NEW GROWER CHECKLIST: WHAT YOU NEED TO GET STARTED

The new grower launch pad is here to help aspiring new homegrowers cut through all the noise in the grow world and provide a simple outline of how to get started growing  your own. There are endless resources for growers to expand and enhance their knowledge once they get their feet under themselves. However, often would-be homegrowers are bombarded with so much info, and so little context, that they either don’t grow at all, or they get so turned around trying to listen to 50 different people, all well past the new grower stage, that they quit after their first run.  

T o begin with, I suggest new growers not let all the noise about what a successful grow looks like and produces give them false expectations for their first grow. Homegrowing is like anything else, it takes a little practice to get it down, and the first grow or two will likely not give you the mountains of weed that some would lead you to believe are the norm for a newer grower. Like everything in life, you will learn as you go, and as you progress, you will see your grow and harvest come more in line with what all the online egos imply it should be.  

First things first, what do you need to start?  For the purpose of simplicity, I am recommending a grow tent setup. The reason I chose this approach for the new grower launch pad is that for many would be growers, it is the only option. However, much of what I have put together here will be relevant to any indoor growing situation, and much will apply to an outdoor/greenhouse grow as well. The following is a breakdown of everything you will need, and an explanation of why you need it.

• GROW TENT: The grow tent serves several purposes. One of the purposes of a grow tent is to allow the grower to control when the plants inside get light, and when they get darkness. Being able to control this is very important in growing cannabis (autoflower cannabis seeds make this less important, but we will talk about that in the GENETICS section). Another function of the grow tent is to allow you some control over humidity, temperature, and airflow. Basically, your grow tent allows you to have a degree of control over the environment of a small area in which to grow your plants. Grow tents are available in a wide variety of sizes and qualities, but for this new grower launchpad, we are going to use 2 ft. X 2 ft. and a 4 ft. X 4 ft. The reason we are using two tents instead of one is because the small one will be used in the early stages of the plants life (called the vegetative stage) when it will need shorter dark periods. The larger tent will be used in the later stage of life (called the flowering stage). This tent will have a longer dark cycle on the light timer (this is what tells the plant to start making buds). YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE TWO TENTS TO GROW YOUR OWN! The only difference between one tent instead of two is that you will need to change the light cycle back and forth, depending on what stage the plants inside are at if you use only one tent. This 2 tent approach allows for a perpetual grow, where you always have something in flower. A note on using tents: If you are in a position to do so, setting your (flower) tent in a place like a closet or a basement where it will not be sitting under bright lights or around lots of windows will reduce the likelihood that light leaks will cause you to have herm issues. Cannabis plants in flower can become stressed and make "nanners", male pollen organs on your female plant. This can lead to unintentional seeds in your harvest. Although genetics plays a role in this, even good genetics can herm from an overabundance of irregular light during their dark cycle. 

• GROW LIGHT: There are a wide variety of LED grow lights available to choose from. I am not going to pic one brand over the other here. I'm simply going to tell new growers to buy a light recommended by the manufacturer for the size tent you have. If the maker of the light (or distributor) does not have info regarding this, move on to a different one, most grow light makers are now including this info with the lights. One thing to keep in mind when buying a light, make sure the dimensions of the light will fit in the tent it is going in! I recommend a full spectrum grow light for both the vegetative and the flower cycle ( don’t confuse yourself with all the talk of colors for different stages)

• FANS, EXHAUST AND CIRCULATION: Of all the places we see new growers get themselves into trouble, thinking that either of these fans is a less than important part of the grow is top of the list. YOU NEED BOTH OF THESE FANS FOR A SUCCESSFUL GROW! First, lets talk about the exhaust fan (inline fan). This is the fan that will hook into the flexible ducting (dryer vent tubing). The purpose of this fan is to pull old air out of the tent, so new air can replace it. Remember, plants breath out oxygen, and in CO2. If you don’t have an exhaust fan, the plants will suffocate because they won’t have any new, CO2 rich air to breath. The exhaust fan is also an important tool for controlling the humidity in your tent. You’ll notice an arrow on these fans indicating which direction they move air. When installing the exhaust fan, you want the air to be taken from your tent. Usually, for smell reasons the air removed from the tent is sent to a carbon filter. So, when setting up your tent, you want to hook the dryer tubing coming from your filter to the side of the fan the arrow tip is pointing at, and the side the arrow is pointing away from goes to the tent with another length of dryer tubing (NOTE: This configuration is for a fan/filter mounted outside the tent). If you are placing the fan and filter inside the tent, above the lights, you will want the exhaust fan sucking air into the filter, not pushing it out. In this situation, you would want the air direction arrow pointing away from your filter. You will need to provide paths in for the new air intended to replace the exhausted air. You do not need another fan for this, although later in your grow journey you may have a bigger grow room where you want an intake and an exhaust fan, right now you can use what is called passive intake. This simply means leaving openings for new air to enter when the old air is sucked out via the exhaust fan. Your tent will have several sleeved ports for air tubes (dryer tubing) to enter the tent. One will be used to connect the exhaust fan to the tent. On the other sleeved ports, you want to connect about 3-4 feet of dryer tubing, with most of the tube on the outside of the tent, to the remaining air ports. This creates a path for new air to enter without creating openings for light to intrude inside. ( I like to  buy furnace filters at home depot and cut out circular pieces, a couple inches bigger than the dryer tube, and then use it as an intake filter to keep dust out of my buds. Just use a large hose clamp like the one you use to connect the tubing to the fan to attach the piece of filter to the end of the intake tubes). This is pretty much your exhaust fan setup in a tent. The fans usually have variable speeds, and you can adjust it according to your needs.
  Next lets talk about the circulation fan. This is just a regular fan, with a clamp on base so it can attach to the framework of your tent. This fans purpose is different than the exhaust fan. This fan is intended to move the air already in the tent around. This is needed for several reasons. 1: Plants use air movement to both strengthen themselves, and as a mechanical pumping mechanism to help move nutrients up and down themselves. 2: Plants do something called transpiring, you can think of it like sweating. Airflow moving around the plants helps keep mold, mildew, and other fungal issues from developing on the plants as they transpire. And 3: Pests like mites find it hard to breed in windy situations, so airflow creates a harsh environment for them.

• OUTLET TIMERS: You will need outlet timers that allow you to set them so they turn your lights on and off when you want them to. Be sure to save the instructions to whatever timers you buy, or when you need to change them you will be frustrated.  
   
• GROW CONTAINERS: For the purposes of this launch pad, we will be using three different containers. The first two containers we will use have hard (or solid) sides, and the third and largest container that the plants will finish in will be a fabric pot. The first one will be plastic party cups. I like to use a duo of a clear cup and an opaque or solid color cup. The clear cup will get a few drainage holes in it, at least 4, then it is filled with an inert media (low nutrition seedling soil). The second cup will not have any holes, it will be a sleeve over the clear cup. This serves 2 purposes,1: it contains any runoff, allowing you to dump it where you want it, instead of it going all over your tent. 2: It keeps bright light off the new roots as they grow out in the clear cup. You can check on the health of your roots by sliding the sleeve off and looking at them in the clear cup. (NOTE: This 2 cup method is also how I recommend starting rooted clones as well.)  
   

Once the roots have filled out the party cup, you are ready to uppot your plant. We will go into a little more detail on this in the TRANSPLANTING section, but for now let's just worry about the different containers. The container you will move from the party cup to is a regular plastic 1 gallon (roughly) garden pot.This container will be filled with the super soil (fully nutritionalized). By the time you transplant from the solo cup to the 1gallon plastic pot, your plant will be ready for the richer soil. (NOTE: The way I like to transplant is to fill the new pot up with soil, using an empty version of the pot the plant is coming out of  placed in the center to shape a hole for the new plant. You first have to fill the bottom of the new pot with enough soil to hold the plant up to the top of the pot. After that, place the hole-shaping cup/pot in the center and fill soil around it. Lightly lift the new pot a couple inches and drop it a few times to settle the soil, then remove the shaping pot/cup. The hole remaining  will be a perfect fit for the rootball to be transplanted into it.) 

After 8-14 days they will be ready for their final homes in 7-10 gallon fabric pots. The fabric pots provide more airflow to the root system, and encourage healthier roots. I don’t recommend fabric in the middle stage because the solid plastic of the cups and the 1 gallon pot are much easier to get plants out of for transplanting, and the plants aren’t in these smaller pots long enough to see most of the benefits of fabric anyway. The reason I suggest at least a 7 gallon for the finishing pot is because the grow method we are covering in this launchpad utilizes bagged supersoils, and they do much better in at least a 7 gallon pot.  

• SOIL:  In much of North America we have it really easy now days as far as soils are concerned. There is a wide variety of very good bagged organic supersoils. These soils are designed to provide the majority of what your plant will need by just keeping the soil moisture in the sweet zone. These soils are usually labeled as “water only”soils, or something similar. It is an organic, bagged supersoil that we recommend for the new grower launch pad. We will talk about things you can do to increase the yield of these soils in the section on “Flowering Cycle”. You will also want a small bag of inert (low fertility) seed starting soil because the supersoil is to rich for new seedlings and will burn them. The seed starting mix is what you will use in the party cup planters. The supersoil is what you will fill the one gallon intermediate pot, and the large fabric finishing pot with.  

• PUMP SPRAYER, 1 OR 2 GALLON: This is for pest management. They are pretty self explanitory, and can be found at any home improvement store.
   
   
• DOCTOR ZYMES: This is what we recommend for pest management. It is an enzymatic soap , completely safe to apply all the way through your grow, and leaves nothing behind when it drys. It is effective against most pests in an indoor setting, including molds and mildews. Follow the mixing and use instructions on the package, and always use when the lights are off (or just about to shut off, or move the plants out from under the lights for an hour or so to spray them, they can be moved back when they are dry). I like to use it once a week as a preventative, and a little more often if I actually have an infestation.  

• DEHUMIDIFIER: This is another tool easily overlooked by new growers, and doing so often leads to trouble in most climates. (If you are in the desert southwest US, this may not be needed, but everywhere else in North America you will want one for at least part of the year). This does not need to be in your tent, but it should be running in the same room the tent is in. As a general rule, I set mine at 50%. Cannabis has different wants of humidity depending on the stage of life, but for new growers, chasing this around is not necessary. In the veg stage, the plants like and can handle higher humidity, but high humidity in the flower stage can ruin a grow real easy. After getting a few grows under your belt you can play with different humidity targets, but I don’t recommend this for new growers. Depending on what type you buy, you will likely need to empty the condensation tub manually (some dehums can be plumbed into a drain, but they cost more, and you will need to be able to plumb it in. It’s easier for most people to just empty the tub a couple times a day).
   
• TEMP/HUMIDITY DIGITAL READER: Pretty straight forward and cheap. These are just meters that monitor temp and humidity in the tent, and give a digital readout of the environment in your tent.
   
• DE-CHLORINATION RESERVOIR:  Tapwater has chlorine in it. Chlorine needs to be evaporated out of tap water before use on cannabis. For this you just need a container that you can fill with water and let sit overnight (no lid of course, to allow evaporation of chlorine), and then get the water out of and into your watering can. Old coolers without the lid work great because they already have a drain spout in them that you can use to fill your water can/jugs, etc. NOTE: Be sure to empty and clean this reservoir at least every couple weeks or it can become a path for pathogens. Just a bleach spritz, wipe, and a good rinse is all it needs.
   
• WATERING CAN: Although this is pretty self explanatory, you may want to include an empty one gallon jug with a lid if you are going to supplement feed anything, or to add microbial inputs. You just fill the gallon jug from the drain on the dechlorination res, add  inputs to the gallon, put the lid on, shake it around to mix it in, then transfer to your water can.  NOTE: Just like the reservoir, this should be cleaned with bleach every couple weeks.
   
• DRYING SPACE: This is one of the things many new growers don’t worry about until it is needed, then find themselves in a real mess. I recommend having your plan and space for drying your harvest worked out before you even start your grow. It is heartbreaking to see someone put in months of work to grow their buds, just to ruin them because they did not plan for the dry and cure of the buds. A good rule of thumb is that you will need at least as much space to dry the bud as you did to grow it. The four critical things to think about for drying are these: 1: airflow, 2:temp, 3:humidity, and: 4: light. NOTE: Temps and humidity over 60/60 will lead to trouble. Higher humidity will lead to mold, and higher temps will burn off the terpenes of your bud as well as dry it to fast. This will leave your bud harsh-smoking and without much flavor or smell.
   

First lets tackle airflow. When drying the buds, you want the air around them to have just the    slightest movement. You don’t want a fan blowing directly on your hanging buds, but you do  want it moving around them gently. One way to do this is to use a fan like the circulation clip-on fan in the grow tent, and have it facing a wall in the drying space so it is not pointed directly at the plants. If you have just a very slight tremble to the plants remaining leaves, but the plant (or branch) itself is not moving, you have the right amount of air movement.  

Next, let’s deal with light.Light causes cannabis, it’s smell, flavor, and effect, to deteriorate, so you want to dry your cannabis in as dark a place as you can.

Temperature: During the dry/cure process, you want to keep the temperature below 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Below 45 degrees can also be an issue, so ideally you want your drying space to maintain between 50-60 degrees F. If you are not able to achieve these temps, just keep it as close as possible and you will be fine.

Humidity: This one is critical! You have to keep the humidity below 63%. If you allow the humidity of your dry space to go over 60% for any long stretch, your buds will mold, every time! Make sure the humidity in the dry space is staying below 60%.

Many people like to use a grow tent to dry in because it is designed to control the factors we need to control when drying as well. Whether or not you use a tent for your dry space, you will want to be able to create the climate and environment just described for your buds to dry and cure their best.