First of all hey.

I am a first time grower in Munster and I have been trawling the net (and this forum) looking for as much advice as I can get for growing in out climate.

I'm trying to put together a checklist for my first grow but there are a lot of conflicting opinions on the net so I'm hoping that someone might take a look and answer a few questions of mine.

First the seeds:

So I have bought 20 Purple Power Seeds and they have been delivered, I want to choose a second strain to grow along with these. My requirements are resistance to mould and high yield. Unfortunately when it comes to quality of the smoke I really don't have a clue whats good and whats not as I don'r have a hugh amount of knowledge around names of strains.

So far I'm thinking of the following

Hollands Hope
Big Bud (although I hear this is not all that potent, or as high yielding as the name implies)
First Girl
Skunk Red Hair

Have you guys got any opinion on these strains and purple power with regards quality of the smoke, yield and ease of growing? Or can you recommend something better?

Germination/seedlings

Okay so I have bought a few of these propagators on ebay
eBay.ie: FULL-SIZE SEED PROPAGATOR SET: TRAY, 40CELL INSERT, LID (item 170589349243 end time 11-Mar-11 21:08:39 GMT)

I will germinate with wet tissue in a lunch box in dark room, what I'm unsure about is heat, is it better to use a heat map under the lunch box? I was thinking of either having a electric sleeping bag under the boxes or buying a reptile heat mat, what do you guys think?

My plan is to plant in these once the seeds have germinated. Am I right in thinking that I should be using the same soil I plan to transport them into outside? Should i buy a heat mat to put under this to keep them warm? They will be kept in a south facing conservatory until they are put outside. Should I use a light for their first few weeks?

Moving outside

Now I have 2 choices here. The spot I'm growing in is a patch in a briar field which have cut out so that the plants will be concealed with briars all around them. I'm hoping that the briars will provide protection from wind, I have enough room to make this patch as big as I want to that the plants will get maximum sun with out the briars casting a shadow over them. I'm hoping that this will counter the fact that it is on a slight hill which is north facing. I know this is not ideal but it does get a lot of light and the location is perfect from a security point of view so i'm keen to grow here.

What I'm really unsure about is weather I should plant in the ground or not. I'm worried about rabbits and insects especially being in a briar field. So if I grow in the ground I can fence the parameter of the the patch with chicken wire, but I've been told that this is still risky with rabbits. If I do grow in the ground should I use ploy tunnels at the start to give the plant a bit of extra protection from rain/ wind/ cold?
eBay.ie: Garden Cloche Poly Tunnel 1.5m x 45cm x 45cm (item 380317376495 end time 18-Mar-11 16:57:28 GMT)

My other idea was to buy these bags and grow in them.
eBay.ie: garden pop up waste refuse/ grow bag with handles (item 250767153643 end time 02-Apr-11 17:56:20 BST)
I think that would protect me from rabbits and also maybe make things easier if I need to move the plants for shelter from especially bad weather. However I'm worried that planting in a bag will limit the plants growth potential? What are your opinions on this? Is there an optima bag size?

Soil/Fertalizer

Now soil is something I'm also not sure about. Should I just use potting compost that you get from the garden centre. If so do I just plant in that or do I mix with normal soil? What brands should I get? I want to be totally organic so I'm going to try and source some composted cow manure but again should I mix this with normal soil, with potting compost or both?? For nutes I plan on making a nettle fertilizer I think it takes about 6 weeks so what should I use in the meantime? I have ordered a PH meter also so I'll be monitoring that at all times, what PH have you guys had success with?

I think that those are my main questions for the moment, I plan to germinate the PP seeds this weekend and the next set as soon as I get them, hopefully next weekend. I know I am leaving it late but i didn't want to order all my seeds at once because I was afraid that they would not come and i wanted to test the website.

Thanks for any and all help you can give me.

Peace.
batman1983 Reviewed by batman1983 on . My first time growers checklist... (looking for a bit of help?!!) First of all hey. I am a first time grower in Munster and I have been trawling the net (and this forum) looking for as much advice as I can get for growing in out climate. I'm trying to put together a checklist for my first grow but there are a lot of conflicting opinions on the net so I'm hoping that someone might take a look and answer a few questions of mine. First the seeds: So I have bought 20 Purple Power Seeds and they have been delivered, I want to choose a second strain to Rating: 5