First HID Grow

Well I got my first set of seeds in tonight and they are germinating as we speak. I was leary of wether or not my shipment of seeds would make it in but the first batch has arrived and I placed my orders for my entire set-up this evening. The following is what I decided on:
- Smart Pot 3 Gallon - 5pcs
- iPower System-

• Ballast: iPower 600w Digital Dimmable
• Reflector: 6” Air Cool Hood with Glass Panel
• Bulb(s): 1 HPS + 1 MH
• Light Hanger: Pair of Rope Ratchet, Timer: 24-Hour Machanical Timer

- 3 Set's of Rope Ratchets
- VenTech DF6 6" Duct Fan 240 CFM
- Hydrofarm ACBS6 Bug Shield, 6-Inch , [URL='http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0052F4EN2/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1']Hydrofarm ACBS4 Bug Shield, 4-Inch [/URL]
- TruePower Electronic Stepless Speed Controller,(Fan Speed Controller)
- Phresh Filter 701003 200 Cubic Feet Per Minute Carbon Air Filter, 4 by 12-Inch
- Milwaukee Instruments pH600AQ pH Tester With 1 Point Manual Calibration
- VenTech IF4 4" Inline Duct Fan 190 CFM
- General Hydroponics GH1514 Ph Control Kit
- General Hydroponics Ph 4.01 & Ph 7.0 Calibration Solution Kit - 8 Ounces
- Aviditi PTU-67 Mylar Reflective Hydroponic Grow Tent with T-Zipper, 48" Wide by 24" Deep by 60" High
- HM Digital TDS-4 Pocket Size TDS Tester Meter 0-9990 ppm Measurement Range , 1 ppm Resolution
- 2 Homemade CFL boards (pictured below) with 4x 23W 5500k, 3x 27W 6500k, 3x 13W 6500k (all for veg)


- Serveral extension cords, and a digital timer, and another mechanical timer (both brinks)
- 4 Bags of FFOF, 1 bag of FF Happy Frog, 1 bag of perlite,
- Nutrients: 1 quart Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro 9-3-6, 1 quart Dyna-Gro Pro-TeKt 0-0-3, Fox Farm FX14049 Liquid Nutrient Trio Soil Formula: Big Bloom, Grow Big, Tiger Bloom (Pack of 3 - 32 oz)
- Ducting:ThermoFlo 4"x25' Insulated Ducting, ThermoFlo 6"x25' Insulated Ducting

Hopefully I have all my bases covered and I am ready for a successful grow. Sorry for being long winded lol. I will keep it right here for the first one and then move it to a more appropriate thread. I figured keeping it here might be helpful if I run into any issues. Cant wait to see what happens and looking forward to sharing my journey with RIU!

Sounds like you are having fun! Good luck on your grow!

Good luck man I'll be watching this thread. I'm thinking about ordering a grow tent package, soon and attempting my first indoor grow.

Looks like ya did your homework bro. What strain? Remember FFOF is a hot soil so no nutes the first month

Bugeye said:

Sounds like you are having fun! Good luck on your grow!

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Having tons of fun! Just hopefully I can keep myself under control lol. I get impatient and will find myself probably staring at the plants throughout haha. Thanks for the good luck!

Smkweeed said:

Good luck man I'll be watching this thread. I'm thinking about ordering a grow tent package, soon and attempting my first indoor grow.

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Thanks. Maybe you cant watch and see how I do and maybe put together a package like mine. I will be very detailed with all of my updates. So you can use it as a reference point and pointers (both good and bad).

nflguy said:

Looks like ya did your homework bro. What strain? Remember FFOF is a hot soil so no nutes the first month

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Ya I did about 2 weeks of reading and researching different products, methods, and specifics. If all of that sunk in I know I will be well on my way to some great bud's. See the pics below for the strains.

UPDATE 5/3/14: Well It has been a little over 24 hours since I started the germ process and one seed has already popped. I am using the paper towel method and placed all in zip-loc bags between two plates with light above for heat. (Pictured) Hopefully the rest will pop over night and all will be in soil by the morning.

Nice setup it's very similar to mine (48"x48"x78" tall grow tent) I got 2 750watt metal halide lights ballistic and hood all for 100$ I had to wire it all together but so worth it. I also ordered seeds online like a week before I ordered my tent and my tent already came yesterday and I'm getting kinda worried if they will arrive because that's the only thing I'm waiting for. How long did it take for your seeds to come?

The first batched arrived in 9 days. Still waiting on the second batch. I think the normal time is 10-15 days.Good luck bro!

Update #2: Well as of 5/4/14 at 1 P.M. all seeds have germmed and been placed in soil. Off to the races! I am waiting on my other shipment of seeds to get in to start the last strain. If it is not here by 5/6/14 I will germ one more of the same strain that I already have. I dont want any one plant to be behind the others too much. Here they are hiding under the soil.

Where did u order your seeds from (the first batch)? And good luck bro I'm so stoked and it looks like your doing everything right.

Jesus Christ was atheist said:

Where did u order your seeds from (the first batch)? And good luck bro I'm so stoked and it looks like your doing everything right.

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The first ones to come in I ordered from Castle the other order is from nirvana

5-5-14 Update 3: It was Christmas at my house today. Lol I recieved 7 packages all at once from the same company the mail man knocked on my door and said ho-ho-ho Merry Christmas...HAHA anyways I wanted to share what it was I got and give an update as well. Here we go.
First to come in was the other order of seeds...Yay! So I now have 5 pcs- 3 Gallon SmartPot, fan speed controller, ph and ppm tester and a ph control kit.
I have liftoff and above the soil on my Auto Pounder
Some of the seeds without giving away too much:
And finally a picture of the whole shabang right now.... Tent is supposed to be here towards the end of this week along with a few other remaining items. Happy Growing!

Gl man looks like it's going good hopefully I'll right with u pretty soon. Been 10days since I've ordered my seeds. I'm for sure gonna clone all three of my different strains and once my I harvest my plants I'm gonna pick my highest yielding/strongest strain and use the clone as the mother plant so I don't have to spend money and wait for seeds.

Jesus Christ was atheist said:

Gl man looks like it's going good hopefully I'll right with u pretty soon. Been 10days since I've ordered my seeds. I'm for sure gonna clone all three of my different strains and once my I harvest my plants I'm gonna pick my highest yielding/strongest strain and use the clone as the mother plant so I don't have to spend money and wait for seeds.

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Yea so far so good. That's a pretty good idea. Paying for and waiting for seeds does get old. The way I look at it, its only bad the first time. Next time i'll order a month before I need so hopefully that they will be waiting on me instead of me waiting on them. Let me know when you get your grow started if your going to make a thread. I will definitely watch and comment. Peace bro

Anyone that is reading this thread I wanted to throw this out there. I have not completed a grow from Herbies but the shipping time for their seeds is absolutely amazing. I ordered and then received my seeds 4 days later. To be a U.S. customer and get that kind of shipping time is phenomenal! I hope the quality of their seeds matches the 5 star ordering and shipping experience. Just thought I would throw that out there.

Wow I'm definitely gonna order from them next time. I still haven't gotten my seeds yet and it's been like 12 days. I did manage to buy 5 month old clones yesterday for 50$ so I guess that's a good come up

5-7-14 Update:
I ran into some issues with the shipping of the tent. The one I originally ordered was on back order but wasn't properly reflected on the website. After two days going by of the tent not shipping I called and asked and they couldn't find one to ship me. Long story short I ended up getting a better tent that was twice the price and 2 foot deeper for the same price. Plus they threw in 1-day shipping. Since I now have 8 more square feet of room I decided to go ahead and do 7 plants instead of the 4 I had originally planned to do. The new tent is 48"(wide)x48"(deep)x78"(high). I germed and had in soil 2 more as of yesterday (5-6-14) the two new strains where Nirvana Ak-48 and World Seeds Strawberry Blue. This morning I started the germ process of the final strain for this grow it will be Strain Hunter's Money Maker. The original 4 strains where all auto-flowers, the new additional 3 will all be photo period plants.I think it will be about perfect for the space I have and will be very interesting to see how it all shakes out. My plan is to keep the autos on extended light the whole cycle and let the photo period plants veg until the auto flowers are harvested. Yes this will mean that a lot of my photo periods veg time will be under a HPS but I believe with the extra long veg time and my plan of doing a SCROG they will be monsters in the end. I hope all this makes sense to someone besides me lol. Happy Growing!

5-9-14 Update:
Well I recieved the last of my supplies last night and now the waiting game begins. Everything is set up and seems to be running great. With the 600W running at 100% temp inside tent is a nice 78-80 degrees F. Humidity is running between 40-45%. All strains that I am running this grow have popped and been put into soil.
The Full List Green= Auto-Flowering Blue= Photo-Period

1. Auto Pounder Seedbank: Auto Type: Feminized
2. Trans Siberian Automatic Seedbank: Auto Type: Feminized
3. Auto Northern Lights Seedbank: Nirvana Type: Feminized
4. Critical Automatic Seedbank: Fem Seeds Type: Feminized
5. Ak-48 Standard Seedbank: Nirvana Type: Feminized
6. Strawberry Blue Seedbank: World Seeds Type: Feminized
7. Money Maker Seedbank: Strain Hunters Type: Feminized

The reason I did it this way was too see how I liked the auto's. I figured I could keep the photo-periods in veg stage until it is time to harvest the autos. Not only will they be HUGE when it is time to flower it will shoot me right into another flower and will allow the 3 huge photo's(from so much veg time) to have plenty of room and light. It will be interesting to see how it works. As far as the plants go all the Auto's are above soil. The three photos are about to pop as well. I am a bit concerned though because it seems as if they have been pretty much stuck at this same size for a couple of days now. Temps are right(78-80), PH perfect(6.3), Humidity good(40-45%). Maybe had to do with the lighting. Last night for the last 2 hours before their sleep was first MH they have had. Using a soil-less mixture and this is the only thing I can think of that would throw them off. It has absolutely zero nutrients and maybe they need a little to get going? Before they went to sleep last night I placed a small amount of FFOF on the top of their soil-less mixture before I watered. Hoping that maybe a light amount of the nutes would make it to the babies. Let me know what you think please!

CFLGREENTHUMB said:

Anyone that is reading this thread I wanted to throw this out there. I have not completed a grow from Herbies but the shipping time for their seeds is absolutely amazing. I ordered and then received my seeds 4 days later. To be a U.S. customer and get that kind of shipping time is phenomenal! I hope the quality of their seeds matches the 5 star ordering and shipping experience. Just thought I would throw that out there.

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Thats why I like Herbies so much. Their stealth shipping and speed of delivery is un-matched (yes even by attitude and nirvana)

I see one piece of equipment you will need that is not on your list. A 100X scope to check the trichomes before harvest. Its one of those "MUST-HAVE" things. Good Luck!

Everything sounds good u definitely have your ducks in a row . You might want to look into co2 it's like steroids for plants