weed420420420420420 said:

A bag of the happy frog tomato feed (red bag).
A few pinches of the stuff will help freshen up the micorhizzae (which isn't really in the soil that much) and give your roots a boost.
And when you transplant up from the cup. mix a little bit of the stuff into the area. same deal.
When top feeding with the stuff cut the instructions down to 1/3rd.

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Thank you!

I think what you are asking is what are the essentials and what are more supporting things that will enhance the basic needs of the plant.

Basic needs of the plant? Light, water. soil(or whatever grow media you want to use).

I live in a part of the country where there aren't stores that cater to growers(Hydroponic stores) so I order all my supplies online and have it delivered. When I lived in California and worked in licensed grow ops, Hydro stores are on practically every corner so hydro supplies were easily accessible.

For soil I like Fox Farms but have had better success with Root Organic Original. Both are good but, again, I prefer Roots to Fox Farms. I've grown in pretty much every media you can think of(Coco, Soil, Hydroton, Perlite, Rockwool, etc.) and I always come back to soil. For me soil has a particular taste that I don't get from the synthetic media. It's probably just a figment of my imagination but it is what it is. BTW I disagree that growing in soil will delay your seeing issues. As long as you're diligently watching your plants, which you should be regardless of media, the leaves will tell the story immediately. IMO, soil is the most forgiving of all the media because you can underfeed and still give your plants the nutrients they need through the natural soil processes. Growing in synthetic media you need to be much more on top of the girls because any mistake gets amplified since you don't have a natural backup that can fill in whatever you are lacking. If you're a pro grower then the other medias have their pros but for beginner growers I always recommend soil first.

Same with nutrients, I've used pretty much every boutique nute that's come out in the market in the last 20 years but always come back to either GH 3 part for larger grows or GH Florinova for small and tent grows. For small and tent grows you don't need to spend the extra money for the fancy nutes because an increase of 10% isn't going to be worth the money you spend on all the nutes and amendments but in a large grow op 10% can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars. Florinova is cheap and very effective. Several Cannabis Cups have been won with growers using Florinova. While nutes are important technique, skill and experience are what will give you consistently large yields. At one of the licensed grow ops I worked at the botanist did a comparison. Same strain cloned from the same mother so genetics were identical. Both were grown in 6" Rockwool Cubes using a basic flood and drain irrigation setup. We had test tents to test out new strains and cross breeds before we put them into production. He watered each clone with nutrients from different nutrient companies. He used Miracle Gro tomato formula on one and Advanced on the other. The Advanced plant was slightly larger but dry weight flower yield was almost identical. Plants don't care if the food you give them is expensive or not. It's food. That facility used nutes from Dyna-Gro.

Same with lights. Large grow? Yes, those expensive Gavita double ended lights will boost your crop meaning the investment is worth it but for small grows the incremental gain you'll get is not worth the investment along with all the other stuff you need to be able to extract the heat that lamp is going to generate. I've been using Bestva blurples for home and tent grows with great success and they're half the price of the high end LED's like HLG. Don't get me wrong HLG's are great lights and will give bountiful yields but how much better are they really? Are they going to boost your yields more than 20% - 30%? Unless you are a highly skilled grower that knows how to use the higher canopy umols you're just wasting money. Think of it as someone that just got their drivers license and is given a race car to drive. That person won't know how to use the car to his advantage regardless of the power they have underfoot. I have a Bestva Pro B2000 on it's way for my 5 x 5. Great light at a very low price.

Supporting things for me would be like particular amendments that are better suited for large grows for the same reasons I outlined previous. Two circulating fans in the tent rather than one? Great to have but not critical. I've seen people do great grows with nothing more than an umbrella light, Miracle gro and some plastic sheeting! Start with the basics. Learn how they work and how to push them to their limits. When you can't get any better bring in the other stuff and see if it makes it better.

Gregsplace said:

Hey Everyone,
Brand new grower here attempting for the first time. I am slowly putting together a grow room and gathering supplies, reading and watching every piece of info I can get my hands on.
I’m wondering, what is that bit of advice you would have told yourself starting out? Or what is that invaluable piece of equipment that makes all the difference in your grow?
What’s everyone’s favorite nutrients you just have to have on hand ??

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#1 pH and EC pens. Bluelab's work great and last a long time if you take care of them.
#2 A good RO filter if your water is not ideal for growing

And if you really want to get serious about it - get your water tested, and your soil if you plan to grow outdoors. This will really help you put together the proper nutrients for the plants. If you search around there should be companies in your area that do these tests, if not government agencies.

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You'll definitely want a pest control strategy in place. Even when growing indoors. Get some yellow sticky aphid traps, as well as a Spinosad product such as Captain Jacks Deadbug or similar.

Does anyone have a favorite brand for nutes that isn’t overly complicated. I was looking at the GH brand, Fox farm or Dr. Earth.
I’ve been a gardener for a long time this is just my first dive into this particular plant.

Gregsplace said:

Does anyone have a favorite brand for nutes that isn’t overly complicated. I was looking at the GH brand, Fox farm or Dr. Earth.
I’ve been a gardener for a long time this is just my first dive into this particular plant.

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GH Floranova Grow and Bloom. All the base nutrients you need in one bottle!

The nutes and amendments I use for home and tent grows.....

GH Floranova
Hormex
ProTekt Silicate
Botanicare Cal/Mag


Grow Media:

Root Organic Original
Xtreme Gardening MYKOS Mycorrhizae

I second the use of Bluelab PH and EC/PPM pens. I recommend the Growers toolbox. It has both meters and enough calibration solution to keep the meters accurate.

For pest control my main pesticide is Azamax Miticide. Very effective and can be applied up to 10 days before harvest. I used to manage a container farm and they had a hand held fogger that was really great for quickly getting pesticide where it needed to be applied, namely under the leaves where eggs and mites hide. The fogger coated the entire plant making the miticide much more effective and reducing the amount of reapplications needed to control the infestation. Eagle 20 is also a very effective pesticide but is banned in some states and not recommended for cannabis cultivation.

Sample of a fogger that would work for pesticide application in a small area.

Deadstill said:

#1 pH and EC pens. Bluelab's work great and last a long time if you take care of them.
#2 A good RO filter if your water is not ideal for growing

And if you really want to get serious about it - get your water tested, and your soil if you plan to grow outdoors. This will really help you put together the proper nutrients for the plants. If you search around there should be companies in your area that do these tests, if not government agencies.

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I would think that other than living in a rural area that uses well water as their source of water most municipalities have decent water quality. Some more than others, sure, but the baseline is probably OK 99% of the time. What I would look out for is too much chlorine in the water which seems to be the dominant problem in more urban areas and semi rurals that have adequate water treatment facilities and use chlorine to kill whatever pathogens and bacterial issues the water may have.

Gregsplace said:

Does anyone have a favorite brand for nutes that isn’t overly complicated. I was looking at the GH brand, Fox farm or Dr. Earth.
I’ve been a gardener for a long time this is just my first dive into this particular plant.

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You are new use GH if you go with a soilless hydro setup and keep it simple. Some people say no. I say I can show you how simple it can be dnd the results of the GH 3part and hydro guard nothing more.

I personally use Black Dog LED light fixtures. If you want more info on them please PM me so I don’t clog your thread. There are some very good reasons I do.

I am having a hard time deciding on a light. I will only grow two at most at a time. I really want to be able to pay attention and give my focus, the area is a 4x4. Any suggestion on a good size light set up for two plants in a 4x4

Don’t over water

Gregsplace said:

I am having a hard time deciding on a light. I will only grow two at most at a time. I really want to be able to pay attention and give my focus, the area is a 4x4. Any suggestion on a good size light set up for two plants in a 4x4

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This
or

Patience when the time comes.

I think engineering the environment is key. Measure. Plan. Calculate. Plan again. Then put your shopping list together.

Start with heat control. Until you figure out your lung room situation you can’t really pick a light.

Once you have solid control over temp rh and air flow designed you can decide if HPS is even possible for you as an example.

Keep in mind total footprint needed. If you are going to exhaust to lungroom you will need a dehumidifier in there. Access to a laundry type sink is a huge plus. Just a lot of little things go into this. Planning power is another example.

There are growers that are killing it on first grows here. An example would be @Vb2flat2surf check out his grow for inspiration.

Moe.Red said:

I think engineering the environment is key. Measure. Plan. Calculate. Plan again. Then put your shopping list together.

Start with heat control. Until you figure out your lung room situation you can’t really pick a light.

Once you have solid control over temp rh and air flow designed you can decide if HPS is even possible for you as an example.

Keep in mind total footprint needed. If you are going to exhaust to lungroom you will need a dehumidifier in there. Access to a laundry type sink is a huge plus. Just a lot of little things go into this. Planning power is another example.

There are growers that are killing it on first grows here. An example would be @Vb2flat2surf check out his grow for inspiration.

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Thanks man. im learning through people like you. taking good advice, criticism and be willing to take chances. Example in my first grow it would have my feeling to have lolipopped and got rid of anything that looked like a bud lol.
For me my best investment thus far is having my new ac unit (on outside of tent blowing into exhaust) I took me 3 grows to Finally get my temps, humidity, light all where i want them. I am ready to add a new light or upgrade conpletly. Any advice on that note would be great. I currently am running mars hydro tsl200 and liking the 2022 model. Im willing to invest in HPS. Any advice on stepping up in a 4x2x5 would be ready. im willing to invest as this is now becoming my new found passion and hobby

Moe.Red said:

I think engineering the environment is key. Measure. Plan. Calculate. Plan again. Then put your shopping list together.

Start with heat control. Until you figure out your lung room situation you can’t really pick a light.

Once you have solid control over temp rh and air flow designed you can decide if HPS is even possible for you as an example.

Keep in mind total footprint needed. If you are going to exhaust to lungroom you will need a dehumidifier in there. Access to a laundry type sink is a huge plus. Just a lot of little things go into this. Planning power is another example.

There are growers that are killing it on first grows here. An example would be @Vb2flat2surf check out his grow for inspiration.

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Thank you for the suggestion!
I have a monitor in the area I’ll be setting up a grow and been watching what the natural temp and humidity is. I plan on getting a set up going and watching the numbers again and playing around with how to adjust everything before I go to germinate.
I’m nervous how everything is going to react to each other. Like how is adding the fan going to adjust the temp, and then once i play with the temp how that affects the humidity. Lots of tweaking in the weeks to come.

Gregsplace said:

Thank you for the suggestion!
I have a monitor in the area I’ll be setting up a grow and been watching what the natural temp and humidity is. I plan on getting a set up going and watching the numbers again and playing around with how to adjust everything before I go to germinate.
I’m nervous how everything is going to react to each other. Like how is adding the fan going to adjust the temp, and then once i play with the temp how that affects the humidity. Lots of tweaking in the weeks to come.

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Exactly right. Get all that sorted with lights on and tent closed before adding plants.

You will likely be in the low rh range at first. That won’t last long once transpiration starts up most people have rh too high which can cause bud rot and ruin your whole day. But depends where you are growing.

Moe.Red said:

Exactly right. Get all that sorted with lights on and tent closed before adding plants.

You will likely be in the low rh range at first. That won’t last long once transpiration starts up most people have rh too high which can cause bud rot and ruin your whole day. But depends where you are growing.

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This^^^^^

Moe.Red would you consider using a dehu inside a 5 x 5 x 80 a waste of energy because of the amount of air exchanges the tent gets making the dehu ineffective? The lung room is kept at a constant 73*.

I'm debating on whether I should try and hang a small footprint dehu or get a bigger one and just dehu the lung.....

Plants are coming out of seedling and going into veg so transpiration is going to start to increase and I want to try and get ahead of it while the ACI T6 is still able to control temp and humidity.

RootsRuler said:

This^^^^^

Moe.Red would you consider using a dehu inside a 5 x 5 x 80 a waste of energy because of the amount of air exchanges the tent gets making the dehu ineffective? The lung room is kept at a constant 73*.

I'm debating on whether I should try and hang a small footprint dehu or get a bigger one and just dehu the lung.....

Plants are coming out of seedling and going into veg so transpiration is going to start to increase and I want to try and get ahead of it while the ACI T6 is still able to control temp and humidity.

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My thinking is this: if the lung room is part of your living space dehumidify the lung room.

If you are in a basement dehumidify the lung room. Air filtration and lower rh help keep pests and fungi under control and improve your house overall.

If you plant to upgrade to CO2 you want it inside the tent then, might as well go with that plan now.

Keep in mind that a dehuy will increase ambient temps.

Was thinking of CO2 but with the air exchanges the tent gets I don't think it would be feasible aside from the fact that whatever I would gain will most likely be minimal.

The tent is in my living room so I think I'll go with the larger dehu and just do the lung. It would probably be easier to control temps inside the tent as you mentioned if I dehu the lung.

RootsRuler said:

I would think that other than living in a rural area that uses well water as their source of water most municipalities have decent water quality. Some more than others, sure, but the baseline is probably OK 99% of the time. What I would look out for is too much chlorine in the water which seems to be the dominant problem in more urban areas and semi rurals that have adequate water treatment facilities and use chlorine to kill whatever pathogens and bacterial issues the water may have.

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I have a spring fed well for water and many is the time that the PH is banging! Have seen it as high as 9.2.