My grow box & first time

Your going to have to do a lot of LST to keep your plants short in there. Whats the internal height of that dresser/box?

 

Go with 16/8...I have a cabinet thats only 2x2x2 and what I have done is lst down and around the pot, that way you get a bush that will use your space for your colas...but be sure to remember, Which I forgot, that your plants will double or triple size when u start to flower so as soon as u get them trained down and start to circle to pot I would start 12/12 but its ur call....you only need to water once every three days or so...once u can feel nothing but dry dirt on ur pinky pushed about a half inch down ur ready to water again...with only 100watts or less your not going to need to water it often..but I dont think anyone can tell u when to water you will have to find a pattern that works for u

 

Most people do 18/6 for vegging. To add onto what FLMarine said, when your LSting get it to about halfway to where you think it's good.. then switch to flowering because it will be at least double the size.

As for watering, when I had sprouts I was watering twice a day in small amounts just a few days ago I switched to once a day. Feel how heavy your pots are when they're dry, then water them until you have some runoff. Pick them up again, this is your wet weight. Once you do this a handful of times you'll start to know exactly when your plant is needing water by how heavy it is.

What strain are you growing, or are they bag seeds?

 

Yea, I've heard good things too!

Any idea on nutes yet?

 

Hello... Glad you've joined in on the growing fun, truly one of my favorite hobbies! I can tell you that your soil isn't the best for these plants, looks very barky.. is it from outdoors? It also looks a little wet, guessing you just watered it??

You'll want to get some nutes for sure, you could go really cheap on things and get decent stuff but why not get some great smoke!

You can do whatever light schedule you want that is above 18 hours of daylight a day. The only reason I do 18/6 is to save on some electricity but with CFLs you can do whatever you want and you'll get pretty consistent results (at least as a beginner you want see much difference). If you don't have a timer yet just do 24/7 if you do prob go with 18/6 or 20/4 this is a highly debated topic and no one can prove one schedules better. To the guy above that said 16/8, you should really consider bumping it up to 18/6, some plants will start to flower at 16 hours..

Like others have said, learn to feel what the pot is like when it is completely dry and you'll want to water then. Water slowly around the pot until you see it run off the holes in the bottom and stop. The first week go light though, just keep things moist never wet. You can fill a similar pot up with dry soil to compare the weights and water when they feel the same.. After a few weeks you'll know as soon as you pick up the pot. Make sure to keep those CFLs real close, 1-2" away..

Good luck

 

[quote name='"HerbRen"']Wow thanks for all that I really appreciate all the information!!
As for the soil it is actually miracle grow potting mix..even across the NPK levels and I have begun looking into guano and making a tea instead of using nutrients, I'd like this to be as organic as possible! I've read a lot of great things about it and to use it from start to finish makes things easier I would assume for a first time grower

If you have any input on the route I would love to hear it [/quote]

Well I don't personally know much about it.. Look into teas if you'd like, many swear by them.. Personally I just do hydro anymore, I got tired of watering the pots, mixing teas, wondering how my roots were doing etc etc.. There are also 100% organic nutes. My second guess was that it was going to be miracle grow.. When your transplant them you'll probably want to get them into something else. There are many many options, lots of people like fox farms soil, that's what I've used (but again I switched to hydro for a reason).

 

[quote name='"HerbRen"']

is miracle grow to soft of a soil? or is there to much drainage? reason for asking is i already bought a big bag of it and would much rather use it up instead of spending more money... but that you for the inside tip! always room for improvements for the next grow [/quote]

Well miracle grow is a highly debated topic as well.. Most people don't like the time released nutes that it contains because you'll never know what your plant is getting and at what time.. It's always really full of bark and a lot of times the roots won't grow to well in it. If your going to use up that bag maybe I could suggest buying a bag of perlite and mixing it together.. Say 2:1 ratio soil/perlite, possibly even more perlite. That will increase the drainage and lighten it up a bit.

 

[quote name='"HerbRen"']also with nutes what would i be looking price wise and how long approximately would they last?[/quote]

Mmm lots of options.. Roots organics, advanced nutrient, etc.. I have blueplanetnutrients and I can't suggest them because I've never done any testing so I don't know what's left in the product after a good flush like the bigger name brands. They do also have an organic line though. Mine were $30 shipped and have lasted 3 grows. Most name brand nutes are gonna be more then that but they do last quite a long time especially with small plants.