On the right track?

curiousBird · Post by **curiousBird** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 1:03 am

I'm one of those look-ee-loos who found myself here because of some crazy drama, but as a happy accident, I think I stumbled on folks who might be able to answer some gardening questions. Due to circumstances, gardening hasn't been a possibility in a few years. Soon space and security concerns will be alleviated. My intent is (2) 4x4x7 mylar tents, 600w lights, and (4) 5gal DWC per tent. I have some experience, but this would be my first attempt at hydro, however I can't give soil the attention it needs. Am I on the right track, advice?

Lrus007 · Post by **Lrus007** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 1:11 am

i wish i could help sadly, i do not know hydro.
best of luck with it sounds sound.
Lrus007

Chester · Post by **Chester** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 1:16 am

Coco is the best of both worlds. Forgiving like soil, yields like hydro. Even hand-watered (with nutrients) coco is great.

Plural of Mongoose · Post by **Plural of Mongoose** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 8:23 am

curiousBird wrote:
Am I on the right track, advice?

Hey there curiousBird, you're definitely on the right track.

I second the suggestion to use coco coir:
http://www.planetnatural.com/product-category/growing-indoors/growing-media/coconut-coir/

You can't over-water it, easy clean up, way easier than soil or straight hydro.

You can hand water twice a day, run to waste is easiest, just water until some starts coming out the bottom. Easy peasy.

For fantastic results, check out airpots. They promote 'air pruning' of the roots, and produce just incredible root structure unlike anything else:
http://air-pot.com/garden/
There's a short little video at that link that explains how they work.

Start 'em in 1 liter pots, then up-pot first to 4 liter, and finally 16 liter. Letting the roots fill each one before up-potting really accelerates root growth. The airpots are great, undo the snap holding it together, and unroll the side piece, and set your undisturbed root-ball in a nice coco coir base in the new pot. Basically zero transplant shock. so no resultant stalling of growth.

4 per tent is just perfect for your first grow, not too crowded, and gives 'em lots of room to grow. Just watch the humidity doesn't get too high, you'll need good airflow to keep the tents from overheating as well. Air cooled hoods are a must, as well as good air circulation in the tent to prevent mildew, ewww.

There's forums here for everything from grow room design to help with lights and electrical problems, and lots of old-times who remember their first time, and would love to help you out.
Best of luck, and happy growing!

twilson · Post by **twilson** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 8:46 am

Had pretty good luck using Fox farm ocean forests soil in terms of not having to fuss and hover over the plants constantly. Hempy bucket was good too but the plants look lousy for the first couple weeks till the roots hit the reservoir.

Post by **Jesús Malverde** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 10:40 am

Soil is the easiest and most forgiving of user error but even I have to admit that a well run coco coir system will handily beat it as far as yield. If you don't mind as a beginner climbing the steep end of a learning curve coco is a great way to go; if you just want to play it simple, safe and stress free, use a good packaged soil like Fox Farms.

curiousBird · Post by **curiousBird** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 6:27 pm

I've actually used FF soil and Nuts in the past and it worked great. My concern, POM, is my inability to be able to water twice a day. I'm working under the assumption (I remember reading somewhere, God only knows where) that a hydro system can be left on it's own for a couple or a few days at a time without ruining everything. I'll definitely explore the coco option. Air flow is something I've already accounted for, air-cooled tube lights and a general flow, plus carbon filters for odor masking. Thanks all for the help

bentech · Post by **bentech** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:38 pm

were getting lazy out here on the left coast as far as a grow friendly enviroment.
ive got 4 storefronts within an hours drive that only sell clones. ie, if your in a grow friendly state i would suggest this as it puts you way ahead of the game time and selection wise; your really getting prime examples of any given strain.

im highly suspicious of those "clones" for sale at the medical collective where everyones buying their pot. thats mostly eye candy used to drive the sale of bud; if you have the option id get clones from a storefront that specifically selling them or from a grower you know.

failing that i would recommend the purchase of feminized seeds. aside from avoiding males the process of creating them mean that each seeds will grower truer to a prime example of that gene line; well worth the expense when your getting up and started

Chester · Post by **Chester** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 10:01 pm

With coco and a decent sized container, young plants (0-5 weeks 12-12) well saturated, you can easily go 2 days without stress. The caveat is, mature plants near harvest may not do so well. They get thirstier as they get close to their final days.

Your mileage will vary of course. Temperatures, humidity, CO2 levels, strains you are growing, nutrient levels and phase of the moon all play their part in the random dance. With experience comes knowledge.

Plural of Mongoose · Post by **Plural of Mongoose** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 2:08 pm

curiousBird, while you can set up DWC with a control bucket to keep water levels up for a day or three, it's just as simple or simpler with coco.

When I moved into the bathroom and was growing in the bedrooms of my flat, I used 1.2 X 2.4 meter, so 4' x 8' tents. I ran 3 x 600W air cooled hps, vented outside for heat control. The single 4' x 8' tent makes it a *lot* easier to work in than two 4' x 4' would be.

What I did with mine was grabbed a 4' x 8' sheet of 3/4" marine plywood. I screwed six 10" metal legs (I bought 12" legs, but had to cut 'em down to clear the ceiling. Poor planning there, eh.) and put the tent on top of the raised platform. I grabbed a 4' x 8' x 5" hydro tray to line the bottom of the tent. I raised the back and one side by extending the adjustable screw leg thingies, and installed a drain on the front.

Outside the tent I had a 12 gal reservoir with a pump on a timer, and two drip emitters (In case one plugged, eh.) for each plant. With the larger single tent, I was able to fit in ten plants, two rows of five each, and had lots of room. (I did try three rows of six one time, but it was too crowded, and jammed up late in flower, and had ewww, mildew problems; lesson learned there--less is sometimes more.)

With a bit of practice, it's easy to figure out how long to run the pumps each cycle, likely two to four minutes, twice a day in heavy flowering. Once a day is fine until you get up to the 16 liter airpots. The airpots have about 2" clearance at the bottom, so the run-off can pool there when you're not there. The rest of the time, it's easy peasy to open the drain valve into a small rubbermaid basin. It's best to keep the drain tray dry, as otherwise you're likely to have excess humidity problems.

At ten weeks I've left mine alone for as long as four days, with no problems whatsoever.

Having grown using pretty much every method known to mankind, I've found coco coir far and away the best method, pretty foolproof, really hard to fuckup, and produces roots like no other method I've ever seen. Bigger and healthier root mass==better bud, and I've never seen bigger and healthier root mass than with coco.

Just google image search air pot roots and you can see both how good the root masses look, as well as how easy it is to up-pot with them.

If you can take the power consumption and heat kick, it's definitely worth running the third 600, but no reason 2 x 600 wouldn't do in a pinch.

Whichever way you decide to go, best of luck.