Starting my grow at Home Depot

[Sr. Verde]

So ill be going to home depot soon to start a growbox, I just learned that a friend had some seeds sprouting

Now best bet is get 100% germ rate and get 3 females, but so far I figure the box needs to be enough for two females. (I'm working with 3 sprouts of bagseed)

I figure Ill be getting some plywood for a box thats something like 2 feet deep, 3 feet tall, and 3 feet wide (I know it's small )

So how much light should I be using (CFL)? I know its like 6200k for vegging and 2700k for flowering.

What soil should I pick up? I live in the desert so good soil isnt abundant on the ground... I'd like something organic, there is plenty of lava rock around so I figure Ill put that on top of the soil to retain water, yet leaving space for the plant to grow

Should I get a PH meter? What nutes should I pick up? (Keep in mind this isnt a SUPER grow, I'm just trying to learn and watch it grow and maybe get some good buds out of it)

Things I dont quite understand:

How do I know when to switch the light for flowering? I'm working with bagseed

And do I need to put the plant into flowering a few weeks in, in order to properly sex the plant? Previously I thought the sex would appear with growth...

Thanks for any help, +rep will be distributed

I'm trying to do this as right as possible, but at the same time remaining simple

verde

 

[motoracer110]

So ill be going to home depot soon to start a growbox, I just learned that a friend had some seeds sprouting

Now best bet is get 100% germ rate and get 3 females, but so far I figure the box needs to be enough for two females. (I'm working with 3 sprouts of bagseed)

I figure Ill be getting some plywood for a box thats something like 2 feet deep, 3 feet tall, and 3 feet wide (I know it's small )

So how much light should I be using (CFL)? I know its like 6200k for vegging and 2700k for flowering.

What soil should I pick up? I live in the desert so good soil isnt abundant on the ground... I'd like something organic, there is plenty of lava rock around so I figure Ill put that on top of the soil to retain water, yet leaving space for the plant to grow

Should I get a PH meter? What nutes should I pick up? (Keep in mind this isnt a SUPER grow, I'm just trying to learn and watch it grow and maybe get some good buds out of it)

Things I dont quite understand:

How do I know when to switch the light for flowering? I'm working with bagseed

And do I need to put the plant into flowering a few weeks in, in order to properly sex the plant? Previously I thought the sex would appear with growth...

Thanks for any help, +rep will be distributed

I'm trying to do this as right as possible, but at the same time remaining simple

verde

Im not a soil grower but i can help out as best i can. The soil that all my friends us is Foxfarm and all their nutrients they use is by them and they are growing some of the dankest soil grown weed at my dispensory. If you cant get that kind of soil there are good organic mixing charts that you can find on google. one of them using a fish in the soil for fretilizer. you should look into doing a scrog grow (ill post a pic for you since you are using a small space).

-you should deff get a PH meter and PPM meter. some of my most important instruments i own for my grows. always checking up on where everything is at.

- since you are doing a small grow you might want to go with 12/12 hours of light from seed since your space is small. if you scrog then you flower when all the string is filled out with plant.

-you will only be able to tell the sex in the flowing stage about 3 weeks in.

hopefully this helps GL

 

[growone]

for 2 plants, that's not a bad box, 200 watts should be plenty, might be able to get by with 150w of cfl's
i've had good luck vegging with home depots 5500k, check out my grow in my signature if you want, these bulbs have worked well for me anyways
for a cheap way to get started with ph, ph drops or test strips work well and are very inexpensive, $4 or so

 

[LakeO]

ok i was in the same boat as you 4 months ago i had no clue what i was doing this is my advice to you. For your soil get fox farm or happy frog you will not find that at any home depot you need to find any grow store they will have it just google hydroponics or indoor growning then your city and it will tell you where on is. then some time tonight i would watch "Ready Set Grow" it was put out by high times you can download it or watch it on you tube in 7 parts dont watch vol 2 make sh its vol 1. and yes get a ph tester its 3 bucks and it could save your plants one day any other questions send me a message and i will try to help you out peace man

 

[LakeO]

oh and when you go to the indoor growing place you will find a few in your town if you live in a well populated place find one and kind of befriend the people there because you will probily be in there once a week getting stuff like new spray bottles, bigger pots. bla bla bla and any time you have a problem you can go in there and they will help you out if you be discrete about it like don't tell them what your growing just tell them your problems they are pretty much cool about it if you think about it those stores dont make there money off a 300$ light and a 1000$ hydroponics system because grandma wants to grow indoor tomatoes and strawberry's anyother questions just message me

 

[Sr. Verde]

First off, thanks for all the well thought out replies, I'm sure people come in here asking questions similar to mine ALL the time, but I'm sure most of you are familiar with, "the grow jitters" and the need for a direct answer to a question

Im not a soil grower but i can help out as best i can. The soil that all my friends us is Foxfarm and all their nutrients they use is by them and they are growing some of the dankest soil grown weed at my dispensory. If you cant get that kind of soil there are good organic mixing charts that you can find on google. one of them using a fish in the soil for fretilizer. you should look into doing a scrog grow (ill post a pic for you since you are using a small space).

-you should deff get a PH meter and PPM meter. some of my most important instruments i own for my grows. always checking up on where everything is at.

- since you are doing a small grow you might want to go with 12/12 hours of light from seed since your space is small. if you scrog then you flower when all the string is filled out with plant.

-you will only be able to tell the sex in the flowing stage about 3 weeks in.

hopefully this helps GL

Yes, that does help

I guess I will say fuck home depot and look for the local hydro store. They should be more outfitted for my needs anyway.

I will be going FoxFarm, and using their nutes... I have heard of this company in the many hours I have spent reading here, and they seem to produce great results.

And I mean my grow box isnt totally limited to that area, I'm actually yet to measure the space... If necessesary I can move the box out of the place its under and add to the top for a few weeks if necessary to, "do it right"

As for the 12/12 cycle right out of seed, would this bring the veg time down a lot and bring down the yeild? I'm hoping for something around an ounce of cured herb to make it worth while, I mean It will be okay if it doesnt happen but thats my goal...

As for the picture you posted, that seems really crazy, in all my time on this site I havent seen anything like that, besides someone doing a Purple grow, who loli popped and used a plastic fence above their plants and trained them so that only the buds came through... is this the same method? Do you have any idea how large that box is?

for 2 plants, that's not a bad box, 200 watts should be plenty, might be able to get by with 150w of cfl's
i've had good luck vegging with home depots 5500k, check out my grow in my signature if you want, these bulbs have worked well for me anyways
for a cheap way to get started with ph, ph drops or test strips work well and are very inexpensive, $4 or so

The thing that confuses me about CFL's are the 'equivalents' they put on the box... when were talking watts, are we talking about ACTUAL wattage, or equivalent wattage? (Example: Replaces 90w bulb, 33w)

ok i was in the same boat as you 4 months ago i had no clue what i was doing this is my advice to you. For your soil get fox farm or happy frog you will not find that at any home depot you need to find any grow store they will have it just google hydroponics or indoor growning then your city and it will tell you where on is. then some time tonight i would watch "Ready Set Grow" it was put out by high times you can download it or watch it on you tube in 7 parts dont watch vol 2 make sh its vol 1. and yes get a ph tester its 3 bucks and it could save your plants one day any other questions send me a message and i will try to help you out peace man

The PH tester your talking about, are these re-usable?

I dont mind investing $30 on something that I can re-use... I'm known to buy quality products and not skimping to save a few dollars (with the exception of food )


One more question for tonight:

With the size of the grow, what should I do for pot size? Should I start small in a cup and transplant, or should I just plant the seed in the pot it will be in for its life to avoid stress? What size pot(s) should I get reguardless?

Again, I was delighted to see some good responses on this thread, sorry I couldnt get back on here sooner, I dont have much time in the day to sit down and type out posts

*pass*

 

[Uk.Cobra]

First off, thanks for all the well thought out replies, I'm sure people come in here asking questions similar to mine ALL the time, but I'm sure most of you are familiar with, "the grow jitters" and the need for a direct answer to a question





Yes, that does help

I guess I will say fuck home depot and look for the local hydro store. They should be more outfitted for my needs anyway.

I will be going FoxFarm, and using their nutes... I have heard of this company in the many hours I have spent reading here, and they seem to produce great results.

And I mean my grow box isnt totally limited to that area, I'm actually yet to measure the space... If necessesary I can move the box out of the place its under and add to the top for a few weeks if necessary to, "do it right"

As for the 12/12 cycle right out of seed, would this bring the veg time down a lot and bring down the yeild? I'm hoping for something around an ounce of cured herb to make it worth while, I mean It will be okay if it doesnt happen but thats my goal...

As for the picture you posted, that seems really crazy, in all my time on this site I havent seen anything like that, besides someone doing a Purple grow, who loli popped and used a plastic fence above their plants and trained them so that only the buds came through... is this the same method? Do you have any idea how large that box is?





The thing that confuses me about CFL's are the 'equivalents' they put on the box... when were talking watts, are we talking about ACTUAL wattage, or equivalent wattage? (Example: Replaces 90w bulb, 33w)



The PH tester your talking about, are these re-usable?

I dont mind investing $30 on something that I can re-use... I'm known to buy quality products and not skimping to save a few dollars (with the exception of food )


One more question for tonight:

With the size of the grow, what should I do for pot size? Should I start small in a cup and transplant, or should I just plant the seed in the pot it will be in for its life to avoid stress? What size pot(s) should I get reguardless?

Again, I was delighted to see some good responses on this thread, sorry I couldnt get back on here sooner, I dont have much time in the day to sit down and type out posts

*pass*

you gotta do alot of reading man.. you cant just come into the forums what do i need what do i do then ask about everything along the way doesn't work


use home depot for everything but like nutes and soil you can get lights build your box fans etc all cheaper at Home Depot then get your Soil Nutes Trays what ever at a hydro shop

start with fox farm line Ocean Forest soil and the Trio Nute Pack


you want REAL wattage it will say 23w Fluorescent bulb 100 watt equivalent you want REAL wattage

so if you got two 20w bulbs that are equivalent too 100watts you will really be getting 40watts total not 200watts

PH TESTER you can get a kit for 17$ at any hydro store with PH up and PH down and a small vial for testing the water

or you can get a decent 40$ digital PH tester


for the size of plant start with a normal party cup or rock wool and go into any size pot you would like basically your looking at 1 foot per gallon so a 3 gallon pot will give you around a 3-4foot plant

 

[deoss69]

well man seemorebuds has a good book out called buds for less it would be a good buy for you at like lots of book stores also he says to give them about 16 days vegg then change the light cycle
12 / 12 i have done it many times and find it works good remember the soil should keep plants alive for a few weeks with all the nuts they need so you dont kill the seedlings. water schedual is important as well when i started out over watering was my big things ph in soil is good at like 6.0 to like 7.0 fluctuates for me but never got lock out yet . i use 6500k for vegg and 2700k for flower after about 16 days you can start the nutes i use about 1/8 after you start to flower your plants will gain up 3 or four times the growth that they were at when you started could be less but not likely sativas tend to get bigger and take longer to mature you will likely see sex after about 16days in flower could be longer but also could be shorter the reson for keeping them so short is light pen for cfl is less then hid and you get more pen for the plant at this range you can growbigger and get more fluffy buds but keep them short and you tend to get more weight and more compact buds and get more yeild . hope this helps gl

 

[growone]

as another poster mentioned, toss out the equivalent watts number, it has no value to us growers

 

[meetzu]

If you happen to be unlucky, as I am, and don't have a hydro shop close (my closest is about 2 hours one way from here) you can use MG organic, some cocoa, and vermiculite for drainage. I had started some plants in it a bit ago. They started needing nutes after a few weeks but the soil didn't burn them or anything. I would only suggest that if you don't really have other options. Good luck.

 

[Sr. Verde]

If you happen to be unlucky, as I am, and don't have a hydro shop close (my closest is about 2 hours one way from here) you can use MG organic, some cocoa, and vermiculite for drainage. I had started some plants in it a bit ago. They started needing nutes after a few weeks but the soil didn't burn them or anything. I would only suggest that if you don't really have other options. Good luck.

Yeah I was just looking them up and its 30 minutes on the freeway, and I dont currently have a license (get it back within the month) and nobody will go with me to a store...


Guess I'm going to fend with lights and a few sprouts until i can drive down there to get the nutes, maybe by then a friend will have some clones going