Planing my first grow

Hello. This will be my first post on this forum =)

After a lot of reasearch, i have decided to grow my own white widow plants. I have been a regular visitor of this forum for about a month now, reading about what needs to be done in order to get good healthy plant, and i think i have covered most of the basics. Tired of buying that expensive low quality stuff from crummy street dealers.

As this is my first grow, i don't want to over do everything. I really don't care if could yield 5 grams more if i did it better and used more money on it. As long as the yield descent and of good quality.

Closet
I my apartment i have this empty closet which is around 1½ foot deep, 4 feet wide and about 7 feet tall. And in this closet i would like to grow about 4 plants.

The closet is painted white inside. I will also be adding two computer fans to allow air flow. One for intake and the other for exhaust.

Lights
I have decided on purchasing the following HPS kit:

1 reflektor
1 E 40 socket
1 400w ballast
1 400w Agrolite

Image: HPS 400w kit



Fertilizer
TotalGro 1 Liter is what i thought about buying. It says on the websie that this fertilizer has a ph buffer and has everything in one bottle. Sounds good, though i know nothing about it.

Dirt
I figured i could just by the same dirt that grandma uses for her plants, Just plain dirt with fertilizer, and then add 25% sand and 25% Perlite.

Is it also true that i can use only this light trough the entire life cycle of the plant?

How many plants do you think i could grow under this light?

And finally, am i on the right path with this equpment, or am i dead wrong?

It's a good start with that closet.

For soil I would recommend something without fertilizer in it at least to start your seedlings in. If you have Promix or Sunshine Mix #4 around, then I would definitely use that. If you don't, then use grandma's potting soil with the dirt and sand.

The ventilation is what caught my eye when reading your post. Even if you got 120mm fans that were 100 CFM each, I don't know if it would be enough for that closet size. Have you read about cool tubes? If you built one (easy-medium thing to build, costs $20 or so), it will keep your closet SOOOOOOOOo much cooler. The 400w will heat that closet up so fast unless you have a good ventilation system.

For nutrients, have you checked out the GH-3 part nutrients? General Hydroponics makes a 3 part (micro, grow, bloom, or something like that) that I have heard good things about. GH-3 with molasses and Epsom salts is all you should need.

The HPS can be used through all the plant's life but I would recommend that you buy some CFLs to start the seedlings off with. You can just get a desk lamp with a cool CFL in it to start them growing. Once they are about 4" (verification please), then put them under the HPS with about 2' (verification please) between the light and the seedlings.

Other than that, it looks ok to me. WW is a nice strain and the 1.5 ft of depth shouldn't be too bad for em. You could grow 4 plants with the 400w easily as 400w covers 3'x3'-5'x5'. I would suggest you germinate 5/10 of the seeds you get and save 5 just incase.

That is about it for now. Looks good and looks like you have read up on growing, :thumbsup:.


Check out:

Mothers and cloning
cool tubes
ventilation needed
Other WW grows
Search feature, it answers all!

i'm in the same situation; first grow; closet about that size

1.120mm fans are pretty small for that closet. the easiest way to go is just regular desktop type oscillating fans from walmart or the like

have you considered whether you're going to have a veg room and a flower room (take clones) or just grow one grow from seed to bloom?

cloning is very simple and that way you can keep growing constantly rather than start from seed all over. if you get a 10seed back you might get 4 healthy females out of that. if you take one as a mother, and flower the other three, you can take that mother and make 4 clones, then once you're done harvesting your first plants, you can take the clones (which have been growing for a couple months in your veg area) and flower them, and the cycle goes on and on. you can use cfl our flouro tubes for the veg section of the closet (you can make a little growbox for veg for instance) and use that hps for the flower section. that's just about perfect. the one thing you have to make sure is that no light from your veg section/box spills into your flower room, those flowering plants need 12hrs of darkness


the reason for having two growing sections, is A: you can be harvesting every couple months, and B: you can just use flouro's for veg, and hps for flower, if you just had one room you might not be using your hps for awhile in early growth, and it would just sit there :)


anyway, i'm trying to decide this very thing myself. i just have to make sure that my flower area is lightproof


oh, btw: i've ordered "silver pearl" nirvana seeds from seedboutique, and my closet is 2'deep, 6'high, 9'wide about. ventilation is going to be an issue so i'm going to have to be clever about when the closet is open for airflow (essential for hps, for veg with cfl, a little oscillating fan is enough as long as it's not in a closed box). i intend to flower 6am to 6pm and veg 6am to 12am; of course when starting out i'll just be vegging so i will have less light worries.

anyway, it's good if you can clone and not have to keep buying seeds. it helps you keep a low profile and it keeps costs down. and best of all, you know that you're growing females and don't waste your time on males. you'll want a new strain at some point, but if you're growing WW, it's so good that you wouldn't be needing a new strain too soon :) and if you have a mother, you can keep here while you get a new strain, and grow multiple strains without having to have tons of seeds and tons of males

I run my lights at night. It keeps temps cool and I can open up the door to air it out before I go to bed and when I wake up. 8pm-8am is how I do it, it also works out well for maitinance since I only work on it when everyone is asleep.

I'm not sure about his lifestyle but if he could open up the closet just once a day around 1/2-3/4 the way through the cycle, he could let out alot of hot air and let in alot of cool air. I used to drop temps in my closet from 84-75 by positioning a fan to blow cool outside air into the top of my closet for 5 minutes. All that work cooling down my closet so I could let my sunflowers have a headstart growing during winter, only to have ALL my sunflower contract some kind of disease and die within 3 days of eachother. A total of 10 plants, all seperate pots and such, ALL died within 3 days of eachother and 5 days after showing symptoms... anyways...

Thanks for the replies guys.

To answer some of your questions. I'm not a big smoker, and when i smoke, i usually only smoke one third the amount of what other experienced smokers do. So it was not my plan to have mothers and clones (can you store clones for a few months, like freezing them or something?). 5 plants will last me a long time =)

But i will consider having 2 grow sections as you mention. Sounds pretty easy and will probably also make the heat less of a problem. Would also be nice to invite friends over for a smoke without worrying about the stash. Actually, when thinking about it, i think that is exactly what i'm gonna do. Just seems smarter.

I was kind of worried about the heat problem. It's not that it's gonna be a problem getting hold of for example 10 or 20 computer fans and power suplies for free, but i don't know what kinds of modifications i can allow myself to do to the closet.

The apartment i live in came with the furniture, including the closet, so i don't actually own that closet. I also can't really build a box to put anywhere else, since many people often visit the apartment.
So i think i'll just build a propper ventilation system, rather than changing lights.

Ahh well, lets just hope no one notices vent holes in the closet when i move out =) I have worked as a carpenter for years, so i can probably alter the modifications when i'm done growing there.
I will not be able to open the closet twice a day to let fresh air in, since i don't sleep in my apartment very much. I always sleep at my girls room.
Anyways, i'll take your advice on running the lights at night time. Atleast it will make a difference of a few dregrees.


About the fertilizer and soil. I live in Denmark, so the terms you use are not known to the general public here. It took me about 2 weeks to find a danish suplier for the lighting system, because no one here knows what a HPS bulb is hehe. It's called something else.

I would like to purchase everything i need here in Denmark, for the sake of simplicity. But it is very hard to find the merchandice you mention. At least the same brands. But i did find the brand you mentioned, DR.Hashman, but there are around 40 models to select from, and none of them have a description attached.

From what i understand of your post, DR.Hashman, this one bottle of fertilizer (GH-3) contains all of the things needed throughout the entire life cycle of the plant? Did i get this right, like an all-in-one bottle of fertilizer?

But like i said, there is no description to any of the products. So i boldly figured that i could just show you guys 3 different links, all containing General Hydroponics fertilizers from the same store, and maybe one of you recognized one of the products that would be right for me. None of them are named GH-3 or anythink like that.

GHE Biological

GHE Flora

GHE Total

Other than this, two other brands are available: Canna and Biobizz.

I was also wondering. Is the fertilizer and brand of fertilizer important?
And if i can't find any of the fertilizers you mention, should i just buy one for growing, and one for blooming, no matter the brand?


With the pots and soil, i was thinking about just buying five 15 liter pots, and start the seedlings in those pots. I will do as you say and don't use fertilized soil, but regular pot soil mixed with sand (i don't know what the other thing you mentioned is), and then add fertilizer after a few weeks. I will of course also ask at the store, but i would hate to mention what is is i'm planing to grow.

Again, thank you for the help.

By the way, sorry to hear about your babies, DR.hashman.

By the way, incase i have to ask for advise at the store, which other plant comes closest to using the same soil, fertilizer etc.. as a white widow plant?