New Grower Total Noob Needing Help Before Starting Please?

[lydia975]

Hey! First things first: I love this board! Been lurking for a few weeks as I decided how and when I'd get my feet wet in growing. There's so much great info here...I'm in awe pretty much. So much info, but its hard finding one thread that's perfect for what I want to do. Bear with me and my questions that I know you guys see all the time, please:tiphat:

I want to do CFL, in soil, 3 plants. NL and Auto Candy Kush. Grow area will be a closet 2'Dx8'Wx8'H. I know jack about nutes except for what I've read, so I don't want to get to complicated with the regimen. Saw 2 soil mixes from members here (WG and Full Duplex) that seem great for me. What I would love to know is:

1) Should I use 3 gal pots or 5gal? Is there a big difference in yield?
2) How many lights should I use? I was thinking 2-125W with Reflectors for the tops, with 2-65W per plant for side/supplemental lighting?
3) I was thinking using Herbie's for my seeds. I went to the review forum but I don't see them mentioned by hardly anyone. Should I go with somebody else?
4) Recommendations for a forgiving 3rd strain?

I have WAY more questions, but these are the main ones for right now.. Any help or advice would be SO appreciated! Y'all are awesome.

 

[yodabuds]

Well first off welcome to AFN! Glad to have you here! That's a great size closet you have there! Any reason your choosing cfl's and not hid or led? A nice 400 or 600 air cooled ligjy would be be great. The one thing I did not see you mention and it's the one of the most important for a successful grow is how you plan to exchange air in your space... I can recommend herbies with a 100% backing never had one issue with an order from them , than again I never did with attitude either. Or any other seed bank I've used ... Guess I've been lucky.... So def herb is good to go!
For very very simple fool proof nute regimen that does not even require you to own a ph meter is advanced nutrients PH perfect line... It's like nutes for dummies
I also highly reccomend you take a look over at high rise seeds and the dragon masters seeds over at the royal candian marinuana collective (RCMC) http://www.rcmcollective.ca. Check out the dragons and any of the Ghaze crossed autos by HighRise (which I also may add or femmed seeds!) can not beat those prices for top shelf smoke every time!
Sounds like your off to a great start! Your researching and planning which is one of the most important steps for a successful first grow!
Again welcome to AFN! Great to have you here! Check out the stickies in each forum and you will learn tons!
:smokebuds:

Edit: pot size id go for the 3gal for now as the less volume of soil the easier it will be to correct to for your grow....have you taken a look at the super roots air pots a great many of us on here use them and swear by them , also smart pots aren't all that bad either...

:karma Cloud: on your future grow

 

[blue]

Welcome Lydia

Hey Lydia

Welcome to AFN! ^_^ Glad you're loving it here!

CFL grows can turn out very nice, and don't add a whole heap of heat to the cab (which will be handy). You just need to keep them close when they've had a few weeks of growth.

As far as soil and nutes goes - I have never used the Advanced Nutrients PH perfect line - but it sounds like an awesome idea, and many many people have success with it. If you go for that, i would not worry to much about making your own soil - if you have access to grow shops, i would buy Plagron Light Mix. You can check out one of our members "TaNG" - he uses those nute and that soil and constantly gets awesome results. (He's a great grower and super chap!)

If you dont want to go down the advanced nutrients PH perfect route - You'll need a PH tester if you don't have one (a digital pen is best). I've used a simple 2 part nute line start to finish with success - I'd recommend keeping it simple to start and adding nutes when you're compfrtable with what your already using.

I'd line up 3 gallon pots - probably up to 5 of them in that space. I'm not sure there'll be a significant difference in yields.

If you dont wanna use herbies - you could try attitude seed, or if you want dragons as yoda says http://www.rcmcollective.ca.
You can buy direct from dutch passion if you are in the EU

As far as recommended strains, i'm sure we've all got out eyes on more seeds than we can grow - but i can vouch for black cream by sweet seeds. Easy to grow, lovely to smoke.
People have had lots of success with DutchPassion "Think different" if it's yield your after.

Dragons are always popular around here Made by our leader :KISS:

Good luck with the grow - I'll keep my eye open for your journal!
All the best

Blue ^_^

ps.. why not pop up a "hello" over at introductions for a nice warm welcome from our members! ^_^

 

[wwwillie]

Hey and Welcome!
I 'm glad you are here! You will be to I am sure. This is the place to be for autos and great community!

3 gallon would be fine, 3 gallon smart pots are what I started with and they seem happy.

You can start out fine with what you listed, you will want to add more as you go. You did not mention if the numbers were actual watts consumed or effective watts as compared to... That's an important distinction. You want at least those numbers in actual watts.

Herbies is great, lots of good auto strains and effortless order and delivery for me.

I am very happy with the Biodiesel mass I am growing, Have not smoked any as of yet, but they are strong easy to grow plants for me so far, that's why I recommend them.

For nutrients I am a Rock Nutrient fanboi. Super simple only 4 things to use from seedling through to harvest. They sell a kit to try them out called the Rock Box. You would aslo want to pick up some cal/mag supplement, a pH pen and some pH up and down. There are some good reviews of all this stuff down in the review section. Check them out.

So... Keep up the good work, make this your journal, ask lots of questions and most important to me, lots of pictures, love pictures!!!
Peace and happy growing.
A bit of :karma Cloud: for you too!!

 

[trustfullytastybuds]

Hello lydia and welcome!

i would say the guys above have covered pretty much everything you asked with some real solid knowledge. but just be sure to read as much as you can, there is so so so much information on this website.

i also check out the infirmary/hospital/sick thread from time to time, it lets me see other peoples problems and cures so i can catch any deficiency and illnesses in my plants sooner. such as a calcium deficiency that happened to me, and seems to be a some-what common-ish problem.

Just some advice from personal experience, if you decide to not go with the advanced nutrients PH perfect line i would highly advise getting a Digital pH pen. i tried the cheap way first with just getting the Drop type pH kit and it had be believing my pH levels where OK, but they where actually around 1.0-1.5 to high. luckily i got the digital pen and caught the problem before it escalated.
I also feel the digital pH pen saves me a lot of time when i'm preparing my nutrients solutions.

finally i'm not sure if you already have this covered, but smell, defiantly something to think about if you have not already. i thought i would be ok, until one day my whole house stank of weed, not necessarily a bad thing, but terrible is you are trying to be inconspicuous

best of luck on your grow! hope you get big plants and bigger yields!
peace,
trustfullytasty

 

[late]

A T5 setup would prob be be better. I have a couple of the 125 watt Flourowings, and they
work well for veg, but a couple may be a bit weak for 3 plants.

If you go that route, you might want to get 2700K bulbs for the flowering phase at some point.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003EWDP5S/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A45WQBIVL5BVB

I've been using a General Organics Go Box, it's pretty good and would see you through a few grows.
http://www.amazon.com/General-Hydro...68379&sr=1-1&keywords=general+organics+go+box

Good cheap potting soil, pick instore pickup to get it for less than $12
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dr-Earth-...gMethod=Recommendation:wm:RecentlyViewedItems

Cheap monitor
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013BKDO8/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Lots of good pots, google Hempy pot. This is the one I use...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0053NKHDY/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I am an old gardener, and for decades never worried about PH. I did my first couple of grows
without worrying about PH (although my experience helps). So.... I guess what I am saying is
do what I do, use PH strips for now. LOTS cheaper, and with potting soil, the accuracy is not
that important. If you live near a Whole Foods, there should be a PH Starter Kit in their vitamin
section, and it's like $6. That's what I've been using. Works fine. Used it only one grow, and
even than only a few times.

If you ever go hydro, get a PH pen. But I don't suggest beginners start with hydro. Starting is
hard enough without adding that complication. Besides, over time you will learn a lot, and
at that point you can make an informed decision about which way to jump (there's a ton of choices).

You can get plenty of pot from potting soil.

 

[lydia975]

Wow!!! Thank you everybody for the replies and suggestions! I'm not sure if its best to reply to each post separately, or in just one reply, Lol.

Yodabuds and Blue: I'm going the cfl route because of heat and electricity cost issues. The cfl sounded like the way to go for me. I've not looked at the airport or smart pots. Do you feel they're easier than standard pots? Still working out the venting for the closet space. Any suggestions for a not too complicated set up? Thanks for the recommendation of RCMC and the nutrients line. Sounds like exactly what I need:thumbs:

wwwillie: Your grow journal was awesome:thumbs:! Read it all the way through and definitely want to try one. Probably won't be as good as yours, but I'm gonna try. The bulbs are actual watts. Its a whole little set. Here it is: http://www.ebay.com/itm/FluroWing-w...4576285?pt=US_Hydroponics&hash=item51a1a9461d . I should only need 2 right?

Truthfullytastybuds: Thanks for the infirmary sugestion! Yeah...hadn't figured out the smell issue yet, Lol. Guessing Febreeze won't quite be enough, Lol? I'm in a house so there isn't anyone to hide it from inside the house. I still don't want my whole house to smell like a big bud though. Suggestion?

Late: Thank you for the links! I plan to get 2700k for flowering. 2 125W plus supplemental. Why do you think T5 would be better? I can get to a whole foods. Can't beat a 6$ PH kit. :thumbs:

 

[CGR]

Welcome to the Family....:Sharing One:

 

[SkatterBrayne]

I also think T5s would accommodate your space better. They run cooler, and are less awkward and cumbersome than rigging CFLs all over the place, IMO. You can buy a variety of different sized T5 fixtures, so you can ensure it will fit your space nicely.

To be honest, in that space I would setup a T5 fixture on one half of your closet, for Vegging and an LED on the other side for flowering. You will be able to have a nice easy perpetual harvest every 45 days or so, and you will not generate much heat at all. A perfect 4x2 space for each stage of growth.

Plant a few seeds under the T5 to account for beginner mistakes, etc. Choose the best survivor and move her to the LED when she is ready.

Since your closet is nice and tall, it shouldn't be much trouble to mount a carbon filter and inline fan above your lights. Go for a 6" fan, with an adjustable controller so you can dial it down so it's nice and quiet. You absolutely need a filter for odor control. I would never advise anybody, regardless of their situation to ever grow without one. Especially in a space that size, your plants will be pungent.

You may want to consider a cheap grow tent from eBay to put in the closet. A room within a room will help with the smell, it will be nice and reflective to maximize your light, and it won't look like a search party and or UfO is in your closet for reasons unknown.

 

[Alex Delarge]

Air pots seem to be the way to go. Check perfectroots website for info. Just got mine yesterday.

I prefer coco coir, over soil, or hydroponics, but that uses hydroponic fertilizers.

Are you growing a photo variety of NL? It took me 3 or 4 grows, before I got great results with AF's. One mistake, can give poor results. Recently I fed some seedlings, the wrong batch of early grow fertilizer, burnt them, and they will never produce much, where a photo can take the time to heal. Others have had no problem from the start. Just don't beat yourself up, if you do not get award winning results the first try.

Since you are not using HID lights, might want to look at LST (Low Stress Technique) and SCRoG (Screen of Green), to produce more bud.

Good luck.