New grower with many of stupid questions

Beginner
#1

What’s up all! Joining from listening to the podcasts they are dope. And I’m hoping to speak to some like minded folk.

So I’ve been around cannabis for many of years with always just purchasing but always had a itch to try grow my own so here I am.

So recently I acquired a 100x100x200 tent from my brother unopened and all his nutrients which is all new, including other bits not pictured (ph down and buffer, carbon filter, extractor etc. He was going to grow but didn’t end up so I said I’d take it off his hands.

Anyway long story short I pretty much got everything other than the light so after some research (probably not enough) I decided on the fecida 600, I do only have 2 seedlings in which have been germinated. As being new this wouldn’t break the bank and it was reviewed pretty well for small grows but after speaking to a few people they mentioned it’s pretty powerless and not very good as it only uses 100w but tbh at 100 percent brightness it is pretty powerful and the tents sitting at 22c.

So in terms of starting a new grow would I better just using this light for seedling stage and buy something else for veg and flower if this isn’t up to the job?

I’m going to also be planting a couple of autos as I only used a couple seeds my brother had (ammy haze royal queen) and this probably isn’t the best for a first time grow with the long grow times etc.

I’m still yet to fit the filter , fan etc which I’m going to when start vegging. So please do tell me what I’ve done right or wrong and please recommend me a good light if any.

Seedling/veg stage is 24 hours okay for photo periods or do I want to be doing 18 6 or another cycle I know about 12 12 for flowering.

Planting wise I’m using canna coco 100 percent with myco in, should I be using something different or even adding worm castings or perlite?

Thank you for taking the time to read and hope to hear from some of you soon :).

(Will edit with picture links as they ain’t uploading atm)

#2

Welcome @Boshy. Hope you enjoy the experience
One thing I’d say. If you’re planning on running coco then the Mycorrhizae and top dressing and all that other stuff is for soil building. If coco is the path you want to run… then I’d pick up some perlite and mix it about 70/30 coco/perlite. Pick the nutes you want to run… make sure you have atleast a pH meter and let er rip

#3

@regnartS
Thanks for the reply man I manged to get my photos to upload

Gives an idea of what I’m working with.

I was just using the myco for optimal root growth is that not the case in coco?

And yep got a PH tester I’m keeping my water around the 6 mark.

#4

I think its one of those debatable topics…myco and coco… but coco is pretty much hydroponics and the coco is just a neutral little nest to catch the nutes.

#5

Gotcha, so with coco I don’t need to be adding all the worm casting, etc to the mix as the coco has most the stuff to be able to consume nutrients?

Also did you get a min to check my light I think I definitely need something more beefy even with thr reviews people using it for veg and flower.

Thanks

#6

Yup with the coco. Its more about just keeping your pH in a good range so your girls can eat. Make sure you water daily with coco and don’t let the root zone dry all the way out… or the water will run off. Water till just at run off… Idk about the light or nutes you have… have to give them a go and see. But I’d suggest cal mag 100% for sure wich you have. And a good part A part B or veg and bloom nutes package… you can get one for pretty cheap… I run Ventana. Becuase its local and I’ve had good luck so far. just follow the recipe and adjust as your girls tell you. And its really ezpz

#7

Ok I’ll keep at 6 and see how we get on, yeah cal mag is sorted I think I read about nitrogen too? The hornets is part a and b coco feed, and the GU is a 3 part micro, grow, bloom. I’ll invest in some perlite for sure for when I transplant too.

I’m on 24 hours light atm for seedling/veg and just watering twice a day.

Thanks man

#8

@Boshy to answer your questions better I would like to know if you’d rather go soil-less and bottle feed, or if you’d rather go hybrid/soil and mix a soil and top dress and water.

I personally prefer the latter and you can make a good soil mix with coco using something similar to the coots recipe using coco as a base instead of Peet moss.

1/3 base (I use coco coir), 1/3 compost (worm castings, veggie compost, manure compost), and 1/3 aeration (I prefer pumice and wood mulch or scoria but you can use perlite too or whatever else you have on hand). Then to that you just add a mix of mineral amendments. I personally use 15% silica by volume (either food grade diatomaceous earth or Montana Grow silica from BAS), oyster shell flour at 50% application rate, gypsum at 50% application rate, volcanic basalt at application rate, rock phosphate at 50% application rate, and langbeinite at 50% application rate. If you have enough volume you can use this mix water only, but I would still recommend biweekly feedings with wormcastings and good compost and weekly microbe teas.

As far as using it as a neutral substrate it’s great for hand fed hydro too as others have suggested. 10% volume runoff with each watering and feeding to avoid salt build up and make sure to watch your potassium because coco will hold potassium early on but later (usually around flower) as the coco breaks down in releases all of that potassium back into the substrate and can cause issues with potassium salt build up so watering to run off is especially important later on to help wash out that extra potassium and keep pH in range.

Best pH range for coco in my experience is 6.0-6.5. You can go a bit lower but coco locks out pretty easy under 5.5 and over 6.5.

As far as the light it should be good for one maybe two small plants for you to decide if growing is right for you before investing in a better more powerful light if you decide to stick with growing.

Remember though that your environment is key for a successful grow so I’d focus on making sure the equipment you use for temperature, airflow, and humidity is on point first before going for a good light too. A good light is the last thing to get because if you get one it won’t do you any good unless your environment is dialed in to take advantage of the extra intensity.

#9

Definitely probably wouldn’t go the soil less bottle feed as I think that’s probably catered towards more experienced growers. So trying to keep it as simple as possible for the time being while I get to grips with everything.

I only used coco as that’s what my brother gave me so it was to hand I didn’t actually research as much with soils etc as I should have so I just planted into straight coco. When I transplant I can alter if needed to what you say… I’ll definitely invest into worm castings and aeration. Can you buy bags of this already mixed I’m guessing? To save mixing yourself or is it better to mix yourself?

How well will the plants do in just coco with watering at ph 6 and adding nutrients like the 3 part etc?

Yeah I’m going to be adding few more bits to get it on point I’ve still yet to add my extraction system and filters etc, going to have to do something for temp as I’m only achieving 20c to 22c max so I’ll get that dialed in.

#10

@Boshy if you mix the coco like a soil as I suggested the pH range should be 6-7.

Hand fed coco hydro will do great. I’ve done it a number of times myself and had great results. Coco is my favorite soiless hydro substrate.

They do sell bags already mixed with coco/wormcastings/aeration. Promix has some, fox farm has some, and roots organics has some. My personal favorites are the promix or roots but the fox farm one will work too. These ones will still need feeding though so I’d probably pick up some wormcastings too if you want to go that route or pick up a good organic dry amendment mix like the craft blend and build a flower/build a bloom stuff from build a soil or Gaia green if you don’t want to mix up your own nutrients or soil.

I personally have better results using my own mix, but I’m pretty experienced and confident in my abilities. Nothing wrong with using a premixed one until you get the basics down. Jumping right in feet first without doing your research or using a custom mix your first time without the experience to fix it if you accidentally add too much or too little of something can be incredibly disheartening if you fail or turn you off of growing because it can become stressful. So I say use what you are comfortable and confident with and as you learn you can try other mixes or amending yourself.

#11

@Boshy also, that 20-22 c range is perfect if it’s stable and doesn’t drop too much lower. You don’t really want temps too high or too low so 70-80f or 20-26 c during the day is the target and usually 10f cooler at night so if 70f day 60 f night. Or 22c day 16/17c night. Just as long as the root zone temp doesn’t drop under 65f/18/19c you’ll be fine with cooler night temps. The purpose of those ranges is to dial in a vpd and not stress the plants with extreme ranges in temp. Vpd is another thing to look into to help you dial in your tent too.

#12

@MDBuds
Gotcha bud, I’ll go with the coco mix as you suggested I’ll try get it premixed first till I can get mixing my own soils etc dialed in.

Alot of stuff to get right with first grow and obviously the lack of experience so excuse the questions I just wanna make sure I get it as right as possible.

With me not being in the states fox farm, pro mix etc is all pretty hard to get hold of at reasonable prices anyway without paying stupid import fees.
So I’ll try find something that’s similar with the correct mix.

I’m gonna be using the 3 part GU trio this grow with cal mag and myco, would I need to introduce any nitrogen or would they get that from what I already have? Also is it best to use half strength for the first 2 waters as a buddy of mine suggested? And how often would I want to be doing that twice a week? Hopefully they have popped out by the time I get home they was just scratching the surface last night.

My tent seems to sit at 20c lowest and 22c is the highest I’ve seen but I’ve not introduced any air yet as they was still seedlings so I had a plastic zip bag over them with the light on for humidity.

Gonna introduce air and the carbon filter etc tonight and try work towards positive pressure in the tent.

#13

@Boshy just follow the feeding chart for the nutrients and start at half doses each. I wouldn’t play around with liquid nutrients too much until you learn the line because each liquid line is different and needs to be mixed differently to avoid lockout in solution. So find the BU line feeding chart and follow it using 50% at first and adjust if more or less is needed.

If the GU bottles have a grow/veg formula you shouldn’t need to add much nitrogen at all to the mix but I’ve never used that line myself so I’m not 100% certain and I can not find a single thing online about GU plant nutrients or fertilizers.

#14

@Boshy just managed to view your photo links and those are general hydroponics flora series nutrients. They’re good nutrients for hydro but they’re chemical salt based so it won’t work too well with organic based amendments like you’re trying to do. Better off going with inert coco and perlite mix with no additives.

#15

Yes sorry @MDBuds I messed up not GU GH haha, I did some research into and watched some videos and found quite a few growers using that trio line. So thought I’d give it a go. Seed to stoned on YT his video with like 5m views grows cbd cream cheese he uses coco and exact same nutes as I have so I basically copied in a sense haha.

I’ve just pulled the trigger on a Lumatek ATS 300w Pro light which is perfect for my 1mx1m tent. Along with good reviews and price tag I thought why not the smaller light won’t do me any favours.

Temp is on point now sitting at solid 22c.
Can now fit my extra stuff in tent extractor,filter,fans,better light etc.

Humidity I won’t know till I put my monitor in later, so just go with coco and perlite then? I can just add perlite on transplant I’m not sure what inert coco is?

1 Like
#16

@Boshy inert coco is just plain coco with no additives or microbiology. Yeah you can add perlite at transplant and I’d just go with that so you can use what you have and branch off into organics later if you want.

1 Like
#17

20220708_165956
20220708_1659563000×4000 1.61 MB

That’s what we are seeing at the minute.
I don’t think there bad numbers are they?
And yeah I’ll add perlite when I transplant bud how will I know when to transplant from my 6cm fibre pots into bigger pots ?

#18

@Boshy those numbers look good for veg.

I personally transplant when the outer leaves reach the edge of the pot or just before.

#19

@MDBuds
Ok that’s good we making progress.
This setup is coming together now, thanks for all your help man I’m sure I’ll have some more questions soon enough haha.

#20

@MDBuds

We dialed in now

1 Like