New Grower First Time Post and Grow! Review and Critique Requested! With pictures!

[Killijin]

Hi ! I am Killijin and what follows is my first post/grow! Please read if you wish and check out my photos! Here are the specs!

Seeds Used - x5 Sagarmatha Auto Fem White Russian (not shown, in pots)
x2 Sagarmatha Auto Fem AK48 (not shown, in pots)
x3 dealer seed indica seedlings. (shown)
Purchased from Attitude

Germination - 22 hours in a ceramic glass of 78 degree tap water. One did not pop as quickly as the others and I finished him in paper towel method.

Pots - 5 gallon plastic

Soil - Sungro Sunshine Mix #4 Soilless

Nutes - Flora Micro/bloom/grow Nirvana Molasses

Water - Distilled gallons from Wal-Mart @ 88 cents Yes packing tons of jugs sucks but I cannot afford ozone or R.O. system yet!

Lighting - Earthworth Gorilla Grow Kit - 600w HID metal halide / high pressure sodium for seedlings/vegetative flowering respectfully

Humidity - two buckets of water w/humidifier ( air is dry here until late march)

Air - x2 240 cfm 6 inch Amazone LED brand duct fan for intake and outake respectfully. 1 medium circulatory fan for circulation.

Walls - Visqueen Panda film

Ninth photo shows the outside fan encasing for the window, there are two silicone'd vent panels to prevent water/weather/pests from coming in, encased in a 1 and 1/2 thick plyboard silicone'd and painted to fit the window.

Picture 11 is the inside view of the panel. When I saw the vent caps, that were shown in the previous photo, they had a duct line fitting that I thought would be included to connect the inline fan to the vent cap. I was wrong. Should of read the review first.

Anyways, so this may seem excessive, so what I did is take two of the large traffic orange cones, used to steer traffic away from the side of a road or construction, and cut it down so that the mouth would fit of the wood panel and the shorter part would fit in the fan. I then silicone'd the pieces together bracing the fan on a book so it would stay in place. The results were beyond satisfactory, not only are they rigid and solid, but they are insulated and do not condensate. I had already silicone'd the wood panel to the window so making an additional modification to hook up the inline fan to the panel was not an option. The cut up cones, at least to me, seemed like a pretty ingenious solution. At the end is a 6 and 1/4 cut-to-fit carbon screen to trap -particles and smell. I know that these will probably not be strong enough to filter smell when they flower,(or are they?) but I am in a really out of the way spot. The intake however, is where I am worried about rogue pollen coming in, but I have been told that this 1/4 thick carbon will work fine against that. Any opinions?

Photo Number 7 shows a drooping piece of connected duct. Well, the intake blows fan through and this model of hood has the vented 6inch duct features (which I love) it also has an optional glass sliding panel to go through the bottom of the vent to filter the air to another one! But the air passes through the top and out the other hole and so I put that duct to filter the remaining clean air down towards the plants for the co2. (is that okay?)

I have a small medium room heater to help augment the overnights and colder days. My grow light is on two yo-yos. Do they need to be even closer?

So this is my initial set-up and I would gladly receive advice and recommendations for any improvements! I will post additional photos and details as they develop.
The seeds were germinated until they cracked a shoot and then planted in their final grow pots. Thanks for reading!

 

[roadsidevendor1]

Welcome!!!
this grow is going to be fun to follow...you really done your research and got them girls a good home.
happy growing!!

I just noticed you were using those light yo-yo things. I replaced all mine with light duty
metal chain and eye hooks because we came home from the store and found the light fixture crashed down on a DWC grow crushing and killing all 5 sprouts.

 

[dykster]

Welcome!

 

[Killijin]

Thanks for the replies and warm welcomes! The yo-yo's are attached to dry-wall plastic plugs that have had some silicone squirted in them for good measure. After I secured them in the ceiling and let the silicone cure, I applied a 5 pound weight for test, with a slight tug. No slippage and no sounds. So I am going to give them a go.

 

[toke]

welcome to AFN you came to the right site for sure. you have a very nice setup you've done some homework and it shows. i think i would pickup some of that light duty chain that rsv1 mentioned above so you'll have it on hand, heared lots of yo-yo crashes over the years.

TOKE OUT

 

[Killijin]

Yes, I read and watched several videos and grow bibles from Jorge Cervante's to Ed Rosenthal, and tried to read countless forums and and threads all gathering hints and techniques to start this puppy off right. The seeds cracked and I placed them head down, so the tail is pointing downwards, with tweezers. They all seem to be quality seeds, even if Sagarmatha has had some reputation problems in the past, as they all cracked within 28 hours. Only one didn't pop from the cup o' water method, so I showed him who's boss and put him in some paper towels. He learned his lesson. I lightly watered the surface so that about half the pot was moist, not mush, and then put em 1 inch deep and backfilled. However, now that I have seen what they do, I wish I had purchased and gave those Root Riot cubes a go first, as the lil' buggers seem to go f'in ape shit in development. I have a propagation tent with rockwool cubes and a 4 foot T5 florescent tube, but for a first time grow, I decided less and simple is more. I was thinking about using the Flora Lucas formula a go for feeding but I do not plan on giving them any nutes until week 2 of the seedling phase. Just good ol ph distilled water until then. When I do start to feed I will begin using no more than 1/2 strength. Does this all sound good so far? Any recommendations otherwise?

These yo yo's seem to be high quality but due to what you all have said I am going to reinforce the line with some type 3 nylon 550 lb test cord. I try to use that wherever possible when it comes to tying things up. Thanks for the additional advice!

 

['smax]

Hey like your set up. Looks far more profesh then my first grow area. But did you say you planted your seeds one inch below the surface? I don't have hardly any experience with soil like mediums but this seems way excessive imho. Perhaps another soillless grower can chime in on that or perhaps i just read your post wrong. Good luck with your grow bro.

 

[Killijin]

herp forgot to add the /2 after that heh good catch.. no 1/2 inch deep. Thanks for looking out.

 

[Muddy]

Welcome to the forum. Looks like a good setup you've got, well thought out. I agree on those yo-yos. They are unreliable and after awhile always give problems when trying to raise or lower the lights. Chains, as mentioned, or the racheting type work better and are more reliable.

Since this is your first grow I'm going to move your thread over to the New Growers forum. Along with Joe Dirt and Jackal we moderate that forum and can better help you to a successful first grow.

 

[KUDO]

:howdy:bro looking good nice room size you should have some beauty growing in there,look forward to see your updates
Kudo