First Time Grower, check-up

[PeacePipe]

I have a few questions about certain aspects of the growing process.

I'm a first time grower growing in a closet at my apartment. It probably has about 12-15 square feet of space. In this space, I have 10 potted plants from bag seed. They are about 2-3 weeks old and most have developed 3-4 sets of leaves.

Pots: about 1 gallon in size. Will I be able to sex the plants before I transplant them to bigger pots?

Soil: Miracle Grow Potting Mix. I screwed this part up, as I didn't notice that it was potting mix. I'm planning on planting them in a different kind soil when I transplant the females into bigger pots (assuming I can sex them before they get too big for the pot). What kind of soil is generally used or recommended that i could get at Lowes or Home Depot?

Lighting: I have five 65 watt Gro-Lux bulbs (one per two plants). I also have five 120 watt bulbs that I could replace the 65 watters with, but those introduce heat problems, though it's really because the seedlings are very fragile and unable to stand up to the force of a slight breeze from my fans.

Fans: They have been knocking the plants over. I have moved the bulbs closer to the plants (within 1 foot) so I'm trying to wait out the stretching problem since I didn't have the lights close enough for the first week and a half. Should I get smaller fans?



Any recommendations/advice would be greatly appreciated. If there's anything else you'd like to know about the set-up, feel free to ask.

[TheTsunami]

get foxfarms soil and do u have reflectors for the bulbs? i think you could get ur lights within inches of the plants when u got the fans on.

[KamelRedLight]

Man no wonder the fan knocks em over. Those bulbs aren't incandescent are they? If so, you need new lights. Or if they're fluorescent, 1 foot is still way too far away. Try 3 inches. Also be careful with miracle grow soil if it has fertilizer in it. The soil I use has barely any, but some nonetheless. Don't feed em anything if it does. Lotsa info on these forums. My first grow is going perfectly thanks to them. Look around.
Good luck!

[TheTsunami]

get a small fan to start em out on until their stem gets strong enough for the bigger fans hopefully they arn't stretched too bad.

[PeacePipe]

Thanks for the responses guys,

The problem with the lights is that I am suspending them from the clothes hangar bar that runs across the closet. This makes it very difficult to get them close to the plants since I need to share the light with other plants. Once the plants are over 1' tall or thereabouts, I think I'll be ok since I'll bust out the 120's by then and also be able to move them closer.

I'll be going to the hardware store by this afternoon (I have to watch the world cup first, definitely gunna toke a couple times as well) and I will be look for some foxfarms soil and smaller fans.

Before I leave, I'll check back and see if anyone has an opinion about the size of my pots, and the sexing of the plants question. Up until recently, I simply thought that I could control the growth of the plant simply by giving it a smaller pot, without thinking of the potential problems. For one, I didn't know how big marijuana plants got.

Random Thought: If I could buy 2 slabs of board like 3X4 or something, and drill large holes through them, I could suspend the lights in through the holes, and essentially be free to have one light per plant as close as I want it. I'd have to buy more lights and light holders but that's not going to cost too much. I'd have to find a way to prop the board up over the plants though, and I would preferrably like to be able to move the board up and down with some ease.

I know this post is long and scattered so I appreciate anyone taking the time to read it and think about what I can do to improve my setup.