growing medium

[Reverend]

Hi Dave and welcome

You can veg under the MH but for flower and decent buds you will need a HPS.

We will answer your questions if you haven't found them in the forum, may I suggest have a good

read around you will find about 97% answers to your questions.

[mungas]

G'day Dave. Sorry for the hard time!!! Can never be too careful. There's lots of good info to be had under the relevant forum headings, you can search the cannaversity or even the search function. Mine is an outdoors(having a coupla court appearances prior limits me to that!!) so I can't offer much advice. Welcome mate & enjoy your stay

[everest]

hi mate , i'd run clay balls in that system , yep expensive but re usable

 

ev

[merl1n]

Hi there greendave,

Grow medium? Really the choice is yours, the most readily available as fibro says is dirt. But many use potting mix, perlite, coco fibre, rockwool, clay balls or a combination or mixture of these. What works? well they all do, you need to see what works best for your setup. But I ain't heard of ppl using gravel, some may I just ain't heard nor seen it. The root system needs air space in the medium and large peebles will lessen the air space. Personally I like to use something inert like perlite over soil/potting mix. I used to use straight perlite but now I have a 4 inch layer of washed and rinsed clay balls topped up with washed and rinsed perlite about 6-8 inches. This is what works for my setup.

 

As for your light, MH good for veg but you do need HPS for decent flowering. I have MH ballasts and bulbs but I don't use them, I just use HPS the whole way. Some say the nodes are too close together using HPS for grow and this is why you need MH. I haven't had a problem with node spacing. I'm doing SCROG, 1plant in a 3m x3m, so the more nodes for me the better.

 

8 plants in a 1.5 x 1.5m?? WTF. That ain't a lot of grow area for 8. What sort of height is the grow area you are talking about? With 8 in a space that size, you're talking SOG, with a very short veg cycle. It can be done but when you go 12/12 the burst of growth may swamp your area. If you're worried about visitors in blue uniforms you could easily 1/2 your numbers and still produce the same quantity. Remember its not the number of plants that increases yield but the light and area you have. Having more plants may decrease your veg time but increases the shit from blue boys. With just one plant I ain't getting done for growing commercial, but 8. That could be dangerous. I'm not sure of the penalties in your neck of the woods but others will know.

 

Just some advice

Merl1n

[greendave]

I hadn't really thought too much about numbers yet, i like the idea of fewer plants though. would four plants evenly spaced be a better idea?. (6 week veg and 6w flower) The room i built in a light proof storage room built into my shed. its 1.5 by 1.5 and about 1.8 high lined with white plastic. ceiling style exhaust fan constantly blowing air in in the top and venting out the bottom im hoping will be enough. i was thinking of somthing that wasnt going to hold moisture, block the drippers and would drain freely like small smooth pebbles and have two drippers per plant that run maybe 5 min on 15 off?????? Ideally i'd like to get hold of a 1000w hps by mid grow but i was given this one and it'll have to do for a while. (Mature age apprentice with a few kids hence looking for cheap and easy, ). how mant auto's would fit in 1.5m2??? tried a while back to grow with it just bag seed in potting mix, light on a timer and fish emulsion from a watering can. . need to put more thought into this one. (see pic 10 weeks, 8 plants)

[merl1n]

I hadn't really thought too much about numbers yet, i like the idea of fewer plants though. would four plants evenly spaced be a better idea?. (6 week veg and 6w flower) The room i built in a light proof storage room built into my shed. its 1.5 by 1.5 and about 1.8 high lined with white plastic. ceiling style exhaust fan constantly blowing air in in the top and venting out the bottom im hoping will be enough. i was thinking of somthing that wasnt going to hold moisture, block the drippers and would drain freely like small smooth pebbles and have two drippers per plant that run maybe 5 min on 15 off?????? Ideally i'd like to get hold of a 1000w hps by mid grow but i was given this one and it'll have to do for a while. (Mature age apprentice with a few kids hence looking for cheap and easy, ). how mant auto's would fit in 1.5m2??? tried a while back to grow with it just bag seed in potting mix, light on a timer and fish emulsion from a watering can. . need to put more thought into this one. (see pic 10 weeks, 8 plants)

 

Hi Dave,

Your area of 1.5 x 1.5 and with 6 wk veg of 4 plants, each plant only needs to fill 1/2 sq mtr that will be a problem when you go 12/12. 6 wk veg should fill that space completely with just one plant, then at 12/12 the growth spurt will double it, this can make it impossible for the light to penetrate at all, also the density can cause moisture build up and mould as the airflow can't get through the vegetation. My one plant needs to fill a huge area (9sq mtr) and I veg for a max 6wks. By the sounds of it you'll need maybe 4wk veg or less. As for 6 week flower, that ain't long enough. It would be heading but not matured. At a minimum you want 8 and preferably 10+ wks for maturity. At 6wks when smoked it will taste young and not have that depth of flavour.

I also have a bit of a concern about your fan set up "blowing air in in the top and venting out the bottom". You want to get rid of the heat or hot air, hot air rises. Trying to blow it down to vent works against physics, Also you want cool air coming in, the coolest air comes from the ground level. Reverse your idea, place your fan on the intake at the bottom of your room.

Fish emulsion is not a complete plant food, its good for plants grown in soil, plants that have access to other nutes stored in the soil and its very high in nitrogen but for a complete plant food get some hydro nutes, everything the plant needs is in there, in the long run you'll be thankful you did. I don't know about your watering frequency either 5/15min means the roots are constantly wet and this can cause root rot, try 15/60min.

 

Just some advice

Merl1n