Veteran INDOOR grower, and kitchen chemist, offering my service to field questions:

I figured that being a veteran grower with literally thousands of plants grown indoors (soil, hydro: DWC, RDWC, Ebb and Flow) over a quarter of a century, I would create this topic to help you new growers. The website mentors and admins @Majiktoker, @Paranorman, @garrigan62, @Aquaponic_Dumme, @Donaldj, and others, already field so many questions and monitor so many posts, that THEY SHOULD BE APPLAUDED!

everyone clap please… Seriously… These guys are troopers

Plus, while you new guys could post a topic specific to your grow questions, or search the 1000s of posts already here to find an answer, I felt that I could help speed things up, lighten the load, and consolidate information by offering my knowledge to you. I do not even pretend to know it all. Far from it in fact; as, every grow presents its own foibles, pitfalls, and variances. I learn something in every grow, and you will too.

I open my experience up to YOU. Ask away! I am here for you!

I ask only the following:

As this thread develops, before asking a question, read through the thread to make sure you are not making me repeat myself. Also, STAY ON TOPIC! This thread is intended to be a rapid fire Q&A. We can move full on conversations to a new thread if needed!

LET’S GROW!

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@DissidentPriest

I thought you were already doing that. lol
If i come across a post where someone like your self or say @bob31
i’ll read it and if you or @bob have it covered i’ll say a quick thank you and move on. As they say, to many cooks spoil the broth.

Will

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Hopefully this will help lower the ever increasing individual threads that seem to be asking the same questions, over and over again; and, help lower mine and your reading time.

You’re making me blush in ego-swell. (Pops inflated head with pushpin) I’m a n00b here, and find your guys support, and encouragement refreshing. I miss my “real world” growers network (I moved 2100 miles away from them); and, I can’t express how thankful I was to find ILGM when I decided to get back into the swing.

I LOVE ILGM!!!

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You hit the nail right on the head about the repeat of the same questions but hey, we have to understand that they are all new to growing and new here to boot and have no idea that their question has already been answered a million times…lol
But to see them through it all and for them to see their first harvest is rewarding enough for me.

and by the way we are glad you found us too…lol

Will

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@DissidentPriest…great to know, I am brand new to this, will take up your offer in near future, thx

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Lol I am a seasonal helper on the site as I get busy during the summer I tend to pick and choose a couple of newer growers to help or respond more to @ questions based on time of day that works best for me so convo can be back and forth. It’s always good to have more experienced growers shouting PH,PH,PH and describing how best to flush as well as explaining no 2 plants are the same :wink:

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Just bought my first bag of ff ocean forest w/ bag of perlite and Liquid ph tester. Still waiting for my Northern Lights to arrive, then gonna buy my tent and vipar spectra 900…? If I may, tested my tap water which is well water…came in around 5-6 based on color…, when soil and perlite is mixed, do I just adjust the ph of the water itself, not sure what soil ph is, w/o testing runoff, would u pout water through soil mixture before planting and test runoff? Thx for help

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Always, always, always, pH the water. Whether you are using it to germinate, flush, water, or feed, always, always, always pH it first! Then, check pH daily, or multiple times a day if you can. The key to life is water.

I use chemical pH testing, and a digital tester. I use one to check the other. PH levels will make or break your grow. Yes, pH your water, then test your run-off. The soil you use will cause a fluctuation in the pH of the water. Testing the run-off will show you what pH your plant is getting at the roots.

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Thanks for your response, I will buy a digital ph/tds meter soon enough…Would you be concerned with an LED light, Viparspectra 900 w model, that has more blue than red spectrum?..they have chart on their website and it shows lot more blue than red. My concern is red is needed in bloom? Pls correct me if I am off base, thx again

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I use LED exclusively these days. A dominant blue spectrum should be used in veg. I use only blue and white LED panel lights in my veg. I believe the golden ratio for veg is 3:1 (blue:red). In flower you flip it, 1:3 (blue:red).

Got it, so that Vipar LED should be fine thx for response

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Im sorry i cant like your answer or others, i have to wait
:cherry_blossom:

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give it time your trust level goes up the more you comment like and read

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@DissidentPriest I am having trouble keeping my tent temps at less than 86 in the day. Do you think I can grow a healthy plant in those conditions?:thinking:

You are at the top end of the range at 86 F. Sativa strains will appreciate the heat more than Indica, but 86 F is cutting it close. If you keep them well watered you should be okay, but you should really think about getting the temp down to the high 70’s range when lights are on.

Sometimes even placing a couple of the travel cooler ice packs in front of your fans can drop the temperature substantially.

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OK thanks @DissidentPriest that was my next question how to get it cooler without an a.c. I have 3 different plants in my tent right now( blueberry, kushykush, and Tutankhamen) 2 of which were sprouts from 1 seed. I need to find out which is indica and sativa. But thanks a lot for answering my question​:grin::grin::grin:

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I have a question for you, I did my cuttings yesterday, they are in a dome with a tray and a self watering system, with a heat mat rigged up to a thermostat to control the heat, set at 75 degrees, the cuttings were prepared and rolled in clonex then rooting powder, my question is if they take in 2-3 week’s if they root, when do I transfer them to the grow room with a 600w hps light

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You say you only use LED’s, do you have a favorite brand? I paid a fair sum for Advanced LED’s and wonder if you’ve had experience with them? Thank you.

Hello!

Once your roots are protruding through your cloning medium you are ready for transplanting. I like to wait until I have a good healthy nest of roots coming through the medium.

Why clonex and root powder together? I’m going to be giving clones a try, have used rootech in the past, as well as root powder. I have always found one sufficient. Did you do all your clones the same? Or, did you experiment a little?

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Greetings!

It seems a lot of companies just apply a logo to a mass produced Chinese light. I found it was significantly more within my budget to buy in pieces, and to combine multiple lights. For instance: I have 280W full spectrum at a cost of $46 (10@28w e27 + 2 photo studio 1-5 splitters).

See?

If you have the money and want to spend it, then spend it! I hear Vipars are good.

Personally, I take my cues from the marijuana plant: I make the most out of the littlest available.

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