Ok guys.. I'm new, please forgive me(w/pic)

Hello everyone, I'm new to growing and I live in an apartment and I need to turn my closet that is 4 x 5 feet into a grow closet, so far I pretty much put the seed into some miracle grow and made sure to water it not too often and my plant is about 3 months old I believe and doing rather well I would like to think however I have no idea what I'm doing BUT that's why am here, I would love to learn how I can help my plants grow better from more experienced growers such as yourselves, so now the budget aspect.. I have at very most 150USD that I can put into this at the moment so I need to know what I should prioritize as my first purchase(def. a bigger pot lol) also if anybody has any ideas as to whether my plant is male or female I would love to know

What kind of lights are you using? You will get shamed for using miracle grow. she looks healthy.

Delta-9Pyromaniac said:

What kind of lights are you using? You will get shamed for using miracle grow. she looks healthy.

Click to expand...

I thought I might as far as the miracle grow haha but what would a better alternative be? And as far as lights go I haven't even gotten any so I have my plant in daylight during the day, and then I move her(I found out it's a she) into my closet for a pitch black night cycle, and thank you I'm very proud with her being my very first attempt

You're going to need nutrients for flower. Don't be fooled by brand names, most all brands contain the same things. NPK is NPK. You're gonna need light (stronger light, more bud). You need a Ph Metter. You can basically go cheap with everything but the light and still get good results. Remember herb potency is due to genetics and not all on skill. As far as soil, anything organic. My suggestion would be to use 5 gallon fabric pots. That's all that's needed

She needs a LOT more light. Far too tall and spindly to yield much. With enough light and care that number of nodes would be about 5-6 weeks old, but much shorter and stouter. When you flip to 12/12 to flower the plant will at the very least double in size, possibly triple.

Do you want to spend money for your grow room? You can get cheap chinese lights that will do ok, much better than your plant is doing now. Or you can get some quality led's like build it yourself cobs or quantum boards like these: https://growerslights.com/collections/horticulture-lighting-group-quantum-board-led-kits/products/horticulture-lighting-group-260-watt-quantum-board-led-kit?variant=42245771850

The cobs and quantum board will put out well over 2-4 times the light as the cheap chinese lights at the same "real" wattage.

Other than being too tall and spindly it does look healthy. But it won't be able to support much bud weight at all like that.

Get some wind on it. Strenghten the stem, more light. Miracle grow isn't bad just watch for salt build up, flush or water frequently between feeding, but don't drench 24/7. Gotta let air get at the roots. Miracle grow has formulas for all stages. It even contains zinc which I don't see in some top name brands like GO

Likeabadweed said:

Get some wind on it. Strenghten the stem, more light. Miracle grow isn't bad just watch for salt build up, flush or water frequently between feeding, but don't drench 24/7. Gotta let air get at the roots. Miracle grow has formulas for all stages. It even contains zinc which I don't see in some top name brands like GO

Click to expand...

So you say put some wind on it to strengthen up the branches and what not, right now I have like a three speed really cheap fan from Walmart that I'm using because I honestly haven't gotten to put any money into a grow room, what would you recommend? Also when you say that I should be feeding her what should I be feeding her as far as nutrients, or what are some fairly cheap products that I can use to help make sure she gets the nutrients that she needs ?

What you are doing so far is good. Just need more light for the buds, make sure the plant is in motion from the fan, but no blowing directly on it like a tornado. Nutes are a personal pref. Ask your local grow shop what others do in the area, regarding water source or available nutes (always stocked)"tried n proven" techniques from neighbors.

Synthetic nutes are prob your best bet cuz of the miracle grow soil. Building a micro herd or organic may take too long at this point. You are flowering so use high p with mag if or calcium depending on your water source.

Likeabadweed said:

Synthetic nutes are prob your best bet cuz of the miracle grow soil. Building a micro herd or organic may take too long at this point. You are flowering so use high p with mag if or calcium depending on your water source.

Click to expand...

Oh yuck. High P sux for flowering pot. Tomatoes love that crap but pot does way better with higher K than P.

@Levi Bruce I'm spanking your ass now for your choice of soils but like an ignorant child you have the potential to grow out of it.

You are going to need some form of better lighting to get any decent buds. Even a 150W hps security light will do better than nothing. I'm just building an 11 bulb LED rig with old vanity fixtures I scrounged up for a few bux at a local thrift store years ago. A recent promotion was selling 5000K and 2700K 9W LEDs for a buck each so I bought 3 dozen. Easy to pop the globes off to make an el-cheapo LED fixture for vegging a whole DWC tub of plants or just a few babies. Here's the basic layout.

The black lines are where I'm going to bolt on some aluminum angle iron to hold it all together. Would have done that today but crashed my car going to town to get more vodka. Nothing serious but broke the back wheel going into the ditch back-asswards so the wife had to come rescue me in the old F-150. Not the first time for either of us.



$11 for the bulbs and maybe 11 more to put it together. Good enough to veg a lot of plants or one full tub doing DWC.

Ain't gonna be pretty but for under $30 why the hell not eh!

I already popped the tops off all the bulbs I need and painted those nasty probes in the centers of each with liquid electrical tape so I don't get nasty shocks off them. Hang on and I'll get a pic.

I used a marker to write the K# on each bulb so I don't have to squint to know it's light output. These are 5000K which is just about the same as a summer sun. Got 2700K ones to mix it up a bit too.



Those little buggers really throw off a lot of light with the globes off!

These are all 9W/60w equivalent bulbs dirt cheap because the province, Alberta, is pushing them to replace the last great power saver CFL bulbs. If you see that and have a few extra bux buy all you can right away as they normally sell for about $5 each. The 100W equivalent ones are $15 for two at the store today.

My main flowering bulb is a 1000W Hortilux I bought last year for $170, Over $225 for the same bulb last month. That's just a bulb! Picked up a used 1000W MH/HPS ballast for $70 and two cheap brand new Chinese Super HPS bulbs for $40 each this last trip. Only need one at a time so got my ass covered in case of a break down.

Lots you can do to grow pot on the cheap. Once you can supply your own needs the money you save not buying pricey pot can grow your grow room.

Good luck and good growing!

I use one for cloning. Walmart "Great value", got it for about $3. Works really well, and inexpensive all around.