First time grower. Starting with 1 Northern Lights and 1 Trainwreck under 150w HPS

Philrooq

Member
Please feel free to give me your feedback or opinion. I am very new to the growing game and could use all the help i can get. Thanks.

My setup:
1 3x2 Grow tent - IMG_2252.jpg
1 150 watt HPS FloraLux - 16,000 Lumens
1 24 watt T5 - 2000 Lumens
1 4 inch high output In-line duct fan (190CFM)
Clip fans on the way. 1 House fan for now.

Growing 1 Northern Lights IMG_2254.jpg
and 1 Trainwreck IMG_2253.jpg. Both were cloned 4 weeks ago.

My original plan was to veg with the T5 and flower with the Lux. My tent is in my garage and it can get into the low 60's at night in the tent with just the T5 on. I decided to use both lights for this veg and keep the HPS near the top of the tent and the T5 directly above the plants. I am hoping this keeps the temp up and also provides more light for veg. I just purchased the clones yesterday and transferred them to 2 gallon pots today. I read Trainwreck and Norther Lights were good plants for beginners. I am using Fox Farm Happy Frog soil. I also have the Fox Farm nutrient lineup that I will start in a few weeks. I have the lights on 24 hours right now and was thinking of switching to 18/6 for a week or 2 (probly a week cuz I am impatient). Just to save a little $$. I was thinking midnight to 6am to help with the temp drop but I am worried about light getting in during the "dark hours". I watered(left out overnight) the plants a little bit immediately after transferring them to the new pots. I hope that is ok and I am not suppose to flush the soil or anything. The leaves looked a little droopy. My long term plan is to eventually have a plant or 2 ready to be harvested every month. I am building a separate room for vegging. With my limited space I think SCROG style will work the best. I hope 2 gallon pots are big enough. I almost went with the 3 gallon. I will be adding 1 or 2 Cotton Candy clones in a few weeks and the 2 gallons just fit better in the tent. 4 plants might be too much in there. My humidity is in the 30's so I will be adding the bucket of water with the towel hanging out and also start misting the leaves a bit. I am not sure if the duct fan needs to be running the entire time the lights are on during vegging. I have the fan turned off right now just to see how it effects the humidity, if any. Please give me your feedback or suggestion or talk shit or whatever. I will continue to leave updates. Thanks for reading.

Everybody light your Vega!
 

Xenosis

Active Member
sufficient enough light set up though it will be on the slow side with only ~300 watts and 18000 lumens. would recommend maybe a 10k floro bulb replacement which is pretty cheap for the boost itl give: http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-10000K-AgroMax-2ft-T5-Aquarium-Bulbs.asp

16k + 10k = 26k which brings you to half of what a 400watt hps puts out (50k). even better if its a double bulb fixture

about the light getting in during the dark cycle, that isn't going to matter for 18/6. even for 12/12, as long as the most intense rays are in the 12/12 timeframe, all other light isnt going to be nearly enough for it to harm the flowering phase; it might even help it grow a little faster. in the wild, the change in light time is gradual and some days are sunnier than others. this is all ok since the plant mostly just looks for the change from more sunlight to less, not the other way around.

scrog is great for vegging. depending on the space, you may even be able to supplement with floros on the vertical screen walls. since the scrog method makes the most use out of a flush surface area, why not increase the surface area. of course for flowering, many leaves would then be facing sideways so the plant will have to use some of its energy to face them up at the main light.

for gallon size, its about 1 gallon for every 1.5 feet of plant. 2g = 3ft, 3g = 4.5ft. this rule is mostly to help with manageability of soil nutrients, thought ive seen a 5 footer coming out of about a half gallon pot.

with the towel just make sure it gets a chance to dry off completely every once in a while so mold doesnt get in there. can travel to moist soil and cause problems. perhaps cycle through several towels. also cover as much of the surface area of water as you can as it will grow algae under hid's. humidity good at 50-60.

you should leave the fan on all the time for lots of fresh air, but your right it will reduce the humidity. one trick to combat this would be to cover the incoming and or outgoing air ducts with a paper towel and have a small cup below or above it with water to let the paper towel soak it up. air will pass through the sheet slightly slower, but you can effectively create mini humidifier by doing this. bigger the supply of water, longer the humidity will last.
 

supchaka

Well-Known Member
I'd get rid of the floro and drop the 150 on them. I add about 30-40% perlite to my happy frog. You can also start nutes fairly early with it unlike ocean forest. You can look at the first 3 or 4 links in my sig for what I was doing with my 150. I had written a much longer reply than this but the stupid fucking site went down in between my typing and hitting post!
 

Philrooq

Member
I had actually already dropped the 150 down to about 2 feet above the plants with the Floro about 4 to 6 inches above. I have a 3000K Red HO bulb in the floro, I thought that plants needed that for flowering. You think I should still get rid of it? Is there any good or bad for using both at same time? I am going to get anther floro and another 150 and eventually have a small vegg room and the tent for just flowering.
 

supchaka

Well-Known Member
A 3k light is closer to an hps already. Your 150 is most likely between 2700 and 3200. I'd put the light about 6 inches from the plants as long as your ventilation is good, if you can manage to squeeze the floro in from the side a little bit it wouldn't hurt but not at the cost of blocking the 150.
 

Philrooq

Member
Vegging Day 15.
Trainwreck 10 inches tall. IMG_2323.jpg
Northernlights 6 inches tall.IMG_2324.jpg

Started 1/2 dose of FF nutes on Day 13.
 

Philrooq

Member
Vegging Day 17.
Both plants have each grown an inch a day the last 3 days!! Watered yesterday with FF nutes, added Grow Big, Kangaroots and Microbe Brew.

Trainwreck 12 inches tall.IMG_2328.jpg

Northern Lights 8 inches tall.IMG_2329.jpg
 

anoos

Well-Known Member
I've got a trainwreck in flower atm, yours is looking good, im interested to see how it turns out
 

Philrooq

Member
Started Flowering on April 22 after 21 days of vegging.

Flowering Day 4
IMG_2359.jpgIMG_2358.jpg Trainwreck. I had to tie it down it for a few days because it was getting so much taller than the NL.
IMG_2361.jpgIMG_2360.jpg Northern Lights. A lot of really big leaves.
 
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