First Grow Ever!

Depends on your space.

I highly recommend the KingBrite 240w UV/IR light. It comes from Alibaba and it’s really sketchy feeling but they’ve been excellent 4 out of 4 times I’ve bought their lights.

Specifically this light listing:


It’s $130ish. Add $36 for shipping. This light is stocked in the US so no long waits. It took me about 2 weeks to get mine, I think the one I had shipped to @DebbieM took what, a week? No time at all.

The plant I grew under the KingBrite was like 3/4 lb. A lot of that is genetics but I firmly believe the light had a lot to do with it too.

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Sorry I went on a tangent without finishing my thought about your space. The KingBrite is perfect for a 2x4 space. It would take 2 to do awesome for a 4x4.

Alternatively HLG makes stellar lights - but they’re definitely more expensive and I’m with @Nicky - KingBrite seems to produce a similar end product for ~ half the price.

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Welcome to the forum, I can’t help, I’m in soil but would like to tag along.
This is the place for you if you need any help here, everyone is so kind and treats you like you are new to growing, not stupid. Marijuana is not like your average plant, and the amount of knowledge here is amazing. It’s very rewarding and just watching them grow may help with your bipolar. It can be so soothing.
Best of luck

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I’ve got exactly 2x4 space in that closet! So that’ll work! Much appreciated. I go on tangents all the time. I have a squirrel brain, no judgment here. @Graysin i don’t have to be discreet with the grow since I live by myself, but keeping the light in, I felt like the closet would help, plus, its a empty spare room, that I’ve turned into a grow room now. You the man :sunglasses:

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Bless you @DebbieM I appreciate the support! I’d love for you to tag along. I’m in the first few weeks of the grow, and it’s already helped me, therapeutically. :seedling:

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@Awarth32 It was here so fast, and my girls are growing just amazing under that light, it’s an incredible difference. I just love it. Feel free to check out some pics

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@DebbieM ill check them out now! I’d say by next week, I’ll be able to purchase the light. I’m so excited! Like a kid in a candy shop again.

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Did I ever thank you for the light? Because every day we send you a mental thanks, we so very much appreciate you

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I see @Graysin is getting you squared away nicely!!
We’ll be ogling over you plants soon enough!
Can’t wait to watch them grow :smiley:
You’re gonna have such a good time!

I have a HLG setup and a Spider Farmer setup, and I don’t think you can go wrong with either of those brands. I’m working on getting my first SF grow to the end.
I bought the Spiders first, but I don’t even think I made it to the flip on my first grow before i upgraded! LOL!
The urge for the best I could do took over and I’m glad it did. I feel like I ended up with a quality product that will last me for years to come. And is also adaptable if I am ever to upgrade and expand my space.

But, the Spiders are seemingly doing justice to the autos i have under them now. Time will tell.

Lighting is the most crucial investment.
I approached it like I approach buying a TV.
I decided on the biggest and the best I could get and I bought the next one up!

Best of Luck man! I’ll be tagging along and watching!!

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Welcome to the community its good to see a new grower come along to join the rest of us ,there are alot of people that can help you and give you information on hydro ,myself im a organic grower i know nothing about hydro but there is someone here on the forum that can answer any questions you may have i hope you enjoy growing

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@Tylersays the more I learn the more I understand how important each step & each piece of equipment is necessary! I’ve never done anything half a$$, so i truly wanna do this right. Also, gives me something to do while I am not working the winter months! Thank you, for tagging along!

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@Aussie_autos I am pleased that everyone is so kind! I did forget to mention that I recently purchased a grobo back in the beginning of December, had it set up on the 14th, and boom! Nothing but problems, go on the website place support tickets about once a week. Come to find out, that they shut their community forum down, and all products to this date is sold out. Not a single ticket was ever replied to. My funds for my hands on grow is tight because of the grobo purchase. Needless to say I wasn’t very happy. You live & learn i guess. Glad to be apart of this community now! I did get the grobo running, on my own though. I’m thankful that I have been a hands on, fix it kinda of guy my whole life. Thank you all for the support! Such a blessing. Rock on guys :metal:t2:

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Well how am I looking with these? There’s one that’s a little further ahead, and starting to droop some, the other is standing tall! My next drain will be on the 10th. Buckets arrive on Friday. Definitely will have to transplant that one that’s droopy.


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They’re lookin’ pretty good. Where is your water level on those? At/below the net pot bottom? Covering anything?

Sorry if you already said - it’s been a day and I’m just getting started.

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Haha you’re fine! Water level is about 1/2 inch below the net pots. Ph was 5.9 today. Added a 1ml of nutes today, don’t know if I was supposed to do that though :upside_down_face: I did go by your chart you sent me. Doesn’t seem to be any damping off. I watch these things like a hawk since I’m home a lot. After I added nutes, had to use 1ml of ph down, but I did wait about 30 mins to check that ph level after adding nutes. I feel like a dummy sometimes with all this :rofl:

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Rest assured, we all do at first. Honestly some of us stay dummies longer than others (I’m still not on board with not being a dummy :rofl:)

The reason I’m asking is because of the root cubes you’re using - I have experienced where those stay damp longer than rockwool seems to, and consequently I lower my water level an extra half inch from where I’d keep it in rockwool to prevent root rot being an eventuality.

If you can lift your net pot and water starts dripping right away, you likely have your water level too high. For what it’s worth, both of the ladies seem mature enough you can probably drop the level to where the water is just touching their root tips (I’m hoping you’ve got lots of air pushing into the res, but you’ve got the good stuff coming soon so you’ll be just fine til then either way).

Oh. If you want to avoid a little extra trial and error with your bubble buckets, check out this post: Seeds in Rockwool - #37 by Graysin

It’s a stupid fix but it works. Thread the air tubing all the way down through the “water level” tube and through the elbow join. Connect an airstone that way so your bubble bucket is aerating the water instead of blowing giant roiling bubbles, which don’t provide as much oxygen as a mess.

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I can definitely lower the water levels right now. The bottom of the net pots are always damp.

I will check out that forum you posted. I also have a small fan directly pointing down into the res. The air stone seems to be bubbling & touching both root systems. After i transfer into the buckets, where does the water level need to be in those! The same as my smaller res? Just hitting the bottom of the roots?
Thank you for your help!

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In my 5gal buckets I drop my water to 2.5 to 3 inches below the bottom of the net pot and allow the water to deplete until I’ve only got 2-3 inches of water at the bottom, then refill the res. I don’t change out or clean the buckets in between top offs - if you wanna learn lazy hydro, I can teach that. :rofl: It’s bad.

Either way a good rule of thumb is 2-3 inches below the bottom of the net pot. Your roots will eventually grow down into the water and that’s just fine as long as she’s got good air roots between her and the water level.

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Shoot! I’m all about some lazy techniques! That will help once my next work season starts again. :rofl:

I lowered the water level in the res already. The net pots seems to be drying off!

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Good deal. At this point the only helicopter parenting required is to make sure they don’t start drooping like this:

Once the leaves take on that appearance, they’re not getting enough water. I doubt you’ll see it, but if you do, top feed a lil res water to rehydrate your root cube :v:

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