Looking for advice on getting started

[atari]

Ski.. did you do your entire hardonna etc. grow with just CFLs? I don't want to be spending $600 (£300).. but I don't want to skimp out too much either..

Are you saying that a good way of varying the distance of your lights from your plants is to raise or lower the plant with books rather than raise or lower the light?

The shower curtain idea sounds good.. I need to some how make some kind of ceiling as well.. maybe with some kind of plastic sheet material too..

What do you think are the most important elements to spend enough money on?

[atari]

Also.. is a single HPS light (400w) enough for several plants?

[Moose101]

You can prolly start with a fluorescent untill it gets bigger. Then buy yourself a hps in a couple weeks. I think you can get 9 plants in a 3' by 3' plot with that light. Prolly wouldn't hurt to use the fluorescent, if you get one, with it. I think there is a company that makes special fluorescents specifically for growing (PURple, or something like that). There are some nice videos if you look around for a P2P program. Buy, "The Cannabis Grow Bible" if you can. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to research hortculture a bit either.

[9ski9]

Ski.. did you do your entire hardonna etc. grow with just CFLs? I don't want to be spending $600 (£300).. but I don't want to skimp out too much either..
Are you saying that a good way of varying the distance of your lights from your plants is to raise or lower the plant with books rather than raise or lower the light?
The shower curtain idea sounds good.. I need to some how make some kind of ceiling as well.. maybe with some kind of plastic sheet material too..
What do you think are the most important elements to spend enough money on?

I vegged that grow for 49 days, all under CFL's. I think I did 18/6 (18 hrs. light and 6 hrs. dark).

Then I switched to 12/12 and turned on a 400w HPS (even just a 250w HPS will cover just a few plants). Then I also bought a 250w MH light. I flowered for 77 days under those two lights. Both were relatively cheap...$125 or so for each.

It makes no difference whether you raise the lights, or lower the plants. It just works better in my setup to lower a few inches at a time. Shop light style clamp ballasts have a hinge that allows you to adjust them up or down a little, also.

The most important thing you should spend money on his light...it's also the most expensive. CFL's are cheap and last a long time. But if you want to take your grow to the next level and make the biggest jump in final quality, then you need a good flowering light; my recommendation is a HPS.

[atari]

Okay.. I've been looking at lights on ebay but it's really overwhelming because of the number of people selling them.. you seem to be able to get 1000watt bulbs for £20.. doesn't that sound a little cheap? Any advice on good ones to buy?

[notanotherteensmoker]

def dont use miracle grow.

Why not use Miracle Grow? It's easy to find and use. I'm getting really high on bud grown with miracle grow and it hits smoother than most stuff I've bought. Just straight use water toward the end.

[4x5]

Shultz makes a 10-59-10, The Miracle grow 15-30-15 works too, but can (YMMV) lead to nute lockup (usually people give to much fert.) I've done it with miracle grow myself too, it works, but I've switched to the shultz bloom booster, I like it better.

[9ski9]

Make sure you are buying a bulb AND the ballast. Replacement bulbs aren't very expensive, but the ballast to run the light is. You can also buy a "switchable" ballast that lets you run MH for veg and HPS for flower. But I prefer CFL's for veg and HPS AND MH for flower. Somebody on here will point you to a good site to buy a little in your country.

Mircale Grow works for growing pot. Lots of people use it and swear by it. But it contains time-release nutes...in fact, the wrong nute balance all together.

I use Prom Mix, which is a good organic potting soil. I don't add ANY nutes for the first 2 weeks...just SuperThrive. Then, I start feeding with bat guano, which is high nitrogen. Mine is 10-1-1, or something close to that.

[latewood]

from latewood, bear with me. I always said 9ski9 was good for a laugh...

[QUOTE=9ski9]I only grow indoors, so I can only speak to that. Indoor growing makes you God. Outdoors, God is God...and that God has lots of bugs and bad weather. I'm not a fan of that sort of God.


[QUOTE=9ski9]Prepare your grow space first. Paint your walls a flat white...spread mylar on your floor.

lw...Only you would put the expensive stuff on the floor and paint the walls...lol mylar has higher reflective value. If anything, you would want to paint the floor, or mylar the floor, as you said. just picking, because............

lw...I recognize Harddon's method here...

Buy white pots---I use foil wrapped pots of whatever colors---and put a layer of broken up red volcanic rocks in the bottom (they hold moisture and allow the roots to grow into them and they are an added nute source).

I also recommend buying bat guano (I get it off of eBay), which is a high nitrogen fert and definitely a small bottle of SuperThrive. Also grab a bag of white marble or granite stones as a reflective layer for the top of the soil.

lw...I remember you learning back before college, right? or am I thinking of someone else?

Just having fun, later lw