HELP! Newbie needs advice for first grow

[Farm2Bong]

Hi guys,

I'm a first-time grower who've just purchased all the gear i need for a grow (it's en route, 5 days to go or so), and before i start i just wanted to make a sort of checklist here and get your opinions and if there is anything you would recommend that i change or do differently.
I'd like to think i have gained as much possible knowledge that i can from just reading posts and guides and i do feel confident in myself and my plan, but since i have the harvard of weed right at my fingertips i might as well ask you know?
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My setup


Strain: Royal Cheese Autostrain (can grow to about 100 cm apparently but i will use modest LST and also might defoliate if it looks healthy and leafy) Sea of Green a good option?

Medium: Soil in a 6+ gallon pot, (80-90% biobizz light mix, 10-20% worm humus) i will plant seeds straight into the final medium

Space: Growtent Mammoth lite 60x60x140 cm (about 24x24x55 freedom units)

Lightning: 200w CFL and a horizontal reflectormount, comes with the tent, but i do feel i will need more if im going with cfl maybe? also maybe skip the reflector and get about 4 lights hanging instead? I would get HPS but im not sure i can afford it right now. I would expect this to lower yield to maybe 3-5 ounces from this but im honestly overjoyed if i can squeeze out 4 but maybe size does matter.

Nutrients: Biobizz Grow 4-3-6, Bloom 2-7-4 and Topmax (going to dilute it so it's at half recommended strength), top off with some molasses or budcandy at flush stage? any good alternatives to those 2? maybe skip the grow if im gonna use humus anyway? seems i might need a nitrogen suppliment maybe?


Growing Part

Lightschedule: 18-6, is there any benefit of going 20-4 or even 20-2?

Temps: 25-27 celsius during veg and maybe 22-25 during flowering? lower 3-4 degrees at night?

Humidity: i wanna try to go for around 65% in veg and maybe 55 down to 45% during flowering, thoughts?

Water and nourishment: im just gonna feel the pot, use half of recommended nourishment and go for pure water once in a while, maybe spray the leaves first 1-2 weeks?

General care: will use some LST with pipecleaner and defoliate if it starts to get wild in there, also could i go for a SoG with 4 plants or so instead? is it recommended to defoliate a bit should i choose to do so?


Anyway, as you can see i am still torn about some things so any wisdom you might have for me before i start is greatly appreciated!
Also, im sure i left out something glaringly obvious but it's like 7 am here and im tired af.

[alltatup]

HI F2B, Welcome to the forum. Your plan looks great; there's no substitute for experience. Things come up during a grow that teach us a lot.

I recommend these two articles:

In order to avoid nutrient lockout: https://www.growweedeasy.com/flushing-sick-cannabis

Defoliation during vegetation:

• Vegetative Stage
• Flowering Stage

In my experience, the more practice I've had with defol, the more in tune I've gotten with my plants and what's just right for them depending on which stage they are at.

[Farm2Bong]

Thank you! Great interesting articles, put me at ease about defol and nourishing.
I will probably post a log and pictures here on the forum, make a fool out of myself and hopefully learn something along the way.

Also i noticed your setup, would you recommend hydroponics to a novice? If i get this right i would love to make the switch because reading about it really got me stoked about it (was initially going for hydro but money, you know).

Anyway thanks again this really helped!

Edit: about defol, i dont know if you have experience with an autostrain but articles on the matter seems very 50/50 about if you should do it or not :/

[alltatup]

Farm2Bong
You're quite welcome! You are asking an orthdox hydro grower if hydro is better: I love it. They say it grows faster than soil, but never having grown in soil, I don't know. I really love hydro, but each grower has to figure out what is best for their circumstances. I, for example, had to invest in 2 reservoir chillers and switch from HID bulbs (hotter) to LED Cobbs (much cooler = cooler grow room). I had a helluva case of root rot on my second grow that I can chuckle about now, but going through it was... a learning experience.

You won't make a fool of yourself!!! If you're already studying and reading, you'll just learn more. I still remember a bunch of stuff I learned on my first grow, and the second was easier..... etc.

I have never grown autos; I love photoperiod plants. I like being intimately involved in the progress of the vegetation phase, I prefer the wider variety of strains available, and although I know that not all autos are small, I tend to view them as smaller plants and I'm trying to grow bigger, not smaller, plants.

[Farm2Bong]

I see!
Well in any case this really helps alot even if you cant make a direct comparison.
Oh didnt know that, i did read articles saying it gives bigger yields and i guess it would make sense it grows faster then as well.
Okay really good to know what things to consider if i make the switch for my next grow.

Oh no i will DEFINETLY make a fool out of myself, i find it a highly effective learning tool

Yeah i definetly resonate with what you say, it just seems so much more satisfying to decide when it blooms, how big you want it to be etc.
No i mean that's definetly true tho, at least compared to a photoperiod counterpart, 100 cm is good for me as a max right now but i am definetly going to try a regular one for my next grow if all goes well!

[alltatup]

We actually need to get some auto growers to chime in, because I'm really ignorant. D.A.A.S.69 grows autos brilliantly, and he can argue in favor of them.

Farm2, you will only make a fool of yourself if you set your plants on fire, spray them with DDT, let them veg for five years, or something like that. Believe me: new growers don't look foolish, and we all love to pitch in and give our 2 cents' worth of knowledge and opinions!! Here's my second grow with the horrific case of root rot: https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...nnabis-strains

You will get through this, and I predict that even with a crisis like mine on grow 2, you'll end up with some of the best bud you've ever smoked/vaped.

[Farm2Bong]

Yeah i was looking through your posts (it took a while to get to the 2nd grow hehe), so im a bit comforted that you managed to get a good yield anyway by the looks of it!

Lmao no plans to set them on fire yet anyways, ive read somewhere that you need to harvest and dry them first :O

Yeah you are probably right i think the anticipation just got me a bit nervous about screwing up

[Rwise]

Autos were fun, but I too prefer photos, you just have more control and more options.
An auto is not a good option for clones, photos are (you can clone them it does not work well)
Autos start flowering at 3 to 5 weeks old regardless of light time, photos when I tell them to (switch to 12/12s)
Autos cannot be reveged, photos can (maybe not by me LOL)
Autos you dont really need a timer, photos you do.
Autos are inherently less potent than the photos they were made from (working on this, give them 5 years)
Either can certainly make a nice stash, the light bill is cheaper with photos but they need more start up equipment (like timers)
I grow in my own home made organic soil because that is how I want mine grown, no chems, no pesticides just fine tasting bud!

[Farm2Bong]

Yeah i mainly selected auto for the easier management and i made sure i have a decent supply of seeds.
So you didnt follow a lightschedule at all for the autos? Or did you wing it?
Either way this really helped and home made soil does sound interesting, might have a go this summer if i can get these badgirls going!

[Rwise]

Near the end of the run I did cut the lights to 20/4 and the aroma picked up.
I have also grown them outside in the sunshine, they do better under longer light,,,
I was raised on a farm, I have been adding organics to soil as long as I can remember!

[OlderNOTwiser]

Welcome aboard Farm2. I have less than a years worth of experience but enough to have some acquired experience and rookie insights.Your post above sounded like me last summer. The things you're worried about also had me put off a bit. However, once you get into it there is really little difference here vs a tomato or cucumber growing. Differences all around for sure but the commonality is growing stuff. Ever grow veggies or flowers successfully? You'll do fine with this. First time growing anything at all? By your post I'd say you've done all of the academic work now time to get the hands dirty! Nothing you do will change the orbit of the earth or anything. (Though there was the burning soil incident.) With an auto in your smallish tent you'll do fine. Do keep a notebook or something to track the basic stuff that you may not deem important now. A bad round of bugs or something may see a resolution in your notes. Such as did anything get changed before a problem. With an auto you'll probably be able to get a new grow every few months. You may want to tweak the plant a little as you go. Training for you and your plant. Keep reading the tutorials on GWE and by all means ask away. I've asked some real dumb questions in hindsight but when you don't know or are overwhelmed just ask for info or clarity.

[Farm2Bong]

Well that basically makes you mr. Miyagi compared to me and i aint one to turn down advice, i will definetly keep this in mind thank you!

But wait.. burning soil? Is that a technical term or did u actually set it on fire?

[OlderNOTwiser]

For clarity, I wasn't the dirt burner. Happened a few years back.

[duckman]

I'm not familiar with the biobizz soil you mentioned, Farm2Bong, but make sure you've got about 30% Perlite in the mix as well, this will help you dodge MANY problems with watering, nutes, etc. I confess I am curious how you will put a 20-2 lighting schedule into effect . Welcome to the best weed forum on the web!

[Farm2Bong]

Thank you for the insight!

I think it's a dutch brand, go figure eh. The "light" version is supposedly better to prevent nuteburning than the regular ones and mixed with some wormcasting and some bloom nutes i dont have switch soil for the flowering stage would love to hear your take on that btw because this is just me doing semi-educated guesswork from what i've read.

Thanks! i will get me a bag, I was on the fence as to wether or not i should do perlite, but if that's what the doctor orders then i will definetly mix it in there!

Hehe yeah it sounds so weird but some articles about autos recommend a 20-4 or even 20-2, i guess you solve the 20-2 dilemma by getting a digital timer or even calculate a schedule and do it manually.
Either way i will be going for 18-6, keep it nice and simple you know and maybe in a few grows ill spice it up a bit

[alltatup]

I see a few kinds of people on this forum: some are pretty mindless about what goes on in the grow room, and that I chalk up to youth, lack of experience/education and irresponsibility. Darn stoners!!! By education I mean knowing about how plants grow, and having a real feel and love for it. They don't seem to stick around.

Then there are those of us who really want to perfect the art of Cannabis cultivation, who feel it's a real calling and a Zen-like ceremony. That's definitely the majority. Chopping wood, carrying water, checking pH, changing the reservoir: it's all part of a much more powerful practice in life. I mean, me + Cannabis cultivation = a much higher synergy.

I can tell you this, F2B: you will grow with each grow. I can't believe where my knowledge is at 3.5 years into it, and I know that when I hit year 10, it will be sublime. See, when I got the root rot, I wanted to solve the problem like Sherlock Holmes. I absolutely had to know what had gone wrong, fix it and prevent it from happening in the future. Then on another grow, one plant hermied and the others got seeds because my grow room was too hot in the hellish summers where I live. So over a period of time, I added chillers, solar panels and switched to LED Cobbs. Total different ball game after that.

Now on many of my grows, my plants didn't get tall enough: it seems so obvious, but I couldn't quite figure it out. What it was, was that I was stuck on a four-week veg period (not including seedling stage), and I'd automatically switch after 4 weeks. So my plants weren't really strong enough, growing fast enough, tall enough or big enough (girth). This time I hope I got them to the right size for my grow boxes.