First grow :D

OK...most of this is going to be opinion based off what works for me or what I've seen the actual pros...guys who make a living as the "main people" for dispensary/co-ops in WA state use.

To let you know where I'm coming from...I know specs on gear, and science behind it more than anything else...4 seasons as an unpaid volunteer under the main grower for our co-op, who's been growing legit since '96 (med legal in Cali), and though he won't say anything, we all believe he grew before that, plus one indoor test plant, and 3 indoor "dwarf crops" on my own, with my first BIG indoor (10 by 5 by 10 tent where I plan to take them to near full height) in soil as of a month ago.

So count that for what you figure it's worth.

Your tent size is sufficient for 8 plants if you keep them relatively skinny (ideally, the rule of thumb is a dwarf plant wants 18 inches on a side to grow in, if you want to bush it to anywhere near the diameter they want if they're going to reach mature height, 3 feet on a side...bushing them that wide does NOT mean you have to let them get that tall, and increases yield, number of leaves (more energy collection, means more and more potent flowers--science, not opinion, there).

Your lights WORK...but are STILL miserably short of mimicking natural sunlight, which the plants do best under. Don't take that as a slam, NONE of us can get that light intensity without burning down the neighborhood in an instant....you'd need to deliver a minimum of 128,000 lux at ground level (128,000 lumens per square meter direct light), and light "falls off" as a function of the square of the distance from the source (the true lumens of a 1000 watt bulb rate about 92,000, so at 18", the intensity of the direct light is a mere 237 lux)

To me, just because that's the most possible lumens from a single source (which is what determines fall off...a group of LEDs in an LED light copes with the fall off at the rate of each individual diode's intensity, not the total lumens the whole shebang gives off--which is why you get the "no penetration" issues from them), HID systems are still the "biggest bang for the buck", but they have other lacks that LEDs/CFLs, and such don't have, so a hybrid system is ALWAYS called for, for the happiest plants.


Dehumidifiers are expensive...did you know you'd have dangerous humidity issues before purchasing it? Remember, in the wild, these plants grow anywhere from jungle to desert. If you have a jungle strain, it'll do fine in above 100% humidity, so long as that humidity drops below 80% for a period several times a day. A desert strain will hate it if it gets over 40% humidity. Either way, they'll LIVE, unless the humidity contributes to fungal infections you can't fight well. Even then, there are ways to cheat to bring humidity down without a $300 piece of equipment, but each to his own.

Your LED system...what's the true wattage and wattage per LED? Lumens per LED? Some LEDs are superior to others, some flat out suck. Again, not slamming, I've used a Solar Flare 220 as the centerpiece light on my dwarf grows, had had it work fine (still a hybrid system), and still have it in my big tent to function as a "red/blue booster" because one of the shortcomings of HIDs is just that...their balance of red/blue compared to overall intensity is low compared to natural light.

Personal preference, backed by recent studies, and common sense...add a couple cheap ass reptile UVA/UVB bulbs. The plants are tropical/desert...just like the reptiles. They thrive under the same sunlight conditions. If it makes a lizard happier and healthier, it makes a plant from the same environment happier/healthier. They're cheap, low wattage/consumption. No excuse not to.

What's the rating on your power strip? You'll be pulling a MINIMUM of 10.4 amps constant JUST on the light/ballast. A minimum of 10.8 as it starts up. My Windking 8" 745 CFM fans pull 1.5 amps each when they start, and 1.1 constant.

Every 100 watts true watts pulls 1 amp on a 110 circuit...NOT counting inefficiencies in equipment (a 100 watt incandescent lightbulb is 1 amp, a 100 watt air pump has inefficiencies, and will draw 1.1 or more amps). So you MIGHT need multiple strips, and even several different circuits to draw power from.


Your carbon filter WILL draw carbon dust...wherever you exhaust it, expect a little pattern of "soot" around it.

As someone who's done roofing, you can't use that skylight as a vent without all sorts of trouble and risks. Rule with roofing....water runs downhill, and ANY gap gives it a faster route downhill. If it can get UNDER a piece of flashing or a shingle, it's a guaranteed leak. fast or slow is the only question.
It's POSSIBLE to do...but like making a Honda Civic competitive with a Hennessy on the track, it just ain't worth the money and time, and very few people have the talent/knowledge if they aren't specifically in the industry of making such things happen.

A redneck engineering solution: Run excess ducting out of the filter...at least 8 feet of it, put a filter box on the end (either buy the unit for HVAC at Home Depot/Loew's, or rig one...doesn't matter), use a scented HEPA filter for furnaces in there to catch the carbon and add cover scent. Scent stops, turn off blower, spray filter with Febreeze, let dry, start back up. When filter gets too clogged with carbon dust, replace it. They're cheap as hell, might as well. I know people--PROS, mind you, who dispense entirely with carbon filters, and use JUST this method. It works. Ghetto as hell, but works.


Electric...HERE we come to my field of expertise.

What's your main breaker rating? What voltage circuits are you using on your tent?

If your breakers trip, it means you're pulling more amperage than the breaker's rated for, as is...if it's the main breaker, forget it, you're done before you start, unless you upgrade the whole house...which will cost you around $2,000 if you don't know how to do it yourself, and around $400 if you know how, but have to pay for hardware, for the electric company to pull the meter for the day, and for a licensed journey electrician to come sign off on it (which the power company will demand before replacing the meter). If you try it without pulling the meter, guaranteed you're as fried as Ted Bundy. If you pull the meter on your own, it's a felony the electric company WILL press charges on.

On the other hand, if it's circuit breakers for normal circuits in the house, you may be fine...the circuit your tent's on may not have the same constant draw the ones that keep tripping do. If you have 20 amps free on that circuit, if you plug NOTHING else into that circuit, it should do fine. Plug in an extra 100 watt lightbulb, you'll trip it if that light's on when your tent lights and fans start up.

Here's what you do to figure it....normal house in America draws 40kWh a day...divide that by 4. Then add 2 of those 4ths together---half your power is used in 1 8 hour period a day on normal days...the period between everyone coming home from work/school and going to bed. The average draw at THAT time is about 2.5 kWh/hr, or 25 amps. There will be spikes in that...hot water heater starting, dryer starting, dishwasher running, stove, fridge kicking on and off....so add 40% to that to get a fair "safety factor"...35 amps is your PEAK household draw before the tent.

Which answers one of my earlier questions.....I've never heard of a house on anything less than a 50 amp box, so the tripping breaker issue you have is almost definitely side circuits within the house....just move some stuff to different circuits, that will end. But you'll still need 20 amps, isolated (nothing else on it) to run your tent. Or a 10 and a 15 amp circuit, properly balanced (like I said, your light alone will draw more than 10 amps, otherwise, you could have 2 balanced 10 amp circuits).


Think carefully on this...if your house's main breaker is 50 amps, or even 60 (normally only found in houses built pre-1985 and never electrically upgraded), your peak household draw as is can be figured as 35 amps in an AVERAGE house..take a look at your electric bill, find out what your highest use month was, divide the number of kWh used by 30, take that result, divide by 4, double that result (your 8 peak hour average), multiply by 1.4. (if your bill says you used 1,784 kWh in July, then you used 59,46 kWh a day, round to 60, divide 60 by 4 to get 15. During middle of the night and while everyone is gone, you use about 15 kWh/dy for each of those 8 hour periods, but peak use hours, you average 30 kWh. Divide by 8 to get hourly average, 3.75 kWh/hr, which translates to 37.5 amps average draw. Multiply by 1.4 for padding of "high draw" spikes, 52.5 amps peak use that month).

I could lay that out as a formula for you, but it looks like something Sheldon Cooper would write down then exclaim "I don't see why anyone would have a problem with this, it's as clear as day!".


That's your absolute peak draw for the year NORMALLY.

Now a scary thing...your HID light alone will add an absolute minimum of 1.04 kWh for each hour it's on...18.72 kWh/dy if you're ONLY using an 18/6 cycle. Or essentially, that light added 30% to your electric bill...if your use is normally at the scale I just used, and your electric bill is normally $150, then JUST the HID light, on JUST an 18/6 cycle just pushed your bill to about $200.

That's really not that bad, either...I'm running 2 1000 watt HIDs, a 165 true watt LED, and 80 true watts of reptile bulbs, a 100 watt air pump and 80 watt water pump for the hydro-cloner, and a 1.4 amp (140 watt) max 8" fan, in my tent in the garage...my electric bill is around $300/mo right now...and my furnace only comes on at night...July and February, when the AC and furnace, respectively, are in heavy use, are going to KILL my wallet.







Nutrients...I swear by Fox Farms...and can tell you that I know for a FACT their nutrients deliver EXACTLY what they tell you, chemically. I've broken them down to use for other, non-gardening purposes, too. Look up reasons someone might want to acquire potassium or ammonium nitrate...we had a good 4th of July.

I don't use a "normal" watering/feeding pattern, either. I found I got better results following the advice of a grower who picked up a cannabis cup award in 2012...each plant in a 5 gallon bucket got 2 cups of water every two days with the properly prescribed nutrient balance during veg, same thing every THREE days in flower. Instead of using the "water only when the plant needs it", which a new grower will have trouble judging before the plant starts showing leaf wilt, unless they go by "is the surface soil dry?", in which case they run a risk of over-feeding or "drowning" the plant's roots.

Worked for me...but again, that's MY method, pure opinion, though the reasoning behind it is solid. If your plant gets so dry/hungry it starts to wilt, then gets watered/fed, then waits to start showing trouble again, all through cycle, it's not going to do as well as if it stays healthy and happy the whole time, right?







End advice: No, you probably WON'T be able to run it, as is, off your existing electric without doing some switching around of stuff, possibly running a couple new circuits. If your main breaker is100 amps or more, that's probably ALL you'll have to do.

If you have to run a new circuit, consider running a 220, as it halves the amperage drawn, and your dehumidifier and ballast should have the ability to run on EITHER 110 or 220, and you can put up to 4 220 outlets on one circuit legally...gauge of wire required is based on amps drawn, not voltage or wattage of equipment (though those three are inter-related).

If any breaker that keeps tripping is 15 amps, and the house is 1980 or newer, you can replace it with a 20 amp with no issues...if you decide to do so, PM me, I'll walk you through it, as adding a circuit is considered a "homeowner upgrade", and doesn't require an electrician to sign off on it, or even a permit (though when the house is sold, you'll need to grandfather a permit as part of the selling price), so long as it's not done by a contractor (officially--and you won't find many licensed electricians who will do it unofficially, as that can cost them their license, bond, and insurance policy). If the house is older than 1980 you can PROBABLY still do so...but to be safe, PM me, I'll tell you what to check for to see if it is definitely safe, or questionably safe.

DON'T try to turn a 10 amp circuit into a 20 amp...no matter when the place was built.


Drying racks, IMO, are a waste of money. $8 worth of visquene and a dark, dry(ish--if I can hang in my garage in coastal Washington, and dry without fungal issues, any time but the late winter/early spring, chances are you won't have any issues, unless they're related to air being TOO dry), cool area works fine for the hanging stage, and a dry cabinet (away from the dishwasher, clothes dryer, and cabinet under the sink) in the kitchen is fine for the "paper sandwich bag" stage. Cheaper, and you have room to dry more at once.


That cover most of it?

Sorry for the book...lots of questions means lots of answers, and they aren't SIMPLE, especially when trying to explain the "why".

 

Oops...missed the "what strains?" question. Indicas tend to be hardier. Look at their "natural environments", you'll know why. Sativas tend to want more consistent atmospheres. Again, look at WHERE they grow, you'll know why.

That said...what do you hear about Humboldt County, CA outdoor grows, WA State grows, British Colombia grows? All known as sources of some of the best outdoor bud in the world, yes?

Up here in NW coastal WA...and in B.C....well, I'm right next to the coast, 17 miles from being forced to enjoy hockey and maple syrup, so we don't top an average high temp of 70 until July, and lose it in September, don't top 60 until May, and lose it in Croptober, our average overnight lows stay under 50 except in June, July, and August. That's on the lowland coast. Most of our growers locally are further inland and uphill from here, right on out to halfway up to our local ski areas. We still get outdoor bud that's known worldwide for its quality.

The plants are hardy...if you make up for what they lack from nature by supplying plenty of what you CAN, when growing indoors. Usually the problem with indoor grows seems to come from overcontrolling trying to get "ideal circumstances" you just can't get, because there's no possible way to come CLOSE to matching outdoor grow conditions.
 
Those that AREN'T caused that way seem to be the result of ignorance, or forgetting side effects of something you do to solve an obvious issue...for instance, having a fan to intake air that blows directly on the plants...which has the effect of raising them in a windstorm of consistent winds of a given speed that is usually damn near gale force winds....plants just can't survive that shit. Think "nature"...what happens if 500 cubic feet per minute volume passes through a .35 sq foot area, as far as the speed of the wind? That's one hell of a windstorm, right? How would the plants fare in the wild if that wind blew on them for their whole life? Point made?

 

holy shit

 

Wow, i need to hire that man for my essays

You forgot to get pH test kit

 

enjoy...I don't know if it's local water, or what, but I used a pH kit for my first plant (soil), it never budged outside of the 6.5-7 "ideal" range.
Used it on a failed DWC...slightly more trouble. But they developed a problem with roots separating from stems, and died, anyhow, so I went back to soil.
Never used it since. 3 indoor crops of such quality that what I didn't keep, the dispensary manager didn't let hit the shelf, bought it all for himself.

Always advisable to do for the first couple grows, but if you never have a problem with pH during those, and you don't change water source, nutrients, or soil...fuck it, it doesn't matter.

 

Sorry...can't help it.
Spent most of my life constantly training people in one thing or another (military, working for others in construction, then owning my own GC company that did "specialty work", selling it to go to school for an engineering degree, where I got "pocket money" tutoring in math, lower level physics courses, Chem under 200 level)....

Been told too many times I should have just gotten a teaching degree and been done with it...lol

 

well ph kit can't hurt to have incase he comes to a ph related problem

 

Yup. Like I said, first couple grows, a must. If he notices he DOES have to tinker, keep it. If not, no need.

Not like a soil pH tester is expensive. $20 neighborhood for a good one.