Grow gear doubts/advice?

[Evenflow86]

Hey stoners have enjoyed being a lurker for the last month and have been soaking up plenty of advise from you lot in the hope of having my first successful grow soon!

 

 

 

I know there's plenty of threads going round about grow set up but I just wanted to stick my head out and ask a few questions before I have a crack.

 

 

 

I've been trying to shop smart, buying equipment here and there, some of which are second hand and I feel like I have most of the gear I need to do a very basic 1-2 plant grow (bar the tent which I am going to pick up whenever I successfully get some beans delivered! 0 from 3 attempts so far), but am concerned now whether I have jumped in and bought crap which is not going to look after my hopeful ladies.

 

 

 

Plan on growing firstly some autoflowering strains in coco/perlite in a 1.4m x 0.8m x 2m seahawk tent, I have Canna Vega and Flores, a 400w growlush MH bulb/wing reflector with magnetic ballast, 130watt cfl 6400k and a 80watt cfl. In the way of ventilation I only have a 6" growlush vent fan with 1 length of ducting and a desk fan. I also still have to acquire a decent ph meter and a thermo/hygrometer of some sort.

 

 

 

SO... going by the advice I've read and having been made aware that growlush stuff is poor quality, ive realised I should of just got decent stuff in the first place. So far ive probably spent $400 on grow gear that will hardly do the job when I could of bought a complete tent setup with gear for about $800.

 

ANYWAY!

 

 

 

Im thinking of upgrading to a 6" centrifugal fan pulling through a carbon filter for the exhaust, using the growlush vent fan for intake and am starting to think I need to upgrade my lights too..  What would you guys recommend I change? Or is what I have almost sufficient to grow 2 small/medium plants? Thanks all  

 

EVNFLO  

 

[louise]

1.4m x 0.8m x 2m seahawk tent

400w MH/wing reflector

 

1.4m x 0.8m is difficult to light with a single lamp, a 400W would have dim corners and a 600W would generate a lot of heat and have wicked hotspot in the middle. If you haven't bought the tent yet I would suggest that you look at square tents 1m x1m x 1.8m for 400W and 1.2m x 1.2m x 2m for 600W.

 

At the single lamp end of the market, square tents are a much better match to the footprint of the lights and easier to fit with a cool tube or air cooled hood when you decide to invest in heat control gear.

 

 

...upgrading to a 6" centrifugal fan pulling through a carbon filter for the exhaust

 

Good idea... you'll be able to use the extra vent fan to extract a cool tube or similar later down the track.

 

 

coco/perlite

Canna Vega and Flores

 

If you are going to use coco you need to invest in coco specific nutrients. If you already have the nutrients, I would suggest you check what medium they are designed to be used with and stick with that medium.

 

edited code mess

Edited June 15, 2013 by louise

[Caffeine]

Welcome Evenflow86

 

It looks to me like you should have enough air flow and growing space but one thing that sticks out for me is your choice of lighting, especially for your choice of strain?

 

All you lights are ideal for vegging period but not so much for flowering.

I'm assuming you will be vegging under the CFL's and then flowering under the metal halide? Or are you using all of the above for veg and picking up a high pressure sodium bulb for flowering?

 

Re: Auto's

from my experience and from what i read, auto's change from vegging to flowering very quickly. They are hard coded to flower when they reach a certain height/node count and the early stages are the most important if yield is of high priority.

Get them in their final destination from the beginning(no potting up) and try not to stunt their growth in any way if possible. The bigger your can get them before they decide to flower the better.

 

I have mates who use the Growlush bulbs. They may not perform as well as something like a Lucagrow or Phillips but they are cheap enough the replace every grow which kinda makes up for it.

 

P.S. I'm no pro, just thought i would share my 2c

 

 

[merl1n]

Hey Even,

Welcome to OS, there is a shitload of info in ere, finding specific info can be a difficult. Use the search. But if ya still having troubles, Ask. 

P.S. Someone will chop your head off  If you stick it out too far

 

OK, I have to agree with Louise in regard to lighting and proportions of your area, you will get dark zones with that size tent and that light. At the top of this page in the tab called "Cannaversity" there is a room calculator that can give ya a hand with light coverage. Go have a look.

Also from all reports coco needs coco specific nutes. Im a perlite man so I don't need coco specific nutes so I could use your Canna nutes. But everyone here who uses coco says 'Ya need coco specific nutes'.

 

I also have to agree with Caffeine, tho you can use MH for head, MH is better suited to the grow cycle and HPS for head.

Many moons ago and old grower explained it to me like this "In nature when plants flower, the sun passes thru more of our atmosphere before reaching us, the thickness of the atmosphere changes the light frequency, making it very yellow". MH is a white light compared to HPS, which is very yellow. Now whether this old bloke was blowing bullshit or not, I don't know. But it made sense. And although I've improved with each grow, I like to think that the info he gave me improved the first couple heaps. Some fellas here talk of the new digital ballasts being able to be switched from MH to HPS and just changing bulbs and not ballats, which would be heaps cheaper than having two light rigs one MH, one HPS

I personally use magnetic HPS from start to finish. Grow and head. In doing this, I find, my veg growth is more dense. Which is great for my SCROG and while my ancient magnetics work, I'll keep using them

 

Must say not a big fan on autos, but that's me. I haven't seen the quality benefits. Prove me wrong, I may change my view but......not at the moment.

 

As for ya bulbs, if ya starting out, don't worry too much, you'll make improvements as ya go. You WILL need to make 'tweeks' along the way, make the bulbs one of those 'tweeks'.

For instance, Some people swear by placing an airstone in the perlite they get better root development, I tried but didn't see the benefit, ya could go spend $100 on a pH meter, but you can get pH tester drops for $10. I've had 2 electronic meters both died. Now I just use the one drop tester. Also you speak of a hygrometer/thermo. But you also need an EC meter to test you nutrient for strength over a hygrometer IMHO, anyway.

 

Evenflow, you'll eventually work out what works for you and your system, but a bit of advise, no two setups/systems are the same and what works brilliant for me maybe of no use to you what so ever. But you can work thru the 'bullshit' and develop your system around your environment. And we can help

 

Merl1n

[Evenflow86]

Hey guys thanks heaps for your input I really appreciate it  I was hesitant about starting my own thread as I know there's an abundance of information around but as I said I came to a realisation that the selection of stuff I was buying was more a result of being careful, buying second hand and avoiding shopping online than it was actually buying the RIGHT gear for MY planned grow.

 

 

 
1.4m x 0.8m is difficult to light with a single lamp, a 400W would have dim corners and a 600W would generate a lot of heat and have wicked hotspot in the middle. If you haven't bought the tent yet I would suggest that you look at square tents 1m x1m x 1.8m for 400W and 1.2m x 1.2m x 2m for 600W.

edited code mess

 

Thankyou for bringing this to my attention its honestly not something I thought of. I only have a few possible spots for my grow tent and I seem to be pretty limited of what I can fit in,  I originally went for the longer tent thinking it would be better to grow 2 plants but sounds like I will be better off with a square one. Is 1 x 1 x 2M big enough to grow 2 small/medium strains?

 

 

  
If you are going to use coco you need to invest in coco specific nutrients. If you already have the nutrients, I would suggest you check what medium they are designed to be used with and stick with that medium.

 

edited code mess

 

Thanks also, I will purchase some Coco A+B I think. The Canna Vega and Flores was another product of second hand purchase, I had a read and it says its designed for potting compost or open soil so another fail on my part

 

 

 

Welcome Evenflow86

 

It looks to me like you should have enough air flow and growing space but one thing that sticks out for me is your choice of lighting, especially for your choice of strain?

 

All you lights are ideal for vegging period but not so much for flowering.

I'm assuming you will be vegging under the CFL's and then flowering under the metal halide? Or are you using all of the above for veg and picking up a high pressure sodium bulb for flowering?

 

Re: Auto's

from my experience and from what i read, auto's change from vegging to flowering very quickly. They are hard coded to flower when they reach a certain height/node count and the early stages are the most important if yield is of high priority.

Get them in their final destination from the beginning(no potting up) and try not to stunt their growth in any way if possible. The bigger your can get them before they decide to flower the better.

 

 

Because I was going to start with some autoflowering ladies I was just going to use to CFL's for seedling stage and once big enough straight under the Metal Halide for the remainder of the grow. Thanks mate for the advice or the Auto's, I will make sure I pot straight into my large pots and just water a little less I guess.

 

 

 

Hey Even,

Welcome to OS, there is a shitload of info in ere, finding specific info can be a difficult. Use the search. But if ya still having troubles, Ask. 

P.S. Someone will chop your head off  If you stick it out too far

 

OK, I have to agree with Louise in regard to lighting and proportions of your area, you will get dark zones with that size tent and that light. At the top of this page in the tab called "Cannaversity" there is a room calculator that can give ya a hand with light coverage. Go have a look.

Also from all reports coco needs coco specific nutes. Im a perlite man so I don't need coco specific nutes so I could use your Canna nutes. But everyone here who uses coco says 'Ya need coco specific nutes'.

 

I also have to agree with Caffeine, tho you can use MH for head, MH is better suited to the grow cycle and HPS for head.

Many moons ago and old grower explained it to me like this "In nature when plants flower, the sun passes thru more of our atmosphere before reaching us, the thickness of the atmosphere changes the light frequency, making it very yellow". MH is a white light compared to HPS, which is very yellow. Now whether this old bloke was blowing bullshit or not, I don't know. But it made sense. And although I've improved with each grow, I like to think that the info he gave me improved the first couple heaps. Some fellas here talk of the new digital ballasts being able to be switched from MH to HPS and just changing bulbs and not ballats, which would be heaps cheaper than having two light rigs one MH, one HPS

I personally use magnetic HPS from start to finish. Grow and head. In doing this, I find, my veg growth is more dense. Which is great for my SCROG and while my ancient magnetics work, I'll keep using them

 

Must say not a big fan on autos, but that's me. I haven't seen the quality benefits. Prove me wrong, I may change my view but......not at the moment.

 

As for ya bulbs, if ya starting out, don't worry too much, you'll make improvements as ya go. You WILL need to make 'tweeks' along the way, make the bulbs one of those 'tweeks'.

For instance, Some people swear by placing an airstone in the perlite they get better root development, I tried but didn't see the benefit, ya could go spend $100 on a pH meter, but you can get pH tester drops for $10. I've had 2 electronic meters both died. Now I just use the one drop tester. Also you speak of a hygrometer/thermo. But you also need an EC meter to test you nutrient for strength over a hygrometer IMHO, anyway.

 

Evenflow, you'll eventually work out what works for you and your system, but a bit of advise, no two setups/systems are the same and what works brilliant for me maybe of no use to you what so ever. But you can work thru the 'bullshit' and develop your system around your environment. And we can help

 

Merl1n

 

Quality advice mate thanks a lot, I think it sounds like a good idea for me to

 

• Invest in a 1.2 x 1.2 x 2M tent &
• Possibly 600w (if this is whats required to grow 2 plants and the 400 wont cut it) HPS. Will probably just go magnetic ballast.

Merlin I'm also using the Ph drop kit at the moment just while I experiment with bagseed, would you say that a decent EC/PPM meter is more money's well spent over a PH meter? I am also tending to agree with you on the auto's. I figured id use them to break my virginity and then move onto some feminised seeds. Been interested in Silver haze, Liberty Haze, Tangerine Dream and LSD.

 

Love ya work stoners! Thanks again Any more advice is definitely welcomed

 

OH and if and when I finally get my shit together I would love to do a grow diary

[louise]

Is 1 x 1 x 2M big enough to grow 2 small/medium strains?

Yes, I use a 1x1x1.8m tent with a 400W HPS (philips son-t-agro) and usually finish 3 or 4 plants between 1m and 1.6m tall plants.

 

Invest in a 1.2 x 1.2 x 2M tent

Possibly 600w (if this is whats required to grow 2 plants and the 400 wont cut it) HPS. Will probably just go magnetic ballast.

If you want the bigger tent then you will need the bigger light, but as I said above a 400W in a 1sqm tent works fine.

[merl1n]

 

 

 

"Quality advice mate thanks a lot, I think it sounds like a good idea for me to.....

 

.....Merlin I'm also using the Ph drop kit at the moment just while I experiment with bagseed, would you say that a decent EC/PPM meter is more money's well spent over a PH meter? I am also tending to agree with you on the auto's. I figured id use them to break my virginity and then move onto some feminised seeds. Been interested in Silver haze, Liberty Haze, Tangerine Dream and LSD."

 

 

Personally, yes, EC meter over pH meter.

pH is very important, certain nutrients are only available for the plant to uptake and certain pH levels but this can be measured with the drop tester just as well as by electronic toys.

EC must also be kept in check, my setup likes around 1200-1500ppm any higher the plant looks 'sad' any lower plants look 'sad'. I started out not having an EC meter and when I flushed the setup my water heater was covered in calcium build up, which Id scrub off. This build up was because my EC levels were way too high, 1800+, by dropping the EC the plants health has increased and much less calcium build up.

As for your seeds, find a really nice smoke and just hope for a couple of seeds, its cheaper and a way to start. You can find some nice bagseed

 

Merl1n

Edited June 15, 2013 by merl1n

[Evenflow86]

Awesome, thanks man, im getting more and more of an idea on what I should be forking out for and what I can get away with.. Would the EC be as much of a problem on a basic hand water coco/perlite though?

 

Cheers!

 

Evenflow

[merl1n]

Basically, yes.

EC stands for electrical conductivity. Electricity will not pass thru pure water, the more salts dissolved in that water the more conductive of electricity the water becomes.

So if you make a super strength nutrient mix, more electricity will pass from one electrode to the other on your meter, but a high EC reading can stress and also burn plants, so EC is important. It doesn't matter whether you hand water nor what medium you use . If your nutes are too strong or weak it can/will impede your growth. EC is measuring the concentration of your nutes. ie Not enough= retardation, Too much=burning, salt build up and can even = DEATH of the plant.

 

Merl1n

[D.R.S.D]

Merlin u are so correct there ain't anything I've read that u post I don't learn from and your a wealth of knowledge mate ! kudos to you !! and I always say it but u have confirmed it now I really do need a EC meter

 

Good luck with it all even flow