First Grow - from start to finish

To everyone at GrowKind.com – you guys/gals have been the best. Hopefully, what I've learned from you all will result in a very special crop. It's my first grow and I know I went for overkill on some of the things, but hell, I work my ass off so that I can have a little fun. Now to finally reap some of the benefits of my hard work.

I thought I would document the grow as it progresses, maybe it may prove to be useful to someone like me just starting out - hopefully learning from my mistakes or maybe looking at it from a slightly different angle.

Who loves ya baby!


*Grow Notes: June 3rd, 2008

Mixed up seedling potting soil, 25% perlite, 75% FFOF. 4 gal will amply fill 2 flats with 4” pots. Will be starting with (4) Afghan Mafia, (4) Bob Marley's Best and (3) Arjen's Haze #3. Saving some seeds for possible failure and future backup. Will be cloning best of each for next grow. The Arjen's Haze #3 are feminized, so hope that at least two of the three will be viable. If all three are good to go, then we will experiment with two in one pot and one in the other to measure results. The others are not feminized, so we will see what happens.

Soaking seeds in reverse osmosis water overnight and will plant in the morning. Was a little scared of the fluoride in the water – I am unsure whether this could cause some issues or not, but decided to be on the safe side.

Grow room is setup with veg area which consists of wire rack, 2 shelves using (4) 5000k T8 bulbs on each for initial growing and mixed greens & spinach. Top rack has (4) T5 6500K bulbs for veg growth. This should provide enough light to get them to about a foot tall. Then, we will be going into the flower room. Back racks will be used to farm my little mushies since it is relatively dark back there.

Flower room has (2) 600watt HPS w/air cooled reflectors. Room can hold (6) 22gal pots – these should provide overkill with regards to a perfect growing medium- will not need to worry about roots as they have a ton of space to work with. Will also be experimenting with 2 plants in a pot for each to sample results since most people say that you want a gallon for each month of growth. Since these will be done in 4 months, each pot should be able to theoretically handle 4 plants. I doubt that would really be doable as they would be too close together. Sure, I could have gone with 5 gallon pots, but after seeing what Arjen was able to manage with the larger pots, I would rather grow less plants with a larger growing medium to maximize harvest and make things a little easier. Larger pots with more soil will provide a bigger buffer against mistakes – at least in my mind. Guess we will find out. With the amount of soil being used – shit is expensive, I will not be getting rid of all of it and hope to recycle at least 50% from each grow. Maybe a compost bin or simply replacing the pots with a couple extras I have, and composting the soil right in the pots for a cycle – much like farmer's do the winter crops to revitalize the soil.

Walls cover with polyshield – I heard they stopped manufacturing this stuff. It's pretty cool, metal infused plastic coating on one side completely block heat and light transmission. It will increase my heat in the flower room, so will be swapping out the 6” duct fan for an 8” with two reducers to increase airflow. Fan and reducers will arrive later this week. This should keep the heat down – the 6” wasn't up to the job. Worse case scenario, I will build a little cooling coil using the cool water from the 55gal drum to lower the temperature of the incoming air. I hope I don't have to screw with this, but will take it as it comes.

Floor is covered with shower pan liner, so it will hold at least 1" of water if spills happen.

It's a little tight in there, but it's what I've got. Have an ozone machine which I will place outside the intake vent when things start to get a little fragrant. Room is vented directly to the furnace/water heater chimney pipe. Fresh air inlet comes right from the outside to the outside of the grow room - so should have plenty of fresh air.

Will be using Fox Farm nutes all the way through – the Ocean Forest should get me all the way through the veg phase with little trouble without nutes. Once they go into the flower room – they should have plenty to eat for quite some time. Will monitor and adjust as needed. I'm fully stocked, so ready when they need it.

I am excited to see what comes of this. Growing tomatoes and veggies is one thing – but this, I am proud of.

 

Personal Consumption? LOL you are embarking on a journey of epic proportions from the look of things. I will be watching and good luck... DSP

 

Sweet Set Up best of luck with your grow .-Bud

 

22 gallon pots are a bit overkill, unless you are vegging sativas for like 2-3months. Nice setup ya got there

 

Ya - I know Smarmy. Those 22 gal pots are probably going to be a pain in the ass, but I have them so, we'll see what happens. If they are simply way over the top (which they probably are), I'll use them for tomatoes, sell them or find some use for them.


You know that feeling - you think it's a great idea until they arrive, then you look at them and think - holy shit. These are fek'n huge. But, we'll see how it works. I guess you can't learn everything the first time through.


Personal use - hell ya. To be truthful, I have no idea how much to expect from this grow. And being the first time, I thought: "I have the space, so why not". I know it's like showing up at the basketball court with the $300.00 sneakers and can't shoot to save your skin. Hopefully, it won't be that bad. Worse case scenario, it's be a good lesson for others.

 

OK, nice set up. Im just planning on starting out too. I have a 2 by 2 foot cupboard if you'd like to swap lol.


I'll be watching this with interest!

 

Phatkojak


I think you have a sweet lil set going man, nice an clean. Looks like your ready for bizness to me. I like the dedication Bro. It will pay dividends in the end. You need help , its here, thats what I know. Make up proud.:qgreenjumpers:

 

Setup


Looking good Phatkojak.


Just a quick thought on your well planned set up though. I noticed you are utilizing a mechanical room as your grow area, and these rooms are designed to ventilate. Having your set up there proposes two major dilemmas: smell and security. I'm sure you've thought this out, but for others admiring your set up, what systems are in place for odor control? Is the furnace going to pull air from your grow into the rest of the living area? Also with the utilities comes the possibilities of mechanical failures possibly requiring a technician to access the area.


Excellent set up!


Hope your lights and temps don't interfere with the shrooms too much.


Cheers!


Seeking Utopia

 

take what this dude says into consideration man, im a furnace a/c guy myself and if i seen a bunch of random pipes goin into my furnace vent i may question it. not me personally cause i grow too but some other guys not so "cool" might say word. that set up looks fuckin awesome though man, im kinda jealous. puts my little converted shower stall to shame. im plannin on building something, (soon as i figure this growing thing out) ima take notes from this. is it gonna be hard to raise those lights evenly together with the flex duct in the middle. that was my only question. best of luck man.

 

Now thats a set up that would make any farmer proud to be a farmer my Friend. May I suggest planting multiple plants in those tree planters. Keep up the good work I want to see more.

 

I'll be keeping an eye on this grow!


I would not reccommend growing more than one plant in each pot, the reason being, is if you have lets say 2 plants in a pot, and one goes Hermi on you say at 5 weeks of veg, now you have to cut out, but now you have to worry about roots rotting in the soil and PH problems and what every else... I hope you get my point...

 

First, to answer a couple questions:Yes Seeking Utopia, thought about the issues. Luckily, I can take care of any repairs needed on the HVAC myself. If it comes down to a furnace being replaced or water heater - the grow room will disappear for a while. Good point though. Plus, I am growing 4 flats of Spinach and mixed greens, so they would work as a diversion.Smell - Ozone placed right by the intake ventilation. Exhaust is right into the furnace chimney. Fresh air is supplied through the 12" duct in place to feed the furnace and water heater - direct from outside. So should have plenty of good air to work with. Worse case scenario - I add a duct fan to this fresh air vent to pull in more. The 8" duct fan for the exhaust should create a negative pressure to draw in more fresh air though. big t double - thanks for the support. I understand where you and Seeking Utopia is coming from. The wife does work with a lot of HVAC guys in her business. The ones we use are always very cool with us - friends. But at the same time - I'd rather not let anyone know about this. Everything is taken in stride - I learn with every comment and pat myself on the back for the good ones. Hey - it is the first time, so I'll make mistakes and hopefully learn from them if I am not too stoned ;-) I simply had no other place at this location to build a grow room. And if I didn't vent through the fan, it would still look out of place if a HVAC tech was needed. But, if I am legitimately growing tomatoes, spinach and greens for consumption - they really have nothing to go on other than it is a little out of the normal. I could fill the room with the other 22gal pots I have outside for my little red fruits in less than 30 minutes. Hopefully, it does not happen mid-winter.skunkrnaught - will be experimenting with multiple plants in some of the pots to see what the results will be. Will let you all know how it comes out.Next - for the day 1 update. Please note - I will not be posting every day. I run a business, so demands on my time are extreme. Thus, the relaxation of growing and smoking to relieve stress.









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Mrgreenjeans - valid point. I did not think about the root rot if one were to be cut out. I will be experimenting with a couple though to see what happens. Depends how many germinate.


Thanx for your input.

 

I might recommend using smaller 5 gal buckets then you can have more plants and no root rot issues...


by and by here is a little pussy for yah :cat:

 

Grow Notes: June 5th, 2008


Two more Afghan Mafia popped this morning, so will be planting them today – still no movement on the Sativa based seeds. Is this common? How much longer should I let these soak? I would presume until they crack. Any thoughts? They do seem to be swelling and the one end (end that is planted down) is large and whiter, but no cracking.


I do have some other questions as I am still having a difficult time wrapping my head around pot size. Granted – the 5 gallon pot is commonly used by most growers. Most growers also are looking to keep the costs as low as possible while producing as much as possible – the middle ground. There is a balance between the cost of soil and posts as compared to the result produced. Makes perfect sense and the rule of thumb is 1 gal for each month of growth. And I presume convenience is a factor as well.


Questions:

• Could greater yield be obtained through the use of a larger pot? Roots would presumably be unhindered in their ability to stretch and search for more nutrients. The farther they can stretch would presumably provide greater nutritional uptake by the plant. The better the supply of nutrients and water, the greater the potential for production. This is how I am looking at it right now. Does anyone have practical experience with using these larger pots during a grow?
  
• Second question relates to room usage. OK – we have approximately a 4x6 growing area. For conversation sake, let's not consider the pot size right now. With optimum growth, I would think that you would have a bushy little female which if left to spread could easily use 9 square feet. In a 24 cubic foot grow area, plants having all the space they want and not overlapping, you would have three plants in there. That's clearly a waste of growing space – so we double them up – pushing then a little closer to one another. Now they occupy 4 square feet per plant. Seems reasonable for one little plant to fully use 4 square feet of floor space. If I were to pack them closer, it would cause the plants to be forced to stop using many of their lower leaves for energy production since the canopy would be dense. So – if using 5 gallon pots, I would optimally want 6-9 plants max. If I cram them in, 12? Would the production of the 12 be significantly greater than the 6 given room to fully utilize all their energy?
  
• Last question – at the end of a 10-12 week flower cycle (these sativas require longer flowering), in a 5 gallon pot, are they root bound in any way?

for the bloody science/math questions, guess I am trying to wrap my head around the best method for growing. 1 plant per pot does makes sense and I can see where you would want smaller pots as many may come through as males, so you pull these out. Start with 12 plants and you may end up with 6 viable, strong females. Whereas if I grow six in large pots, I lose half and only have 3 in production.


Hermies should only come through when the plant is stressed and thinking that it needs to survive. And to survive, it will need to self pollinate. If I keep their stress as low as possible and condition optimum, this should not occur. Some other plants do this same thing.


Sure – I can build a room, but figure out the fucking pots, sheesh.


If I veg for around a month and begin flowing as soon as I place them in the flower room, what size pot would carry them through until I can begin to determine sex? I would presume probably within the first month of flowering I would be able to tell – so 1 month veg, 1 month flower, 2 gallons. I'm playing with an idea in my head with this and may switch over to the smaller pots as everyone is advising. But I am stubborn son of a bitch when I do not fully understand the easy things.


Thanks for taking the time to help educate me on the finer points and these fucking pots.


~Phat

 

Heres my opinions.


Its not necessarily 1 gal for month, I have never heard that, I have always heard 1 gal per foot of plant.


Greater yields will be produced with larger pots, to a certain extent. I have never used more than 3.5gal pots and even then, I still had A LOT of room in the pots when they were done.


What I like to do is start them in 16oz. then transplant to 1 gal for veg, then transplant to bigger pots for flowering. I am using little over 2gal pots now.


If I were you I would use 3 or 5 gal pots. 22gal is OVERKILL! :scream:


Also, Is that the only intake you have? It looks very small. Your intake should be at least 1.5 times the size of your exhaust.


I like your set-up. Very clean looking. I hope your grow goes well!

 

"Obviously, the longer a plant is veg'd, the bigger it will get and the more it will yield. Almost always overlooked because they're unseen are the roots. Root mass is directly related to bud production. Simply put, the more roots you have the more bud you will (potentially) have. Be sure to always allow plenty of space for the roots to grow and spread out, even more-so in soil A general rule of thumb is 1 gallon of soil for every foot of plant height."

 

Thanx for the input guys. I think I will be running a couple expiriments on the first grow. Will use two of the 20gal and getting some 5 gallons for the others. It wil be interesting to see what happens and learn.


1 gallon for each month I gleaned from Jorge's vid.


Intake vent is 8x12" - so larger than the 6" exhaust. Those pics make it look a little small. I also have a 4" hole right next to this where I can run a hose through the wall for watering. Pump in 50gal drum outside room has the water - just convenient. So should have enough air coming in.


~Phat

 

nice


Great thread, Kojak! Can't wait to see the 'lollipops' blooming in your garden ........ we'll be watching this one. :icon_cyclops_ani:


*edit: I moved your thread to the GrowKind Gallery forum, so it wouldn't get lost in the Beginners Lounge shuffle, Kojak.

 

Got around...


To readin this tread, finally!


LOL...I predict extreme success! Great lookin room, you're obviously reading and paying attention, AND have the re$ource$ to do it RIGHT!


Good on ya mate!!


Happy Harvests!!


:qbluewacko: