Noob 1st time set up advice.

[The Ginga Ninja]

Hey everyone. First of all thank you to everyone that is kind enough to share their experience with us green horns. I chose this site bc everyone seemed mostly humble. I've already learned a lot walking these halls. We appreciate it.

1st time growing. I've been a babysitter a few times (or maybe a stoner uncle) but never a parent. I live in inland Southern California and it gets very hot and dry in the summers (90-100 every day) where I'm at with high winds...I also live near a river bed so the bugs are EVERYWHERE. So after failing my 1st attempt at an outdoor grow, I've decided to move things inside.

I want to share my setup to see if anyone can see any major holes in the plan. I'm trying to keep my initial cost down until I can get a harvest or two so I can quit buying retail and reinvest. All pointers are appreciated. Low cost/diy solutions are even better.

Grow Space:
Vivosun 4x4 tent in 20x9 bedroom

Medium:
Bottom half black magic potting soil mixed with jiffy seed starter mix and perlite equal parts. Cut the black magic (.039%N) with the jiffy to cool it off.

Top half jiffy seedling starter mix with 30% perlite

In 3 gal fabric pots (will move to 5 gal on next run to compare)

Light:

1000w sunmaster HPS (gifted to me)
Yield Master II air cooled reflector (gifted)
Vivosun 1000w dimmable electric ballast
Canagrow 1850w max digital outlet timer

Exhaust/Vent:

6" AC infinity cloudline t6 w/ temp and humidity control
Vivosun 6" carbon filter (I know it's trash...can't afford a good filter yet...might pop a 2nd one on the other side of the fan of needed)
Passive air intake (can't afford another fan at the moment)
Intake and exhaust are both into the bedroom. Bedroom has window AC, 2 large screened windows and a screened sliding door. Plenty of vent and cooling in the bedroom itself.
2 cheapo Walmart tower fans
1 crazy loud crazy powerful industrial 20" fan

Instruments:

Cheapo 3 way probe meter (pH, light, moisture...light and moisture functions both work accurately)
Milwaukee pH 600 pen w/ buffer solution
Cheapo digital TDS meter
Cloudline fan has therm and humidity probe on control panel

Nutes/chems

GH pH up and down
Botanicare veg 3-2-4 (gifted)
Botanicare Bloom supplement 0-10-6
Mad Farmer Mother of all blooms 1-52-32

Misc resources:

Distilled water
Tap water is 380ppm 5.8 pH straight from tap
2 submersible pumps
Ninja skillz


I'll post pics when set up is complete...still waiting on a couple deliveries. Anyone see any immediate red flags?

 

[The Ginga Ninja]

Forgot the most important part.

20x GSC Extreme Autoflower seeds from ILGM

 

[Diamond Dog Hair]

I'm on my first grow, doing hydro, so I'm not a veteran. A good temperature/humidity meter and humidifier and de-humidifier. That's about all that pops out at me.

If you can vent your exhaust outside you shouldn't need to worry about a carbon filter. Unless you trying to go stealth.

Not sure about the soil, but you may need something for the bugs.

And as for 20 GSC Extremes.......Your gonna need a bigger Tent...... lol

 

[The Ginga Ninja]

I'm on my first grow, doing hydro, so I'm not a veteran. A good temperature/humidity meter and humidifier and de-humidifier. That's about all that pops out at me.

If you can vent your exhaust outside you shouldn't need to worry about a carbon filter. Unless you trying to go stealth.

Not sure about the soil, but you may need something for the bugs.

And as for 20 GSC Extremes.......Your gonna need a bigger Tent...... lol

Yeah I'm definitely not popping all 20 of those at once lol. Just got a good bulk deal...figured I would accidentally kill a couple. I will probably go with 4 at a time.

I would love to vent outside in the future, but I don't really have a good way to do that at the moment. I'm not necessarily trying to go stealth, but more trying to not make all my stuff smell like bud since I'm growing in my bedroom.

Thanks for the insight. The humidifier/dehumidifier crossed my mind, but I have some low tech solutions to those problems if they arise...definitely a future purchase unless it becomes a major issue.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@The Ginga Ninja Welcome to AFN.

Do not stratify your soil; it should be homogeneous. New growers do not realize that the tap root from your plant can be at the bottom of the pot in a couple of days. It can stunt the plants growth if it all of the sudden it hits a high nitrogen layer as the tap root no longer needs to grow all nutritional needs are being meet where it is. This is at the time when it is most important to grow your root mass.

When I transplant my rock wool starter plugs into the 6" cubes they are not fertigated again for nine days to stimulate that root growth. The idea is the same for you but soil cannot go that long without fertigation.

You are going to have a lot of heat to deal with. Make sure that your room A/C has a good clean drain pan with an outdoor drain. You will be pulling a lot of water out of the room with it. Be careful about opening your doors and windows to the outside as the bugs will smell your plant from miles away.

Get yourself a bag of MegaCrop and forget about mixing brands for now. Be careful because that soil mix you made up is just a guess as to what is really in it and you may not need any fertilizer for a while.

Your tap water is too high in PPMs and I am guessing that you already planed on cutting it with Distilled water. Get the starting PPMs below 200. I am also guessing you are on municipal water. Check to make sure they are not using chloramines to sanitize it. Chloramines need treatment whereas chlorine will dissipate.

Don't forget to do some dabs .

 

[The Ginga Ninja]

@The Ginga Ninja Welcome to AFN.

Do not stratify your soil; it should be homogeneous. New growers do not realize that the tap root from your plant can be at the bottom of the pot in a couple of days. It can stunt the plants growth if it all of the sudden it hits a high nitrogen layer as the tap root no longer needs to grow all nutritional needs are being meet where it is. This is at the time when it is most important to grow your root mass.

When I transplant my rock wool starter plugs into the 6" cubes they are not fertigated again for nine days to stimulate that root growth. The idea is the same for you but soil cannot go that long without fertigation.

You are going to have a lot of heat to deal with. Make sure that your room A/C has a good clean drain pan with an outdoor drain. You will be pulling a lot of water out of the room with it. Be careful about opening your doors and windows to the outside as the bugs will smell your plant from miles away.

Get yourself a bag of MegaCrop and forget about mixing brands for now. Be careful because that soil mix you made up is just a guess as to what is really in it and you may not need any fertilizer for a while.

Your tap water is too high in PPMs and I am guessing that you already planed on cutting it with Distilled water. Get the starting PPMs below 200. I am also guessing you are on municipal water. Check to make sure they are not using chloramines to sanitize it. Chloramines need treatment whereas chlorine will dissipate.

Don't forget to do some dabs View attachment 1187328.

Thanks for the reply buddy! You definitely got me rethinking a couple things.

As far as the soil goes I was layering it based on a few super soil set ups I saw online. I have had some anxiety about my medium being too hot...that's why I cut it with the seedling mix (which is a mix of Coco, moss and verm). So many different opinions on medium it's hard to figure out which way to go.

I've been convinced to get a dehumidifier for the room...I opted for a smaller one since my AC will be drying the air as well.

I did some research on my local water. They release water quality tests publicly. It's actually surprisingly clean. I don't see any chloromines on the report...but then again I don't trust the govt to disclose accurate info. I may end up going RO with Cal Mag....I was trying to avoid buying any more nutes this run...but distilled water is expensive to be cutting my tap with.

Megacrop isn't sold anywhere near me. Any other suggestions for a good soil/less medium that I can just mix with perlite and go?

Again thanks for the help

 

[automan2]

BioBizz Light Mix is a stand alone soilless medium....needs nothing. Easy peasy. Put in pot, moisten, put ya seed in and smoke a doob. You're done.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Thanks for the reply buddy! You definitely got me rethinking a couple things.

As far as the soil goes I was layering it based on a few super soil set ups I saw online. I have had some anxiety about my medium being too hot...that's why I cut it with the seedling mix (which is a mix of Coco, moss and verm). So many different opinions on medium it's hard to figure out which way to go.

I've been convinced to get a dehumidifier for the room...I opted for a smaller one since my AC will be drying the air as well.

I did some research on my local water. They release water quality tests publicly. It's actually surprisingly clean. I don't see any chloromines on the report...but then again I don't trust the govt to disclose accurate info. I may end up going RO with Cal Mag....I was trying to avoid buying any more nutes this run...but distilled water is expensive to be cutting my tap with.

Megacrop isn't sold anywhere near me. Any other suggestions for a good soil/less medium that I can just mix with perlite and go?

Again thanks for the help

What you want to look for in the water report is chlorine AND ammonia in the sanitation section They have to be adding one or both to the system. The water reports are certified at the time of the sample. Ammonia with the chlorine is what forms chloramines.

You might want to look at the 5 gallon water dispensers as a source 30 cents a gallon here?

Wait till you see what that light does to your power bill .

Get your MegaCrop online at GreenLeaf or Amazon, but wait a couple of weeks if you can as a new version is coming out.

What area of the world are you in so I can recommend a media.

 

[The Ginga Ninja]

What you want to look for in the water report is chlorine AND ammonia in the sanitation section They have to be adding one or both to the system. The water reports are certified at the time of the sample. Ammonia with the chlorine is what forms chloramines.

You might want to look at the 5 gallon water dispensers as a source 30 cents a gallon here?

Wait till you see what that light does to your power bill .

Get your MegaCrop online at GreenLeaf or Amazon, but wait a couple of weeks if you can as a new version is coming out.

What area of the world are you in so I can recommend a media.

I'm in southern California, but inland so a little more desert than the California you see on TV. I'm not too concerned about the power bill since I'm spending 300 a month on retail bud. I'll stick with the HPS until the LED gets better and cheaper.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I'm in southern California, but inland so a little more desert than the California you see on TV. I'm not too concerned about the power bill since I'm spending 300 a month on retail bud. I'll stick with the HPS until the LED gets better and cheaper.

This is a no brainer - RoyalGoldCoco.com - The Mendo Mix (start nutes around week 4). The growers in Sierra foothills on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley buy this by the semi-truck load. It is made in Mendocino. I have not used it but they swear by it. A lot of hydro shops in SoCal carry it in stock. The other products by them are equally good but for a new grower I would stick to the Mendo Mix and MegaCrop.