Yes indeed. Cuz once you start you can’t stop. And it sucks trying to move a big plant especially in a tent. I’ve seen guys that grow all stages in one tent but it looks like the plants are pretty small that they grow.
Furst off welcome to the best grow forum and community on the web we have the best membership
I agree you want as much head room as possible
But your in the money with soil being more forgiving fir a newbie
The lights should be enough a forth woyld be great in flower
There are techniques tou acn use to control hieght
Tag me in when you get started
@Countryboyjvd1971 thank you for the warm welcome! @peachfuzz @timmyv324 @HornHead thanks for the advice. I’m kind of restricted as far as space for the time being so I’ve decided to just scale it back to 2 girls instead. I have a question; in addition to exhaust and circulating fans, should I also be looking into a fan for inlet air as well? And also, would there be any benefits to a beginner using auto pots? If you think it better to go through a first grow “by hand” rather than adding extra variables, please let me know.
Thanks for the support!
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I in my opinion would stick with the soil until you understand what the outcome will b. And Inlet air is a must to provide some fresh air exchange. You want fresh coming in and old going out. It also helps with the temps. Fresh air down low exit up high.
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@Thelaughingwolf
I think your on point when you say keep it simple
You have much to learn if its your first time
You can expand your endeavors later once you know more
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@Thelaughingwolf, it looks like you have some good support with @Countryboyjvd1971 and @timmyv324.
I too am a new grower (First Grow From Beginning to End) and have received all of my growing education from the folks on the ILGM forum.
Follow their advice and you will be growing great dope in no time.
Reminder: pH!
Welcome and have a great time!
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Awesome, I’ll have to follow your grow @merlin44. Everyone’s been awesome so far. I’ve got to remember to tag you when I start my own in the near future!
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Welcome to the group! I’m also a new grower and people here have been a huge help. I have no room for a 5x5 so my tents are a 3x3x6 for vegging and 3x3x80" for flowering. Plus a small grow box for seedlings. I use Fox Farm Ocean Forest with Happy Frog blended 1:1. This soil supports the plants without nutes for quite some time. As @merlin44 mentioned remember to ph your water. @dbrn32 is the lighting guru here so reach out for his thoughts on your light setup. Best of luck to you and your grow!
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So… first off, @merlin44 I took a look at your grow journal the other day, and wow, fantastic work. Those things are gorgeous.
Yesterday I went out and picked up some FF ocean soil and plan to mix it 1:1 with happy frog that I already have on hand. , I also picked up a couple 5gal smart pots, as well as some smaller 6" transfer and seedling pots. I was planning on buying a ph pen and tds meter while I was out but didn’t necessarily know what I was looking for exactly when it came to pens for a soil grow. Any of you guys have any recommendations for a decent ph pen and tds meter? @timmyv324 @merlin44 @peachfuzz @Countryboyjvd1971 I was looking at the blue labs ph pen and ppm pen combo pack recently but didn’t pull the trigger yet.
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The Blue Labs is definetly top notch. I don’t think those would let you down !
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Apera is a great company for pH & ec/tds meters.
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@Thelaughingwolf I agree with @timmyv324 and @blackthumbbetty on their assessments. I have a Bluelab pH pen and an Extech EC500 pH/EC meter. Both are excellent devices. As with any pH and conductivity instrument, you must check the calibration regularly and recalibrate when ever needed or called for by the manufacturer’s recommendations. Also, store the probes properly and keep them clean. Definitely, don’t allow a pH probe to dry out.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004WN6EPG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CJIDFAS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Monitoring and keeping your pH under control and in the correct range for your medium (hydro, soil, etc) is crucial to having healthy plants.
I will let you know is few months time whether this has resulted in high yields and great smoke (this is my first grow and I don’t actually know anything yet). 
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I think that’s the key is storing your meter properly and knowing how to calibrate it. When I first started I used a $20 Milwaukee ph meter and TDS meter from them to. But I never really trusted my cheapo ones . I got Blue Lab meters once I realized how important they were I tried to get a good one
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So, my original light order had some delays and now I’ve started looking into some of the timber grow lights fixtures. Specificallly their 3ts model.
@dbrn32 I heard you’re a person to confer with on the subject of lights.
I’m planning on running 2 plants in a 5x5x6.5 tent. The mars hydro 2 lights are 400w (250 at the wall) and was looking to run 3 of them to start. Only, I’ve heard from a few different people that the quality isn’t the best, and that they’ve had trouble getting the company to honor warranty work.
The timber grow lights are much better quality and for the money spent on the 3 mars hydro lights, I was wondering if something like the timber 3ts or 4vs would be equivalent?
The more I think, the more questions I have 
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In terms of photosynthetic flux, the 4vs is going to provide more light than the 3ts. I also feel that in the long run, you’ll be much happier with the timber offerings than any of typical amazon panels.
That being said, it’s my opinion that either of the fixtures you mentioned will be a little short of “full coverage” in 5’x5’. Which lead me to ask more of what you plan on doing or how you plan on using the 5’x5’?
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Also, I’m not sure the link to timber is allowed, so may be a good idea to delete just in case.
I’m plenty familiar with the timber site though, so don’t really need the link anyway. If you have specific questions, I can probably answer most of them.
Thanks a bunch for the reply! @dbrn32
Well, I have a strange situation I suppose. I planned a couple months ago to start my first grow and decided on running two plants for my first time. I already have a 5x5 tent and was going to run both my veg and flower cycles in the same tent my first go around. I’m also moving in about 9 months time so at that point I’ll have more space and will run seperate spaces for veg and flower but at the current moment, don’t have space for my ideal setup. So in essence, I’ve for the most part prepared a first grow, but plan on expanding it in the nearish future. I’m just not sure how to approach the lighting at the moment because of my migratory situation.
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I gotcha, I’m glad I asked!
You have a lot of options, so whichever direction you’re most likely to go I’ll try to set you up the best I know. So you were gonna wall off a section in the 5x5 to veg in and then flower in the rest? If you have an idea of approximate size of each would probably help.
I’m sorry for not being clear enough. My entire first grow is going to take place within a 5x5 tent. Once I relocate in a few months time, I’m going to create a seperate chamber for each stage.
I’m still thinking of using the 3-4 400watt(250 watt)mars hydro lights for my 5x5 space for the time being and just Upgrade and expand once I have the extra space.
Obviously, you can do however you please. But that’s a pretty expense to plan on replacing later, isn’t it?