New Grower A Nothern light

[New4me]

Just joined the forum and wanted to start this grow journal for a Royal Seeds Nothern Light auto.

This is what I currently have with equipment
2x2x4 tent
3 gallon air pot
Ts-600 mars led
Carbon filter ac infinity fan
Small desk fan

Fox farms happy frog
Ff big bloom

The seed was just moved from paper towel to the 3 gallon so I am now waiting.

Couple of questions what am I missing, can I use ph strips to ph my water, and will other nutrients be required?

 

[Old-fashioned Coughy Pot]

A timer. "Titan Controls Apollo 8" is an affordable 2 outlet mechanical timer.

 

[BigCheezeDog]

PH paper should do fine, I run a very similar setup and I just use 1gal milk jugs for watering. For my water 1/2tsp of citric acid(grocery store by the canning stuff) in a jug of water gets me to about 6.8 ish. I use slow release organics in pro-mix HP so there is no need to go as acidic as a hydro grower. I have done a few grows now with no PH adjustment and I had one plant that had a minor nutrient lockout.

For my current grow I am going back to PH adjustments to give it a proper evaluation. though I am not that convinced in the style of growing I use it's all that necessary or if I can even notice a difference at the tiny scale I grow at.

 

[AFNG]

i think you will need more nutrients. big bloom is just part of a line of nutrients meant to be used in combination.

 

[New4me]

Is it safe to use big bloom with a seedling? I'm not using any other nutrients than what's in ffhf soil for the first few weeks.

Also should I use cal/mag? On my last grow I definitely had a lockout issue I believe from ph. I used the happy frog soil but did not watch my ph so would like to stay ahead of that. Also with the last grow it was in a 1 gallon pot using led bulbs in a cabinet so not a perfect setup.

 

[New4me]

Also I have been using a bottled water its the walmart RO drinking water.

 

[BigCheezeDog]

if you are using RO water I would think that calmag is probably a must.

My tap water goes from hard (summertime) to very hard in the winter. So mine get plenty of calcium just from water. My tap water is treated with chlorine and not chloramine(sp) so it is easy to get rid of. every time I water I immediately fill the jugs with hot water the heat helps drive off the chlorine faster but even cold the chlorine will be gone out of an open container in 24 hours.

I'll admit it I am cheap, my taxes already paid for the tap water so unless you live in Flint Michigan or another place with actually sketchy water I would skip paying Wallmart to RO your cities tap water for you. it's an unnecessary complication(again I am cheap and lazy).

One newbee error is to overwater(I got caught on my first grow) that can look like a nutrient deficiency too, IDK but does Fox farm soil come with perlite, the Pro-Mix HP I use is loaded with it. So if does not have much, you will need to add some, 1/4-1/3 by volume.

If your picture above is a grow with fox farm then I would think you need to add some probably under 1/4.

 

[New4me]

I was only using the bottled water because it had a lower ph not knowing any better about minerals so I will be using tap water this time and just watching the ph. That was also happy frog soil. Unfortunately I already have a seed in the new pot and I did not add any perlite there is some in it but not much. Should I try and fix that or roll with it and be mindful of compaction?

 

[BigCheezeDog]

if you planted in the full-size pot I would roll with it, but be careful watering. Hate messing with an auto once the ball is rolling.

 

[New4me]

Thanks for the help

if you planted in the full-size pot I would roll with it, but be careful watering. Hate messing with an auto once the ball is rolling.