Growing with soil: Seed to Weed

[Hallucinogen]

G'day everyone,

 

I'm hoping this topic will be able to help people such as myself and anyone else who wants to grow some nice hoochie...

 

Other topics posted such as pipemans story etc are very helpful but I hope this guide will be more straight to the point where everyone can have their input on the best way to grow weed without running into as many problems as possible...

 

I guess I should kick it off by saying I've read a fuckload of info on growing and everything tells me something different, if some accomplished growers could have some more personal input rather than most of the guides i've read which have basically been in a "growing weed for dummies" kinda style that would be highly appreciated!

 

So where do I start?

[Hallucinogen]

Can someone tell me what lights to buy and where from (i'm gonna grow in a normal size closet, which lights would be the best for that size area?)

 

Can someone hook me up with some potting mix mixtures info as well...

 

Cheers!

Edited October 23, 2003 by Hallucinogen

[Guest Wilderbud]

For the soil; A nice mix is the best idea so pick from expanded clay or perlite to let the medium dry at least each day and mix it with vermiculture, peat, soil, to give it something to store water in and if you want to go organic then compost and blood and bone is easy to mix in. You can use hydroponic nutrients in the soil also and can even use organic liquid nutrients [seasol/fish emulsion] - you can buy th hydro nutes at a hydroponics shop and the organic stuff at any decent garden shop. A soil PH test kit is good to have too [PH5.5-6.5 is best for soil and water].

 

Amount of light depends on how many plants youre growing - 50W/square foot is supposedly best. Id go for a SonT-Agro if its only one light as theyre great lights with a wide spectrum or its MH for grow and HPS for bloom [conversion bulbs can be used too].

 

Dont forget fans also.

 

If I was you Id try an expanded clay grow first - youll get fast results and if its a flood and drain tray its very simple to set up [cut hole in middle of the tray so it can fit a pump pipe, add a submersible pump into the reservoir, stick the reservoir under the tray [light-proof it too] with the pipe sticking through the hole [with a 1mm gap all-round so water drains back in] - you can put some mesh around the hole also. You then set the pump to flood the tray every 3 hours and start adding PH-adjusted nutes and plantlets. This is very low maintenance - the only things that can go wrong is; the drain hole being blocked by broken expanded clay [check it weekly and hose and/or strain the clay before you use it to get rid of the broken bits], running out of nutrients or adding too much and flooding the tray [measure how much water the tray and medium holds and see if you can add a reservoir of that size to prevent this] and bad PH. Cure the buds and theyll taste good - I smoke nice hydro sometimes so its not that bad.

 

If youve never been to a hydro, lighting or garden shop then have a look around before you decide what you want IMO - they have demo tables so if youre curious about flood and drain [aka ebb&flow] they should have one set up [NFT, Aeroponics and Bubblers should be on show also and they grow plants with them so feel free to ask anything but 'just look at prices and quality' - they should have some peat/soil grows in the corner somewhere also (not as spectacular - heh)].