So Ive viewed about every thread in here on growing, and they all talk about pH soil levels, HPS lighting and all this other stuff... But cant i just pop seeds in some dirt and grow it? I mean I live in Illinois surrounded by nothing but crops of various assortments, and growing shit isnt hard. So why do I need to go spend $200 to start a grow? Me and my buddies just drop seeds in the woods and come back at the end of the summer and we have pretty good mids. So basically, cant I just grow it the ole fashioned way with dirt and water?
Sounds like your experience is limited to outdoor grows. Winter is getting near now so I dont think you'll be doing any more outdoor till the spring. Indoor is a different game my friend. You will need the proper lighting to simulate the summer sun inside your home. Thats why you need to drop $200 to grow.. of course, you can easily drop $40 and get yourself an all CFL setup, instead of dropping $200 on a HPS/MH system. Check out the indoor CFL threads. You also need to supplement your soil.. there are a million things at work outdoors which are replenishing soil nutrients and whatnot that you arent going to have indoors. ~Experimentalist
cost completely depends on expectations. you want a plan with some nugs? get a pot with some soil and a cfl. you want a few zips/qp's/lb's? on an 8 week, 4 week, or 2 week basis? your looking at that $200 plus some, maybe a lot, maybe alittle more. what you looking for?
i dropped bagseed in a pot, watered it, got 2 cfls and let it go. im wishing i had put in some ferts and not waited until the third week of flowering to put in some nutes but im expecting some decent mids. prolly only a few grams though. yes you can put in almost no effort but you reap what you sow. the more effort you put into the operation the high quality and higher yield you'll get. next time i grow im gonna try to follow the SCRoG method word for word and I expect a decent yield of headies.
Ive been thinking about getting the Nirvana Blue Mystic seeds because they dont smell while they grow. And along those lines Im setting up a hydro system made out of a 10 gallon Rubbermaid tote ran with 2 fishtank pumps and airlines. I really dont know how to set up nutes and all, I understand about getting the seeds to germinate before you put them in the setup but thats about all I know. Alot of it Ive picked up from some of the forums here, but Im still iffy.