I'm Very New

hi I've never grown anything in my life and figured i have a small amount of cash i can spend and not be to worried but i would still like to achieve a decent harvest.

i have 1 white widow fem auto on its way to me as we speak. i have a very cheap $2.98 bad of pure organic soil. i have a 3 gallon pot which i filled about halfway with perlite then mixed in the soil.

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]i have 4 23 watt cfl bulbs per gallon pot. 2 overhead with reflector and 2 on sides. this is all in a very small closet with more height than width. i do not have any nutrients or anything to really use for it but eh. anyways i plan on germinating the seed and if that step works i will be planting it directly into the 3 gallon pot and turn all 4 light on it. i plan on using a 18 hour on 6 hour off cycle. and watering it when it seems to be dry..... other than that i don't have really any plans on doing more for my first grow nor do i really have the funds to.... as a first grow will this process even work to grow it? could you please give me a list of things i can do on a later grow but keep it on a simple and cheap side of things as i'm not very versed in botany nor have much of an income.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]I'm aware that i can get way better results using tryed methods and just searchign the forums for these methods but im not particularly trying to go out spending more than 5 bucks on soil until i have grown maybe 2 simple plants just to get the basic process down for the certain strain ill be growing. until that happens any tips on staying below a 30 buck budget every two weeks would be nice. im staying cfl as its energy efficient and low heat. i have a 3 plant limit per grow. have no knowledge of nutrients or their usage. ill be sticking to autoflowering plants and probably of the white widow strain. i cant have a giant grow room and it has to stick to the closet which is fairly small and can fit tops 3 plants with lights. what i'd like to know is if using the above soil with perlite in it will work? dont need super quality right now just what to pop out a succesful plant from seed to harvest. also if you guys have any guides on growing that particular auto strain step by step with types of cfl lights as well as exact soil and 5-10 different alternatives that ca be used for quality. also basic nutrients if any are needed at all for a personal smoker. im hoping that just simply watering it and keeping the lights on it will yield usable results.[/FONT]

Hi! welcome to RIU! It sounds like you have a fairly good idea of basic growing. As you're growing an auto I'm unsure what to advise for any training methods, probably some light LST (low stress training) will be ok but I'm not sure about topping or fimming... Simple things you can do to increase your yeild: 1) more watts = more buds 2) your lights need to be the right colour temperature, 6500k for veg and 2500k for flowering, autos can probably get away with just 2500k (reds). 3) get some cheap flowering (P/K) nutrients and use them carefully (more is not better). 4) buy a cheap temp/humidity meter (a few bucks from the interwebs) try to keep temps between 20-30c. 5) only water when the plant pot feels very light when you lift it, this means the roots are getting a good dose of oxygen and will speed growth. 5) check out the cannabis grow bible, loads of useful and interesting infomation there.

Well good luck man, hope you end up with some good bud
I grow sativas so I can't help you on the particulars of autoflower plants but I would suggest a 20/4 lighting schedule.

I only use miracle grow products. There are "better" more expensive brands but I've been using it for many years with good results.. I personally prefer their Africa an violet soil as its ph balanced, containing small amounts of lime. It also has excellent drainage, I would not use their seed starting mix. The organic is pretty good too and doesn't have nute balls if for whatever reason your opposed....your gonna want their bloom booster, you can use it fine in veg as well(especially if you use a higher n soil like the av) but its the only one that has the full range of nutrients, you will still need to pick up some Epson at your local pharmacy. Tap water is fine to use if your in a decent area..don't use nutes till 3 weeks old or so, over feeding and over watering are the biggest problems for newbs.. I do equal parts perlite to av soil.

I also use cfl, I grow in a double stacked Rubbermaid bout 20x26"... I can fit 24 23 watt cfls up top and some 42s down low and I pull a lb out 8 plants. You want to aim for 7,000 lumens per sqft, that's what the sun puts on average, I wouldn't go below 5 or 6 to get good dense bud.. a 20" box fan from Walmart will put out a little over 2,000 cfm to help heat and air circulation.. you want about 78 degrees but low 80s are ok...

Well that my 2 cents it should get you started

CFLs do get pretty hot. They are great for side lighting. Get a light, an HPS of some sort, even a little one.

Loo around and try to find some free nutes, courtesy packs, coupons, other growers, etc. Use your head.

Well currently as im working on a bi weekly pay schedule i cannot purchase anything else for another 2 weeks. and every two weeks i may have anywhere from 5-50 dollars to spend on this project. so basing that i have the seed already planted in the pot what should be my next focus if i want a successful harvest?

also i should mention my setup is extremely rigged lol. basic cheap apartment closet. can fit 2-4 plants in 3 gallon pots.... anyways its pure white so i guess thats a plus... you know the basic white finish of most apartments. also i have 2 lamps.. each with reflectors which are both different. one is white plastic thing(no real clue as i havent really tried to figure this out) the other a metal reflector. i have an adapter gotten from lowes that i can plug 2 cfl's in this contraption at once. i planed on having 1 lamp per pot. so for my one white widow im going to have one of the lamps with 2 bulbs in it over it at all times. i also have rigged surge protectors screwed into the wall at an adjustable height. each SP has 2 bulbs... same 23 watt 1600 lumen style. i have these for side lights... so thats 4 lights per pot. i do however have a total of 8 23 watt cfl bulbs that i can use at one time. should i just use the 4 per pot method or just go all out and set it up to have all 8 for one plant. as its my first grow my priority is not to have 2 plants going at once unless i get the second seed soon... funds are gone right now so basically im working with whatever i already have.

4 of them will be fine for 1 plant while it young. But your gonna want all 8 by flower. Try to keep them about 2 in from the tops of the leaves....for a healthy harvest you will have to get Epson, roughly 2 dollars for a bag. And a box of mg bloom booster (or similar) about 6-7 dollars..good luck.......I spent about a 100 on my grow. That's a pretty good minimum investment for any grow cab....well my cfl grow

Since you seem to know what you are doing already, why are you here looking for help?

Oh, you have a job, predictable income? Wow, must be nice.

welcome to RIU fallingsnow...can you post some pics?

...or maybe start up a thread in CFL so we can see how things progress for you

Nice thing about Auto's is you really wont need any nutes and if you do it will be very very minimal, granted this is my experience from my grows and ive only grown 7 auto's but all them did just fine with light, fans, and some good old Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil that comes loaded with 30 days worth the nutes, and its only 5 bucks for a 12 qt bag (depending were you live im from Seattle) also i wouldnt bother with any topping or training, these plants have a short life and any training you do that the plant has to recover from is just giong to slow down your plant and considering you cant control the veg state of Auto's this can cause problems with yeild, but people have done it so its not impossible. You may want to just keep it simple for your first grow wiiht Autos then do alittle experimenting.

yea basically since i have zero knowledge in growing anything im basing all my posts off of things ive read this past week. ive already set up the room but like i said its rigged... only invested $40 (not expecting anythung much off of that but hoping for a harvest at all lol)

also as far as pics go... no camera and phone/pc cam are extremely shit. maybe at a alter date on that one. ill post updates as it goes or if it goes at all. i actually got advanced auto-bio diesel mass coming to me now. will be my first attempt at growing anything. though i am enjoying researching and such and hope to have an actual setup by decemeber. anyways along with original post i have another question to add to this below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtZDGR9f3ns

will that work with auto's?

my basic goal is to take my 2 white widow autofem's and make one produce seeds so i dont have to go buy more... im very money cautious and would like to produce my own weed without haveing to fork out loads of cash everytime i want a seed. can i take 2 seeds of the same strain. use that method and get my own autofem seeds to be produced?

thank you all for the quick and friendly replies. again i want to reiterate that i have no real expereince with this in any way. everything i say has been researched online and ghetto rigged into what ive made.

IMHO...learn to grow then think about breeding seeds

Good luck Falling Snow may your grow achieve grandious size buds and more fem seeds to sow with.

thank you and i am extremely grateful for all the help.