I have not grown in some time now, 20 years ago in the ground and by the sun, 10 - 15 years ago indoor hydro with MH/HPS, but its been at least 10 years.. Newer tech and methods for me now as I am going DWC/LED so I guess you can say I am a noob born again grower.. I have been reading ALOT recently.. Hours a day on here and I know that most if not all of these questions are answered in the almost 19 million posts but I cant read them all, for gods sake there is 13k site forum visitors online at this very moment, It would take me a week to read everything posted in the last hour.. Please help with any question you can and dont just tell me to search for the answers, I have been and I just want you guys to help clarify a few things for me. (1) Would 2 mars2 1200 be too much for a 4x8 tent or would 2 mars2 900 be better? (2) Is a mars2 full spectrum good for seed to harvest or would it only be good to use when they flower? (3) Do auto flowering strains need 18/6 20/4 or is 24 hour lighting best? no experience with autos. (4) Is there any point in topping an auto or is there just not enough grow time to make it worth your time? This should also make scroging useless on autos as well correct? (5) Autos root size compared to normal plants, is a 5 gallon bucket DWC a waste of space or would I be better running 2 or 4 of them from a 18 to 20 gallon rubbermade? (6) Seed companies talking about 50 - 60 days from seed to harvest (autos)? is this actual as Ive been reading from people that its a little longer, depending on strain of course. (7) 1 - 4 ounces is what Ive been reading also on the autos, is this about average? (8) In your experience what are the quickest autos you have worked with and time length, and what are the heaviest yielding ones? (9) Thinking 400cfm fan with phresh filter, this should be good for the 4x8x7 tent correct? (10) Drying, Would it be bad to hang dry the harvest up in the corner of the grow tent? should be above the lights or at least not blocking them or the reflection of the lights on the mylar. I live in the desert where it is usually 5% - somewhere under 20% humidity, and will have alot of airflow from the fans in the tent not to mention the oder control of the big fan filter combo.. Very close neighbors.. (11) Looking at some Dinafem autofem seeds, I know they have been around a while, you guys have good luck with them? (12) Looking to run 12 girls at a time as per legal in my state, Ive looked over many seed banks, but not all, I would like to get a 12 pack or maybe a 10 and 3 pack of mixed varity, any good recommendations? (13) Does breeding the ruderailas in to make it auto lower the potency at all or have any other effect on the plant, or my health? There is probably more questions, I will take note and ask later. Thanks for any help.
1 2 900w 2 yes full spec is fine from seed tomharvest 3 i use 20/4 but 18+ is fine 4 dont top just LST 5 5 gal bucket seems standard 6 no an auto be 62-100 days depending on strain. 7 atm i get 2-3.7 oz but up 13 is possible 8 had a think diff done in 62 day 2.5 oz was real nice 9 sounds about right you want 3 tome a min so its a littlw off but should be ok 10 you want tonkeep the harvest in the dark at 60% hum for 14 days. 11 dinafem are brilliant seed company white cheese is awsome. 12 dutch passion, dinafem, sweet seeds, barneys farm good seed banks You got sweet tooth, dark devil , think different, mazar, autox , moby dick, white cheese , ultimate auto, pineapple express, red poison There so many there Lush 13 it used to but now potenty anything from 15% -23% ( afgan kush ryder) so and some like this cheese injust smokeed has made me real baked haha auto help page if you need help with autoflowers http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1294434-Need-help-with-autos?-Welcome new vote page sept please vote http://www.dutch-passion.nl/en/photovote/2014-09-03-autoultimate%C2%AE-loki_1752/
Up to 100 on some strains and them strains can yeild upto 13oz dry but thats dependant on quite a few things auto help page if you need help with autoflowers http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1294434-Need-help-with-autos?-Welcome new vote page sept please vote http://www.dutch-passion.nl/en/photovote/2014-09-03-autoultimate%C2%AE-loki_1752/
Do your research.... Haha only joking, I don't have any idea why people say that . Ill do my best to answer your Qs. 1. Definitely not too much. 2x 1200s would be minimum. 2x 1600s would be better if you have the cash 2. The standard spectrum is fine for both veg and flower. The 1600s has a veg and bloom switch so you can save on electricity while vegging. 3. If you can handle the heat having the lights on in the middle of the day then 24/0 will give you the best result. 4. Yeah pretty much. LST is preferred over cutting bits off because autos won't have time to re-grow any bits that were cut off. Pinching out the top shoot is a bit more debatable as hardly any leaves are taken but even then LST is going to be preferred. 5. 1 plant in 5 gallons and 4 plants in 20 gallons is the same. Looking after several separate reservoirs can be a lot of work, but several different plants with different EC/ppm requirements in the same container will make it impossible to give them all their preferred EC/ppm concentration. If the separate buckets would be linked as in RDWC there isn't a lot of difference as the nutrient solution is shared anyway. 6. Most autos will run for around 10 weeks hatch to harvest. But there is a bit of variation. The breeders figure will be the earliest practical harvest time. Peak harvest time will be a week or two afterwards. 7. Yield is governed by many factors, the prime one is the light output if all else is satisfactory. Each 1200w LED should give you around 15-20oz if everything goes well. The number of plants don't make any difference as long as your area is properly filled. Light shining on the floor is wasted light. 8. All the autos I have grown have taken about 10 weeks. My set up changes all the time so harvest weights can't be compared 9. I don't understand cfm figures. Once you add load to the fan in the form of ducting and filters the cfm figure is meaningless. A quality fan will handle load better than a cheapo fan. 10. The problem with drying the bud in such low humidity and high temps from the lights is it will likely dry too fast. A slow two week dry is what I prefer for a smoother smoke. In 5% humidity and fans it will probably be dry in less than a day. I suggest building a separate drying cupboard with a small exhaust fan and carbon filter running slowly. It works for me. 11. I haven't used any autos from Dinafem but have grown some photoperiod sensitive plants with good results. 12. The only seedbank I use is attitude. I honestly can't recommend them enough. Great customer service, fast delivery, loads of free seeds. Use "420" as the discount code for 10% off. 13. No, the auto gene has no effect on the potency. So as long as the breeder has done their job when backcrossing to stabilize the phenotypes you won't have to worry about potency problems. All strains and even individual plants vary in potency, but the auto gene has no bearing on this. Some of the most potent weed I have tried has been autos. How come you are going for autos? for indoor grows photoperiod sensitive plants usually offer more advantages
Autos are faster when starting out. You can run your lights at 24/0 giving you more growth per area. In outdoor grows they are amazing because you can have them flowering in the middle of the summer and they don't get huge so they are more easily hidden. Indoors though you are in less control as far as flower timing and size is concerned. Both have their advantages so one isn't better than the other but one may be better suited for your set up or style of growing
Thanks GG for your input, I had bid on and won both the 900 and 1200 on ebay, then bid on another 1200 and won that as well so I think i will cancel the 900 order. They should not be too mad as all three were won from the same seller. So I will be running 2 1200s in a 4x8 tent.. If I run both 1200s at 20/4 using a total of 1200watts Im looking at $79 a month just for the lights, If I run them at 24/0 I am looking at $94 a month before adding all the other items, fans, pumps, etc.. I was trying to keep it around $100 a month on the electric. I was defiantly planning on the LST and figured there would be little to no time for topping. What I meant by the each in they're own 5 gallon bucket or 4 in a rubbermaid was more about spacing. The meaning for trying to run 12 different genes of girls is to see which works best then run the whole tent of that strain. Per the oil I am going to make the highest THC content is preferable as CBD does not do much for the illness being treated, well that is known about currently. As far as the CFM question I think I am going with the Phresh 6" 6x16 400 cfm filter and a Hydrofarm 400CFM vortex fan. As far as drying goes I can care less about the smoothness or smokeability as 95% of it will be converted to an extract oil (Rick Simpson Oil) to be used for treating tumors and cancer. Hence the NEED for a the fastest harvest and fastest drying times possible.. trying to beat the next radiation date if you know what I mean. If and when I smoke I use much less than 1oz a month when needed, so a little will be set aside and cured for my smoking. But for the fast drying in the tent is okay??? Wont lose any potency or anything? I was thinking autos only for the speed as the one I caretake for has tumors in her head and they have grown and the pressure on certain nerves in the head has made her lose all vision in both eyes in a very short time not to mention many other problems it has caused.. I would love to treat these tumors and see her get some vision back and if I can get progress done, maybe we can avoid her from keep getting radiated which kills both the bad and good in her. She went from having a normal life just a year and a half ago, to now just sitting and listening to the TV all day.. Very sad.. But a pound is needed to make just a few 10cc syringes (no needles) its consumed not shot.. And that amount does not last long in treatment. So speed and harvest weight a tough thing to balance are both of the utmost importance. If you guys do not know about Rick Simpson and the things he has been doing with this oil I suggest you check out his facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rick-Simpson/298774923502987 He has cured cancer in people and treated everything from leukemia to Hep C to Hodgkin's lymphoma with this oil. almost 7 years ago there was a documentary made on him and his oil called Running from the cure, can be watched here Good video, highly recommended.. The sequel to it should be out in a month or so.
I would if I could but I will be spending about $300 in electricity from seed to harvest on 12 plants of which I will only keep an oz for me and the rest be made into a oil and provided for free to a cancer victim I caretake for so even 4 hours off will be saveing me some money unless that extra 4 hours a day has that much more effect on harvest weight.. I heard that a little dark time is benifitial on the plants growth.. Is this not correct?
I tried the link I posted to make sure it was right but this site of FB added a few characters to the end of it sending you to a none working page. once on FB just delete the last few characters to where it ends with the 987, delete the "%C2%A0" that either one of these sites add to it when clicked.. or is this only happening to me? Also I guess you cant post youtube links here, just go there and search "Running from the cure" great vid, 58 minutes long.
Some other things I was wondering about, Has anyone tried adding colloidal silver to the soup in place of h2o2 for treating bacteria? And I understand what a peed controller does but not exactly how it works, does it reduce amps to slow down a fan? Could this be used to dim LED lights as well or does the LED driver need a stedy ammount of amperage? I know it wil lrequire 110v with slight fluctuation..
Ive been looking at attitude as a bank to buy from. Looks like they carry everyones beans. I know it depends on how long it sits in customs but how long does it usually take to receive to the west coast from the date of order?
I am mainly looking for a delicate balance of fast harvest and decent weight per plant, with the highest possible THC content. Some people have pointed me to Northern Lights, Afghan, and Hash Plant.. but said these will take a little longer than I may want. I think Indica is preferable for the aplication but may not be the case..
Also any recommendations on air pumps? My plan will be to run 10 to 12 5gal buckets, How much actual water is in each bucket to come up to the bottom of the net pots? I assume around 3.5? If I go with 10, then we are looking at about 35 gallons or 132ish liters.. What I would like to do is run 2 pumps, both pumps running lines to every bucket as a failsafe if 1 pump decided to die so that there would be o2 still getting to every bucket untill the dead pump can be replaced. What was the ratio for air (litter per hour per gallon) again, I read it in a few grow journals but can not find it now..
Drying it fast won't harm potency so if you're making oil it shouldn't matter. if everything else is satisfactory then the extra few hours will give you more money's worth of bud than it costs in electricity but many people still find giving them a dark period helps with heat. I have my vegging plants and autos on 24/0 for all but a few months in summer where it gets too hot in the day time so they get 6 hours of dark between 11am-5pm. Plants don't need dark time, all growth processes shut down in the absence of light and start up again as soon as they get more. They are quite literally solar powered. If you can I would definitely have them on 24/0 when they are going through the stretch. This is when they take up nutes in a more concentrated solution so I would think at this point they will more likely make use of the extra light. You could then go down to less light hours after that without much loss I would think. I must stress though that I haven't put this in to practice, but it sounds plausible to me Putting colloidal silver into the water is likely to cause problems. It's a known stress inducer often used to cause female plants to change sex when sprayed regularly on the foliage. I have never tried it in the water nor have I ever known anyone else to so I honestly don't know what the results would be. I wouldn't try it myself. I have never heard of a peed controller but fan controllers turn down the voltage so wouldn't work with LEDs I have no idea sorry. I live in the same country as attitude so usually receive my order within 24 hours I very much like hailea pumps, all mine are this brand and I have never had any problems. I have several 10 lpm bellow type pumps, but piston pumps are what you want for a lot of air. They are noisy though, and get very hot. It's worth fixing a computer fan to them to get rid of some heat otherwise the air get warm and this in turn will add to the heating of your reservoirs. I think running two pumps is a good idea. They rarely bunk out on you but I guess one day they must as they won't last forever. I believe in pushing 1 litre of air for every 2 litres of nutrient solution. It's very common for people to run their reservoirs almost half empty but I fill mine right up. I allow around 4" drop between top ups. But I usually use very large and very short reservoirs
Yes I meant speed controler not peed controler, and as far as pumps If I ran 2 of these HYDROFARM-AAPA70L that would give me 70lpm each so 150 total, and if each bucket had 4 gallon in it they would get the 1lpm per 2litter soup in 10 buckets, or about the same in 12 buckets at just under 4 gallon each.. Both pumps would be conntected to a airstone in every bucket. Can get both for $99 so it soes not sound that bad. Cheaper then getting 12 $15 pumps from walmart And as far as heat goes I will just buy longer line and run them outside of the tent...
It sounds like a solid plan. However, the two pumps add up to 140lpm and the 10x 4 gallon reservoirs is 151.4 litres, so it's almost 1/1, that (in my opinion) is more than an adequate amount air for 10 or 12 buckets. you should get some really good growth with that Haha I can't believe I didn't realise you meant "speed", sort of obvious now lol
Yes this script they use on this site where I type in my posts does not allow my browsers autocorrect to work, think its java or something
I would grow THC Bomb. THC content 20-25% and a 7-9 week flowering period. I am growing this strain myself as we speak.
I was loonking at that, and pakisthani and afghani ryder autos.. Only problem with the other two are lighter than arverage yeilds from what I have been reading. Is that THCbomb your growing an auto or photo? And what is the arverage yeild on it?
Thought about going with one 110lpm pump and not the 2 70lpm.. not sure though as the one is the same price as the 2 and I like the idea of the already running backup if one were to die.