I’ve been keeping and adding to a little list I have of things I learned (should say re-learned from ages ago) about indoor growing. Again, these are just some notes as there are tons of “how-to” guides.
I’m posting this is because I see a lot of beginners missing things I noted as important when I started. Maybe someone will see this and it’ll help.
All this info is readily available on this forum and things like temp and humidity are what I followed. Doesn’t mean it’s perfect I’ll update as I progress thru the rest of this grow. Harvest notes will be added.
Before planting a seed:
• Be prepared! Research and read everything you can.
• Run your set-up for a few days checking temp and humidity
• Have your lights sized correctly and available
o 25-50 watts per square foot of ACTUAL POWER DRAW
• Have a PH meter and PH +/-! This is a MUST!
Taking care of plants:
• Start in “cool” soil (no nutrients), seedlings are delicate.
• PH YOUR WATER (every watering)! Very important!
• Using distilled, pure or spring water doesn’t mean you have the right PH, CHECK!
• Use a spray bottle to water seedlings, they don’t need much.
• Wait for round starter leaves to yellow or fall off before even thinking about nutrients.
• Don’t use soils that contain fertilizer (like Miracle Grow)
• Don’t over water
• Don’t over-love your plants. Let them grow.
• Humidity
o Seedlings 75%-80%
o Veg 50%-60%
o Flower 35%-40%
• Temps around 75F keeping within 10 degrees for “night”
• Start lights high ~36” to start and work down per MFG suggested height
• Vent OUT from the top and IN from the bottom of the room.
• Start nutrients LOW (25% and work up)
• Light schedule (18/6 for Veg and 12/12 for Flower)
@Matthew420 I agree with every body do that’s probably one of the best post on here for beginners and even veterans to just kick back and refresh that’s awesome well done
One thing I have found out and was verified by several other growers, AK-47 takes a lot of Ca/Mg to keep it going. I love growing it and it is a great high. The first time I grew it, I kept coming up deficient but thought it was my pH, had a lot of trouble with that at first. Next time I added Ca/Mg very early and it came out much better.
Hi, Tim here. Apologies if I’m in the wrong place but another post in another thread suggested this method of getting any possible help.
-long story short I’ve been trying DWC for the first time (30-35 litre capacity, aeration covered nicely including a wavemaker angled to “waterfall”.
My wish is to add to new seedlings to the two earlier severely stressed and stunted, due to a heatwave right after germination! They’re back on track now and have around six close nodes which were topped a few days back. (possibly topping again, LST -whichever fits the plant).
So! Could I simply drop the nutrients/PPM’s for the time it takes the new seedlings to reach the requirements of the other, older two month-old stunted-yet rebuilding themselves? The older seedlings/plants could be feed via foliar for any deficiencies. ?
Or, as I’ve read that you really need at least 5 gallons (20-odd litres of solution for each plant), meaning too much trouble for this idea?
Would like to make the most of the 80x80x160cm space with air-cooled 600w dimmable.
Once again, apologies but would love to hear from someone as this is my first ever real post!
Hi @Tim2003 welcome to the ILGM forums. I think you will find you have come to the right place to get your questions answered. All you need to do is copy your question above, Scroll to the top of the page and click on “The Grow” and then look at the top of the page for “+ New Topic”
Then paste your question into a new topic.
Hope this helps. If you want reply back to the is thread with the @bob31 and that will also help build cred.
Thank-you for that BOB31, however I use a mobile phone browser & have never
learnt how to use it’s copy & paste function.
Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
What if I write and answer the aforementioned myself?
(copy to a piece of paper, then re-type?).
Cheers,
This is a tip that I think is VERY important for getting your plants to grow better. See what you think, If you don’t like it, feel free to let me know and I will take it down.
The last several grows, I have been using a 10-15% run-off system to water and it has almost ended my problems with pH and over/under watering. Basically, what I do is when I water, I make sure that there is a run-off of 10-15% of water/fertilizer out the bottom. That prevents the salts from the fertilizer from accumulating and making the pH go up or down. It can be a large shift, even when you are watering with pH water at 6.5. I sometimes water in my bathtub to really let it flow through. Cloth or Fabric pots seem to work better for me.
This system prevents over watering by paying attention to the weight of the cloth pots. When you water and allow the run-off, you can tell how much it weights full. Then you can lift the pot 1-2 days later and see how much weight is lost. It doesn’t take too long to realize when water is needed. Of course, watch the leaves for signs of watering problems. The ‘Guides’ section at the top of the page has a section called ‘Symptom Checker’ that helps identify problems with leaves and the plants. I reference it all the time.
Using this system, I also check the last part of the run-off for pH, giving me an idea of how effective my watering is. Seems that as long as you have control of the runoff, the plants thrive.
This is a lot of information but I hope is helps. My current grow journal “Strawberries in the Grow Box” shows what the watering system has done to my plants. Hope this helps. Jerry
Absolutley right @TxGrowman! I wrecked so many plants before I learned the importance of pH. I get water out of a rain barrel, usually it pH’s around 7.0 which is way too high for my coco coir medium. By adding a bit of lemon juice I get it down to about 4. something, than by checking the runoff I can see if I’m in the 5.5- 5.9 range where I want to be. As Trump would say…“it’s SO important, folks, SO important”! Thanks for the info.
Ive just realised this, because i have been watering till it just came out but then i noticed a build up around my drain holes( which when i rubbed it i think was salt, and my ph was way down. so watered until it was about 6. its nice to know i did the correct thing. Read, read read
Thanks
I’ll update as I progress thru the rest of this grow. Harvest notes will be added.
