Spider Farmer 4000- first time farming

[HarryHood]

Update for today. After doing a bit of research this afternoon and looking at the manufacturers advice, basically following what AndyBoi has done with his sf2000 grow, I've decided to raise my light to 28 inches at 50% dimming for the germination/seedling stage.
I'll continue to update as I go along

 

[One drop]

Update for today. After doing a bit of research this afternoon and looking at the manufacturers advice, basically following what AndyBoi has done with his sf2000 grow, I've decided to raise my light to 28 inches at 50% dimming for the germination/seedling stage.
I'll continue to update as I go along

Get a lux meter best way to maximise you light . Od .

 

[HarryHood]

Thanks, OD! I downloaded a lux meter app on my phone, but am hearing that it may/may not read LED correctly?

 

[AndyBoi]

Update for today. After doing a bit of research this afternoon and looking at the manufacturers advice, basically following what AndyBoi has done with his sf2000 grow, I've decided to raise my light to 28 inches at 50% dimming for the germination/seedling stage.
I'll continue to update as I go along

best of luck. Glad to have helped

 

[growsince79]

Ok, cool. I actually raised mine a little while ago to just about 24 inches above the soil as I was unsure if I was too close at 20 inches. I'm at about 20% and am still getting a reading of 6k on my lux meter which I'm told is in the range it needs to be for seedlings (5k-10k) so I feel confident I guess? Lol

It all depends on strain. I have seedlings started at 12K, now one week old getting 20k cfl. When the sun comes out, they get 50k in the window and love it.

 

[Peppersmints]

Thanks, OD! I downloaded a lux meter app on my phone, but am hearing that it may/may not read LED correctly?

upon little reading...some phone app may have some accuracy but its never gonna be like a real meter.... Phone app with some phone modification < Lux Meter < Par Meter ... For phone modification, its nothing really hard , basicly a sheet of paper in front of the lens to reduce light spots and distribute more evenly the light output that close to the lens ...not sure you understand me but can sure google it lol

 

[HarryHood]

Thanks for the useful information. I appreciate everyone's help/input. I can see this becoming my new obsession

 

[One drop]

For $25 sheckles it helps me fine the sweet spot and it saves your power and light longevity. Od

 

[Peppersmints]

It seem like , burple light may be more affected by « non full spectrum reads» from lux meter, and less about white LED. Saying that it catches mostlikely green and yellow spectrum and you would prefer full spectrum including blue and red particularly. That’s why I said first it wasn’t really reliable source as much as a Par meter. Sorry if I was unclear ! Glad it helped a bit !

 

[HarryHood]

Update- 1 out of 2 Banana Daddy poked out of the soil overnight as well as both Pluto Cut's. So I'm still waiting on the other BD to pop. Any idea how long that may take, and at what point should I scrap it and try again? Would like to get 4 total going at the same time. I've no more BD seeds, but I do have a couple auto fem Banana Hammock seeds

 

[HarryHood]

Update- all 4 are now out of the soil! And I've decided to do 1 more with the space I've got in the tent. There was a 3pk of Banana Hammock auto inside the Banana Daddy pack so I'm doing 1 Hammock.

 

[HarryHood]

Update- Banana Hammock popped out of the soil overnight. All 5 are now out and ready to rock!

As I'm growing 5 autos in 5 gallon smart pots with Happy Frog and FFOF soil I believe there's enough nutrients in there for the first month, correct?. So my question is when would be a good time to use/start Cal Mag and what would be a good amount to start with?
Also, any suggestions are welcome on what line of nutes to use for veg and flower? Thanks!

 

[HarryHood]

update- things seem to be moving along ok. i'm quite certain i made the common new grower's mistake by over watering last week so i carefully aerated my soil a few times to help speed up the drying out process as to avoid root problems.
both pluto cut's look exactly the same which is really cool to see. both BD's are lagging behind them for sure, but i'm thinking that they're just not as hardy as the PC's based on their genetics? the BH which was used to cross with grand daddy purple to make the BD strain looks great though! kinda wondering if i should take a wait and see approach with the BD's for another week and if they don't look like they're coming along nicely then i may pull them and start my 2 remaining BH seeds. what do you guys think?

also planning on strengthening the root system by throwing some root magic mycorrhizae in with my pH adjusted water when it's time to give them another drink. has anyone done this before? i searched the forum, but couldn't find any info on it?

 

[HarryHood]

update- was definitely making the typical newb mistake of over watering, but other than that things seem to be going along well. both PC's are the star's of the grow and are doing really well. the BH looks nice too. the BD's are looking better, but definitely lagging behind the others. apologies for no pics. gonna try and post some real soon.

tent conditions are holding steady at 79F and 63RH lights on, and 72F and 63RH lights out

measured my pH runoff last time and it was low- around 5.6 with 1770ppm which i realize is pretty high, but i've been told that's normal when using FFOF, hope that's true? the 7.9 tap water that was aerated for 24 hrs going into the pot was pH to 6.3 and 310ppm. i've been advised to not bother pH'ing my water moving forward as the soil should buffer it, and that i have hard water. am i still ok using my hard tap water or should i try to amend it somehow?

also purchased some roots organic terp tea's that i'll be using throughout. starting on the lower end of the recommended dosage and working up. i basically grabbed their entire line of terp tea- microbe charge, grow, bloom, and bloom booster. i plan on using these this summer in my outdoor raised beds for my veggies and on my fruit trees too.

 

[HarryHood]

update- as recommended by others here i've been boosting my light output incrementally and all the plants responded super well. makes me wonder if i wasn't giving them enough to begin with?
applied a foliar spray with a small amount of liquid seaweed earlier this week as they were looking a little rough, but they all perked up nicely.
also, started brewing a compost tea earlier today. it has to brew for 24 hours then i'll be applying it tomorrow shortly after lights on

 

[HarryHood]

update- posted this in another thread

i brewed a 4 gallon tea of 1 tsp/gallon microbe charge and 1 tsp/gallon of the grow along with few tsp of molasses and fed it to them yesterday. they seem to have taken to it well. i've got to come up with a decent feeding schedule for my auto's as their website feeding schedule is based on photo's and i'd like to not overdo it. any suggestions? all but 1 plant is entering the 4th week and just received their first nutrient feeding other than what is already in the FFOF to begin with

 

[HarryHood]

fed another round of tea yesterday. went on the lighter side of the feed, but i think i may have a bit too much nitrogen going on as the tips on the new growth are a bit yellow. gonna just go with straight water for the next 2 feedings so hopefully that does the trick.
also, i want to become more familiar with the photo process so i'm most likely going to do a couple when these auto's are done. any suggestions on a good indica leaning strain for a beginner? want to try doing a scrog grow so something that's applicable.

 

[HarryHood]

also replaced the 4 inch intake fan with a 6 inch cloudilne s6

 

[HarryHood]

moving along well i suppose? if there are any problems it's definitely operator error. the 2 PC's are decent looking plants and so is the 1 BH that was actually a freebie. 1 of the 2 BD's looks better than the other by a good bit.
watered them today as they were basically bone dry and the top layer of soil was pretty hard. wound up breaking it up lightly so the water would penetrate the roots instead of just run off.
got some basil, cilantro, and dill going in the tent too

 

[SpiderFarmerLED]

Any pictures? want to see more