At what stage do i change bulbs? And a couple of other noob questions.

Hi all,

Just a couple of questions for a noob. Im on day 14 of my grow. Its my first time and a bit of a learning process, although I am loving it! Just to give you a background of my setup. I have 10 girls, currently in a wilma 4 pot system, 4 will remain in one of the wilma 4 pot trays, 4 more will go in the other 4 pot tray i have and i have 2 plants in one big pot (these 2 in the big pot are just 2 extra that Im going to hand rear, kind of a bonus if they grow well).
All 10 pots (11 litre) fit nicely into the one wilma at the moment, they are approx 7-8cm high and are on their 3rd set of leaves. Although i have 2 600w MH lights, because they are small, I have them all under one light (600w SuperVeg) which the guy in the shop recommended to start them off.

I have 2 other bulbs, Sunmaster 600w (dual spectrum). My first question is, at what point do i split the 8 pots into the two 4 pot wilma systems and hit them with the Sunmaster 600w bulbs? Should I wait until they are a certain height?

My second question is to do with feeding. There seems to be a few methods on this. Im currently hand feeding them with a 1/4 canna mix at the moment as they are still young. I plan to install the wilma drip feed system in the next couple of days. Am i right in thinking I should feed them twice a day ie. when the lights come on in the morning at 6am and then again when they go to sleep at midnight? Next week, i plan to put them on a full feed as per guidelines from Canna.

My last question is to do with my extractor fan. This thing is really noisy. Ive got people living in the flat upstairs and a little concerned that they can hear it. My room is actually located where the boiler is kept. It does not get that hot in there, even when the heating is on (stays at around 25 degrees Celsius). Its attached to one of the walls with my ducting venting outside. You can certainly hear the hum from inside the flat but because its attached to the wall, i used some floor linoleum folded up several times to act as a buffer between the wall and fan. Just wanted to know what else i can do to limit the noise from this fan. I read somewhere that some people put their fans in a box with insulation. Maybe remove the fan from the wall and hang with bungees? Just wondered what experienced growers have done to combat this?

Thanks for reading, apologies its a bit of a long one ;)

Peace.
 

sarita99

Member
I never used or saw the Wilma pot system, but I give the plants more space once they start touching each other. Don't know SuperVeg or Dual Spectrum bulbs either, but if one is Metal Halide and the other is HPS, you would switch to HPS when you start flowering them. Noise from fans is a big issue which I have solved in various ways, depending on the setup. I can't envision your setup, but here are some things that help: having the fan a distance away from the wall, insulation in the wall around the duct leading outside, hanging the fan from a bungee cord, or using very thick foam between the chain you are using to hang the fan and the fan. The latter made all the difference for me last week. Visa hands out free seat cushions at shows sometimes, they make for excellent padding.
 

Wurd

Member
Hi all,

Just a couple of questions for a noob. Im on day 14 of my grow. Its my first time and a bit of a learning process, although I am loving it! Just to give you a background of my setup. I have 10 girls, currently in a wilma 4 pot system, 4 will remain in one of the wilma 4 pot trays, 4 more will go in the other 4 pot tray i have and i have 2 plants in one big pot (these 2 in the big pot are just 2 extra that Im going to hand rear, kind of a bonus if they grow well).
All 10 pots (11 litre) fit nicely into the one wilma at the moment, they are approx 7-8cm high and are on their 3rd set of leaves. Although i have 2 600w MH lights, because they are small, I have them all under one light (600w SuperVeg) which the guy in the shop recommended to start them off.

I have 2 other bulbs, Sunmaster 600w (dual spectrum). My first question is, at what point do i split the 8 pots into the two 4 pot wilma systems and hit them with the Sunmaster 600w bulbs? Should I wait until they are a certain height?

My second question is to do with feeding. There seems to be a few methods on this. Im currently hand feeding them with a 1/4 canna mix at the moment as they are still young. I plan to install the wilma drip feed system in the next couple of days. Am i right in thinking I should feed them twice a day ie. when the lights come on in the morning at 6am and then again when they go to sleep at midnight? Next week, i plan to put them on a full feed as per guidelines from Canna.

My last question is to do with my extractor fan. This thing is really noisy. Ive got people living in the flat upstairs and a little concerned that they can hear it. My room is actually located where the boiler is kept. It does not get that hot in there, even when the heating is on (stays at around 25 degrees Celsius). Its attached to one of the walls with my ducting venting outside. You can certainly hear the hum from inside the flat but because its attached to the wall, i used some floor linoleum folded up several times to act as a buffer between the wall and fan. Just wanted to know what else i can do to limit the noise from this fan. I read somewhere that some people put their fans in a box with insulation. Maybe remove the fan from the wall and hang with bungees? Just wondered what experienced growers have done to combat this?

Thanks for reading, apologies its a bit of a long one ;)

Peace.
I'm a soil guy so not sure about the hydro stuff. Like sarita said, ones prob. MH, the other HPS, switch to the HPS bulb when you move to 12/12 lighting.

If you can hang the fan, do it. If it's hung, the vibration caused by the fan will disperse through whatever you have hung it with. Zip ties hold a lot of weight & disperse vibration well.

I also suggest getting a fan speed control. As long as cubic footage for the area isn't above the the capability of the fan, its a great option. I use 6" inline fans and I run them at about 50% power. At 50% power they are about 50% - 70% quieter. My spaces are 175 cubic feet, I run a 440 cfm fan @ 50%, so 220 cfm. In theory, it should evacuate all the air in my space in less than a minute. Noise is a big deal for me too and the speed controls saved the day. Lower volumes & save energy at once, what a deal! Air moving through the ducting also causes a lot of noise so think about wrapping them in insulation if it's critical to success.

Much luck
 
Thanks for the responses guys, appreciate it..., it's great to get some advice from more experienced growers. And now, back to my girls ;)
 
What type of fan are you using ? I use duct boosters they come in Diameters of 6" up 14" and have great CFM ratings for the size you get and are very quiet.. They are designed to pull more air in from the main ducting trunk line to a hard to get at room when a heating or cooling system is on for a building .
 

Illegal Smile

Well-Known Member
Good questions, I can tell you will learn fast.

1. It sounds like you need to read up on how to shift into flowering and change light cycles.
2. Follow Cannas instructions, but I don't know why you be feeding so often. I add nutrients once a week, sometimes twice.
3. Anything with an electric motor that vibrates can be quieted by hanging with bungees. The kind that are actual black rubber work best for this.

Keep asking specific questions!
 
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