Prepping My First Grow (7 Strains, Autofem, Outdoors)

[ActusReus]

Hi THCFarmer, this will be my first official thread but I've been lurking and learning for a while on here and other forums. I designed my own greenhouse since I'm an engineering student. The dimensions are 5ft x 7ft in both ways, right now the 7ft sides can fit six 5 gal buckets in length. I've attached some blueprints for the greenhouse which I've already built, it is exactly to spec with 4 windows that are able to open for ventilation & covered in a 6mm UV resistant poly. The floor of my Ghouse is mylar to reflect light throughout the greenhouse a little better because only one side receives direct sunlight & it sits in shade mostly. I'm looking for any tips/advice on growing the plants or my setup considering this is my first ever grow and my experience is very limited.



EDIT: All seeds are auto feminized, photo-period plants in a shady spot wouldn't have the same potential as an auto in my opinion & would complicate things beyond my experience

Seeds:
10x NYC Diesel
5x Northern Lights
2x AK-47
2x White Widow
1x Pineapple Express
1x Afghan Skunk
1x UFO.


20x Indoor mix of regular seeds(backup plan)


Plan:
My plan for the plants right now since space is an issue with 35^2ft floor space, is this:
NYC D (5gal x2)(2gal x1)
Northern Lights (5gal x2)(2gal x1)
AK-47 (5gal x1)(2gal x1)
White Widow (5gal x1)(2galx1)
Pineapple Express (5gal x1)
Afghan Skunk (2gal x1)
UFO (2gal x1)


I'm using 14.14.14 Miracle grow potting mix, Flora series by GH, Ph up & down, and CalMag.



The greenhouse receives 4-5 hours direct sunlight through the side that looks like its meant to face the sun, they receive indirect sunlight also throughout the day. My original goal was 6 ounces, not sure what the potential for an auto outdoors is in my setup


LST:
I've been researching the last few hours and i think that i'm going to tie down the side stems to allow more light to penetrate the plant, and let the top ones grow to their full potential. I'm going to keep my autos in a veg nutrient setup until 5-6 weeks so that i can get full vertical height growth as well. As soon as vertical growth stops or slows i'll change to flower nutrients, also considering throwing some of my regular seeds in as an experiment to compare growth rates.

Thanks for taking the time to read my thread; if enough interest is taken I might make a grow journal.

 

[DOGBUDS]

Hello Actus,
Welcome to the Farm... I feel that your space is small for the amount of plants you want to grow, I would have at least 2-3 feet around each pot so that you'll have room to work with your plants (watering, examining etc) and this will also help with the airflow around your girls...(unless you're going with a SCROG set-up which it doesn't sound like you're doing)
-Miracle grow soil: You're going to find that a lot of THCFARMERS will stray away from miracle grow soil due to the fact that it is a slow-release fertilizing soil, meaning you have zero control over the amounts of fertilizer that you would like the plant to have at certain stages of its life i.e., +Nitrogen for veg, +Phosphorus for bloom etc... I like ProMix HP, it will allow you to be in control of the medium nutrients and not the medium in control of you..
- The mylar on the floor is not going to do much except get dirty and piss you off cause it gets in the way. I would use the No bug/No mold insulation sheets they sell at Lowes/Home Depot for your floor covering $7/ sheet and one side is reflective if you so desire to have that. Also, make sure that you have a moisture barrier in-between your floor(assuming wood) and the floor covering of your choice.
My best recommendation would be to keep it simple for your first grow, regardless there will be some headaches, the simpler you keep the less severe the headaches will be (and it's cheaper LOL!)
Hope this helps a little, there will be some killer information coming from THC Farmers, give it a couple of days...

 

[THCdurk]

Bro for your first grow I'd keep it simple and switch out that Miracle gro for sure B. But Goodluck gonna be good I bet

 

[ActusReus]

Bro for your first grow I'd keep it simple and switch out that Miracle gro for sure B. But Goodluck gonna be good I bet

Thanks durk, ahah i was a fan of your solo cup grow a while ago. I'm going to be switching to organic soil with worm castings, and using root pouch pots.

 

[THCdurk]

Lol thank you sir @ActusReus she still Goin strong.

 

[ActusReus]

Hello Actus,
Welcome to the Farm... I feel that your space is small for the amount of plants you want to grow, I would have at least 2-3 feet around each pot so that you'll have room to work with your plants (watering, examining etc) and this will also help with the airflow around your girls...(unless you're going with a SCROG set-up which it doesn't sound like you're doing)
-Miracle grow soil: You're going to find that a lot of THCFARMERS will stray away from miracle grow soil due to the fact that it is a slow-release fertilizing soil, meaning you have zero control over the amounts of fertilizer that you would like the plant to have at certain stages of its life i.e., +Nitrogen for veg, +Phosphorus for bloom etc... I like ProMix HP, it will allow you to be in control of the medium nutrients and not the medium in control of you..
- The mylar on the floor is not going to do much except get dirty and piss you off cause it gets in the way. I would use the No bug/No mold insulation sheets they sell at Lowes/Home Depot for your floor covering $7/ sheet and one side is reflective if you so desire to have that. Also, make sure that you have a moisture barrier in-between your floor(assuming wood) and the floor covering of your choice.
My best recommendation would be to keep it simple for your first grow, regardless there will be some headaches, the simpler you keep the less severe the headaches will be (and it's cheaper LOL!)
Hope this helps a little, there will be some killer information coming from THC Farmers, give it a couple of days...

Thanks for your experienced input and I agree with a lot of what you said, the floor isn't a big concern to me and I have a walkway going through the middle of the greenhouse. I've decided to grow Autos on one side and Photos on the other side, the photos wont be too big i figure by the time the autos are done so the grow will be staggered and I will have room more or less for most of the plants. The reason for so many plants is that I'm being ambitious and trying to get a pound but since its my first grow I understand that there will be a lot of casualties unfortunately. Out of the 30-35 plants going in, i expect 20 to survive or more hopefully.

 

[ActusReus]

Lol thank you sir @ActusReus she still Goin strong.

good to hear that Durk,
I picked up some new seeds for my photoperiods
2x Pineapple Gum (F)
2x Bubba Kush (F)
2x Swazi Gold

 

[THCdurk]

Sounds good can't wait to see. The pineapple gum sounds good. Is that Swazi gold from stain hunters I think I seen a video on that shit was cool.

 

[ActusReus]

Sounds good can't wait to see. The pineapple gum sounds good. Is that Swazi gold from stain hunters I think I seen a video on that shit was cool.

ahahaa that's exactly why i bought the Swazi, holdin it down for Africa. i plan on putting my best photoperiods in 3-5 gallons and keep the autos in 2-3 gal containers. Since this is my first grow I've spent weeks reading grow journals on here & GC just trying to take in as much info as possible so hopefully the time will pay off. I've started growing a few photoperiods in solo cups out my window just to watch the growth and work on my PH/watering & nutrient skills. Two died but six are still going strong out of 8. The tallest one is 5" with two nodes, I'll let these go until I can identify gender in 35-45 days probably because they don't get too much light, but still the experience is worth it
6x gal root pouch
8x 2gal root pouch
14x 3 gal root pouch

 

[ActusReus]

Sounds good can't wait to see. The pineapple gum sounds good. Is that Swazi gold from stain hunters I think I seen a video on that shit was cool.

I'm a fan of Vice, & found this very interesting too

 

[THCdurk]

Yeah I seen that too lol they put in work over there lol

 

[ActusReus]

Yeah I seen that too lol they put in work over there lol

free wop

 

[THCdurk]

You already know mane

 

[Underthesun]

Nice, I like small greenhouses. They give the average guy an opportunity to grow some quality stuff outside away from the house. I think you might be crowded in there, that is a small place for that many plants 'oudoors'. And it sounds like you might not have full sunlight, this could potentially have them stretching for light taking up more space.

When do you plan on planting? I would wait to pop your beans until mid-late may, maybe even early June. You aren't growing trees, so ignore the threads where outdoor guys are planting in Feb and March. I planted my seeds on 4/20 last year, I have a 110 SF greenhouse and 4 plants way outgrew it and caused me many problems. You will find that in a greenhouse plant count doesn't equal yeild, space does and the amount of sunlight you will get. I'm not talking you out of anything, but you may find you could yeild the same amount with two plants, maybe even one as you could with all those. But they would need more soil that 2-3 gallons, more like 20-80 gallons. That brings up another point, if you want to grow in 2-3 gallon pots small pots outdoors, you want to remember that these plants won't be finishing until Mid-Sep and a 5 month old plant in a 2-3 gallon pot may have more issues than one that hase room for its roots. All things to consider and the best thing to do is just start doing it and see what happens.

Good luck! Ditch the Miracle Grow though, you don't want to smoke that stuff. I'd think you could find compost for cheap and it would be better than that. I'm learning too, this will be my 4th season in a small greenhouse.