New Grower How many plants to max out 4x4 tent?

[Autotron]

Relatively new grower here. I've completed one photo grow before, like 15 years ago though, and with fluorescent shop lights. Since deciding to give it another go to establish a nice personal collection, I've invested in some quality equipment.

I am currently waiting for 2 Nirvana AK48 and 2 Nirvana Lemon OG haze (both feminized autos) seeds to sprout in my 2'x4'x5' tent. I have them directly planted in five gallon smart pots containing 70% Happy Frog soil and 30% perlite. I've covered them with clear plastic Dixie cups until they emerge and shed the seed casing. I'm running a 600w MH/HPS air-cooled light hooked up to a 6 inch carbon filter and 240 cfm online fan, all connected with 6 inch insulated duct. The light is currently set at 50% (300w) and about two feet away, mainly to maintain the temp in the tent at this point. It's about 73F and 56% RH at the soil level. I'll probably start a journal on here once I get a little farther. For the initial watering of the soil, I let four gallons of water sit out 24 hours, then added a tablespoon of organic seaweed extract, and about 20 ml each of AN Voodoo Juice, Piranha and B52, then ph'ed to 6.5. I was a little worried that i was being a bit of an eager beaver by adding the supplements initially, but it seemed like these would be beneficial for establishing a nice colony of good bacteria and fungi and throwing in a couple other root and early growth stimulators that had minimal to no NPK. I plan to use Fox Farms trio at 1/4 strength for macronutrients, but probably not until 3-4 weeks in.

I am looking to set up another 48"x48"x80" tent for some autos. I also ordered some Devil Cream, Dark Devil, Night Queen, Blue Dream, Girl Scout Cookies, and Dedoverde seeds, all auto fems. I have a 1000w MH/HPS dimmable light that I am looking to use in there.

I'd like to put 9 3-gallon smart pots in there with a 70% Biobizz lightmix/ 30% perlite mix. Does this sound like it would be a crowd once they get bigger? Any recommendations or thoughts on my current or future setup?

 

[A-Train]

What up.... got a lot going on here my man. I love a member with big dreams, just my kinda guy...... Hmmm mm where to start?

Drop the B52, it has a high nitrogen and with the history of the souls I would be weary to add any extra right now. The voodoo and piranha are bad ass I use them every grow and it's only for the root tribe really so should hurt anything.

The 9 plants in a 4x4 has so many variables. I can tell ya you CAN grow 9 dark devils in soil in a 4x4. You CANNOT grow 9 lemon OG haze plants and feed the the AN line because they will take over if ypu have enough light to power them. The GSC can be a big girl too if taken care of properly.

What made you decide to use AN and Fox Farms together. I would reccomend in the future def run the AN line it is awesome stuff and worth the pennies in my opinion. But I like to drop the beans in an almost neutral soil like prom mix hp or pro mix bx. Bio bizz light is a good option as well. Just a great brand that hold ph stable and when you feed there's no nutes in the soil. You know exactly what the plants are getting and how much.....

 

[Autotron]

Thanks A-train! I'll drop the B52 then. As far as the topic of 9 plants, I'd like to plant at least one of each of the new seeds(total of 6). For the sake of symmetry and max yield, maybe I'll just plant an extra Blue Dream, Dark Devil and an extra one of the others. Variety is one of my big things, as you can probably surmise. Does that still sound over-ambitious? It just seemed to me that three rows of three of the smart pot three gallon size would be a nice fit. They each run about ten inches in diameter, so that gives 18" of total space(4.5" of space on all sides of each pot) between pots on each row to play with. I was hoping that some careful LST would further help here. Maybe I'm overshooting this though.

For the nutes, I didn't really choose Fox Farms Trio for this run specifically. I had bought them for a previous initial soil grow of photo strains which was compromised, so that is what I had on hand. After doing some more reading, I saw a lot of great things said about the root tribe trio by AN, so I decided to add the heavy hitters(voodoo juice and piranha) to the mix in order to get a good start. Thanks for the recommendations about soil brand. I'll stick with my plan to with Biobizz Lightmix then.

 

[Autotron]

A-train, where did you hear that B-52 has nitrogen in it? I didn't see that on the advanced site, and the rep I just spoke with said there was no added nitrogen in it and any of the supplements can be used at full strength without any risk of burn.

By the way, based on your advice and what I've seen for other successful auto growers, I'm deciding to use the standard AN pH Perfect line(grow, micro, bloom) for base nutrients instead of Fox Farms. I just really want this to come out perfect and don't want to leave anything to chance.

 

[Ripped In Oregon]

Thanks A-train! I'll drop the B52 then. As far as the topic of 9 plants, I'd like to plant at least one of each of the new seeds(total of 6). For the sake of symmetry and max yield, maybe I'll just plant an extra Blue Dream, Dark Devil and an extra one of the others. Variety is one of my big things, as you can probably surmise. Does that still sound over-ambitious? It just seemed to me that three rows of three of the smart pot three gallon size would be a nice fit. They each run about ten inches in diameter, so that gives 18" of total space(4.5" of space on all sides of each pot) between pots on each row to play with. I was hoping that some careful LST would further help here. Maybe I'm overshooting this though.

For the nutes, I didn't really choose Fox Farms Trio for this run specifically. I had bought them for a previous initial soil grow of photo strains which was compromised, so that is what I had on hand. After doing some more reading, I saw a lot of great things said about the root tribe trio by AN, so I decided to add the heavy hitters(voodoo juice and piranha) to the mix in order to get a good start. Thanks for the recommendations about soil brand. I'll stick with my plan to with Biobizz Lightmix then.

It is a big undertaking in a small space and it will present challenges and some creative ideas.The LST would be a good way to go but even then it will be packed. The only thing I would personally do is Scrog them and even then 9 plants in a Scrog in a 4x4 and the speed of auto's will still be a task. I did 3 GSC in a 4x4 and like A train said that plant can get big (mine hit 4.5 feet had 2 of them and a shorty at 2.5 and that was a bitch. Also keep in mind you will have to deal with humidity so prepare to deal with that during flowering. It is a lot of work and a huge undertaking for a new grower. It depends on what you are willing to do and if you have the time to really play momma bird and watch over them. It is a natural feeling to want to pull tons of smoke off every run or we wouldn't do it. You will have to just try different things but remember a 4x4 tent is a small area once things get going it is more intense as you keep adding plants. I used 5 gal pots and I will drop to 3 gal. The extra space 4.5 of space between will disappear in a heart beat. It will be a bitch to move things around but I like your ambition but my personal opinion is to go through a run with 4 3 gal pots and see how that works and get the basics down and then think what 3x that amount would take. These are just my opinions and a personal experiences with my first grow. I will watch this thread and I have a solution to deal with humidity in a 4x4 tent. Good luck brother

 

[Ripped In Oregon]

Here is what I ran into on my first grow. 3 gsc in 5 gal pots. Now these were beatin to shit. Light burn and a cal mag and ph problems and still got 9 oz off the three. It was a hard one to the point where I wanted to chop the big ones because it got out of hand once I ran into problems but I stuck with it and got a good yield.

 

[Ripped In Oregon]

This is after 4 weeks on a 7 week schedule. Just wanted to show you what can happen very fast.

 

[Autotron]

Thanks Ripped! Point taken. I pretty much knew on some level that I was pushing it too far with 9 3 gallons in a 4x4. The visuals and informed opinion of someone who's dealt with autos in a space like that helps drive the reality of it home though. I definitely don't want to end up in a place down the road where I'm facing issues like humidity and running out of space though. I'll definitely need to do some thinking about scaling that one down. Ideally, I'd really like to have at least one plant of all the six other strains I've got coming in there, but maybe I need to manage my expectations a little better and pare it down a little more even. I've got another week or so until I even get started on that second tent, so I'll keep you posted and put a journal up for that one as well when it gets going. Thanks for the help!

 

[Ripped In Oregon]

I just wanted to try and save you some frustration,I still have a hard time not wanting to put more in mine also. I am just trying different things. This round which will start tomorrow (DP BB auto) and I going with 2 5 gal. and see how that turns out. I actually had the same idea but quickly caught myself and came up with another plan with just the 2 5 gal. I will most likely do a grow journal for this next one. You could always cut it in half (well almost) to 6 3 gal and see how it goes. You are welcome Autoron,it just takes a grow or two to dial it in as to what you think is good. It can be a problem mixing multiple strains because of different plant structure. If you get even 1 or 2 that stretch it will be harder to get good light to every plant . I am curious to see how it goes. Looking forward to an update bro,it will be interesting . You are welcome.There are some top notch growers here with tons of great advice.

 

[A-Train]

You def made a good choice with the AN line.... I'm sorry for yhe miss leading info. You are correct there's no nitrogen in B52. That being said. I use it the entire grow and it seems it CAN make your plant subject to burn. That's just a real world guy who uses their product in the tent daily speaking not a rep.

@Fairlynew is a legend and he uses AN as well... he can also tell you about B52 in the grow room ....

Now don't get me wrong I still use it. Just @1ml/L never 2