Good afternoon guys. So a simple question today so I can begin to think of how to handle future grow attempts. I’m currently 19 days into my first attempt ever and admittedly struggling but I’m flung to keep trying.
So I have a 2x4x5 tent and I’m curious as to what I should try to grow in it. Currently I’m trying with autos gotten from ILGM. I popped three of them (as an experiment to start), and all three are in 3 gallon fabrics with happy frog. I do NOT have perlite, really know much about it or why it’s needed, but I’ve read I guess I probably messed up by just using the soil.
Anyways, I did have a 1200watt KingLED but I’m replacing it with a Spider SF2000 as they light is designed more for a 2x4 tent.
If I fail this grow with just the three plants, should I try to do more next time? I’m sure I can get more than three in the tent, I just worry about space eventually. A guy I know has FOUR plants in 7 gals in a 2x2x5 tent and I just think that’ll be too small a space. Maybe I technically could do six in my tent easily?
Should I use larger pots? I have 7 gals as well. Also, I’m not comfortable with transplanting and I dont understand much of this whole process yet. At the moment I’m just trying to keep my stunted babies alive and see what happens
I would only recommend 3 gallons as a max size for indoor growing.
As for plant count, you can have 100 plants in solo cups, or you can have 2 plants in 7 gallons. It’s all about when to switch to flowering, and how often you want to water.
Canopy development is the key!
I would try to grow just 2 photoperiod plants next time. You would then train them to each have a 2’x2’ canopy, completely filling out your tent.
A few tips on that plan:
Choose really large fabric pots, like 20 gallon, and roll down the sides to create a half-height planter. You need to save headroom. A wide base will also help with tipping.
Soil isn’t necessarily the best option indoors. Consider coco coir and perlite, with ionically available nutrients instead. There are a couple hundred dollars involved in the switch, but you’ll yield more and consistency should improve. Edit: coco wouldn’t require as large a container as soil, and large containers can actually prevent you from taking coco coir to it’s full potential.
I don’t use a SCROG, and instead I prune and train the plant to maintain an even canopy, but a SCROG can make it easier in some ways. I just like to be able to move my plants, and I keep them smaller than most people.
You are plenty good with 3 autos in 3 gallon pots. Only foreseeable issue is if you are type to try to run long light schedule and the plants are stubborn to flower. Your buddy growing 4 plants in 7 gallon pots in 2x2 is wasting money on pots and soil, and he’ll probably have a mess on his hands.
The question about amount of plants always brings some strange out haha. There is no right answer, as the number can fluctuations a lot on how you plan to grow them. There is big pot/big plant crowd, lots of small plant crowd, and several different levels of in-between. None are necessarily wrong as long as you understand why you are doing what you’re trying to do.
As the community has covered there’s really no wrong answer. My thoughts would be 2 photos or you can go with 3 autos. Either way you can have a tent full of buds.
Woahi have 1 plant in a 2x2 4 and its gonna fill the whole tent likely. Its only a month old and almost there now. 2 or 3 plants in a wx4 is plenty. Autos u can fit 3 prolly fairly comfy. Photos u can get 1 plant to fill a 2x4 if u want. More plants is not always better easier to learn on a couple and work up from there. Autos will be a bit of work as they r finicky as hell but fun to grow and see
I start my plants on 24 hour light for a week or so, then go to 18/6 until flower, then 12/12. There is really no reason to veg with more than 18 hours unless your lights are too small for your area.
You can run whatever light schedule you want really, just how I feel about it. Your plants can only process so much energy, that is determined by amount of light and amount of time lights are on along with co2 and water. The light portion of this is called daily light integral. Same reason you see people say you need more light for flowering photo plants than veg, because lights aren’t on as long when flowering photo plants. Just because a typical auto doesn’t require shorter light schedule to flower just about everything else about the plants still applies.
In short, there is target dli. If you can make it on 12 hours or 18 hours then there’s no reason to run them longer.
Thank you very much for the detailed info. I’ll probably keep running 24hrs with intake and exhaust for now and see what happens. If they die, they die, and I’ll have learned something about my set up and environment and stuff.
I probably will try to switch to a light/dark period if, and that’s a BIG if, I get to the flowering stage lol
