tightpockt
Well-Known Member
When I first started this little hobby I must have read this forum for like 6 months straight before I germed my first seed. I'd be on here for hours reading about how you have to have this exact pH and this exact light and and have all these tightly controlled (and sometimes even computer regulated!) conditions. I scoured the DIY's for every little contraption, bought CO2, pumps, hoses, lights...it's gotta be exact! I gotta get this right! The truth is you don't need a whole bunch of fancy equipment and calculated feeding schedules with nutes that cost as much as my car payment. All you need is some kind of light, some kind of growing medium, a bucket to put it in and a fan or two.
Soil vs. Hydro: It doesn't matter. <gasp!> Each has its pro's and con's. I like to keep things simple. I dump a bunch of peat moss, perlite and potting soil into a big bucket and mix it all up. You can use pretty much anything for a pot, as long as it drains well. Hydro sounds really cool when you say it.
Nutes, Water and ph: Buy the most expensive stuff you can find. Wait..don't do that. Jack's classic is like 5 bucks and works like a mexican. Schultz isn't bad and miracle grow works in a pinch. Use quarter strength of whatever the label says and work up from there. I used to buy distilled water and ph balance it and all that shit before I realized tap water works pretty good too. I barely let the chlorine evaporate.
Lights: I think there's more arguments over this one subject than any other combined. The thing is...any HID light will do. You can veg and flower with HPS or MH. I personally think flueros are weak but they're good for clones and keeping moms alive. You dont have to drive yourself crazy trying to decide how big of a light you can cram into a box. My first light was an old 150w hps flood light. It cost 7 dollars at a flee market. I still use it to veg with and it works awesome. I flowered with a 400w MH that used to be in a basketball court and my colas were super fat, hard and sticky, and by colas i mean my penis err..i mean colas. Are these things ideal? No. The point is you can still grow super sweet nugs under less than ideal circumstances. Everything doesn't have to be perfect.
Fans: Buy them. If you want to be particular here's the place to do it. Keep air moving. If you can, put your bulb in a tube, if not point a fan at it. Get that heat away! You want to see your leaves moving a little.
That's pretty much it. If you find you like this hobby you'll want to get more refined. You'll get better as you go..trust me. Then you can start testing and experimenting for better yield and faster growth etc. but to get started just keep it simple, have some patience and don't tell anybody.
Soil vs. Hydro: It doesn't matter. <gasp!> Each has its pro's and con's. I like to keep things simple. I dump a bunch of peat moss, perlite and potting soil into a big bucket and mix it all up. You can use pretty much anything for a pot, as long as it drains well. Hydro sounds really cool when you say it.
Nutes, Water and ph: Buy the most expensive stuff you can find. Wait..don't do that. Jack's classic is like 5 bucks and works like a mexican. Schultz isn't bad and miracle grow works in a pinch. Use quarter strength of whatever the label says and work up from there. I used to buy distilled water and ph balance it and all that shit before I realized tap water works pretty good too. I barely let the chlorine evaporate.
Lights: I think there's more arguments over this one subject than any other combined. The thing is...any HID light will do. You can veg and flower with HPS or MH. I personally think flueros are weak but they're good for clones and keeping moms alive. You dont have to drive yourself crazy trying to decide how big of a light you can cram into a box. My first light was an old 150w hps flood light. It cost 7 dollars at a flee market. I still use it to veg with and it works awesome. I flowered with a 400w MH that used to be in a basketball court and my colas were super fat, hard and sticky, and by colas i mean my penis err..i mean colas. Are these things ideal? No. The point is you can still grow super sweet nugs under less than ideal circumstances. Everything doesn't have to be perfect.
Fans: Buy them. If you want to be particular here's the place to do it. Keep air moving. If you can, put your bulb in a tube, if not point a fan at it. Get that heat away! You want to see your leaves moving a little.
That's pretty much it. If you find you like this hobby you'll want to get more refined. You'll get better as you go..trust me. Then you can start testing and experimenting for better yield and faster growth etc. but to get started just keep it simple, have some patience and don't tell anybody.
