New Grower here, just wanted some input from the Growing Community on getting started

[BrainwrecK]

Hello fellow growers
I was writing to get some input on my 1st time growing setup just to make sure i am on the right track.

1. Indoor or outdoor? - size of grow?
   INDOOR GROW - 24"L X 24W"’ X 30H" CABINET
2. Origin of seeds?
   ILGM - WHITE WIDOW AUTO FLOWER 20CT
3. Regular, feminized, or autoflower?
   ILGM FEMINIZED AUTO FLOWER
4. Origin of water. PH, EC/TDS of source water?
   TAP WATER PH 7.2 (MEASURED WITH NEW PH METER) AT SEEDLING TIME SWITCHED TO DISTILLED WATER PH 6 AFTER 14 DAYS VEGGIE TIME
5. PH and TDS/EC of if mixed solution?
   PH OF SOIL IS 6.0 TO 6.6 OVER 21 DAYS
6. Grow method? Soil, Soil-less, Coco, Hydro, Aquaponics. Please explain.
   FOX FARM OCEAN FOREST
7. Nutrients or fertilizer system used.
   ILGM BERGMANS FERTILIZER SYSTEM
8. What type of lighting are you using? LED, HID (MH, CMH, HPS), or Fluorescents? Please elaborate.
   STARTED OUT WITH A 40W LED RED BLUE IR UV LIGHT FROM AMAZON-- AFTER READING ON THE FORUM AND SEEING LIGHTING RERQUIREMENTS PURCHASED AN AC INFINITY IONGRID T22 FULL SPECTRUM 130W (WILL BE HERE THURSDAY)
9. What are the temps in your growspace? Day / Night?
   TEMPS IN GROW SPACE RANGE FROM 71F TO 81F DURING DAY AND NIGHT
10. What is the RH = relative humidity in your growspace? Day / Night?
    RH IS BETWEEN 55% TO 65% DURING DAY AND NIGHT
11. AC, Humidifier, De-humidifier?
    NO AC
12. Do you have a Ventilation system? Size? 4", 6"?
    I HAVE A LITTLE FAN BLOWING ON THE PLANT TO DRAW AIR INSIDE THE CABINET FROM OUTSIDE
13. Co2 Yes / No?
    NO
14. How long have you been growing?
    1ST TIME
15. What budget have you set in order to grow successfully?
    LITTLE AS POSSIBLE BUT ENOUGH TO GET JOB DONE
16. If you grow hydro, then please explain your hydro method. DWC, R-DWC, Ebb and Flow, Or; Other? Other?

I am just looking for advice from the experts to make sure I have everything I need to have the best 1st grow I can and for future grows. Overall this is just a learning experience for me as I will use what I learn to improve the next time.

Here is my setup so far:

Grow space:
Due to the new law taking effect soon I am required to have an enclosed locked space in which to grow indoors which i have repurposed a cabinet for this. The cabinet is 24" long 24" wide and 30" tall. I have made it as air tight as possible to prevent bugs with a vent on the side for clean air exchange with a fan blowing lightly on the plant to stimulate fresh air. I hope that this will be an adequate first grow area. Please feel free to give me any suggestions about improvements that can be made to this. Using a LUX meter i was able to get 10000 LUX on my seedling and early veg and current state and hopefully the new light i ordered can get me up to 50000-70000 LUX needed for adequate growing and flowering.

Lighting:
I just had a 40 Watt Red Blue IR IV light from amazon that I had for some other flowers and herbs etc to get things started. I’ve had these lights on 24hrs and I placed them about 4 inches above the seedling at start and adjusted as it grew. I didn’t have the funds to buy a fancy light at the time so I have since researched and read that some people on this forum felt that you needed a minimum of 20watts per sq foot but 40watts per sq foot is ideal. So due to my budget i purchased the following for my limited grow space of 4 sq ft and due to my budget from AC Infinity
AC-IGT22

IONGRID T22, FULL SPECTRUM LED GROW LIGHT 130W, SAMSUNG LM301H, 2X2 FT. COVERAGE

i figured that i could use this light to hopefully provide enough energy based off the 20-40watts per sq foot recommendation to grow my plant in my confined space. Also if needed I could also use the amazon light to give it an extra 40 watts for a total of 170watts which would put me 10 watts above the 40watts per sq ft recommendation. in addition It also had a good sizing profile for my cabinet of 13" x 13".

My question is that do the experts feel that 130 to 170watts will be adequate lighting to grow one plant at a time?

my hopes it that will grow to hopefully 24-30in total in height as to not over grow in the space i have also it was my understanding auto flowers don’t get that big?

If i place the new lighting about 10 to 14 inches above the plants to start and i could always adjust the amazon lighting to the outside of the pot surrounding it to give that extra boost? I have researched the PPFD and DLI numbers and downloaded the Photone App and will attempt to use the new lighting to achieve the ideal numbers that i have seen here on this forum. I had figured having 3-4 times more the power of my starting wattage
of 40 watts light.

The Max i could get was DLI of 15 and PPFD of 300 with my 40 watt light and i am supposed to need a DLI of 30 to 45 for and a PPFD of 700 to 1000 for the entire growth period. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Auto Watering/Feeding System:

I thought of using an IV bag delivery system that would allow me to fill the IV bag with the water/nutrients and be able to hopefully have a set and forget method to ensure it would always have water/nutrients in case i was unable to care for it for a few days.

I could set it to receive anywhere from 100-300ml of water/nutrients in a 24 hour period which would last anywhere from 3-7 days if i was to go out of town or something.

I guess my goal is to be able to maintain plant health for a while if i would be away (like out fishing!) and unable to care for it. any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Nutrients/Fertilizer
I used the recommended dose 0.5gm/L of the Bergmans seedling fertilizer in 1000ml of tap water PH of 7.2 at day 8 and then again on day 16 used the Bergmanns Growtime fertilizer at 0.75gm/L in 1000ml of distilled water (research helps! ) with PH of 6. I set up a nutrient delivery system which to deliver the recommended amount of bergmans fertilizer at about a rate of 8-10ml/hr or about 200-300ml in a 24 hr period which lasted about 3 days i did this with both of the doses. I set up an 1000ml IV bag and some tubing with stoppers to regulate the flow of feeding and i placed the tubing on the outer rim of the pot (The Water Zone!) and rotated it every 12 hours so it would deliver nutrients to both sides of the pot to help the roots hopefully grow out and down in search of nutrients and water which is what I read was recommended with the circular root “no water zone”.

my question is should i continue fertilizing based on the schedule that bergmans provided every 7-8 days with the recommended mixture and soil profiles (PH EC Etc)?

This is example of what it looks like

Water:
I tested my PH of my tap water and i found it to be 7.2PH and i found that if i add 3 drops of Lemon Juice to 250ml of tap water that it adjust the water PH down to 6.5.

I was wondering if that is the ideal Water PH to feed the plant at watering time to keep my PH in the recommended best growing range of 5.8 to 6.5 as recommended by the Bergmans fertilzier Chart? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Would you experts think this would be an adequate system to ensure Water/Nutrient delivery for the plant over a small period of time like 3 or 4 days and to hopefully not overwater or overfeed? I guess I’m just looking for a good Watering/Fertilizing schedule to keep to have a good grow, for example like every 8 days or more frequent as needed in later growth stages.

I think that covers the start of my questions I’m sure i will have more to come!

My plan is to only grow one plant as that is all i will need for myself. as i still have 18 more seeds to plant so i can improve on the next one. I just planted it in a 3 gallon pot as an experiment for my first grow to see how it did in that small area. I have since read it is best to get the grow bags or an auto pot?

I am unsure how big of a pot to get and i am not sure how it will grow in my little 30in high space so i was hoping a smaller pot wouldn’t give me as big of a plant as in some of the pictures I’ve seen on here. Any advice for a decent pot for a small area would be appreciated

Today is day 21 of my plants life and i was just wondering if this was a decent start to a plant or if i am getting off on the wrong foot. I’m not worried to much about yield on this plant but more in hopes of getting an adequate setup for my next plant as i have plenty of seeds left

Here are the current pics that i have at 21 days soil PH is 6.6

As a could you call it comparison for my experiment to the indoor grow i have a second plant in an outdoor pot with the same soil and pot and you can see a comparison which i also gave the same Nutrient combo as my indoor plant at 8 and 16 days with all natural sunlight at 21 days old this plant had all natural environment including natural rain etc

i found it interesting with all the Indoor LED Red Blue UV IV light on at 24 hours how much different the indoor one is to the outdoor one with only natural sunlight 8AM to 8PM in the same period of time

i have also purchased a PH meter, TDS/EC Meter and WIreless/USB 1000x microscope to look at the trichomes when it comes time for that.

Thank you for your time and sorry for the long read any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Happy Growing!

-Brain

[Memento]

It seems you have done your research ahead of time as far as 1st grows are concerned. If I could give only 1 piece of advice to make your future grows better, it would be to ditch the autoflower genetics and go for either regular seeds or feminized. Running autoflowers limits you inherently on the end product quality you will get because autoflowers inherently have the undesirable ruderalis gene contained within them, making them leafier, less frosty and inferior compared to the original genetics they were derived from. You are better off running regular seeds , sorting through males and females, or running proven feminized genetics from known cultivars. Otherwise, your setup looks super solid, and you should get good results from it. That’s just my opinion and 2cents I can offer. I just hate seeing people waste 3 months on auto genetics just to end up with leafy buds etc. Best of luck.

[Hershy420]

lookin very healthy, seems like u got it down.
soil pH is best to keep between 6.2-6.8 6.5 being the perfect number as far as soil goes
as long as u water with the water being at 6.5 pH, it should keep the soil at that level as well.
as far as nutrition, i recommend looking into jack’s nutrients
i also recommend looking into better lighting for ur indoor plant as lighting is going to be the most important, good light brands include marshydro, spiderfarmer, ac infinity. with ac infinity probably being the cheapest option.
good veg lighting, ur gonna want at least 100W to 400W.
as far as when it comes time to flower, ur gonna want at least a 400W light to be able to flower properly.

[Hershy420]

i also wanna add in, since ur using soil, u dont want it to be wet 100% of the time, u want it to dry out good in between waterings or it could cause overwatering issues as well. and when u water during veg and flower, i suggest getting between 20%-30% runoff and testing the runoff water for ppm and pH values

thats my opinions on this, i hope i could provide a little bit of insight. i wish u the best of luck.

[JimWantsToGrow]

Looks like you have everything under control.

Welcome @BrainwrecK to the forum!

[Reed71]

@BrainwrecK welcome to the family my friend happy growing

[Borderryan22]

Welcome aboard! The Iongrid will flower a 2x2. You’re looking for 40-50 true watts, per square foot so 150-200w is fine for a 2x2

My big concern is 30"H. Is that how much space the plant has to grow? Or how much overall height the whole cabinet has? If total height, then you are seriously shortchanging yourself on every single grow. Considering planter/riser height and 6" or so for lights to hang, you’ll only have like 18", and that’s being generous. But if you have that much height for the plant to grow, then you can absolutely rock some colas out.

In Fox Farm Ocean Forest, you want pH your between 6.2-6.8, starting on the low end and gradually going up through the grow. Your soil will hold it’s nutrient content for 4-6 weeks from time of planting/transplanting. Distilled or RO water, or pH’ed tap water alone will suffice until they have been mostly used up. When the plant is established enough for a thorough soak to 15-20% runoff, check the runoff numbers (pH and ppm). When they drop below 1,000 it is time to start feeding. I don’t have it, but there is a Bergman’s feeding chart around here.

And unless smell is no concern, you definitely want to invest in an exhaust fan/filter. A fan to move the air is good, just a small clip on. But you’ll want to check out a good 4" fan/filter system for that size space. AC Infinity has some top of the line gear. Mars Hydro, IPower, Spyder Farmer, make some good budget gadgets.

Hope some of this helps! Oh, and patience. Loads of patience! Sometimes the plants seems at a standstill and it’s really doing some big unseen work. Patience is key.

Good luck and happy growing!!!

[OGIncognito]

@Borderryan22

My big concern is 30"H

ditto, this seems nearly impossible after adding a pot and light

[BrainwrecK]

Thank you for your input
For the cabinet height issue
I can cut out the bottom of the cabinet and gain 6 inches i would have about 30in grow height from the top of the soil to the top of the cabinet that is about all i can do at the moment within the existing space that i have. If i doesnt work ill figure something different out.
Nutrients: i will do as you said and check the Ph and ppm numbers weekly and give the bergmans feeding as the numbers allow thanks for the info

Exhuast fan:
I have seen the small carbon filter exhaust fans available and was planning on trying to install one over the next 30 days to help filter out the smell will be inevitable as to try and keep things as discreet as possible.

Will continue to update you all on my progress thanks again

[BrainwrecK]

Thank you for the input yeah i was just reading that the auto flowers were the easiest to try your first time and will try just the feminized seeds next time as i only want to grow one plant at a time for the best results

[OGIncognito]

You maybe able to pull this off if 18-24” from bottom of the light to the top of the medium. It’ll take early topping above the 3rd node and consistent LST training. This tent is 30” tall 18” width and 36” in length.

Topped and pinned down

Tied the sides down and consistent LST to keep it flat. I also had to super crop during the stretch and flower

Super cropped several times

[Borderryan22]

No problem growmie! You got this and there’s a whole gang of growers here to help!

[BrainwrecK]

Thank you for this information! i will use these pics to help with my grow and hopefully make it work with the space i have

I do plan on adding a screen to help tie down the leaves and branches as they grow after i get my new light installed

[OGIncognito]

Indica strains are generally shorter than Sativas

[Mntmannw]

I have a GDP, 100% indica, that has completely covered a 3’x3’ table, I was surprised that it did so.

[Bubbala]

@BrainwrecK

Due to the new law taking effect soon I am required to have an enclosed locked space in which to grow indoors which i have repurposed a cabinet for this.

Or just put a lock on your bedroom door?

[Mntmannw]

GDP, 3’x3’ table

[OGIncognito]

Very nice Grow Bro

[BrainwrecK]

Because in the law it states that the plants must not be accessible to minors. sometimes my kids go through my room to get medications badaids from our bathroom or watch TV etc

[BrainwrecK]

Very nice i hope mine look that good!