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Fadeleaf Farms

First grow + LED + SCROG

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Fadeleaf Farms
, 01-02-2011 at 02:07 AM (1738 Views)
Hi everyone! long time reader, first time poster and boy am I excited to finally have something to talk about. I'm planning out my first grow! (whoo hoo!) so heres the dealieo :

The Situation: I'm a medical cannabis patient in norcal. I've been on disability for a while now and due to my ongoing stomach issues and related financial troubles I've had to move out of my own place and back in with the parents. The parents know I have my medical cannabis card and although they dont particuarly like it, they are ok with me smoking in my room, because they know how much medical cannabis has helped me cope with my health problems. However, they dont know that i plan on growing in my closet... but i figure they're pretty used to the smell of me smokin it, with a carbon filter (or 2) on my cabinet they hopefully wont notice any added smells from growing.

I also am currently working part time (until my health allows more) for a medical cannabis delivery collective and plan on eventually using what i learn from work, growing on my own, some time at Oaksterdam University (enrolling in a few months depending on my health), and my preexisting small business management skills to forge myself some sort of career in this awesome and rewarding industry. I'm not lookin to make it rich, just live a chill life growing, researching, studying and contributing to the medical cannabis and legalization movements. but I'm getting ahead of myself... lol

The Plan: I'm going with a soil grow w/ organic nutes and using only LED lighting. My reasons for this are many, but basically this is a purely educational grow, with the main goal being me gaining some experence in small scale growing using the methods i eventually hope to perfect on a much larger scale. Lets just say someday I hope to be running a much larger scale environmentally friendly grow room using LEDs and incorporating solar power and veganic growing methods. (hippie status woot!) but again i'm getting ahead of myself...

My grow space is a plywood shipping crate with interior dimensions of 16ish" deep, 26.5 wide, and 38.5" tall
Ideally it would be a smidge bigger... but hey whatcha gonna do... it was available. I picked up 2 beefy computer fans (Silenx Ixtrema 120mm pro series 72cfm @14db and 15$ each) and a 1200ma 12v ac adapter for 10$ to power them (with room for more if i end up needing it). I'm thinking of running the two fans exhausting out the back of the box near the top corners with DIY carbon filters on each and drilling a passive intake hole on each side near the bottom. I also picked up some snazzy looking computer fan intake grates/filters for a few bucks to clean up/stealthify the intake/exhaust holes.

I've been following the company Hydro Grow LED for a while and i'm planning on using their lights. I've seen several well documented grows using their lights and I'm already sold on LED tech being the way of the future. (i'm not looking for an argument about LED vs HID vs CFL btw... i've done my research and made my decision about it so save any hating/arguments about this for for someone else's thread )

I am however not sure if i'm gonna get the 126w or the 126PRO that they now have that uses 3w leds. I've seen results for the 1w version so i feel like i kinda know what its capable of but have yet to see anyone publish a grow using any of the Hydrogrow pro series (I dont think its been on the market long) but maybe i could be the first. Has anyone seen results using a Hydrogrow brand pro model? anyone have any input on if they're worth the extra money? anyone know if the pro models throw off much more heat? I'm usually the kind of person whos willing to pay a bit extra for better results, but i havent heard or seen any results with the pro version yet and the price jumps from $475 for the 126w to $635 for the 126wPro. the website says "37% more light output with the pro... i dunno tho... is it worth it for me to go with the pro? thoughts?

In the meantime, I'll be getting some Mylar, installing the fans and other odds and ends to finish up my box, as well as figuring out my screen, how many plants of what strain and in what pots (i'll be growing clones from the club for the first run i'm thinking) along with plenty of other details I havent totally nailed down yet. stay tuned!
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p.s. sorry for the huge post

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Comments

  1. Carne Seca's Avatar
    Nice post. Is that cabinet going to be big enough? It looks kind of cramped in there.
  2. budman2014's Avatar
    Great post! and i will be following closely. I am very curious to see how the LED works out for you. I had a few questions tho...

    Is the the first and only time growing ? If so you might consider something that I didn't before I started. SOIL SUCK!!S but not for the growing reason. It seems to always find a way to be messy no matter what, it also makes it hard to travel or leave your girls for any period of time. But depending on your health situation you might not travel much.

    But def good luck and I'll be along for the ride.
  3. budman2014's Avatar
    Subscribed!
  4. Fadeleaf Farms's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Carne Seca
    Nice post. Is that cabinet going to be big enough? It looks kind of cramped in there.
    Thanks! Ideally yeah, it would be something bigger, but due to its availableness and the fact i'm stuck growing in half a closet, for now i think this is the box i get. I'm not really all that concerned about yield or things of that nature, just learning some basics and hoping to learn a lot about the lights as I'm hoping to be able to start a larger grow sometime in the near future using what i can learn from this little box. I have big dreams, but for now due to my crappy health/living situation, i have to cram them into a tiny box in the closet. But I figure tiny box growing is better than no growing at all...


    For educational purposes I think i'm stickin with soil for a while. I'm eventually hoping to be at the nerdtastic, power-hippie level where I'm composting my own soils and growing with strictly veganic methods (organic and without poo). I'm probably years away from all that, but I figure starting with some basic organic soil and nutes for this first run should help me start learning the process and wrapping my brain around the chemistry. I'm only interested in growing organic bud, and I am curious about organic hydro growing but the very small amount I've researched it leads me to think i'm better off sticking with simple organic soil + nute package for now. I havent really made my soil/pot decisions yet, but i'm thinking some sort of foxfarms type stuff. I'd love any input though as far as how many plants, what size pots and what soil/nutes to use, keeping in mind the size of my box and that this will be a scrog grow.

    @budman your comment did make me realize though that i should probably put a tarp or something underneath my box in the closet to contain my mess... the nice wood floor in the closet thanks you in advance
  5. budman2014's Avatar
    Well the first thing i gotta say is **SMALL GROWING IS BETTER THAN NO GROWING** i couldn't agree more Farms. but more to the point of what you trying to find out now...

    First thing is obviously planning out your box. (how is that going?)
    Second is trying to decide on Genetics. I would make sure to look for something that doesn't stretch too too much. A guy on here that I follow is growing Kandy Kush and PineappleExpress in a similar style set up and the KK is twice the size of the PE so whatever you choose make sure its not known for stretching or your box will become way to full.

    Botanicare makes a great great line of Organic Foods that work wonders
    (this guy who I swear knows as much or more about growing than anyone on this site swears by it... you should really check out his thread. http://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-...-weeks-75.html )

    are you going to mix in some other mediums into your soil for drainage and stuff? Peri lite and Clay beads work well. I didnt do this the first time and really regretted it. Without good oxygen to the roots the plants take freaggin forever to grow.
  6. Fadeleaf Farms's Avatar
    Sorry haven't updated in a while... I haven't had much time with the house to myself so i could work on construction, but I've gotten a bit done. Box is now drilled with ventilation holes, the inside edges got sealed up with tape, and i lined the inside with mylar i picked up at the local hydro store. Also... MY LIGHT ARRIVED! I ended up getting the Hydrogrow LED 126w PRO. I haven't gotten it in the grow box yet, but turned it on just to check it out and WHOO shes bright! Hurts the eyes! cant wait to see how it looks mounted up in my box with all the mylar. I'll get some pics up once things look a bit more interesting as now its just kinda a shiny box. I dont know when the next time I'll get the house to myself for a bit so i can try to finish construction, but now that i've got almost everything i'm hoping it'll be soon!

    Still to do:
    install fans and vent covers
    mount light
    build screen
    shop for pots, soil and nutes
    pick out some clones
    odds + ends...

    Any advice on a good, fairly simple, beginner organic soil + nute package?
    I hadnt really thought much about mixing in another medium for drainage but that makes sense... I really dont know much about soil yet, but i'm in the process of researching it all now.

    I'm thinking 2 plants, each in something like a 10-12" square pot. My box is pretty dang small, but from what i'm hearing it sounds like i'll be able to get my screen filled up a bit quicker so i can jump into flowering with more than one plant. Any thoughts on this? I've seen a couple cabs about my size with 2 in em, but i dont want to overcrowd too much...

    As far as strains, I'm reading that northern lights and some of the related strains are good for newbies and have less odor during growing so i'm thinking maybe something like that would be good. (and i seem to remember enjoying how that smoked.) I am going to be sourcing my clones from the club for this first grow though so since i'm not ordering seeds, my options are limited to what i can find locally (but we got it all in the bay so that shouldnt be a prob). I havent found a strain yet i didnt enjoy (lol) but I find in general I tend to like fruitier more tropical tasting stuff over cheesy, spicy, purply, musty/earthier type stuff and as i'm a medical user i typically find pure indicas and pure sativas help me more (sativa in the AM, indica in the PM) than 50/50 hybrids. So i guess i'm probably looking for an easy to grow, low odor indica, that doesnt stretch too much during flowering and has kinda a tropical vibe. Any ideas or other good familys too look for?