New Grower About to buy! Any suggestions? Much love.

[NugNoob]

Hello world, super new here. This is my second post (the first being my introduction).

I am not just new to here, I am new to all types of growing. I smoke semi-occasionally as it helps with stress/anxiety (I have a high stress job). 6 months ago my wife and I purchased our first house and 2 weeks ago she gave me the nod to turn this upstairs closet into a small grow tent area! I am beyond stoked but quite nervous as well... I have been reading up (and watching videos) literally every free minute I have on growing in general, with a heavy focus on Autos. I've lurked around here a bit and learned quite a bit. Also, a source I found very useful (though not sure it's worth $30) was Autoflower Growing by Midowo, it just kinda filled in the blanks I guess and probably goes deeper than what I needed.

Anyways...
Here is my planned setup and I would love to hear any and all input on what you guys think!

My closet diemensions (inch)
42 D x 68 W x 84 H

• Tent

36x36x72 Vivosun Tent Link: https://goo.gl/xobofW

Was also thinking of maybe doing a 24" x 48" tent but figured this would spread the light more evenly. With what I've seen heard, I can expect to fit 3-4 plants in 36x36 w/ 3 gal pots.

• Lighting

For lighting I'm kind of torn between the Viparspectra 600W LED and the MarsHydro 600W. They are comparable in price and both have great reviews. Though I am leaning more towards the Mars as it's about 15 bones cheaper.

I plan to do 24/0

LED Lights Links:
Mars https://goo.gl/f88tCd
Viparspectra https://goo.gl/sMP81G

• Ventilation

https://goo.gl/zoF0F3

This seemed cheap with decent reviews, though I was thinking of maybe going for the 6 or even an 8 inch inline fan, I heard that it can be much quiet if you use a dial and put it down much lower. Though I fear I will exhaust the tent more than 3-5 times per minute and won't be able to control the environment as well in there. Also, I was thinking of maybe having just the filter inside the tent and running a piece of duct probably less than 4 feet through either the right of the closet or straight up (see pic) into the attic where the inline fan would live, then exhaust further outside if necessary, otherwise I'd terminate there and hope there is no crazy odors. To the right of the closet is all a crawl space (cape style house) This would all be in an effort to reduce noise, I could even put some padding, etc to house the fan unit to help with vibrations. Has anyone tried anything like this, thoughts?

• Pots and Soil

I'm super afraid of over nute-ing / over/under watering my first crack at this. So I wanted to start with what seems to be the norm... FoxFarm Ocean Forest mixed with 1/3 perlite into 3 gal grow bags and try to nute these guys with the bare minimum.

• Seeds! Girl Seeds!

And of course most importantly the beautiful girls themselves. Figure as a newbie I should start with one strain, and thinking of either AK-47, White Widow or Blueberry (all feminized)...learning towards the AK.

Not 100% sure what site I should use either... Dutch Passion / Green House / ILoveGrowingM... as prices are comparable, anyone have prefs.

Few other thoughts... if you saw it in the pic, the temp can get pretty low in the NE winter weather, so I may purchase an electric oil filled radiator with a digital thermostat to keep in the closet to get it to a more consistent and comfortable temperature. I know that HPS or CFL's could probably help with this but before long it'll be hot as hell and I only have window AC units for the house so I don't wanna then struggle to keep future crops cool. LEDs just seem so appealing.

Do you guys think I'll need a small humidifier for inside the tent since it's winter and with that radiator it may be drying out some of the moisture. Will also be putting a small house fan inside to move the air and probably have a little slit to draw in fresh, cooler air.

pH testing, do you guys recommend getting and calibrating a meter or do strips...drops seem to work well enough for a beginner. I've also heard mixed opinions about how/when to test, runoff each watering, etc...thoughts?

Well that's it guys, sorry for the long ass post but I've been running through this all over and over with nobody except my wife who probably just wants me to shut up about it and getting busy with it now.

What do you guys think, I'd love to hear...

Peace.
-NN

Attached are pics of my closet for giggles. (along with my other partner in crime)

 

[SpaghettiSauce]

Hey Nug! I wish you luck. Have you considered using coco as your substrate? I've been told to stay away from ffos because it may be too strong for auto seedlings. I use coco with Reverse osmosis water. Tends to give more hydro results. I bought the RO Buddie and it works well. You have to buy some extra hose because it doesn't include them all. I have a ph and tds meter to test water. The strips are junk, when you buy some ph up and down you will see what I mean. Im brand new as well. My advice to you is keep reading up! especially on what lights you get. I subbed up. See ya around. [emoji111]

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

[SpaghettiSauce]

Also, check out mephisto seeds. They seem to be all the the rage around here.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

[jingo]

Welcome nugnoob

I'd say number one find out as much about your background water as you can. If you're on a well it's pretty much mandatory that you buy a pH meter and a total dissolved solids meter. Even if you're on a Municipal Water Supply it wouldn't hurt to to buy those two meters.

I've used Fox Farm soil in the past with photo period Plants and I've found it hard on some seedlings. Whatever soil you do purchase you need to test the pH of the soil before you start. The best way to do that is to dry some out powder it up and mix it with some indicator Solutions you buy at most big box stores.

Seems like the guys I've seen that have real success growing with soil layer it. So they might have a mild layer in a cone shape right on down the center of the pot and then they're stronger layer like the fox farm would be further out from that cone.

I'd plan on 900 to 1200 watts if you go with the Mars Hydro lights. That's 600 watt light probably has a flower footprint of around 18 inches by 18 inches. So that would be one medium sized plant.

A quality 6-inch extraction system with the good high flow carbon filter would work well with that size set up. You would want a fan controller high and low speed as well as Auto shut off if temps drop too low. They cost about 80 bucks.

You probably will need a humidifier but that's something that you can buy once you get going and figure things out. One thing to think about when you extract in the winter if you extract into an attic or crawl space that it's for humidity can cause issues.

Drawing air from a room that has a constant temperature and having your lights on 24 hours a day with a good extraction system will probably be the only controls you need for temperature. I run my lights 24 hours a day for the environment control.

Mephistos, Dutch Passion, Fastbuds and Dinafem are seeds I've grown that are good quality. They all have reps on this site and offer deals from time to time.

You may want to take a look at CoCo, it may seem more complicated and it does require more attention than soil. But, I think you learn more faster and the results are amazing.

 

[SpaghettiSauce]

Hello world, super new here. This is my second post (the first being my introduction).

I am not just new to here, I am new to all types of growing. I smoke semi-occasionally as it helps with stress/anxiety (I have a high stress job). 6 months ago my wife and I purchased our first house and 2 weeks ago she gave me the nod to turn this upstairs closet into a small grow tent area! I am beyond stoked but quite nervous as well... I have been reading up (and watching videos) literally every free minute I have on growing in general, with a heavy focus on Autos. I've lurked around here a bit and learned quite a bit. Also, a source I found very useful (though not sure it's worth $30) was Autoflower Growing by Midowo, it just kinda filled in the blanks I guess and probably goes deeper than what I needed.

Anyways...
Here is my planned setup and I would love to hear any and all input on what you guys think!

My closet diemensions (inch)
42 D x 68 W x 84 H

• Tent

36x36x72 Vivosun Tent Link: https://goo.gl/xobofW

Was also thinking of maybe doing a 24" x 48" tent but figured this would spread the light more evenly. With what I've seen heard, I can expect to fit 3-4 plants in 36x36 w/ 3 gal pots.

• Lighting

For lighting I'm kind of torn between the Viparspectra 600W LED and the MarsHydro 600W. They are comparable in price and both have great reviews. Though I am leaning more towards the Mars as it's about 15 bones cheaper.

I plan to do 24/0

LED Lights Links:
Mars https://goo.gl/f88tCd
Viparspectra https://goo.gl/sMP81G

• Ventilation

https://goo.gl/zoF0F3

This seemed cheap with decent reviews, though I was thinking of maybe going for the 6 or even an 8 inch inline fan, I heard that it can be much quiet if you use a dial and put it down much lower. Though I fear I will exhaust the tent more than 3-5 times per minute and won't be able to control the environment as well in there. Also, I was thinking of maybe having just the filter inside the tent and running a piece of duct probably less than 4 feet through either the right of the closet or straight up (see pic) into the attic where the inline fan would live, then exhaust further outside if necessary, otherwise I'd terminate there and hope there is no crazy odors. To the right of the closet is all a crawl space (cape style house) This would all be in an effort to reduce noise, I could even put some padding, etc to house the fan unit to help with vibrations. Has anyone tried anything like this, thoughts?

• Pots and Soil

I'm super afraid of over nute-ing / over/under watering my first crack at this. So I wanted to start with what seems to be the norm... FoxFarm Ocean Forest mixed with 1/3 perlite into 3 gal grow bags and try to nute these guys with the bare minimum.

• Seeds! Girl Seeds!

And of course most importantly the beautiful girls themselves. Figure as a newbie I should start with one strain, and thinking of either AK-47, White Widow or Blueberry (all feminized)...learning towards the AK.

Not 100% sure what site I should use either... Dutch Passion / Green House / ILoveGrowingM... as prices are comparable, anyone have prefs.

Few other thoughts... if you saw it in the pic, the temp can get pretty low in the NE winter weather, so I may purchase an electric oil filled radiator with a digital thermostat to keep in the closet to get it to a more consistent and comfortable temperature. I know that HPS or CFL's could probably help with this but before long it'll be hot as hell and I only have window AC units for the house so I don't wanna then struggle to keep future crops cool. LEDs just seem so appealing.

Do you guys think I'll need a small humidifier for inside the tent since it's winter and with that radiator it may be drying out some of the moisture. Will also be putting a small house fan inside to move the air and probably have a little slit to draw in fresh, cooler air.

pH testing, do you guys recommend getting and calibrating a meter or do strips...drops seem to work well enough for a beginner. I've also heard mixed opinions about how/when to test, runoff each watering, etc...thoughts?

Well that's it guys, sorry for the long ass post but I've been running through this all over and over with nobody except my wife who probably just wants me to shut up about it and getting busy with it now.

What do you guys think, I'd love to hear...

Peace.
-NN

Attached are pics of my closet for giggles. (along with my other partner in crime)

Omg that dog is adorable what breed and what is its name!

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

[NugNoob]

Welcome nugnoob

I'd say number one find out as much about your background water as you can. If you're on a well it's pretty much mandatory that you buy a pH meter and a total dissolved solids meter. Even if you're on a Municipal Water Supply it wouldn't hurt to to buy those two meters.

I've used Fox Farm soil in the past with photo period Plants and I've found it hard on some seedlings. Whatever soil you do purchase you need to test the pH of the soil before you start. The best way to do that is to dry some out powder it up and mix it with some indicator Solutions you buy at most big box stores.

Seems like the guys I've seen that have real success growing with soil layer it. So they might have a mild layer in a cone shape right on down the center of the pot and then they're stronger layer like the fox farm would be further out from that cone.

I'd plan on 900 to 1200 watts if you go with the Mars Hydro lights. That's 600 watt light probably has a flower footprint of around 18 inches by 18 inches. So that would be one medium sized plant.

A quality 6-inch extraction system with the good high flow carbon filter would work well with that size set up. You would want a fan controller high and low speed as well as Auto shut off if temps drop too low. They cost about 80 bucks.

You probably will need a humidifier but that's something that you can buy once you get going and figure things out. One thing to think about when you extract in the winter if you extract into an attic or crawl space that it's for humidity can cause issues.

Drawing air from a room that has a constant temperature and having your lights on 24 hours a day with a good extraction system will probably be the only controls you need for temperature. I run my lights 24 hours a day for the environment control.

Mephistos, Dutch Passion, Fastbuds and Dinafem are seeds I've grown that are good quality. They all have reps on this site and offer deals from time to time.

You may want to take a look at CoCo, it may seem more complicated and it does require more attention than soil. But, I think you learn more faster and the results are amazing.

Thank you for this detailed breakdown Jingo! This is really awesome. We have clean city tap water, but I plan to let it sit for probably 24 hours each time I fill a jug and I'll def. pH it with a digital meter.

I'll have to do some research into CoCo and will either upgrade to the 900w or maybe run two LEDs and try to get a lil extra spread out of them for the 3x3. Good point about the humidity for exhausting too.

Thanks again!

 

[NugNoob]

Omg that dog is adorable what breed and what is its name!

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

Nice advice, looks like with yours and Jingo's reply I need to get to snuff on the whole coco business! I've read very little about it.

Also about our dog... Her name is Lucy, she is a 7 month old Shiba, my wifes favorite breed of dogs (her family grew up with a few of them).

Thanks again guys, even more excited now!

 

[jingo]

Try to find the TDS of your city water, many nutrient companies offer a hard water nutrient if you get above 150 TDS. Chlorine is really 100 different chemicals you may need more than just setting out for 24 hours on your water maybe an air stone.

 

[jingo]

Try to find the TDS of your city water, many nutrient companies offer a hard water nutrient if you get above 150 TDS. Chlorine is really 100 different chemicals you may need more than just setting it out for 24 hours may need an air stone.

 

[NugNoob]

Try to find the TDS of your city water, many nutrient companies offer a hard water nutrient if you get above 150 TDS. Chlorine is really 100 different chemicals you may need more than just setting it out for 24 hours may need an air stone.

Good thinking man, I don't think I've read or seen anything like that so far regarding city water. Will have to check on this, thanks Jingo!