She’s in the dirt! Currently getting my box ready for when she peeks out. I built my own box with a 2x2x2 cube lined with poly insulator (foil side in). Two fans bought from Amazon for circulating air, and a 300w LED light panel. I’ll most likely get a taller box when it’s flower time, but this should do for now. Stay tuned…
howdy @Bass-Assassin, welcome to the forums. i am a newbie here and at growing. lots of great folks here to help out and i need all the help i can get. good luck on your start to this fun adventure.
Well met! Ive been lurking here for the last few months as I’ve prepared to start my grow. Lots of great advice here!
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I do more reading than posting but its an awesome place for someone to point you in a good direction. I’m just just over 6 weeks into my first grow and have learned alot from reading but also by paying attention to my plants and patience…lots of patience…and some more patience. I’ve learned from my mistakes (or better ways) as far as soil, watering, lighting, etc. I probably wouldn’t have made it this far on my own had I not read and seen others journals. On week 6 day 3 since germination on the 3 larger white widow autos, small is a blue berry auto started late since i had some failed germination on some seeds. My ILGM WWA started flowering at just 3 days ago, while I probably won’t get the yields most probably would, I’ve learned alot to hopefully beat my first grow.
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Stellar job on these beauties! They look amazing for their age! I appreciate you sharing.
What kind of pots are these, if I may ask. Are they better than rigid pots?
What kind of soil did you go with for the autos? I did tons of research and finally settled on an organic soil called Coast of Maine. Hopefully I made the right decision.
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Thanks, its been a nail bitting experience. According to ILGM data on the WWA I seem to be good on size, they say 20-24", I’m about 15" starting flower. But compared to others, mine look like mini’s.
I’m using 3gal fabric pots. I don’t know if fabric is better than rigid pots but I’m sure it comes down to what you learn from each. With the fabric pots, I had white mold starting on the bottom outside. Sprayed some 3% peroxide to clean it, put the pots on top of a rack (cut some closet shelves), and added a tower fan to move air under the pots. Seems to have solved that problem.
As far as soil, for my first tent the only soil i was able to find with no nutes(as recommended for autos) was a big box store compost potting soil, i mixed with perlite. But that came with high PH and i didn’t know any better until I started testing runoff. For my second tent, I used Miracle gro natures care organic potting soil which has nutes, but i left a large mason jar size hole in the middle and filled that with seedling starter soil to get it through seedling stage. I think I’ll always be looking for a better soil. The middle pot in my second tent, I threw myself a curve ball since I ran out of soil but had a block of coco coir. So that one is coco with perlite, it will follow different ph watering and nutes, but if I’m understanding right its a more controlled grow.
For my second tent I also went with a better light, HLG quantum board 320W XW, I’ll run a comparison on my second grow on the 2 different lights I have. So far, I’m enjoying looking at a more natural light versus the burple.
You’ll see the difference in pictures from last night before lights went out, and this mornings pictures. Last nights pics the plants are drooping and tired. This morning pictures were 2 hours after lights on and you can see them perky and awake. I had good luck with a 18/6 schedule and recently I’m switching them to a 16/8 as they seem to be wanting to rest.
Yes farbric pots r better then rigid. the roots get more o2 and the fabric pots help from over watering and help keep the medium from being water logged.
I’m replacing my “Blurple” with a 320 XW (supposed to be here Tuesday). My plants are currently about the size of your larger ones, one is now flowering(all Autos). How much wattage are you currently cranking thru the 320? I’m sure I’ll have to tweak for a few days, but the girls are are already excited.
I don’t have a watt meter, but im keeping my QB lights on my seedlings at 24" at about 50%. At least I think its 50%, on the dimmer you’ll feel a stop about half way.
I dont want to change anything at this point on my preflowering stage. Dont want to fix whats not broken
Gotcha. I know it would be adjustable, guess I meant where in the dial’s range you were at. How much heat does it give off compared to the blurple?
I would say the difference isn’t very noticeable between both the lights. They are both designed different so its hard to gauge it. The blurple has cooling fans, the QB has a heatsink. Using a temperaure gun, the blurple reads 91, the QB heatsink reads 109.
Thanks. Sure hoping I can recoup a bit of the cost of the 320xw by turning off the space heater I’m running. I have little doubt that the yield difference will help as well.
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While i dont know how much merrit there is to the watts per sq ft, I see the mention of 50W sq ft being the target. Based on my 3’×3’…the QB gives me 35.5 and the blurple 28.8. I dont even think a controlled grow can prove or debunk that, because no plant is created equal.
My thinking is power consumption doesn’t have anything to do with lighting spectrums a flower likes to be bigger and better. If you can produce the reds and blues at the right spectrum for the right stages, watts is only a measure of efficiency from that particular light. And probably a measure to help you determine if the light is right for your size grow area. Just my OPINION, but I’m sure there’s are many different thoughts from more experienced guys and gals. Do I think the QB is better than my blurple, without a doubt. QB test and shows thier spectrums.
I don’t know prices in your area, but at blackmarket prices for me… with both my tents, including electricity, my break even is at 5 months. That’s if I can produce 5 oz of dried bud, but i have 9 plants so hoping I can do better than 1oz per plant, at least enough to last me until next harvest. I don’t plan on going year round since I’m utilizing the free cooling to control inside temps.
Don’t laugh too hard at my setup. I wanted to try my luck at building my grow tent and I think it went nicely. The fans are a bit noisy but I can manage.
Still waiting for germination. I’ll post a new pic when she pokes her pretty head out!
Thanks for all the great advice. I ordered the 3 gallon soft pots today. I’m heading out to the forum to figure out when and how to transplant from the peat starter to my organic mix.
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I haven’t ran across or seen anyone here that judges anyone else’s work. Kudos to you for creativity. We never stop trying to get better. The community is here for support, sharing knowledge and helping everyone grow better. Feel free to tag me if you have any questions by putting @ before the user @Bass-Assassin to get their attention Happy growing
UPDATE Day 4
She’s here! Finally got my sprout this morning. I was beginning to think she wouldn’t germinate. Is it always such a great feeling when you see green?
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@stevec … To give you a better answer on the heating question from the QB light versus the blurple. I just learned the hard way. The QB definitely keeps the tent alot cooler than the blurple, with the light on and low speed exhaust/supply fans, I never got my tent temp to get above 68-71ish, with the outside room being about mid to low 60’s. The blurple tent would easily get into the 80’s. 90’s with no exhaust.
It was to late before I realize it didnt get warm enough for my seeds to spout and 
didnt make it. I ended up moving my flowering plants into the QB tent and keeping the blurple as a veg tent for now.
Yes, to me that’s been the hardest part…the waitto see if they make it or not
My fans are pretty high speed even though they are small. I’m kinda worried it might get TOO cool on them. My LED isn’t putting out much heat. Guess I’m buying a thermometer.
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