First time grower, pointers and help :)

Hi all, going to take my first try into growing. For this first grow im going to use some bag seeds, and if that goes well ill order some. I built a dual tupperware grow box, I painted the inside black with several layers and have put a few coats of white on the inside. I read that some people like to put mylar in the box. Is this neccesary and if so where exactly can i find some?

For this grow im going to be using 8 23w CFLs. I bought a 6 pack of warm whites, is it necessary to use a mixture of lights colors? Because i was considering using cool whites for the last 2 bulbs.

As much as ive read to keep the first grow simple i would really like to use a hydroponics system, but there are so many ways to do it that its overwhelming and seems a bit complex, for a newb, what would be the recommended way of growing?


Ill upload pics of the grow box soon for more pointers

Looking forward to seeing the box so we have an Idea of what we can help ya with. And yes it good to have a mix. Im running 8 cfls myself. in veg I was running 6 6500k and 2 2700k bulbs. Im in flower now and switched it the other way around so 2 6500k and 6 2700k. and for first time at trying i would go soil. Thats just my opinion.

yes put up some pics..

I just lined the inside lid with mylar, and am going to do the top box. Ill take pics as soon as i finish that, im doing that as i type

Heres the pics as promised.


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Wait? That doesnt look like a grow box....

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OH SHIT WHATS GOING ON?!?!?!

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Ooooh there it is...

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Top down view into the box

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Lifting the lid off the bottom box (yes the lid is bolted to the bottom of the top box)

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Peeking into the bottom box (it hasnt been fully painted yet. Needs 2 more coats of black and a few coats of white)

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Here is my mini suns, there are only 6 at the moment. I need to "borrow" 2 more splitters from the store....

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Another look at them from another angle

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Light them sum bitches up!

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View of the light coming down through the hole in the bottom box

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Lights up that bottom box quite nicely.

Why not invert the boxes? It seems odd to have one box upside down, and i need this to be as stealth as i can, landlord drops by once a month and i dont want questions asked about inverted boxes. We have alot of these boxes around the appt from moving so these will fit in nicely with the rest. Ive yet to put fans in it, but i have that on my list of to-do's.

What do yal think?

Ive looked around at a few places, what kind of fans do yal use for light cooling? I like the idea of a computer fan, but then i have to find a 12v power supply.

Fox Farm Ocean Forest

Cool stuff, will i need to fertilize still while using that soil? And what is some good ferts i can pick up locally? Because there are so many different ferts that it is overwhelming.

'What I would do', is start off with your ph up and ph down. Then get one 'Grow' fert, and one 'Bloom' fert. Dilute these to 1/4 strength with clean water and use as directed. you can increase the amount of ferts if you feel your girls are deficient and turning weak green in clolor. obviously use the grow fert during your veg stage (18/6) and bloom when you flip to 12/12. the "NPK" ratio is the only thing you want to focus in on when your toasted staring at a crazy colorful shelf of 50 kinds of ferts. a common NPK is like 12-10-10. be careful not to overwater. stick your finer two inches into the soil if its wet, its fine.
good luck