Prepping for first grow! :)

[Hushpuppy]

Don't let yourself get in a hurry from being excited. I think just about everyone of us have done that(got the beans and started growing before we were really ready) and regretted doing it. When you get your beans, look at them then put them away until your setup is ready. Once you pop them, you will have a minimum of 12 weeks until harvest, so no need to hurry.

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

Oh indeed Hushpuppy, I fully intend on being 100% mentally prepared and physically setup and dialed in before I even germinate. I will be putting them away for a solid week or two, since I still need to clean up the area the tent is going, setup and clean (massively) the inside of tent and dial everything in.

Still hoping someone will chime in about my nutes and other questions in the last few posts

 

[Hushpuppy]

Sorry I can't help with the Xnutes as I have no experience with them. For cleaning up my tents, I use chlorox wipes from the grocery store. I would set the tent up in position before cleaning, just for ease of doing the work.

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

Absolutely I'll be setting it up to clean it. I did a sanding of some of the poles and spray painted semi-gloss white, a couple of days ago. I bought the tent used, and tho it was in good shape overall, some of the poles had a good amount of rust. Nothing a good sand and paint didn't fix

We're about to get 12" - 16" of snow tonight and tomorrow. After this all finishes up, I think my tent will be good to go in a week or 2. Heck, may even work on cleaning a bit tomorrow while I'm snowed in.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I also have never used those nutes. Any reason you are not going with GH Flora series?

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

He recommended this series to me at the last minute, and my daughter was going wild in the store at the time (2 1/2 year old) and my wife was giving me the stink eye, so I agreed with him and went with it. He said .... I can't remember, bah, I'm failing right now

I was just about to purchase Dutch Masters, and he said "You know what? Why don't you go with this?" and handed it over mentioning it was "under rated but good stuff"

He hadn't steered me wrong the entire visit, so with all the factors looking at me, I just agreed.

I've looked around a little bit and it seems there's people that say "that's cheap nutes, don't use" and have never used them... and there's people saying they are quite good, just weak. No reason not to use them specifically...

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

They came today!!

 

[Hushpuppy]

Try'em out and see how they do. That is what I did with the nute brand that I currently use and have great success with it

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

Another quick question.. when I do the flip to 12/12 ... do I start it with 12 hours of darkness then 12 hours of light, or screw the HPS bulb right in and start with 12 hours of light?


After writing that all out, I think I answered my own question. Start with 12 hours of darkness, come back 12 hours later (after MH bulb has cooled down lol) and change out MH for HPS bulb.

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

Set up tent tonight and used bleach and water to fully clean it. Setting up the rest (lights etc) tomorrow and also.... *cough*.. investing in some Hydro setup since I have another few hundred extra dollars to spend. "OH... curve ball, he changed his friggin' mind again.. didn't see that one coming!" :facepalm:

I'm pretty sure I'm going to do the method where you have a Rez and then a tube that pumps it up into a table .. raises a certain level, then flows back down into the rez. This isn't Ebb and Flo is it? I'm not (I don't think) doing drip nozzles.

Also, about setting up my carbon filter... I have a 4x4 tent, what would be the best way to set this up? It's in an insulated livable space above my garage. I was thinking just passively pull air from the bottom, then 6" air ducts out from the light and down to squirrel cage fan and Carbon filter, outside of the tent on the floor?

Thanks all for helping through this journey! Tomorrow I will have everything finished, installed and ready to veg.

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

yep, thats how you do it. good luck friend!

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

yep, thats how you do it. good luck friend!

Thanks HighBrix!!!

You all have been amazing this entire time, and (this will be the last time I say this) this site deserves a donation e-mail setup for it. Nothing special, just an admin setting up a g-mail account that can receive my paypal money!

This site means a lot to me, and I feel you're all personable.

I will be starting my Grow Journal today I believe. I will have the table and all hydroponics setup by tonight, along with the light, ventilation, thermo, everything. I will also GERM tonight!

Who's excited? THIS GUY! hahaha

It looks like (in a few videos I saw) people use more than 4 plants with this method in a 4x4.. or is it just me? Would be nice to do all 5 PC just to get the one strain out and growing. I'm thinking of germing all 5 anyways, incase I have issues along the way. Not sure if I'm going to entirely scrog or just use a veggie net and use some tie downs. I'd like to scrog.. all that is still up in the air. If I DO scrog I'll be using only 4 for sure!

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

It is an incredibly fun and addictive hobby. I would start all five seeds. Sometimes they don't all germinate or you lose one along the way. I have not run ebb and flow tables, so I cannot advise you on number of plants or anything.

You will have a little while until you have to decide how you want to grow. Even with a scrog, you should be fine with 5 plants.

Green mojo for your first grow. It is so satisfying to grow your own.

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

on my first grow I popped all my beans, and being a noob I only germ'd 3 outta ten, then had one female outta the three and i killed her, then I was left with no beans! and no plants. I was out over $100. I swore from then on id only pop beans half and half, if i had five id only do 3 to start incase something goes wrong, youll at least still have two to try again. Dont wanna discourage ya, but hey, were human...need I say more!

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

Good stuff.. just if my 5 PC don't work out, I can pop my 2 freebies till a new order comes in. Also, where did you get those first seeds and how badly did you nuke them? lol


*UPDATE*

Over $1,800 into the system now. You guys won't believe how much amazing stuff I have!!!! I have all supplemental nutes and various things like Neem Oil, BloomBastic, H202 and various stuff that's just good to have. I have a 3.5 x 3.5 Black Duralastic Ebb and Flo table with 18 gal (filling to 15 gal) res. I even got a $135 CO2 bucket... this actually looks legit for a 4x4 tent and one grow. After this, I'm going to get a tank etc because I can get re-filled just 3 minutes down the street easily. I built a 1 1/4 inch PVC pipe frame and legs to hold the ebb/flo table (that was actually fun to build!)

I'll have an in depth update of what I'm running and what I purchased in my first entire of my grow journal that I HOPE to start... TODAY!!!! I should be germing sometime, after I get my room fully dialed in.

I need to purchase another HPS bulb and some more seeds just "because"... to have them in stock for any various reasons.

I feel like I'm doing things extremely proper, and I feel decently confident in everything. This is surely fun!


Thanks all for being there.

 

[Hushpuppy]

It gets better my friend, when you see those plants growing, then when you see the first buds, then when they start really swelling towards the end and you are dieing to try some, and then when you harvest and take that first taste of your own bud that you grew. :icon_smile: At that point you will be hopelessly addicted to growing your own. You will have some aggrivating and frustrating moments but its worth it in my opinion

A word of warning; on that PVC table, water is very heavy(like 7-9lbs per gallon depending on whats in it). Make sure the PVC is sturdy as some of it is not made to be structurely strong. I only use whats called "schedule 40" for structure building and if I need something really strong then I go to "schedule 80". If your pipe is thin-walled and doesn't say "schedule 40" on the side of it, then it may be too weak to hold up well. I'd hate to see you get 6-7weeks into flower and all the weight bring it down and damage the plants.
I hate to be a buzz kill here but a crash would be worse.

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

At that point you will be hopelessly addicted to growing your own

Already am so if it gets better, which it seems so, WOOOO yeah!!!!

As for the weight.. I got it at Lowes it's construction grade and VERY robust. I can put both hands on my table and lean my entire weight on it... I'm 6' 3" and 260 pounds. I would trust my daughter to jump up and down on it and I would even sit in it without worry.

Thanks for the warning surely.. I'll have pics up today!

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Also go easy with the additives. Start out with the basics and then add the additives after you are comfortable with the basics.

It is very easy to kill seeds and seedlings. So be careful. Do not believe that just because you bought good genetics that it makes the seeds stronger or more viable.

I would take the $135 bucket of CO2 back and use that money towards a legitimate CO2 setup. For CO2 to be effective, you need to do more things than just let CO2 escape into your room--you need it to be controllable and you need a way to monitor it. You need enhanced lumens and your exhaust needs to be coordinated with CO2 enrichment. There truly is no cheap "legit" CO2 enhancement thing out there.

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

Well, it has an electric thing that disperses it when timed.. I'm putting that on another timer and was going to vent my tent slightly differently. I figured having this was better than not having it. Also, my mother (oddly enough supports all this) bought me the bucket because I mentioned I wanted to get CO2 in there. I think it's going to be better than nothing, and I FULLY intend on getting a tank and attachment later on. .... plus.. I've already opened it to check it out.. I didn't "start" the bucket yet, but I have everything out because I wanted to check it out.

I'm going to use it either way, and get a tank for the next grow. I know I know... buckets were frowned on, but this one with the electronics on it and being timed and a bit more controlled with hosing going around it from the bucket, seemed better than other co2 bags or other buckets I had seen. It doesn't just sit there, it has a thingie on it that's electronic that I can help regulate it with.

With that said, I'm sure you're smiling right now and nodding your head saying "mmmhmmm, here's another one going off and doing what he shouldn't" and I understand and accept that. hah I dig ya THG, always looking out for me.

So much help around here, it's just great.

*UPDATE*

I have the holes all done in both the ebb and flo table and the res. When my wife gets home and I don't have to constantly look after my 2 1/2 year old, I'm going to head up into the room and get 'er all setup! I almost want to germ my seeds, but I wanted to fully wait until the room was ready and I had at least run it for an hour.

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

Oh and yeah I understand about the nute and supplemental nute thing you've mentioned. I mostly have it all because from grows I've seen in the last 2+ months, these things all seem to come into effect at some point. Sure I may not even need to use my Neem Oil for a grow or 2 .. but it's just great to have. And BloomBastic is sworn by, by many it seems, so I snagged that too.

I just wanted to be prepared, and I'll make you all proud surely... by not dumping 500ML's of everything in all at once. hah