A
AndyBotwin
Guest
Now that my first auto grow is approaching harvest, I'm back to hopefully take what I've learned and go bigger and better this time. My small cabinet has served me well, and my other plants will finish there before it becomes my drying cab. But for this one I've gone with a new tent and lighting that will give me room to grow bigger plants and more of them. 
This is the basic setup:
4'x2' tent as seen here: http://www.autoflower.org/f25/quick-photo-review-$82-led-wholesalers-tent-2748.html
$33 90cfm fan from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Air-King-BFQ-...UAXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315242179&sr=8-1. This fan is great. Dirt cheap and it's practically dead silent after you attach the duct to it. I also have one on my other box pushing air through a carbon filter, and it's performed like a champ.
2' four tube T5 fixture from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JQBQZQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A1DXN92KCKEQV4
My plan is to start 4 plants under the T5, and as they get larger, move two of them either under my current CFL rig or an identical T5. I've also ordered 4 2' T5 strips to use as side lighting. So when it's all set up, I should be able to put around 6K lumens on each plant from close range.
For the grow itself, I have 4 ~1 gallon square pots filled with 3/4
OF, 1/4 perlite, and 1tbsp lime per pot. Everything was watered down with a Kangaroots mix before planting. I'm going with a smaller size pot to hopefully keep the plants smaller and bushier so they don't outgrow my lighting. I'm also germing in a paper towel and then planting right into the pot rather than using the tiered planting method.
For the strains I chose Russian Rocket Fuel, Auto Assassin, Barney's Farm Pineapple Express, and DinaFem Haze Auto (all feminized). In typical DinaFem fashion, the Haze cracked open and had a 3/4" tap root within 24 hours. The RRF was not far behind, and both of them were planted on 9/1. The next day both had popped up and shed their seeds, and they're doing great so far.
Unfortunately the others did not fare as well. The PE was slower but cracked open with a small tap root after 2 days. I planted it on 9/2 and pulled the plug on it this morning. The root grew an inch long, but the seed stayed just under the surface with the shell clamped on tight. When I dug it up yesterday I tried removing the shell, but after sitting overnight it was clear that she was a goner. The AA cracked and was planted at the same time as the PE, but didn't really have a tap root showing. When I dug it up yesterday, there was a 1/2" root about the thickness of a thread, and it was toast. I've had a new one in the paper towel for 24 hours and it's cracked but looks brown inside and no tap root yet. I really hope I haven't gotten a bad batch of seeds. They came from Dope Seeds & the RRF in the same order is doing great, so I'm going to give it another day before planting to see what happens. The new PE just started germing today so hopefully she'll be in the dirt soon.
Here are a few pics:
DinaFem Haze Auto - Day 3
Russian Rocket Fuel - Day 3
This is the basic setup:4'x2' tent as seen here: http://www.autoflower.org/f25/quick-photo-review-$82-led-wholesalers-tent-2748.html
$33 90cfm fan from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Air-King-BFQ-...UAXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315242179&sr=8-1. This fan is great. Dirt cheap and it's practically dead silent after you attach the duct to it. I also have one on my other box pushing air through a carbon filter, and it's performed like a champ.
2' four tube T5 fixture from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JQBQZQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A1DXN92KCKEQV4
My plan is to start 4 plants under the T5, and as they get larger, move two of them either under my current CFL rig or an identical T5. I've also ordered 4 2' T5 strips to use as side lighting. So when it's all set up, I should be able to put around 6K lumens on each plant from close range.
For the grow itself, I have 4 ~1 gallon square pots filled with 3/4
OF, 1/4 perlite, and 1tbsp lime per pot. Everything was watered down with a Kangaroots mix before planting. I'm going with a smaller size pot to hopefully keep the plants smaller and bushier so they don't outgrow my lighting. I'm also germing in a paper towel and then planting right into the pot rather than using the tiered planting method. For the strains I chose Russian Rocket Fuel, Auto Assassin, Barney's Farm Pineapple Express, and DinaFem Haze Auto (all feminized). In typical DinaFem fashion, the Haze cracked open and had a 3/4" tap root within 24 hours. The RRF was not far behind, and both of them were planted on 9/1. The next day both had popped up and shed their seeds, and they're doing great so far.
Unfortunately the others did not fare as well. The PE was slower but cracked open with a small tap root after 2 days. I planted it on 9/2 and pulled the plug on it this morning. The root grew an inch long, but the seed stayed just under the surface with the shell clamped on tight. When I dug it up yesterday I tried removing the shell, but after sitting overnight it was clear that she was a goner. The AA cracked and was planted at the same time as the PE, but didn't really have a tap root showing. When I dug it up yesterday, there was a 1/2" root about the thickness of a thread, and it was toast. I've had a new one in the paper towel for 24 hours and it's cracked but looks brown inside and no tap root yet. I really hope I haven't gotten a bad batch of seeds. They came from Dope Seeds & the RRF in the same order is doing great, so I'm going to give it another day before planting to see what happens. The new PE just started germing today so hopefully she'll be in the dirt soon.
Here are a few pics:
DinaFem Haze Auto - Day 3
Russian Rocket Fuel - Day 3
