Tips for first grow please!

Hey all!

Ok so ive started my first grow. I’ve always wanted to grow cannabis as I thought it would be great fun but my Mum getting brain cancer really spurred me to get my ass into gear so I could grow and make some oil as well.

I’ve using a 1.5m-1.5m-2m tent. And currently just running 1 1200 watt viparspectra LED to start with (I know I will need more light later). I have a second tent as well which I will be setting up for a couple of different high thc strains.

I rescued this little white widow that my sister had germinate and it was dying as she had no idea what she was doing but it’s currently looking quite good! About ready to transplant into a bigger pot I think.

I’m keeping it pretty basics and using all canna products so I can do the nutrients easily and follow a basic schedule. I’m using canna Terra professional soil mix and started with using the nutrients they suggested to start with.

One question I do have! Is that my watering can which I mixed the correct amount of terra Vega and rhizotonic into distilled water has started getting a build up of algae in it as I leave it in the tent and obviously the light and humidity has made algae thrive. Does it matter at all that there is algae in the watering can? Should I clean it out and remix again or does it not actually matter?

Any tips will be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Keep a clean grow in every way. Fill the can with water and add a couple tablespoons of bleach. Soak 10 minutes and rinse well.

Algae is not USUALLY a problem. A bit of algae on top of hydroton or rockwool for example is no big deal. A little in the rez/can is no big deal... as long as it's not going to clog anything, is not so much that it takes a significant amount of nutes from your plants, and as long as it's only algae.

The problem with it in your watering can is that if algae has time to grow, so could other, more detrimental things. And you will just be giving it to your girls every watering.

So yeah, play it safe and sterilize everything and keep it as clean as possible.

i think it's best to mix the nutrients each time you want to feed the plant, and let the can sit dry between watering. standing water is a breeding ground for all sorts of bad things.

Following this thread, too. Hope could learn from here.

If you do actually leave nutrients premixed... couple things you should do:
- seal the container between watering cycles(prevents contaminants from getting into it)
- keep it in a cool dark place(prevents most living things from growing, not all though)
- periodically drain the container completely and sterilize(prevents a build up of bad things... that require more bad things around it to grow)

If at all possible, mix just enough for your watering though...

HTH

MJCanada said:

If you do actually leave nutrients premixed... couple things you should do:
- seal the container between watering cycles(prevents contaminants from getting into it)
- keep it in a cool dark place(prevents most living things from growing, not all though)
- periodically drain the container completely and sterilize(prevents a build up of bad things... that require more bad things around it to grow)

If at all possible, mix just enough for your watering though...

HTH

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Thanks for the replies everyone. The main reason I premixed the nutrients was because the recommendations were small amounts like 26ml per 10L so I thought id just mix up 10L and use it throughout the seedling period and once the plants got to a bigger stage I could then just mix enough watering for each watering.

I will do what you said though and clean out and sterilize the container!

Any tips of how often I should be watering? Most information I have been reading say wait until the top couple of centimetres is dry and then rewater. The Canna terra professional soil mixture is mainly Peat and perlite and retains moisture for a long time by the looks of it.

Ill keep updating this thread. Hopefully I can have a successful first grow but as I have already come to learn there is definitely an art to growing good Cannabis!

Water when the pot is light. If you think it is time to water wait 2 more days.

I also need some tips of fans and exhaust fan. I currently have a couple of oscillating fans in the tent just blowing the air around but I need to purchase exhaust fans, filters, ducting etc and learn how to set it all up. Researching at the moment, but if anyone has any good videos post some links for me! Cheers.

Good luck bud.
Thoughts on Viperspectra: not the best but does the trick. First time grower have a 900w VP going. Good for starters.
Watering: take it nice and slow and let her breath and make sure you see run off.

Good luck mate. A lot of good pros on here

dicko138 said:

I also need some tips of fans and exhaust fan. I currently have a couple of oscillating fans in the tent just blowing the air around but I need to purchase exhaust fans, filters, ducting etc and learn how to set it all up. Researching at the moment, but if anyone has any good videos post some links for me! Cheers.

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exhaust fan is most important and you should get it first, ASAP. get one with at least 3x the CFM of the cubic feet of your grow space. your tent is 1.5mx1.5mx2m? thats pretty big. i would get a pretty big exhaust fan, probably 8" 600 CFM or so. once you get more light in there its gonna get hot

pulpoinspace said:

exhaust fan is most important and you should get it first, ASAP. get one with at least 3x the CFM of the cubic feet of your grow space. your tent is 1.5mx1.5mx2m? thats pretty big. i would get a pretty big exhaust fan, probably 8" 600 CFM or so. once you get more light in there its gonna get hot

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Thanks. I will be ordering one tonight and get it ASAP.

What about intake fans as well? Should I be having an inlet fan to pump in fresh air as well?

yes you can. its the best way to make sure your air is filtered. it should always be less CFM than the exhaust fan though to keep negative pressure inside the tent and keep all the smells inside. you don't absolutely need an intake fan though, lots of people just use passive air intake with some kind of air filter on it.

Just make sure your tent walls are pulled in, after everything is zipped up. If smell is a problem, use a charcoal filter to "scrub" your smelly inside air into fresh outside air. Most people will pull the air through the filter instead of pushing it through, so you would run filter>fan>exhaust. You can run filter>reflector>fan>exhaust to reduce the number of fans running. A good filter should last through a couple grows or more. Make sure the cfm's for the filter is more than the fan.
Be sure to have the tops of the plants "swaying in the wind" & not blowing! That will help build sturdy stems. Canna makes good stuff, I'm using their line of coco nutes. I have found, even the "light" feeding schedule is still pretty hot. Idk about the soil line but maybe something to watch for!
My wife is battling her second round of breast cancer. Be patient, stay strong, & be happy around your Mum. Good luck with the fight & the grow!

upnsmoke13 said:

Just make sure your tent walls are pulled in, after everything is zipped up. If smell is a problem, use a charcoal filter to "scrub" your smelly inside air into fresh outside air. Most people will pull the air through the filter instead of pushing it through, so you would run filter>fan>exhaust. You can run filter>reflector>fan>exhaust to reduce the number of fans running. A good filter should last through a couple grows or more. Make sure the cfm's for the filter is more than the fan.
Be sure to have the tops of the plants "swaying in the wind" & not blowing! That will help build sturdy stems. Canna makes good stuff, I'm using their line of coco nutes. I have found, even the "light" feeding schedule is still pretty hot. Idk about the soil line but maybe something to watch for!
My wife is battling her second round of breast cancer. Be patient, stay strong, & be happy around your Mum. Good luck with the fight & the grow!

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Thanks for the advice man. I will do what you said. I'm thinking of getting a Phresh hyper fan 8 inch (710cfm) and pairing it with a phresh carbon filter 200*800mm (890 cfm). Not sure if that's overkill but I don't mind paying for quality (reviews seem pretty good). Good luck to you and your Wife man. Cancer sucks... We are trying everything and hopefully we can get a lot longer then the average 12 months life expectancy for glioblastoma patients. I will keep this thread updated with my grow! I'm sure I will come across a few obstacles a long the way! Thanks again and good luck!

You could grab a speed controller to turn the big fan down! Reduces noise and still gets the job done.

So my blue dream is looking like this at the moment. But the roots are already coming out of the bottom! Should I be transplanting this to a bigger container yet? I thought I should leave it a little bit longer....

Hey guys I was also wondering how you think this white widow is going as well. As I said before I brought it back from the brink of death which is why the first couple of leaves are dried up and dead. It took a while to get back going but about 4 weeks later and It’s looking like this at the moment.

I’m running a 1200 watt led. Should I get another 1200w viparspectra for the tent as well? Will 2 be enough? Cheers

Roots will find their way out of the bottom. It doesn't mean much. Its part of the roots job to expand and find its boundaries, not that it thinks much about it... Doesn't mean you cant pot up
You will like the blue dream, its a nice plant.

You might as well just buy a 1000w HPS and call it a day unless you want to spend a good amount on quality LEDs.
two 1200w vipars will be running more power and heat than 1000w HPS. If you want LEDs then look around 700w of Strips, cobs or quantum boards. Sites like Timber grow lights, horticultural lighting group. For good white LEDs you want to be running 30-50w per square foot, 30w per square foot will provide very good results, for blurple lights like vipar or mars ect you want at least 50w per square foot, which is about what HID lights need to be at.

But it depends on what your paying for the vipar, sites over here they are about $340 for a 1200w (real wattage 524)
I love LEDs, but what you have is not a great light, more can be achieved for less money with a 1000w HPS and MH light than a cheap blurple light.

Apart from the price point the other advantage of starting with HID lighting is you can air cool it.

coreywebster said:

Roots will find their way out of the bottom. It doesn't mean much. Its part of the roots job to expand and find its boundaries, not that it thinks much about it... Doesn't mean you cant pot up
You will like the blue dream, its a nice plant.

You might as well just buy a 1000w HPS and call it a day unless you want to spend a good amount on quality LEDs.
two 1200w vipars will be running more power and heat than 1000w HPS. If you want LEDs then look around 700w of Strips, cobs or quantum boards. Sites like Timber grow lights, horticultural lighting group. For good white LEDs you want to be running 30-50w per square foot, 30w per square foot will provide very good results, for blurple lights like vipar or mars ect you want at least 50w per square foot, which is about what HID lights need to be at.

But it depends on what your paying for the vipar, sites over here they are about $340 for a 1200w (real wattage 524)
I love LEDs, but what you have is not a great light, more can be achieved for less money with a 1000w HPS and MH light than a cheap blurple light.

Apart from the price point the other advantage of starting with HID lighting is you can air cool it.

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Thanks for the reply man! I think your definitely right with the lighting situation. When I get home I’m gonna do some research to find a good 1000w hps and then I’ll post and see what you think. Will one 1000w hps be enough for the whole grow?

So I will need a MH Light for the flowering stage?