Set up questions 3x3 tent 600w HPS

[afman916]

So I'm gearing up for my first grow and things are starting to fall into place. Seeds have arrived, tent and lighting procured, soil decided upon, just have to make one more Amazon order and then I should be good to go - well, as soon as I clear up a few lingering questions I have. That's where I'm hoping ya'll can help out!

Salient points: 3x3x6 tent, air cooled 600 watt HPS and MH, 6" inline fan and scrubber, 5 gallon smart pots, BAS soil (their kit along with the recommended base soil), various compost teas along the way. Strains are White Widow Skunk, OG Kush, Blue Dream, THC Snow, and Mazaar. All but Mazaar are fem.

Here are my main questions:

How many 5 gallon smart pots do you think I could get away with? I'd love to do 5, so I can grow one of each strain, but not sure if I'll run into space issues.

Somewhat related to the above - how long should I veg? Been reading a lot about veg and it's relation to yield, but honestly for my first grow I'm not looking to crush it on yield. If I end up with 6 zips or so I'll be happy. I've got a garden stand and am thinking about vegging under four 32watt T8s initially, for cost and convenience reasons. Also, planning on trying my hand at training of some sort (LST, manifolding) in an attempt to manage size and yield.

Any and all thoughts GREATLY appreciated! Really looking forward to getting started.

 

[Easy7]

You will get at least 6 if you veg fully and feed smartly.

Sure you could do 5 . I would just top several times and almost completely fill out a canopy before flip. They will bush up more in stretch.

 

[Fiddynut]

So I'm gearing up for my first grow and things are starting to fall into place. Seeds have arrived, tent and lighting procured, soil decided upon, just have to make one more Amazon order and then I should be good to go - well, as soon as I clear up a few lingering questions I have. That's where I'm hoping ya'll can help out!

Salient points: 3x3x6 tent, air cooled 600 watt HPS and MH, 6" inline fan and scrubber, 5 gallon smart pots, BAS soil (their kit along with the recommended base soil), various compost teas along the way. Strains are White Widow Skunk, OG Kush, Blue Dream, THC Snow, and Mazaar. All but Mazaar are fem.

Here are my main questions:

How many 5 gallon smart pots do you think I could get away with? I'd love to do 5, so I can grow one of each strain, but not sure if I'll run into space issues.

Somewhat related to the above - how long should I veg? Been reading a lot about veg and it's relation to yield, but honestly for my first grow I'm not looking to crush it on yield. If I end up with 6 zips or so I'll be happy. I've got a garden stand and am thinking about vegging under four 32watt T8s initially, for cost and convenience reasons. Also, planning on trying my hand at training of some sort (LST, manifolding) in an attempt to manage size and yield.

Any and all thoughts GREATLY appreciated! Really looking forward to getting started.

Greetings afman916.
I have a 3x3 tent and a 600w as well. My first grow I grew 3 plants and didn't top or train at all. I got over 10 zips and again on a first grow and no training. You can easily pull twice that once you train your plants and get some experience. I did some topping on my second grow and 3 plants filled up the space pretty well. I'm no expert but I think 5 or 6 will be very crowded. Good luck and welcome to icmag...Fiddy.

 

[afman916]

Thanks Easy! I've been doing a lot of reading the past few days, and I'm trying to iron out my vegging plans.

Considering the need to top/train in order to fit 5, how long of a veg period do you think I'll be looking at? 5-6 weeks?

 

[afman916]

Greetings afman916.
I have a 3x3 tent and a 600w as well. My first grow I grew 3 plants and didn't top or train at all. I got over 10 zips and again on a first grow and no training. You can easily pull twice that once you train your plants and get some experience. I did some topping on my second grow and 3 plants filled up the space pretty well. I'm no expert but I think 5 or 6 will be very crowded. Good luck and welcome to icmag...Fiddy.

Thanks Fiddy. I'll go back through and read your journals - I'd love to know what strains you grew and the specifics as they would relate to strains I'm growing. Any other general tips/tricks for a 3x3 grow would be great!

 

[Fiddynut]

Thanks Fiddy. I'll go back through and read your journals - I'd love to know what strains you grew and the specifics as they would relate to strains I'm growing. Any other general tips/tricks for a 3x3 grow would be great!

Good afternoon afman916.
I don't know how your strains will compare to what I grew but here are some of my thoughts. I grew Blackwater in my first grow and it went great for a first time. I'd expect any good genetics to be fine for what you are doing except a sativa which are known for growing too tall for a 6 foot space. As far as how long to veg you have to consider how much room you have for them to grow vertically. Take your 6 foot hight and subtract the hight of the pots you are using, then subtract how tall your light is and add the space between your light and the top of your plants. For my tent that means 3 or 3.5 feet of "plant space". Now consider they may stretch 3 times their size after you flip to 12/12. I vegged about a month until my girls were just about a foot tall on my first grow and that left me with some extra space after they stretched. The second grow I vegged a bit longer and let them get 16-18" and they used up all the space in my tent and I had to let them get a little closer to the light than I'd have liked. Now all strains and conditions affect how much they stretch but they shouldn't stretch more than 300%. One of the reasons I grow 3 at a time is that I have some 5 gallon buckets stacked up in the other corner that I have a tower fan/filter on and that gives me great circulation. The 6" fan you have should provide plenty of air exchange. You may even want to use a fan controller to dial it down a bit. My other thought is that you might have an easer time growing one strain at once. There will be some variance between seeds of the same strain but not as much as different strains altogether. The more similar the plants you have the more similar they will grow, use nutes, ect. You want to avoid having a bunch of plants of different heights so you can optimize the amount of light each plant gets. I know it's nice to have variety but if you have a separate veg area you can do different strains back to back and harvest different strains every couple months. As I said I'm no expert but these are some things I'd suggest. Other than that just get everything set up and start growing because that's when the learning really starts. Good job of researching before your grow now it's time to put it to practice and you will make mistakes and learn from them. Also helpful to keep a journal. I keep a notebook next to my tents and record temp, humidity, how my plants look, and keep notes on anything I do in my tents like watering ect. Also keep a close eye out for hermies since they can pollenate your tent and turn your plants into seed if not caught and removed. I hope this helps, good luck and feel free to ask my opinion if you have questions....Fiddy.

 

[afman916]

Really appreciate the detailed advice. I completely understand your reasoning behind one strain at a time, and even considered it myself, however certain factors may limit me to just this one run for the time being. So I'm willing to sacrifice a little in the yield/convenience departments in order to harvest a more diverse selection.

At this point the conservative timeline I'm giving myself is up to 6 weeks veg and up to 10 weeks flowering (they're done when they're done, I know, but I'm an inveterate planner and need some general structure).

Transplanting plan is small pot (about the same volume as Solo cups, they're leftover from previous gardening runs with hot peppers) to 1 gallon to 3 gallon to 5 gallon. Probably keep it at 4 plants in the tent; I could probably push 5 but I think the potential for headaches increases exponentially with just that one extra plant. No need to tempt fate on the first run.

 

[Fiddynut]

Really appreciate the detailed advice. I completely understand your reasoning behind one strain at a time, and even considered it myself, however certain factors may limit me to just this one run for the time being. So I'm willing to sacrifice a little in the yield/convenience departments in order to harvest a more diverse selection.

At this point the conservative timeline I'm giving myself is up to 6 weeks veg and up to 10 weeks flowering (they're done when they're done, I know, but I'm an inveterate planner and need some general structure).

Transplanting plan is small pot (about the same volume as Solo cups, they're leftover from previous gardening runs with hot peppers) to 1 gallon to 3 gallon to 5 gallon. Probably keep it at 4 plants in the tent; I could probably push 5 but I think the potential for headaches increases exponentially with just that one extra plant. No need to tempt fate on the first run.

Good morning afman916.
Your planing is good. Keep some different sized blocks of wood or shoe boxes or something to put under the pots of shorter plants to keep the canopy as even as possible. Topping your plants helps this too.
Your timeline is good. Just keep in mind that the plants have their own schedule and you want to harvest when the trichomes tell you they are ripe. A total of 16 weeks should be more than enough for most strains.
Cannabis plants seem to love to be transplanted. Your transplant strategy sounds good. You could probably go from the beer cups to 2 gal then to 5 gal if you want to skip a transplant but either way should be fine.
The most important thing is to have fun growing. Some people take it way too seriously and drive them selves crazy worrying over every detail. They also tend to love their plants to death. Give them good environment, good soil, the right amount of water and nutrients, and enough light and they will be happy and in turn make you happy. I started this journey about a year ago with a few months of reading and researching. Once I thought I had a basic understanding of how to do it I plugged in my light and started growing. There are as many ways to do it as there are people growing so you just have to get cracking and figure out what works for you. Your plants will tell you what they want if you watch them closely. You have found the right place for answers here at icmag. Lots of growers from new guys like us to pros and expert breeders. Enjoy your journey...Fiddy.

 

[truck]

you may consider setting up a perpetual grow cycle. Then that way you are planting and harvesting on a regular basis, and can spread out the labor and space being used at one time. Just make sure you keep things clean along the way. keeping your tent, equipment, and plants clean, is a big part to having long term success. surface area of a flowering plant and the efficiency of light penetration are key for yields, you just have to determine how much surface area you want to dedicate to each individual plant as you go, lots of different ways to skin a cat on this one.

 

[junglistwarrior]

Plant count is irrelevant. Could scrog one big plant or 5 smaller ones. as long as you fill the canopy. veg times are gonna be the thing. The more plants shorter veg. That being said i would veg the 5 plants in a scrog till you have a full canopy then flower. Veg times will vary dependent on strain and if growing from clone or seed. my guess would be 3 to 4 weeks but no one can give you definitive number. All depends on how fast you can fill the canopy. And it drives me nuts when people say they care about quality over quantity. You cant have one without the other! If you yield well you will have quality guarnteed! My point is dont rush them into flower!

 

[afman916]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Been reading up on grow diaries from people who have done a similar number of plants in a similar space. Think I'm going to veg for 4-5 weeks with some intense training a la mainlining etc. Have a decent amount of experience topping pepper plants so I'm at least comfortable with the execution. Going to germ my seeds next week and see how things go! Heading to True Value this weekend to pick up my lobster compost...who would have thought True Value of all places would offer Coast of Maine??

 

[TheScrogFrog]

I did both 4 5gals and 5 5gals in a 3x3 on diff occassions. Both setups ended up yielding within 20g of eachother so I went back to 4 5gals. Junglist made some good points. 3-4 week veg is pretty good in this configuration, depends on strain of course and anticipated stretch.

I also did 1 plant 3x3 scrog and got 10oz. Tho that was with a 400w.

You should be able to easily pull 12-14oz minimum with your setup. GL pal.

 

[afman916]

Could anyone help with a general timeline for my grow? I've been researching the heck out of veg/flower times, but a trip over Memorial Day weekend has me wanting to make sure I'm at least chopped and dried by then.

Also, I'm trying to take into account the fact that my veg time is directly correlated to how crowded my tent is, but also impacting that is vegging under T8s and my plan to top a time or two.

Again, strains (all from msnl) are:
Blue dream
White widow skunk (WWxNLxSkunk)
OG Kush
THC Snow

4 five gallon smart pots in a 3x3x6 w/ 600w hps for flower

Veg time (including germ): 4-5 weeks
Flower: 8-12 weeks (staggered due to some of the strains having sativa tendencies
Chop and dry: 1 week

Does that sound about right? Any general advice is MORE than welcome!!

 

[everydayJoe]

4 five gal pots in 3x3 will be very tight.

I grew in same size tent for yesrs. I would recommend 3 to 4 three gal pots or 2 to 3 five gal pots with 3 to 4 weeks veg max. Longer veg only if topping or training.

Trust me that 3x3 space starts looking pretty small after 3rd week of 12/12 stretch!