hey sorry for the delay! I always try my best to be prompt. In my experience, I have never tried to go to the major stores to purchase grow items. I cannot say whether it would be there (Home Depot or Lowes) or not. To be safe and create the least amount of run-around, I would search for a nearby hydroponics store or horticulture shop. Something like a year round green house or greenery. Call ahead, call around, be cool and just ask for mylar in stock. If they (the first place) don't have it they should know where to get some or lead you in the correct direction. Make sure where ever you go you can fork cash over to make the sale pretty much impossible to trace and to make the shop feel better about you as a business partner. And for goodness sake dont have your money smelling like Doja! Wash your hands after smoking leaf before counting your money! This goes for any transaction concerning the materials for the grow. There are other types of super-reflective material available, so invest in yourself and be prepared when faced with the choices. I wouldn't settle for anything less than 90% reflective (mylar is proven to reflect 95-98% of the light that hits it)
On the same track.. once you have gotten the mylar or similar product, you may notice how the stuff is see-through if you hold it up and look near a souce of light. Attached hanging from a point and standing back, its like a sheet of tint or something like that. Its contradictory, to be able to see through to a light that is supposed to be +95% reflected, but it was allegedly discovered around the time of the Roswell incident in New Mexico, so its okay! haha- It dont rip, it needs cut. It cannot be crumpled and hold its crumpled shape, it flattens back out for the most part. It can be creased, but unfolds. Weird stuff really.
Be careful about adding things to the soil. Literally, if the soil you used was anything but from he ground in your own unfertlilized yard, it has some sort of growth support nutrients added. Organic or synthetic. Smell it, if it smells like rain and it relives your headache, then its all natural and mostly organic. Im not saying eat the dirt, but if it tastes like dirt, then it's to be trusted. If it smells "hot" or makes your nose say "man wtf is that" then it may be okay to use, but to learn from the ground-up, its sketchy to trust your experience. If measure needs to be taken to adjust ANYthing during your first grow, It is the pH level of the water that is used to water the plants. Get a good grasp on the "constants" of grow experiements first, or seperate the plants and play with one while leaving the other relatively naturally fighting for what it needs. The pH of water can turn a gecko into GodZilla.
Please ask more questions, or document your progress and note observances. Off the bat, realize that you are aiming to get as much off of one plant as possible. The bottom line is, you can trust that with the right paperwork and good words in court, one plant can be excused. While 4 or 8 plants will get your mouth and hands duct-taped and the bullshit law will put you through the cookie cutter. Learn what is best to make massive harvest off of one plant, and keep it focused. this way you can get 20 oz off of one plant down the road, and trust that you have the least legal problems if they were to show. Don't you dare go cutting down all but one plant, but make sure you understand the goals of your grow and the laws against them, and make compromises to satisfy the purpose of life.