Ok so I have had A LOT of help from you guys with my first grow but didn’t come on here until already into grow and made a lot of mistakes. I am now starting second grow. I am planting 5 purple haze female seeds in 5 gallon buckets. I have a 8x4x6.5 tent and am using just half of it for growing other half is all my supplies. It is one big tent no separation in between. I have a vivosun hydroponic 1000 watt hps mh grow light wing reflector kit. Came with hps and mh grow light bulbs. 600w/750w/1000w super lumens optional. I understand that you use the mh when first growing and switch to hps when flowering. What wattage should I start at with the mh? I also have organic garden soil and for nutrients I have fox farm grow big, fox farm big bloom and fox farm tiger bloom extra strength fertilizer. If I am understanding correctly I use the grow big and big bloom while growing then when flowering use big bloom and tiger bloom only. Is that right. I also have ph meter for soil and water. When first planting what should ph be at? When I first put in seeds how far above soil should lights be and should I mix nutrients with soil before planting seeds? Then use nutrients weekly or everytime water? Thank you I am going to keep on here step by step now that I know that I can receive help on this forum!!
Good luck and happy harvest!!!
I set to watching and I’m out of town this weekend so I’ll catch up in the next day or so! 
5 plants in an 8x4 sounds like you’ll run into crowding. Especially if you are only using half for the grow. @anon95385719 thoughts?
Don’t mix in nutes before starting to grow. Some people say they can typically go 2-4 weeks just with the nutes in the soil alone. Pre adding nutes your asking to start off already with stress of nute burn and requiring a flush. Read your plants and feed as necessary.
I’ll tag a few guys to help you out in the meantime @dbrn32 @Myfriendis410 @TDubWilly @Covertgrower
If u grow 5 plants successfully u will need your supply space to flower. If u crowd your plants up in flower u run the risk of poor air circulation which can lead to a myriad of problems. The good news is u have the space. Bad news is u will probably b decluttering your space a few weeks into flip to make room for them.
No problem decluttering it’s really not much that I keep. I just assumed they all had to stay directly under the light. Last time we didn’t have adequate light and I m pretty sure I do now. Any opinions on the lights? Is it enough this time we really upped the lights this time.
Thank you!!! I just don’t want to screw up!!
@raustin uses the FF trio and can help u with that. As far as lights go I use led but @dbrn32 can help u there.
That’s the beauty of this forum. Different people know different things and with everyone willing to help, it’s all here.
You definitely don’t need to start out with a 1000 way MH.
I personally would start with the 650 and as the plants get larger and more adjusted to the light I would begin to change to the larger bulbs
Can you photograph the soil package so we know what you are using?
If you use a good quality soil you won’t need nutes until flower, if then.
Proper PH, (soil meters suck btw) and being easy on the nutes will get you 80% there.
I don’t know that I agree with everyone posting here.
You can run 5 plants in a 2x2 if you want lol. It comes down to how large of plants you’re wanting to have. Just veg and train to desired size and flip em.
I do agree that you don’t need to run mh at 1000 watts to veg that space. I think @TDubWilly gave you solid advice there. Start at 600 should be plenty for most of veg.
I’m not familiar with that soil, but I’m sure @Myfriendis410 will get you hooked up good there.
You have some really good growers that jumped in here already, I’m sure you’ll get everything straight and have an awesome grow. Let me know if I can help with anything else, best of luck!
Thankyou my last grow didn’t go as well due to improper lighting. How far above should I have light when I first plant seed? I’m also thinking getting a floor box fan for ventilation. Obviously facing away from plants. Because there is ventilation on floor and ceiling so thinking putting right on floor and I already have a small fan hamging. I’m waiting to get more info from u guys on the soil before starting. I am just staying on this forum thru whole grow now that I k ow about this forum!!!
Hey @Scott1 welcome to the forum. The nutrients should be stored outside of the grow space if you can, and should not be in direct light. It’s best to follow the schedule the best you can. Some variance in there is acceptable, just be sure not to overkill.
You’ll fit 5 plants in there just fine, as others have said, you can allow them to get as big or stay as small as you’d like.
Fans are a great idea, clip on fans secured to the tent poles will work too. (Secure them, they’ve fallen on people’s plants in mid flower) air circulation is important. If you have a good exhaust fan, that is going to be needed to exhaust hot air out as well.
Lights can start out fairly high at first, no need to cook them. 3ft or more is great until they come out of the soil. Then slowly lower the light over a few days.
Here’s the FF soil schedule. You can find it on their website as well.
I think that will grow you some killer weed.
A couple of things to do first: get some perlite or a dedicated seed starting media that is nutrient free. Personally I would take your organic soil and perlite; mix 50/50 and this will be the starter soil for your plants. Seedlings need NO nutrients and very little water, but high humidity. They extract moisture through the air with the first leaves. So dome them and mist lightly, often.
I would suggest doing a soil slurry test to determine what the PH of the soil really is. You will need your PH meter for that. The target would be in a range between 6.3 and 6.8 give or take. You just don’t want to see a “4.2” or something lol.
Stay away from any fertilizers or nutrients for the first month at least. If your plants are growing and thriving they are happy; don’t change anything.
I’m an LED grower so have no real guidance on MH/HPS.
You can tag anyone in like this @GreenThunder.
I’m not very familiar with exactly how those 1000 watt fixtures perform when dimmed. But I would guess 36” above pots would be pretty safe at 600 watts on metal halide. . If you just watch your plants they’ll usually give you some feedback. If you see them stretch (get tall and flimsy) your light is too high. If you see them come out and try to sit right on the dirt, it’s too low.
Adding some circulation would be great, once plants start to develop. When they’re little sprouts keeping humidity up is pretty good. There’s numbers of ways to do that. You do have an exhaust fan running that exchanges air within the tent right?
Yes I have a fan that is exhausting out the ventilation area. I just got the perlite. I haven’t planted yet because I am not sure when should Dome? And what to use for that? Should I put seed in and then done immedietly?