Cannabis Cultivator Virgin - Starting with the ILGM Autos Mix Pack 2.0

[henryuribe7]

Hi all,

I am new to the growing cannabis family. My wife challenged me that I won’t be able to grow anything because we’ve been married for almost 10 years and; I guess have nothing else better to do other than to get on each other’s nerves. I wanted to start a grow journal and was hoping to get some guidance along the way. I’m so excited and I have gotten my grow tent almost ready. I can’t believe this but I have the same feeling waiting for my seeds to arrive the same way that I felt when I was waiting for my kids to be born.

Since the autos pack Mix 2.0 has three different strains and I got 15 I was going to grow them in rounds of 3s every 3 to 4 weeks 5 times. @dbrn32 @imSICKkid @Bubblehead here is what I have:

Tent: 2-in-1 60"x48"x80" VIVOSUN Mylar fabric

VIVOSUN 2-in-1 60"x48"x80" Mylar… Amazon.com

Strains: Bubble Gum, Jack Herer, OG Kush
Growing Medium: soil / Groundswell 1.5 CUFT
Fabric pots: 3 gal Grow Pro essential grow bag
Temp control: Inkbird WIFI ITC-308 DigitalTemp controller thermostat

Inkbird WiFi ITC-308 Digital Temperature Controller Thermostat Remote Monitoring Controlling Home Brewing Fermentation Breeding Incubation Greenhouse https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PVBG8K1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_iaVVDbVKRQ3Z9

Need help with heating and cooling devices*

Humidity: Humidifier/Dehumidifier

Need help with humidifier*

I have a dehumidifier that was left in my house from previous owner

70-Pint Portable Dehumidifier Amazon.com

Lightning:

Week 1:
First set of lightning for seedlings x 2 Red/Blue 20W LED on 24 hours
On 60%-80% humidity; 68°F - 75°F; water every 2-3 days 2 Oz per plant x 3 plants.

[2018 UPGRADED]18W Dual Head… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078SRT9CY?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Week 2-4
Second set of lightning for small veggs and clones x 1 HLG 65W LED on 20/4 on 50%-70% humidity; 70°F - 78°F (do I want temps to be hotter or cooler during night?)

HLG 65 V2 4000K Horticulture Lighting Group Quantum Board LED Grow Light Veg & Bloom 4000K | Version 2 High-Efficiency Upgraded LM301B LED’s https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076QDKVDZ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_aTUVDbWE4BCK5

Week 5-8
Third set of lightning for veggs and flowering x 1 NextLight Core Full Spectrum 190W LED on 20/4 on 40%-50% humidity; 75°F -80°F

NextLight Core Full Spectrum 190W LED Grow Light for Veg and Flower Amazon.com

Air circulaton: VIVOSUN 6" clip fan x 3

VIVOSUN Patented 6 Inch Clip on Oscillating Fan Fit for 0.59 to 1 Inch Grow Tent Pole with 2-Speed Control https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TJCVQ15/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_hCVVDbQMVJTPN

Hurricane Classic 4" inland fan, it’s similar to the one below.

Hurricane Inline Fan - 4 Inch | 171 CFM | High Performance, Commercial Grade Inline Fans - Ventilation Fan - ETL Listed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007ZU6ZT8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_iHVVDbD0TFVY3

Carbon filter LITE 9000 Recirculating 500 CFM

Can Lite Filter 8" x 25" 600 CFM https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JW3J9WQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_1KVVDbNDK8N1Q

Indoor thermometer with humidity reader x 3

AcuRite 00613 Indoor Thermometer… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013BKDO8?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

PH Control Kit by General Hydroponics x 1

Optic Foliar 8.5 Oz x 1

RapidStart 1 - 0.5 - 1 30ml (1 Fl Oz) by General Hydroponics x 2

I need some help with water and nutues schedule by week if possible?

Thank you,

Henry.-

[MrPeat]

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your crops. I think you will find out that you will only want a couple of plants because one can take 16 square feet by itself.

[Bubblehead]

Welcome to the forum!

Have you purchased and have in hand all the items you have listed?

I think we should unpack these a little at a time.

[henryuribe7]

@Bubblehead I do have all of these must of it from other things that I used to grow.

[dbrn32]

Welcome to the forum! Looks like you’re getting setup with some awesome equipment, nice job doing research there.

Do you have a particular set of nutrients you would like to use? I don’t remember seeing any posted above, but I may have just missed too.

[henryuribe7]

Hi @dbrn32,

That’s the one thing I have not been able to come to a good decision. I need some guidance on that end because there is a lot to unpack. I know the basics, all plants need NPK + CalMag but not sure by how much and what kind of regimen etc but not sure about how to go about it. I was told by. My local Horticulture store owner that by week 3 or so is when I need to start worrying about it.

[RockClarke]

@henryuribe7 …What he meant was, after you put a seedling into soil such as Fox Farms Ocean Forest, the soil will have ample nutes to get it vegging for around 3-4 weeks before you need to add more nutrients.

Welcome to the forum!

[Covertgrower]

Welcome to the forum!

[Bubblehead]

@henryuribe7 I’m pretty new at this compared to a lot of farmers on here but this is some of what I’ve learned so far. When I started I thought light, soil, see, feed and water how hard could this be…boy did and still do I have a lot to learn.

@henryuribe7

water every 2-3 days 2 Oz per plant x 3 plants

I made the mistake my first grow of believing that I set the world up for my plants and I would water and feed on my schedule, after all it is the world I created. Boy was I wrong you have to learn from the plants they will tell you when to water and feed. I’m still trying to understand what they are telling me and how to correct. Be careful not to over water, especially young plants, you can do this by judging the weight of the container before and after watering.

I think starting new plants every 3-weeks is a bit aggressive. In my experience my autos have taken 110-120 days from seed to harvest. If your goal is to run a perpetual garden I would start my germination around day 55, that way you may have the first 3 ready for harvest as the next three are getting into bloom.

I have been running Roots Organic 5ml package for nutes. I like the performance but think I should see better results. Next grow I’m going to try Nectar Of The Gods as a comparison and may switch all together. I paid for shipping on the NOTG sample pack and will use that as a comparison. @Killadruid uses Roots Soul and kills it each time, he really has it dialed in. Most nute companies have their own schedule published.

I recommend getting the best pH meter you can afford. I have this one and really like it’s performance so far.

https://www.amazon.com/Apera-Instruments-AI209-Waterproof-Accuracy/dp/B077Z6LF91/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=Ph%2Bmeter&qid=1572868742&sr=8-8&th=1

I don’t remember seeing it on your list but you will want a tds meter also. A $15-$20 meter will get you started.

[Killadruid]

There’s a few different nutrients that work amazing. I’d go with something more simple to start with and then u can move onto something like soul synthetics or roots organics.

[henryuribe7]

@Bubblehead thank you so much for your recommendations. You made some quite interesting points. I will research some more. I read that you don’t really need to do the first feed until they start showing some yellowing on their tips. I read that typically this means they are hungry and they have used up all of the nutrients that came within the soil. Also, I read that is easy to overwater and drown them so starting with 2 Oz of every 2 to 3 days was a good start for the week but then after that you have to pay attention to what they tell you (I don’t like that). I’m a science guy and like to have structure to start with and then I can start to work my way around individual base needs per plant. I love the suggestion to weigh them

Also, what’s the difference between the pH pen you suggested vs the bluepen labs? I thought my local Horticulture store owner was trying to make a quick buck. Here is what he recommended

Bluelab PENPH pH Pen for Plant Germination Amazon.com

And also I already ordered the TDS meter thanks for the help!!

Ps: ILGM customer service gave me an update with my seeds and said that she to reorganizing the warehouse ran out of my seeds but they are planning to ship within 2 days. I’m doing a test run with controlling my temps and humidity today and tomorrow just to make sure everything works as it should. I’m going to start with 80% humidity and temps between 70-85 F and play with a few settings combinations just to get a feel of what it takes to control the environment.

[Nicky]

Welcome to the family!
Looks like you have done a little bit of research so I’m going to dive into your gear right away before you end up regretting a purchase as many of us here have done so in the past.
Have you bought everything already? Do you have amazon prime?

The things that really catch my eye on your list is
#1 4" fan, your going to want a 6inch fan this not only will give you a larger and better flow in your current tent but if you decide to upgrade or you wreck your tent then using the 6" fan moving forward even will be ideal in your current and future decisions (even if you end up selling it)

#2 you have your 3 sets of LED’s there. 2 amazon lights and one HLG, I would think you would be better off using Amazon LED’s to veg and a 3000k HLG to flower (or even grow from seed to harvest) although it will have to be larger than a 65w. Vegging is alot easier then flowering so I would say put your quality lighting in the main tent and cheap veg lights in your smaller areas.

#3 when your looking for a humidfior get an evaporative style not a misting one, otherwise you risk wrecking your carbon filter very fast (Honeywell makes one thats super common)

There are a million options on nutrients most here use general hydroponics, fox farms, or advanced nutrients, I’m particular to Dry nutrients regardless of who makes it because otherwise you are paying for water and it has a shelf life.

As others have said make sure you have a good TDS and PH pen. On that note both PH pens you have looked at are great most use one or the other.
These are really handy to have as you will be wanting to access the water in your dishes as well as not have your plants sit in run off
https://www.amazon.com/Gro-Pro-Level-Pot-Elevator/dp/B01J37FHF8/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=gro+pro+nx+level+pot+elevator&qid=1572873227&sprefix=Gro+pro&sr=8-3

As for growing how many plants how often 3 is a good start, you may cut down to 2 once you really dial them in and grow bigger plants. Wait until you start to see cloudy tricombs before you drop new seeds I would say otherwise you could run the risk of having monsters in your small areas yet your main plants are still finishing.

Oh that reminds me you will want a USB microscope to check your tricombs

Ps* as @Bubblehead stated you want to be careful watering at the start just water in a circle around the leafs edge this will force the roots to stretch out and search for the water, do it by eye not by amount, although a common way to measure is putting your finger in the soil down to the second knuckle to see if you feel any mosture. Until you start the flood and dry cycle in Wich you will life the pot to decide if it’s time to water.
As for feeding you want to feed Before leaves yellow and that’s why you watch your TDS run off.

[dbrn32]

All good info here. If you’re going to use synthetic nutrients, all of the companies use mostly the same stuff. There’s definitely different ratios and mixtures, but the same base elements used to start with. So the name on bottle isn’t really all that important.

See what your local people stock full line of and recommend. Then research it some online and see if it looks like good fit for you.

[Killadruid]

Your 4 inch fan should be more then enough to vent out properly. I grew 4 plants in a 4x4 tent with no problems with a 4 inch fan.

[henryuribe7]

I was planning on Recirculating the air because of my local grower told me that would be the most efficient way to do it. Also, I played with the idea of putting aluminum ducting to come out from the top and recirculate into a bottom hook or hole on my tent. So this way im filtering the air efficiently and also moving the air from the floor where most of the CO2 likes to sit.

[Nicky]

While c02 does settle in low areas you won’t be giving it the ability to settle. Exhausting hot air that contains co2 out the top will in turn force air into the tent through an intake you leave open (suggest also keeping it held open with ducting or a piece of pvc covered in a home made filter, some use furnace filters but I use a dollar store panty hoe that covers a furnace vent filter taped nice and snug) not to mention the clip fans your going to be using blowing air all around.
You will find Temp/RH is more of an important thing to control than your level of c02 (to start). Infact you really want to dial it in, read about VPD.

Not sure why your local grow guy would tell you to recirculate the air. Fresh air in, stale air out, cool air in, hot air out, clean air in, stinky air scrubbed by carbon filter then forced outside.

As @dbrn32 mentioned nutrient line is not super important, get what’s available and cheap. That’s why I recommend general hydroponics dry nutrients but pick what you want really.

Looking good, don’t forget to drop that temo/humidity sensor down to plant canopy level.

[henryuribe7]

@Nicky You mentioned so many great points!!!

He said that by recirculating the air it will be more energy efficient because you are filtering the same air. He said, I shouldn’t worry too much about hot air as much because I am growing with LEDs and typically they run cooler. I’ve looked some vids and will start looking into the details of VPD. I’m not sure what to do about the ventilation situation. So, do you recommend having two inland-fans? One for exausting air out and one for intake fresh air? Also, I got this one to control my temps and humidity.

Ps: I received an email today that my seeds have shipped. It says that it takes 5 to 12 business days but I’m hoping I can get it by Friday so I can start growing. Again, thank you all so much for welcoming and guiding me.

[Covertgrower]

If you go with a AC Infinity fan they’re quiet and energy efficient, and come with a controller. My 6” uses 43W on the highest setting.

https://www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-CLOUDLINE-T6-Temperature/dp/B074XBXFPD/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=ac+infinity&qid=1572899884&sr=8-1

[henryuribe7]

@Covertgrower I almost got this one but my grower said that you never want you fan to shot off. Can you keep this one running 24/7?

[Covertgrower]

@henryuribe7 you can, just set it to the lowest you want it to go and it’ll will only go down to the minimum you select it to. Mine stays on 24/7 as well.
I have the thermostat probe above an LED to “ramp up” shortly after lights on, especially during flower.
In veg I just keep it turned down low.