Absolutely new to growing....a few questions before I start

Northern Lights has a good to high yield and is very forgiving for beginners. I would put White Widow just a step below that. Also pretty easy but maybe not quite the same quantity.

To learn more about possible strains it is worth downloading the Leafly app. A little time on there might help you finalize your decision.

Be kind. Perfect your craft. Give more than you take. We are family.

 

If you're going to do it with CFLs, you better as many of them as you can cram into that box safely. CFLs veg a plant nicely, if you have enough of them like those you're using, but when it comes time to flower off a plant, though they will flower one, they really lack in punch. CFLs leave you with very arid and fluffy buds...not the dense juicy big ones everybody tries to grow. It's just not a good enough light source to do that. However, since you're growing in a very confined space, about the only other option you would have because of heat issues with hps lamps, is to use LED. The LEDs flower off wonderful buds but to get one that's worth anything, it'll cost you some serious bucks. The technology is there, but they're just not common enough at this point to cause the price on them to fall. Don't be lured into buying one of those super cheap LEDs off Ebay either. You're totally wasting your time and money with those. Just go ahead and do a couple of runs with the CFLs. It'll be excellent growing experience for when you are able to upgrade your lights and get a bit more serious with it. You might consider putting extra lamps down under the canopy when you go into flower with your plant, since the biggest issue with that kind of lighting is that it's not strong enough to penetrate the canopy itself and nothing much develops under there.

I would advise researching the "how to" part of growing these plants along with learning about the equipment and creating a setup to grow with. Most people skip that part because it's just seeds and dirt, right? NOT.... Growing these inside is done differently than anything I've ever grown in my life and there are definitely some things you need to know and understand that I consider the "basics" of indoor growing. If you don't take the time and read up on these, you'll have problems from the very beginning keeping your plant growing and healthy. Read up on: pH of water/feeds and correct range. What happens if you don't keep your pH in the correct range. How to know when your plant actually needs water. How to water the plant the right way. What kind of soil these plants want and need to thrive. What size container to choose. What nutes are and when they actually need to be started (hint hint....not just days after the seedling sprouts like most people I see on here who don't know what they're doing (LOL)). How much your plants actually need of added nutrition to thrive. There is a bunch of stuff that, if you take the time to read up on it, will really put you ahead in the game when you actually do get a seed to sprout. You can do it "fly by the seat of your plants," but it'll be a terribly stressful and lackluster experience. Good luck. Hope all goes well for you. TWW

 

You can stack rubbermaids as the plants grow add onto the box, fans are a must even though they are only CFLs. You can have intake/exhaust if u wanna get all fancy but poor mans way is opening the door 24/7 with fan blowing in. My suggestion is dont go with hps or anything that gets too hot without proper ventilation, rubbermaid HPS is asking for a fire if u ask me.

Plant height can be controlled through shorter veg, low stress training, ect. Keep a eye out for the shorter strains that still have high yield.

Cheers

 

Also fans are not only for keeping your box cool, a healthy mmj plant must have airflow

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ICE has been a pretty good strain for me.

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If u wanna keep a shorter plant i would get regular fem seeds, you can control veg length before they exploded in flower and take up your whole space. Although autos might be good for newbs most dont yield as well as there regular sisters. Just some thoughts cheers

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I keep my sativa short by vegging with only 6500k cfls. Less red.

Then you can do first 4 weeks of bloom with only 6500k then switch to 2100k for the remainder of the bloom.

This should keep your plants extremely thick stock and branches, and less stretch.

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Keep those CFLs close as well OP, what they lack in penetration they make up for in cost +safety

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