T5: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019IMM7VK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Lights I wanna buy: www.amazon.com/Lightingwise-6500K-Fluorescent-Light-Bulbs/dp/B01EQN844U/ref=sr_1_5?crid=36UQ3TWR7BI78&keywords=t5+grow+lights+4ft&qid=1572999050&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=t5+g%2Clawngarden%2C168&sr=1-5
If your using the lights for sprouts/seedlings/clones and vegging then yes. Flowering will be a no both in light selection and color temp
Nice! If you want really short squat plants go about 4” from top of plants or about 20k lux If you have a light meter. If you want what I call short but good nose spacing for main lining go about 5-6” away from top of plants or 16-18k lux. If you want stretching for clones go 6-8” from top of plants or 12-16k lux. These are all guidelines and depend on strain. Lastly during the 1week of flip u can use the MH to help keep the stretch down a little. Then flip over to the HPS.
Well.. This my plan right now. I'm trying to order some feminized autoflower seeds asap. It will be my first time doing autos. My space is a 5' by 5' by 2m long tent. I do not know how they grow, but in my notes I have I know im not supposed to lolipop or defoliate w them.. being told i can do 8-9 autos in my space i have a pretty clear cut plan for the switching from light to light. I fucked up early last time and kept my t5 a little too far away from the seedlings, I know it's to be 6 inches above the plants now. my current plans are to get cheap PVC connectors for my tent because some connectors cracked when I unattached them from the tents beams before. i just bought those lights(blue for veg) and another cheap pH droplet tester kit. I did 5 feminized plants for my first run that I accomplished last year. Got through it pretty well. long veg time and i went from cups>1g>3g Had minor issues here and there but all my homies on here helped me out if anything arose. all in my journal documented. Growing in coco coir(never tried anything else+I was told hydro is best for indoor yield).
Hmmm if you tent is 5ft or even 6ft in height I would probably keep the T5 closer to the tops. And aim for really short squat plants. The reason being with a 6ft height you lose maybe 6in for the chain holding your height then you also need to keep the 1000w hps about 24in above the canopy to get a good light foot print. Also don’t forget about the height of the container holding your soil or water if your doing dwc. That’s anywhere from 12-18 inches. so you lose about 36-48 inches before you begin. if your doing autos I would run the lights 20/4 and use the T5 till about 4th node. Then switch over to the MH. Again keeping it as close to tops without bleaching as possible. To keep plants squat. Then around day 21-30 you should see pistals. Keep the MH for another week and swap to the HPS. Still keeping the 20/4 light schedule. For autos you can defoliate and top and lollipop if you want. Everything has a plus/minus effect on the plant. If you want to maximize yield above all else I would do a Sea of green of 4 cola or even 2 cola lollipops. But I would run 16-24 plants in a 5x5.
I plan to do DTW. Vexxing, but I'm more comfortable with using my tap water than I was before. I was told to start in 3G pots this time around. I have saucers, however I might buy a cheap little pool if I'm doing 9 autos to hold all of them since 9 in 3G pots will take up that kind of room. You talk about a LOT more plants though. I see what you're saying on how to grow them. I planned on doing LST(did it with my first run so I'm familiar with the process) on them too. This is what I've gathered so far in terms of basic knowledge on how this will go with the autos. I guess pistals means stacking? Let me know if anything seems off to you about this plan I laid out bro. Always open minded. "I got the plan for veg laid out pretty well. I have a good idea on when I should switch to my 1000w MH. Around 2 weeks in, I'll be halfway done w/ veg is the timetable I've been given. I'll switch to the MH then. I'll switch to the bulb to the HPS when it starts stacking growth, and will most likely feed twice a day from that point. Strain will most likely be White Widow. I'm gonna aim for 8 plants minimum, get a ninth in there when I judge the space accordingly. My main concern was how so many plants would do under the t5 fluorescent initially, however a lot of people advised me to rotate the plants in and out so that's what I'll do to solve that potential issue." "Sea of green of 4 cola or even 2 cola lollipops" I only lolipopped once and that was for my first ever run. I know the basics(cut off stems that don't matter/lower growth). So I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this. You do say 20/4. It isn't the first time I heard this for light times, they say autos can handle the stress so some people even say 24/0. I just wonder if it makes a difference though as opposed to 18/6
The pool is a good idea, however my concern would be drainage, and water pooling/settling in the low spot of the pool. Drain to Waste is a great method. I usually do DTW or DWC grow now. Just depends on how lazy I am. Are you going to grow with coco or soil? DTW with soil might get tricky because soil generally holds more water unless you add alot of perlite. I've done a 60/40 perlite/soil that acted like Coco in terms of drying out quickly. I run 3g pots for my autos and I think thats a good size. The LST will help with keeping the plant from getting too tall, so thats a good idea. When I said "Pistals" I ment "Pistils" the little white hairs that come out of the calyx. Usually an indication of maturity and for Auto(S) the shift into flowering stage. Personally I wouldn't rotate plants in and out of the T5. I try to avoid stretching as much as possible. Three options I thought might work. 1. Plant the seeds near the edge of the container so you can arrange the containers in a way that the T5 will cover them. 2. Plant only 6 or 8 plants so that they fit under the T5. 8 strong plants will out produce 9 weaker plants. 3. Skip the T5 and go with the MH from the get go. Just keep them higher then normal from sprouts, and then lower as they veg. Its been so long since I had seedlings under a 1k MH I can't remember the recommended distance. IF you had a light meter I'd say 18-22k lumen. You can lollipop a plant to a single spear or if you top the plant then the 2 side nodes become the main colas and you can lollipop everything below to get 2 spear tips. And for 4 colas you keep the 2 highest nodes and trim everything below. Lollipoping is just another method to maximize the best colas and save space. If used in a Sea of Green with a large number of plants you can get the highest yield relative to growing space. I can fit 50 clones in a 4x4 table and easy pull 1.2gpw from 2x315 cmh. They are all single cola lollipops that are about 18-24in in height when harvested. For light cycles, anything from 18/6 to 24/0 will work fine. I've run both 20/4 and 24/0 and the results were very similar. However there was a noticeable difference from 18/6 and 20/4. I like 20/4 because you get a small amount of energy (money) savings. I'll run 24/0 for weeks 1-2 and switch to 20/4 for the remaining time.
Gonna be growing with coco coir bro. I've never tried any other medium, but soil is something I've been talked about a lot. Honestly, I need to gather more info about it.. Not sure how it works, but I know how coco coir works. I just need to water appropriately and be sure to increase the feeding frequency like my instructions state because it dries up fast+they will be autos now(faster harvest and process than vegging for 3 months like I did with photos). For the ratios for my first grow, I did 70/30 coco/perlite. I have a lot of perlite left over from what I ordered. My priority is to order more coco coir soon. Need to figure out how many autos I'm gonna do though. Let me give you some information about how five plants vegged from cups>1g>3g made it through in 3 Gallon pots during veg. I was still using my t5 with the 3 Gallon pots for a little before I switched to the MH. They barely fit under the t5 fluorescent. I was trying really hard to position them in a straight line. What was hard at the time is that all my plants were different sizes(germinating issues+mishaps because it was my first grow ever), so I needed to even my canopy with objects under the plants during all of this. How would I reasonably do 8-9 plants under my t5 in 3g pots? Even if I do as you say, five plants barely fit under the t5 with 3g pots. I would not be opposed to starting with the MH, but the question is if I will regret making that choice. Many people vouched for the t5 before I bought it. I know it's good for early veg and it served me well when I veg'd for that long with the photos. Question is, what's better to do for autos. To be clear, this time around I wanna maximize the yield I get. I don't want garbage bud, but I do want to put more emphasis on yield this time around. I yielded 1.3-1.4lb for my first run with 5 photos. Wonder what i can get with a shit ton of autos?
Personally I would just go straight with the MH from seed. The T5 is great for sprouts and seedlings. Prior to QBoards I would use T5 exclusively for seedlings and clones. Mostly just to save energy. I could have tossed them in with the MH but it wasn’t needed. Don’t be afraid to use the MH for seedlings. They even have cell phone apps that give you a rough estimate of the lumens so you can adjust the height of the MH for the seedlings.
It would be a lot easier for me as well. I won't have to take down that big T5 fluorescent. Unfortunately now, I ordered more t5 lights.. They're set to come tomorrow. Guess I'll keep them in case I need to use the t5. I had a ballast stop working in the middle of the first run and used the t5 as an emergency for a couple of days until I got a new one. I have no issue with starting with the MH. I'll try to figure out heights. I'm just wondering how many autos I should plant in general now being that the 1000w will cover any count.
So lets say I do 9 autos. I'll try to lolipop the best I can. LST will definitely be done and I was told I could LST from any point and time. So now starting with the MH, I won't have difficulty with spacing the plants out. Wonder how I should have them laid out. I guess in columns of 3? Gonna go with a pool tray to collect drainage. The thing is, my 1000w has a dimmer setting on it(50%,75%). I wonder how I should start them if I'm trying to veg with the MH from germ. Also, how many liters of coco coir do you think I would need for 9 plants doing 60/40 with perlite? I assume near 100L?
I’m gonna leave the spacing up to you. Million of ways to do it and as long as they all get a lot of light you are good. im going to refer you to this link about dimming HID lights. Link 3gallons is 11.35L x .60 = 6.81L per pot. Round up to 7 for easy math. 9pots x 7L and u get 63L of coco coir needed. Also 41L of perlite.
Going to go with your advice here and start 9 autos with the 1000w MH. That's my plan. Thanks for all your help and advice thus far. I wonder how much I'll yield with 9 autos. I just posed the question to people and they pretty much say it's impossible to guesstimate. Still, when people comment how much they've yielded with autos it's helpful to me. I guess I'm gonna order the coco coir soon. I'll take a look into what you sent me about the dimming here soon as well. I also need to find a decent feeding tool since I'm doing DTW(beaker cup and funnel was messy for me before so I want an alternative). For germ with 3G pots, do you make the fingernail length incision for the seeds? It will be my first time germing in such big pots.
I just read the link you sent me. They seem pretty against dimming. They provided a lot of information as to why it's bad to dim. I'm just trying to not put too much stress on the seeds when I first try to germ. I can keep adjusting the lights distance relative to the plants without an issue, but I know how hot this 1000w gets. Especially the HPS. It'll be my first time starting with the MH for veg.
If you have the extra cash I’d suggest blumat watering setup to make life easier. Especially for 9 plants. if u really want a luxury item get the blumat moisture meter. You can really dial in your water. I usually use a chopstick or pencil and just poke a hole about 1/2inch deep drop a seed in and then water it. your going to get different suggestions here so I will let u make your own decision. But what I do is fully water the 3g pot just before I put the seed in. After putting the seed in I just gently tap the hole closed. If you only water a small amount around the seed it will dry out fairly quickly because the rest of the coco will redistribute the water you just put in unless there is already moisture in the coco.
Ya you gotta make sure you can manage the heat of a 1000w HID. I assumed since u completed 1grow with that light you already had that part figured out. But it’s really not that bad. I’ve run seedlings under 1000w MH and they were fine
So you suggest to precharge the coco like that. Hmm, and then when is the next time you water? I assume not for days when starting off with such a big pots. Blumat watering setup.. How much are those? I see them for reasonable prices, but I don't know if I'm looking at the right thing here. You mean HPS? Yeah, that 1000w light gets really hot and there's really little stuff you can do about it. For my first run, I had two oscillating fans in my tent working. This new apartment I'm at right now is much better because I believe the AC at my old one was fucked up. When it was hot, it was really damn hot over there. With that light, it reached the high 90s Fahrenheit at some points. Dehumidifiers are also pretty pricey. I dunno, I'm just gonna let nature take it's course again over here now that my AC is okay. I will need to figure out how high to position this MH for germ+early veg. I also need to figure out dimmer settings, because I know I need to dim this 1000w at first. 100% of it is brutal and that would definitely damage the plants during germ or early veg.
Here is a good starter kit. You will still need to hook it up to some type of bucket or tub to act as a reservoir. Link As for the precharging coco and when to re-water. I usually don’t rewater until I see first set of true leaves which is usual day 5. But will add maybe 50ml of water at day 6 or 7 if no sprout yet. But this is for my grow room. This might be different for your setup because of temps,RH and air circulation
That price for the system is perfectly reasonable. I just don't know if I can do this right now. It seems pretty small in size? I will probably invest but for now, I need to prioritize seeds+growing medium+fixing my tent by buying new connectors PVC kind(some cracked as I took them apart from the beams my first run)+a feeding tool if I can find a decent one. I've got buckets. 3 gallon buckets and 1G buckets for my solution for feeding. Thanks for that info about precharging. With Coco Coir, you're supposed to water til runoff each time. So when I precharge, it will also be til runoff. I guess I can just plop the seeds in the mix right after I collect the drainage.