New Grower Planning 1st grow! Suggestions needed! Thank You!

[Frankidelics]

Hi everyone!

I new to AFN and glad to be part of what seems to be my soon-to-be favourite website haha!

I am planning on buying the G-Tools Bonanza 250 plug-and-play cabinet, which seems to suit my needs in terms of size and features. I've tried to find info about people having bought and used this cabinet for weed but there is not much online unfortunately

So my first question is:

Do you think it can work out well with, say, 4 autoflowers in it?

Here are some of the features of the cabinet:

Size (h x w x d): 176 x 61 x 61cm
Power: 250 Watt
Surface ~0,35m2, space for 9 x 6,5 ltr pots, 4 x 11 ltr pots
Ventilation: Winflex 185M3 per hour, including silencer.
Filter: Prima Klima K2600 240M3
Ballast: ETI 250W.
Lamp: 250 Watt Sunmaster Dual Spectrum with Powerlux reflector.
Timer: Legrand Omnirex

Now, considering that it is possible to grow 4 80-100cm plants in it, what medium/irrigation system would you recommend?
G-Tools are also selling an ebb-and-flow system but it is pricy and I am not too sure whether it is easy enough to start with hydroponics. Also, I'd like to grow 2 different strains (ideally 4 but I believe this might be too much work for a novice?!) so I don't think the ebb-and-flow system would suit me as it uses a shared water reservoir.

We are left with soil and soil-less medium like coco-coir.
What is your advice on that?
What nutrients should I be using?

G-Tools also sell Root Pouch Charcoal smart pots as well as Guano Kalong organic potting soil with bat guana.
Any thoughts on these?

Concerning the strains I'd like to grow, not too sure yet, but perhaps FastBuds' Pineapple Express and Girl Scoot Cookies, and/or White Label's White Diesel Haze and World of Seeds' Afghan Kush. Please share you experience!! I'd really appreciate it!

I hope I didn't forget anything, please ask if you need me to provide more info.

Anyways, looking forward to reading you all fellow Peace lovers!

Peace,

Frankidelics

 

[LED Borg]

hi there, I love cabs, you cant get better stealth then a good stealth drobe, rightyo, pots, size and how many.
Well it does state you can have that many in there but don't forget plants canopys double the size of the pot area.
and ive grown some surprisingly tall (meant to be short) autos in 11L pots.
So if it was me, I would stick with one 15 - 20L airpot. you may not get as much variety as four but youll get the same yield there abouts.
On the other hand tho, ive seen a cab grow in a 120 x 60 x 180 area with 5 plants in 10L airpots.
Its either go for it, or go for one. But if you go for it you may need a emergency other growing area. lol.
I use soil, but raise the pot on a stand for easy drainage of run off water plus it doesn't sit in its own waste.
sometimes mixing 30% - 50% coco with the soil works wonders, I use biobizz coco myself
Nutes? im partial to a bit of Growing Edge Technologies Lets Grow A & B, and Lets Bloom A & B.
I also like Biobizz products.,, Grow, bloom, topmax etc.. its all good stuff.

Strains, Afghan kush ryder is a good squat one but can be very wide.
Having big solid wide buds is good on one side, but bad on the other as mould is easier to set in. especially in cramped high RH areas.

Don't think I missed anything bro, got my finger on the Edit button if so. lol.
Hope that all helps dude and welcome to the world of Cab growing.

 

[Frankidelics]

Hey LED Borg! Thanks for your reply!! So if I understand you correctly 4 plants might be too many for that small space? What about 2 plants? Or 3? Obviously the pots wouldn't be larger but it would allow for more room for the canopy wouldn't it? I just found those Automatic Plant Pots 18L, which come with the following description:


Deep, square, black flowerpot, made of durable plastic with an 18L capacity.
This pot is different from the rest in the way its volume is distributed, making it taller but narrower.
This difference in shape, achieves a better development of our auto-flowering marijuana plants , because their roots will develop more as a network and less as a spiral, having more of and a deeper substrate in which to grow. This will reflect in its growth, and especially in its final yield.
Compatible with the square white dish for 11L pot .
Pot measurements:

• Upper diameter 26.50 x 26.50 cm
• Base diameter of 18 x 18
• Height: 40 cm

I think I'd better buy those but how many is the question. I'd rather just start and succeed with 1 or 2 plants rather than fail with 4... haha!

Another thing I forgot to mention - and that comes to mind now that I see you pseudo haha! About LEDs. The cabinet is also available for 50€ extra with LED.

Here, a description of the system:

MR III 144 LED grow light 110 Watt
Real power: 110 Watt
LED power: 144 Watt
Ideal surface area for flowering: 60 x 40cm
UV: 395nm
Blue: 440, 450 en 470nm
Red: 610, 630 en 660nm
Infra red: 740nm
White: 2700K
White: 10000K

I still think it might be better to just start off with a regular 250W lightning system but I just wanna double-check to make sure, and to know what you think

Again, thank you SO much!!!

Peace,

Frankidelics

 

[LED Borg]

your welcome dude, my pleasure to help a fellow grower.
Yeah those pots sound pretty good, ive used a few smaller ones like that before from 3CH hydro, very cheap. But a absolute pig to repot from,. getting the seedling out without snapping its tap root is quite tricky, not like airpots, where you just 'unwrap' the pot away from the soil/seedling. But if your planning to start from the larger pots and no repotting needed then yeah, go for those.
I wouldn't have them sitting in the dish tho, they do need to have run off and its best to throw that away, otherwise they would be drinking all the salts etc.. they've just dumped out.

right onto the led, yeah ive looked at that one, it seems to look almost the same as the mars hydro reflector series, probably is or a close copy/cousin of it, either way, spectrum is good, output? you can get better... but for an extra 50, yeah that's cheap seeing it retails alone at 249.
Don't think you could get a comparable led that cheap tho.. don't know, they are all getting so cheap these days.
but on comparison to a 250W standard HPS lighting system,,,the LED would run longer, cheaper and cooler.
But..i think the 250 would give you better yields, I could be wrong tho! but even tho that little led is as cute as hell it wont pack the punch you need.
Push the boat out and get a 300W version, now your talking blowing that 250 out of the cab.
But your at the start of your journey bro, its all about discovering whats best for you
Some leds grow small amounts but the quality is fanstastic! so don't let me put you off.
The lights you can change further down the road tho, so its all good.

 

[Frankidelics]

Thanks man!!! It is of great help!
I think I'll just go for the regular 250W then, and maybe upgrade later if I feel like it and when I'll have some extra money
This investment is already quite a cost for me but I know it will be making me save money as I am a daily smoker and enjoy my good herb haha!

Any advice on the soil I should be using? And the nutrients? I've read online that if I use an organic super soil I won't have to use any other nutrients in the growing process. Is it true? What are your thoughts on that?

Also, I've thought about what you told me about the size of the canopy and I might just go for strains that grow smaller, such as 40-80cm instead of 60-100. As you wisely said I don't wanna end up having to move my plants out of the cabinet, and especially not when they start smelling haha!

THANKS AGAIN!!!

Cheers man,

Peace

Frankidelics