I need some general growing advice.

So basically, I'm thinking of growing a plant or two indoors. I'd like to be able to conceal everything in the safety of a closet or bathroom. My budget would be ~$300. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I would mainly be growing for personal use. How many plants would I need to achieve this?

There is a lot of information to learn about growing and I'm trying to kind of filter it and figure out what would work best for my situation.

you're right, there is a lot to learn, here is a link to a thread that, if you read it, you will be ready to get started, hope you find it as inspirational as i did.

http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-log/...-grow-log.html

indoor/outdoor?
soil/hydro?
small space/whole room?
300$ for all that you need?
Sativa/Indica?
Have to hide it/Dont' really care?
Travel/home a lot?
Mechanically inclined/Useless with tools?
Some experience/no experience?
Chronic smoker/occasional smoker?

There is a whole lot more to growing a flower than a light and some water. have you read through the FAQ's to establish a direction?

Once you have answered to yourself some of the questions above and read the FAQ's while searching on your individual requirements and concerns, you can start posting questions that are specific to your grow.

A samll Cabinet or rubbermade grow is quite inexpensive and can yield an ounce or three of 6 plants. Lights and all other supplies can be purchased at WalMart or home Depot and is a great way to start learning about the science behind growing a plant.

Have fun and learn from those here, they taught me very well and have a ton of information to share.

You'll need to read alot. Keep it simple at first. Some premium potting soil, Don't worry about nutes too much with the first grow, more lights the better,good fan. Keep it simple and you can get an ounce off of a plant. Anywhere from 3 to 4 months for complete grow cycle.

As far as how much you'll need for personal use, that is up to you. In a large closet or bathroom you could grow one large plant or a few smaller ones. Indoor grows tend to create small plants. These plants grow huge outdoors under the sun's power.

Lighting - you have a choice between fairly expensive metal halide or high pressure sodium. MH or HPS, that is. Most likely you would only need one four hundred watt light of these high power types. You can spend more money and get a more powerful light, but it may not be necessary. You can also save alot of money just by using several flouro bulbs. But flouro is weak for growing. However it does work. You must keep the lights close to the plants to avoid stretching the stems, as the plants reach for the light. There are powerful flouro bulbs on the market at your local grow and hydro shop, like the T-5 or such. Ask when you get there. You can use typical flourescent shop lights if you want. Just plan on getting several and keeping them close to the top of the plant. The bulbs are cool and won't burn the plant.

Fertilizer. Personally, what I would do is avoid fertilizing every week or so by putting what's necessary in the soil before you put in the plants. For example, in a five gallon container fill it halfway with good potting soil. Potting soil is actually tree bark and peat and other products to promote root growth and give plants a soil-like medium in which to grow. With the bucket half full of soil, put in about one half cup of a powder fert, like Foxfarm or Whitney Farms 555. Any decent powder fert is fine, provided it isn't too hot. I like to AVOID Miracle Grow and others like just because it's too hot or concentrated. NPK ratio of 5-5-5 or 4-7-8 or such is good. Some people like to throw in a teaspoon of seaweed powder in the soil at this point, the lower half of the bucket. Seaweed is largely used because of its hormones and trace elements. Helps plants grow but don't use more than a teaspoon or so per two gallons of soil.

Now fill the remainder of the bucket with soil that is mixed with about one half cup of the same powder fert you put in the lower section. It's easiest to use two five gallon buckets when you do this, one with fert and seaweed and the other with just the powder fert. Then dump the seaweedless soil on top of the soil with soil with seaweed powder. You don't need to mix as you should have mixed it all by hand when the soil was in seperate containers. Then all you do is plant and water, and wait. With well-rounded ferts, you shouldn't have to add anything, but you never really know, and address the deficiency issues later.

After this you need to provide adequate airflow. For a real small grow and single oscillating fan is enough typically. Sometimes with bigger grows, humidity is a real problem and the only way to really deal with it is to exhaust the moist air and bring in fresh air. This requires more thought and money. But your task is pretty simple.

Another fertilizer idea is to avoid using powders and just use good potting soil and a chemical kind of fert like Peters 20-20-20 or Schultz. Just be careful how much you use. You can dilute these down, like if it say to use one teaspoon in a gallon of water, try just a quarter or so to get started. The problem is the instructions on the package never tell you how frequently to fertilize. This is the good part about using powders as they're already in the soil and typically you don't have to fertilize again. On a site like this you can find help regarding Parts Per Million, pH, and Total dissolved Solids as indications regarding whether you should fert or not. Your local hydro shop will probably try to talk you into this or that like expensive timers for the fan or light, etc. You want more than one opinion on this kind of thing and be smart about it, you don't want what is cheap and could cause a fire, but then you don't want what expensive and unnecessary either. Use your best judgment.

how big was his box he used in ZEB'S PURE CFL GROW? and how big would i need the box to grow LR2 and Marco x Afghan? both are short plants. i plan on breeding my LR2 to get more seeds but i wont keep my male in the box.

Camo, try for at least 4 feet of height in a box lit by flouros, or 6-8 feet for one intended to hold a HID. The footprint will depend upon how much light and how many plants you intend to run.

i intend to have 2 of each growing in there and i'm gonna do the breeding process in a different box so its away from my lovely ladies when my seeds come! thanks so much everyone.