Hey all,

I've been around the forums for about a month now with research and such, but I finally registered because I figured I may as well share my plan and request advice to get it exact. Like I said, most of this plan is based solely upon research. I'm currently experimenting with some reg seeds to get the feel of it, but that's using a small aeroponics system.

Now before I start, this is a system that will probably require some money to build, but from what I can put together, feasibly it will run very efficiently, silently, and will most importantly force consistency. Also, although I do have the money to do this, I am open to cheaper options that keep the system about as automated as it will be described. Basically I want the system to function to the point where I could potentially leave town for the weekend and not have to worry about keeping an eye on it.

So here it is:

I'm planning on doing a soil grow (using 3gal pots) with two separate tents created by dropping panda plastic from the required areas to create the tent-like structure (I'm using panda plastic and not Mylar because I read somewhere that Mylar is very effective when mounted to a flat surface, but very inefficient when it's bent/crinkled. Whether this is true or not doesn't really matter to me, for the price and convenience of panda plastic, I'm willing to take the 7% increased reflectivity hit). Each tent will have a light-blocking zipper door for access.

I'll be growing LR (Lowryder) type 1's due to the relatively compact space in both areas.

Tent 1 (smaller of the two - 3.5'x4.5'x3'(tall)):

I'm planning on growing 4 plants in this area (meaning 10,000 lumens for veg and 40,000 lumens for flowering are required to properly grow, and because LR's are very light and nut dependent, I'd rather have more than less).

Light: 8bulb 4ft. t5 high output florescent fixture with 6.5K bulbs supplemented with 4 single bulb stand-up 2ft. t5 fixtures with 6.5k bulbs (total initial lumens = 50,000 - non-initial should still be above 40,000, but I'll only have to worry about that for the first week or so in which case they'll be veggin anyway). With the amount of use, I'll have to replace the bulbs about every 3 years.

I'll also be using two surge protectors which have outlets on them controlled by their own timers to control the lighting for me.

Ventilation: Everything is going to be created so that it is as air-tight as possible, which means that the panda plastic will be properly adhered to any fans and such to create a good seal.

I'm planning on using the AIR-1 atmosphere controller to control both an inline exhaust fan with a carbon filter for the air output and a simple in-line duct fan to pull fresh air into the system. The in-line duct fan will also have a fan controller to keep the cfm's on both fans even, and I'm going to mod it so that it has a free-moving, weatherstripped flap cover on the part of the fan inside the tent (so none of the stank gets out). The AIR-1 controller will activate when the sensors within it detect that atmosphere conditions are higher than those preset, and will thus activate both fans at the same time to filter in air properly. This system should be able to refresh the tent's air in a matter of seconds (and that's also with buying the weaker/weakest vent type fans out there).

Also, to keep circulation within the system, I will have a small 6" clip-on fan that will move air around mainly between the lights and the canopy (even though florescents don't get that hot, I need the air circulation to happen just to keep a better environment).

Temperature and Humidity: I don't think I'll have to worry about temperature with those lights, they should put out enough heat to keep it around more than 70F (in which case my vent system will take care of it).

As far as humidity goes, I'll be getting a 1.3G digital tower-style cool mist humidifier that allows me to preset the humidity to a certain percentage (so as far as the humidity setting goes on the AIR-1, it's basically a fallback). With as much as it will put out daily (which won't be even half of the max amount), I'll have to clean it and replace the water every 3-4 days.

I will have two separate hygrometers to monitor temp and humidity (just in case).

Tent 2 (larger of the two - 2.5'x6.5'x7'(tall)):

I'm planning on growing 8 plants in this area (meaning 20,000 lumens for veg and 80,000 lumens for flowering are required to properly grow).

Light: 600w HPS with a Hortilux bulb, 6" vent port, and an adjustable height pulley system (total initial = 88,000 lumens, non-initial should be above 80,000). I'll veg about 5' from the plants (they can potentially grow about 2' tall), and then I'll adjust the light as necessary for flowering. Again, powered by a ballast that will be put on a surge protected, timed outlet.

Ventilation: Same system with two differences. It will take a few more seconds to completely refresh the air, and the exhaust fan (with the filter) will be connected to the 6" duct hole on the light fixture with mylar-coated vent tubing.

Temperature and Humidity: Same system.

Objective of the Tents: I'm going for a rather discrete growing area by setting up tarp and properly ventilating the tents to create virtually no smell (I'll have air-fresheners in the room to help out as well). Each tent is essentially it's own, automatically controlled biodome that holds ideal conditions constantly to promote close to the best yield possible. I'm trying to make it so the systems are self-sustainable for up to 3-4 days without me having to check on/change/replace anything.

Nutrients (I'm using the Botanicare line):

Pure Blend Pro Grow
Pure Blend Pro Bloom for Soil
Liquid Karma
Cal-Mag
Sweet
Hydroplex Bloom Enhancer (might not need it, looked interesting)

My water will be kept around a 6.7 pH. My tap water (after letting it sit obviously) is very basic, so I use lemon or lime drops to fix it. I use the GroChek Combo meter by HI to monitor pH and ppm.

Plan of Action:

First I will germ my plants with an automated aeroponics system (I will be using the Power Plant Pro by Prepara; conveniently for me it has 6 seed spots per pot, so I only need two to germ my entire grow at the same time) using non-nutrient water.

Once they're germ'd to a proper size, I will keep them in the sponge they're already in and put them straight into 3gal pots (one plant per pot) with Miracle Gro's potting mix.

I'll then mix the nut water accordingly (when nuts need to be added to the water) and healthily water the plants. Then I'll be using water globes to regulate the watering on each and every plant.

My Questions:

Now that you all know what I'm dealing with and what I'm planning to do and how I'm planning to do it, I have some questions...

-Could someone please list/direct me to a general ppm guide for growing in soil (I'm specifically looking for a general ppm guide for the water which will be added to the soil; so basically in order to build up nuts in the soil at a proper rate, what should my water's ppm be on a weekly basis? - a ppm guideline from germ-harvest would be nice)? I've looked all over this site and many other sites and have not found a general ppm guideline for soil (everyone I see says to mix as instructed and don't worry about it...is this REALLY how it is with soil? Sorry I'm so paranoid about this, I'm coming from growing hydro/aero so this is a big change that I'm taking hard precautions with...however irrational it seems.).

-Also, I know for hydro/aero you should flush a week before harvest, but since soil holds nuts longer, should I extend that to 10 days? 2 weeks? Leave it at a week?

-Obviously I'm making my own fertilizer mix, if ppm doesn't matter with soil, should I just mix the amount listed on the back of the Botanicare bottles (for soil use obviously)? If so, how often should I be giving the plants nutrient water as opposed to non-nutrient water (I know these answers are found precisely by keeping a close eye on your plants, which is why I'm asking in general...I'm trying not to screw this up TOO bad the first time around; I just want a general guideline)?

-Also, if I'm using water globes (which, by the way, will have their water replaced weekly), I'm assuming if I should on/off the nutrients (one day nut, next day no nut), would I be safe in averaging the amount of nut put into the plants per week and mixing that amount into the water that will go into the water globes (my assumption would be yes since I'm using soil)? I'm assuming that I should be monitoring my soil ppm content in order to figure this one out exactly.

-Am I correct as far as how much lumens I need? Do I need less/more light in each tent? Is a 600w too much; should I drop to a 400w? (I might supplement Tent 2 with the same stand-up 2' t5 fixtures as Tent 1 if necessary...what do you guys think?)

-As far as the 600w HPS goes, am I correct with how high that light needs to be both with veg and flowering (assume the pots will all be next to each other with a maximum 4" gap between each pot - LR likes to grow super compact and plants will probably sit about 8" above the ground in the pots)? What advice do you guys have about this one?

-BIG QUESTION: Do you think this is a fairly decent setup? Does it sound like I relatively know what I'm doing? Give me your opinion. I want all the advise I can get.

I think that's all I have for now, if I run into anything else I'll post it. Please and thank you in advance for all the advice/criticism anyone throws at me.

Man...I need a toke after all that.. :rastasmoke:
TreetopFarmer Reviewed by TreetopFarmer on . Noob's First Grow - Advice Needed Hey all, I've been around the forums for about a month now with research and such, but I finally registered because I figured I may as well share my plan and request advice to get it exact. Like I said, most of this plan is based solely upon research. I'm currently experimenting with some reg seeds to get the feel of it, but that's using a small aeroponics system. Now before I start, this is a system that will probably require some money to build, but from what I can put together, Rating: 5