Noob here, hello to all. :)

Hi people,noob in town and loving this site.
I have been lurking around for sometime now and doing lots and lots of reading and watchin videos and allsorts to do growing.
Brief reasons for wanting to start a grow:

Tired of all the really nasty smoke thats on offer around here in the uk.

The deals on this "nice smoke"(as its often called) have become so poor that £20 will get u between 1.6 -1.8g of a wet sprayed,awfull to smoke deal.

It will be a small stealth grow for personal use only ( will gladly share a smoke round with close freinds when socialising). I dont want to grow it to sell on and make a fast buck!
To be honest its now becoming an obbsesion and desire to get a grow on

As said before if have been reading alot of sites and studying quite a few videos( plan on ordering a book aswell...any suggestion on good titles for a beginners?)
But could do with a few simple questions answering if anyone could please help.
My cab wil be 3x2.5x4 feet (LxWxH). Can be extended to 3x3x4 if needed.
I want to do a soil grow... Seems less complicated for my first time.

1. Im hoping to grow 3 girls in there. Its this enough room if i top them to keep the height down.( or how would you recomend for that size cab?

2. Would a 250w hps lamp be ok for this size cab with 3 or maybe 4girls in there for a full cycle?

They may seem silly question to most but i have tried to find the info on here but end up spending hours reading other theads and journals. Again quality website which is claiming many hours of my life.
Any answers or info on would be great.
Cheers for reading.

Yeah that's plenty of room for 3 plants. I'm about to start my first grow (building my grow room right now I'm so excited!) and I'm gonna have 15 plants in a 2x2 tray. Of course it's hydro though so the plants are gonna be smaller than soil, and it'll only be 15 during veg cause obv the males will be gone by flowering. But anyway ya, I would probably get a 400w though for that size space. Although if you only have 3 plants you won't be using that entire space and if you put them next to each other a 250w might be enough.
This book: http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Grow-Basics-Cannabis-Aficionados/dp/187882337X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1321627816&sr=8-3

is a really good primer that you can read through in one day. Then for the ultimate reference you want this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Horticulture-Outdoor-Medical-Growers/dp/187882323X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321627816&sr=8-1

it literally has everything you'd ever need to know about anything, it's like a textbook. So while everything in the first book is gonna be in the second book, the first book is still good because it's a quick read with all the basic info presented in a nice format. The second book like I said is literally a textbook and I think is too much at once and the info is kind of scattered around for a total beginner.

Like I said I'm about to start my first grow too, and I've only read the first book and asked questions on here and I'm totally ready for it and very excited. But I've been starting to read the second one and it really is just full of awesome information.

Good luck and welcome to the forums!


P.S. Oh and I know what you mean about getting terrible smoke... wtf! The last bag I got was so horrible it was extremely dried out, smelled like hay, tasted like weird ass chemicals, was way too harsh, and kind of gave me a headache. I was like ummm ya **** this noise I'm growin some bomb ass chronic myself.

P.S.S Oh ya and the guy that I got it from was telling me about how he's the reincarnation of King Tut, and how we are bred from aliens who are watching us and are going to come back for us. And like... he was completely serious, he was not kidding at all. It was hilarious but also a little freaky I was like wtfh.

Don't be so quick to dismiss selling a small amount casually to your friends to cover your costs, it doesn't make you a dealer. I think most people on here get rid of a bit of excess to close friends for said purpose.

But aside from that, welcome aboard and happy growing!

Honestly if I didn't sell/give any to my friends they would be kinda mad. I 'd say a 250 would be good in there, a 400 will probably be too hot and will limit the height of your grow space a lot. It is possible though to get a digital ballast. I have a galaxy 400 and I can switch between MH/HPS bulbs and switch between 400w and 250w with the turn of a switch with out changing bulbs.
People grow in 4' chambers all the time, definitely top and you will probably want to look into either scrog or lst.
Book wise I recommend Ed Rosenthal's Marijuana Grower's Handbook. It's the textbook for Oaksterdam University but it's not too bad of a read and has lots of bud porn and all the basics you need to know. (Some stuff just comes from experience.)
Also, have you thought of growing autoflowering strains? A lot of them grow under 2' no training needed and finish faster.

With 3x3 foot print and only 4ft height I would be inclined to stick 9 clones (1sq ft space each) straight to flower and you may just get a half decent yield with a touch of super cropping and a dose of bud blood to keep the height down. This would make the most of your space and yield much quicker.

Cheers for the replies folks.
I will have a look at the book titles that have been suggested. I will be hopefully starting the build over then next month, so have time for some light reading.

As for selling a little surplus: maybe only to the very closest of friends when there at dry times. Wouldnt want any hassle from tryin to move any on the streets, my babys are going be so stealth that only the wifey knows about it. She will be getting a crash course on each stage throughout the cycle just incase anything arrises.
Maybe i'll relax a little when ive got my first grow under my belt. But untill then i dont want anybody interupting/disturbing me.
Regarding the light and how many to grow: i figured it would be best to start with three girls and get a feel for things( not running before i can walk) and then maybe second grow will be with 4 or 5, so am not sure if 250w hps would do the job in that size grow space( spread of light at late flowering stage) for so many girls.

Also think i might go down the route of buying fem seeds to cut out the hassle of sexing and reduce the risk of a male, (but figure that i'll still be keeping a close eye on them just incase) is it worth doing this?
Cheers.

MrMeanGreen said:

With 3x3 foot print and only 4ft height I would be inclined to stick 9 clones (1sq ft space each) straight to flower and you may just get a half decent yield with a touch of super cropping and a dose of bud blood to keep the height down. This would make the most of your space and yield much quicker.

Click to expand...

Now that has given me something to think about when im a bit more experienced, until then i will stay small and play safe.
But am curios as to wot bud bloody is, an wot it does?
Noobs eh, full of silly questions

It's a nutrient by advanced nutrients. Specifically a bloom booster.

Weed in UK that bad? Pity.

Baked.bean said:

Now that has given me something to think about when im a bit more experienced, until then i will stay small and play safe.
But am curios as to wot bud bloody is, an wot it does?
Noobs eh, full of silly questions

Click to expand...

Bud blood reduces stretch and speeds up transfer to flower.

blimey said:

It's a nutrient by advanced nutrients. Specifically a bloom booster.

Click to expand...

Cheers blimey, will look into that also.

And Lordjin, yeah mate some really nasty stuff going around these days, easy money for some folk i guess( more bothered about quantity than quality).
Now and again you do manage do drop on some blueberry cheese,afgan kush and white widow. But only off selected folk at certak. Times but demand is gettin higher.
Main reason for me wanting to learn to grow succesfully is so i can Be selfsufficient and save some dollar in the long run.

Cheers for the replies and welcomes folks .

And does anyone else have any advice or info on my suggested light setup as posted above ?