1) Germination and seedling - between moist paper towels and when a sprout cracks up you put it in 3/4 inches deep into those egg carton looking thingies. keep the soil moist and the hps light 2 feet away when a seedling pops up...my q is should i use fertilizer? and when do i transplant these seedlings into the 4 gallon pot?

What is the Watts on the hps?

If you use good soil you will not need to fert for 3 weeks at least. When you do fert for the first time, use only a quarter of what the directions say. Each strain is diffrent, some like lots of food well others do not. Take it slow and easy your first grow and it will all come together. If you veg for 5 weeks I would only fert 1 time and maybe 2 times in flowering.

You want to get a ball of roots going. Start in a 6' pot, wait 2 weeks and transplant to a larger pot to finish out veg. When going into flowering you can transplant into 4 gallons as they will grow like made when flowering.

2) vegetative - feed fertilizer and water frequently. keep hps light away 1 foot. keep fan blowing constantly. when im misting the plants should i put any fert in that too or just water? since im growing northern lights from nirvana which grows up to 4 feet should i induce budding by the time its 2 feet?

Calm down on the ferts, and do not over water. Grow them to 2 feet

3) budding - 2 weeks before harvest you should stop feeding fertilizer... im not exactly sure when the harvest date is so how will i know when to stop? then of course you dry and cure. since im a beginner and i might not do things perfectly what should i expect my yield to be?

I do not know how long till harvest but could be 7 to 8 weeks. My strain takes 12 weeks flowering. Your yield depends on so many things, keep the healthy and you should be fine, Do not over water and over fert..


also some general questions... since my closet is 3x3x8 should i have a 400 or 600 watt hps? ill be covering the closet with metallized or aluminized mylar.

600w for a closet, it will get HOT!!!