HELP! First time grower: autos. Any tips or feedback with my plan below. TIA!

[cannapartaker]

Thank GWE for this amazing forum. Folks, I'm new to this and a complete n00b as far as growing anything, much less growing this amazing plant.

For the first time ever, I am going to start my own indoor grow with:

• autoflower seeds from ILGM
• 2x2x5 tent
• Mars Hydro TS600W LED light

I saw GWE's detailed journal here for growing Autos with coco and HPS, which I plan to follow step by step but does anyone here have any guides for soil + led?

I still have a list of these items to buy (open to recommendations for items below):

• carbon filter and 4" inline fan
• 6" clip fans
• Timer
• pH Kit
• pH pen
• Hydrometer
• 5 gal smart pots
• anything else?

I'm looking these soils and nutes combo, still not sure which to get...(soil & nutes A vs Soil & nutes B):

• Soil A: FF Happy Frog or Ocean Forest
• Nutes A: Dyna Gro Bloom and Grow or GH GoBox
• Soil B: M3 soil
• Nutes B: Mega Crop

Thank you so much! Happy 420 weekend!

[BR2K]

Welcome! With that size tent, you may be better served with 3 gallon smart pots. I'm growing 4 autos and I'm finishing up week 7 above the coco (first timer too). My shortest is a Northern Light and my tallest is a Royal Cheese and an unidentified Sativa. I still have a couple of inches of room up top but you may not have any room to spare side to side with 5 gallon pots, unless you're only growing two plants. Good luck and look forward to hearing your progress!

[cannapartaker]

Thank you! 3 gals pots make sense in my case. I might go with 2 plants to start with.

[cannapartaker]

BR2K you're growing using coco? how's it going so far? just read GWE's coco coir guide...https://www.growweedeasy.com/coco-coir. Seems interesting esp with premixed Mother Earth coco+perlite (https://tinyurl.com/y8zzqc65)

Which coco mix did you end up going with or did you mix yourself?

[CaptainWiese91]

Royal cheese - one of my favorite auto strains from RQS😎👍🏻

[homegrown]

Looks like your pretty well set up so far..as far as soil..i cant comment on your choices cause iv never tried..I do use general hydroponics and am happy with it. As BR2K stated, your issue may be how many plants you should grow in a 2x2x5 tent. I just finished a GG#4 auto that would have taken up the total floor space of your tent..but iv also had autos that didn't get very big at all. if your gonna use the 5gal maybe just start with two plants and see how that goes. Too many plants can cause some other issues that just make growing not so much fun. When you have a cramped tent its a pain in the ass to tend to plants, can lead to WPM which is a biotch if you gotta fight it. and they just cant get proper light. Ease in and enjoy, instead of diving in and being shocked. lol this way its fun!

[cannapartaker]

cool - yea will get 3 gal pots to start with and only 2 plants for my first attempt . thank you!

[Farmall]

cannapartaker Hi, welcome to the forum. The website has numerous guides on growing with soil, coco, hydro. Start looking under the basics of growing and move on from there. https://www.growweedeasy.com/basics

the fabric bags (smart pots) are terrific in my view and there are several brands out there and some are not based on economics..some are thin, flimsy and won’t last 2 uses....others are thick, heavy weight , they’ll hold up very well and you can really tell the difference.they’re good but you can’t tell from the Amazon photos

as for a fan for the carbon filter...check out the Cloudline series...I use a t-6 but they have 4” versions...found it by accident as the one I first bought was way too loud...this is not and has remote control head https://www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-C...s%2C139&sr=8-1

6” clip fans...Amazon has tons but be sure they are not battery operated

ruined by shit timers.... so I use TP-Link and the KASA app.... I now use the power strip version and a few dual plug models...(Amazon)https://www.amazon.com/Kasa-Smart-Ou...s%2C146&sr=8-8

pH pens run the gamut from $8 to 150.00. I started with an $8.00 pen and it was nearly as good as the BlueLab ph pen I have now. CALIBRATION IS KEY as is wet bulb storage.Buy the calibration solutions

a set of graduated beakers or cylinders for measuring your nutrient mixes comes in handy so if you need 5ml per “X”. You can accurately measure it...glass is nice, plastic won’t break however

AND... I recommend starting your plants for the first 3 weeks under a 23w (100w equivalent) cfl bulb 6500K color output about 3” from the tops of your plants 18 hours on/ 6 hours off. I say this because it has worked so well for me and several others I know. It nearly eliminates stringy, lanky, stretchy plants. Transplant from your solo cups into your smart pots after 3 weeks from germination

looking forward to your grow...post pics

[Daskahn]

Well since farmall basically said what I would say.. I’ll just agree lol

[cannapartaker]

wow thank you. very much appreciated.

I have an extra pair of Wyze plugs (https://wyze.com/wyze-plug.html) that I was thinking of using as a timer (I currently use it for my living room lamp to schedule automated on/off and can also control it remotely from my phone).

unfortunately, my order of seeds (since 4/10) hasn't even shipped yet :/ so I'm basically waiting on them to arrive. In the meantime, I'm going to wrap up the rest of my orders based on my research and feedback on the forums.

cheers!

[Farmall]

That is what I’m using but these are made by TP-Link...

[BR2K]

cannapartaker My grow is going as good as I should expect, maybe better. I use the Mother Earth premixed coco/perlite. I LOVE how I can basically water my plants every 2 1/2 days, without worry either way. Myself, I water 3 gallons at a time, nutrients every other watering. I'm at Day 53/52 above the coco. I am truly a newbie, just along for the ride. Well, except I did successfully top two and messed up one. I also have been aggressively defoliating - according to guidance from Canuk147. It seems to work beautifully...as long as I don't over-do it.

I have at least two photoperiod Sativa seedlings going and at least one Indica seed that should pop in a few days. I've got one Critical Daddy Purple I think my be Dead on Arrival. My goal is to have a perpetual harvest.

The bottom line is the premixed coco/perlite is working very well for me. Good luck!!!

[cannapartaker]

cannapartaker My grow is going as good as I should expect, maybe better. I use the Mother Earth premixed coco/perlite. I LOVE how I can basically water my plants every 2 1/2 days, without worry either way. Myself, I water 3 gallons at a time, nutrients every other watering. I'm at Day 53/52 above the coco. I am truly a newbie, just along for the ride. Well, except I did successfully top two and messed up one. I also have been aggressively defoliating - according to guidance from Canuk147. It seems to work beautifully...as long as I don't over-do it.

I have at least two photoperiod Sativa seedlings going and at least one Indica seed that should pop in a few days. I've got one Critical Daddy Purple I think my be Dead on Arrival. My goal is to have a perpetual harvest.

The bottom line is the premixed coco/perlite is working very well for me. Good luck!!!

Nice! nice! ok so ME premix coco/perlite seems pretty simple to start with. Did you have to rehydrate the coco perlite mix and also check the pH and add nutes in the very beginning?

Saw this schedule on GWE: https://www.growweedeasy.com/wp-cont...s-schedule.pdf

[BR2K]

All I did was soak the coco/perlite with water and calmag supplement. IIRC, I didn't even PH correct the water. I didn't realize how long it would be before my plants needed to be transplanted from their solo cups. By the time they were ready, the coco had pretty much dried up. Not to worry, they were fine. I use the schedule you're referring to. I have some discoloration but my plants have been growing and making buds pretty well.

I would recommend LST as soon as is practical. That's the one thing I could have done better. I have my two shorter plants stacked on containers to raise them up to the height of the tallest two plants...

[cannapartaker]

Got it. when did you start LST for your autos?

Also, just saw the post on topping and wow, seems so intimidating hah!

[BR2K]

That's just it, I haven't done any LST. I did successfully top two of my autos but screwed up on one other one. I didn't bother with my runt at the time. I fully intended to cull it but was dissuaded by some smart members here. It turned out to be a Sativa that, while it's always had issues, has beautiful buds and an aroma that's out of this world. I've probably got 2 weeks to a month before harvest for the Sativa and probably at least a month on the other three.

[cannapartaker]

Hey all, thanks so much for your input!

Just wanted to post my grow update. I ended up going with:

FFOF + perlite (70/30)
MegaCrop (nutes)
TS600W
3 gal smartpots
Day 18

https://imgur.com/a/1VUH5sh

Growing Amnesia Haze and Blueberry Autos from ILGM.

[SoOrbudgal]

Well done plant looks very healthy happy