USPS tracking info was wrong and it had just not been scanned, but shows scanned in Chicago today. So hopefully a couple more days only. I did get some Regular Cherry Afghan seeds from a buddy, low-no THC and very high CBD content he says. I don't plan on growing those out in the near future so I am labeling them and storing for future use.

After bouncing back and forth between a couple of local cities my order finally came in! Props to Midweek Song for the stealth delivery, took 11 days (10 technically since I order at like 11pm) to reach me, very pleased with the results. I've included images of my order(not the stealth delivery though).
now to pick 2.... I think it will probably be a sugar mango and sweet coffee, since they have similar times. I will look a bit more before I germinate.

Tested my box temp/humidity last night after installing an exhaust fan and maxed at 86 with about 40% humidity, with dryish soil.

So I decided to go with the Sweet Coffee and Sugar Mango, 1 of each. They are now in damp paper towels in separate, labeled zip-lock bags. Let the journey begin

awesome can wait to follow this journey, I'm sure it will be awesome.

W00t! Tap roots popped out at about 36 hrs(sorry no pics). Got them both planted with a bit of mykos tossed in with the seeds. I included some pictures: my new exhaust fan 120mm 110v, my homemade carbon filter, the pots of soil that the girls are napping in, and my thermo/hydrometer. Enjoy!


Don't judge me because of my duct tape...

The sweet coffee broke the surface this morning, woo!! However, when I looked closely at the sugar mango pot I noticed the seed had somehow worked it's way to the surface(only planted 1/2" deep so prob my fault). The seed still had the tap root which had grown some, thought it was a little brownish(hoping it was just some dirt), so I reburied it in the pot and am crossing my fingers. Only having 2 seeds of each strain and I really don't wanna have to germ my other sugar mango seed because of a stupid mistake. No pictures at the moment got a busy day, I'll try and get some tonight or tomorrow.

Here is an image of the sweet coffee ryder cotyledon, I am going to give the sugar mango 3-4 days to pop before I germ a replacement, I am hoping it does, but either way today is officially DAY 1.

Can't wait to see how this goes! I've very excited for you