questions.....

Whats good with it everybody.?. i am about to start my first grow finally. I been doing alot of research and reading the last month and a half and got some quick ?'s.... First off, i will be growing 2 autoflowers to start,with a 400 watt mh/hps. i want to germinate in the soil using FFOF and also i got the fox farm grow big and tiger bloom along with molasses. My question was, would it be beneficial to use small cfl's on the sides or would the 400 watt be enough light? im going to be surrounding the walls with reflective mylar also. Also when i first put seed in soil to germ, what kind of light should i put on,for how long?Once it has sprouted i know i wanted to plan on using the 18/6 light schedule to start with. Any help with this or tips for the beginning stages or thru out the grow would be much appreciated. Im open to it all, its my first grow and want to learn as much as possible before hand and then during and beyond.... i know not to start using nutes for the first 3 to 4 weeks as FFOF is a hot soil with enough to last those first few weeks. Like i said, any help or suggestions are appreciated. Im trying to keep it a simple grow the first few times until im hands on familiar with everything.

For 2 auto-flowers, a 400 mh/hps is plenty of light but I guess if you can put those cfl's in there than it would not hurt anything.

More power= more flower

I do the same thing when germinating my seeds, just throw them in the dirt and water. Then I just put them in my grow cab on an 18/6 and forget about it, you don't really need all that light at the beginning but it's not going to hurt anything. You could even use those cfl's to start if you want to cut down on the power costs.

Good Luck

i think im gonna just scrap the cfl idea. I didnt think i really needed it since i had a 400 watt light and am only starting with 2 plants. i could use a cfl or 2 in the beginning stage when germinating and then when it sprouts. then i may go straight to MH for the 18/6.

a 400w should be fine dependind your area size. i use 1 400w per 2x4 area for flowering and if i were gonna start beans in there i would make sure the seedlings were on the outer perimiter at first or raise the light up a bit. personally i use a cfl for my seedlings and cuttings so you can still make good use of the cfl's your not gonna use it. i used ffof a few times before i created my own soilless mix and it is good but a little hot as you said. i found using light warrior or pro-mix for seeds & cuttings worked better then i would transplant into ffof.