Best products from r/canadagrows

These are my suggestions - feel free to ask more questions if you need anything!

Read these guides (not by me) - I wish I had had something like this when I started: http://homegrow-pro.com/quantum-board-build-grow-tent/ And this one: http://homegrow-pro.com/the-3x3-grow-tent-setup/

Essentials

• Grow Tent: 3 ft x 3 ft x 6 ft is the size you'd probably want. This is the one I bought: https://www.amazon.ca/VIVOSUN-Hydroponic-Observation-Window-Growing/dp/B01DXYMKIO
  
• Light: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Kingbrite-240W-LM301H-with-CREE-660_62138608878.html?spm=a2700.icbuShop.41413.39.e07058f6OqSWQf This light is a fantastic LED quantum board that is very easy to assemble - I got the 3000K one with the epistar, but this one has the better CREE version
  
• Fabric Pots: Head to Amazon and grab yourself a 5-pack of 7 gallon fabric pots https://www.amazon.ca/VIVOSUN-Gallons-Thickened-Nonwoven-Handles/dp/B00TF9E9PY/
  
• Also get yourself a saucer (you can get this at any garden store) and a pot elevator for each pot (pot elevator example: http://amazon.ca/Gro-Pro-725675-Level-Elevator/dp/B01J37FHF8/)
  
• Soil: Get yourself a bail of Pro Mix HP with mycorrhizae (it's cheap, reliable, and hard to overwater) from Canadian Tire, Rona, any store really and get also a bag of earthworm castings. Cover the bottom of your fabric pot with the castings (2-3 inches deep) https://www.homehardware.ca/en/20l-organic-worm-castings/p/5025712
  
• Nutrients: Gaia Green Dry Amendments (All Purpose and Power Bloom) Mix the All Purpose in with your Pro-Mix HP and then top dress your "soil" every month, changing it to Power Bloom during flowering https://www.canadiangardensupply.com/gaia-green-all-purpose-4-4-4.html https://www.canadiangardensupply.com/gaia-green-power-bloom-2-8-4-power-bloom-2-8-4-2kg.html
  
• Ventilation: Get the AC Infinity Cloudline T4 - it's absolutely worth it. Then purchase a 4-inch carbon filter and 4 inch tubing from Amazon (branding doesn't matter for these two things) https://www.amazon.ca/AC-Infinity-CLOUDLINE-T4-Ventilation/dp/B06ZXWN3BG https://www.amazon.ca/AC-Infinity-Dual-Layer-Aluminium-Ventilation/dp/B071LHCFZ8 https://www.amazon.ca/VIVOSUN-Australia-Charcoal-Pre-filter-Included/dp/B01DXYMBU6
  
• Timer: You can go cheap on this, but also consider a smart timer (like a Wemo) https://www.amazon.ca/Insight-Switch-Enabled-Compatible-Amazon/dp/B00EOEDJ9W
  
• Seeds: Jahseeds.ca - Canadian breeder, amazing beans, amazing price! Go with feminized seeds for your first round. https://jahseeds.ca/shop?olsPage=t%2Ffeminized-seeds
  
  
  Extra accessories
  
  
• 2 fire extinguishers (one for just outside tent, one for outside the room, where the tent is located)
  
• Pruning shears (seperate ones for trimming live plants and ones for harvesting) https://www.amazon.ca/Pruning-Gardening-Straight-Stainless-Precision/dp/B076HL5JJM
  *a lighter (for sanitizing)
  
• a set of tweezers, for planting your sprouted seed
  
• some garden gloves
  
• rope ratchets for your lights
  
• zips ties for protecting things
  
• binder clips (for low stress training)
  
• plant ties (soft rubber and wire kind)
  
• watering can
  
• two pairs of measuring spoons for dry amendments
  
• a clip on fan and rotating fan (for air circulation over and under the canopy)
  
• markers and a pack of tag plant markers for identifying plants
  
• soil moisture https://www.amazon.ca/Soil-Moisture-Sensor-Meter-Hydrometer/dp/B014MJ8J2U
  
• paper towels (for germination)
  
• Bucket Head Wet Dry Vacuum Powerhead Lid for 19 Litre (5 Gal.) Multi-Use Buckets great for gathering up the excess water and tipped soil) https://www.homedepot.ca/product/bucket-head-wet-dry-vacuum-powerhead-lid-for-19-litre-5-gal-multi-use-buckets/1000666690
  
• 3 five gallon buckets (1 for the buckethead vacuum and 2 for extra water reservoirs) and two lids
  
• 3 surge protector power bars
  
• Various AC power extension cables
  
• 1 trellis net (for ScrOG training)
  
• USB microscrope (used to check the trichomes at harvest - if you want you can also get an adapter so it plugs directly into your smartphone, as opposed to plugging it into a computer) https://www.amazon.ca/Jiusion-Magnification-Endoscope-Microscope-Compatible/dp/B06WD843ZM
  
• 62% Boveda packs for curing
  
• Mason jars for curing and storage
  
• hanging rack for drying (you can substitute this for a hanger and some plant ties)
  
• Duct tape
  It's a little more expensive at the start, but this setup will pay for itself within two harvests.
  
  
  With this setup you can expect to yield between 8 to 10 oz every run (even with autos), once you grow accustomed to the cycle.

So I've seen a lot of " is this ready" posts and wanted to share my experience.

I bought one of these back in July when I had an auto finishing up and it was great.

Blue Dot Trading 2 in 1 Jewelers Loupe, 30x/60x Magnified Jewlers loupe (jewelers-loupe-30x-60x) https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00MMP6VRW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2epFDb8Y7Z4EW

They are super cheap and with the led on you can see the trichs perfectly. I'm still not sure if the trichome colour is the most scientific way to do it, but at 50/50 milky / amber, mine turned out well.

With the loupe you can almost nail it down to the day when to harvest.

Just wanted to share how cheaply and easily you can time your harvest as we approach the end of the season.

Also great for checking out weird growth, diseases and pests if you are unfortunate enough to have them.

Good luck and good growing everyone.

If you want something cheap but incredibly reliable get the General Hydroponics PH test kit. You basically put the water in a little vial that comes with the kit, put a few drops of their PH solution inside, close up and shake, look at the color under natural light like the sun or a bright white light. The color you're looking for is really close to the color of beer. Theres a color strip that shows PH to color correlation on the bottle hard to screw up.

​

Edit - I would get this entire kit. comes with PH test kit as well as PH down and up so you can properly adjust your PH to what it needs to be. https://www.amazon.ca/General-Hydroponics-pH-Control-Kit/dp/B000BNKWZY/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=PH+up+and+down&qid=1555392612&s=lawn-garden&sr=1-3

​

Since you are growing in promix that is the equivalent to a hydroponic grow so you want your PH to be 5.8 for optimal growth. If I had to guess you're probably just giving this thing tap water at the moment?

Cost $24.99 on Amazon.ca. I diy'd an old computer 500w power supply to use as the 12v power source needed to use it. Runs at 65w at the wall.

Cooled the res water from 73°f to 66.5°f. I used to add frozen bottles but I couldn't keep up with cooling approx. 20gal of water. It would hit 66 then go right back up to 73 within a few hours. Did some research and found the Peltier water cooling solution for computers.

The mod I bought is a computer cpu heat sink and fan, peltier semiconductor and a water block. Semiconductor moves heat from one to the other leaving one side very cool and the other side very hot.

I would stay away from anything that has small fans. You'd want at least 80mm fans with a decent heatsink like in the picture.

Edit: added bonus is it helps keep my tent air at 75°f in this cold ass winter.

Edit 2: Parts list

Water Pump This is separate from the pump you are using for recirculating (RDWC).

Peltier Cooler I already have an extra on the way for summer. If not this one, go with something similar. i bought one that had multiple small fans and it didn't work well as it couldn't remove the heat fast enough from the heatsink and was heating up the cold side.

Power Supply Unit (PSU) I used an old one I had lying around. The one in the link is plenty of power and you just have to mod it. To get the PSU to turn on without connecting to a comp motherboard, you connect the green wire to a black wire. There should only be 1 green wire, which is the on/off wire that gets connected to the motherboard on/off port. You could buy dedicated power supplies for this kind of application but they are more expensive for less wattage. Dealers choice I guess.

5/16" Inside Diameter Hose

Edit 3: Will add link with a better side pic later today.

I make tincture often. Also in Ontario. I use Spirytus 76% (goes out of stock often, it's weird) or Goslings black seal rum (75.5%).

My ratio is 20g of fluffy buds from the backyard grow that have been decarbed, or 20g of already vaped bud, to 250ml of booze. I add this to a mini crockpot ( https://www.amazon.ca/Crock-Pot-16-Ounce-Little-Dipper-Chrome/dp/B00942VGKS/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=mini+crockpot&qid=1572633807&sr=8-6 ). After about an hour with stirring here and there, it's reduced from about 1 cup of booze to 1/2-3/4.

I then strain the above in one of those reusable coffee filters https://www.amazon.ca/GoldTone-Reusable-Hamilton-Brewers-Replaces/dp/B01MQY4LPD/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=coffee+filter&qid=1572634046&sr=8-11 (so much better than my old cheese cloth method). Which fits perfectly on one of these glass measuring cups ( https://www.amazon.com/Anchor-Hocking-4901-Measuring-Cup/dp/B002NS2XF2 ).

3-4ml and I'm passed out in 2 hours (I take this around 7pm). 2ml and I'll just be high.

Alcool in Ontario will require a letter from LCBO, which is easy to get, just email and tell them what it's for...(extraction of herbs) but alcool is $99. The booze mentioned above is ~ $40-ish and does the trick for me.

I feel I've perfected my method but if anyone can improve it please let me know. I make this every 2 months or so.

>Then keep that one plant small and short so that it doesn't exceed a spread of more than 2 square feet. I suggest LST or even perhaps a mini-SCROG. Keep the plant below 10 or 12 inches tall before flipping to 12/12 - the flatter the better so that everything receives even light. With that light you should be able to get very close, like just a few inches. Just remember you need to light up 2 square feet when your plant gets that big (which shouldn't be long). I can grow one plant to cover 9 square feet in 6 weeks, so don't wait that long!
>
>For one plant, you probably would have been better off with this:
>
>https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07BP47TB6/
>
>You'll need 7 household LED bulbs from Walmart, Home Depot, Costco, any "dollar store", Canadian Tire, or wherever - get the 14 to 15 watt bulbs, 4 daylight and 3 warm white. Pop off the bulb covers, screw them in your $10 fixture and get growing. You'll easily double the penetration to what you're getting now, and likely double the lumens too for less than your paid for your Amazon burple light. Alternatively you could use just a couple of these bulbs to supplement the lighting provided by your current setup.

​

link it’s 15$ for one (when i bought it, they had a 2 for 20$ deal) but still well worth it. The perfect tool for telling exactly when your harvest is ready.

I have 8 Arlo's cameras (wifi) around the backyard and in the greenhouse's (not cheap), I put the base outside in a waterproof box, the base has an alarm that is like 140db (pretty loud) that I can start from my phone, I set the motion detector on the cameras, work pretty good. Also, you can talk through the camera.

I also have 2x 4000 lumens LED lights on a wifi smart plug outside, I can start that in seconds on my cell and the whole neighborhood will think it's day time (kidding).

If you buy a wifi camera, you should buy and IR light too (on amazon) it makes a big difference.

Another thing you could do for a cheap alarm this: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B073QWCSJ1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and some fishing wire will do the job, you fix that to something near your plants.

I just got this one from Amazon. It's a bit of a pain to try to do it while holding the scope in your hand but I just cut off a tiny piece of bud leaf and put it on the table which works out great.

Thanks! https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B06WD843ZM?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image

I use the same one - it's also very easy to hold against your phone's camera and take pictures with.

Same one but a couple bucks more because Prime: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00MMP6VRW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1

https://www.amazon.ca/Carson-60X-120X-Lighted-Pocket-Microscope/dp/B00LAX52IQ

If you’re an amazon person.

I'd avoid the root farm fabric pots -- they're overpriced. The 1.5Gal (small) costs $8, and the large is $13. Check out Amazon. You can get a 5-pack of 3 gal fabric pots with handles from Amazon for $16, and 5-pack of 5gal for $20.

Unfortunately, looks like they may have sold out of the 3gal and 5gal bags. I made my purchase a couple of weeks ago. They still have the 5-gal bags in beige, though, here.