First time attempting autos in soil with LED's. ANY pointers appreciated

S

Stickyicky1979

Member
Hello all...

Well I obtained 5 - Gelato, 5 - Zkittlez, and 5 - Wedding Cake seeds from ILGM, they are all autoflower. I originally planned on DWC since I have a lil experience with that but never with autos. So I want to try my luck with soil, which BTW ive never done before. Is there anyone who can give me any pointers on the type of soil I should be using, or really anything at all that I should know. I have the Gen Hydro 3 part Flora, CaliMagic, and Botanicare Hydroguard since I was originally gonna go with DWC. So can I still use these nutes with soil? What size pots should I start each plant off in that will last till the end to avoid having to transplant later on?

I plan on just starting off 1 plant at a time and I have a 1000w LED with the purple lights so im pretty confident that should suffice for 1 plant.

Again guys ANY pointers will be very much appreciated. And thank you all in advance.
 
ptrzm

ptrzm

Well-Known Member
Need some more details. For pot size, need to know tent size. Also, what is the actual wattage of that LED lamp?
 
bri77

bri77

Well-Known Member
I think some sort of coco mix or even rockwool would be more appropriate than soil with those nutes.
 
S

Stickyicky1979

Member
Thx PTRZM. No tent. I got a section of my closet sealed off and lined with that reflective bubble wrap. Probably a good 4 × 3 foot section. The lamp... 1000 right? Is that not what it is? First time I ever bought an LED.


Thx bri77. N what?... Grow with coco mix in a pot in place of soil? I got starter plugs would that work same as rockwool? Real talk I domt know the first thing about growing in anything but dwc..
 
bri77

bri77

Well-Known Member
Maybe stick to soil then, it's the most forgiving. Do you have a link to the light? Often they will call a light 1000 Watts but it's only drawing 150 from the wall.
 
S

Stickyicky1979

Member
Oh yeah? N would that be sufficient for just 1 plant? Says it has like a 3x3 radius. I jist wanna make sure its enough that I get a decent yield n product as well.
 
S

Stickyicky1979

Member
Well I gotta head out to that daily grind... But i would very much appreciate if we could continue this convo later on. I appreciate all yall that helped.
 
BucketGrower

BucketGrower

Well-Known Member
The light you bought should work for one plant given you don't grow the plant too large. Just know that those purple lights use older tech LEDs and are substantially less efficient than what's currently out these days. I'd say if you only want to grow one plant, do it up! It will work, but it's years behind what we have today in terms of led technology. I actually own one of those purple lights and I have it pointed at a giant cola as supplemental light, and I can tell you, the bud really doesn't mind the hella red and blue spectrum. Getting fatter every day. I personally would only use purple lights for seedling starter or supplemental but since it's the only light you got and only want to do one plant, I'm sure you'll rock a sexy lil harvest for your personal stash.
 
S

Stickyicky1979

Member
BucketGrower said:
The light you bought should work for one plant given you don't grow the plant too large. Just know that those purple lights use older tech LEDs and are substantially less efficient than what's currently out these days. I'd say if you only want to grow one plant, do it up! It will work, but it's years behind what we have today in terms of led technology. I actually own one of those purple lights and I have it pointed at a giant cola as supplemental light, and I can tell you, the bud really doesn't mind the hella red and blue spectrum. Getting fatter every day. I personally would only use purple lights for seedling starter or supplemental but since it's the only light you got and only want to do one plant, I'm sure you'll rock a sexy lil harvest for your personal stash.
Click to expand...
Thx i appreciate your tip. I actually do also have Mars TS1000 thats also a 1000w LED that uses the white light. But i was planning on returning that one cuz it gets a lil hot n the other purple one doesn't, n I dont have an exhaust set up in my space. U think I might be better off keeping the Mars instead? Thx again.
 
S

Stickyicky1979

Member
bri77 said:
Maybe stick to soil then, it's the most forgiving. Do you have a link to the light? Often they will call a light 1000 Watts but it's only drawing 150 from the wall.
Click to expand...
I read someones review and they said it pulls 65w in veg and 46w in bloom. IDK how much truth there is to that but thats what I've been able to find so far
 
T

testtime

Well-Known Member
Stickyicky1979 said:
Thx PTRZM. No tent. I got a section of my closet sealed off and lined with that reflective bubble wrap. Probably a good 4 × 3 foot section. The lamp... 1000 right? Is that not what it is? First time I ever bought an LED.


Thx bri77. N what?... Grow with coco mix in a pot in place of soil? I got starter plugs would that work same as rockwool? Real talk I domt know the first thing about growing in anything but dwc..
Click to expand...
Couple things about soil.

Drainage is incredibly important. So to start off with you get a grow bag made of fabric. You don't use a pot, and you don't use those plastic bags. Then you put rocks in the bottom of the bag, not much, an inch is plenty, you probably already have them as clay pellets. Then fill the bag to the top with box farm ocean forest.

Another reason for the cloth bag is that when the roots hit the edge they self prune when they hit the air, they don't twist around and get root bound

When you water, lift the bag and dunk it in a bucket. Then lift it back out of the bucket and place it on a couple of boards over the bucket. And let it drain. Get 100% coverage and 100% draining.

You could start with a small bag and transplant or you could start with your final bag and just deal with a larger space. Either way a starter plug is fine in it.

While there are a variety of nutrients you can be using you don't need anything for the first several weeks other than microryzial fungus. Spelled incorrectly I'm sure.

In my case I didn't even need nitrogen before I moved to flower. But if I had let it veg for more than a month I would have.

While your current light might be plenty for vegging I strongly suggest you get a better light.
 
T

testtime

Well-Known Member
Stickyicky1979 said:
I read someones review and they said it pulls 65w in veg and 46w in bloom. IDK how much truth there is to that but thats what I've been able to find so far
Click to expand...
Then it sucks. Barely enough for a foot and a half of veg and a foot of bloom. It's also older technology so those wattages are even worse because it's efficiency is bad.

If you don't want to waste the next 3 months of your life get a different light. Even if it produces buds in that space they'll be light and fluffy.

Try this:


Highly efficient, pulls 180 watts from the wall. Cost me 93 bucks.
 
S

Stickyicky1979

Member
testtime said:
Couple things about soil.

Drainage is incredibly important. So to start off with you get a grow bag made of fabric. You don't use a pot, and you don't use those plastic bags. Then you put rocks in the bottom of the bag, not much, an inch is plenty, you probably already have them as clay pellets. Then fill the bag to the top with box farm ocean forest.

Another reason for the cloth bag is that when the roots hit the edge they self prune when they hit the air, they don't twist around and get root bound

When you water, lift the bag and dunk it in a bucket. Then lift it back out of the bucket and place it on a couple of boards over the bucket. And let it drain. Get 100% coverage and 100% draining.

You could start with a small bag and transplant or you could start with your final bag and just deal with a larger space. Either way a starter plug is fine in it.

While there are a variety of nutrients you can be using you don't need anything for the first several weeks other than microryzial fungus. Spelled incorrectly I'm sure.

In my case I didn't even need nitrogen before I moved to flower. But if I had let it veg for more than a month I would have.

While your current light might be plenty for vegging I strongly suggest you get a better light.
Click to expand...
And do the entire grow from that bag start to finish? Remember I have autos so what size bag will get me to thw end to avoid any transplant?

Also I know I have to check the ph of the water before u water the plants... But someone told me u also have to test the run off. Is that true? And if so and the runoff ph is out of whack... How can u fix that?

Honestly and obviously I domt know squat about soil so i REALLY appreciate all I guys comments and tips. Thx a mil.
 
S

Stickyicky1979

Member
testtime said:
Then it sucks. Barely enough for a foot and a half of veg and a foot of bloom. It's also older technology so those wattages are even worse because it's efficiency is bad.

If you don't want to waste the next 3 months of your life get a different light. Even if it produces buds in that space they'll be light and fluffy.

Try this:


Highly efficient, pulls 180 watts from the wall. Cost me 93 bucks.
Click to expand...
So I'd probably be better off with the Mars light then right?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top