Hey there! I’m new to the forum and wanted to say hello. I’m from Argentina and I’ve been growing on and off since around 2016. Started out with HPS bulbs, then blurple lights. I came from Reddit, after seeing some huge yields on some subreddit I don’t even remember. Got impressed by the 420Autoflower Scrog method but I’m not finding a lot of info besides one Dutch Passion article.
Anyway, on october I’ll be setting up again my cheap 2x2 tent, trying to break for the first time the 1g/watt barrier. I got some Dark Devil Auto beans from Sweet Seeds and I’m planning to do a Coco run. I have some Jiffy coir blocks around and some Bio-Bizz nutrients. My idea is to buy another light to replace the old shitty blurple light, but I’m not sure if I should go for a grid style lamp or a panel style. From what I can acommodate in my tent it would be around 150-180W, I don’t know if that would be enough or I should look for something with more power.
Welcome! Glad you found us over there on reddit. There never has been a guide for the 420scrog method and the grower 420autoflower hasnt been active since we moved. There are a handful of us here that have experience with the method. Anything you need help with, we can do our best to help. Sorry Im not much help with lights tho.
Thank you all for the replies. It’s such a bummer there’s no “official guide” for the scrog method. I’ll be trying my best and post here the follow up.
Welcome in to the forums, dude! Glad to see some activity from SA, I’ve always been curious how the climate down there lends itself to home growing.
Like others have said, the info is here for the 420 method (and we all hope brother 420 is doing well out there). I was lucky enough to call him and acquaintance and definitely learned a lot from both him and the thread of others who shared their experiences. There’s plenty of others who have had a lot more success than I, but overall the method is:
LST LST LST, keep your branches bent and your lights/airflow on point. Keep up with defol and keeping branches bent until you’re sure you should have stopped a few days ago. Best of luck growmie, best way to learn is getting your hands dirty
Well first of all, I’m on a sub-tropical climate and close to a river so my RH hovers around 70% all year round. Temps can vary between seasons but it rarely goes below 0°C besides a couple days on July. Summer can be rough with +40°C days so climate control might be non negotiable (HVAC isn’t really a thing for homes here). I tend to skip growing on summer time because I don’t want to waste so much energy on AC and hate pests, thrips are a pain to get rid off.
I might suck at searching because I’ve not found a lot of posts here. I’d do my due dilligence tho. What I’m most insecure are two things. First of all, I’ve seen people going double on light potency for my space (around 300W), I don’t know if I’m being a marketing prey or is it so much necesary. Second, I don’t know how to manage to extend veg time on autos to reach so much growth before flowering. Is it something you control or you just read the plant and flow with it?
Honestly, your ranges sound about the same as mine which is pretty interesting to me (One of the most humid cities in the US), summer growing is definitely a pain, especially without AC so I completely understand where you’re coming from there.
Unfortunately, the old thread was on the previous forums and I don’t know how much of it, if any, was really archived on the move over.
300 Watt lights seen to be the standard, I think my current light is 240w, but I’ve got my PPFD dialed in pretty well, and haven’t noticed too much difference. With autos you want to give them as much as possible, but after about 1000PPFD you start seeing a lot of diminishing returns. Going for the next biggest new toy is just asking for a money sink, any light that gives your plants what they need is the right light for you. Your plants don’t care if you spend $100 or $10000 so long as they’re happy that’s all they care about.
Veg time for autos is kind of built in to their genetics, though we found that adding more space through the use of Rock wool blocks (or a 2 gallon equivalent of Rock wool cubes) being stacked on top of each other can add around a week of vegetative stretch time. Start your seed in a small starter cube, into a 4" Rock wool block, then once you see roots come out of the bottom, place the plant on top of either another 4" or a 6" block and let the roots find their way to the bottom again.
Hope that helps at least a little though I’m sure it’s just opened up even more questions haha
For the 420 autoflower method, you need to set up a recirculating system. It’s not the easiest way to grow with this method.
I’d suggest starting by germinating the seed using the paper towel method. Once it has germinated, place it in a Rockwool plug that has been pre-soaked/charged with nutrients, then put the plug into a 2x2 block.
Water until you get a small amount of runoff, weigh the block, and let it dry down to around 50%. In my experience, plants develop faster in Rockwool.
Once you can see the roots coming out of the bottom, place it onto a Mama block. Once the plant has fully rooted into the block, you can hand-water twice a day if you have the time, or set up a recirculating system.
That’s the main advantage of Rockwool for this system. I wouldn’t recommend using coco in a recirculating setup.
I was thinking about using coco because I have on hand some bricks. However I’m open to try rock wool. Do you have any recommendations for setting up the recirculating system? I have some experience with DWC, so I’d shouldn’t struggle much with those kinds of systems.
I’ve never tried a recirculating system. From what I can see, it doesn’t seem too complicated to set up. A reservoir, a pump, a filter, a FloraCap, a timer, and that should do the job.
I’ve already thought about it because it could be a Formula 1 system for an auto. I’d definitely consider doing it. I’d probably take the Gro Tank GT205 NFT and adapt it into a recirculating system.
And why not coco as well? I’ve read that coco can release too much sodium into the runoff. I’m not an expert, so I don’t really know, but all I know is that, judging by the appearance of coco runoff, I don’t think using that runoff in a recirculating system would be a brilliant idea.
I know 420Autoflower did it with coco-perlite, but I don’t think it’s ideal. It looks like he’s using Rockwool now, which is the best media for recirculating systems.
looking forward to seeing you get your stuff all fired up n ready for action 
