First Time Grower

Hey everyone, have been reading the forums for a few days now, and everyone seems to have different opinions on methods of growing/equipment. This will be my first time ever trying to grow. I will be going out tomorrow morning and buying all of the supplies I think I need. I will list everything I would like to know and hopefully I can compile a list of everything I need and the strategy I will follow. I will be making a growing journal with daily updates and pictures of the grow box and plants for everyone's viewing pleasure.

Seeds:- What would you suggest for a first timer? I'm looking for something that will forgive me for making a mistake and doesn't take an age to grow.

Grow box:- I think I'm going to buy a cabinet from B&Q's or something of the sort and grow in my bedroom.

Lights:- For 3 plants, if I were to use CFL's how many watts would I need, how would I get the CFL bulbs fixed into the box, how would I wire it? I could just use common sense and make do, but just want to know if there are any easier alternatives then to risk setting my house on fire. I've seen people using a 3 way splitter to run CFL's, so bascially it's a light fixture for 3 bulbs? I've never seen one of those in a shop in my life.. I live in the UK, are they available here? B&Q's?

Extra's:- I'm presuming I can just buy all over the temp guages, PH testers, moisture testers from my local gardening centre? What PH should the soil be at, should it be at that level all of there growing life or should it vary depending on age? Moisture, really not sure how to judge this.. I don't want to over water them but I want them to have enough water that they'll grow nicely. What tempretare should I be keeping them at? What should the humidity of the box be at? How would I increase/decrease the PH level?

Light Cycles:- Differen't people using different cycles, some people use 24/h others use 18/6 I even saw someone using 86/7 or something lol. I have no idea, what would be best for me? When should I switch the light cycle to 12/12? When I want it to stop growing in height or..?

Ventilation:- Do I really need vent's for 3 plants? I can probably hook up some large computer fans but not sure if the box is going to be big enough for a proper fan inside and it can't be hooked upto a window.

Nutes, Ferts, etc:- Ok.. Here is a really blank space. I have no clue at all about this (or anything else for that matter). Do I just follow the instructions on the packet? How much, how often? More nutes the bigger it grows? What do Fetilizers do?

Sorry, lol. Basically I've just asked for a complete guide to growing, I know theres hundreds of guides but they are all saying different things. I've even seen one guide that just said stick a seed in soil put it in your window and water once a day. Thanks allot in advance, and looking forward to growing.

I used seeds i got from regs, and now i've got a few seeds going that are from cryp. Sensimilla will grow as long as there are no males. Websites tell how hard certain seeds are to grow if you don't want to just happen across seeds. I think indicas are easier to keep up with since they don't have giant leaves going everywhere and they don't get as tall so they don't need as much room.

Imagine 1g/1w, and decide how much you want to yield, and get lights based off that. use either 18/6 or 20/4. From my readings, some plants might like one over the other, but it's genetics. Some like 24/0. I like watching the plants "go to sleep," so i do 20/4, which gives my sativa just enough time to compeltely fall asleep, sit for about an hour, then start waking up. 12/12 for flowering.

you don't vent each plant, you vent your grow space. The plants should be waving a little bit in the wind. They produce waste that needs to get circulated. For smell, you need to figure out your grow space in cubic feet and match up to the appropriate filter.

I use fox farms, i think advanced nutrients is a common one. You keep your plants centered around a PPM number using PPM meter, thats how you regulate how much the plant gets. More nutes, not bigger. the plant can only handle so much, and if you give too much, nutrient salt builds in the plant and it gets hurt...fast. As for where you PPM is supposed to be, i'm kinda sketchy on that too... Begining plants are supposed to be around 100 (seedlings, clones). I won't say where your ppm goes from there cause i'm not entirely sure. I plan to learn what my plant likes. You raise ph up and down using, ph up and down. My plants go from 75degrees during the dark cycle to about 83 in the light cycle. try not to breach 85degrees and you will be straight.

With soil, you water the plants everytime the top soil is a little dry. The plants show overwatering if you start to over water. I've never seen it personally, but the pics i've seen show the leaves being slightly swollen almost...i know that description wasn't very helpful....BUT, underwatering causes the plants to droop, and it's pretty obvious so it should be easy to not underwater.

continue reading, especially the guides at the top of the newbie forum.

Seeds that yield good and are easy to grow are: Northern Lights, Big Bud, White Widow, Skunk #1. there are others , but these are easy to find and cheap to buy seeds which are plentiful.

Grow Box, get one that is wood and easily modified. remember it will hold lights and pots, so make sure its big enough to do that and have lots of vertical room for the plants.

Lights: CFL is fine for vegetating a plant, but they are less than ideal for flowering and making actual smokable Bud. Use High Pressure Sodium lights for flowering, nothing comes close to its effect. 250 watt is the smallest HPS i could conceive of growing anything decent to smoke.

Ventilation: Must have, you cannot do without fans blowing hot air out and getting fresh air to the plants.

Light Cycles, simple is best. use 24 hour light a day for vegetating, get a timer and use 12/12 for flowering.

Accessories can be gotten at your local garden/hydroponics store, along with soil and perlite. Soil PH should be kept around 6.3-6.9.

Nutes/ferts Use 1/2 the recommended amount, Fertilize every third watering DO NOT fertilize with every watering, youll kill the plants. A little fert goes a long way, too much will burn your babies up. Nutes=ferts same thing ( Nutrients and Fertilizer are interchangeable words). You will not give any fertilizer until plant is 3 or 4 weeks along. The soil will provide whats needed to get the plant a good start in life.

Water when the pot is DRY, do not keep it moist or wet, the plants will die if soil is kept wet all the time. Dry soil is VERY important to the plants health.

Patience is probably the one thing you need the most, new growers tend to love their plants to death. They think that if a little nutes are good more must be better, same with water. Unfortunately you soon find that less is more when it comes to growing.


Have fun!!!!

i have a 400w hps and three plants what is a good spacing between the plants and light?

I'd like to know that too. What's the closest you can put a light before it's not lighting the entire grow space? Say, specifically for a 2'x2' grow space with a 400w light like he said and maybe a 250w too. This is regardless of how the plants feel about it, cause i know if you can feel the light on your hand where your plants are, the light is too close. But i'd actually like to know my limit and work up from there, maybe even put fans underneath the light so i can keep it at the limit.