My first (serious) attempt at growing

My plant is approx. 1 month old, 8-10inches tall and just as wide and thick. My question is.. is my light setup efficient enough? Im using a 150w floralux HPS light with additional cfls for under the canopy. Collectively im pumping out close to 20,000 lumens. I hear a lot of people using 400w hps but it seems a bit overkill unless you are growing several plants at once. My second question is: when changing to a 12/12 cycle to determine the sex early does is need to be exactly 12 light/12 dark? Could you go 6/6/6/6 and alternate or would that just cofuse the plant. And does it need to be pitch black during dark cycle, ie will a few minutes of exposure fuck it up and revert the plant back to veg state?

Oh and another question, does anyone know what the rules are in CT? Is it a 1000 ft rule or a 1500 ft rule?

 

Damn I didnt know that.. def. wouldnt want a hermie. Ill stick to a strict 12/12 schedule. Meanwhile I want to get my bubbler going. I followed the tutorial on constructing a bubbler called "lets build a bubbler step by step." You can find it first on the list if you do a search on "hydro" I believe. Its a pretty good tutorial. Materials cost about $70-80, but getting the right fittings and other supplies on your first visit to home cheapo is a pain in the sac.

The one thing the tutorial DOESNT answer is how to get started. For medium I have easygreen hydrotron, clay stone pebble stuff. As For micro nutes I have Botanicare, Pure Blend pro grow.. vegetative formula.

okay so here are some questions...

First question: I understand that theres a vege formula and budding formula etc.. now is there a germinating formula or will vege formula work for starting from seed?

Second Question: Due to the uncertainty of a plants sex, is it possible to cut a clone from a female, transplant to hydro using this medium and be successful/get a decent yield? good idea? bad idea? better method of doing it? Id like to avoid having to worry about three seeds growing in one bucket and having to untangle the damn mess once I determine the sexes you know? I also understand that transplanting from soil to hydro is both difficult and a pain in the sac.

Third Question: What is flushing, how often do you need to do it and what difference does it make? Should I use ph strips to test the ph of the water everyday or invest in a ph meter? If so how much does one cost?

Fourth Question: Im pretty much growing from a mid grade strain, if done right given my more than adequate lighting, medium and using hyrdoponics will the potency of my plant be considered better than mid when I get the final product? Compared to mid grade grown using soil, what would hydro go for (mid grade strain grown hydroponically) ie mid at 1/8 = approx 40, hydro at 1/8 = approx 45-50 or +? Or does this all depend on the strain. How much would a strain of northern lights grown dro at 1/8 be priced at?

Fifth Question: For awhile I believed that a plants environment had a greater influence on the quality of the final product than what strain you started from. Is this true? Because you can start with a good strain and still fuck it up..

Sixth Question: What is the best way about getting a good strain and can you tell a strain by the appearence of the seed? Id like to avoid mail ordering seeds because you cant really trust anybody, the dea has their noses up everyones anus these days, am I right? I dont really want to go through the trouble of setting up a po box and using a money order either because you can still get caught and it takes a lot of effort to do this, right?

I mean, is mail ordering in general even safe? I could always make a trip to canada because id like to get my hands on an NL strain, however itd probably be hard to smuggle them back right? Youd have to worry about customs at the border with their damn dogs (and hope the shampoo bottle method works?). Whats the best way? Asking around for strains would sketch people out im assuming... So simply, whats the easiest and safest way to go about getting you hands on an NL strain?

Sixth and last question: Just how much does a perfect amount of C02 effect yield? I tried using the yeast/sugar/water in a bottle method but it was messy, inefficient and it made my room smell like a damn brewery. Is there another method that isnt messy and is pretty effective? Money isnt too much of an issue. Im willing to make the investment because in the end itll pay of after the first harvest. The most im willing to spend: $200. Can that get me anything?

Any feedback and answers would be greatly appreciated. Research is only so effective on this site, there are a lot of conflicting answers to these questions. Ill try to post some pics soon... thank yuh

 

Heres the mother, shes a little older than 1 month.. id say 5 weeks..

Alright so im attaching a few images.. poor quality I know but I have finally determined the sex of my plant.. Im also including a pic of my setup. Home made C02, 150w HPS light, and 5 cfl's.

Its been on 12/12 for about 4 days now.. should I go back to 24 hours of light to veg again?

Feedback and comments appreciated, thanks

 

its such a pain in the scrotum to upload pics on this site.. well anywhore.. the pics I WANTED to attach for last post can be found in my member photo gallery.. ill try to upload them in a later post

 

Well bad news, I had to tranport my plant to another state to leave here with a friend because me mum found it. Here is a recent pic of her at top view~7/8 weeks, approx. 16+ inches tall... Not bad for a first grow huh?

So for my next grow im considering hydroponics. Ive constructed one bubbler so far and have everything I need to get started. This summer im thinking about moving somewhere with a friend and groin the dro. Anybody know of a way to run 10 bubblers, with multiple light sources whilst keeping my constant energy consumption below 500w's?

Ive heard that running more than 500w's constantly can put up a red flag and a lot of people get busted that way... True? I figure I can run one of those T5 new wave lights- the 8 tube fluro's with a high output per watt ratio and then run 10 seperate bubblers, dunno yet. Well ill attach more pics in a day or so. Im going to visit my baby today, woohoo, tengo mucho picturas! Feedback, comments and pointers always welcome Chau!