• Cannabis Discussion Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules

[MEGA] Every Year's Community Growing advice, tips, tricks, & experiences

Artificial Emotion said:
^ Just out of curiosity, why aren't you using a coco nutrient with coco? They're designed with the cation exchange capacity of coco in mind. Or is your nutrient designed for coco (I wouldn't know since I'm not sure it's available in the UK)?

If you want organic coco nutrients, Hesi coco nutrients such as TNT complex has 100% organic nitrogen and will give sweet tasting weed just like any other organic nutrient.
Click to expand...

Well, i'm not using 100% coco, the Roots Organic is an organic potting mix with all kinds of goodies in it and it mixes well w/ the B'Cuzz Coco. My friend already tried Monkey Juice from Advanced Nutrients which is supposedly designed just for Coco and he didn't really like the stuff, didn't see any difference whatsoever and even was a bit disappointed compared to the Fox Farm nutes. I am getting good results using the Humboldt line of nutes and I have already invested quite a bit of money into that line, I have plenty of the stuff to last for atleast another season or two, so maybe after that I will look into switching to something else.
 
^ in that case my advice doesn't really apply. Sorry, I thought you meant 100% coco.

I have to say I'm not a fan of Advanced Nutrients at all but definitely do what you're doing if it works for you. I'm not trying to put down what you do, but the cost of my entire feed for a grow doesnt come to the price of 1 of their nutrients. When you compare the number of products in their range with the number of products major reputable competitors produce it does ring alarm bells in my mind.

Just my two pence and I know people might disagree. Like I say, if it works for you then that's great but I really would recommend trying a different brand :)

edit: Big Mike is a big cunt too ;)
 
Hey! I'm new to BlueLight and I see you're all in the middle of a discussion more or less and I feel rude interrupting, so if I'm in the wrong thread please direct me to the proper thread. Thanks.

Anyway, I recently became a Patient in Rhode Island's Medical Marijuana program and I selected a CareGiver, and well, lets just say I'll be cutting him soon due to his lack of cooperation. And I have decided to grow myself. I have successfully grow outdoors, MANY times and know the basics, however my card only permits me to indoor growing and I greatly look forward to doing this.

Here's my deal; I am permitted 12 plants in veg and 12 plants in flowering, as well as 2.5 ounces of "usable marijuana". I figure, why waste? I might as well grow my maximum. Unfortunately, I am tight on funds so I am saving over the next couple of months. I am new to indoors, as said earlier, and I decided to grow using hydroponics. Here are my questions;

1) I decided an Ebb and Flow system will suit my needs perfectly, however I have not yet purchased one. I considered making my own drip system because I am inclined with that sort of thing as I am a carpenter and have been for the past 11 years. However, I decided, I don't want to screw things up and just buy the system.
Do you think I'm wrong for choosing to buy the system?

2) Clearly, I have not purchased the system as of yet because I am shopping around. I need (1) 12-site Ebb & Flow system to start because I am going to just do one set of 12 (full cycle) and then return back and get a whole new setup to match my current one and do the 12 veg/12 flower in which I am entitled.
Where can I find my best deal?

3) Currently I rent a home and I will be buying one in the next two years, I have no extra space as it is in this house other than my unfinished basement. I refuse to do a half-assed set-up and originally decided I would build an entire room in the basement. After doing the math, I decided that I might as well find a "grow tent" that's big enough to suit my needs so that this way I can still take down my room and bring it to my new home to get the best out of the investment.

What size grow tent do I need to fit 12 3 gallon buckets attached to a 50(I think) gallon reservoir and enough room to squeeze into the room and maintain the plants??

4) Do you know where I can find a good deal on one of that size? I've searched but I figured I should ask the professionals on here first.

5) I have purchased a COOL SUN REFLECTOR - 6" Flanges with a Lumenator Switchable Ballast MH/HPS 1000W with a regular 1000W MH Bulb(110k lumens) as well as a Standard 1000W HPS Bulb because I can simply change the bulb in the hood and switch into veg... right?

6) Will this bring enough light to the 12 plants??? Most grow tents have reflective walls so that should help.. right?

I do plan on getting better bulbs and a better hood for my HPS light for my second time around, I also plan on eventually learning how to use the CO2 as well as doubling up on lights when in the flowering cycle with both red spectrum and blue spectrum buibs. But we can hold off on advice on that part because when the time is right.. I'll be back!! hahaha!!

7)i purchased a 465CFM (or something close to that) fan, will that be enough to cool a 1000W light??

So currently my list of things I need is;
Grow Tent large enough for 12 Plants,
Ebb & Flow hydroponics kit (12-site),
Timers, (I'll need details on that at a later time, I don't want to go into overload lol)
Nutrients (once again, later date we'll deal with that)
Climate Control,
am I missing anything to complete one decent cycle?

I will be growing White Widow clones for my first time around.


Thanks and I'm sure I'll think of more by the morning.
I owe you guys my life just for reading my pathetic novel, lol.. but I'd appreciate the help.
Thanks again,
You're friend indeed,
True2Love <3
57ae25a0-1.jpg
 
^ I wouldn't go for CO2 as you've never grown indoors before (growing outdoors is quite different).

As a beginner (of indoor growing) I would keep it simple. I would go for a cheaper system personally but ultimately that's up to you. If I were you I would try passive hydroponics to start off with (particularly fytocell since it yields just as much and in the same time and beats coco in side by side tests). You'll need an EC truncheon and a pH meter.

You also need a contactor and a segmental/digital timer. You don't need fancy climate control systems. All you need is a cheap fan controller that has a dial on it to control fan speed. Always get a bigger fan spec than you need as you can always dial it down. I can tell you whether your fan is powerful enough if you give me the rating in m3/hr. Intake fans are optional.

Your light is big enough for 12 plants but with this number you'll want a shorter veg time than if you had fewer plants. You'll only need a MH for veg and HPS for flowering. You don't need both at the same time.
 
Last edited:
I agree w/ AE...start simple and expand from there once you get some knowledge and experience w/ indoor cultivation. I have a few years under my belt and still have leaps and bounds to go, each cycle seems to get better and better. I don't do hydro, 3 gal pots in B'Cuzz coco & mix in Roots Organic or FF Ocean Forest potting soil. Each plant has it's own little environment going on beneath the surface, if you screw something up with one plant..the rest are fine....one wrong move with hydro and if it's bad enough (like your entire resevoir of water gets to hot or too cold or the EC & PH go out of wack and you don't catch it in time) kiss your whole crop good-bye. Since you have an unfinished basement and have carpentry skillz, you can build youself and nice 5 X 5 closet...hang up your light, set up your filter, buy 12 3gal nursery pots and a good medium...(don't skimp on the medium!!) and you can have a crop going in no time at all. Then expand to what you really desire after you get a few cycles under your belt. Just my 2 cents!

BTW..UH, whats with the photo of the gun for?
 
I agree, soil is much more forgiving than hydroponics. I would strongly recommend trying that first. Under a 1kW lamp they'll grow pretty quickly anyhow but with soil at least the bud will taste better if you go organic.

Yeah, what's up with the gun? Is there some association between the gun and growing cannabis? I thought all pot heads were peaceful! ;)
 
First Indoor grow

Since small ammounts of personal use marijuana has been decriminalised too grow in my state, I want to get right on it!

I grew outside for the last 3 seasons, last season with my best success yet. But unfortinatley in my time zone its winter =[

So, I decided too try my first indoor grow. I got a good spot, with foil on the walls for a 10% relfective value, a fan for ventilation, and everything else. The thing Im having a problem (well not quite sure of) is light.

I have as of right now a 13w flourlecent bulb, and a 20w flourlecent tube. Luckly the school I go to offers FREE unlimited flourlecent tubes. So I can get more at any time. Will 33 watts be okay too start me off with 4-5 small plants for the first month or so?

Also, I decided instead of 24/7 light for vegetative state to do to do a 18/6 light cycle after reading that some darkness allows the plant too grow. But the question I have is, when I decide too harvest do I just go from 18/6 straight too 12/12 or do I have too gradually bring it down over a period of time like in nature?

Thanks and god bless.
 
pretty sure cannabis cultivation is against the rules sorry mate... you can search throughout the net nd find heaps of information regarding fluro cultivation.

if im allowed to post this, look into CFL (compact fluro lighting) these puppies emmit 130 watt and cover all the spectrums needed. so two of these in your vegative state shall help him along. tube, not sure, i dont think 33watt would emmit a high enough lumen ratio.
to my understanding this may work temporarily but not permanently.

this information was gathered via other internet sites, i have no knowledge on cannabis cultivation nor do i partake in this illegal activity.
 
^Have you seen the mega grow thread?

33 watts isnt enough to grow you 1 plant let alone 5-6.

If you want to grow a few plants and you have the space go for a High Pressure Sodium. If not you'll need to be using 500+ watts of CFL/flurenscent lighting to get any real decent buds.

For CFL lighting use 24/0 for veg and 18/6 if your using a HPS, and then 12/12 to start the flower stage.
 
plain pure white82% light reflection diffused, it is far superior to foil. foil will wrinkle and create burn spots, with HID lighting, white semi glossy poster board would work better, or painted ply wood, white plastic, or visqueen.

mylar is very cheap, did as reflective emergncy blankets at the dollar store, but also wrinkles and sharply dispurses light, at 90 +%, so wrap it tight around wood, walls, or thick cardboard and staple then tape.

white paint, or thick white plastic is easy to sanitize, and very effective, maybe more at the end of the day.

i run 24/7 veg, and have harvested plenty potent, but mediocre yields and vigor with fluro flowering, use a broad spectrum, side lighting, read about daisy chaining CFL'S, or put together as many 2-3' T8's as possible.

dint let what you have stop you from trying, learning, and seeing if you want to stick with it and save for a 400w HID, preferably with a MH/HPS capabilities.

learn the methods, mediums, others trial and errors with systems matching your needs. learn aeroponics and make an aerocloner, and chose one of the bunch to play with cloning.

after my crash course with nutrients, Earth Juice products are fairly priced, full of multiple organic or naturally sourced ingredients, complex ingredients naturally = complex smoke and happy plants/roots.

Canna is superior, essentially a 2 part, but with a line of fine supplements, that are rarely used but $$$.

Botanicare anything is a safe bet.

SuperThrive, high P jamaican batguano, worm castings, full spectrum PH drops, nitrozyme?, CocoCoir perfect CEC.

a 10 gallon rubbermade tote, a mid range pump, air pump medium bubble stone, digital timers, surge protectors, floor covering, ventilation, 10' 1/2'' inside diameter white vinyl tube, 2 spaghetti drippers for each pot/grow bag, a new zealand hydroponics PPM temp indicator, a 400w dual mh/hps ballast, a 400w hps ballast running one hps and one mh, with visqueen.

vegetating a simple home made ebb&flood, with 24/7 atleast 2000 lumens, will jump the right plants up fast and well and ready to flower in 5-6 weeks.
this is clean, efficient, economical, self serving, a large O & CO2 exchange, so easy and modifiable overtime. they both drip and E&F only run a few minutes a day, and if you take care of the rez, you wont be having to clean it out constantly, have a matching one, the more nutrient in the container the more stable it stays, try 3-5 gallons at a time, and adjust the PPM or EC each time.
 
Wow guys, thanks for the replies! I'll simply cut the gun out of my signature, like I said in my introduction on another thread I use other forums, just not drug related ones. Typically, that gun is my signature, That gun saved my life. And as it is not military issued, I got to keep it. There's a story about that for another time. I'll simply cut it out. It was just a force of habit.

Now, you recommend I start out with soil, It's funny I actually started a couple seedlings last night. I agree I'm silly for jumping into hydroponics but it just gives off so much more yield and faster. I am very articulate when it comes to things like this and I will be watching over the system 24/7. But I will take your advice on growing in soil verse growing in hydroponics simply because I am a beginner and money's tight.

So could someone please tell me, what's the difference in yield from soil to hydroponics?

How long should it take for my plants to go from seed to bud? (no im not in a rush, simply curious)

A 5x5 room would be big enough for 12-site system??? really??? Let us not forget I am not a fan of the idea to build a permanate room, I am moving in the next year or so and would like to take my investment with me. So, PLEASE someone,tell me what size grow tent to buy?
 
^ Yield difference potentially is zero. I know this goes against the grain of what people will normally tell you, but I know of people who yield just as much as any hydro grow if they're using good compost and don't interfere with their crop as a mad scientist too much (been there done that...). The main difference is in the time it takes to grow a crop. However, if you're growing large plant numbers with a short veg time under a powerful 1kW light in a pertetual system (always have half the plants in veg whilst half are in flower then you're crop turnaround will be so short anyway so it doesn't matter). The only problem with soil is that it's fucking messy. This put me off it in a big way as I was absolutely sick of treading soil everywhere.

If you do choose hydroponics, please please take my advice and go for the simplest system possible i.e. passive hydro. Fytocell is the latest development and hasn't been around for long and has shown itself to be superior to coco interms of growth rate and cost.

You'll find that 90% of your success is dependent your environment/reducing stress. So if you get that dialed in your nearly there. Go for a good nutrient and to start off with, for the first year of growing, avoid allmost all additives. Then when you've proven to yourself that you can grow, start experimenting with one at a time (yes, only one), so you can know whether it's made a difference and it hasn't been any of the other factors playing a part in your grow.

If you mean 5 feet by 5 feet, yes this is more than enough for 12 plants. What's important though, is the number of watts of light per square foot of room space. The ideal is minimum is 50W/sq ft. So, you can achieve this with any light as long as the room is the right size. I personally have 66W/sqft and find this is about the max before diminishing yields becomes a reality. You can yield as much as 12 plants would with a single plant if it is allowed to fill the same space and has a bit longer to veg. So higher plant numbers won't always guarantee a higher yield.

Flowering time is virtually set in stone. You can't choose this, it just happens passively, unlike your veg time. When you veg, using 18-24h light per day (for yield 20 seems to yield a bit more than 18 which is the usual) you do this for as long as you want to. So if you want to veg for a week, switch to 12/12 after 1 week. If you want to veg for 10 weeks, switch after 10 weeks. Generally flowering takes around 8-9 weeks.

edit: fuck, I just spent ages describing the difference between scrog and sog and it got deleted. If you want to get maximum yields, you need to use these methods. SOG is getting the max yield using lots of plants grown with little veg at all and all at the same level in a 'sea of green'. Light intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the bulb, so having all the foliage at the same level instead of the top of the plant close to the light and the bottom not getting much at all because it's far away from the bulb and blocked by top foliage will make a big difference.

Screen of green uses fewer plants all trained under a screen so the foliage is all at the same level. Foliage at the bottom is trimmed off so that only productive foliage at the screen is left. This increases yield but requires a longer veg so that the screen can fill out and hence, turnaround is longer. Although using this method, you'll get more grams per watt of light power, you'll get fewer grams per kWh of light use (not many people realise this!). SOG is the method of choice amongst commercial growers who don't care about large plant numbers since it requires you to cram in as many plants as possible!

Always remember the most important thing about growing and you'll be laughing - your main aim is to become self sufficient and produce good bud. So, ignore all the expensive, heavily marketed additives and spend your money and time on getting your grow dialed in with a good environment and stick with a reputable nutrient (General hydroponics Floraseries which is a benchmark nutrient that is so good it will probably be the same for decades to come! It was used by NASA because of this. Another good brand is Hesi, Canna, Vitalink and a couple of others. If you want my advice, and this is just an opinion, avoid Advanced Nutrients as it's the biggest rip off imaginable - sorry to anyone who uses their products, I mean no offence). All you need is the basic nutrients and if you like a root stim. Nothing else is really necessary to buy as people yield just as much if not more using these basic nutrients without all the extra. Only when you've exhausted your ability to yield more should you consider buying these added extras. There's always something you can do that will give you better results than spending a fortune on these additives. Having said that, you might want to consider getting something simple as a seaweed extract since this has been used by gardeners long before the cannabisness became established. Get one that's not aimed at cannabis users and not made by one of the manufacturers like Canna and you'll get good results. If you suffer from pathogens, you can use a microbial spray that contains things like trichoderma as this is much better than spraying a dangerous, harsh chemical onto your plants. Apart form this, you need nothing else.
 
Last edited:
If you want a good tent, try a Secret Jardin, one of the "intense" line probably suits your needs.
 
^ agreed. I have the Secret Jardin DR120, which is the perfect size for a 1kW light IMO. It comes to about 66W per square foot, which is great. Secret Jardin tents are the best on the market, by far. Budbox tents are shit, enough said! I don't even think they have much of a reflective surface on the inside, making them noticeably less efficient than the SJ tents. SJ tents are also very easy to put up (and take down in an emergency) and just work very well overall. In the DR120 tent you can easily fit 12 plants in and you'll need a minimum of a 6" high powered fan, such as the one I have which is rated as 725m3/h which is 427CFM according to the conversion calculator I just checked online. Without an air cooled hood you might want to get an 8" fan if you can in my opinion. However with an a/c hood the 6" fan I mentioned is sufficient. The reason we have fans is not mainly to cool the lamp. Surprisingly, the main function is to remove stale oxygenated air and replace it with air that is rich in carbon dioxide. Plants take in CO2 in order to grow and use it up quite quickly unless you exchange the air with an extraction fan. If you use CO2 enrichment, ventilation fans are turned off and only used periodically. However, with a good extraction fan, you'll get cracking results without CO2 if everything else is in place. CO2 enrichment is rediculously expensive, and in most cases is not even worth the high cost, unless you're a commercial grower and have been growing for years and can use it correctly. The gear you need to buy is so expensive it's not funny so I would not bother with it yet. After a couple of years then you might consider using it but be patient until then.

The 1kW light is my favourite light, by far. They are slightly less efficient than the 600Ws, but to me this is not noticeable, especially if your growing skills are sufficiently good. In fact, you can just scrape a gram per watt using these lights if you're careful. The reason I like them is because they produce really dense nugs and explosive growth in comparison to the 600s. Heat can be an issue though, so they're better suited to the winter months, although they can be used in the summer with a good air cooled hood. I personally have what I consider to be the best air cooled hood on the market for my size of tent, the DR120 (it's specifically designed for this size in fact), the Sunsystems Blockbuster air cooled hood). When connected up to a 6" high powered Ruck, which is a very powerful, well designed fan, it gives off less heat than a 600W light in a normal reflector! The added advantage is that all the heat given off by this light is used to heat my house in winter, meaning I don't need to turn on my central heating at all! This means that absolutely no energy from the light goes to waste. It's a brilliant system in my opinion and I love it.

If you want to go further and use your technical skills you've developed as a carpenter, you can use a heat exchanger to transfer the heat given off by the light, using an air cooled hood, into a reservoir of water to make it more efficient. You can even use this heat to heat the grow room during the lights off period. You need to have about a maximum of a10C difference between lights on and lights off period. Temps during lights off should be no less than about 18-20C and during lights on, no more than 28C as the absolute maximum.

edit: To control fan speeds you need a fan controller such as this (although you can get much cheaper models than this obviously). Voltage stepping fan speed controller

You also need to buy a thermometer and hygrometer (measures the relative humidity, which should be between about 65%-80% in the vegetative stage and about 30-50% in flower to reduce the chances of bud rot, the sourge of all growers which will dessimate your crop if you don't get it under control). Here's an example (they have an external temperature probe to measure temps, which should be covered by something so it's not exposed directly to the light, which would give innacurate temp readings): Temp/Hygrometer meter

If you have any other questions please ask and I'll be more than happy to help you mate.
 
Last edited:
Blowmonkey said:
If you want a good tent, try a Secret Jardin, one of the "intense" line probably suits your needs.
Click to expand...

'Intense' line? What's that? If you mean the standard line as opposed to the Secret Jardin 'streets' line of tents, then I agree. One of the reps working for SJ actually said that the SJ streets line aren't really meant for growing and are better suited for drying your weed. You'll find that the zips are almost guaranteed to break after a short while. Also they don't have any mylar on the inside and just aren't really suited to growing anything.
 
Google it. ;) They go from Int120 to Int600. Biggest is called the mammoth.
 
Artificial Emotion said:
^ agreed. I have the Secret Jardin DR120, which is the perfect size for a 1kW light IMO.
Click to expand...

THANK YOU SO FUCKING MUCH! To all of you so far, you guys have been life/time/money savers all in one! I would do a much longer post but i am running out the door as of now, so tonight I will combine all the information in which you've given me and then decide what questions I have left.

My question about the above quote is simple, can I fit a 12 site hydroponics system in there, whether it be a sea of green on an ebb&flow system or a Fytocell system.
@Artificial Emotion; What do you use? Soil or Hydroponics? I know you've posted it somewhere, and also, could i see a picture of your entire setup? You sound like you're doing exactly what I need to be doing!!!

Besides that, I literally just added and Secret Jardin DR240W grow tent to my shopping cart and then before finalizing the purchase I opened a new tab and came back to check BlueLight to see if any of my newly made friends had given me a response. And luckily, I found you. (you found me, whatever :p )

Here's my issue with buying the tent, I was figuring I needed 4x7 or so. but i haven't yet seen my hydroponics system (as I haven't ordered it yet and don't plan to until my second harvest or third.) But I don't want to buy a room that won't fit my 12-site system... you know?

Picture me looking up dimensions of grow rooms and measuring them out on the floor with a sharpie marker and drawing them out, then taking my 3 gallon bucket and drawing circles to see what fits where. So far, I'm having trouble with anything that isn't at least 4'x7' because I have to take into consideration that the ebb&flow system has a 55gallon reservoir. (Im not saying that it's what Im going with because I know you advised me to go with Fytocell, but I need to weigh my options because also like you said, it's all my decisions you can only give me advise.)


YOU ALL HAVE SAVED MY ASS AND I APPRECIATE IT SO MUCH, I OWE YOU ALL!
 
I nuted heavily (heavy for me anyways) 2 1/2 tsp per gal (suggests 2-3 for normal feeding, 4 for heavy)
Click to expand...

Do you feed with this every time you water? If so, and if your problem is indeed ph/nutrient related, I doubt you are underfeeding.
 
I wasn't aware of those (they're not widely available in the UK). They're a bit expensive though, aren't they? I had a quick look and the cheapest at the store I looked at was £1127!! I'm not sure why they cost so much.

If you are using a 1kW light then the biggeset tent you want is a 120cmx120cmx200cm. You could fit 2 600Ws in a tent twice the size but that's a whole lot more hassle than having the 120cm tent with the single 1kW light and definitely would cost a lot more. He want a separate veg and flower area so I think it would be better to get two smaller tents like the 120cm ones if he's using two 1kW lights.

If he was growing commercially then maybe getting much bigger tents would be a better investment but he's going to be a percy grower after all.
 
Here is those photos you asked for mate.

I boxed the window over with MDF so that I could extract outside (you need to extract outside for fresh air exchange. Do not extract air into the house (you can take in air into your intake from the house however).

As you can see, I've used acoustic ducting, as the fans make a lot of noise. As well as acoustic ducting, you can also use a silencer to muffle the sound. Fans are so noisy that you have to be careful as you can disturb the neighbours. Some fans sound like a jet engine - you need to be careful!

Oh, yes I use hydroponics, although I have used soil before with excellent results. I may go back after my next grow, or might use the grow drobe I'm constructing to do a compost crop with chillis, peppers and other plants as well as weed. I might also use it as a mother and clone unit. You need to keep mothers so you can keep really productive plants that produce weed that gives you a nice high. This is important and every serious grower does this.

edit: the plastic container on the bottom left of the first picture contains a fogger, which increases the relative humidity levels, which is important for a health vegetative stage.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top