First Time Grower in 3x3!

[Gingz]

Hey All!
New to the forum & I’m just starting my first grow, beyond excited. I’ve been wanting to grow for a while & finally the stars aligned. A quick rundown of the setup & equipment i’m running for this grow:
3 x 3 x 6 Vivosun Tent
4” AC Infinity Fan (Exhaust) w/13” Carbon Filter
4” Vivosun 100CFM Fan(Intake)
VIparspectra TC600(260W) LED
14” blade fan
6” clip-on fans x2
Humidifier & Dehumidifier
Exhale CO2 Bag

In terms of growing medium & nutrients:
Fox Farm Ocean Forest Soil (FFOF)
Fox Farm Trio
CALMAG
Organic Molasses

For seeds, I’ve got 2 Chemdawg by Claybourne CO. & 2 OG seeds I got from a friend.
I put the Chemdawg seeds in cup w/tap water on Sept. 12th where they stayed for 16 hours. Once they sank, I transferred them to a paper towel where they continued to wait in the dark for 24 more hours. After the taproot sprouted, I put them in solos filled w/FFOF & covered the cup w/ziplock bags to keep humidity lvls up. They broke the surface on the 15th. The OG seeds were germinated using the same methods however they were started on the 22nd & broke the surface on the 25th. I started w/3 OG seeds but one didn’t sprout.

Once breaking the surface, the ziplock bag was removed. The seeds have been misted w/a water bottle. I’m using filtered tap water pH’ed to 6.5-6.6. I’ve managed to keep the average temps between 75-85 & RH 50-80%. The plants are on a 18/6 light cycle w/ the LEDs 22” above the canopy @ 65% intensity. The plants haven’t been fed any nutrients, just filtered pH’ed water.

The chemdawg seeds grew faster than I expected as their roots had already started to fill out the bottom of the solos @ 15 days from breaking the surface. They were transferred to 3G fabric pots w/FFOF on the 30th. Chemdawg was topped on 9/2. OGs are growing nicely. Average temp 80-85F. RH 50-75%. I included some pics of the plants before topping.

One thing I noticed as things progressed was a buildup of mineral deposits throughout the tent, i.e. fan blades, carbon filter cover, plant leaves. I ended up not using filtered tap water for the humidifier & switched to distilled water. Hopefully it saves my carbon filter cover from clogging up every week.

I plan on adding another light within the next few weeks.I’m thinking about getting a spider farmer sf200. What do y’all think? Any questions or comments? All is Welcome!

Thanks!

[Nicky]

Welcome @Gingz to the forums and thus the community.

You seem to have read up a little bit and it shows, glad to see it.

First thing I want to point out is to make sure your adding perlite to your soil mix, it should be at 30% perlite or a tad more, as cannabis really thieves in airey medium and soil compacts which will hamper your grow.

You shouldn’t really need an intake fan but it depends on your setup I Geuss and I’m not there to view it so just ensure your tents keeping negative pressure to control the smell come flower. I sugged a filter even if it’s a home made on in your intake as this will keep your tent and buds clean doesn’t have to be anything fancy.

Your right about mineral deposits in your filter Durring humidfior use when using tap water, as distilled can get expensive fast, what most people do is we don’t run our filters in veg and only run them in flower but if your in a state that has strict rules it may be cheaper to stay out of jail and buy some distilled water lol.

The spider farmer will be a decent choice, not my personal choice but you can definitely go that route. Combine with your current like you will grow some decent to nice buds. How tight is your budget?
Because you could keep your current light, buy a light to grow that whole 3x3 space until it arrives and then either sell that light or keep it to use for a veg only tent in the future if that’s what you want.
Or you could go the route you are thinking.

Go to Alibaba and look into King bright, get 2x 240w kit (go at least with the red 660) or you could get one 480w light.
Better lights then spider and cheaper but the shipping takes a bit longer. But if you order it soon you’ll be laughing in no time.
Try and step away from the burples really Is what I’m saying and if your going to get a Chinese knock off like spider farm might as well get the best and that’s kingbright. Otherwise buy the Cadillac and that’s hlg.

4 plants will be a struggle in the 3x3, I grow 3 in mine, but it’s doable just have your dehumidifier ready come flower and dail that exhaust fan in good.

For now follow your manufacturer directions on what height to hang your light from, watch your node spacing if they are more than an 1inch drop your light.

You won’t need to feed nutrients until week 4 or 5 most likey but you have a raised system in place to collect run off samples and test them with your tds meter?

Also once the small plants as big as the larger llants stop misting, it can cause light burn and other issues.

[Gingz]

Thanks for the response!
I didn’t mix any extra perlite into the mix, will look into purchasing some for the future grows. I have a filter on the intake to help keep the negative pressure within the tent. Well, I’d like to stay under $400 for another light, I’ll look into King bright. Ideally, I’d like to purchase another tent so I could start mothering a plant and have a flower room so purchasing a light that can flower the whole room would be a smart investment. I plant to keep these babies under control, hopefully. I know it’ll be a crammed spot but i’ll do my best. Planning to do some LST in a week and maybe top later down the road. I haven’t misted the plant leaves firectly, only the top soil. I do have a TDS meter and plan to setup drip trays to collect runoff today.

[Nicky]

If you plan to setup a mother/clone/veg tent then definitely get a kingbright and get 480w, toss your current light in the mother tent.

Worst case buy one 240w kingbright now and then buy another when your ready to switch lights, that would work well and give you time to save.

No need to mist the soil just pour some water in a circle once the leafs reach the edge of the pot you can soak them.
Since your in soil avoid run off until that 4th or 5th week.
You will need nutrients after that so decide where you want to go with that. Mayne a local guy has stuff on sale.
My recommendation is to get Jack nutrients part A or chemgro 4-20-39, either of those with a bag of calcium nitrate as part B and a bag of magnesium sulfate as part C.
. If you go with other nutrient lines your going to pay through the nose, it comes in a bottle, your paying for water weight, and you have to add cal mag… It’s clumbersom and expensive so since your just learning go the right way right off the hop is what I say.
Eventually your probably going to want to give up soil and go coco, soils more work, less growth /yeild and it’s more complicated.
It’s not a good cannabis crop unless your growing in massive amounts of soil like true outdoors.

[uberous]

the lights are awesome for a start keep it up

[Gingz]

I’ll look into getting Calcium Nitrate & magnesium sulfate for future grows. Eventually I’ll move onto hydo. Thanks for the advice.

[Gingz]

Thanks! Much appreciated

[Nicky]

Hydro can be a blessing and a curse, grows fast but goes wrong fast.
I actually suggest coco and running autopots because there is no waste water to deal with so its less work and more environmentally friendly.
Ontop of all that coco in autopots is a semi hydro system.
You will need nutrients after week 4 or 5 and that’s why I suggest just getting the Jack’s and cal nitrate /magnesium sulfate now.
Otherwise mid flower your going to be scrambling for nutrients that will cost you multiple times more.
Better to spend the moeny once and do it right.

[Gingz]

Alright, I’ll be looking into jack’s & getting some Cal/Magnesium nitrate within the next months or so. Just purchased a second light yesterday, Spider Farmer Sf2000. Should be here by next week, super stoked. Hopefully by flower, I’ll have some extra nutrients to ensure my babies aren’t deprived. Once again, thank you for all your help.

[Nicky]

Good call you won’t be disappointed.

I would like your comment but I’m broke in the likes department right now lol.

I’ll be following along be sure to tag me with @ Nicky anytime you have a question or concern.

I am just about to post final bud pictures early next week because I’m wrapping up my grow journal here

Autopot guide indoor & outdoor

Looks nice for those of us that dry trim… And that’s me… Most of the time…

Scanning through journals you can learn alot.
My new ones here

Nickys Auto's, Autopot Mephisto edition

My one tent s a 2x4 so i may put both in that tent under the HLG,although they all run the same reservoir…

[Not2SureYet]

If you use the Jacks. You will want epsom slat for it. The cal mag will just be for starting off if you are using coco

[wasDC]

That grow light will do you good. But of course upgrading is always nice.

[tanlover442]

like Nicky said…buy the best you can. buy right, cry once.
The super expensive stuff is good, but, not worth the $.

[Nicky]

Epson salts, mag sulfate same difference but yes you can get Epson salts for part C.
Just don’t get the lavander one like @Not2SureYet likes , no sents just plane mag sulfate

[Gingz]

If I were to purchase Jack part A, Cal Nitrate, & Magnesium sulfate, would I add them along with my fox farm trio? If so, I’m assuming I would have to cut the ratio down from the recommended amount. I would’ve thought the FF Trio would have been enough to supply the plants entirely, maybe w/the addition of CALMAG.

[Nicky]

If you have fox farms trio that’s fine you can use that but you will need cal mag then.

You don’t need Jack’s but I’m saying using Jack’s system is much much cheaper in the long run and simpler.

So you can decide to just buy cal mag and run the fox farms trio until you need nutrients then switch to Jack’s. Or you can return the fox farms or sell it really your choice.
But as you can already see even the trio already requires you to buy another bottle, cal mag.

[Gingz]

Good thing I’ve got some CALMAG on hand.

[Nicky]

So yea use what you got and Remeber that in the future you want to switch to Jack’s because it’s easier and it will bring your cost per gram down alot

[Gingz]

Thank you once again for the info.

[Gingz]

Looks like the plants are doing well two days after topping! Chemdawg is 3 weeks old from sprouting today. Weekly avg. temps have been 81-87.4F, a little warm for my liking but the plants don’t seem to find it. RH has been 57-70%. The plants have been watered three times this week, w/filtered tap water pH 6.4-6.5 @136-146ppm(EC: 0.27-0.29). I gathered some soil runoff & between the two older plants today, the pH was 6.92 & 6.74 w/PPM values of 530 & 260. The light was increased to 100% VEG & BLOOM @ 24" above the canopy on 9/1. After reading my first post on this thread, I noticed a mistake on the timeline. In the post, I stated that the start was in Sept. when in reality it was August. My apologies.