Hey friends!
Diving in to my first real grow. I have made a few half-assed attempts over the years…all yeilding poor results, of course.
I am finally at a point where I can make a real attempt with some real equipment (with reasonable limitations).
I have a 2 x 4 grow tent on the way and I have a rough idea of what else I will need (lights, filter, fans, dehumidifier, etc)
I am growing in my basement which has pretty high humidity year round, so that is one concern.
I have a few odds and ends I have accumulated…led grow light (vipar spectra 300w), cloning tub, timers, some small booster fans.
Any suggestions on what I should get to help with my success?
I was planning on starting with seeds and soil.
I’d say first take care of humidity because everything else will be a waste if you don’t lower humidity. With plants in there it will only go up more and more as they grow.
I have a Viparspectra 300W too, works well for me. When you use living soil, then go for certified organic soil. Many soil producers will have the word “organic” on their packaging but add synthetic fertilizer, gotta read the bag and ingredients very very carefully. If you use synthetic fertilizer then you need to keep buying it, while you can just sow covercrop or topdress with common weed like dandelion, nettle, thistle, grass, tree leaves, horse manure, kitchenscraps, etc. All free and easy to get depending where you live.
Read up on covercrops (vetch works really well for me), and permaculture as well, will save you lots of money and you can apply the same principles in other areas of your life.
I also have high humidity, bought two “normal” dehus but they were not enough to fight it, so finally bought a bigger (and more expensive) one and now everything’s under control. Perhaps you can avoid my error and go big from the beginning. You will need also an extractor, keep the tent ventilated with fans, let’s see how it goes …
Yep… +1 on spending money on a really good dehumidifier. One that doesn’t raise temperature too high if possible… they will always make it a bit hotter in there though. 100% worth the cost because without one your whole garden can go to shit.
Average is probably 75-80%
I knew it was going to be an issue…
Hoping I can keep this one room sealed off from the rest of the basement a bit and control it.
We shall see…
Ok, so I have 2 dehumidifiers…one is rated at 45 pts/24 hrs and the other is 50 pts.
I am setting up my tent in a spare bedroom which is about 200 sq ft. Total area of the downstairs is about 825 sq ft.
I know I am fighting the humidity in the total volume of air…would be practically impossible to seal off the bedroom air-tight.
So, first things first…I am going to fire up both these machines and see if they can get things to a reasonable level before I start anything else.
My hygrometer is an old analog one, like you would see at grandma’s house. I want to upgrade to a digital unit with temp and tracking of my highs and lows. Any recommendations??
I am thinking I should have at least 2…one for the room and one for the tent.
Ok, new digital hygrometer/thermometer on the way. I ran the dehumidifiers for about 24 hrs and it brought my room down from 80% to 60%.
Might have done better, but one machine shut off because the bucket was full.
Going to keep them going and see how low I can get.
It’s also not that super important to have low humidity straight from the beginning, it’s mostly for when they start flowering. During veg it’s ok if it’s a little higher.
Cool, good to know!
I figured I would get the dehumidifiers set up just to see how well they worked. 80% humidity seems crazy high to me…and we’re not even in the rainy season yet
Just got the email notice that my tent was delivered! Starting to get excited
Ok…so I have most of my stuff together.
Going to start off with a t5 fluorescent to get the little plants started, then switch to led when they get big enough.
2 x 4 tent, 6" vortex fan, space heater and dehumidifier, soil and basic nutrients from my local garden center.
So, as I learn what I am doing, I am hoping to find some not too extravagant seeds. Something decent, but I would hate to kill some expensive genetics if that makes sense.
Any suggestions??
I suggest a strong Indica.They are usually more resistant to drought in case you make any errors for miss a water cycle. They usually stay shorter and require less nutrients. What kinds of soil are you using may I ask?
