Novice gardener needs you!!!

[Chronicwizard]

HI all. After much surfing of the web trying to find a good discussion forum this one appealed the most. I'm about to embark on the perilous journey that is cannabis growing and need some advice desperately. I've already spent a few hours sifting through threads for a general idea on how to begin but there are just so many different theories I'm becoming confused ! I was hoping maybe if I start my own thread and give you all a basic outline of what I'm trying to achieve a few of you may find a little time to help me out along the way. Once I've begun I'm hoping to post regular updates on here so you can watch my babies grow along with me. I have listed below the points I feel most neccessary:-

1. The basic idea I have at the moment is that I am going to use a special closet grow room built from scratch by myself! I hope to grow 2 - 4 plants in there so I need to know how big to make the grow room to accomodate this number of plants. The beauty of making the grow room myslef is that it can be designed to the exact requirements of what you need to achieve!

2. What are the best seeds to use for a first time grow?I've been told to try AK-47, Big Bud and lowrider 2. This is vital to my success. I need seeds that are relatively easy to grow for my first time.

3. What lights to use and how to position them within the grow room? Again ive heard different things regarding good lighting strategy.

4. Ventilation and climate control. I need to know an easy and cheap way of maintaining the temperature and humidity within the grow room.

5. What nutrients to use if any? The best potting soil and how often to water the plants.

6. Finally it would be helpful to know how long each stage of the plants life lasts? Germination to flowering. And what is a good way to induce flowering?


I'm hoping to buy feminized seeds to eliminate having to worry about males. I want to grow the plants in soil because i think a hydroponic setup is a little advanced for me at this stage! I have a budget of around £400 or $800.

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Please tell me anything however small because im a complete novice! If you dont think my budget is big enough let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Thanks for reading!

[toastybiz]

Welcome to GC and g'luck with your grow. You are taking the right approach by reading up first and getting a good base of knowledge before starting anything. Some replies:

1. Your basic idea sounds fine. You should be good with about 2'x2' footprint minimum, but a little bigger space gives some flexibility, and remember thatn nearly everyone who starts growing gets more ambitious down the line. For height I recommend a minimum of 4'.

2. Best seeds for a first grow, honestly, are bagseed. You will learn from your mistakes but the lessons will be bittersweet if you paid good coin for genetics and kill those. If you have any seeds from a decent bag you can try those. If you need or want to buy seeds I almost always recommend Northern Lights for a first grow because it is pretty hardy, potent, grows low, and can be low odor. You say you want to buy femmed seeds -- when you do step up to buying genetics I agree with you on femmed. They cost a little more but save you the cost of growing out males. Don't be scared off by people who tell you they will hermie, I've heard many people throw that out but never saying that it has happened to them. Some femmed can in fact tend to hermie, but those usually are discovered quickly by the breeder and pulled from stock. I grow femmed with no problems.

3. Lighting can be HID (MH and HPS) or fluoro (tube or CFL). Fluoros can work well through the entire grow, the problem with fluoros is that many folks don't use enough and/or don't get them close enough to the plant. HIDs put out more heat to be dealt with.

4. Ventilation and climate control are very circumstance-specific. It is very hard for us to tell you how to manage these in your particular op. If you can get house ventilation in there that would be great. You need fresh air intake and you need to exhaust heat and stale air.

5. Nutes and soil -- many variations and you will get many different answers. You will need different nutes for vegging and for flowering. I agree with your inclination to do soil rather than hydro for a first grow. A simple soil mix I have used is:
40% organic potting soil (no ferts added)
30% sphagnum moss
20% worm castings
10% perlite

6. The vegging stage lasts as long as you want it to -- the longer it goes the more budsites you will develop. Flowering is mostly set by genetics, many commercial strains today fall in the 8-9 week range.

Beyond that, I encourage you to continue reading here, you will continue to absorb key knowledge to be a great grower.

[stoned budda]

i agree with everything toasty said, except on the hydroponics, ive grown in soil but have only recently gone to hydro and to me it seems easier than soil, oh sure you can make anything complicated but that dont mean you have to. it can be very easy, practicaly maintenance free, not much more expensive and in many cases cheaper, and does not have to take up much space, and produces faster..............peace