New grower needs help starting

[PinkMagic]

I am new to growing and would like some feedback for my new project. I have lots of questions and i hope to receive the help i need to begin.

Since I have never grown before my main concern is odor, stealth and noise. (Mostly odor though) My garden will be on a 2x2x4 growing tent and I plan to use autoflowering females. I want to use low odor strains with good potency. I been looking on herbies seeds but couldn't decide. I was thinking some Jack Herer or a haze sativa. Any suggestions ???? Also, will auto females suit a 1st time grower??? Here are some seeds that I came across from dispensary medicine for an alternative choice: Chocolope, Sour Diesel, Supreme Blue Dream, OG (an og strain, but i forgot), and GSC w/Seeds (maybe hermie or pollinated female)

This is what I plan to use (I can provide links):
Medium - FoxFarm Ocean Forest in 3gallon pots
Can i grow 4 auto females while controlling height and especially, especially odor?? (i know it depends on the strain) and will they be happy living in 3gallon pots using ocean forest??

Light source - Sun System HPS 150 Grow Light with 150 Watt HPS Bulb (Dimensions: 15.25" Long x 7.5 Wide" x 4" Tall.)
Will this light suffice ??? how about LED??? CFL's for veggin then the 150 Hps??

Ventilation - VenTech 4" Inch Duct Booster Inline Fan w/ 4" Carbon Scrubber Air Filter and also a VenTech Fan Speed Controller for Duct and Inline Fans (Fan is 100 CFM and Dimension is 4" x 7.25" and carbon filter is 190 CFM and Dimension is 4" x 7.5" x 12")
This is from an ebay seller, I can provide the link. Is this setup sufficient to eliminate the odor ?? should i use a diff. fan and carbon filter??

Nutrients - was thinking foxfarm or technaflora but im a newbie so is there anything thats simple and successful for a newbie ??

Thanks for reading. I know its a lot but I need the help.

 

[Croptober]

I would think that if it didn't smell that strong it wouldn't be that strong imo. Your scrubber should take care of the odor. Strains I would go for the Blue Bream or OG but that's me. For nutrients General Hydro Flora 3 part is as simple as it gets. Do you plan to do any type of training to the plants?

 

[PinkMagic]

Thanks for the input Croptober. Regarding the scrubber, will it work with a booster fan effectively?
Do you mean Blue Dream?? I completely forgot about GH. It does seem like a good choice.
For plant training I am considering lst, or scrog.

 

[stoney917]

Fox farm ocean is prob to hot to start autos in..

 

[PinkMagic]

Fox farm ocean is prob to hot to start autos in..

would a 50/50 mix of ocean forest and light warrior be ok?

 

[Croptober]

Sorry I was baked last night aha I meant blue dream. How many CFM is it? Do both LST that bitch into a bush then throw her under a screen. That soil mix would work fine.

 

[HighDesertAz]

I have had great results using sunshine mix #4 with ~20% worm castings added for a "veg mix" in beer cups. Straight water till they show sex at 2-3weeks, then I transplant them into 2gal pots of straight sunshine mix. (you can add castings, I used to, but stopped and noticed no difference)

I feed Lucas formula after transplanting. Every single watering (until the flush). The easiest is FloraNova Bloom, 8ml into a gallon of water. I just used tap water, but RO, and distilled water is recommended.

For the cheapest version of lucas formula, you use 7grams maxibloom into a gallon of water, but it is a PITA to completely dissolve.

I have used this with Sour60 plants, as well as regular plants with great results. (I also use Koolbloom powder and liquid as boosters, but straight lucas will give you very good results)

 

[hicksticky]

Hey there, I would do straight light warrior in small container (solo cups) it has food enough in it til trans plant ( For regs) for autos if you want to fore go trans plants all together start with the pot size your going to finish with but make the top center just light warrior to keep away from the chance to burn them and has good drainage, the rest can be a mix of O.F/warrior. IMO dont feed untill their old enough/ they tell you they need it.

Good luck and vibes, Hick

 

[PinkMagic]

Sorry I was baked last night aha I meant blue dream. How many CFM is it? Do both LST that bitch into a bush then throw her under a screen. That soil mix would work fine.

lol no worries . . . a friend suggested that strain too. Im going to have to try the supreme blue dream seed i have and hope for a female.

Fan is 100 CFM and carbon filter is 190 CFM. Tent will be 2x2x4 ft

good idea. i have no experience with either method so i think itll be worth trying both, especially scrog since i will be doing my own net.

should i add a bit of perlite at the bottom of the pots first or would i be ok with just the 50/50 soil mix??

 

[bmp420gti]

If youre starting them in party cups you dont need the perlite yet, I have the same ventech kit with the filter except in 6 inch, the filter works fine for my 5x5 tent, the fan was a little loud for me though. You will be fine with the 4 inch filter.

 

[Psyco G]

Yeah so scrubber, mixed with ona gel works well make sure you have negative pressure in your tent, ie have the sides of the tent sucking in rather than blowing out.

I'd say if you go for sativa dom strains that they say smell of wood and insense, these tend to smell less IMO. But as long as you have a good scrubber set up right, and a couple of pots of ONA gel you should be fine.

 

[Croptober]

Perlite is good for aeration so the roots will breathe more and you get better drainage. I always add perlite to any soil, in fact just went to hydro shop today and picked some up. Any reason you want autos? If not Humboldt seeds has a killer blue dream.

 

[CoastalKind]

I would not suggest blue dream for a small indoor garden. One plant could easily take up that whole space and they are heavy feeders and susceptible to spider mites should they ever get in there. It wants to get big, like really big and it stretches like crazy when you switch it over to flower. Not the most beginner friendly plant. I would suggest something more 50/50 indica/sativa. Maybe like purple diesel, a skunk, platinum kush, the white, grapefruit, etc. The blue dream clone that get circulated is a sativa haze dominant phenotype. Blue dream was bred from California's "haze" plant and it carries through as the dominant genetics generation after generation.

 

[Croptober]

Here's a pic of my Blue Dream at day 18.

 

[PinkMagic]

I have had great results using sunshine mix #4 with ~20% worm castings added for a "veg mix" in beer cups. Straight water till they show sex at 2-3weeks, then I transplant them into 2gal pots of straight sunshine mix. (you can add castings, I used to, but stopped and noticed no difference)

I feed Lucas formula after transplanting. Every single watering (until the flush). The easiest is FloraNova Bloom, 8ml into a gallon of water. I just used tap water, but RO, and distilled water is recommended.

For the cheapest version of lucas formula, you use 7grams maxibloom into a gallon of water, but it is a PITA to completely dissolve.

I have used this with Sour60 plants, as well as regular plants with great results. (I also use Koolbloom powder and liquid as boosters, but straight lucas will give you very good results)

Thanks. I like the idea of straight water until they show sex then feeding. I read up a bit of the lucas formula and its very simple.

so every watering/feeding should contain the formula and nutrients all the way except until flush.?? when flushing should i use properly balanced ph water??

 

[PinkMagic]

Hey there, I would do straight light warrior in small container (solo cups) it has food enough in it til trans plant ( For regs) for autos if you want to fore go trans plants all together start with the pot size your going to finish with but make the top center just light warrior to keep away from the chance to burn them and has good drainage, the rest can be a mix of O.F/warrior. IMO dont feed untill their old enough/ they tell you they need it.

Good luck and vibes, Hick

thanks, i really like the idea of starting with the pot size im going to finish in and using light warrior in the top center. I will def do that.

I appreciate the advice. Thanks

 

[PinkMagic]

If youre starting them in party cups you dont need the perlite yet, I have the same ventech kit with the filter except in 6 inch, the filter works fine for my 5x5 tent, the fan was a little loud for me though. You will be fine with the 4 inch filter.

how does the ventech kit perform ? hopefully with the ventech speed controller i can reduce the noise on the 4" booster fan if it gets too loud. Thanks for your input, is good to know the 4" ventech kit will suffice!!

 

[PinkMagic]

Yeah so scrubber, mixed with ona gel works well make sure you have negative pressure in your tent, ie have the sides of the tent sucking in rather than blowing out.

I'd say if you go for sativa dom strains that they say smell of wood and insense, these tend to smell less IMO. But as long as you have a good scrubber set up right, and a couple of pots of ONA gel you should be fine.

should i keep the ona gel inside or outside next to the tent?
regarding negative pressure, what can i use to have the sides suck air, pc fans (size)???

I will continue to search. hopefully i can find a good auto.

 

[PinkMagic]

Perlite is good for aeration so the roots will breathe more and you get better drainage. I always add perlite to any soil, in fact just went to hydro shop today and picked some up. Any reason you want autos? If not Humboldt seeds has a killer blue dream.

do you mix everything, or add it in layers ??

thats a good question. i considered autos because i wanted something simple such as the light schedule. I also want short plants that will happily grow in my tent and produce harvest in roughly 90 days. I thought autos might be for me, but I welcome photoperiods. I have a total of 6 six seeds that are not auto flowers and I will definitely grow them as soon as I know the odor can be controlled.

I saw it. and yes, that blue dream looks very tasty. i did not like the auto as much though. i might give it a try though !!

 

[PinkMagic]

I would not suggest blue dream for a small indoor garden. One plant could easily take up that whole space and they are heavy feeders and susceptible to spider mites should they ever get in there. It wants to get big, like really big and it stretches like crazy when you switch it over to flower. Not the most beginner friendly plant. I would suggest something more 50/50 indica/sativa. Maybe like purple diesel, a skunk, platinum kush, the white, grapefruit, etc. The blue dream clone that get circulated is a sativa haze dominant phenotype. Blue dream was bred from California's "haze" plant and it carries through as the dominant genetics generation after generation.

If thats the case then I will experiment with something else for now. Ill definitely run it once I obtain more experience. The purple diesel sounds very good. I wanted to give the blue diesel a try based on the description as it seems odor manageable.