1st post :) LED On Amazon for for 109.00

If it’s related to growing weed, go ahead and ask here. This is your thread, so its easier that starting 15 different new threads to ask 15 different questions that are all taking you to the same point. In most cases, you could just start a grow journal as well. I feel as a group we’re pretty flexible with this, especially with newer members learning how to both grow weed and navigate the forum at the same time.

What we would prefer, is to not have a lighting question turn into 500 posts about the weather lol. Or, take another members thread in an unrelated direction.

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Duly noted!
So here are some other questions I have:
I picked up a 4x4 tent, 4" ipower carbon filter, 4" AC infinity quiet4 duct fan w/ temp and humidity control. Is 4" enough for 4x4x8 tent? Also ordered a ppm meter, Ph meter,
PH up and PH down solution, I got a temp/humidity gauge. I picked up vivosun 5 pack of 1 gal. nonwoven fabric pots (I know I wont be using those for a long time). What soil is best? What nutrients? Distilled water or tap, I don’t have hard water. Do I need anything else other than a small fan for circulation and maybe a humidifier down the road? Still have to decide on lighting… How many plants recommended for a 4x4 space? I would like to order both sativa & indica seeds. I think I’ll be good with one or two of each if the yield is good, as this is for personal use. Is it a problem growing both strands at the same time/place? Or should it be separate grows?
Lastly, odor is a big deal! Needs to be contained at all cost. The carbon filter I bought(above) was recommended by other members. How would you guys recommend I go about the growth stages and harvesting all while trying to keep odor wayyyyyyyyyyy down in the tent. (This is actually the part that has me most worried)
Sorry for all of the above, I know its a lot… :frowning::anguished::weary:

Yep so far I have one good grow with them and I expect to have many more but of the moment as you know trying to get this grow room up and going so I can be growing

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Whatever light you decide to use . If you buy it from amazon buy it using amazon prime so if your unhappy with it , you will have no problems returning it. By the way I bought that recordecent light from amazon about 2 yrs ago. I run it 18-24 hrs everyday not one break and it’s still going strong. Gave me about 14ozs from 3 speed bud plants. We are tight around here and cheap lights that worked well fit our budget very well. T5 CFLs using 5k &3k tubes are more effective than LEDs. Just finished comparison grow and the one T5 light smoked the 3 full spec LEDs I had been using.

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I would buy a small oscillating fan besides your 4” exhaust fan and look in organic soil or soil mix section here at ilgm for some recipes for your soil. Dont use miracle grow potting mix with time released nutrients or we will see ya at flower time to discuss why your plants are &4%3%&+ up. Lol

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Even tho it’s my first grow I think I can help with some of your questions.

What soil? There are lots of options and some things that might look like soil are actually considered soil-less. Like Coco coir, it kind of looks like soil but is devoid of nutrients so it is considered ‘soil-less’. You supply all the nutes and your target pH is lower. At the other end of that spectrum are supersoils that are composted soil that release nutrients over the length of the grow. No nutes required and pH should stay in range without much manipulation. In between those two extremes are all sorts of shades of grey, some soils like Roots Organic Original are coco coir based but also have some peat. So it’s ‘almost’ like soilless and other soils like Fox Farms Ocean Forest have quite a bit of nutes in them but will need additions after some time (like near the end of veg or even later). There are all sorts of critters in soil like bacteria, fungi, nematodes. Mycorrhizae (aka Mykos) is a fungus you will hear about that the roots love. So you’ll have to decide what growing media you want and there are proponents of all. Lots of folks make their own supersoil but know that it needs to ‘bake’ or ‘ferment’ for a month or two before use so the critters can break down the organic matter into nutes the plant can actually use.

Which nutes? Another very deep well. Due to the popularity of growing cannabis there is no shortage of people ready to take your money. I can only say that I went the simple route of buying Fox Farms trio plus Fox Farms Sledgehammer (a flushing solution). However, in my very limited experience you have to adjust your dosage based on several factors, like which soil you use, what stage of growth, etc. This is where your runoff TDS (total dissolved solids) comes in, you’ll adjust your nutes based on that and of course whatever the plants are telling you.

I have 4 plants in 5 gal pots in a 4x4 space and I veg’d for 9 weeks and it is too many. So I should have used smaller pots like 3 gal and shortened my veg time…or grown less plants. I have read you need switch from veg to flower when your plants are half the size that your space will allow because they will double in size going forward

Hope that helped and I hope I didn’t step in it by saying something inaccurate. :slight_smile:

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In terms of your air exchange, we would need the cfm rating of fans. If you’re running the ac infinity fan as intake and vivosun fan as exhaust you’re probably ahead of air exchange requirements anyway. That setup may leave a little to be desired for temp control, but too many variables involved there to just say your fans will do it. How much heat you create in tent, temp of intake air, ductwork, and others will play into that. We have a guy that can help. He’ll just need that information.

Soil and nutrients, that’s a toss up. Promix is probably a fan favorite here. Its relatively inert so you would need to feed for duration of grow. The extreme opposite would be a heavily amended super soil in which you would likely feed very little or at all. A soil like fox farms ocean forest would get through a standard veg cycle without feeding much or at all. You kinda have to decide what you’d want to do there, and then nutrients and how you use them would fall into place. Most of the nutrient companies all use the same handful of compounds to make them. So the difference from one line to the next will just consist of different or more/less bottles with different ratios of the same stuff. I guess what I’m saying is that spending $30 or $130 wont get you any magic potions lol. Some just offer ease of use while others may offer the ultimate control and a few more specialized components.

Odor is tough. Most filters do a nice job, but are susceptible to things like high humidity and dust. If you have a filter that’s sized properly and no air leaks I would think you’ll be ok as long as environment stays reasonable. You probably wont need filter first couple of weeks. But late veg and definitely flowering they will stink.

Plant count another difficult situation. 4 plants on 4-5 week veg time wont be a problem. But you can do 2 plants first and get a feel for how they fit. Mixing indica and sativa can also be a problem. But plenty manageable if you’re not planning on growing huge plants.

Tap water could be fine. Do you have a well or municipal water?

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I use a 1000 watt HID light with an air cooled reflector and a 6 inch 400 CFM fan in a 4x4 tent. It works incredibly well - no issues with heat at all. Just 2 inches below the glass it only feels a couple of degrees warmer than the ambient temperature. I believe the key thing here is - get a sealed air cooled reflector, not one of those open ones.

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@poundcake thank you brother, great insight on soil and planting. :+1:t3:
I was a little lost, I appreciate it. I have a lot to learn.
@dbrn32 thanks once again mate for your detailed response and info. When I receive and unbox everything I will reply with specs. We have municipal water here.
Don’t know if that is good or bad. However, I had a saltwater aquarium setup some years back and kept getting brown outs or what they call Diatom algae. I even have to clean this brown algae from my humidifier every week or so.
Why do you think it would be a problem mixing sativa and indica?
My next question is a total newb question… get ready…lol :grimacing:
You mention “its manageable if you’re not planning on growing huge plants.”
What does that mean? How do you control that? I’m going to take a guess okay?
But, bare with me:
I’m assuming that “controlling size is managed by starting the flowering process once the plant gets to a certain size?” If thats the case when do you know when you can start flowering? I’m a little embarrassed …:see_no_evil:
When you harvest, what happens to the rest of the plant? is it no longer good? :see_no_evil::see_no_evil:

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Well, since you’re on municipal water there should be a water report online you can look up. It will tell you things that are in your water. There’s probably chlorine or chloramine. General consensus on both is that you dont want either in your pots. The chlorine you can dump in a bucket overnight and stir occasionally and it will evaporate. Chloramine you will need to treat, aquarium stuff should be fine. That brown algae could be from high silica count in water, that should also be shown on your water report

You are correct about the plants size. Longer veg time will get you bigger plant. There are some exceptions, like hydroponic or some soilless mediums will grow a little more rapidly than a plant in soil. Those are things you can consider. If you’re using photo period plants, you can essentially veg them as long as you want indoors. But they need to be about 4-5 weeks old before they will actually produce flowers. You can also get an auto flowering plant, which will genetically flower on it’s own at some point, usually around 4-6 weeks old.

In either case, once they start flowering you’ll have roughly 8-12 weeks from that time to harvest. Then probably a week or so of drying, and at least a few weeks of curing.

There’s several different ways you can grow weed successfully, and the best way be highly opinionated by each individual. I feel the easiest way for you to be successful would be to keep your first grow as simple as possible. But there are several of us here that can help you do just about whatever you’d like.

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@dbrn32 You are the man! I have lots of homework to do.
No further questions at this time :rofl::joy::rofl::joy::rofl::joy:

Thank you for all of your help and support!

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Glad I can help, we’ll be around.

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I agree with you with one exception, why are most folks growing plants in too small a container 3 gal 5 gal and expecting nice bushy plants with large buds ? Plant size plant health nutrient issues and root rot/browning are all directly effected by container size. Once roots are bound so is the plant, nothing but upward spindly growth. This is of course In my humblest of opinions

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I have three plants right now, same genes and same upbringing, except two are in 10 gallon and one is in 5 gallon. The growth in the 10 vs 5 is significant. The downside is the size of the 10 gallon pot. It’s tough to fit those in smaller grow tents. But if you got the room, go big, in my opinion.

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That’s one thing I’m not considering when I scold others on container size, is how much room they may have for their grow area.

Hi @Zsitchin, What is your method from seed? I actually thought 5 gal to was a lot to start. :thinking: I purchased one gal fabric pots with the intent to transplant.

Look at the containers I use on this post (Gelato green crack Trainwreck ) for feminized plants. One is 35-40 gallon. I germ in paper towel ,then plant into a 1qt sherbert container I’ve drilled drain holes in bottom and smaller breather holes into the sides. Let em nurse for 10 days and then transplant into the big containers usually 15-20 gallon. I use organic soil and rain water I don’t ph because with rain water and organic soil it’s needless as ph’ing most soil grows is unles your using city water or similar. My rain water varies from 7.8-10.3 depending on how much cloud seeding and what metal salts they are using to accomplish a particular weather pattern so my rain water varies but I still don’t bother with ph. ( ever seen a Gardner outside trying to ph rain water lol ) other mediums require you to ph your water and adjust alkalinity throughout the grow. My experience has also taught me that whatever your growing the size of the container directly effects every part of your grow. I understand there are those who’ve had a different experience and continue to use containers that are too small and weather they suffer from nute issue or not the truth is the plants growth suffers and that not my opinion it’s fact. Excuse me just frustrated with so many folks using too small grow container that have grown for years and still choose to argue the point. This is one fact that can’t be argued on pro- con basis . Look at it this way , for every leaf stem petiole etc you see there is a main root system with feeder roots supporting that leaf. As above so below. When our artery’s are clogged or pinched we don’t function well and neither do plants faced with same problem. I still bet “pot” lol that pot size is your entire problem and if I could I’d come transplant it for you and give you some to hold you over that’s how sure I am of why you have issues

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@Zsitchin, the thought of using rain water didn’t cross my mind because I’m in the east coast and it is cold as hell here. Collection would probably be another issue, but it makes all the sense. I have city (municipal water) which I have yet to look-up the report but I’m sure that it’s loaded with chlorine, metals, and other crap as the water travels through the old pipes. But thinking about contaminants, living in a city will prob. collect acid rain as well. Just out of curiosity I’m going to collect some rain water and test it.
With regard to potting;10 gallon is probably nice and all but space is definitely something that I’m bound by. I would prob. only be able to grow one or two in a 4x4 tent right?

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You can fit four ten gallons in a 4x4 space. A ten gallon is about 16" diameter and it nice in cozy on a 2x2 footprint.

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Maybe you can try Mars Hydro lights. I bought them on the official website, which is cheaper than amazon

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