Starting Now. Looking for critics and advice.

Hello every one, it has been long since I last visited this forums and I decided to start some growing! I'm here to ask for advice and critics from the professional gardeners as well as those starting.

I already have a closet in the free room of my apartment here in Greenoland. It has enough space to put 4 to 6 plants.

This is what I got so far regarding illumination:

4x CFL Day Light 6400k 12W 720 Lumens
3x CFL Warm White 2700K 13W 750 Lumens
2x CFL Warm White 2700k 23W, don't know how many Lumens. I assume around 1000-1600.

I want to know if that's enough for 4 plants, or if I should get more CFLs with higher Wattage/Lumens. Take note: I can move pair of lights to any position I wish. I read is better to have them giving light around as well from above the plant, not only from the top.
I also bought 2 types of soil.
1-http://www.scotts.ca/smg/catalog/productTemplate.jsp?proId=prod10190086&itemId=cat40090
2- Cheap black soil, with no additives.

My seeds are germinating using the plate/water/towel method(ill check them tomorrow to see if any of them sprouted). My question is, should I move them to those lil Jiffy pots? Should I add black soil in the Jiffy pots and then put the lil Sprout inside and after a few days move them to a bigger container with the Miracle Grow on it?


If there any other info I should add please feel free to ask for it. I'm new to this so I might omit necessary information for you guys to be able to help me.

hi one
what's the dimensions of the closet?.....the scotts soil isn't good imo, you want your soil to drain well, mj likes to have roots that can breathe.....cheap black soil sounds better to me....i put the seeds that pop a tap root directly into a one gallon pot which will be good for about a month before i put them in a 5 gallon bucket.....1 gallon pot is like 8 inches tall and 4x4, the 5 gallon is 12" tall and 10" in circumference ....the lights sound ok for now, the more the better, and your going to need to have ventilation in there for best results....good luck and have fun! most common errors i see are overwatering and adding too many nutrients.

miracle grow makes soil that isn't moisture holding and lots of people use it....if you have a nursery close by they sell bags of local companies making straight potting soil.....i use fox farms ocean forest and fluff it up with light warrior....mj likes fluffy soil, add pearlite to whatever you choose.

Hi james, thanks for answering so quickly. This are the dimensions of my closet(I just took them lol) 105x55x180(Using centimeters)(Length, width, and height respectively). I have 6 1Gal. Pots, I just checked. Its possible to keep the plants in those until they show sex, its enough 30 days to do so?? They are bag seeds so I don't know which one is going to get hair o balls

Its possible to make a mixture between the black soil and the Miracle Gro? What should I add to the mixture (only if its possible to mix them) to give more drainage?

edit: here in greenoland they don't have many options, I'll go tomorrow again and take some pictures of what they have to offer in soils, and from there you can advice me.

yes the pots you have will work till they show sex, 30 days is about right.....pearlite will help with drainage......5 parts soil 1 part pearlite and a handful of vermiculite.....
i think your best bet would be regular potting soil, the black stuff sounds ok but make sure you know if it has anything added or not so you know if you have to feed them right away or not, even plain soil has nutrients innit.

No sprouts today.... gonna check tomorrow to see if some of them are ready for a better life!

YES! 2 of 10 seeds seems to be ready to move into soil. Look at the picture I attached and tell me if I should move both or just one of them, I named them for easier identification.



Second question about the light cycle for vegetation. Should I wait until it grows a lil bit more? Or start a 18/6 cycle right away after putting the sprouts into soil?

Another question regarding illumination. I have read people with setups of 20 000 lumens or even more for their plant. But even using all the bulbs I have I don't think is enough to reach 10 000 Lumens. Adding tinfoil to all around the closet will give me a higher lumen count?

I'll post some pictures of the closet so its easier to see what I'm talking about the space it has.

Go buy some mylar heat blankets from your local hardware store, or a roll from your local grow shop or online. Very cheap, and FAR better than tinfoil. Even better than tinfoil is a flat white paint.

You can go 18/6 now, or what I did was run a veg cycle of 24/0. It really doesn't matter. In nature, even seedlings get dark periods

-spek

^^^^^ yup^^^^^^

@spek9 will this do the job: http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Mylar-Thermal-Blankets-Pack/dp/B000GCRWCG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373143980&sr=8-1&keywords=mylar+heat+blankets ???

edit: if you guys can recommend me something from amazon do it, as this country lacks a lots of stuff...

OneBlood420 said:

@spek9 will this do the job: http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Mylar-Thermal-Blankets-Pack/dp/B000GCRWCG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373143980&sr=8-1&keywords=mylar+heat+blankets ???

edit: if you guys can recommend me something from amazon do it, as this country lacks a lots of stuff...

Click to expand...

That'll do it bud! Anything Mylar will work. I prefer the 48" x [insert however many feet you want] rolls, but that'll fill your closet easy, and for $7

-spek

Pictures of the closet. I was planing to use just half of it, but the entire room is free and I'm using it to store old junk that I dare not to waste! Tell me what do you think about the space, later ill ask about how to control odors, I imagine that 4 grown up ladies would have a strong scent.



Thats the entire closet, it needs a good cleaning! Tell me what ya think

This are the pots: 1 gal. each one. 80% Black soil(no nutrients in it) and 20% perlite. Mixed with my own hands... poor keyboard. So about moving my seeds there. Whats the best way to do it? and how much water should I add after I move them into the pot?

Well you have enough light to start 4-6, but only properly finish 1. If I were you I would get a tent that would fill up the larger space to flower in. Then I would use those additional "compartments" for seedling and plants in veg. With a little planning you could get a pretty decent perpetual 6 plant system. I know this might sound like a lot, and it might be something you get to step by step, but that would maximize your space.


Edit: I like to water the medium(in your case soil) thoroughly, prior to inserting my bean. I make a hole about a 1/4" deep, drop the bean, then cover loosely. I've tried watering after dropping the bean, and wound up disturbing the seed.

@blowincherrypie, so its a good recomendation to divided the closet in 3 parts: The large part split in half, and the "compartments" part with a fix will give me 2 good spaces for the seedlings. Good idea! Noted.

What types of meters should I have in that cabinet? Is there any all in one that its worth it or should by separate meters?

Two of Ten survived the movement to soil.

This picture was taken yesterday 07/jul/2013:

only 2 of ten thats not good......the soil in the first pic of the 2 pots looked a lot better than the latest pic with the sprout in it.....that soil looks too dense and wet, what happened with the first pots? do you have more seeds? you may want to change the way you are germinating them, out of 10 sometimes i get 1 or 2 that dont make it.

I followed the instruyction to add water first to the soil and then plant the seed. I might over watered plus the black soil is mixed with perlite. My brother has more seeds in hes house in germination. Can you post me a correct method to do this?

One of Ten also survived both are sprouts now in soil and getting bigger each day. Im going to germinate a few more to see if I can get a female. When its a good time to clone, can it be cloned after showing sex? Do clones needs special traetment?

One died. I think my mix of the soil is bad. Im going to do a mix of black soil and a new miracle gro i got that is not moisture control, i also got vermiculite and perlite to add if needed.

Question about odor control: Is good to have a few garlic plants arround to counter the smell from my mj plants outside my venting hole?

if you get a plant to flower stage nothing will mask the odor of mj.....if you have security concerns then you should buy a carbon scrubber and inline fan, that's the only thing will give you peace of mind, mj stinks like no other smell.