Hi HB,
You sound kinda like I did a couple years ago. All that I can do is tell you what I use and I can tell you , IT works really freaken well. See Pics here:http://boards.cannabis.com/basic-gro...y-anybody.html
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I have heard that a lot of people here hate miracle grow with a passion. For the most part, so do I.
For a soil medium I buy a big bag of Miracle grow with moisture control as it has the perlite in it, I also buy a big bag of "garden-ville" potting soil. It's a bit more sandy than MG so it drains real well. I t contains worm castings and a great deal of other things I need for my babies. I take the two soils and mix them 50/50 and add some dolomite lime for a PH buffer. I am telling you it works wonders for me!!
I use a GH PH kit and bought an extra bottle of both PH up and down. I have very alkaline tap water as well but haven't had an issue. I use to buy spring water as well when I first started. It's a waiste of time, energy and money.
For nutes, I use fOX fARMS (which contains micronutrients etc as well) grow big for veg cycle and big bloom for flower cycle.
When my plants are in the smaller stage I ph all my water/food at 6.5 as they get bigger I lower the PH just a bit to around 5.5-6. This allows the plant to take up more of the nutrients it needs as a bigger plant.
for vitamins, I add a 1/4 tsp of Superthrive occasionally (can be found at HD)
This is just a quick basic outline for you. I hope it helps and good luck,
Elway