Soon to be first time grower here

[ReelOfishalTrees]

I am currently waiting on all of my stuff to arrive to begin my first ever grow. I have been reading through alot of post and picking up quite a bit of information as well as watching hours upon hours of YouTube videos. It’s amazing to see how so many people do things so differently and reap the same rewards (more than one way to skin a cat lol). My items are arriving day by day still and I keep ordering things as I keep reading more, realizing things I have forgotten or didn’t think of. For now until I actually get going I am going to list what I am starting out with and what I will be growing. I plan to start germination of the autoflowers the day my seeds arrive as I have started to assemble my grow tent as things arrive.
I will be doing my first run with autoflowers and then starting some photos in the veg tent that I will shift over to flower tent once the autos are done.

Seeds= ILGM Autoflower super mix 5x Bruce Banner, 5x Gorilla Glue, 5x GSC extreme.
ILGM Photo Chemical Mix 10 LSD, 10x Chemdawg, 10x Green Crack.

Flower tent = 8’x4’×6’ (height restrictions in my basement)

Lights= 2x MARS HYDRO FC-E3000 (a little under powered for now, but plan to upgrade later)

Inline fan and filter= AC Infinity CLOUDLINE S6, AC Infinity Filter as well.

Veg Tent= 4’x4’x6’

Lights= 2× VIPARSPECTRA P1000

Inline fan and filter= AC Infinity CLOUDLINE S4, AC Infinity Filter as well.

Air circulation fans will be added as well for both tents

Humidifier and Dehumidifier are still up in the air. Once I get everything going and see how my tent maintains will determine what and if I need to get one or the other or both. Currently have a dehumidifier running 24/7 in my basement maintaining a 55%RH. My basement will sit at around 65% 68% RH if not maintained.

PH meter= Dr. Meter (also got cal solutions)

TDS meter= AMMZO Professional Water Meter,TDS, EC & Temp Meter 3 in 1

VIVOSUN Soil PH Meter, 3-in-1 Moisture/Light/pH Tester

PH up and PH down

Botanicare Cal-Mag Plus

Unsulfured Blackstrap Molasses

Fox Farm Trio Nutrients- from reading what I gathered is to use these very lightly in the beginning and do not use them until my plants tell me they need them as my soil should carry my girls through their first 4 to 6 weeks on water alone.

Soil= 2xs FFHF 2xFFOF. Not sure yet what I am going to start out with yet. Plain HF or a blend with OF. From alot of reading I’ve done it seems like OF can run pretty hot for seedlings and autos. Since I plan to put my seedlings in its final pot once it germinates (I don’t want to transplant my AFs) I’m thinking I should stay away from using plain OF.

Ammendments= perlite and worm castings. I plan to add/mix some of each to my potting soil.

Bunch of random odds and ends sprayers, clone/seedling trays for photos, 5 and 7 gallon grow bags, root riot plugs, timers, hygrometer.

Sorry for such a long post to start out with, but I figured since I will be updating this as things move along throughout my whole grow I would lay it all out there now.

If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations please feel free to let me know or if you think there is anything else I should get. If you have made it this far thank you for taking the time to read my story. I am so excited and can’t wait to get this going

[Sincitytoker]

@ReelOfishalTrees

Inline fan and filter= AC Infinity CLOUDLINE S6,

Welcome to the forum
I think you might want to upgrade to a size up on both your tents.
Have you ran them both in the tent?
Is there negative pressure?(sucking the tent in)
When the fan is on?
If not you will need a bigger fan.
Everything else should get you rolling.
Good luck
Happy growing

[ReelOfishalTrees]

I have not been able to test the inline fans yet. Of course the 6inch fan showed up with the 4inch filter and the 6inch filter and 4inch fan will be here tomorrow. Soon as they arrive they will be installed and tested. Are you suggesting I swap the 6inch for an 8inch or 10inch in my 8x4 ? And use my 6inch for my 4x4 instead of the 4inch?

[Sincitytoker]

@ReelOfishalTrees

Are you suggesting I swap the 6inch for an 8inch

Yes!!
I think you wil be much happier.
I ran a 6 inch in my 5x5 and didn’t do the trick so I upgraded to a 8 inch fan and even ham some room to lower the speed a bit witch is really nice.
I think the 6 inch should be fine for your 4x4

[ReelOfishalTrees]

Ok, thank you very much for the input. After going to AC Infinity’s site and using their formula, I am about 50% under powered for the required CFM for my 8x4 tent. Before ordering I used some other site (I can’t recall atm) and it said I needed 360-405 CFM. I appreciate your help.

[Graysin]

I highly recommend a minimum of a 6” in a 4x4. I’m currently running a 6” Vivosun in a 4x4 and it struggles to maintain negative pressure on full blast. Meanwhile I have the exact same fan and filter set up in a 4x3 and it’s at negative pressure at half power. My fans cap out at 390cfm.

It sounds like you got it all sorted but I figured I’d give you anecdotal evidence.

Regarding the FFOF/FFHF, honestly I threw some seedlings into a mix of FFOF, mushroom compost and worm castings to begin their life. They sat in that for a good two weeks before I transplanted them into a full 3gal fabric pot of straight FFOF cut with mycos and worm castings. I think for your autos you could go ahead and plant them straight into their forever home of FFOF, but dig out a 12” hole and mix HF in, then give them a solo-cup sized hole of FFHF plain where you drop the root riot + seed.

IMO don’t transplant the auto at all, just build the soil so it’s varying degrees of “hot” as the roots grow. She’ll dig into the OF on her own time when she’s hungry for it.

It sounds like you’re already aware that you’ll need extra light later down the road. I suggest checking out Horticulture Lighting Group (HLG) or KingBrite (on Alibaba, unfortunately. I mean, it’s fine, somehow it always just feels sketchy to me but KB is great and their customer service is actually just fine) when you’re ready to upgrade or supplement.

OH! Get a real bloom booster (0-52-34 or similar) for when your plants start to flower. FF is … fine. But there’s nothing in the Trio that will really give you good bud building power without creating nitrogen toxicity.

[beardless]

You may not even need a filter in the veg tent.

[MrPeat]

Welcome to the community.

[GreenSnek]

You could probably get away with a s8 at maximum if you direct your airflow towards it with plenty of fans( or less fans and a s6 or s8 as an intake) I’d also lower the lights to about 32-40 inches from soil line and start them at about 20% of the knob to see how they respond, my personal seed starting trick is use declorinated water(tap usually) 3cups with 3 tsp hydrogen peroxide soak for 24 hour in complete darkness then plant directly in their final pot with autos one finger nail deep ,seed sideways ( medium halfish saturated) , dome spray 3 times twice a day for a week. You also want twine or garden wiring to do some LSTing.

[ReelOfishalTrees]

@Graysin

I highly recommend a minimum of a 6” in a 4x4. I’m currently running a 6” Vivosun in a 4x4 and it struggles to maintain negative pressure on full blast. Meanwhile I have the exact same fan and filter set up in a 4x3 and it’s at negative pressure at half power. My fans cap out at 390cfm.

It sounds like you got it all sorted but I figured I’d give you anecdotal evidence.

Regarding the FFOF/FFHF, honestly I threw some seedlings into a mix of FFOF, mushroom compost and worm castings to begin their life. They sat in that for a good two weeks before I transplanted them into a full 3gal fabric pot of straight FFOF cut with mycos and worm castings. I think for your autos you could go ahead and plant them straight into their forever home of FFOF, but dig out a 12” hole and mix HF in, then give them a solo-cup sized hole of FFHF plain where you drop the root riot + seed.

IMO don’t transplant the auto at all, just build the soil so it’s varying degrees of “hot” as the roots grow. She’ll dig into the OF on her own time when she’s hungry for it.

It sounds like you’re already aware that you’ll need extra light later down the road. I suggest checking out Horticulture Lighting Group (HLG) or KingBrite (on Alibaba, unfortunately. I mean, it’s fine, somehow it always just feels sketchy to me but KB is great and their customer service is actually just fine) when you’re ready to upgrade or supplement.

OH! Get a real bloom booster (0-52-34 or similar) for when your plants start to flower. FF is … fine. But there’s nothing in the Trio that will really give you good bud building power without creating nitrogen toxicity.

Once I’m home from work I’m going to start the return process on my 4inch fan and get a 8inch thank you for that.

Another question I have is how many plants and what size pots. I have 15 auto flower seeds and was wondering how many of those my tent can handle and what size pots.

In regards to the bloom booster this is what I found at my local store hydro store

[ReelOfishalTrees]

@GreenSnek

You could probably get away with a s8 at maximum if you direct your airflow towards it with plenty of fans( or less fans and a s6 or s8 as an intake) I’d also lower the lights to about 32-40 inches from soil line and start them at about 20% of the knob to see how they respond, my personal seed starting trick is use declorinated water(tap usually) 3cups with 3 tsp hydrogen peroxide soak for 24 hour in complete darkness then plant directly in their final pot with autos one finger nail deep ,seed sideways ( medium halfish saturated) , dome spray 3 times twice a day for a week. You also want twine or garden wiring to do some LSTing.

I’m definitely going with the water soak method you mentioned then going directly to final pot. Thanks for the tip on the hydrogen peroxide.

[Graysin]

@ReelOfishalTrees

In regards to the bloom booster this is what I found at my local store hydro store

That is perfect. I have something almost identical called “Mother of all Blooms” - it was dirt cheap at my local hydro store and it smells super funky. But like 1/2 a tsp for 5 gal Water goes a LONG way.

@ReelOfishalTrees

Another question I have is how many plants and what size pots.

I planted my Auto in a 3gal fabric pot and I’ll be honest I’m worried she’s going to outgrow it. I’m not going to transplant her, no desire to shock it, but I’d suggest a 5gal fabric pot for autos. Maybe a 7gal if you’re feeling ambitious, but 5 is easier to move and manage. I’d expect 1 plant for every 1x1 space - in an 8x4 you could swing quite a few, but due to your height restriction, I’d probably cap myself at 8 plants max - you’ll need to train them low and broad instead of narrow and tall to keep yourself at the 6 foot marker. Expect that will take up more space than a plant you could let achieve more vertical space with.

Eight plants sounds bananas like a whole lot to handle in a first grow, but you also have been doing your homework so if you’re feeling good about the amount of light you have in your space, then let the good times roll.

[Myfriendis410]

@Sincitytoker

even ham some room to lower the speed a bit witch is really nice.

The larger fan will move more air at high speed and will move as much air as the smaller fan at a much lower (and quieter!) setting. This can be worth a bunch. Love the controller for the Cloudline series.

[ReelOfishalTrees]

Is it worth the $30 extra for the temperature/humidity controller add on?

[Sincitytoker]

I would say so.

[MH47]

Your grow space with filter ducting and light requires 276 cfm. A cloudline 4” is 204 cfm.

A grow space’s volume is also the required fan cfm rating to exchange air every minute. For example 3ft x 3ft x 7ft = 63 cubic foot. You will need a 63 cubic foot per min (cfm) exhaust fan to remove CO2 depleted air and draw in CO2 rich air if you want air exchange every minute.

You’ll also have to account for the ducting, carbon filter, and other accessories you might add which will decrease an exhaust fan’s performance. Add 20% for ducting, 60% for a carbon filter, 50% for a light, etc. For example in a 3x3x7: 63 cfm x 1.2 x 1.6 x 1.5 = 182 cfm exhaust fan minimum.

Note: a 204 cfm exhaust fan in this 3x3 tent it would have to run at near max speed. Choosing a higher cfm exhaust fan (such as a 400 cfm) than the space and equipment requires allows you to run it near half speed to gain efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and probably reduce fan noise.

I agree using recirculation fans to ensure the clean air drawn in by the exhaust fan should be used to move air under and over the plants so they can access the CO2.

[GreenSnek]

12 plants is pretty perfect I’d plant 14 just in case 1 or 2 are duds but I tend to pack my tent ,8 is a TIGHT squeeze for a 4x4

[Capt.Cola]

Lots of good stuff for your first grow. I run a 6” ac fan in my 4x4 and it works great! Where you fishing saltwater or freshwater?

[Loudman]

Wow your really diving into the deep end as a first timer! Your gonna be amazed at the view of all those bud sites in the future. It’s almost hypnotizing!

[ReelOfishalTrees]

@Capt.Cola

Lots of good stuff for your first grow. I run a 6” ac fan in my 4x4 and it works great! Where you fishing saltwater or freshwater?

Yeah I kind of went a little deep on my purchase for my first time grow, but I wanted to create best environment I could for my girls. I just initiated the return for my ac 4inch and ordered the ac 8inch with the digital controller for my 8x4 and will be putting the ac 6inch in my 4x4. I am fishing fresh water, but by the looks of it with my new hobby I will be fishing a little less haha.