A few questions from a very new grower

[bsggonzo]

I would like to first off thank icmag and its members for all the great information on these forums.

I am about to start my first grow starting with bag seeds. I plan on growing in a closet in soil. I have 2 plants that are just starting in plastic cups. I have been lurking and reading as much as I can about growing before asking questions, but please excuse my newbie questions.

I am a poor college kid so cost is a huge factor in this. I would like to keep it as cheap as possible. I understand most aspects of growing but I get lost when deciding what purchases to make. On with the questions...

Medium-
What type of soil that is easily obtained at local stores will be best for a first time grower? Obviously I am looking for something forgiving to me accidentally adding too many nutes or even better would not require many nutes at all.

Lighting-
Can I get away with using floro's (purchased at a hardware store) through veg and flowering? If so what wattage?

Any links to specific products are much appreciated. Also if you don't mind explaining any lingo you use it will save me a lot of confusion

Thanks so much for your time.

 

[wreckingball]

Hey, you can find answers in detail to all your questions with the search feature.

But....yes cfl's from homegrowdepot will work, although not as great as a big hps. Cannabis is hardy, you can put it in most soils at stores and it will work, however many suggest foxfarm.


p.s. im using 1 150w cfl and miracle gro moisture control (probably wont use again after i run out of this soil!) Plants are stinky big and green

 

[WheelsOG]

There are many ways to skin this cat, but i'll tell you what i use.

Medium: 1 part plain ol' potting soil, 1 part perlite

Light: 150 watt HPS light, CFL's will work. For lots of examples of CFL grows check out the micro grow sub forum.

Nutrients: Advanced Nutrients Grow, Micro, and Bloom. General Hydroponics has the same products as well. Feed at half of recommended dose on bottle.

I use a "Ph Up" to raise the pH of my nutrient mix, then check with a pH kit. Try to get your mix to 6.5

Good luck

 

[bsggonzo]

Thanks for all the help. That is really everything I needed to know.

I used the search function but I got lost in a lot of the lingo. Thanks again for the quick answers.

 

[ZoSo]

Make sure you take a look through the OG FAQ. Tons of organized info right there.

If you really want to save money don't buy into the overpriced hydroshop nutrients. Better yet, don't go there at all. You can get most of what you need at Home Depot, Lowe's, and Walmart. Shultz 10-15-10 works just fine and it only costs like 3 bucks. You can even get a 70 or 150 watt hps security light and rewire it for cheap. Just make sure your ventilation is adequate.

As far as soil, you can really use anything but just make sure to add perlite. Worm castings are good too and if you can find some add lime/oyster shell. That would make ph less of an issue.

 

[Guest]

Here's some ideas to consider:

Lighting,

CFL's are you're best bet IMO. Here are pics of a rig I made from 2 $14.95 "Vanity Light" fixtures from Home Depot. There are cheaper ones but these were white metal. Don't use wooden ones. Each will hold 4 CFL's. I mixed mine 4 each of the cool white and 4 Daylight. (23 watters). I mounted them with simple toggle bolts to the lid of a 32 galllon rubbermaid tote. Wiring was easy and you can see how in one picture. This rig gives about 12000 lumens. Get a $9.95 "clip on fan" for cooling.

I just vegged these plants in this rig. It wouldn't work for flowering being too small. I just wanted to show you how easy it is to rig up some CFL's. There are lots of ways to do it. I prefer these vanity light fixtures because it eliminates a lot of wiring issues. Think "Creatively"

Soil

As said above, most any soil "will do". But listen to me carefully: You will save yourself a LOT of hassle and heartache if you spend just a little bit of extra time and MAKE A GOOD SOIL. Do not skimp on this step. Your plants will be in the soil you give them their entire life. So make the damn soil RIGHT and you will have eliminated most of your problems right at the gitgo for your entire grow!!!!

This is from the link below it. It is from a Sticky in Organics. You should read the Sticky Notes for the various forums. LOTS of good info in them without searching too much. Here is the soil mix I would recommend for you.

LC's Soiless Mix #2:
6 parts Pro Mix BX or HP / Sunshine Mix (any flavor from #1 up)
Or any soiless potting mix you can find that doesn't have "time release" nutrients in it. Some will say "feeds for up to 3 months". Don't use anything like that. You want a plane jane potting mix. Every plant store or decent nursery sells this sort of mix...and they are far cheaper than the premium soils you will hear about....and they work just as well. You don't believe it? Check my current haze grow in my link below.
2 parts perlite
2 parts earthworm castings
Powdered dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
If you use a 3 qt. saucepan as “parts” in the amounts given above, it equals about 1 cu. ft. of soiless mix and you can just dump in a cup of powdered dolomite lime.
But, a "part" can be anything from a tablespoon to a five gallon bucket. Just use the same item for all of the "parts".

from this link

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=53792&page=1

The blue part is my own comment for soil to use. Any decent soil mix will work in this recipe. DO NOT FORGET THE PART ABOUT LIMING WITH DOLOMITE LIME. It is crucial to your grow. Do not let anyone tell you "liming isn't need because....blah blah, whatever" They are full of shit. Lime your soil properly.

Style of grow

I think you should do what's known as a "Scrog". CFL lighting doesn't penetrate very well into the plant "canopy", the tops of the plants shade what's beneath. A Scrog grow creates an "even canopy", making the best use of your limited lumens of light. I won't go into how to do a Scrog here because there is tons of info on them here on ICMAG.

pedro


[edit]I forgot to say that these plants vegged in this tote for over a month...until they were like 18"+ tall.



Click on pic to enlarge it

 

[bsggonzo]

Wow now i'm just getting spoiled with information. Thanks so much. As soon as I get all of this going i'll post some pics with my setup.