K.I.S.S.
Keep it simple stupid.
Don't let yourself get all confused by the million people telling you a million different ways to do something with this or that or the other while you should be doing this that way or wtvr. Step back and realize it is all a headache of crap.
Make this as easy on yourself as possible.
A simple overview of the basics you will need.
Needed:
1 400W Metal Halide
1 1000w High Pressure Sodium
Couple bales of Pro-Mix, Fafard growing mix, Sunshine Mix.(feed stores, home depot, Greenhouses)
Bag of Perlite(optional)
Box of Blood Meal(wal mart)
Box of Bone meal(walmart)
Box of Kelp Meal(local,online)
Bag of Epsom Salt(standard)
Bag of Dolomite Lime(feed store)
Bag of Worm Castings(local,online)
Soluble Seawed extract(optional)
Mychorrizal Fungi-Plant Success(optional)
Rare Earth(optional)
1 can of Guinness beer(optional to drink or use in mix)
9- 5 gallon buckets(flowering plant pots)
6- 2 gallon buckets(vegetative plant pots)
Sleeve of plastic beer cups(cloning)
rooting hormone(powder,gel;walmart/online)
2 fans
That should do it for a basic grow. it would cost about 6-700 bucks i am guessing. Possibly cheaper depending on Lights.
For seeds: soak seeds for 24 hours in a beer cup to soften shells.
Place seed in beer cup of pure pro mix. Sprout.
Mix potting soil.
Basic recipe: Full bale(3.8 cuft) Pro mix is 2.0 cuft sometimes. Adjust accordingly.
6 cups Bone Meal
4 cups Blood Meal
4 cups kelp meal
3 cups Dolomite Lime
1 1/2 cups Epsom salt
1 small bag Worm Castings
1 bag Perlite(optional)
6 tbsp. Plant Success Granular(optional)
3 tbsp Soluble Seaweed extract(optional)
3 tbsp Rare Earth(optional)
1 can of guinness beer(drink or add to soil)
Now, for ease, mix a half bale at a time. Get the nice 50 gallon contractor black garbage bags. Add all ingredients into bag. Tie closed and roll and roll and mix well. Open bag. Wet down soil well.
Same goes for flowering pots when needed.
All you have to do is water and all your work is done. You 'can' PH your water to 7.0 neutral, but isn't a must.
Water. Watch grow. Repot. Done.
Keep it Simple Stupid.
Of course there are a couple other things to know, but that is a basic setup that can harvest 1 plant a week at 1-4 oz a piece depending.
Retail Locator for Pro Mix Find button( sometimes it isn't there. *shrug*)
http://www.premierhort.com/eProMix/Gard ... dening.htm
Sunshine Mix Retail Locator
http://www.sungro.com/retail_locator.php
Retail Locator Fafard Growing Mix
http://www.fafard.com/?p=7
It is like cooking a 2 minute egg but you are cooking an 8 week plant. This is my recipe on how to cook your 8 week plant.
This is a basic mix. Some strains; they are all different; may need a little boost of a Nitrogen fertilizer( i recommend bat guano) once or twice during growth because they wants it, and maybe need a little Phosphorous boost( i recommend bat guano) once or twice at the start of flowering. Thats it.
Also, If your growing the same strain, you can 'tune' in the mix to that strain by maybe adding a little more/less of certain ingredients.
Like i said, this is a straight forward BASIC mix. Theres all sorts of little tweaks, alterations and adjustments that can be done. But i wholly recommend this method for beginners.
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Also, I have a 400W MH and 1000W HPS listed.
Those can be adjusted down to your lighting needs for what ya plan to do. I assume MOST people will not be using 2 Oz's a week, and can utilize smallewr lights. Everything works the same way though. Smaller pots may be needed.
Generally, you can figure for your veg room and flower room, you need about 1/3 the wattage in your Veg room as to the flower room.
Such as:
150W MH- veg
400W HPS- flower
or something in that range.
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The Soluble seaweed extract is something nice to have. It covers those few micronutrients that commonly get overlooked. Here is a link to what i refer to. Prolly find it cheaper somewhere else, just happened to be the first store i hit on google search.
http://organic-hydroponicsupplies.thebi ... ront/def...
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Almost forgot about the Plant success granular. It works nicely. Only really need to use a little of this by simply sprinkling a little bit in the hole when ya repot. It needs roots to survive and it propagates itself. No need to 'really' mix it in your basic mix. You can stretch a can a long way that way. It does improve root health and allow easier uptake of flowering nutrients. Helps the roots really get all "fan like" if ya know what i mean.
http://www.wormsway.com/detail.asp?sku=psg450
Also one i hadn't added to the basic list is "Rare Earth". You can notice the difference in stalk strength and 'coating' to help reduce stress. Silicon is a highly overlooked nutrient.
http://www.wormsway.com/detail.asp?sku=REA400
I have recieved a few requests about smaller amounts for mixing soil and so on ... just thought i would add this... Another recipe that can be used.
One thing i remind people, a bale is Compressed and many people buy "loose" bags that are smaller. Such as, a compressed bale(in my recipe) is 3.8 cu/ft. Pro mix has smaller bags of loose soil like 1 cu/ft "Loose". The difference between "loose" and compressed is a 2:1 ratio. 1 cu/ft compressed= 2 cu/ft loose.
Here is a nice recipe for the 1 cu/ft loose bags
1- 1 cu/ft bag of Pro Mix "loose"
3/4c - Bone Meal
1/2c - Blood Meal
1/2c - Kelp Meal
3/8c or 6 TBSP. - Dolomite Lime
2 1/2 TBSP. - Epsom Salt
2 TBSP. - Jamaican Bat Guano
2 TBSP.- Crab Meal
1 TBSP - Plant Success
2 Teaspoons - Rare Earth
1/2 teaspoon - Soluble Seaweed Extract
Big Handful Worm Castings.
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"Happiness is the only good. The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now. The way to be happy is to help make others so."
Robert Ingersoll
