First Time Grower, Long time smoker...has a couple of questions.

[colin.hroberts]

Hey Everyone, I've been reading up here on everything, and it's all been really helpful, but i have a few quesitons myself...A friend of mine who was growing had a whole bunch of northern light seeds and gave me a few (i only have three left) and I'm going to start germinating them sometime in the next few days, but not until I actually know what I'm going to do for the rest of the time.
1) I live in my own house, so I can grow however and wherever I want inside. That said, where and how should I do that? a closet? in the middle of the basement? in some sort of grow box (if so, which kind?).
2) What kind of soil and lighting would someone recommend for growing northern lights inside (on a fairly restricted budget)
3) If someone could kind of give me some sort of brief timeline outlining roughly how everything should work, that would be so great. (ie: germinate for x many days, transplate, veg for x many weeks, etc...).

This is really vague, i'm just stoked to get going, and I have done my own research, I just wanted to make sure that I had all the bases covered and got any great little pearls of wisdom out of you guys. Thanks so much for the help!

[snow_bud]

1. if u can get as much space as you can bigger yield bigger lights.
2.i used miracle grow soil and a envirolite but you can get a 400w hps for about 60 pound.
3.germinate until the root is half and inch out of the seed put in a plant pot with soil in with a half and inch hole dug in the soil. i would say grow for 4 week flower for 4 week but i am not tht expierenced so wait for another expierenced grower comments

[colin.hroberts]

Thanks for the advice man!

[OldSkool1010]

I let the plants dictate the time table for the most part. I vegetate the girls until they fill my box and then set them out to flower.

As for your growing area, there are benefits and drawbacks to either option. In a closet, you've got a prebuilt closed space that you can modify for your grow, but you're constrained by the size/configuration of the closet. For example, electricity may not be close to your closet, you may have to cut holes and such for ventilation, you may mess up the carpet/flooring if (when) you spill water and chemicals etc.

Building your own space in the basement will allow you to tailor your grow room to suit your needs. spills won't be as big of a deal, and it should be more secure in that most people won't be going downstairs...unless you've got a rec-room set up down there.

Lighting is the most important consideration. For a small grow (1-4) plants you could probably get by with florescent tubes or CFL bulbs. Even with that, I'd suggest buying a HPS lamp before you put your plants into flowering to help with the bud development and yield.

Not sure where you are, but in the US you can get everything you need from home improvement stores (probably at a reduced price compared to specialty grow stores).

Good luck.

[newguy440]

As previously stated- basements are the way to go. No worries about spills, mess, etc due to the easy clean-up. It is also away from the living area of the house and usually very easy to keep temperature in check.

If I could have a basement where I live I'd be all over it. Unfortunately living at sea level has disadvantages- my basement would be a swimming pool.