First grow!!! HELP!!

Hi all this is my first grow ever. I've read and read and figures what the hell. As a new grower I do have some "things" to figure out and that's where I'm hoping you all will come in and steer me in the RIGHT direction lol. But onto my setup and equipment etc so we can get to my QUESTIONS and hopefully some ANSWERS. I'm growing in a walk in shower in a spare bathroom.

EQUIPMENT:
600 watt dimmable ballast with basic wing reflector currently dimmed to 250 watts (600watt hps bulb).
Fox farm ocean forest soil
Barneys farm blue cheese fem seeds
Panda film
Solo cups
5 gal fabric pots

My setup is fairly simple and straightforward. This is a shower grow in a non used bathroom. I gorilla taped panda film on all the walls but the opening. I'm confused about that as well like should I make a "panda film door" for that shower opening??? I bought an extra shower curtain rod and fitted it into the shower. Using the included rope ratchets I hung the light and wing reflector from said shower rod. I successfully germed 4 of the seeds using the paper towel method and paper plates. When taproot was "acceptable" length to me I planted them a pinch deep in four solo cups that I filled with the fox farm and that I had cut holes into the bottom of for drainage. 3 are doing fine and one has yet to sprout. They are almost 2 weeks old. Have ballast dimmed to 250watts on a 18on/6off timer. Barely watered until sprout popped up from the dirt. I use tap water that has been left out for 24hrs. Now I water once a day until I get a little runoff because the soil dries but not bone dry. I use paper plates for saucers. Pour the run off right down the shower drain. When they get bigger I plan to transplant them into the fiber pots and just let the runoff run down the drain as well. Heat isn't much of a problem right now. I know that this isn't everything I need. But I feel like it's what I needed to get started. I know I will probably have to invest in fans, nutes, filter, ducting blah blah blah and that's where I'm hoping you guys can help. I plan on getting some clip on fans today. Oh yea it's an apartment grow if that means anything so stealth is MAJOR but it's laid back. My goal is to get about a lb. So now to my questions
QUESTIONS:
1. As far as filtering. The bathroom is not that big. Should I aim to "seal" the shower and filter that alone or should I aim to just filter the whole bathroom.

2. Ventilation. I have a standard bathroom fan on the ceiling as you can see in the pics.
Should/could I use this to vent? And as far as intake would opening the door sometimes work or would it be best to run ducting under door to draw fresh air from other room.

3. There is an ac vent on the wall that you can't see in the pic. Should I cover and seal this or leave it alone to help with temp control.

3. Like I said my plants are almost 2 weeks and 3 are ok but one has yet to break soil. Should I germ another and try to repot another one?

4. Is 250watt enough light for the kids at this age?

5. What type of training do you think would best benefit this type of setup.

Any feedback will be appreciated

Hi, I am not the most skilled person by any length (I am only on my third and fourth grows), but I would say start another seed. Any of my seeds that hadn't popped up at 2 weeks never did.

ladywolf said:

Hi, I am not the most skilled person by any length (I am only on my third and fourth grows), but I would say start another seed. Any of my seeds that hadn't popped up at 2 weeks never did.

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Your more skilled than I am! Lol. 3-4 grows ahead of me. Any tips are greatly appreciated. You can learn something from anybody

Anybody?

after you get the 3rd and 4th nod i would crack the light up to 400 and when you are ready to do the switch i would than crack it up to 600...as far as training lst would be the best imo

when the shower door is closed, where does the air come from and where does it go to?

Logically speaking you need to panda film that door, so you get even light distribution or reflection.

I feel the setup in general needs a lot, especially in the ventilation and air movement, that grow area is going to get hot, you'll definitely need air supply in to cool the lights, and you'll need in air for the grow area, and you'll need a carbon filter for the out air if odor is an issue for you.

You'll need to provide grow area dimensions and bathroom dimensions to get a proper idea of what ventilation fans you need.

Do you have any option to run a vent apart from the door? The AC duct might be very useful don't block it.

It looks as you're off to a great start! My first indoor grow was cheap and simple, Mylar wrap inside a wooden 3'x2'x5' box with 4 42watt cfl's, 2 clip fans, and 1 pound of soda powder to help with the smell and humidity and all went well. All that being said you made a good decision going with what I believe is 6mil panda film and the dimmable ballast hps. Cost and temperature wise it seems a little on the inefficient side, hps/mh over led running cost vs. upfront cost, panda film over Mylar cost vs. quality. Anyways, definitely try to seal off the room and add a carbon filter, I wouldn't advice using the bathroom fan or duct work to draw any smell out of the room, but it should work great for cooling, just check the duct work and verify the cfm to the fan you'll be using, I'm guessing 145 cfm based on a standard 8'x4'x8' bathroom. Keep us posted on the progress with updates and pictures. Best of luck!

AssMatic7 said:

after you get the 3rd and 4th nod i would crack the light up to 400 and when you are ready to do the switch i would than crack it up to 600...as far as training lst would be the best imo

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Thanks assmatic. Being a newbie I'm not too too familiar with all the big terminology lol. When you say node are you talking about pair of leaves? Because they already have 3 sets of leaves

Naija said:

when the shower door is closed, where does the air come from and where does it go to?

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Thanks naija for posting. There is no shower door. Only a shower curtain which I will remove soon. There is an ac vent up top to the left that you can't see. There is also one of those bathroom vents that sends the stinky air outside. The bathroom is connected to an unused bedroom. There is no window in the bathroom and I really don't want to run ducting all the way to the window in the bedroom. Hence my question. Could I run ducting with an intake fan from the grow area in the shower to the bathroom door. Like seal the bathroom door and then leave just enough room to put the ducting under it to pull fresh air from the bedroom. This I'm thinking would be my intake. As far as outtake. I was thinking of running ducting with an outtake fan from the grow site to rhe bathroom vent in the bathroom. This would be my outtake

Naija said:

Logically speaking you need to panda film that door, so you get even light distribution or reflection.

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Yea I know that. How to get it done is where I'm stuck at. I was thinking of somehow making a "door" of some kind that would serve this purpose as well as seal the area in. For example one of my ideas was to use cardboard with panda film as a "door". Then cut holes just big enough for my intake and outtake. The problem I think with this is that it will be a pain in the ass to get in and out

Naija said:

I feel the setup in general needs a lot, especially in the ventilation and air movement, that grow area is going to get hot, you'll definitely need air supply in to cool the lights, and you'll need in air for the grow area, and you'll need a carbon filter for the out air if odor is an issue for you.

You'll need to provide grow area dimensions and bathroom dimensions to get a proper idea of what ventilation fans you need.

Do you have any option to run a vent apart from the door? The AC duct might be very useful don't block it.

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I plan to add some clip on battery powered fans. Thinking of recharable batteries vs more $ on the light bill. I plan on getting a carbon filter but I know I done need it yet so I plan to spend the money on stuff I need and can utilize now. There is no window in the bathroom. If I use the ac vent my worry is that odor will be throughout my home when the air is not on lol

Keith Stoner said:

It looks as you're off to a great start! My first indoor grow was cheap and simple, Mylar wrap inside a wooden 3'x2'x5' box with 4 42watt cfl's, 2 clip fans, and 1 pound of soda powder to help with the smell and humidity and all went well. All that being said you made a good decision going with what I believe is 6mil panda film and the dimmable ballast hps. Cost and temperature wise it seems a little on the inefficient side, hps/mh over led running cost vs. upfront cost, panda film over Mylar cost vs. quality. Anyways, definitely try to seal off the room and add a carbon filter, I wouldn't advice using the bathroom fan or duct work to draw any smell out of the room, but it should work great for cooling, just check the duct work and verify the cfm to the fan you'll be using, I'm guessing 145 cfm based on a standard 8'x4'x8' bathroom. Keep us posted on the progress with updates and pictures. Best of luck!

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Your correct about the panda film. I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say. The bathroom has an ac vent in the top left corner that you can't see in the pics that blows air INTO the bathroom from my central ac unit. On the ceiling in the same bathroom there is a regular bathroom fan that you turn the switch on and it sucks the air OUT of the bathroom. I was thinking of using the ceiling fan to exhaust by taking the cover off and covering it with ducting from my outtake. The ac vent that blows INTO the room I was wondering if I should utilize it to control temp, airflow, etc or if I should seal it. Don't mind keeping it open but I don't want the smell in the whole house

Here are some pictures of my ladies

Their definitely looking health so far, I'm sure you've done your homework from your first post but what's the spacing between the hps and top of your girls? Also it you have a meat thermometer or even better is a cheap ir thermometer from harbor freight, check the heat between the too, and the top of the plant to ensure when you turn up the light you don't get any unexpected burns. As far as the ac fan and bathroom exhaust fan I was pretty stoned last night. I would use the ac for cooling just cheap duct work, but not the bathroom exhaust unless you're sure of where it exits

Keith Stoner said:

Their definitely looking health so far, I'm sure you've done your homework from your first post but what's the spacing between the hps and top of your girls? Also it you have a meat thermometer or even better is a cheap ir thermometer from harbor freight, check the heat between the too, and the top of the plant to ensure when you turn up the light you don't get any unexpected burns

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Like I said I dimmed the ballast to 250w because I read somewhere that seeds don't need all that light and it would be a waste of $ to start them out @ 600w. Only thermometer I have is a digital one for when your sick but I plan on getting one soon. @250w my light isn't putting out too too much heat so I had them extremely close to my plants like 8-10 in away. They were doing fine until about 2 days ago when I noticed that one leaf on one of the plants looked as if it was curling upward. From what I read that could be signs of light burn or heat. So I moved my light about 6 in higher and that leaf is back to normal. I use the back of my hand to judge the heat. Last night during dark hours I turned my ballast up to 400w. It will be on about an hour before I get home. Will observe and make adjustments for the the wattage change. I plan to use 600w for the whole grow though. Do you think it's too early for 600w?

i think I'd hold off on full power until right before you re pot them, right now I'm sure the roots and leaves could make good use of the extra light, but the roots need more room first to maximize results

Keith Stoner said:

i think I'd hold off on full power until right before you re pot them, right now I'm sure the roots and leaves could make good use of the extra light, but the roots need more room first to maximize results

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Great. I was thinking along those lines as well. Thanks

Sirsmokealot91 said:

Like I said I dimmed the ballast to 250w because I read somewhere that seeds don't need all that light and it would be a waste of $ to start them out @ 600w. Only thermometer I have is a digital one for when your sick but I plan on getting one soon. @250w my light isn't putting out too too much heat so I had them extremely close to my plants like 8-10 in away. They were doing fine until about 2 days ago when I noticed that one leaf on one of the plants looked as if it was curling upward. From what I read that could be signs of light burn or heat. So I moved my light about 6 in higher and that leaf is back to normal. I use the back of my hand to judge the heat. Last night during dark hours I turned my ballast up to 400w. It will be on about an hour before I get home. Will observe and make adjustments for the the wattage change. I plan to use 600w for the whole grow though. Do you think it's too early for 600w?

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I use 600W MH for seedlings, it is not adjustable. I start at 36" when they peek through the soil and slowly bring it to 24" over a 7 day period. They seem to like it.