Yet Another First Grow - QB132's, White Widow & Northern Lights Autos

Finally fed up waiting on dealers and paying premium $$ for subpar green, so I'm giving this my best shot.

Alright here we go.

Seeds from ILGM.com
3x White Widow AF
2x Northern Lights AF

Soil is
2/3's Happy Frog
1/3 Perilite
5 gal faberic pots

4x4 Vivosun Tent
2x 4 QB132 3500k grow lights (300 watt each)
HLG-320H-C2100A drivers (wall mounted outside tent)

Vivosun 6" 440 cfm inline fan, exhaust out the top and into room with tent. Currently not using as it raises temps too much when tent is zipped up.

Carbon filter not currently hooked up

Currently have AC duct flowing into the top of the tent, from central air (vent right by top of tent, that's the make shift Amazon duct lol)

Oscillating fan hanging upside down blowing on the back of the qb132s. 2 other additional fans inside the tent and 1 oscillating outside tent blowing in.

Humidifier in the back.

These are Day 4 into the pot from germination. As they are auto flowers I decided to not start in a cup and transplant. From what I was reading the transplant can be harsh on auto strains so I went right into the final pots.

Watering with distilled water and no nutes the first 2 weeks. Eventually I want to switch to tap water and moniter the PH, but as they're small I'm playing it safe.

Lights are running on full blast 30" from soil. I'm still a noob and learning as I go, bit I think the plants are looking ok? The driver I have has the option to dim down if needed.

Lights are on a 20/4 light cycle as I was reading autos need a little darkness for root growth.

Currently having problems with getting humidity up and temps down. More than I thought I would with LEDs. I ordered an additional 6" 390 cfm with a variable speed control as an intake at floor level. Also was going to hook into my Central Air AC vent and run it to the base of my tent through that fan (only a temp fix as summer is almost over). I think the problem with high temps are stemming from running the exhaust into the same room as the tent. It's in a basement in a shut room. I have to keep the door shut otherwise my cats want to scope everything out. Was thinking on cutting a 6" hole to the adjoining room (unfinished laundry room) and exhausting into there. Too concerned about exhausting outside where someone may notice. So currently I have all vents and doors open on the tent to drive temps down. I usually hover around 84ish when i can monitor it, but at night it spikes and drops drastically. As you can see in my pic it hit 65 last night.... maybe Ill have a small heater kick on for an hour or so during

Learning stuff everyday on these boards, always looking for some feedback and hints/tips.

 

Thanks! It's been a long time coming and I feel like I've been doing nothing but reading the message boards the past 2 months.

My additional fan and ducting will be here tomorrow and I'm going to play around and see if I can't get these temps down.

 

I believe it, I'm hoping to get consistant temps under 80 tomorrow, just waiting for the mail man. Been thinking it through and exhausting through to the next room sounds like my best option. Probably not going to do the AC hook up, just want to see where the temps are first before I tap into my central air. Like I said earlier, "Winter is coming" and probably wont be using the AC much more. I'll keep that idea for next summer if needed.

Wow check out these new set of leaves coming in. They didnt even exist 8 hours ago. It's crazy how fast these things are growing. Day 5

 

Thanks for the tip, but already got my new fan hooked up. Still struggling a bit on keeping good temps with the tent zipped up and bottom vents open. Right now I just have the front of the tent open and am able to maintain a stable 82 degrees F and 50% humidity. I got the exhaust running into the next room now as well. If I leave the grow room door open for airflow I get even better temps, but I need to keep my cats out. I had a idea of installing a screen door from my grow room area to the rest of the basement for fresh airflow. I think I even have one laying around lol.

I got enough equipment to make it better, just need to figure out better air flow. I placed a fan on the ground facing upward to blow the warm air off the leds into my exhaust, but I have to have the tent open to do that.

 

I did a ton of research before I picked out my lights and QBs seem the way everything is going.

 

Wow that's crazy. I start to freak out when it gets in the upper 80s low 90s. I did see that WWs are supposed to be a pretty hearty plant as well as NLs, which is why I picked those strains. Your post proves that point. Right now I'm still at 30" away on the light and the plants seem fine with it so far. Good luck on your grow as well, it's pretty exciting.

I did just notice a little spot on my WW in the corner. I'm guessing I either gave it too much water or spilled a little water on the leaf while watering. I'm gonna have to let these dry out a little more before next watering I think.

 

That's not a bad idea. I seen people using a spray bottle, which I was for awhile, but more than once the mist would hit the fan breeze and mist everything. I have a small watering can I'm currently using, but have splashed a few times. I'll look for a syringe next time I go shopping.

 

Great idea, I'll try it out next watering. Thanks

 

Day 8 since planting

Hooked up my carbon filter this morning.

Noticed a slight curl on my NL1 and WW3 plant leaves. Is this normal or possible too much light, fan, or heat?