First Project.. lookin for advice tips comments etc.

ok so here are some picture of my first plant. its exactly 1 month old. supposivey its White widow but im not positive. i think it looks kinda weak but its being grown under a single 26 watt flourescent bulb.

also does anyone have suggetions on where to shop for lights.. soil.. and plant food..
can you please recommend me some.. i've been doing ALOT of reading and im still not figuring it out..

as far as your plant, it doesnt look bad for 1 month. with light you should try to figure out what direction you want to go in first. as far as HID lighting HTG supply is great and there customer service is the best. ask around and most people will agree. for the moment you could get a shop light or two from depot for $10 each and get 6500k bulbs for veg. those will work pretty good but if you plan on growing some more plants HID is the way to go.

for soil and nutrients try to stay away from miracle gro for the simple reason that mg soil has timed released nutrients usually lasting 90 days or longer. the object is to be able to control your plants nutrient needs for its different stages of growth. with a soil such as mg its a little tricky and you could screw your plants up if not careful. it would be best to get a good quality organic soil or a soilless mix like pro mix to start and get a complete fertilizer lint to use. i have a thread here on soil mixes that i found at a different forum if your interested in mixing your own.https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/378403-hillbillybobs-soilless-mix.html
what kind of set up are you looking to do? organic? synthetic? how many plants just that one?

oh forgot.. the plant is 8 inches tall. i use just regular old top soil. and its in a large flower pot. there is yellow spotting on the leafs and white bump near the base of the plant .. its also shedding...?

im thinking about growing 5 plants at a time.. organically..

atm thought its just that 1 plant.. i have another next to it but its about 10 or 11 inches tall and it isnt growing many leafs or branches..

well for 5 plants i would say a 400w hps w/ a mh conversion bulb would be perfect. i used a 400w in my first grow in a 2x4 tent and it turned out great. if you are going to grow organic i would say go with a pro mix soil & earth juice would be the way to go for fertilizer. if you wanna save some coin though i would mix my own. you could use the base soil mix in my thread and make a better soil mix than pro mix for less money. then just pick your fertilizer to use. fox farms is a good option although the fertilizer is not organic. if you dont want to fool with mixing all the fertilizers and a feeding schedule you might want to check this out.

https://www.rollitup.org/subcools-old-school-organics/338384-2010-revised-super-soil-recipe.html

hillbillybobb said:

for the moment you could get a shop light or two from depot for $10 each and get 6500k bulbs for veg. those will work pretty good

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I'm sorry but I totally disagree T8 shop lights are pathetic. Yes they will grow you through veg but fairly slowly and there are far better cheaper options you can use all the way into flower. I suggest if you want to run on the cheap get several 6500k(blue), 100w equivalent CFL's the twisty looking light bulbs. When compared under a light meter they blow away any shop light hands down. Plus you can flower with them if you get the 2500k (red) spectrum ones.

Well before you grow you really should have a plan, and set up going ready to use. You can go to HTG or there are other sites just as great, each has it's own deals. Here are a few I've used in the past. This one has the cheapest inline fans I've seen: plantlightinghydroponics Dotcom, This one has good price on reflectors: cheaphydroponics Dotcom. There may even be a hydroponics store in your town, or near by. Try Googling for hydroponics in your town.

There are so many sites, each offer better deals than the other. If I were you I'd get a tent, fan, Ph meter, Nutes, Ph solution, cloner gel, rock wool and a good HPS light but first you should decide if you want to do soil(<-slow) or hydro! I'd say spend $500 but you can get away with as little as $150 for a grow that produces a somewhat decent yield.

tomatogrowop said:

I'm sorry but I totally disagree T8 shop lights are pathetic. Yes they will grow you through veg but fairly slowly and there are far better cheaper options you can use all the way into flower. I suggest if you want to run on the cheap get several 6500k(blue), 100w equivalent CFL's the twisty looking light bulbs. When compared under a light meter they blow away any shop light hands down. Plus you can flower with them if you get the 2500k (red) spectrum ones.

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shop lights may be pathetic in your opinion but i would say that 4-6500k 40w bulbs would be better than a 26w compact fluro wouldnt you agree?? its obvious this guy needs help so that would be a quick cheap solution until he gets a game plan. as far as being slow i dont agree with you. sure their not comparable to hid, but i think they are about the same but you need more lamp fixtures doing it the way your suggesting.