Looking for a little help on getting started.

[Pimpski]

I am going to try to grow my first plants....and well.....I have no idea really on how or where to start. I was wondering if someone good toss me a few good tips. I have nothing yet......no lights...nothing! I do have some alright seeds.....but was wondering if it was safe to buy seeds off the net?
Well I hope someone out there can help me out!
Thanks!
Peace

[The Student]

Hello,

Welcome to the boards.

You will need lighting.

-People use mainly three different types. Fluorescents, High Presure Sodium (HPS), and Metal Halide (MH).

-Metal Halide and cool blue Fluoros are used for the vegetive stage of your plants life. It is only recomended to use fluoros for seedlings, young clones and early vegetive stage growth. Then give your plants some good ol' MH lovin' for the rest of the Veg stage.
*Vegetive Stage = The stage of a plants life when it is growing up and producing more branches, leaves, height, girdth, etc. There is also a flowering stage.

-High Presure Sodium and warm red fluoros are used for flowering. It is not advised to use fluoros for the flowering stage by them selves. They make great accompaniments to HPS lights durring flowering because you can lower the fluoros down under your plants canopy for much better light penetration.
*Flowering Stage = The stage of a plants life where its sex is determined. The Female plants bud in this stage and the males grow pollen sacks.
*Plant Canopy = The top " horizontal layer" that all of your plants create.
*Light Penetration = The amount of light that penetrates through the canopy. The higher the wattage the more penetration. Fluoros are not known for their penetrating ability. This is why they are only used for seedlings and early vegetive growth.

The higher wattage of the lights the better. However the higher the wattage the more heat they create. If they create to much heat then you will have to start adding an exhaust into your grow space. Exhaust is broken down into two parts; intake and exhaust.

The formula that I use is the intake hole has to be four times the size as the exhaust hole. I use a passive intake and use a 665 CFM fan to exhaust.

To figure out how big of a fan you need just calculate your areas cubic feet. You can do this by multiplying the length X width X height, this gives you your cubic feet. Just the length X width will give you your square feet.

Now take you cubic feet and multiply it by three. This is the amount of CFM your exhaust fan will have to push to clear your chamber three times a minute. This is the amount of time that I clear my area and it seems to work well for me.

You said that you already have seeds, what strain are they? Are they bag seeds?

Genetics is the biggest step to growing quality herb. Often times bag seeds are the result of hermaphroditic plants. This is not a trait that you want in your garden. Buying seeds online is quite safe. I have done it several times. Here are a couple websites to go to that deliver world wide and are reliable. Dr. Chronic (http://www.drchronic.com/main.asp?sitepages=HomePage) and Seeds Direct (https://www.seedsdirect.to/?page=shop/index&)

Once you have reserched this info, and are ready for more please just post again and I will help where I can.

[notanovice]

student know his stuff, he has good info, i woul take his suggestions and use it.
the student is fast becoming the TEACHER
good job

[Pimpski]

Yes they are bagged seeds.......pretty good stuff...plunty good for the first time. Thanks for the info....I had no idea about any of this. I will get to it and if I run into any problems.....I will be back with questions. Thanks!
Peace

[The Student]

Hello,

Pimpski - Good luck bro. Be sure to keep us all updated.

Notanovice - Thanks for the compliment. It means a good deal coming from you. I enjoy reading your posts. Always informative and helpfull.

Peace to all.