First time grower using coco

UserFriendly said:

heat might not be an issue in a bigger room but summer is coming; you'd have to use an a/c (still might). Would you rather risk your life dealing with the blackmarket? It can pay for itself many times over if you want.

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I live in Vegas.....A/C is part of the equation regardless....lol

two feet seems good. make sure the canopy temps stay below 85F, 29C

Well right now all of them seem to be responding strongly to the cfls & fan with an indoor temp of 77F...I'll figure out the venting part and have that MH up by the end of next week.

Definitely watching this one as I plan on buying the exact same kit. How do you like it? Do you have any passive intakes open?

I have a very similar kit also from HTGSupply. I ordered it on Ebay and it was here literally in 3 days. The only difference is mine came with more bags and what they call the "float and grow". It's just a two inch deep plastic tray with a styrofoam slab that has holes for the little starter plugs to sit in. So far it's been 2.5 days since planting my seeds and it has worked awesome. No guesswork with watering, just fill the tray and float the styrofoam on top. All ten seeds I planted have already sprouted out of the soil and three of them have four leaves showing - the tray holds up to 55 plugs.

Right now I have them under four 26watt CFLs that are on 24 hrs/day. It seems everybody thinks they should be switched to the 400watt MH already? Some of my sprouts still have the seed shell on them. I am going to wait until it has been two full days since the sprouts broke the soil surface to intervene and remove the shells if they are still on. I plan to transplant the starter plugs into the Coco Coir when I can see roots at the bottom of the plug. Should I start giving nutes when I do the transplant since this is coco? I know they wait longer to give nutes for regular soil but this medium is new to me.

Bottom line is these kits seem to be a really good deal and I shopped around locally and on the internet. The one called "closet cultivator" gives you everything you could possibly need to grow except a ph tester, a fan, and the water. Seriously, it even comes with 50' of mylar. Anyways, I hope this thread continues - I will watch closely

Sailz said:

Definitely watching this one as I plan on buying the exact same kit. How do you like it? Do you have any passive intakes open?

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I don't really think it is an all inclusive kit. I am buying a new hood for my lights because the one that comes with the kit is really cheap and you can't push any ventilation through it. It gets extremely hot in the tent and 1 3' inline fan just isn't going to cut it.

Word on the street is the Monkey Juice that comes with it is the worst of the fertilizers. I, instead, got some FoxFarm Grow Big.

So be prepared to spend a little more money. Personally, I think it would be better to just buy the tent by if that is what you want to use and then buy everything else seperately.

I've been having my ups and downs. It isn't the easiest thing to grow in Coco...especially if this is your first grow...My seedlings popped quickly, but then they began to turn light green / yellow and the stems looked weak. So I got some nutes that were gentle enough for seedlings and recommended by my buddy who is experienced and now they are all happy. I will post some pics soon

Oh, I didn't mention that mine doesn't have the tent at all. I'm growing in a closet that will be A/C cooled so the crappy hood isn't that much of issue. Is that really true about the Monkey Juice? If it sucks I don't want to take any chances. This is my first serious try at growing too so we might be sharing our coco struggles. Hopefully it's as easy as it's been made out to be by other people. I had one of my sprouts start to yellow too but I thought maybe I hadn't left my water sit out long enough to dispel the chlorine. I replaced the water with some I put chlorine elimination drops in and it recovered almost immediately.

Okay so things are going pretty good now. I wasn't sure if my plants were going to make it. They weren't really growing like I wanted them to and were really light in color but thanks to a steady diet of Jorge Cervantes' Grower's Bible and one of my friends. All my seedlings needed were some nutes that were gentle enough for them.

I also added a couple more plants to the family that my homey brought over. Some Early Indica mixed with Bubblegum. Those are in soil, but are a welcomed addition anyway.

So my current setup now consists of a 3 light ballast which I am currently running on long 100 watt cfl with 2 65w cfl bulbs placed about an inch above my plants. I am going to pick up another hood for my MH that will allow me to vent out the heat. I will run an exhaust fan from one end of the tent with ducting attached to the hood and then blowing out of the other side of the tent...This should help tremendously with the heat. I will run an inline fan from the bottom of the tent blowing in and then another one running at the top of the tent blowing out (the tent has plenty of pockets for fans and ducting). I know I shouldn't be doing all of this while I am already in the process of growing, but now I know. I think it will be fine though.

I also decided not to use that Monkey Juice for nutes. Seems it is a very inconsistent fert according to the local hydro store guy. Right now I am using Bottanicaire Pure Blend Pro for my seedlings. It has a 3-1.5-4 NPK which means they are gentle enough for the seedlings and when the roots hit the coco, it seems to need a little more than just tap water. But in another week I will switch to some FoxFarm Grow Big.

I will post some pics soon when they get a little bigger.

mared juwan said:

Oh, I didn't mention that mine doesn't have the tent at all. I'm growing in a closet that will be A/C cooled so the crappy hood isn't that much of issue. Is that really true about the Monkey Juice? If it sucks I don't want to take any chances. This is my first serious try at growing too so we might be sharing our coco struggles. Hopefully it's as easy as it's been made out to be by other people. I had one of my sprouts start to yellow too but I thought maybe I hadn't left my water sit out long enough to dispel the chlorine. I replaced the water with some I put chlorine elimination drops in and it recovered almost immediately.

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The hydro store guy told me that was his most inconsistent product...and he had a lot of nutes. He told me I couldn't go wrong with FoxFarm and my buddy that was there with me who is experienced agreed.

Check my post up top for the name of it but my friend mixed me some nutes that basically took care of my needs....see what I did was I put the seedling in the plug and then put the plug in the coco. I think what happened was as my roots stretched into the coco, it lacked nutes it needed and became nitrogen difficient. Those nutes did the trick/

You're back! Yay! I thought you had left this thread for dead. PBP is the shit. The only thing I can say about Monkey Juice (and all nutes) is that the NPK printed on the label is the bare minimum to be found in the bottle. Where's the pics yo?

bkstylz,
Thanks for the advice. I think that since we are both pretty new to the growing game we can learn a lot from each other's trials and tribulations. I'm going to ditch the Monkey Juice on your recommendation and finally drive the forty minutes to the nearest hydroponics store which I should have done a long time ago. I'm growing for personal use so I'm looking for the most quality ingredients to create the most quality bud. That's why I got the system with the HPS and MH.

I think I mentioned before that I'm using 4 26watt CFLs for the seedling stage. I have ten sprouts though. Anyone have an opinion as to whether it is safe to switch to MH now or wait some more? It's been three days since the sprouts appeared and the largest one is almost 1" and just starting to show its third set of leaves. Smallest is a little stubby bastard barely 1/2", still nice color and leaf development. My plants are doing great so far but I don't feel like 106watts is going to be enough for them for very long.

bkstylz, what nute levels are you working with right now? I'm going to wait to give nutes until I transplant the seedlings/starter plugs into the coco, but how slowly should I start off? I can post pics of my setup so far and you can compare but I don't want to jack your thread. Maybe I'll start my own but I think a colabo might be better for both of us. It will make it much easier to see what works and what doesn't since our setups and feedings won't be exactly identical. Just an idea.

Happy smoking

UserFriendly said:

You're back! Yay! I thought you had left this thread for dead. PBP is the shit. The only thing I can say about Monkey Juice (and all nutes) is that the NPK printed on the label is the bare minimum to be found in the bottle. Where's the pics yo?

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No I am still here...I was just spending more time reading books...I want this to end up being my first Journal. I will probably try to move this thread...I am off to work but I will post some pics when I get home.

Mared Juwan...It's cool man...I don't look at it as jacking my thread. We are all trying to achieve the same goal. My buddy gave me a gallon he mixed up himself. I will ask him when I see him in a few (work together) to find out how much he mixed.

You can go to an MH right away. The CFL's are more cost effective which is why it isn't a bad idea to run them for the first couple of weeks. I want my MH on yesterday, but I have to buy a new hood within the next couple of days before I can do that.

I will get back on after I get off of work...and post some pics also.

I am using my camera phone so the res isn't all that great.

I noticed when I came home today that the ends of the leaves wherer turning yellow.....does that mean too much nutes?

Just found out one of my dogs chewed through the USB cable I use to link my camera to computer. Wow. I am super-pissed. I'll have to wait to post pics. I wish I could do it now because I have another question. My little starter plugs sit in a styrofoam tray that floats on the water. I wasn't planning on transplanting to the coco for another couple of days but I lifted up the tray and all of the tap roots are hanging like three inches down into the water. Is this cool, or should I transplant immediately? It's only been three days since the last of the sprouts broke through soil. bkstylz, I'd also like to know if you bothered rinsing your coco? I've heard this isn't necessary anymore.

Thanks, Peace

bkstylz,
those are actually awesome pics for a camera phone. It's hard too see how far away your light is. Your plants are quite a bit taller than mine but with about same leaf size. Mine are a couple days behind yours though. As far as the yellowing, what are your temps? I had a plant yellow almost completely under the CFL's because I had a hot spot ~93 when the ambient temp was only 74 and temp under the other lights was 83. After to going to MH it recovered very quickly and looks great.

mared juwan said:

Just found out one of my dogs chewed through the USB cable I use to link my camera to computer. Wow. I am super-pissed. I'll have to wait to post pics. I wish I could do it now because I have another question. My little starter plugs sit in a styrofoam tray that floats on the water. I wasn't planning on transplanting to the coco for another couple of days but I lifted up the tray and all of the tap roots are hanging like three inches down into the water. Is this cool, or should I transplant immediately? It's only been three days since the last of the sprouts broke through soil. bkstylz, I'd also like to know if you bothered rinsing your coco? I've heard this isn't necessary anymore.

Thanks, Peace

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As we all know, I am no professional but yeah I think if your roots are out you need to transplant...like now. I hear it depends on who you buy your coco from as to if you should rinse because of salt. I didn't rinse, but I would feel a lot better if I did....I would use tap water and no nutes for now on the coco and then transplant.....

Do you have PH up PH down???

mared juwan said:

bkstylz,
those are actually awesome pics for a camera phone. It's hard too see how far away your light is. Your plants are quite a bit taller than mine but with about same leaf size. Mine are a couple days behind yours though. As far as the yellowing, what are your temps? I had a plant yellow almost completely under the CFL's because I had a hot spot ~93 when the ambient temp was only 74 and temp under the other lights was 83. After to going to MH it recovered very quickly and looks great.

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That could be...I am ready to go with my MH just because. I had a couple of my plants less than 1/2 an inch from one of my cfl's when I woke up this morning so I adjusted the height of my lights....they are now probably 2 inches above now.

My stems are looking some what week and they had to do some stretching...so I moved my inline fan down to the floor to give them a nice light breeze.

My daytime temp inside the tent is around 86 degrees and at night probably around 71 degrees...but I am on a 24/7 light cycle...

I have begun to soak the canna block as we speak. Looks like it might be a late night tonight. I am gonna be like a surgeon with those roots while transplanting. More like bomb squad - handle with EXTREME care!, ha ha. bkstylz, what light schedule are you using? I have been doing 20/4 from the start. Seems pretty good.