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S01E14 – Early Veg: Things to Avoid

Getting the Grow Rooms on Track

One week into the grow, Sarah and Jasmine have been left to manage their plants and equipment themselves. Now Ian is heading into both tents to see how they’re getting on.

From lighting and humidity to feeding, plant maintenance and equipment placement, Ian spots a few areas for improvement before the girls get to work putting his advice into practice.

What You’ll Learn

This episode covers one of the most important parts of any grow environment:

How to check and adjust PPFD during early veg
Where to position equipment and environmental probes
Why equipment needs to be properly matched to your grow
How to manage plant structure and support
How to manage feeding and dry back
Why grow rooms need adjusting as plants develop

Check Your Power

Before getting into the individual grow rooms, there’s one issue affecting both girls — the electrics keep tripping.

Ian explains that you need to consider the combined wattage of all the equipment running in your grow room and make sure your power supply can safely handle it. A ring main will usually have a maximum capacity of 32 amps, so depending on your setup, you may need help from a qualified electrician.

He also warns against leaving extension cables coiled while they’re in use, as this can create a fire risk.

Ian’s Feedback for Sarah

Ian heads into Sarah’s grow room first to see what’s working, what isn’t and what needs changing after her first week.

Move Your Probes

The issue: Sarah has wrapped her environmental probes around the tent poles.

Ian’s advice: Position probes towards the middle of the growing area so they’re measuring the conditions around the plants. Ian also warns against wrapping cables around poles.

Simplify the Electrics

The issue: Sarah is relying on several extension cables around the tent.

Ian’s advice: Ian gives her a contactor to simplify the setup, reduce the number of extension leads and make the electrical setup safer and tidier

Keep Your Tanks Accessible

The issue: Sarah has positioned her tanks with the openings facing into the grow area.

Ian’s advice: Turn them around so the openings face outwards and are easier to access for checking, filling and maintenance.

Monitor Your Temperature

The issue: Sarah doesn’t actually know what temperatures her grow room has been reaching.

Ian’s advice: Use a min/max thermometer so she can see how temperatures are changing when she isn’t in the room.

Watch Your Heater Position

The issue: Sarah’s 2kW heater has been pointing directly at a plant and has burnt it beyond recovery.

Ian’s advice: Direct the heater upwards rather than straight at the plants. Sarah replaces the damaged plant with a spare and adds more canes for support.

Increase Your PPFD

The issue: With the lights positioned high above the plants, Sarah is only getting around 150 PPFD.

Ian’s advice: At this stage, Ian is looking for around 300 PPFD. Sarah lowers the lights, increases their power from 20% and uses the PhotoBio meter to check the PPFD as she makes her adjustments.

Manage Plant Structure

The issue: Left alone, the plants could become too bushy.

Ian’s advice: Remove selected leaders to manage the shape of the plants and add support as they develop.

Get the Feeding Schedule Right

The issue: The timer controlling Sarah’s dripper system has been switched off.

Ian’s advice: The plants should currently be fed once per day for five minutes. Sarah struggles to programme the timer and initially tries two minutes every 11 hours. When it only runs briefly before switching off, she resets it and gets the system working again.

Ian’s Feedback for Jasmine

Next, Ian moves into Jasmine’s tent to see how her setup is progressing.

Move the Ventilation Back

The issue: Jasmine’s ducting runs through the middle of the tent, restricting how high she can position her lights.

Ian’s advice: Move the fan, filter and ducting towards the back of the grow room. Gentle bends are fine, but sharp 90-degree bends can restrict airflow.

Jasmine later tackles the move with some help from Karlos.

Organise Your Plants

The issue: Jasmine’s plants are dotted around the grow room.

Ian’s advice: Arrange them more evenly, with four down either side, to make better use of the space and keep the grow easier to manage.

Fix the Dehumidifier Drainage

The issue: The drainage pipe runs upwards from Jasmine’s dehumidifier, so the water can’t drain away.

Ian’s advice: Because it’s gravity fed, the pipe needs to run downwards. Alternatively, remove the pipe and empty the unit manually.

Downsize the Humidifier

The issue: Jasmine’s humidifier is too large for the space and the tent is regularly reaching 100% humidity.

Ian’s advice: Replace it with a smaller SonicAir 23L Humidifier. Jasmine makes the swap, although repositioning it causes another problem when the cable won’t reach.

It’s a good example of why bigger and more powerful isn’t always better when choosing equipment.

Reduce Your PPFD

The issue: Jasmine’s plants are receiving around 500 PPFD, even though her lights are already on their lowest setting.

Ian’s advice: That’s too high for this stage, highlighting again why choosing appropriately sized equipment from the start is important.

Trim the Plants

The issue: Jasmine’s plants are becoming very bushy, restricting light penetration.

Ian’s advice: Trim back unnecessary growth to open up the plant and direct more energy towards the areas that will eventually produce flowers.

Jasmine gets to work trimming them back after Ian leaves.

Allow More Dry Back

The issue: Jasmine isn’t getting enough dry back between floods.

Ian’s advice: Flood the system once per day and then allow the media to dry back. Jasmine reduces her flood duration from 10 minutes to 5 minutes once per day.

Ian is impressed with Jasmine’s progress after her first week.

Trade Show Insights

Jasmine heads to the trade show to get some expert advice and find out whether she can gain an advantage in the competition.

From nutrient monitoring and feeding regimes to lighting and irrigation, she catches up with representatives from Aqua Master, DLI, House & Garden and Athena to get their opinions on the girls’ setups, pick up some practical advice and find out who they think will come out on top.

Are Nutrient Pens Worth It?

Lude – Aqua Master

Measure EC and pH to understand your nutrient solution.
Follow the nutrient manufacturer’s recommended values.
A simple handheld pen is enough to get started.
Check your nutrients weekly and adjust as needed.

HPS vs LED

Jerome – DLI

HPS produces heat, which Jerome believes could benefit Jasmine’s plants.
Adjust PPFD by raising the lights or reducing their output.
Introduce UV when fruit begins to appear.
Jerome is backing Jasmine to beat Sarah.

Too Many Nutrients?

Pato – House & Garden

Keep feeding simple — too many additives can cause clogging.
Switch from Coco Base to Aqua Flakes for recirculating systems.
Use Drip Clean and Multi Zyme, adding Bud XL and Shooting Powder during flowering.
Replace the nutrient solution weekly and monitor EC and pH.

Will Athena Make a Difference?

Gino – Athena

Athena nutrients are designed for drip irrigation.
The formulation focuses on lower nitrogen and higher potassium and calcium.
Consistent feeding and clean irrigation systems are important.
Athena manufactures its own nutrients for greater quality control.

Early Veg: Learning as You Grow

The first week shows why a grow room is never really finished. As the plants develop, lighting, feeding, humidity and equipment positioning all need to be checked and adjusted along the way.

With Ian’s feedback in place and the first round of changes underway, both grow rooms are heading in the right direction.

The Scoreboard

Both girls have made a good start, but Sarah has managed to lose a plant to her heater in the very first week, meaning she looses a point. Jasmine takes the point.