First Grow... gathering parts... look over my stuff

[Amber_Cloud]

I'm not married to anything in this list. I have questions, but I'm so ignorant that I'm open for any advise, unsolicited or not. I've been reading on here for quite a while and have been trying to absorbed as much as I can before starting my list. OH, and I'm excided as all hell!

The Plan
#1 First grows will focus on the plant and learning by doing. So much nuance is lost in quick youtube videos. I'm sure that my first grow will teach me so much, so I'm going to use soil so I can focus on the plant for the first few grows, and get a feel for nutrient balance without it being the focus.
#2 Grow more then a plant to get some variety. I hope to grow 2.

Me
I'm retired and home all the time. I live in prohibition USA. I don't travel. I did high end systems integration work and I can be a bit.. OCD. I had a 300gallon salt water reef tank with two spawns a year and zero water changes. The reason I bring this up is the exacting painstaking DIY setups needed to emulate the ocean. I see a lot of similarities to growing coral. Testing, balancing, etc. I see hydroponics in my future.

Environment
I own, and we have a decent space between houses. Separate breaker for all growing components. Closet in my office will hold the tent, I can add a vent in the side wall of closet for air intake if louver doors don't work well. I need to keep the smell to near zero when closed. I will vent direct to attic and out roof vents.

Tent
I will be growing in a closet in my office. I could get either a 2x2 or a 20x36 tent in there. I chose to go with the 20x36x62. I hope to grow 2 plants for variety and experience.

Light(s)
MAXSISUN PB1000 Pro Grow Light, 100 Watt x2. I was going to go with a MAXSISUN PB2000 Pro, but I thought having 2 lights would allow me to adjust the height of each plant. This is my first dilemma, since I have zero experience I don't know if this is a good idea. One worry I would have would be the lower light would bleed onto that side of the other plant, causing burn. Not sure if this is correct, some guidance would be great here.

Air
4" - AC Infinity Cloudline T4 Duct Fan and Carbon Filter, various duct work...

Unknown still...
Humidity control. My room RH is between 42% and 55%, and is normally 74F (73 to 77).
Soil choices (USA)
Nutrients (USA)

Seeds
MEPHISTO GENETICS - DOUBLE GRAPE AUTO Strain Feminized - 3 Pack
Night Owl Seeds - MILK AND QOOKIES Strain

I'll post the miscellaneous stuff like pots and meters once this this is firm. Thank you all for everything you've already done with all the information on this site. It's a bit overwhelming, but I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Zer0]

It looks like you have most of it figured it out :smoking:

Here are my suggestions:

Amazon product
This would help get your tent RH up because it might be lower than the room with a exhaust fan sucking it out, i have this issue and get these ink birds to help regulate it.
Amazon product

i want both of those items as i went cheaper and now need to get those to make life easier lol

73f-77f is with the led's on or that is the house temps not tents?

For soil i suggest fox farms ocean
Amazon product

it has served me well as a starter soil.

and for nutrients, i suggest megacrop
Amazon product
this stuff does wonders for cannabis

 

[Amber_Cloud]

Thanks for the reply! Added to the list. This is going to be so much fun!

 

[Rapha El]

oh yah, looks like you're gonna be a coco guy

 

[MassMom]

I have ocd, and soil didnt do it for me. I wanted to know every nutrient my plant was getting. I would suggest canna coco and Mega Crop as a nutrient! I also use the autopot system, which takes away the need for hand watering.
Welcome!!!!

 

[Zer0]

I have ocd, and soil didnt do it for me. I wanted to know every nutrient my plant was getting. I would suggest canna coco and Mega Crop as a nutrient! I also use the autopot system, which takes away the need for hand watering.
Welcome!!!!

Right on sounds like a solid plan too.

Personal question for you @MassMom, I got a 1 XL autopot system coming and all i have is promix and hydroton, would that work in place of coco? i have a huge bag of megacrop and 2 bags of promix organics, trying to save on buying coco if i can.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

I'm germinating my first grow, so just went through the planning phase too. Here's some notes:

Control - I got an inkbird controller to start, but will probably end up moving to a smart home setup (brand: Sonoff Zigbee-based devices).

Water / Soil / Nutes: Will you be using tap water, demin, or RO? I'd take a look and plan out a basic feeding schedule based on your water, media, and nutes before actually purchasing. In my case, I bought Fox Farms Ocean Forest and their cultivation nation trio of nutes before looking into my tap water. My tap water is pretty high in N, K, Ca, and Mg, but low in P. OF is reasonably high in N and P, but low in K. The set ratios in the nutes will make it a challenge to precisely adjust the overall NPK ratios to account for my tap water, so I'll only be able to get in the ballpark. My next grow, I may go to a more neutral media like coco or rockwool and individual N/P/K fertilizers so I can have more control.

Lights: If I were to restart my planning with what I know now, I'd look into Autocobs as a possible "expand as you go" approach.

General Background: You can find these in one of the lighting / how-to sections of the forum - but watch some of Bruce Bigbee's videos as early as you can. Definitely good are his "Cannabis Lighting Myths and FAQs" and "Maximizing Cannabis Yield" videos - they'll give you some good background knowledge for deciding on lights / approaches / etc.

 

[mb5322]

I'm new to auto's myself, but have grown photos in the past. I strongly suggest an RO system. I have this one, https://aquaticlife.com/collections...d-4-stage-reverse-osmosis-deionization-system I got it on Amazon, it brings my water down to .0009 ppm, which is impressive considering I'm on a well in south florida. The water here is basically swamp water so this little system really cleans up the water. I prefer RO water because it really allows me to get my PPM spot on when feeding my plants and there are very few unknowns in my water supply. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Zer0]

just collect rain water bud, cheaper than a RO waste and its FREE, start with 5 gallon buckts or buy a big trashcan and start collecting

As for autocob lights, sure they are good but for $120 or so for a 65w led, naw no thanks, amazon has plenty of $40 leds that are 100w and use samsung diodes
i have x2 of these and they got me by 2 grows, 4 plants 200g and 2 plants 87 grams
Amazon product

 

[Zer0]

You can spend $2000-$3000 on buying shit that will grow some plants or you can spend a few $100 and still grow some plants lol this is like working on cars it can be a money pit if you let it get you.