First time growing

Grow Cycle
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This is my first time growing I ordered (5 gold leaf) (5 northern lights auto flowering) (20 blueberry auto flowering) on 5/26/2017 from ilgm I am waiting for my seeds to come . I have my lights set up in a closet 3’x5’x8’. With 5 100w cfl and 2 40w 4’ cfl I have a fan and ventilation in the closet as well . I am planning to start with jiffy pots 2 gold leaf 2 northern lights 3 blueberry and transplant to 3 gallon pots I was just wondering if anyone had any tips that might be helpful before I start

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You may need stronger lights later through the grow maybe invest in them early on as well

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Ok. Light, get some cheap leds mars hydro or whatever you fancy, get a big tent 2m x 1m x 2m and get 8 plants in there. If advise 4 300 or 600w mars hydros as 4x 300w are only 200 bucks. You spent a mad amount on seeds with no equipment… it would seem?

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4ft x 4 ft 8 bulb T5s are another good option

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Thanks for the input i will definitely get new lights. But is what I have sufficient for starting the plants and then install the new lights for vegetative growth or do I need to get the lights from the beginning.

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And yes I probably got a little carried away buying seeds but I wanted to be sure that I had extra just in case they didn’t survive

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@justin88
Autos grow VERY fast! You will need the lights in less then three weeks after sprouting. Just so you know. Also 7 plants is way over kill for a first time grow. Most don’t realize the time involved growing these plants to do it right.

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If I go with led light should I get a 600w or 1000w

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@justin88 you need to know what the true wattage of the fixture is. I have 300W fixtures but the true out out is only 136W. Rule of thumb is 35W-50W per square foot of grow space. You have 3x5=15 sf. You’ll need 525W- 750W of light.

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Just ordered a 1000w led light

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What brand led light

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@justin88
Can you give us a link to the light you bought. Just because they call it a 1000w light doesn’t mean its anywhere close to that. Light manufactures like playing games when naming their lights.

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@Rugar89 @Onlythebest79

https://www.amazon.com/Specturm-Greenhouse-Flowering-Marijuana-Medicinal/dp/B071XNX3J2/ref=sr_1_29?tag=greenrel-20

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@justin88
Your going to need a minimum of 500watts for a 5x3 grow area, with 600watts being much better.
That’s light only has 120 True Watts. You would 5 minimum of those to have enough light in your room.

Ya I know, lighting is the most expensive part of this hobby.

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@Rugar89 is right. I would say based on my experience with them that you could get by with 3 of them but more light means more buds.

That light can be used for the first half of your grow just fine though. You won’t need the additional light until later in veg and flower.

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So if I start with what I have and add 1 more led like the one I got per month over the next 3 months I should be good .

Thanks for all the advice I want to do this right and have a very successful grow

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@justin88
I feel it were me I would just go with this light out of the gate. If you ordered on Amazon they have a great return policy. This is the same cost but actually pulls 200 true Watts. Plus the light is a little longer which will give you better footprint coverage. When you’re ready you can just slap another one of these up there and you’d be at 400 true Watts.

Just my opinion though. I wish I would have just gone with better lights out of the gate.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015FLSOCE?tag=greenrel-20

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@justin88, the thing that you will find confusing about led’s is that they SELL it based on the POTENTIAL output of the bulb—100 X 10 watt = 1,000 watts. Unfortunately led’s run most efficiently at about 15% of that so when the electronics suite is built, the drivers are geared for the lower output. THAT’S why you have 2 numbers being talked about. It’s disingenuous (lying) but whatcha gonna do? The led’s that are running most efficiently are called C.O.B.: Circuit On Board. These dissipate heat better and can be driven harder so put out higher levels of light for the space but generally cost more.

The Viparspectra runs a higher output driver, probably because they have a better heatsink in their unit.

Hope this helps.

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That explains a lot I was confused about that
Thanks

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8-2-17 I have plenty of lights now a dehumidifier a humidifier heat A/C fan pots soil and nutrients and a 8x6 grow tent I think I got everything I could probably need but I never received the 30 seeds that I ordered on ilgm for $180.00 on 5-26-17 very disappointed there I sent a email but they still haven’t shipped replacement seeds yet