Best single piece of advise for new micro growers

[fuggzy]

If you had 1 piece of advise to give a new mirco grower, what would it be? What is something you have learned that was a game changer, or saver to you?

I am new to growing in general, and have to say KISS (keep it simple stupid/silly) has got to be the best lesson I have learned. I was bullheaded and jumped in feet first. Everything I read was a cool new adventure so I tried lots of them. Five of nine plants ended up dieing, and i put the others at the compost pile to start over (honorable death over a slow rot?). I was to return to the pile and mix them in and got really sick instead. I couldn't go outside for a month. When I returned to my yard to work on my compost and veg garden, I was greeted by 4 plants that where rather healthy. 1 indica, and 3 sativa, all unknown bagseed. The indica is now under an led flowering, and the others are flowering under the sun. Besides some simple love, I'm just watching now, and excited to my soon harvest. Ugly plants, pretty buds.

 

[jsomhintdh]

if cultivated outdoors and brought indoors, main issue would be outside pests. Other than that, as long as you keep control of your temps/humidity and have good air circulation, keep your lights beamed in as close as temps allow and just relax and feed them regularly and reap your harvest

Any detailed questions, shoot em out.

 

[VerdantGreen]

my advice would be to fill the canopy with buds - use whatever training/method you like, but small lights generally have low penetration, only the buds close to the light (ideal distance may vary) will swell to their best potential - so get as many buds into that sweet spot as you can!

i use scrog to achieve this, there are other ways too

GL

VG

eg, here is a sharksbreath flowered under 100w LED, organic soil

finished

 

[fuggzy]

if cultivated outdoors and brought indoors, main issue would be outside pests. Other than that, as long as you keep control of your temps/humidity and have good air circulation, keep your lights beamed in as close as temps allow and just relax and feed them regularly and reap your harvest

Any detailed questions, shoot em out.

Thanks bud. I haven't seen any pest, at least any I don't want. Temp and rh are nice and steady. It still gets checked often, I can't help but to watch it, just not touch it.

 

[jsomhintdh]

That's the best thing you can do is, just not touch it.
Apply proper feeding/watering, give ample light with good circulation, and just let it do its thing

Later on once you get the handle of a specific strain you can tweak and adjust accordingly, otherwise, keep a light hand and just let it grow as long as you have all other conditions covered

 

[fuggzy]

100w ehh?

100w ehh?

my advice would be to fill the canopy with buds - use whatever training/method you like, but small lights generally have low penetration, only the buds close to the light (ideal distance may vary) will swell to their best potential - so get as many buds into that sweet spot as you can!

i use scrog to achieve this, there are other ways too

GL

VG

eg, here is a sharksbreath flowered under 100w LED, organic soil

View Image

finished

View Image


View Image

Thanks for the input Verdant. That plant looks awesome. My current micro is ~38w with bridglux cobs, in an 11*13 foot print. What size area was that grown in? I might have to put another cob or 2 in the cab.

Heres a few pics for reference. Those are some of the plants from above. Resilient plant I must say.

 

[jsomhintdh]

bring that light way way way down. as long as heat isn't an issue, have those lights blasting your seedlings!

 

[MicroRoy]

I would not double stack those cups.

I always put my pots on top of something that will let air circulate around the drain holes.

 

[fuggzy]

Thats an old pic. There is only 1 plant in it at the moment, and it is 5-6" away. I was cutting the grates that day so i raised the light. Thanks though. I'll have a camera later today (I'm stalking the mail man) and post my ugly plant with pretty buds.

 

[fuggzy]

I would not double stack those cups.

I always put my pots on top of something that will let air circulate around the drain holes.

Yeah I learned that soon after that pic. I lost 3 plants to what I suspect to root rot. This pics is about 6 weeks old, I was just using it to reference the size of the cab. Sorry if that was misleading.

 

[MicroRoy]

Yeah I learned that soon after that pic. I lost 3 plants to what I suspect to root rot. This pics is about 6 weeks old, I was just using it to reference the size of the cab. Sorry if that was misleading.

No problem.

You have a lovely cabinet buy the way.

 

[waveguide]

that cab looks just about big enough to squeeze five 3l soda bottles in..

 

[fuggzy]

No problem.

You have a lovely cabinet buy the way.

Thanks! The only thing to change from the above pic is I have removed the insulating. I thought the white paint actually did a better job. I also add 2 dc fans on a drop cord for circulation. I think they are 80mm ea. It still needs some work done to it, but I am enjoying it.

If you are interested, here is a link to a journal I was going to keep private, it's a bit ugly. However, I put honest thought in it. I stopped posting in it 7/20, and the plants in it are the survivors. I'll post a current pic of them later. The plant in the cab now is about 3-3.5 months old and only 8-9" if I had to guess. The journal ends just before I got sick, and dumped the plants. Lol at 1 time I told my wife the only thing I had to be proud of was not killing some. I have learned a lot about that grow and still am. Got some frosty bud to be proud of now!


https://www.icmag.com/modules/Journal/viewentry.php?journalid=1718

 

[fuggzy]

that cab looks just about big enough to squeeze five 3l soda bottles in..

It fits 9 red solo cups snugly. Not sure about 3L. I haven't had 1 of those in a while.

 

[VerdantGreen]

Thanks for the input Verdant. That plant looks awesome. My current micro is ~38w with bridglux cobs, in an 11*13 foot print. What size area was that grown in? I might have to put another cob or 2 in the cab.

Heres a few pics for reference. Those are some of the plants from above. Resilient plant I must say. View Image View Image

i think my cab is about 11 x 20" - the LED is a bit too strong really for that size

yours looks good, you might get away with 3 chips on each side instead of 2... up to about 50watts per square foot is cool but you will lose efficiency having too powerful a light over a small area.

VG

 

[fuggzy]

i think my cab is about 11 x 20" - the LED is a bit too strong really for that size

yours looks good, you might get away with 3 chips on each side instead of 2... up to about 50watts per square foot is cool but you will lose efficiency having too powerful a light over a small area.

VG

Alright. I actually have an assortment of 3w ranging in colors from far red to 6300k from cree and philips, plus a 10 pack of cheapbays to try out. I am also building a led fixture for a 4*2 tent, and what is left over will be for this cab. Of the 4 now 2 at 3500k, and 2 at 3000k.

I was thinking 1 far red, 3 red, 2 royal blue. The 6300k I have I got for this cab (only have 1) but not sure if I'll use it. It may be a while to build it though.

 

[ReikoX]

Nice little setup you have there. Should be a fun little project.

 

[fuggzy]

Nice little setup you have there. Should be a fun little project.

Thanks Reiko, it has been an interesting journey.

 

[fuggzy]

An ugly plant, with a pretty flower known as SHB

An ugly plant, with a pretty flower known as SHB

So to go back to the plant that is actually in the cab now. It is over all 9", with 1 side being about an inch shorter. It has been topped, cropped, dropped, and flopped. However this ugly plant has offered many learning opportunists. It is an unknown bag seed, and I call it Shorts Home Brew.

This thing wants to live, I am amazed. When I grabbed it from the yard it had just to put on some flower. Not much just a few spots. Now it is filling in to 2 nice lil' bud'pops.

The above pic doesn't really do it justice. I don't know how to use this camera well yet, and I had rather bad lighting. It is pretty sticky to the touch, and has a nice berry/skunk smell to it. Not that I'm touching it though... Right jsomhintdh? xD It appears to have some milky (10% i don't know) trichromes, but I'm not sure tbh. I am waiting on a better optic in the mail now. I need new glasses too, so that doesn't help.

Just for fun, and while on the topic of my survivors, these are the outdoor sativas that didn't agree with my culling idea.

Anyways. This ugly plant will be given a proper ceremony to celebrate what it has to offer soon enough. (who am I trying to kid. 1st grow.... it can't go fast enough!!!!)