I guess it’s time I finally start a grow log here, after seeing how everyone does it. Some introduction first: I started growing in fall 2020 after my partner bought a house and we finally had the space for it. She doesn’t smoke, but thinks my growing is a good idea, to save money, and for some plant therapy. So I have a decent amount of flexibility to setup my grow where/however I want, as long as it doesn’t get in the way.
After considering the options, with a good budget from my stimulus and unemployment, I decided to start with dirt instead of hydro, though I can see soilless experiments coming with automatic drip and coco or hempy buckets. Rather than try living soil, I went for recycling my soil after each grow, and reamending. I turn all my plant matter back into the soil bins, which started off as a mix of FFOF (first grow), CoM Stonington/Platinum Grower’s Mix (my current choice), and lots of Root Kandy coco, pre-washed and buffered with calcium nitrate.
We’ve got an old Victorian with a full height attic accessed through my bedroom, so I started there for my first few crops. While it was great to have the odor venting out of a third floor roofline, it turned out to just be too cold and hot up there to be sustainable. I spent a lot of money on running a space heater to keep my tent barely 70 degrees, then had a spring crop finish in 98 degree temperatures. No bueno! After I got done with my first round up there this year, in November, we had finally gotten a mason to come clean up our basement and fix the crumbling foundation that was keeping it incredibly dusty down there (don’t ever paint your brick foundation unless it’s a breathable paint guys). After moving my tent down there and adding another, I think I’ve finally got the new setup humming along enough to share with you all.
The tents:
Vegetative: AC Infinity 3x4 double chamber (not currently using the divider, just the shelves)
Flowering: Hydrofarm Lighthouse 2.0 4x4 (clearing those rafters by one inch!)
The lights:
Veg: HLG 135w B-Spec kit
Flower: HLG 550 R-Spec V2, LEDTeknik/GrowLightsAustralia LED Buddies (CRI 95 white, two strings driven by a 25w Meanwell)
These are a very exciting product I added this time to help cut down on popcorn and larf. I wish I had gotten four sets, enough to do two levels along the walls, but this is still a big improvement for piddling watts. The ultra wide angle diffuser lenses on the emitters are also waterproof, and can be in direct contact with the leaves with only minor spotting. Since I use positive pressure and rotate my plants every few days, it hasn’t seemed to piss off any particular low site. There are bunch of other Buddies for far red, deep red, and other specialty spectrums, worth the shipping from AUS to the US, I thought:
