A few questions from a virgin grower

[Midget]

1) what do you guys reccomend as a good grow medium to start out

 

2) What would you recommend for a good nutes package

 

3) how do you stop light leaks from your intak fan

 

4) what would be some good strains to start out with (ie robusteness etc)

 

5) Do you guys leave you carbon filter and fan running 24/7 in flowering

 

6) how do you treat odours when you open the tent.

 

7) what would be a good brand for a first tent..

 

8) looking for shops located in the greaters sydney or even further out area so any suggestion of good ones would be appreciated..

 

that prettmuch does it for now... While I will be living alone in an apartment Im worried mostly about smell...

 

 

To start it owuld be a 2 to 3 plant grow.. more for the fun and then work my way up to a self sufficient supply

 

 

 

 

[DoctorWho]

1)  coco mixed with perlite, 65-75% coco to 35-25% perlite is extremely forgiving, has great drainage and will hold enough water that you should only need to water the plants 2-3 times a week.

 

2)  Any well known brand suited for your growing medium will do.  Additives are helpful but I wouldn't worry about them in the slightest until you are settled into your system and strains.  A good 2 part nutrient will have everything the plant needs and in the early days you really need to keep everything as simple as possible.

 

3) Ducting.  All you need is a bend and to not aim one end directly at the light and you're golden.

 

4)  I'd recommend buying a strain that has stood the test of time like northern lights, skunk #1, etc. or a hybrid with them.  They've stood the test of time for a reason and chances are they'll suit you too.

 

5)  yes, anything less and smell leaks out

 

6) breathing deeply and trying to be as quick as possible because there is no stopping the smell

 

7)  One from your hydro store that's well made and returnable if it breaks

 

8) you can search for hydro shops on google and get a map with directions to all of them.

 

9) don't start small, buy the setup you want and grow into it.  You'll feel like you've wasted time, money, space, etc. looking back on it if you don't

[Midget]

Thanks Doc

 

 

can I ask you about drainage...

 

do you have them in pots like your general garden variety and have the water drain out the bottom or do you leave the without holes in the pots so it can soak up the water...

 

Also if you do have holes, when adding nutes, can you reuse that water or just get rid of it down the sink

[DoctorWho]

I use standard pots and let any water that drains out go down the sink. The water goes out into my backyard and waters other plants that are overgrowing my yard like crazy

 

You definitely need to get rid of excess water though.  Plants really don't like being bogged down  and need air as much as we do.

[Ozzy420]

With setting up it can be made simple or as hard as u like.

 

For a newbie perlite is a good medium to start with, it is easy to fix a prob than some of the other mediums used.

 

Nutes comes down to each person as we all like things diff when it same with nutes, choose one that u think will suit u the best and go from there.

 

Tent and lighting comes down to what size light in wattage u want to run will determen the size of the tent, cant say this tent over that one as i have never used one.

 

With stink, some plants will stink way more then others, i use to have my fan and filter set to come on when light come on in veg, and run the filter 24/7 in flower.

 

If the fan and filter are decent when u open up the tentwith them running u will get a lil bit of a smell waft out but the fan should be pulling most of through the filter, just dont play eith the plants to much with door open if they a real stinky strain.

 

With strain it diff strokes for diff folks one will say this best for a newbie and then this dude will say no this one better, it comes down to a matter of choice in the end,

[Midget]

Ok one more naive question.

 

When it comes time to harvest is it best to burn some incence ... or maybe one plant at a time...

 

 

Also what is your ideal pot size when growing.. after it has veged for a while is there a size that i should be looking for.. i dont want overkill but also dont want something too small

Edited February 13, 2014 by Midget

[Matanuska Thunder]

harvest in front of the tent and let the charcoal filter pull the smell away

 

burning incense is like trying to cover shit with a spray… just smells like you are covering up shit with spray

 

container size? a cheep bucket from bunnings is a good size…. or about 15L can get you through a grow… depends on your tent size

[Ozzy420]

with harvest if a real sticky strain sit in fromt of ya tent with filter running so it draws most of the smell through the filter...

[Midget]

alright guys one more question....

 

 

Fan noise... can you guys reccomend brands to look for and brands to stay away from..

 

Im assuming I need and inline and a centrifugal for the filter....My tent for size purposes would be for a 4 plants but will start it off with two...

 

 

I have seen some at work on youtube and they are loud as anything...

[Ozzy420]

The fan dose make some noise it isent to bad, you can muffel it more by wraping it in somthing to help deaden the noise.

 

A lot of the noise will be the sound of the air moving through ducting, you can get acoustic ducting that will kill a lot of the sound and make things a lot less noise.

 

Yep best off with a centrif fan they have the power to suck through the filter and push the air through the ducting...