Live Stoner Chat 1st time grower

[Sleepy T]

So, basically, I think your tap water should be fine as-is. A few more details I could go into regarding it, so let me know if you have any more specific questions.

As far as nutrients and feeding...my plan as a first-time grower is to aim for "don't kill my plants and get at least a modest yield" vs. "optimize everything and get biggest possible yield on first try." I think we're more likely to burn up our plants with too much rather than kill them from too little. I'm starting with Fox Farm's Ocean Forest and may add a top dressing. That may be enough on their own. I'll buy Fox Farm's recommended feed mixes, in case I need them. I'm still deciding on exact approach, but may just error on the side of safest / simplest first time around.

Based on where I'm at now, though - my general advice for you would be:

1) To paraphrase ManoGreen's guide - probably best to just stick with the recommended feed schedule from your soil vendor (Biobizz feed schedule is here). Even if you don't use their exact schedule, looking at what each is adding and when will at least give you an idea of how their base soil performs over time.

For example, I looked at Fox Farms feed schedule and multiplied the weekly amounts by the individual NPK ratings of each product, to get a sense of how much total additional NPK they were recommending and when. If I go with top dressings instead, or other brands, I'll use that as a general guide.

2) Always best to ease into any feed schedule (e.g., start with 1/2 the recommended strength for first one or two feedings). Ultimately, the basic approach always seems to be "observe plant response and adjust accordingly".

That goes against our "I want biggest yield ever" instinct, but if everything works out for the first grow and I do a second grow the same, then I may start with full strength, etc.

3) Read through symptoms of deficiencies, lock-outs, and burns. You won't remember them by heart, but it'll at least give you some idea of what to look for in case there are any issues with your final approach. If something does happen, the simpler approaches (e.g., soil only, no amendments / dressing, no feeds) should probably be more likely to cause deficiencies, the more aggressive approaches more likely to cause burn, the "mixing vendors and products" approaches to cause lock-out and/or burn.

It could be useful to use one plant as a control, or at least lag 4-7 days behind the others, to evaluate the impact of any additional feedings / nutrients. If you have one without any additional nutes that's not dying, then you know any issues with others are more likely lock-outs / burns instead of deficiencies, etc.

4) Keep the journalz.

If you make it through a grow with a certain feed schedule, then you know it at least works. You can then try tweaking it on the second grow and have a baseline for what works, and a reference point for diagnosing any issues with the revised feed schedule.

Similarly, you can just follow another grower's feed schedule as a baseline for what works...if you can make sense of it. Here's a thread on Biobizz light, but it seems to be "my past two grows didn't work, so here's what I'm gonna try next" without any final confirmation of whether it worked or not...

Yeah, I agree. I think that’s a good approach. Baby steps. I’ll go with the bio buzz nutrients and see what happens. Fingers crossed. Now I have to figure out my light situation. Received my Kind XL600 and it was damaged right out of the box. It’s a total PITA, but I think I’m gonna just ask for a refund. Don’t like the way it was handled (Judging by the box, I don’t think it was damaged during shipping). Gonna ask on the LED forum, but thinking about the Mars 4800?

 

[Bruce Campbell]

FYI: Here's the updates to my plan after yesterday's research:

The "keep it simple" approach for my setup is getting a bit complicated.

Saw this article that suggests (contrary to the current consensus) that plants may actually front-load P during vegetative growth and then use the stored P during flowering (rather than actually up-taking P during flowering), so I'll be adding myco to try to increase bioavailability of the P in my soil from the start. As a result, I'll be dechlorinating my water with ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) just to be safe (so I don't harm the myco). Vit C also lowers pH a little, and my water can be a bit high at 7.2-7.3.

I'll also be adding a silica booster after falling for all the marketing. The basic premise is that Si isn't a nutrient itself, but rather it's what's used in transport of and promotes uptake of all other nutrients. Downside seems low, as their seems to be no real issue in potential toxicity / lock-out from Si itself - rather, I'm hoping it helps prevent any lock-out issues.

I'll also definitely need to be adding some K during the grow, since my soil has almost none (OF is 0.30-0.45-0.05), although my tap water has a decent amount:

All that means I'll need to modify / deviate from my vendors standard feed schedule (still need to decide on exact adjustments / final amounts), but hopefully it'll be fine if I just take it slow and gradual. My tap water N and K levels can vary quite a bit month-to-month and county reports lag by 2-3 months, so that's probably the biggest overall con against using tap water.

Received my Kind XL600 and it was damaged right out of the box.

That sucks - I feel your pain.

FWIW, I went with the Phlizon CREE COB Series 2000W (450W Actual) for $160 on ebay after reading this review. That site seemed to have some decently objective reviews (vs. typical "click-thru and buy this product" affiliate sites). Their general point was "COB is the best", and for such a low price, Phlizon beats out the more expensive US vendors. It has four COB elements that are controlled separately with a "booster" switch - so I guess their only meant to be on during bloom? Not sure if that's a pro or con for the light...

That site has a page on the Mars SP and TS series, but couldn't find anything on the FC series. The FC has IR & UV, which should be good, and Samsung diodes. It should be powerful enough for 4 plants - the general rule of thumb I've heard is 40-50W (actual) per square foot of grow space. I'll be working in a 2'x4' tent (which will be a bit cramped). Ideally, you may want something that covers your entire 4'x5' closet, even if you're actually only 'growing' in a smaller 3'x3' or 4'x4' area of the closet...but 800-1000W actual may be kind of pushing it for a 4-plant autoflower setup.

 

[Sleepy T]

That sucks - I feel your pain.

FWIW, I went with the Phlizon CREE COB Series 2000W (450W Actual) for $160 on ebay after reading this review. That site seemed to have some decently objective reviews (vs. typical "click-thru and buy this product" affiliate sites). Their general point was "COB is the best", and for such a low price, Phlizon beats out the more expensive US vendors. It has four COB elements that are controlled separately with a "booster" switch - so I guess their only meant to be on during bloom? Not sure if that's a pro or con for the light...

That site has a page on the Mars SP and TS series, but couldn't find anything on the FC series. The FC has IR & UV, which should be good, and Samsung diodes. It should be powerful enough for 4 plants - the general rule of thumb I've heard is 40-50W (actual) per square foot of grow space. I'll be working in a 2'x4' tent (which will be a bit cramped). Ideally, you may want something that covers your entire 4'x5' closet, even if you're actually only 'growing' in a smaller 3'x3' or 4'x4' area of the closet...but 800-1000W actual may be kind of pushing it for a 4-plant autoflower setup.

Wow! Sounds like you are really into the science!
A close friend and I set up his new Black Dog 1000 in my closet (he doesn’t have the space yet) and it was blazing hot in there. Give it, I didn’t have much in the way of ventilation set up. But it was up in the 100F range. So I def think I need something smaller. For some reason I feel drawn to the Mars Hydro FC-E 4800. It seems pretty versatile, like you said, with good diodes, dimmable, etc. a good size for my space I think. In my price range.
I posted “help” on the LED board. So hopefully I can get some good, unbiased, expert advice.

 

[Bruce Campbell]