Hey growers,
Newb here. About to start my first grow. Ordered some wedding cake and Durban poison autos.
I’ve got 2 Hlg 260xl but am currently only running one at the moment. (They sent me 2 when I only ordered one so I wasn’t expecting the extra one)I plan on running 2 plants just to get a grow under my belt.
Medium is ffof and ffhf. Bottom half of and top half hf.
5 gallon fabric bags.
Vivosun 6in in-line fan.
4x4 grow tent.
Nutes- General hydroponics flora series
Trying to get my temp and rh to ideal levels prior to planting. The temp is currently at 69 and rh was 30% so I added a humidifier to bring that up.
Just curious how long before adding nutes, the feeding schedule they have is for photos not autos that’s got me confused and the light didn’t come with any diagram on hanging distances and power/dim for certain grow phases so I’m kind of lost on that as well. I may be overthinking this a lot but I just spent a good amount of money getting this setup so I want my first grow to be successful
Fox farm products will feed for 4-5 weeks, I too use FF and how I determine is by testing my runoff water with a TDS meter, when I see the numbers drop below 1000ppm I start the feeding. I use half the recommended amount on my products at the beginning and then ramp it up to full strength by the 4th feeding. I’m going to add about 25% perlite to the FF soil next round, to help with oxygenation and drainage, I feel like the FF soil alone compacts a lot and has wet/dry pockets for me. Just my opinion on the perlite.
Hlg has detailed ppfd mapping and recommended height settings… fabulous company, that’ll be next upgrade.
I’m not sure for certain on autos about the schedule I’m sure someone else will elaborate more on this for you.
Your happy frog soil has some mycorrhiza fungi spores in it already. It’s a beneficial fungi that creates a symbiotic relationship with roots and helps with nutrient and water uptake. Consider looking into it.
Two weeks depending on your plants health. I know Freebird said up to 4 with FF but I ran into a cal-mag issue on my current grow after 2 weeks. O yeah, buy some cal-mag your going to need it.
That’s more of a preference thing I believe. I run 5 gal plastic pots and let them get really light and dry before my next watering. 3-5 days between watering sometimes. I water till runoff every time, watering slow and gentle not allowing anything to pool in the pot. And dumping all the runoff as it collects in the trays so they aren’t sitting in puddles. Usually 1.5-2 gal each watering till 15%-20% runoff. I like to test PH and PPM after each watering/feeding. This allows me to monitor what’s going on and coming out more closely. This is just my preference though.
You have a secret to that method??? Lol. If not you better go grab some lottery tickets. That’s some damn good luck.
Nothing wrong with using ppfd charts and suggested hang heights, but I’d recommend you read up on DLI and get the Photone app. @Nicky has the go to thread for DLI on here. Once you figure out DLI and the photone app then dialing in your lights is child’s play. It takes every bit of the guesswork out of it.
BTW my 350R is recommended 24" in veg and 15" in flower. It’s probably close, if not the same, for the 260s.
Edit: checked the preassembled 260fr on their website and it says at least 15" above canopy.
I was so surprised and thought it was a mistake when I got sent a shipping notification after I already got one. I was like sure they didn’t f up and send 2. Sure enough they did haha I’ll take that.
Gotcha gotcha. So it’s better to focus on DLI. I came across something about the yesterday but that was the first time I read anything about that.
“ A DLI ( Daily Light Integral ) of close to 42 moles/day without any supplemental CO2 worked the best for this environment. For the HLG lights - during the VEG cycle, the LUX reading of 41,500 over an 18 hour period gives a DLI of 41.6. For the BLOOM/FLOWER cycle, the LUX reading of 62,000 over a 12 hour period equaled a DLI of 41.6.
The HLG conversion factor is 64.33557 - divide your LUX reading by 64.33557 to get the PPFD. A LUX reading of 62,000 will give you a DLI of 41.6 for 12 hours of flowering. A LUX reading of 41,500 gives you a DLI of 41.6 for 18 hour VEG.”
Absolutely. I went from doing inverse square law calculations and BS like that to just holding a tablet under the light. Zero guesswork. It’s an awesome app for growers.
All you’ll need is a DLI chart. There’s several on the thread I mentioned before. If you don’t feel like looking then lmk and I’ll post a couple for you. Keep in mind they’re just a starting point. Depending on how your plants respond you can adjust the DLI up or down.
I happen to have snapped a screenshot a few days ago.
