Let's go ahead and get the fact out the way that I too am still a beginner, but I think I can give all you other newbies out there a very important piece of advice I learned on my first grow. If your going with soil, I personally prefer soil, THE KIND OF SOIL YOU USE IS VERY IMPORTANT!!! I learned the hard way. First, DO NOT use anything from Miracle Gro. Not even their organic mix. It will stress your plant out so much cuz of the high amount of nutrients it takes in all at once. Miracle Gro is notorious for overloading their soils and fertilizers claiming you get outstanding results. What you end up with is a nutrient burned plant that almost dies from it. I made the mistake of starting a seedling in some MG soil and it grew at an abnormal rate to the point where roots started poking out the bottom of the peat cup. The seedling got suffocated for a few days and it's growth got stunted. Later in the veg stage I fed it MG food and it still made my plant sick. It ended up being a male tho. So if you want a good quality all organic soil, I highly recommend FoxFarm soils. I'm using the Happy Frog mix for my current grow and my seedlings are loving it. I hear good things from all the soils and fertilizers from FoxFarm. Another brand that's got good reviews is called Roots Organics. Also go for something with very low bark content and that's well aerated. Even if the mix has perlite, still add extra. Well I hope some people find this useful.