First Grow, Autos, QB, Any advice is appreciated!

Hello all!
So this is my first attempt at growing.

I am growing (1) Amnesia Haze Auto and (1) Northern Lights Auto. (got the auto mixpack here at ILGM)

I have a 3x3x6 no name tent.
260w v2 Quantum Board.
Soil is a mix of Just Natural organic soil, organic garden coir, extra worm casings, and perlite.
Exhaust is a little iffy and ghetto, but a work in progress. (Kinda ran out of funds after the light, lol)
Have an RV sewer hose cut in half, one is taped to a small A/C in the room and vented into the bottom of tent, and the other half is attached to a purple fan at the top of the tent and venting out warm air.

The heat was really high at first until I realized I could dim the light a bit, and did so to about 75 percent.
The light is approximately 36 inches from the top of the soil.

Amnesia Haze Auto looks good so far as I can tell, and the Northern Lights Auto is a bit odd looking but hope she will straighten out.
AH is about 3 days old and the NL is about 2.

I hope I about covered it all, thanks for looking!!! I hope to just not kill them lol.

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PH and PPM pens needed @GalaxyGirl

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You had me at grow/autos/QB. :grinning:

Do you have a pH meter/test kit? How about nutrients? Are you keeping your babies domed/covered?

Check for the seed membrane on the NL. You might have to gently remove it so the cotyledons can open.

You really shouldn’t need the fan exhausting the driver. It’s fine w/o it.

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I totally forgot about a PPM meter @Hungrybud Are the cheap ones any good?

@blackthumbbetty I do have a PH meter and the tap water is right at 6.4.

For nutrients I have the Fox Farm Trio.I’m covering them with the top of a cut in half water bottle lol.

Oh and I germinated them in straight water till they cracked, then put them in Jiffy pellets and after 2 days the taproot came worming out of the bottom so I went ahead and planted them in the pots, 3 gallon fabric.

I tend to move that little fan around a lot trying to find the best place for it. The light does get a lot hotter than what I expected.

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@blackthumbbetty You were right about the membrane, was hard to see but I got, thank you.

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@GalaxyGirl Welcome to the family. Make sure to ask any questions you have this is a great group! Everyone here wants to make sure we succeed. They have talke me off the ledge several times during my first grow.

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Hello and welcome to the forum! The light will get hot, but don’t worry about the temp of the actual components for right now. If you get decent air movement through your space the temps should stay reasonable. Are you keeping passive intake open? And for exhaust you just have like a desk fan there blowing air out the top?

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Welcome to the forum! I see you met some of our cast of characters lol.

I want to applaud you for only planting 2: you will be much more able to see nuances during the grow and (IMO) will speed your growth (pun, get it?) as an accomplished cannabis grower.

Looks like good watering practices and you are doming your girls. I’m assuming you are in soil although I didn’t see what you are in. I might suggest that until they get bigger just water using pure distilled or R/O water; no need to PH it which is WAY easier when dealing with teaspoons of PH’d water haha.

You are probably better off with the light turned down a bit as the efficiency is likely highest at around 75% output.

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Thanks for taking the time to look over my post!
I have 2 hoses, one coming in thats attached to a small A/C in my room, and one going out thats pushed by the purple fan to let warm air out. My temps are staying around 77 to 83F. Humidity is in the 40sAlso that little fan in there, I move that around a lot trying to find the “sweet spot” for it to be most effective lol.

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Thanks so much for your input!
I have read through a ton of grow journals and I’ve seen spaces fill up way too quickly and become quite a task to manage! So two for me is perfect.
I am in soil. It’s a mix of Just Natural organic soil (from walmart), organic garden coir, extra worm casings, and perlite.
I will definitely use just pure distilled water. Still trying to figure out the best watering schedule and strategy.

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Thanks so much! I appreciate your time. :smiley:

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At some point with custom soil it would be wise to do a slurry test. Take a 1/4 cup of your soil and mix with 1 cup of DISTILLED water. Let stand for 30 minutes then test the liquid with your PH meter. It should be between 6.3 and 6.8. If it’s not then now’s the time to know so that matters can be dealt with to improve the PH for your girls.

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That’s about perfect. Rh is a little low for a seedling. You can fix that by placing a dome over it and misting the plant or inside of the dome like @Myfriendis410 suggested. Lots of growers will take wrapper off and cut a clear plastic bottle in half. You may have something else around the house too.

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I will do that soon, thanks for the suggestion. :slight_smile:

:wave: Just saying hi, and welcome! Looking good so far, I’m along for the ride. :v:

remove the hoses and open the square vents at the bottom of the tent,
u might have to lower the a/c thermostat some,
run the room a little cooler so the tent intakes cooler air.!

u don’t want the top of the plants to be over 80 F

the small metal desk fan is in the wrong spot,
hang it below the light fixture, positioned to blow across the tent not up at the light,
it will stir the hot air produced by the light diodes.!
the purple fan will remove the heat from the top of the fixture.!!

when they get into flower and the light needs to be back to 100% u can add another house fan or 2 blowing into the bottom vents.

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do not sweat getting an EC meter, just feed at 1/4 - 1/2 recommended.!
save up and get a good one.!!

if u want to save on electricity and cooling,
for now the QB could be turned down to 25%, but it’d need lowered to 12-18 inches.

AH(pretty one) is 4 days old today and NL is 3. The NL is quite ugly lol. I don’t want to pop another, though. If I end up with one, that’s okay!

Humidity is 50 and temp is 81.


@Myfriendis410 I did the slurry test. It was 6.6, so decent?
Btw, how long should I keep the domes on?

@SlowOldGuy I went ahead and moved the small fan to the upper corner and opened two of the vents. Fresh air seems to help the humidity. I’m gonna be getting another fan here soon.

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Thanks! :smile:

No, not that low! Yikes, she’ll burn her plants.

I have a 320xl v2. I start my plants at 100 watts with the light at 36". I’ve tried starting them at 24" and have gotten burnt babies.