Newbie Grower Q's

I am brand new to this and have a few Q's
Alright here is what we have going on right now-
We have 1 clone that we just got today. We potted it into a 4 gallon pot that has 4 parts sterilized topsoil, 1 part pelite and 1 part peat moss.
We have an extra bathroom we don't use that has nice shiny white tile that is great for reflection. We have a 400 Watt MH bulb set up installed (it can also hold the HPS bulb we got when it comes to flowering)
We watered it until the water started coming out the bottom of the pot, mostly just enough to make it moist, it is not really wet.

here are the q's
* How often should I be watering, and approximately how much. (again, I have a 4 gallon pot)
*For the initial rooting stage, how long should the lights be left on per day?
*After the rooting stage, during veg- by how long should I increase the light per day?
* Last Q- Is regular dry miracle grow fertilizer adequate fertilizer for this kind of grow or should I get something else?

I did my research, but so many things online are contradictory, so I was looking for some personal xp.
Thanks!

put the light on and watch her grow man, you can do 24 hrs now but watch your temps. never used miracle grow mate so couldnt say,,,

Water when the soil seems dry or your pot is light.
To veg you can do 24/0,20/4 or 18/6 you switch to 12/12 when you are ready to flower.
You can use mg ferts see how it works for you.

no you do not want miracle grow, its chemically based and not for human consumption, they have organic for vegetables, i would only use this in the most dire situations.
rule of thumb water when the first two inches of soil are dry.

Before this turns into a argument ill say this plenty of people use mg and they like some people dont like mg.I used it and had no problems.Do you know how many nutes are chemically based?

Any recommendation on what fertilizer I should use?

chem based is fine as long as its been rated for use with plants to be consumed, personally im just saying its my opinion that folks should steer clear of the ferts for decorative plants only.

I had to stop growing a while back, but now ive been setting back up and I dont have the money for pro-mix which is what I swear by, so I had to settle for the free stuff,a bag or organic mg outdoor vegetable soil, like I said dire situation.

mistaphuck said:

chem based is fine as long as its been rated for use with plants to be consumed, personally im just saying its my opinion that folks should steer clear of the ferts for decorative plants only.

I had to stop growing a while back, but now ive been setting back up and I dont have the money for pro-mix which is what I swear by, so I had to settle for the free stuff,a bag or organic mg outdoor vegetable soil, like I said dire situation.

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Is the soil good enough to grow plants in or is it causing problems?

its only been a day, im a bit worried about this time release nitrogen it said it had but we will see i guess

mistaphuck said:

its only been a day, im a bit worried about this time release nitrogen it said it had but we will see i guess

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Yes please update me on it.I usually will flush out the nutes before i start the plants in it.I didnt do it this grow and i had a little nute problem in the beginning but i gave 1 of my plants a flush hopefully it bounces back in another day or 2.

if your still in rooting stage, 12/12 is best light cycle. good to havesome sort of heating pad. i put my clones on top of the fridge. once your roots have taken off, 24/0 or 20/4 is the best for veg imo.
watering: clones need alot of attention. spray the leaves about every 4 hours. If this is your first grow, the #1 thing to try to avoid is overwatering. After time you will kno when its time to water. As the plant starts out, it doesnt drink it as fast, but when your flowering, and roots are stong, you will notice you need to water alot more than you would right now. I srongly recommend buying one of those moister tester probe things. im a bit drunk and cant really remember what there called, but well worth the money(under 10$) and will give you alot of peace of mind knoing exactly how moist your soil is.

i see more negative comment bout mg than posative. ive never used it just cause all the bad stuff ive read. ive used foxfarm soil and have no problems. i used scotts potting soil 1 time and got a major gnat problem. so i would say dont try to skimp on the medium.

the medium is definitely all good. I just noticed that the perlite was 'fortified with plant food' hopefully that isn't too much for it. I just don;t know what to feed the plant with once it is rooted. I have miracle grow already, but now I am very hesitant to use it.
Did the gnats actually harm the plants or were they just annoying?

oh man that was a bad experience. i just threw everything away and started over.
veg and flowering.
if you can, go to a hydro store and get some good soil such as fox farm. but i am kinda hesitant to use it. i think it comes with preditor bugs,which is suppose to be agood thing i guess. i just dont like seeing bugs in y soil. but the last two times ive got their soil there have been bugs in there. there pretty much microscopic though. i think next time im gonna try to hget some soil called "black gold" ive heard alot of good things about that.

whatever you choose to do, you really need good nutrients through out veg and flowering. ive recently heard great things about " advanced nutrients". i think thats what ill go with next