Best Setup for First Time Grower

J

jkwrestling13

Well-Known Member
GreenLantern23 said:
Thanks guys! Btw I am a female :) I just like superheros, weed and beer.

I just pulled up Dolomite Lime - it's from Grow More, correct? Amazon is showing it as discontinued by manufacturer. I will have to order a bag or 2 before they run out.

So really there are a number of products I need to keep on hand, not just the base fertilizer and plant foods? I have Fox Farm pulled up right now (I was about to order their 3 pack of Big Bloom, Grow Big, and Tiger Bloom). They have great reviews - a definite must-have in my opinion. I will get the General Hydroponics pH Control Kit, as well. I will test the pH after I add the nutrients. That seems to make more sense since the pH will change.

When using several different products, how do you all manage them effectively? Do you have a schedule or is it used as needed? Can you use one product and use a different one a few hours later, or is it all dependent on how the soil/plant is receiving the nutrients at the present time? I have a fear of over watering my plants - that's why I bought the 3 type soil meter. Maybe it will make sense once I sleep on it. I had never thought of mixing the Ocean Forest with another fertilizer, but it makes sense why you would do that. I just read that Happy Frog is good for seedlings, so I will be purchasing some of that as well. (Again) I just read that planting them in a solo cup w/ holes at the bottom at first is better because of oxygen levels. I will do that as well.

I have been reading www.growweedeasy.com and I swear I learn something new every 5 minutes...and there is a LOT of information there.
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I use GH floragrow and florabloom, it works great. I start my seedlings in ocean forest, theres not too much of a difference, so in my opinion, save the money and dont get the hapoy frog. I would use half the recommended dosage of nutes until they get quite a bit older. I usually water, water, feed. Dont water/feed until the soil feels dryish. Water until you start to see runoff coming out of the pots, then immediately stop! That should avoid overwatering. I usually water one plant, let it sit then go to a different one. Ill do this until i see a little runoff in each of the saucers. You will want to empty out the saucers after watering, as that will raise your humidity. I do start my seedlings in solo cups and leave them for about 3 weeks, then i go into 3 gallons.

You ALWAYS want to have holes in the bottom of your pots.
 
SPLFreak808

SPLFreak808

Well-Known Member
GreenLantern23 said:
Thanks guys! Btw I am a female :) I just like superheros, weed and beer.

I just pulled up Dolomite Lime - it's from Grow More, correct? Amazon is showing it as discontinued by manufacturer. I will have to order a bag or 2 before they run out.

So really there are a number of products I need to keep on hand, not just the base fertilizer and plant foods? I have Fox Farm pulled up right now (I was about to order their 3 pack of Big Bloom, Grow Big, and Tiger Bloom). They have great reviews - a definite must-have in my opinion. I will get the General Hydroponics pH Control Kit, as well. I will test the pH after I add the nutrients. That seems to make more sense since the pH will change.

When using several different products, how do you all manage them effectively? Do you have a schedule or is it used as needed? Can you use one product and use a different one a few hours later, or is it all dependent on how the soil/plant is receiving the nutrients at the present time? I have a fear of over watering my plants - that's why I bought the 3 type soil meter. Maybe it will make sense once I sleep on it. I had never thought of mixing the Ocean Forest with another fertilizer, but it makes sense why you would do that. I just read that Happy Frog is good for seedlings, so I will be purchasing some of that as well. (Again) I just read that planting them in a solo cup w/ holes at the bottom at first is better because of oxygen levels. I will do that as well.

I have been reading www.growweedeasy.com and I swear I learn something new every 5 minutes...and there is a LOT of information there.
Click to expand...

Yes everything you listed will work however, you have a fully organic soil with more then enough food for 4-6 weeks veg. Since you already have fully organic which is why i assume you bought fox farms ocean forest, steer away from fox farm tiger bloom or any chemical nutrients. You dont want to be adding those in with organic compounds. Just look up what is organic and what isnt. Epsom salts is an organic Mg fert while they make stuff like Cal+Mag which is a chemical Mg fert (not organic) not to be mixed with organic soils.

Two ways to grow in soil. Organically (feed soil, soil feeds roots)or chemically (feed the plant directly) Its pretty much taste(org) vs yield(chem) untill experience comes into play then you can get closer to chemical yields with organics.

It sounds confusing but its not, you just have to find a method of growing media and see how to feed it.
 
xSwimToTheMoon

xSwimToTheMoon

Well-Known Member
SPLFreak808 said:
Yes everything you listed will work however, you have a fully organic soil with more then enough food for 4-6 weeks veg. Since you already have fully organic which is why i assume you bought fox farms ocean forest, steer away from fox farm tiger bloom or any chemical nutrients. You dont want to be adding those in with organic compounds. Just look up what is organic and what isnt. Epsom salts is an organic Mg fert while they make stuff like Cal+Mag which is a chemical Mg fert (not organic) not to be mixed with organic soils.

Two ways to grow in soil. Organically (feed soil, soil feeds roots)or chemically (feed the plant directly) Its pretty much taste(org) vs yield(chem) untill experience comes into play then you can get closer to chemical yields with organics.

It sounds confusing but its not, you just have to find a method of growing media and see how to feed it.
Click to expand...
I'm not saying your wrong, but my plants very much enjoy fox farm nutes, Fox farm soil, they perk up a little everytime I type or mention fox farm.

I use light warrior, and monitor my ppms to make sure I don't hurt any of the girls.

With the ff trio and cal mag, you have almost everything you need on hand, if you have to supplement or deal with deficiency. Imo

Ocean forest has been known to Peter out its ph buffer late in flower too. I adds the lime.

Ocean forest is great. It's not a set and forget supersoil imo. It's faltered l, but never let me down.

I reserve the right to be wrong tho Lol
 
TheChemist77

TheChemist77

Well-Known Member
GreenLantern23 said:
Welp I just spent $850 bucks on equipment lol. Would've only spent half of that, but I decided to buy a $400 storage shed so I would have a place to keep everything. I plan on putting a lock on that sucker - a BIG one. Overrall I think I did well. I hope I have beginners luck.

The lights are HPS/MH. I didn't like the sound of the other types of lighting.

I bought:
Virtual Sun 400W HPS MH Air Cooled Reflector Magnetic Grow Light Kit 400 Watt
HYDROFARM Active Air 6" In-Line Fan w/ Mounting Bracket | ACDF6
Inline Fan Speed Controller - HYDROFARM ACSC Duct Fan Speed Adjuster 15AMP
Fox Farm Ocean Forest Potting Soil
48x24x48 Grow Tent

One question though - I just went to the store and bought regular old plastic pots to start off with. Will that work or should I return them? I figure with the Ocean Forest and my soil meter I will be good to go as far as maintaining the plants. I didn't buy any pH or extra nutrient liquid. I didn't think I would need them using soil and Ocean Forest at that.
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id go with felt or burlap bags, as roots will get more oxegen, less chance of u overwatering and felt or burlap bags are better for many other resons including giving u the option of bottom feeding in order to prevent algea or mold at top of soil...
 
L

lonzo212

Well-Known Member
jkwrestling13 said:
Your setup is very similar to mine, and I am on my first grow as well. I have 4 plants under 1x 1000 watt and will be adding an aeroponic setup soon.

My advice, read up on topping and LST. It will be very beneficial to you. My plants have been vegging for 2 months and they are busy as hell and almost 2 feet tall.
Click to expand...
sir, how many times do you usually top your plants?
 
TheChemist77

TheChemist77

Well-Known Member
jkwrestling13 said:
I use GH floragrow and florabloom, it works great. I start my seedlings in ocean forest, theres not too much of a difference, so in my opinion, save the money and dont get the hapoy frog. I would use half the recommended dosage of nutes until they get quite a bit older. I usually water, water, feed. Dont water/feed until the soil feels dryish. Water until you start to see runoff coming out of the pots, then immediately stop! That should avoid overwatering. I usually water one plant, let it sit then go to a different one. Ill do this until i see a little runoff in each of the saucers. You will want to empty out the saucers after watering, as that will raise your humidity. I do start my seedlings in solo cups and leave them for about 3 weeks, then i go into 3 gallons.

You ALWAYS want to have holes in the bottom of your pots.
Click to expand...
u may want to try gh's nova series as its almost pure organic..i personally use gh maxi series in hydro, ive done years of side by side testing of nutrients and the gh nova and maxi series have always beat the competition.. i started with advanced after all the hype, then started testing and to my surprise advanced placed far below many nutrients including gh,3 part,nova and maxi, plantlife nutes, bc nutes, foxfarm, and a few others the only nutrient i found was yielding less than advanced was rock wool a&b formula...i dont know were all the good hype for advanced came from? for me it was almost the worst brand tested.. i tested many more nutrients not listed but its been years,i have them all written down in a journal somewere w/ nutrients used, strain, and yield in a 4x4 table, then compared taste, smell, etc...general hydro nova and maxi were always on the top even yielded 20 grams more than gh 3 part(following directions on bottle) however if you adjust the 3 part to ur plants needs it will yield just as much or more than nova and maxi..but i found the nova and maxi 1 part veg,1 part bloom much easier and saves money producing just as well.. so if ur in soil u may want to try the nova as its almost pure organic if thats what your after if its yield and money go with maxi series, yield,taste,smell all the same with a cheaper price tag...
 
J

jkwrestling13

Well-Known Member
TheChemist77 said:
u may want to try gh's nova series as its almost pure organic..i personally use gh maxi series in hydro, ive done years of side by side testing of nutrients and the gh nova and maxi series have always beat the competition.. i started with advanced after all the hype, then started testing and to my surprise advanced placed far below many nutrients including gh,3 part,nova and maxi, plantlife nutes, bc nutes, foxfarm, and a few others the only nutrient i found was yielding less than advanced was rock wool a&b formula...i dont know were all the good hype for advanced came from? for me it was almost the worst brand tested.. i tested many more nutrients not listed but its been years,i have them all written down in a journal somewere w/ nutrients used, strain, and yield in a 4x4 table, then compared taste, smell, etc...general hydro nova and maxi were always on the top even yielded 20 grams more than gh 3 part(following directions on bottle) however if you adjust the 3 part to ur plants needs it will yield just as much or more than nova and maxi..but i found the nova and maxi 1 part veg,1 part bloom much easier and saves money producing just as well.. so if ur in soil u may want to try the nova as its almost pure organic if thats what your after if its yield and money go with maxi series, yield,taste,smell all the same with a cheaper price tag...
Click to expand...
Im actually switching to aeroponics after this grow. Actually my aerotable is completely setup, Ill be vegging 9 clones in my aerotable for 1, maybe 1 1/2 weeks, then ill be flipping my lights on both my soil plants and my aero plants under 2x 1000 watts. Im actually working on my scrog as we speak. Im going to be using house and garden aqua flakes a & b as well as the bud XL. We'll see how that goes. Im going to keep my soil plants on floranova grow for now. I will be testing other nutrients, but at the moment aqua flakes sounds like a good choice. Do you grow soil or hydro? What does your setup look like?

Btw I am using gh's nova series on my soil plants this time around.
 
GreenLantern23

GreenLantern23

Member
Thanks for all the info. I may have to watch some YouTube videos to ensure I'm doing the methods correctly. I have a fear I'm going to screw something up, but I ordered about 20 seeds so hopefully I get at least one good grow (ha). I leave for vacation next week and when I get back I will be setting everything up. Half the stuff should be delivered before I leave. Right now I am trying to get all my information compiled so I have an easy reference guide when I have a question. My girlfriend says this is all way over her head, so I'm on my own.
This may seem like a dumb question, but is the growing schedule/maintenance the same for every cannabis strain? Or should I be looking up the individual strains I bought and researching their own particular growing method and caring for them individually? I ordered THC Bomb, Pineapple Express, Purple, Lennon, and then I received the free seeds of Northern Lights/Big Bud and Afghani (which I think is kush?).

Also, what do you recommend to keep the temperatures down in the event it gets too hot? My grow tent is 48x24x48 and the tent will be inside a large steel storage shed (about the size of a garage). I'm running an extension cord out there for electricity. I will invest in a fan and a humidity/temp gauge, but with the lights I'm afraid the plants may get parched. I'm thinking a portable a/c unit for the shed just in case? Our summers can reach 100 degrees F.
 
SPLFreak808

SPLFreak808

Well-Known Member
xSwimToTheMoon said:
I'm not saying your wrong, but my plants very much enjoy fox farm nutes, Fox farm soil, they perk up a little everytime I type or mention fox farm.

I use light warrior, and monitor my ppms to make sure I don't hurt any of the girls.

With the ff trio and cal mag, you have almost everything you need on hand, if you have to supplement or deal with deficiency. Imo

Ocean forest has been known to Peter out its ph buffer late in flower too. I adds the lime.

Ocean forest is great. It's not a set and forget supersoil imo. It's faltered l, but never let me down.

I reserve the right to be wrong tho Lol
Click to expand...
Im not sure what you are infering to but yes, ocean forest is great and even i use it but i add alot to it for veg and flower simply because im trying to stay organic for the learning curve. With fox farms chemical nutes you can grow some dank ass stank too, cant go wrong with fox farms organic or chemicals if your willing to pay.
 
J

jkwrestling13

Well-Known Member
GreenLantern23 said:
Thanks for all the info. I may have to watch some YouTube videos to ensure I'm doing the methods correctly. I have a fear I'm going to screw something up, but I ordered about 20 seeds so hopefully I get at least one good grow (ha). I leave for vacation next week and when I get back I will be setting everything up. Half the stuff should be delivered before I leave. Right now I am trying to get all my information compiled so I have an easy reference guide when I have a question. My girlfriend says this is all way over her head, so I'm on my own.
This may seem like a dumb question, but is the growing schedule/maintenance the same for every cannabis strain? Or should I be looking up the individual strains I bought and researching their own particular growing method and caring for them individually? I ordered THC Bomb, Pineapple Express, Purple, Lennon, and then I received the free seeds of Northern Lights/Big Bud and Afghani (which I think is kush?).

Also, what do you recommend to keep the temperatures down in the event it gets too hot? My grow tent is 48x24x48 and the tent will be inside a large steel storage shed (about the size of a garage). I'm running an extension cord out there for electricity. I will invest in a fan and a humidity/temp gauge, but with the lights I'm afraid the plants may get parched. I'm thinking a portable a/c unit for the shed just in case? Our summers can reach 100 degrees F.
Click to expand...
Its a weed, it will grow. Certain strains do like certain environments, but it will still grow. Youll just have to learn how each strain reacts, keep records.

You want to ideally keep your temps between 73-80 degrees. IMO, do not get a portable a/c. They do not work well, you are much better off getting a window air conditioner, if you can cut a hole in the shed. Or a mini split would be ideal if you can afford it.
 
TheChemist77

TheChemist77

Well-Known Member
jkwrestling13 said:
Im actually switching to aeroponics after this grow. Actually my aerotable is completely setup, Ill be vegging 9 clones in my aerotable for 1, maybe 1 1/2 weeks, then ill be flipping my lights on both my soil plants and my aero plants under 2x 1000 watts. Im actually working on my scrog as we speak. Im going to be using house and garden aqua ..flakes a & b as well as the bud XL. We'll see how that goes. Im going to keep my soil plants on floranova grow for now. I will be testing other nutrients, but at the moment aqua flakes sounds like a good choice. Do you grow soil or hydro? What does your setup look like?

Btw I am using gh's nova series on my soil plants this time around.
Click to expand...
i am currently growing in 4 inch pvc w 3inch net pots filled w/ rockwool and a constantly flowing nutrient. its like my own dwc/undercurrent build..i may be switching back to a 4'x6' flood n drain system soon.. my home build works great, but i miss my old f&d tables, less work..i also have a bloombox and mothership from bc northern lights.i was skeptical at first but the bc units paid themselves off in just 2 grows, the bloombox flowers 9 plants and yields near a half pound pluss it has a veg side for clones and veging plants..think im going to sell them though, they still have a year left on the warenty but i can build a table to fit the space and use 1 400 watt insted of 2400's and a 150 watt cfl, so my build will save on electric..
never tested the aqua flakes so please let me know how they compare to the gh series..
you can check out my current build n the boxs at my journal..

https://www.rollitup.org/t/chemist77-pic-journal.850252/page-7
 
J

jkwrestling13

Well-Known Member
TheChemist77 said:
i am currently growing in 4 inch pvc w 3inch net pots filled w/ rockwool and a constantly flowing nutrient. its like my own dwc/undercurrent build..i may be switching back to a 4'x6' flood n drain system soon.. my home build works great, but i miss my old f&d tables, less work..i also have a bloombox and mothership from bc northern lights.i was skeptical at first but the bc units paid themselves off in just 2 grows, the bloombox flowers 9 plants and yields near a half pound pluss it has a veg side for clones and veging plants..think im going to sell them though, they still have a year left on the warenty but i can build a table to fit the space and use 1 400 watt insted of 2400's and a 150 watt cfl, so my build will save on electric..
never tested the aqua flakes so please let me know how they compare to the gh series..
you can check out my current build n the boxs at my journal..

https://www.rollitup.org/t/chemist77-pic-journal.850252/page-7
Click to expand...
My table is a 3.5x3.5, i should have it setup tonight. Planning on having anywhere from 6-9 plants on it, should be a nice setup. I got it from my buddy at the grow store. On 9 plants he yielded 5.5 pounds in just 10 weeks under 1 1000 watt with only a week of veg time. It was a magnificent setup.
 
Rolando Mendoza

Rolando Mendoza

Well-Known Member
With all the money you had to invest. You could have gone hydro and still had more left over. Soil is a pain in the ass, especially ph'ing. I know I'm going to get stuff for saying it, but you should have gone hydroponics, I promise you its more fun and more automation involved. With soil, no offense, your more bound to screw up. This is only my opinion. You has all that money, note you have a soil set up, not hating, but you should have gone hydro. I started my hydro setup with 250, imagine if I had 850+. Wow, id be superman. Again, this is all my opinion. Hydro is the best. Again, in my opinion. You look all set though, either way you're going to be smoking some in 8-12 weeks.
 
GreenLantern23

GreenLantern23

Member
Rolando Mendoza said:
With all the money you had to invest. You could have gone hydro and still had more left over. Soil is a pain in the ass, especially ph'ing. I know I'm going to get stuff for saying it, but you should have gone hydroponics, I promise you its more fun and more automation involved. With soil, no offense, your more bound to screw up. This is only my opinion. You has all that money, note you have a soil set up, not hating, but you should have gone hydro. I started my hydro setup with 250, imagine if I had 850+. Wow, id be superman. Again, this is all my opinion. Hydro is the best. Again, in my opinion. You look all set though, either way you're going to be smoking some in 8-12 weeks.
Click to expand...
Oh man I really thought about it...I just kept reading that it wasn't ideal for noobs so I went soil. I've grown regular plants before, maybe if I get my confidence up I will go hydro. I found a really good website that teaches you how to make one low cost. I really didn't want to spend $850 but I thought go big or go home. The setup was actually just short of $400, but the shed was what cost the most. The frame was $324, the foundation was $60, and the shipping was $70 but I really needed something to ensure privacy. If people come over I don't want them smelling it plus we have dogs. Our lab knows how to open doors and I know they'd destroy something while I wasn't home. They already killed one of my strawberry plants and 2 bleeding heart trees ><
 
TheChemist77

TheChemist77

Well-Known Member
i always had bad luck indoors in soil, had problems with mold,algea, bugs,etc.. switched to a emilies garden(nft hydro) than went to a maga garden(f&d), then started building my own stuff.. over the years ive tried all forms of hydro, still use airo for cloning but for my veg and flowering im going back to flood tables, so easy to work with and in my opinion just as good growth as with airo,nft, and dwc just much easier n less work..
 
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