Novice grower...

Okay, I am a novice grower. My goal is to grow 2-3 plants indoors strictly for personal use. I have done quite a bit of research, and have pulled from different sources to develop a very basic organic soil method that I would like some input on.

I purchased a bag of organic potting soil (contains ingredients such as peat moss, humus, compost, etc.), a bag of organic compost, and a bag of perlite. I plan on mixing these for my growing medium. However I am uncertain as to what ratios I should use...
I will planting each plant in a 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled in the bottom for drainage. Should I add a layer of gardening pebbles for additional drainage? And if so, how thick of a layer?
I have chosen to go with CFL bulbs because they are relatively cheap and energy efficient. I purchased a pack of four 1650 lumen CFl bulbs and I plan on using all of them...that puts it at 4950 lumens. More???
I figured if I don't add more bulbs increase the vegetative cycle?
I plan on watering with distiller water.

C'mon, spit it out

Lol I'm working on the post, having trouble figuring out how to use mobile

You'll definitely want more CFL's for 3 plants. The general rule is 100w per plant if you're not trying to grow a joint on a stick.

Alaskan super soil wont help a plant with a light deficiency. If you can spend a couple bucks, buy a 120Watt LED light. If not, I would put that on top of your list of "Things I should buy to make my weed awesomerrrr" I don't see why you would need drainage gravel in the bottom. I should be fine without that. Good Luck!

How many lumens per plant are generally recommended? Also, I am growing in a closet, as my ahem, "house" (One bedroom, one bath and a kitchen. No living room) is very small. Where should my humidity be? I can purchase a humidifier for the closet if need be. Temperature shouldn't be an issue, the house stays around 75-80 degrees.

My other question is how often should I add fresh compost to my soil mixture? I figured eventually the plant would drain the nutrients from the soil.

You're not going to need 5 gallon pots with CFL's.

As for other details, I'm obviously starting with a vegetative light cycle (18/6) for 60 days (+/- depending on how I think the plant looks), and my flowering cycle will be 12/12. From what I've read that's pretty standard, but I am a first time grower so I'm trying to figure this stuff out before I germinate my seeds.

OK, general rule is to go by Watts (NOT lumens) the light uses (as long as they say they're 'grow lights' or they're 6500k vegging or 2700k flowering CFLs) Like Havek said, 100W per plant. Humidity I've had anywhere from 30-60%, I haven't had a problem fluctuating between there, but know the higher the humidity the less you'll have to water. House temperature is fine but you'll need some sort of fan possibly inline fans if you get nice lights that aren't LED (since LED will be a little cooler). You want it between 80-86 degrees optimally otherwise a little lower is better than a little higher from my knowledge. But depending on the plant it IS called weed because they should be resilient. But to get max output you'll want optimal input of light and nutrients. I've never heard of someone using compost as nutrients but if you try that make sure to keep us up to date on how well it works.
Otherwise you'll want to get Cal/Mag (calcium/magnesium) http://www.amazon.com/Botanicare-BCCMGAL-CAL-MAG-Plus-Quart/dp/B000J2CUPW
and if you have the money, get these Fox Farm nutrients http://www.amazon.com/Fox-Farm-FX14049-Nutrient-Formula/dp/B00572026S/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1377907989&sr=1-1&keywords=Fox+farm
I know this says for "hydroponics" but it works for soil as well. http://www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-GH1514-Control-Kit/dp/B000BNKWZY/ref=pd_bxgy_lg_img_y
And get this to test your PH, you want it at 6.5-6.8 optimally. I use this one, it has worked for me[FONT=arial, tahoma, helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]http://www.amazon.com/Luster-Leaf-pH7-Environmental-Concepts/dp/B00A8BM7KW/ref=sr_1_8?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1377908255&sr=1-8&keywords=ph+test+meter
If you wanna take a picture of the box/cardboard the lights came in and post it here I'll be able to tell you if you should just get more of those or I can give you other advice on what you might want.
If you want good weed you need to spend some money weather you buy it or grow it. Growing's just a better deal in the long run!

Good to know about the lighting. I think I will have to "re-do" my lighting and purchase different bulbs. I don't have the box with me right now, and I don't recall what the wattage of the bulbs is. So, to make things easier, could anyone tell me EXACTLY what bulbs to purchase? I'm thinking Home Depot or Lowes. I am willing to invest, but I would prefer not to spend 100 dollars on lights for 2-3 plants if I can help it. At least not for my first grow. This time around I plan on doing things simply and keeping records just to see how it works. Afterwards I will adjust my approach and experiment more.
As for the nutrients, I read an article about Subcool's soil mixture, and the "just add water" approach. That's ideally what I would like, to get my soil right from the beginning, so I don't have to do anything but water, but my goal is to do so organically as possible. I want a pure smoke with as little chemicals in the plant as possible (very much a hippie, lol). So what should I do to achieve that? Or is it difficult to produce organic/mostly organic bud small-scale? This is very much a learning process for me, and I want to do it right

Alright so for lights... You can get these for veg period http://www.amazon.com/LimoStudio-Spectrum-Lighting-Photography-daylight/dp/B0058KJNPA/ref=sr_1_3?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1377909951&sr=1-3&keywords=6500k+cfl
And get 1 of these for the flowering period http://www.amazon.com/Watt-CFL-Light-Bulb-Fluorescent/dp/B003YO0VRQ/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1377910116&sr=8-9&keywords=2700k+cfl

That will keep the price at $55 and the wattage at 425 watts which will be great for 2-3 plants You'll want to keep them all on together and think about maybe buying a second 2700k once you actually go into the flowering period. I'd do a light cycle of 18/6 for vegging and obviously 12/12 for flowering. I'd use this timer it's simple to set up and I haven't had a complaint with it. http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-TM01715D-7-Day-Digital-Program/dp/B001BPOBTY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377910392&sr=8-1&keywords=hydro+timer

For keeping it organic but getting decent yield I'm not sure exactly, you'll wanna look that up I suppose. Or I can do it for you, http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/soil-nutrients-zmaz94jjzraw.aspx#axzz2dVF7jxZI This has a nice list of natural things that boost nitrogen and other common fertalizer elements.
You can also add CO2 for the plants to feed on, 86*F I think is Ideal for the plant to receive the CO2.

Right on. I do appreciate the help. Surfing the Internet and trying to troubleshoot specific questions is difficult. There's an overwhelming amount of different approaches, so it makes it hard to know which ones work well and which ones are stupid, so I figured turning to other growers would be my best bet.
Another question. Is growing indoors relatively easy year round if the plants have proper light and nutrient intake?

Yes I only started a month ago so I've got some of the basics down and a few of my own opinions just based on what I've done. There could be better ways of doing things that what my opinions are but obviously take everything you're told with a grain of salt.

I'm not sure what you mean by easy, but there are a lot less uncontrollable variables indoors such as weather and droughts. You'll have to water it when it's dry and stuff like that since nature won't have any say on how the plant does though, so it's all up to you.

Let me know how your first harvest turns out! I'm trying to get things up and rolling within the next few weeks, but like I said, I'm waiting to germinate until I have all of equipment, etc. from lights to jars for curing...I want to be completely prepared, and know what to expect so there's less chance of me f'ing up my grow.

I'm growing 3 plants in a small space. My first grow. I started out with 3 150W CFL's but it didn't take long to realize I needed more light. And I only vegged for 3 weeks. I purchased one of those Sun System 150W HPS lights for about $90.00 and have been pleased with it. And Im supplementing that with the 3 CFL's. You could have $20.00 to 25.00 invested in a 150W CFL with a reflector.

I'm new at this but I'm within a couple of weeks of harvest. And I believe what I've learned from the experience is that providing a good growing environment is most important.

Elizabat said:

Let me know how your first harvest turns out!

Click to expand...

My first harvest turned out to be male!
But honestly every grow is a learning experience whether you mess something up or it just turns out to be male you'll always be learning new things and trying new things. I kinda did it the exact opposite of you, first I got a seed from a friend's bag. Then I got a 125w cfl grow light, and got dirt from my bad yard and baked it in the oven for a few hours.
After about a Month I was here

It sucked having to put him down, but I learned a lot while growing it and I'm already set up with everything I need now for my current grow.
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