First Time Grower in 3x3! Feedback Encouraged!

[Gingz]

Hey All!
I'm just starting my first grow & beyond excited. I’ve been wanting to grow for a while & finally the stars aligned. A quick rundown of the setup & equipment i'm running for this grow:
3 x 3 x 6 Vivosun Tent
4” AC Infinity Fan (Exhaust) w/13” Carbon Filter
4” Vivosun 100CFM Fan(Intake)
VIparspectra TC600(260W) LED
14” blade fan
6” clip-on fans x2
Humidifier & Dehumidifier
Exhale CO2 Bag

In terms of growing medium & nutrients:
Fox Farm Ocean Forest Soil (FFOF)
Fox Farm Trio
CALMAG
Organic Molasses

For seeds, I’ve got 2 Chemdog by Claybourne CO. & 2 OG seeds I got from a friend.
I put the Chemdog seeds in cup w/tap water on Sept. 12th where they stayed for 16 hours. Once they sank, I transferred them to a paper towel where they continued to wait in the dark for 24 more hours. After the taproot sprouted, I put them in solos filled w/FFOF & covered the cup w/ziplock bags to keep humidity lvls up. They broke the surface on the 15th. The OG seeds were germinated using the same methods however they were started on the 22nd & broke the surface on the 25th. I started w/3 OG seeds but one didn’t sprout.

Once breaking the surface, the ziplock bag was removed. The seeds have been misted w/a water bottle. I’m using filtered tap water pH’ed to 6.5-6.6. I’ve managed to keep the average temps between 75-85 & RH 50-80%. The plants are on a 18/6 light cycle w/ the LEDs 22” above the canopy @ 65% intensity. The plants haven’t been fed any nutrients, just filtered pH’ed water.

The Chemdog seeds grew faster than I expected as their roots had already started to fill out the bottom of the solos @ 15 days from breaking the surface. They were transferred to 3G fabric pots w/FFOF on the 30th. One thing I noticed as things progressed was a buildup of mineral deposits throughout the tent, i.e. fan blades, carbon filter cover, plant leaves. I ended up not using filtered tap water for the humidifier & switched to distilled water. Hopefully it saves my carbon filter cover from clogging up every week.

I plan on adding another light within the next few weeks.I’m thinking about getting a spider farmer sf200. I figured since i’m running CO2 I might as well take advantage of it. What do y’all think? Any questions or comments? All is Welcome!

Thanks! :)

 

[Gashuffer]

Welcome to the farm!

why CO2? You do know you need to have a sealed room for that to be effective, right? I assume it is not sealed as you have both intake and exhaust fans listed in your setup.

sounds like everything else is going fine so far!

 

[Gingz]

Welcome to the farm!

why CO2? You do know you need to have a sealed room for that to be effective, right? I assume it is not sealed as you have both intake and exhaust fans listed in your setup.

sounds like everything else is going fine so far!

I figured it would elevate the CO2 PPM just ever so slightly. Took a chance on it in this grow.

 

[Dirtbag]

Congrats on getting a grow going!
I'll give you my honest feedback since you asked for it, I'd suggest you drop the calmag and just use tap if its acceptable, drop the co2 bag, it's pointless in a vented tent, drop the molasses, because, just because..., Go super light on the tiger bloom if you must use it, and consider using a different nutrient lineup all together. I've seen a lot of disasters on here with people using that line. And consider getting a different light at some point. That one will grow bud, but you would likely do better with a higher quality light.

Other than that.. get a ph and ppm meter if you dont have them yet, and keep an eye on runoff numbers occasionally. They tell you what's going on in the rootzone.

Good luck!

 

[Gingz]

Congrats on getting a grow going!
I'll give you my honest feedback since you asked for it, I'd suggest you drop the calmag and just use tap if its acceptable, drop the co2 bag, it's pointless in a vented tent, drop the molasses, because, just because..., Go super light on the tiger bloom if you must use it, and consider using a different nutrient lineup all together. I've seen a lot of disasters on here with people using that line. And consider getting a different light at some point. That one will grow bud, but you would likely do better with a higher quality light.

Other than that.. get a ph and ppm meter if you dont have them yet, and keep an eye on runoff numbers occasionally. They tell you what's going on in the rootzone.

Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback!
I'm going to purchase a Spider Farmer sf2000 within the next few weeks & run two lights simultaneously. Ideally, I'd like to move onto hydro in the future. I was recommended Fox Farm Trio from a friend as they said it would be for beginners. After doing some research, I've seen many people struggle w/nute burn as a result of using the recommended dosage. I plan to start @ 1/4 of the recommended dosage when the plants are close to 35-40 days or when the plant shows me they need it.

 

[Gashuffer]

I use the same nutrients btw. 1/4-1/2 is about what I keep it at. This current grow I got to 3/4 dose on plants that are ~3 months old. I’m calling it an exception/experiment at this point.

 

[Gingz]

I use the same nutrients btw. 1/4-1/2 is about what I keep it at. This current grow I got to 3/4 dose on plants that are ~3 months old. I’m calling it an exception/experiment at this point.

What medium are you using?

 

[Gashuffer]

Soil blend.

 

[Gashuffer]

More specifically...


20% pearlite
20% coco
40% organic potting soil
10% vermiculite
10% worm castings

 

[Gingz]

More specifically...


20% pearlite
20% coco
40% organic potting soil
10% vermiculite
10% worm castings

Alright. Thanks for the advice!

 

[B0ssD0ss]

I have fix farm nutes as well but read your comment where you suggested getting away from them and use something else. What might you suggest in place of the Fox Farm nutes?

 

[Gingz]

I have fix farm nutes as well but read your comment where you suggested getting away from them and use something else. What might you suggest in place of the Fox Farm nutes?

I'd like to move to organic dry amendments, leaning towards Gaia Green's Soil line. In the meantime ill-use Fox Farm Trio. In an ideal world, I would like to move to hydro but I don't quite have the opportunity to do that.

 

[B0ssD0ss]

Yeah I have fed using fox farm nutes but everyone I have mentioned it to just says to scale way back on the recommended dosing. I have my ladies at like a third of recommended dose and they seem to be fine with it. Just curious as to what others use for nutes to expand my knowledge and potentially use in other grows.

 

[Gingz]

Yeah I have fed using fox farm nutes but everyone I have mentioned it to just says to scale way back on the recommended dosing. I have my ladies at like a third of recommended dose and they seem to be fine with it. Just curious as to what others use for nutes to expand my knowledge and potentially use in other grows.

Best of luck to ya!

 

[B0ssD0ss]

You as well.

 

[Gingz]

Plants are doing well. Chemdog was topped today. OGs are growing nicely. Average temp 80-85F. RH 50-75%. I included some pics of the plants before topping.

 

[Gingz]

Looks like the plants are doing well two days after topping! Chemdog is 3 weeks old from sprouting today. Weekly avg. temps have been 81-87.4F, a little warm for my liking but the plants don't seem to find it. RH has been 57-70%. The plants have been watered three times this week, w/filtered tap water pH 6.4-6.5 @136-146ppm(EC: 0.27-0.29). I gathered some soil runoff & between the two older plants today, the pH was 6.92 & 6.74 w/PPM values of 530 & 260. The light was increased to 100% VEG & BLOOM @ 24" above the canopy on 9/1. After reading my first post on this thread, I noticed a mistake on the timeline. In the post, I stated that the start was in Sept. when in reality it was August. My apologies.

 

[horribleherk]

I'm new here but not new to growing & the past 3 years in 3x3 tents & now a 4x4 so far you're doing good & of the replies I agree with dirtbag & here is my 2 cents worth I would use your present nutes at 1/2 strength & concentrate on what you already have & is paid for you've got worm casings in your soil so you should be ok with the reduced I've used the vipar spectra & they work I later hacked mine & built a cob light out of it here is pics of my present 3x3 & 4x4 oh yeah the spider farmer is a decent light good luck with your grow I use a 340w. cob for my 3x3 get a successful grow under your belt then focus what works for you

 

[Gingz]

I'm new here but not new to growing & the past 3 years in 3x3 tents & now a 4x4 so far you're doing good & of the replies I agree with dirtbag & here is my 2 cents worth I would use your present nutes at 1/2 strength & concentrate on what you already have & is paid for you've got worm casings in your soil so you should be ok with the reduced I've used the vipar spectra & they work I later hacked mine & built a cob light out of it here is pics of my present 3x3 & 4x4 oh yeah the spider farmer is a decent light good luck with your grow I use a 340w. cob for my 3x3 get a successful grow under your belt then focus what works for you View attachment 1027236View attachment 1027237View attachment 1027238View attachment 1027239

Thanks! Definitely gunna start w/a much smaller ratio than what FF recommends.

 

[Gingz]

I'm new here but not new to growing & the past 3 years in 3x3 tents & now a 4x4 so far you're doing good & of the replies I agree with dirtbag & here is my 2 cents worth I would use your present nutes at 1/2 strength & concentrate on what you already have & is paid for you've got worm casings in your soil so you should be ok with the reduced I've used the vipar spectra & they work I later hacked mine & built a cob light out of it here is pics of my present 3x3 & 4x4 oh yeah the spider farmer is a decent light good luck with your grow I use a 340w. cob for my 3x3 get a successful grow under your belt then focus what works for you View attachment 1027236View attachment 1027237View attachment 1027238View attachment 1027239

Your plants are lovely btw.