New Grower Medi's Medical grow

[medi]

First time Auto grower. I have been keeping pretty detailed notes in a notepad on my computer, and will post some of them here to get things started.

Strain - Royal Queen Northern Lights Auto
Space - 24" X 14 " X 36" recycled plastic cabinet with Mylar lining.
Light - 180w(60 X 3) Full Spectrum Blue: 430-440nm, 450-460nm, 460-475nm ; Red: 620-630nm, 650-660nm ; IR 730nm ; White 3500K 6500K .
Soil - 70/30 FoxFarm Ocean Forest Organic & Organic Perlite
Water- Local spring water@6.5 ph
Nutes - Dyna Gro Grow & Dyna Gro Bloom Schedule at 1/4 concentration.
Goals: 50 grams(4month supply@3grams/week)

Day 1 was 4/27, 2 plants soil germinated with 2X 27w CFL 5000K.
My LED arrives tomorrow and will be placed into the box probably around the time my plants break soil.

 

[MoChillah]

Good luck, you seem prepared.

 

[medi]

Thank you, I'm trying to keep my expectations that both will pop low, if they both do great, and if not I'll hopefully get one good lady to devote my time to. My primary aim is to grow some decent nugs, and more importantly to streamline my process for future grows.

 

[medi]

Update - Day 3

So I got my LED in today, and installed it. It's a 60 X 3w LED from ebay. The reviews were good, and the price was reasonable, so I decided to take a chance.

I started thinking back to when I planted this over the weekend, and felt like maybe I rushed and buried them too far down, went to check where they were in the soil, and I was right, they were +/- an inch down. So I pulled them up very gently, agitated the soil, poked about 1/2 inch down, placed the seeds which by now had cracked with taproot exposed, and gently coverd them up to where the seeds would have come up had they not been stuck in soil.

The question I have is what if any problems might that mistake cost me?

I'm going to order a tent tomorrow, I'm thinking a 32 X 32 X 63 will be fine for my needs, which are just to keep myself supplied with a steady 3 grams give or take a week.

Well, that's all for now, pics follow.


First seed - this one looks a bit healthier.


Second Seed - This could go either way.


This is my box with the new LED installed.


ps. Sorry if the seed pics are blurry, I couldn't figure out where my wife put my camera so I used my phone, which didn't want to focus.

 

[User K]

Nice clean set up your got there bro. What are your specs on your led. If you can though mate I would raise them a little but, try 2ft, if not go as high as you can :thumb:

 

[medi]

Thanks Kip, I'm looking forward to getting into more space with the tent, but I think thecabinet does alright to get started. I actually raised the lights up after taking that photo, I wasn't happy with how long the metal hangers were that came with it so I used paracord to make my own. It's currently sitting at the recommended 14 inches for the wattage.

The specs on the light are in the original post as far as spectrum goes, and the wattage is 3w X 60(# of diodes). I haven't picked up a power meter yet so I don't know what the actual draw is, I doubt it's 180 though. That said I'm confident it'll perform well as the seller had great reviews for this and other lights.

 

[StickMan]

Looking good my fellow med user!
Hope you don't mind if I pull up a chair and follow your grow?

Great choice on your first strain choice. Great meds from what I have heard, haven't grown any yet, but have a couple of fem beans to grow out sometime.

Peace!

- - - Updated - - -

 

[Trapper]

Your draw (actual) on a 180W UFO will be around 110W. I'd be willing to bet that the recommendation of 14 inches is based on vegetation stage, but these are seedlings. (barely)
I have found (and been instructed) that 24" is a good distance for the first 10 days or so or until the 2nd set of leaves is near fully developed. I'm at 19" now on day 4 because
I have a relatively weak 135W (90W actual) UFO so I figured I could cheat in a bit.

My 2 cents.

 

[medi]

Not at all Stickman, I would be really happy to get input as I go since I'll be updating pretty often. I'm following yours as well

Trapper: That is an unfortunate reality for me, I am fresh out of room in that box really, I only intended to use that cabinet as a stop gap until I could pick up a tent, how bad do you think I'll burn them at 14"? I appreciate the clarification though. It makes me wonder what happens to the people I've seen using 90w LED lights in PC grows.

 

[Trapper]

I think you'll be fine. I actually lowered mine from 23" to 19" and it may have stopped what appeared to be a bit of stretching. Take what I say with a grain of salt, because I'm just saying what I recently learned...I'm by no means speaking from experience. I think the PC grows utilize dwarf or super short "bush" genetics most the time. I don't think either of us are in any particular danger of burning anything...until it's harvested anyway...