First HPS Grow

Hi fellow Cannabis fans,    I have been given this chance to do a blog on my next grow, which i am very happy about, and grateful to CC for arranging it.

First off let me say, i am by no means a Jedi Gardener, in fact i have only did 6 grows previous to this one, so i have a wee bit experience but still have a lot to learn !   Up till now i have always used a Cannibalised shelving unit (shelves removed :-) ), in our walk in cupboard in the bedroom, and due to the size of it, around 3ft(H) x 3ft(W) x 1.5ft(D), i have used CFL’s only; a 300w and a 125w together, or CFL and a small LED; 135w, purely because an HID in this space would have gave off a LOT of heat and i never had room for a decent extractor !

For this grow i will be in a bigger area, using a 600w HPS for Bloom, and they will be VEG’d under my 300w CFL, they are currently only days old seedlings and 7-7 have germinated, so if i have luck like that growing them out, they should be sound. Unfortunately not everything is so simple, due to financial restraints the HPS Light i purchased was a lower end model, Ballast, Light and Reflector for under £100 ! It was delivered within 24 hours of ordering but when i opened it and set it up to make sure all was ok, the bulb flashed for a second or two, then smoke started to come from the ceramic fitting !! I think we all agree- NOT GOOD, even for a budget model. I contacted the shop i bought from, and after a few calls spoke to the Manager , who to her credit sounded horrified and promised a new Light and Reflector, which incidentally is due to be delivered today, so i will update on that next time.  I mean she did say the items/equipment was all EC stamped and built to European safety guidelines, but it doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence when it acts like it’s having a smoke out within seconds of its first use!

For this grow i chose a variety from a Pick n Mix service that the shop i use offers, so i have  1 x Trainwreck, 1 x Lemon Skunk, 1 x Cheese, feminized seeds from GreenHouse, 1 x Fruit Spirit , feminized, and 2 x Sleestack x Skunk regular seeds which were freebies, i also bought 1 x PurpleRyder  Auto from LowRyder to try and shorten the waiting time for an end product, although in my haste ordering , i bought the regular instead of Fem’d seed, but it might still turn out to be a fem, we’ll see !!

I am going to use Bio-Bizz All Mix, which should in theory provide a lot of the plants’ needs, however i have also bought some Bat Guano,Black Gold (EWC) and some Blood/Bone Meal for making a nice organic tea to give them a wee boost !   I also have some Nitrozyme for foliar spraying and some Neem oil, which i will use around once a week as a preventive to beasties and pests!

Everyone has seen pics of seedlings before so i wont put up a pic, and hopefully by the time i update this post, there will be a pic or two worth putting up ! If anyone is doing a 1st grow i hope this maybe help a bit and if i am doing anything wrong or you would just like to pass on a tip or advice , feel free, im open to any words of advice.

Have a good ‘un,          _|/_ FTW                   Celtic Warrior

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