Recent changes in my state have me interested in joining the budding industry. I have a year before business rules are finalized, so that's a year I have to grow and learn. I'm allowed to grow up to 12 plants right now, so that's where I will start. What size room would you recommend to veg and flower 12 plants? Any recommendations on a qb120 setup that will allow me to transition the entire room at once? I also am considering a single HLG100 per plant, but figured costs can be kept down if I utilize qb120s.
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Hello friend and glad to hear your joining in on the Cannabis revolution!
Plant count is sorta irrelevant friend, its all about how much yield you need and how much time you got. For example 1 plant can yield 1 ounce with a 4 week veg time, or 1 pound with a 8 to 12 week veg time.
1 plant outdoor can yield you 2-3 lbs, so multiple by 12 is 24 to 36lbs of bud! If you don't need that much you may not need 12 plants or a long veg period.
With that said I'd recommend two 4'x4' tents for a perpetual grow or a 4'x8' tent for a quick veg for 12 pants. You will want to run 40 watts per square foot of quantum boards so your looking at min of 1280 watts to flower a 4'x8' tent. You will only need 1/2 that many watts or less to veg the same area, so a dim-able fixture is a huge plus and big savings in the long run.
I think you would be looking at
16 QB 120's
or
8 QB 280 or 304's
or
2 HLG-550 or 600's
Looking forward to a response friend.
-BLG
This is exactly the kind of info I was looking for! It sounds like I'll actually save up front and in the long run by purchasing 2 HLG-600 kits. I like the heat sink setup, and it seems to come with a better driver than the HLG-550.. I'm thinking I'm going to build out a single 6x6 space i have to germ and begin veg. I'll likely size this down to accomadate a single hlg600 and be able to reuse the space later for clones. While the baby girls are growing into their cups, I'll build out a 4x10 space. The extra 2ft will give me some wiggle room for equipment and a doorway on one short side.
Since this is my first grow, it was recommended that I start with autoflowers. This will let me focus on Newts, watching for hermies, and to get accustomed to the overall growth cycle.
@duanebs86 I am glad you came here first friend because I would have to recommend the exact opposite! No auto flowers for a first time grower and here is why. Lets say an auto flower begins flowering at day 30. Say you accidentally stunt the seedling by over watering since it is your first grow and that is the most common mistake. Your Seedling might lose 7 days of growth from that over watering and that time is irreplaceable. Your auto flower will still begin flowering at day 30 even though it's the size of a 23 day old plant. This results in a big loss to yield
Now with photo period plants if you accidentally have a mistake made you can just veg for that extra time before flipping to flower and not hurting your yield. This is a much more forgivable way for a first time grower. Once you have your grow dialed in and environment on point, nutrients on point, etc. Then it is time to begin auto flowers.
-BLG
Well, crap. I'm definitely starting with auto flowers, since I went ahead and paid for them before checking back here. Should've smelled the salesman tactics from a mile away. Oh well tho, Guess we're gonna put your guidance skills to the test (I'll ask about watering and nutes at another time)! I've 100% decided on 2 HLG-600 kits. I've reached out to the guys at Horticulture Lighting Group, who recommended the 550's, but I'm waiting to hear back on getting 600s shipped out. If you can get me a better deal, or get me in touch with them quicker I'd be grateful! My room build out is officially under way, and hopefully I can finish up before the holidays (one of them at least). Now, I have a few questions about getting these bad boys (girls) started. 1. For the CocoTek, did you find that you needed to re-hydrate with the full 9 gallons of water per 11lb block, or only utilize 5 gallons of water PH'd to 5.6? 2. Did you need to flush the media with extra water at all? The reason I ask, is that some people complain of high amount of salt with some Coco media (not necessarily CocoTek brand tho). Should I be worried or just re-hydrate with properly PH'd water, mix in perlite, and go? 3. How long can I store this stuff once I rehydrate it? I plan on moving from solo cups straight to 5 gallon pots on first transplant. That means I have to mix A LOT of media. It'd be easier to do in batches. 4. What are your thoughts on germing and then running seedlings under a burple light? Something like this, since I can just steal it from our potted plants that are overwintering under one in a spare room. The HLG-600s are gonna be intense and I'd hate to burn down the baby girls before they get a chance to properly root. Not to mention, I can start my seedlings before HLG gets around to shipping me my panel kits. 5. More to come... but let's start here. I hope you like to teach, because I'm all ears! Not to mention, it looks like there's a few other people following these posts. We may even be able to put together some videos showing just how effective your guidance is!
Use discount code CGG10 for 10% off your fixtures. Wanted you to have this code. So I will edit this post with rest of answers soon ✌🏻
CGG10 didnt work. Still waiting to hear back from the guys at HLG.
@duanebs86 I'm sorry to hear the code is not working. I will contact HLG tonight and see if there is a reason. However make sure you let the guys know I sent you and they should give you the 10% off.
1. I was able to utilize just the 5 gallons of water to re hydrate the CocoTek. If you can slowly pour the water into the coco it absorbs much better and if you find that all your Coco wasn't fully hydrated just mix up a couple more gallons PH 5.6
2.I have not had to flush CocoTek, But I have come across non name brand coco that has done some serious damage to my plants because I did not flush it. So I always tell everyone rinse your coco.
3. I store my coco for at least a couple months in a storage tote with a lid. You will want to make sure you don't have to much moisture because mold can grow when the lid is sealed. I usually mix up my coco once a week and give it fresh air. If I notice condensation on the lid ill let it air out a little longer, this is a little to moist for me if condensation is collecting.
4. A small blurple should work fine for seedlings and will save a little on cost to run as well. Just watch for stretch and adjust your light height accordingly.
5. I am here to help my friend. Check out my YouTube channel if your looking for videos.
-BLG
@Admin Alright, still held up on lights. Haven't heard back directly from HLG, but i talked to another seller (growerslights.com) out of Texas today. They have the HLG600 kits in stock, and will ship to my state. They wont match the 10% off from HLG, bc the code doesn't work on DYI kits. They also offered to pre-wire up some potentiometers to the HLG-600 drivers for $20. I'll take it, if HLG cant work w me directly. I'm gonna wait to get my seeds germd until I know my QBs are in route. That brings me back to medium and nutes.. well, really water.
1. You said you never had to rinse CocoTek, yet you always recommend rinsing Coco. I'm gonna run the 11lb blocks of CocoTek exclusively. Already have 1 rehydrated with 5 gals 5.6Ph water. Do you recommend rinsing and draining CocoTek before using it or is it fine out of the bag?
2. If rinsing is required, can I rinse with my standard deep well water (ph 7.7) with a final flush of PH'd 5.6 water?
3. WATER. Not sure how I missed this, but I have good drinking, deep well water. I realize great drinking water doesnt necessarily mean good plant water. It's PH 7.7 out of the tap and has a decent amount of iron. Easy enough to PH down to 5.6, but should i worry about other buffers? It seems like I'll be adding everything i need with all these Cana nutes and cal/mag, but i dont want to assume anything. Do I really need to filter it to try and remove extra minerals, or will I generally be fine with the nute schedule you posted?
Alright, I've been on hiatus for the holidays.
Getting back to my room build out!
I received my two HLG 600 kits and got them all assembled. Unfortunately, I had to pay full price and one of my heat sinks was beat to hell, which I'm not very happy about. That being said, If anyone needs help with wiring up their kit let me know. The HLG600H54B is a SERIOUS driver. Runs 4 QB288s like a supernova.
Gonna finish running electric for an exhaust fan tomorrow (wired all 5 outlets today), and I should be able to stand up walls as well (did i mention I framed in all 4 walls and 2 doors already?). Hope to finish insulation and vapor barrier Saturday.
Unfortunately, it looks like my seeds got held up with customs. Just my luck. I paid thinking things would go smoothly. Guess I should've just started out with some bag seeds! If they existed... Guess I have more build and research time!
BLG, you mentioned adding in pro silicate. Will you be updating our Coco nutrient schedule or are you just running the recommended amount of silicate per GrowTek on top of your existing schedule?
I’m really upset about your HLG-600‘s and dissapointed they would not honor my discount code for an HLG-550. But even worse is the damage in shipping 😞.
Thank you for offering guidance and assistance for wiring up Quantum Boards. Hopefully we can get some good LED talk going as more people enter the game.
Sound like you got an awesome Grow area setting up. I do have an updated feeding Schedule and I can get it posted this weekend. ✌🏻
OH yes! looks like it coming together my friend. What are you dimensions looks like you got a great space there.
Ended up being 13x4 space. Wiggle room on each end for equipment and my entryway. Quantum boards will be able to raise up to about 6.5ft.
Well, it looks like my previous post with the picture didn't go through. What are your thoughts on using 5 gallon buckets for my grow? I already have plenty of them and figured I could just drill a lot of holes in the bottom of each one for good drainage. I also already have drain pans that fit nicely. EVERYONE recommends these fabric pots, but it seems like 5 gallons would be plenty of space to avoid root issues. Let me know what you think!
5 gallon buckets will work plenty good friend. Make sure you drill holes on the bottom and prob even on the sides of the bottom 1" or so. I would recommend starting your seedlings in solo cups or something smaller to prevent roots from drowning out.
@Admin BLG got my seeds all germinating in peat starter cubes. Been 48 hours so far! Once I see green on all of them I'll transplant into solo cups of CocoTek/perlite.
@duanebs86 Awesome friend it sounds like your on the right track. Looking forward to following along.
I would love to get my hands on a HLG fixture looks good.