This forum is awesomeness! Your questions and answers have already been so helpful. Unbelievable that my non-smoker wife is letting me grow my own weed!!! I’m so lucky and happy to get started. I’ve been reading and reading and feel like I’m getting close to pulling the trigger on my first set-up investment. At this point I’m just trying to avoid costly unforced errors, if possible. So any help is welcomed and appreciated! Am I missing anything?
My plan is to grow two strains at time for a total of 6 plants. Trying to start easy and compact, given my grow room (attic) is a bit height challenged. Max height is 72” at the high point and slants down from there, hence my grow tent choice. Leaning towards The Autoflower Mix Pack Blueberry, Northern Lights and Amnesia Haze. I live in San Diego, so I’m worried about hot and cold temps. It’s 35F right now in the evening time and the attic feels pretty freaking cold.
Can’t decide if I should buy 2 or 3 of the 260W XL QB V2 Rspec LED Kits
Still wondering if I need a heater for the grow tent and/or the grow room?
Still wondering if I need a dehumidifier and/or humidifier?
Here’s my current shopping list:
Vivosun 5 x 5 x 6 Tent
HLG - 2 x 260W XL QB V2 Rspec LED Kit
DuroLux DL822N T5 HO 2Ft 2 Fluorescent Lamps, 5000 Lumens, 6500K Full Spectrum, Low Profile 7" Wide Reflector
AC Infinity CLOUDLINE T6, Quiet 6” Inline Duct Fan with Temperature Humidity, Ducting and Carbon Filter
VIVOSUN 6 Inch Clip on Oscillating Fan
Vornado VMH500 Whole Room Metal Heater Auto Climate, 2 Heat Settings, Adjustable Thermostat, 1-12 Hour Timer, and Remote, Champagne
iPower 3-Gallon 5-Pack Grow Bags
FoxFarm Ocean Forest Potting Soil
Jiffy 36mm Windowsill
Fox Farm FX14049 Liquid Nutrient Trio Soil Formula: Big Bloom, Grow Big, Tiger Bloom (Pack of 3 - 32 oz. bottles)
Hanna Instruments HI98103 Checker pH Tester
iPower GLROPEX2 2-Pair 1/8 Inch 8-Feet Long Heavy Duty Adjustable Rope Clip Hanger
San Diego’s humidity is pretty good for growing weed. If you live in east county though you will want a humidifier. Seedlings like a lot of humidity (60%+,) veg stage a little less (~50%,) and even less in flowering (<50%.) You may need a dehumidifier during flowering.
You need to ensure adequate airflow in your tent to provide plenty of CO2 and to adequately manage temps and humidity. I have a fan blowing fresh air into one of my tent’s lower ports. If your temps aren’t well managed then a small space heater can help.
I would also suggest you get a PPM meter so that you can test TDS (total dissolvable solids) from your run off following waterings. It will give you an idea of when nutes are necessary.
Three 260xl’s would be ideal for a 5x5, though you can get away with 2 for veg. You won’t regret the HLG lighting. It is awesome.
If height is a concern, then I wouldn’t worry too much about it for your autos. Your photoperiod plants though have the potential to get tall. You will want to learn about plant training techniques such as SCROG and supercropping, as they can help you manage your plant’s height.
Awesome! Great to have someone that’s familiar with SD. Yeah it like 70% rh right now. So it looks like I should get a small humidifier and dehumidifier as well. Will take your advice by more fresh air through intake as well if needed. Is there a PPM meter you favor? Yeah I was totally going to by a Blurple until I got on this forum.
I am reading about plant training and its sounds like something I’ll need to get into. Do you think I will be limited to indica dominate autos with the height restriction or will training allow me to handle saliva dominates as well?
Ok! wow so that Ocean Forest advice sounds pretty important. So is there a better alternative option or which Happy Frog mixture would you recommend? I see there is a 5-7-3, 3-4-3, 4-3-4, 5-8-4, 7-4-5, 5-5-5. So many choices! Thank you!
Apera meters are favored by most of the experienced growers here. I have one and I agree.
You can grow sativas as well, you will just have to mind your training habits. Autos shouldn’t be much of a problem, nor should photos if you train and manage them properly.
I grow the entire lifecycle in FF Happy Frog. I just don’t want to deal with the “hotness” of OF, and seedlings do fine in Happy Frog as well.
I use Fox Farms 6 nutrients plus FFOF soil. I have a 4x4 tent and I use 2 HLG 260xl rspec kits and I can honestly say it’s probably to much light. It’s like taking the Sun and putting it in your grow room.
But @dbrn32 is the Lights Guru around here. Tag you’re it DB.
You’ll want three 260 xl kits to flower a 5x5 ideally. Also, to veg a 5x5 probably two 400 watt 4’ t5 fixtures. Although you could surely drop to a 4x4 for veg and one 400 watt 4’ t5, plenty big enough to feed a 5x5 for flowering.
As far as temps go, depends on where your intake air comes from. You’ll be fighting heat in summer and cold in winter. You can run your lights at night to help, but you’ll likely need climate controlled intake air during extreme summer and winter. Bring it in from your house somewhere, and setup dampers so you could switch to attic air when you don’t need heat or ac. Best I have anyway.
The PC60 is the model Apera I have. I recently upgraded from a Chinese knock-off and it was a good move.
I use Happy Frog, yes. It keeps my plants happy with nutes for ~4 weeks after the last transplant. Some people really like Ocean Forest, but I’ve seen it cause problems for some of the newer growers here. OF is probably fine for your last transplant though.
Awesome! The Apera is on my list! Thanks FixerPower. I got ya on the fertilizers too.
So maybe my thinking isn’t right on yet…but I was thinking was going to seed in the jiffy plugs for a couple of weeks under the a 2 ft T5 and then move to 5 gal pots and then put under the HLG’s at an appropriate distance/dim. But dbrn32. Are you saying in need to keep them under the T5’s through the veg stage? And then only use the HLG’s for flowering? Sorry for my ignorance…
I found these T5’s, but they don’t say what the wattage is. I need 2 or will 1 do?
VIVOSUN 6500K 4FT T5 HO Fluorescent Grow Light Fixture for Indoor Plants, UL Listed High Output Fluorescent Tubes, 8 Lamps
I would love to do a perpetual grow but unfortunately I go out of town a week at a time a few times a year. So I was planning on blocking out 4 months at time throughout the year and grow in those windows. So the 6 babies in the 5 x 5 jiffy plugs, then to 5 gal. rest of the way. Given that, what are your start to finish lighting recommendations. dbrn32 I definitely appreciate your thoughts.