Noob Grower in need of advice for closet grow.

Soil is easier generally and you have a small area so not that many plants can fit in there so Id go with soil.

 

I'd suggest going with a soil-less mix; something like pro-mix, sunshine mix #4 or coco coir. All three can be amended with perlite to allow extra drainage. The advantage to soilless is that you always know what your plants are getting as opposed to "real" soil that comes to you with loaded with time release nutrients and it's more difficult for beginners to gauge what you need to add in.

I like coco because you can get away with smaller pots and still achieve good sized plants and outstanding yields. It drains really well, my ph doesn't swing wildly and it's reusable. CNS17 is a nutrient designed specifically for coco and you can use the "bloom" formula from start to finish.

Prom-Mix and SS#4 are used by many people as well.... it also needs a complete fertilizer which there are tons of on the market. Try and stick with keeping it simple as possible. Maxibloom is getting good results as a stand alone nute. You could also go with Jack's 20-10-20 but you'll need to add a Tablespoon of dolomite lime per gallon to the mix.

That space would be great for a 250 watt Ceramic metal halide bulb, and fit 2-4 reasonable sized plants growing in 2-3 G smart pots if using coco.

CMH bulbs are just starting to catch on so you'll get more recommendations for HPS or MH, but the CMH's run cooler, can be used start to finish as they are broad spectrum, suffer less color shift and have a higher PAR rating, which is what the plants "see". Talking lumens is all well and good but it is not relevant to a plants needs.

 

Depends on the style of grow. You could go SOG and fit over a dozen, a SCROG with only two, or let them grow free maybe with some topping and LST and fit anywhere from 2-6 plants depending on how long you let them veg and wether or not you want to get them to branch out.

For a noob i would hedge your bets and start with 4 femmed, that way you have a margin for error.

 

Probably not your underestimating how big a plant can get. Even a small one is big realitivly and your space looks about as big for 2 plants.

Now what you could do is put a shelf in that closet looks like it has shelf rungs in it. Top is your cloning area bottom is your grow area.

 

i'd grow auto's. lowryder 2 would be a good start.they finish around 20-24 inches. you could get 4 in there and prolly pull 1 1/2 -2 1/2 ounces a plant.I like root organics original soil.you barley ned to feed nutes start at week 4 with auto's.

 

Autos are convenient if you can only do 1 grow and have to tear it down after .. But if your able to keep a mother get a short flowering indica and just clone it , 10 days veg + 45 days bud . That's quicker than most autos and will be more potent .. But if you can't keep moms by all means go for autos but it's almost a loss to get an auto if you are able to keep a mom ... A short flowering indica shouldn't be much harder to grow than an auto

 

I don't know about 2oz a plant with an auto. mabe 1/2oz per.

 

[quote name='"dnicebx5"']

Yea thanks i dont think ima go with autos. What kind of lights are good for the clones?[/quote]

A couple cool white Cfls or t5s or t8s

 

I grow in a 2x4x8 tent in a closet w/ two bubble buckets.

Google mrgoodsmoke to see a journal with pics and all that.

 

I've grown a single plant and got 5.5oz from it. That was my second grow ever. First grow was one plant, 2.75oz but I chopped it early now knowing what I was doing. I've done two grows w/ 2 plants each and one gave me abour 9oz, and the other about 7, but the strain was incredible on that one so it wasn't that big a deal to get less.

Now I'm revamping and I've got some mother plants going, once they're able to be cut for clones, I'm gonna start doing 6 or 8 at once so I can fill my whole space w/ less veg time.

 

I just use the lucas formula w/ general hydroponics micro and bloom. 2 bottles of nutes, mixed 1 part micro 2 parts bloom stronger or weaker depending on the plants. I'm gonna give you a nice collection of links that might save you years of searching. Here goes.....

A do it yourself 5 gallon hydro bucket w/ aquarium air pump and stones.
http://forum.grasscity.com/do-yourself/121335-lets-build-bubble-bucket-*step-step*.html

How to work the fucker.
http://forum.grasscity.com/hydroponic-growing/35309-bubble-bucket-hydro-method-101-a.html

What goes in my bucket, and most people's according to a poll in a recent thread someplace around here.
What is Lucas Formula, and how do I use it?

Best guide on when and how to harvest some dank buds.
Zeus's Take on Harvesting

If you make it through all those threads, you will have the power to grow hydroponic dank in your closet. The main thing is this, they say that soil is easier, but it's easier because it takes longer to grow. You can have more harvests per year w/ hydro, and thus in the same space, over time yield more. Roots meet less resistance pushing through water than they do soil, so the do it faster. Part of what you trade for that is that if something goes wrong it happens equally as fast as when things go right. So you've really gotta check em every day and maintain your ph a bit until you get everything dialed in. But I think it's totally worth it. I've never grown in soil and I've never had any major growing catastrophes.