Come Grow With Me: A Beginners Guide

Something I should mention I left out. On the Intake & Exhaust Fans. It's best to hook up a Fan Speed Controller if your fan doesn't have a built in one. Running on high will suck your tent in pretty bad.
The other thing is for instance you see that little green light on the humidifier & the red light on the power strip ?
Those need to be covered with tape or painted over. I'll paint them with the wife's nail polish. Just this little bit of light could cause a plant to hermie. Most likely wont, but not chancing it.

OK, the way I prep my 2 gal. for up-potting / germination. 1st I fill a Solid cup with soil. Then I fill the bottom of the 2 gallon pot with soil till I can set the cup in the pot & it sticks up just a little over the 2 gallon pot. Then fill around it with soil & pack tightly. Pour water through till you get run off & pack down around the cup. Let drain an hour or so. When you pull the solid cup out you'll have a perfect hole to set your germination cup in.
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While your 2 gal. pot is draining leave the cup of soil in it.
During this time I make my Germination Solo Cups. 1st I put drain holes in the bottom of the clear cup. I use a Philips Screwdriver & a candle to do this; but anything pointed should do the trick.
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After prepping the Clear Cups fill with soil & water till run off. You can see if the soil is completely wet through the cup. Then let drain while making the holders from the solid cups.
Cut the bottom off the Solid Solo Cup with a pair of scissors as the Solid cups are just holders for the clear cups that go inside. Once that's done put the clear cup in the solid cup / holder & it's ready to place in the 2 gallon pot.
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Whoo - hoo, the pot is ready !
 
Next you'll need some type of drain pan. You can find Oil Drain Pans at your local dollar store & they work great. The spout on them sure helps when it comes time to empty them.
But for now I'm using this Green bowl with a piece of wire closet shelving for my drain pan. You can find plenty of Wire Shelves, BBQ Grills, Stoves & Refrigerators in the Free Stuff Ads to get wire shelves from.
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Add pots .... the 2 in the cups without 2 gallon pots are for Tomato Seeds if I find some. 3 stores & no luck so far.
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And a pic of the grow area all ready to test out once I set the timer & turn everything on.
Also a pic of some plant stakes & wire plant tie. This can come in handy when it comes to training later on in veg.
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I guess that's about it for the moment. I'll do a little write up on setting the timer later today. Cardinals are on ...lol.
 
Well Chit ! Did a test run last night & things aren't working out as well as I had hoped. The Humidifier is doing the job fine. The Temp I wasn't able to get below 90 F with lights on & 77 F lights off. So this will require me to make a change in air intake. I'll have to bring outside cold air into the tent. In order to do this correctly I'll have to purchase a 4" AC Infinity Fan with Temp & Humidity Control. That way the fan will turn off & on at the temps I set it for. I can't just bring cold air in continuously as it would get to cold. So I'll order that today. Sucks because it's $120 for that type of fan; but got to do it. Then I'll have to add a 2nd 4" collar to the window kit to bring the air in. Not a real big deal to do once I get the stuff.
But that's not going to stop me from starting this grow. I'll test the tent out with the lights on & tent doors open today.
I believe the temps will go down to at least low 80's which will be fine for the 1st couple weeks.
I use to hook the house AC to my tent like this.
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But it's winter & the heat is on so that wont work ... lol.
This worked so beautiful. Perfect temps the whole grow.
 
Is it quite warm in your house or does that light kick out a bit of heat?
 
I will get the timer thing done today & start a seed; but that will be this afternoon. I'm laid off right now so I'm looking for a new job. 2nd time I've been laid off since Feb. I can't work for them anymore for this reason. I have an 8:00 interview today so with some luck I'll get hired. That would be a big relief. I sent my resume to 37 companies last week.
2 replied saying they were down to a 40% work load from pre-pandemic & 2 others replied saying they were in the process of shutting their doors. On top of that the largest bindery in the state of Arizona, which has been in business for over 60 years shut their doors about 2 months ago. They let about 200 people go so that makes finding work even tougher when you're 60 years old. Sure wish McConnell & the Senate would get serious about unemployment benefits.
AZ. only pays $240 per week. 2nd lowest in the country. Oh well, things will eventually work out ... I hope. They usually do. It just sucks playing catch up on the bills when this happens & it takes a big toll on your credit score. My score has dropped over 100 points since the pandemic & my last lay off of 10 weeks.
But like I said, "The Grow must go on !"
 
VetSmoke85 said:
Is it quite warm in your house or does that light kick out a bit of heat?
Click to expand...
Thermostat is set on 78 for night & 76 for day. A little warm but not that bad really. With the AC Infinity I can set it for a high of 77 F & if the temp gets higher the fan will kick on & bring air in from outside to cool it. I've been wanting to buy one of these fans anyway. Now that I actually need one I'll get it. Should have it by the end of the week & installed next weekend.
 
Searched all over the valley for a 4" Infinity Fan with controller but nobody around here carries them. Anyway, I was told about this Ink Bird Temp Control for AC & Heat that people are using for this so I ordered one. Takes about a week to get it but that will have to do. In the meantime I'll buy another 4" Collar & get it installed in the window kit.
It's my 1st time using this set up so it could take a short while to dial things in. At least you get to see different options for cooling your grow area. I grow in my shed in the summer so I use a window AC out there.
Be back in an hour or 2 with Timer info. & pics.
Then on to planting my seed.
 
Well the Digital Timer is really quite simple. These timers can be set to turn off & on up to 8 times per day. You can program it to run 4 hours Mon. & 6 hours Tues. & 10 hours Weds. if you choose. You can set it to only turn on Mon, Weds & Fri if you want. There's just an endless way of setting these timers up. Of course I only turn my lights off & on once per day so I set mine to come on at 8 pm & go off at 2 pm. So from 2 pm - 8 pm is my 6 hours of darkness & 8 pm - 2 pm is my 18 hours of light. I chose these hours because where I live the Peak Electric Use Hours (hours the electric company charges more for electric) is from 3 pm - 8 pm. So I don't run my grow lights during these hours to save on electric. The hours you choose are up to you.
Most Timers will tell you to plug it in & charge it for an hour before programming it. This one says only 5 minutes (weird). After its charged you must push the Reset Button & set the time & day of week before you can program it for off & on times.
Here's the Instruction Sheet that shows the set up & a pic of the Timer & where the Reset Button is.
After you finish setting the days & times you want to turn the timer off & on; be sure to keep pressing the program button until you go through all 8 off & on options even if you don't program anything in 2 - 8. Kind of like doing a Skip, Skip, Skip thing. After that you just put it on Auto & plug your light in. The red light on the timer will be off when the grow light is off & will come on when the time is reached for the grow light to come on.
Here's the instructions & pic of the timer pointing to the Reset Button.
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My germination is as old school as it gets. I don't put my seeds in water & wait for them to sink. I don't put them in a damp paper towel in a baggie. I don't use a heat mat or anything else. I take the end of a pen & make a 1/4" deep hole in my soil & drop the seed in. Cover it & water. I use this 5 ml. eye dropper to water my seeds. I fill it 5 times & water in the center with it. I do this once per day till she sprouts. We should see growth in 3 - 5 days.
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I'm doing Peyote Wi-Fi which is a pretty strong Indica. They are Fem seeds so I don't have to worry about getting males. Unless you plan on Cross Breeding I'd avoid Reg Seeds as you will have to remove the males otherwise. Never know if the whole pack could be male. Buy Feminized Seeds so you know you've got Females.
Here's what I'll be growing ....
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A common mistake I see a lot of new growers make (myself included) is when buying seeds we look at THC content.
Sure a high THC content is nice. But if that strain doesn't have the Terpene's in it that gives you the high you like .... you wont be satisfied. So do a Terpene's in Marijuana & their effects & you'll find exactly what you like. Find a strain with the Terpene's you like + a high THC content & BINGO !
I've been smoking weed close to 50 years so I like a Heavy Hitter. So I look for the Terpene's that are relaxing or give a couch lock effect. Myrcene & Linalool are my go to Terpene's.
Anyway, like I said, I just poke a 1/4" hole in the soil, drop the seed in, cover & water.
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You can pick up the eye droppers in the pic at your local drug store or Walmart. About $1.00 & they work great for this & measuring liquid nutes.

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So over the next couple of days while we wait for her to sprout I'll get into the nutrient I'll use & some extra little equipment that's nice to have; but not totally necessary. I also have to get the window kit ready for the fan controller when it gets here & when time we'll make a DIY Bubble Cloner so you don't have to buy more seeds.
But for now it's Nap : 30 so I'll catch you later.
 
I just found this nice little write up 420Warrior posted that helps explain Terpenes for anyone interested.

What To Know About Terpenes In Cannabis Products

Insurance brokers should understand the compounds found in cannabis plants to fully assess the risks businesses face. Terpenes are highly aromatic compounds that create the characteristic scent of many plants (think pine, citrus fruits, lavender and rosemary. In fact, the fragrance of most...
www.420magazine.com
 
High All ? Well I spent the better part of yesterday getting the temps down in the tent. I had to make a few little changes to remedy a few issues; but things seem much better now. Temps are at 77 F & RH is at 40%. Still have to get the RH (Relative Humidity) up some but I believe adding my large humidifier (Whole House Size) to the room I'm growing in will fix that.
Anyway, I had to remove things from the tent (temporarily) to do the work. So I disconnected the Intake from it's Carbon Filter & Exhaust from the window. I made a new window kit because the old one only had 1 - 4" collar in it & it was in the center. So the new window kit has 2 - 4" collars in it. 1 for Exhaust & 1 for Intake & they are at opposite ends.
Here's some pics for clarity.
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Then I connected the Exhaust, but ran out of 4" Duct so have to buy more to connect the Intake to the window kit.
I've also made things so my fan speed controllers are outside the tent. Much easier to make adjustments. So far things are looking much better.
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Next issue I seen was the exhaust had Negative Air Pressure (Exhaust sucking sides of tent in). The 1st pic shows the Tent with Exhaust off. Next 2 pics show the side of the tent being sucked in by the exhaust. 2nd pic is how much it sucked in after 2 min. 3rd pic is after 5 minutes.
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To fix this issue I made some, I'll call them Tent Stabilizer Poles to put in the tent. I've done this several times before & it works great. I just use 3' long pieces of PVC & some Plastic Conduit straps & Zip Ties to do this. About $10 to fix the issue. So here's some pics of the Stabilizer Poles & where I installed them.
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I put 2 poles on each side & they are just held there with Zip Ties. Nothing like Zip Ties, Duct Tape & Shower Curtain Hooks for all your Hanging & Securing things. After that I just closed up the tent & adjusted the Intake & Exhaust so that the tent wasn't Ballooning out or Sucking in. So I may or may not need the Stabilizer poles; but they are extra security, help to make the tent more solid & the lower poles may even come in handy when it comes time to LST (Low Stress Train).
 
Well I figure Intake & Exhaust were only half my Heat issue so I made another change. I removed the Ballasts & Dimmer Switch from my light & mounted them outside my tent. The lights are made so you are able to do this. You can't do this with Blurple Lights & some LEDS that are all enclosed units. Pretty much if your light has a built in fan to cool it then there is no Ballast that can be moved outside the tent. It pretty much has to be a Quantum Board Type of set up to move the ballast.
A thing about lights .... I use to use Very High Dollar Blurple LED's (Not allowed to say manufacturer, but P900's that were $1050 each. I had 3 of them. My average yield was 4 - 6 oz. per plant. I decided to try these Mars Hydro (white light LED's) TSW 2000's & the difference was amazing. I went from 4 - 6 oz. to 8 - 9 oz. like it was nothing. It's convinced me that White Light is better. I can buy 4 TSW 2000's for the price of 1 Top of the line Blurple & get way better results with the white lights.
Anyway, here's the pics of what I did. The Dimmer Switch is nice & handy mounted outside the tent.
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Putting the Ballasts outside the tent will take the majority of the heat out of the tent. They put out a lot of heat.
I just glued some wooden stakes together with liquid nails & cut it long enough to go across the top of my tent. Then mounter the Ballasts & Dimmer Switch to the wood with Velcro Squares.
So it's all put back together now & things are looking up.
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So that's how I spent the better part of yesterday. Today I'll get the Intake connected after I get some more 4" Duct.
I'll also do a short write up on the nutrient I use & additives. Need to take the pics 1st. So I'll just go burn one & get busy on the nutrient part. Till then, In the words of John Wayne .... "Let's Fire Em' Up & Smoke Em' Out !"
 
Kind of perfect for this thread that you had to tackle the temperature issue. Shows people that just because you have a typical 'plug n play' starter kit doesn't mean you'll get the ideal environment without some extra components or modification. Great write up so far. :bravo:
 
I'd like to put my QB driver outside my tent also. And maybe be able to move it back in if I wanted more heat in the dead of winter. Did your light have enough loose wire from driver to the panels or did you have to replace or extend it somehow? That's the only reason I haven't done mine. I'd probably do something similar with a wooden shelf on top of the tent but I'd be inclined to put a few washers under the driver to make a bit of a an airspace for cooling /safety though it's probably not necessary. Just thought I would mention it.
 
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