NPKs and what I'm going to work with

Pleasant day, I'm about to embark in my first ever "formal" grow. Plan is a 4"x2"x4" grow cab with a 300W full spectrum LED lamp (trying to cut down on costs on electricity so no HIDs and other hot lighting mediums are out of my financial belt) I think I got the most of the structure figured out for the grow cabinet and what I'm worried about right now are the nutes. Attached with this post are the nutes I'm planning to use (actually bought all kinds of NPK ratios just to be sure lol). Which would be ideal for specific growth stages and are these levels fine with growing cannabis?

Also I got like 100% organic compost with pre-existent low levels of NPKs and other nutrients. What would be the ratio of the compost and top soil? I'm really afraid of burning my plants with the nutes so is there like a minimal amount I can use? Attached is a picture of the nutrient content of said organic compost.

Thanks!
 

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bertaluchi

Well-Known Member
Hey Jack, so I was looking at your stuff. The compost is fine and you could use as much or as little as you like but adding it to regular top soil is not a good idea. You want something with good drainage so you need something with a good bit of perlite. I use Roots Organic soil. As far as nutes I guess you can use the green bag for veg but no more than 1/2 the reccomended strength. the first pic can be used for bloom again 1/2 strength. But I would use cannabis-specific nutes. Companies like Fox Farm and Roots make good organic nutes that are made for growing buds. Hope this helps and if you have any more questions feel free to hit me up. Good Luck Dude!
 
Hey Jack, so I was looking at your stuff. The compost is fine and you could use as much or as little as you like but adding it to regular top soil is not a good idea. You want something with good drainage so you need something with a good bit of perlite. I use Roots Organic soil. As far as nutes I guess you can use the green bag for veg but no more than 1/2 the reccomended strength. the first pic can be used for bloom again 1/2 strength. But I would use cannabis-specific nutes. Companies like Fox Farm and Roots make good organic nutes that are made for growing buds. Hope this helps and if you have any more questions feel free to hit me up. Good Luck Dude!

Hey man, awesome input right there! Hehe! So I'm just going to use half strength for my plants when they go through growth stages. Hehe! I got hold of some hummus soil with 20% percent bat guano. Am I still gonna go with half strength in mixing my nutes with watering? Will the change in ph be negligible? I heard bat guano's pretty acidic.
 

bertaluchi

Well-Known Member
I like bat guano and use it always. I would look at the soil bag and check the NPK. It should be low as most bagged soil is. But check it out and see what it said. If its less than 3-3-3 you should be fine. I like to add up NPK's of different things I use to get an idea of how much I'm feeding my plants. Say I use a base nutrient that is 5-3-4 and I add a veg booster that is 10-1-1. To me that would be a full NPK of 15-4-5. Looking at it this way, looks like too much N. See how that works bro! Simple math. Take a look at some of the big name cannabis nutes like General Hydroponics and see if you can work your nutes to those kind of numbers. And remember when dealing with growing buds, less is more. You can always feed your plants but it is hard to fix them after you have burned them with nutes. And with the guano in the soil you should not have to feed your plants at all for the first 3 weeks or so. Just water until you see that they look hungry like a less green look, dont let them get yellow. And I would not be too worried about the Ph of the guano, at 20% it should be fine.
 
I like bat guano and use it always. I would look at the soil bag and check the NPK. It should be low as most bagged soil is. But check it out and see what it said. If its less than 3-3-3 you should be fine. I like to add up NPK's of different things I use to get an idea of how much I'm feeding my plants. Say I use a base nutrient that is 5-3-4 and I add a veg booster that is 10-1-1. To me that would be a full NPK of 15-4-5. Looking at it this way, looks like too much N. See how that works bro! Simple math. Take a look at some of the big name cannabis nutes like General Hydroponics and see if you can work your nutes to those kind of numbers. And remember when dealing with growing buds, less is more. You can always feed your plants but it is hard to fix them after you have burned them with nutes. And with the guano in the soil you should not have to feed your plants at all for the first 3 weeks or so. Just water until you see that they look hungry like a less green look, dont let them get yellow. And I would not be too worried about the Ph of the guano, at 20% it should be fine.
Man, thanks for all the help bro! I'm just going to add up the NPKs then and see what it's going to look like. I'm pretty psyched about the grow-op. I just have to figure something out with the lights. If this all goes well, dude, I don't even no. Can I send you some? Hahaha! So excited since I've been smoking our local shit out here and it probably clocks at 3-6% THC.
 

bertaluchi

Well-Known Member
3-6% is not good bro. You are going to be way more happy with your own stash. And having your own that you loved on and took good care of is very rewarding. I think it even gets you higher because it knows you took good care of it. Whats up with the lights?
 
3-6% is not good bro. You are going to be way more happy with your own stash. And having your own that you loved on and took good care of is very rewarding. I think it even gets you higher because it knows you took good care of it. Whats up with the lights?
Developing countries come with developing weed I guess? Hahaha! I'm really bent on growing these strains right for personal use. My lights, as what other people told me here, are not sufficient enough (300W 9-band LED with veg and flowering mode). I'm planing to back it up with four 4" 28W T5s with inter-changing color spectrums to back up my grow. Mounting them on my grow box walls. Walking me through this is really a big deal for me bro. Thank you so much.

Here's the grow light I'm waiting on: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-9Band-Led-Grow-Light-300W-with-100pcs-3W-leds-built-with-optical-lens-best-for/726899063.html
 
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bertaluchi

Well-Known Member
Developing countries come with developing weed I guess? Hahaha! I'm really bent on growing these strains right for personal use. My lights, as what other people told me here, are not sufficient enough (300W 9-band LED with veg and flowering mode). I'm planing to back it up with four 4" 28W T5s with inter-changing color spectrums to back up my grow. Mounting them on my grow box walls. Walking me through this is really a big deal for me bro. Thank you so much.

Here's the grow light I'm waiting on: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-9Band-Led-Grow-Light-300W-with-100pcs-3W-leds-built-with-optical-lens-best-for/726899063.html
I have very little experience with LED lighting but there are a bunch of dudes on this forum that will know more about it than me. I have seen great results though. Keep me posted on how it goes.
 

budman111

Well-Known Member
The link page does not say the actual draw only 300w so its probably about 150w actual draw but keep us updated on the grow. 3yr warranty is good though.
 
The link page does not say the actual draw only 300w so its probably about 150w actual draw but keep us updated on the grow. 3yr warranty is good though.
What if I'll just make my grow area smaller to accomodate enough light distribution for the plants. I think that would be cheaper? or add? 100W worth of T5 lights. Hehe!
 
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