Need Some Advice Rather Quickly ... PLEASE

[seventhchild]

what kind of bugs do you have?most soil based bugs can be controlled by allowing the soil to go through a wet/dry cycle .sand dries slowly,use perlite instead.also sand is a poor choice for sprouting seeds as is used soil or mix.......use only fresh from the bag soil and you don't have to worry about "damping off". IMHO light reflected to the bottom of the leaves does nothing but stress the plant.

[kmac9119]

I dont have any bugs right now , but want to keep it that way lol. The whole sand idea , i got from a grower whos a pro , it came right out of the Cannabis Culture Magizine. I read it in their , so figured hell if this guy who does it for a living and good enough to where his ads/tips are in every issue of the mag , that i would try it. And as far as the sand taking long to dry , my soil takes longer to dry the sand does and how you said going through a wet/dry cycle on the soil to get the bugs gone ... I wont need to do that if the sand does its job and keeps them out to start with.... But hey im VERY new to this .. this is my first grow and like i said i read it in the CC mag and sounded like a good idea to me. So i guess if im wrong for doing this , than the CC mag would be wrong because thats where i got the idea to do it.

[seventhchild]

cannabis in soil LOVES wet/dry cycles.....the sand is preventing or slowing the movement of air [oxygen ] through the soil and may be the cause of your problems. did the mag u read tell u that some kinds of sand r TOXIC to ur babies?did it offer alternatives such as perlite or DE ?my tip is get rid of the sand and let the soil dry between waterings,,,,,use ph'd water and if bugs show up kill per advice for that specific bug.

[OldHead09]

Kmak- Just keep on learning and growing and everythng will make sense. You have an exceptionally good attitude and patience, that is somethng rare in society these days. Good luck and please let me know if can help.

[kmac9119]

See thats something i didnt know ... i didnt know that cannabis liked to have a dry/wet cycle kinda like the lighting cycle ?? I figured they liked to be at least a little moist mostly all the time. So now that i do know this ... how long should i let my soil dry before watering it ?? How offen really should i water these and how much should i water them ?? They are in 5 Gal Buckets so its kinda hard for me as a new grower to tell if they are good or not . Have any easy advice to help me understand when they need water and when they dont because they are in 5 Gal buckets the bottom could still be wet and the top dry ... so that throws me off aswell.
As for the sand being toxic ... i made sure that the sand i bought was not toxic , it was processed / washed / siflted sand. Very high quality "fine" sand so i know that it wont hurt them in any way as far as the sand having toxins.
And know the mag didnt offer any alts. it just had a quick little tip section in it that i took attention to. I may just get Mylar and put in on the floor underneath my flowering plants ... would this be a good idea instead of the sand ?? I still do want light reflection upwards on them ... alot of ppl i talked to said that its either that or some sort of lower side lighting ... but again , im very NEW!!!'

any advice is welcomed and appreciated