If I didnt grow hydro I'd only ever even consider Coco. The stuff is amazing. 10 bucks buys you enough to fill a trash can, you cannot overwater it, roots get plenty of air, etc etc etc. Can easily hand water it, or toss together a simple drip system for it. Either way works just fine, and you get excellent results if you have the rest of your grow conditions dialed in, of course.

Just be sure to soak it good after you hydrate it. You want to be sure there are no salts left in it. Other than that, you are ready to grow in it. Do a search for BlueBear, he has an excellent post here on growing in Coco. It has all the information you could possibly need, and then some. He covers how often to water, pH, nutes, yada yada yada.

I use 2 gallon buckets to keep the 3 mothers I have in it and hydroton in the bottom. I LOVE the stuff. Oh, and if you buy some, get GH's brand(they call it Cocotek). You can get in cubes, matts, bricks, slabs, etc.

I've never grown a weed plant in soil, so maybe I am not the best person to be answering this question if you are set on using soil. Always seemed to me that getting rid of used soil would be a pain in the ass. You can just let Coco set for a day or two and its DRY. Toss in a trash bag and haul to the mulch pile and you are done with it. Cant get much simpler than that. Plus, I'm a lazy grower

As far as your plants stretching, move light closer. If its not too hot on the back of your hand, you should be ok. I think using MH to start seedlings with is a waste of electricity, but thats just me. You can get flouro's right on top of em, and use about 1/4th the power. Plus you do not need to worry about frying them to a crisp. After 5-7 sets of leaves then toss em under the MH for your veg. And yes you can support your plants. Just tie them loosely to whatever you use for a support with twine or yard. And KEEP that fan blowin on em, makes your stalks nice and thick.

Whatever you decide, best of luck.


b0nger