Ok this is my first grow so this would also be my first grow journal. I will be starting the process from the very start and will include setting up my operation from the ground up. So far my inventory is as follows: 1 - 73"x73"x73" Tent 1 - 4" vortex heavy duty fan with a homemade carbon filter 3 - 6" inline fans 1 - 36" ebb and flo table with resevoir and stand 1 - 1000watt HPS/MH switchable ballast 1 - air cooled reflector 1 - 1000watt HPS bulb 1 - 1000watt MH bulb 4 - DIY bubble buckets 1 - Light timer Still left to get, hopefully all by tomorrow: 1 - 12 amp digital timer 2 - light hangers 1 - hygro-thermometer 1 - 12" oscolating fan 1 - fan speed controller 1 - digital PH meter 1 - PH-UP 1 - PH-DOWN 1 - General Hydroponics Flora Micro 1 - General Hydroponics Flora Bloom 1 - TDS meter 1 - Magnified glass 1 - Illuminated microscope 1 - Window curtain Once I set up the gear tonight and pick all of this up tomorrow and set it up I should be ready to decide what the heck I'm going to grow in this hydroponics grow tent of mine. Tomatoes or lettuce? Actually I have access to clones so I'm going to start learning with those. Just have decide what strain I want. I'm thinking of doing maybe 16 plants. Let me know if you noticed I missed something on my list, I'd greatly appreciate any advice. time to get to work
Ok so last night I only had energy to assemble the tent and get everything inside for me to finish assembling today. My friend had made a light stand as the tent is kinda a cheap one and I didn't haul that with me so I'm going to have to put something together myself. He gave me this thin poles that I'll post a pick later that he said was for the light as the tents roof poles have all these little holes in them. This should be fun I guess. I have to do some modifications over time with this thing. I may decide to just go with a smaller tent for future grows. So today I'm going to set up fans, tidy things up a bit and get the rest of the supplies this afternoon and then build my light stand and I also need to make a curtain to stealth the duct leading out my window. Should be a fun day. Hopefully I will spend more time DOING than RESEARCHING now.
Honestly I have not decided yet. I want the whole op to be up by the end of this week and the only thing slowing me down is deciding between different methods on certain things. I'm kind of a perfectionist and I want to do this right the first time. I'm most likely going to start with the ebb and flow table and use the buckets for when I remodel my tent for a future grow. Taking this all one step at a time. My dad is an experienced old school grower from the middle east and hasn't grown in over 20 years and will be helping me with the grow process. My cousin used to be a supervising engineer for a company that designs airplane parts and he will be helping me with setting up the equiptment. Between them and the friendly peeps here I think this should go well.
Ok rough past past couple of days trying to get things figured out but none the less I think I have it figured out. had to build a light pole that I'll be hanging my light, carbon filter and fans from. I think I am going to try and keep my vortex inside the tent too........idk I think I can keep it cool enough especially since these nights have been getting so cold and we dont use our heat. Went to the hydro store and got almost everything i needed. just need a hygrometer and magnafying glasses i believe. Also I think there was 1 more nutrient that you can use with the lucas formula that gives better yield, i forgot what i was so i'll be spending tonight figuring out that and what i'm going to be doing with my tray. I'm pretty sure I want to put netted pots in but idk yet. next couple of grows i'll really make the tray nice. Tomorrow I'm going to tape up my fans to my tent and assemble my light rack inside the tent. I'll need to make 1 more stop to the hardware store for some supplies i forgot today and i need to go to a hydro store that does sell the magnifying glass as well as that last nute i forgot too, oh and clippers.
Flora Grow. He states you only need micro/bloom but says higher yields were recorded vegging with the grow. I use the FloraNova Series and I use the Grow 1 part as well. Killer Setup HAVE fun !
it def wasn't the Flora Grow, I believe using the "Grow" would defeat the purpose of the lucas formula? What I read was that the micro and bloom have enough nutes and grow is not needed.
Ok, things have been taking a little while longer than expected to get going but things are coming along none the less. Had to build a rack to hang my light, fan and filter from. Bought 60$ worth of steel gas pipes and built a nice sturdy bar going across my tent. Took a couple of trips to the hydro store as well as the hardware store. We got everything on the list of things to get as well as some extra things like 2 clip on fans that we clipped on our new fancy bar rack. So i got everything kinda set up, the fans are really really noisy. I'm a very paranoid person so maybe its just me. I also mounted the vortex to the wall so the sound kinda vibrates on the wall. We don't mind it but I just don't want that to blow my cover so I think I'm going to be making something like a shelf to mount that vortex to. Also is my tent supposed to inflate when i close it up? I would think not. The air vents on the bottom of the tent where taped up so i untaped those, still it inflates. Maybe its normal. Also my temps are really high, 82 degrees right before i turned everything off after leaving it on for several hours. Also I'll be needing to get a new tent, this one isn't even trapping all the light correctly, going to do my best to patch things but we'll see how many grows until im sick of it. Also I'm a little nervous about my filter not working. I may order a 4 or 6" vortex/carbonfilter combo to replace the home made filter and shitty inline can fan thats attached to my hood. I think I'm going to try and get my vortex fan thats mounted on the wall inside the tent and attached to my carbon filter. I think this wold increase the air flow aswell and stop the tent from inflating.
going to get some of that panda foam i think to cover my table with so i can get those pots in there and get some water flowing. I want to have my fans light and tent done before that happens though. Also I've decided I am going to build a scrog and give that a go on my first grow too. Seems super easy. I think it might turn out nicely too with the setup on my table that i have in mind.
Ok so I had some difficulty getting my fans set up the correct way but hopefully the way they are now is going to work. Temps aren't going over 85 and get as low as 70 with lights off and only fans running. i am also going to be adding a carbon filter and 6" 500cfm fan in a few days when it arrives. I also plan on adding another oscollating fan making 2 big ones and 2 small clip on fans. I am going to get some more hydroton tomorrow to fill my last 2 pots and I am going to fill the res and get the water at the correct levels to bring in clones. some questions: What are the guidelines when it comes to growing different strains of clones together if it makes any difference? Should I Scrog? It seems simple enough but is it a good idea for a first time grow? Are my pots fine sitting on the bottom of the tray? I want to do 2 of 4 different strains or 4 of 2 different strains, idk yet.
by the looks of it, you should have room to grow some big ole ladies I'd def do some training to em, scrog would be good but makin the screen can be a pain. I just topp plants when young evening out the branches' canopy. If certain tops grow too fast, they can be topped as well. Just pinch of the growth tip. The pots should sit on the bottom. Once the tray drains it shouldn't have much sitting at the bottom. growing dif strains together makes it a bit trickier as you have to try n make em all happy. Some strains like light nutes, some are pigs. Trying to find that happy medium betwee is what its all about.
yeah other than the General Hydroponics FloraMicro and FloraBloom the hydro store owner talked me into buying Big Buds. I think with a simple nutrient plan like this, with room to add i think too if i want to and i prob will as i go along, I think I can grow multiple strains in 1 table. i want to add something to help my clones roots get well established to their new environment so if you have any recs that would be awsome . The clones I'm getting should be very healthy so i want to keep it that way.. Lots of strains to choose from too i cant wait! Thanks for stopping in.
there are alotta mycorrhizal fungi products out there but all I use for hydro is hygrozyme. Its anenzyme product that helps break down dead root tissue as well as other organic material that is in the system. I've experienced beefy root systems in soil and hydro using it an highly recommend
awsome! i had that written down on my note pad of nutes to research so you just confirmed my picking this up today thanks alot! feeling much more confident now. I've been very nervous about making mistakes with this grow. its teaching me lots of lessons already though! My scrubber and exhaust fan dont come for another 10 days or so, I think I'll be ok smell wise starting from fairly well rooted clones? I hope so, or its an emergency trip to the hydro store and a return to amazon anyways, off i go to the hydro store to buy my final bit of hydroton that i feel retarded for not getting the last trip and that hygrozyme!
awsome! picked up the hydroton and hygrozyme! got the small bottle since the stuff was so expensive and I've never used it....bottle says to use every time i use my nutes? Going to get water in my res and test things out, things looked good yesterday, just had to give it a rinse and cover the table. Im still trying to figure out how to empty my res lol....my bathroom is only about 10 feet away if that from it but its like a 30 gallon res. first time i did it i got the whole bathroom wet and dripped the whole way (lights where unplugged ) After a quick water test i should be ready to go pick out my ladies! should i have nutes already in my res before i put them in? 15mins on 15mins off seem like a good cycle for flooding and draining?
flooding n draining every 15 minutes? way less often then that. I know with rockwool its only once a day an for hydroton I think two a day always when lights are on. First when lights just come on n then a mid day dip. im no eb n flow pro tho... hopefully other blades can come in n give more specific direstions Mix your nutes to only bout 500 ppm for freshly rooted clones. Dont wanna burn them.
my tap waters ph is at 7.0 with ppm of 220. My res can hold 30 gallons.....im deciding if its smarter to buy water or a brita filter for my tap water... gatta hurry up and solve this water problem so i can get my ladies!
hmmm.... I bought an RO filter as my tap water was 350+ an itwas def a great investment. You might be able to use ur tap water with minimal impact on plants depending what is making up that 220. Buying water is never a great long term solution cuz its alotta lugging it around n the cost builds up slowly