First time grower looking for advice

[Lemonade]

So I've never grown before but due to certain circumstances I'm in a spot where it'd be really beneficial to be growing my own plants. However, I have no clue where to start. I've read the guides from this website and from a few others and they're all very informative but it still doesn't cover everything and I have many questions that remain unanswered. To set the stage a little I'm hoping to grow anywhere from 2-6 plants total, starting off with 2 and maybe adding more as I gain more experience, in an indoor setting.

My biggest question is about the cost. From what I can see a decent grow room can easily run into the thousands, and that's skimping on the expensive stuff! Is there a low cost way to grow? I understand it may harm my yield and produce less than with the higher quality stuff but money is tight for me at the moment and I can't afford how much its looking like I'm going to need just to grow 2-5 plants. Help here would be VERY appreciated.

My next question is about seeds. If I purchase some feminized auto-flowering seeds will any seeds I get off of the plant share those traits or do they grow as normal seeds? Is it possible to plant the seeds you get off of your plant so you don't need to continuously buy more seeds?

When I harvest the plant is it a "one and done" type of deal? Or am I able to reuse the same plant and cause it to flower several times? I feel like its a one and done but I'd rather be sure and know than sit here guessing.

My last question involves hands on learning. Before growing myself do you think it'd be beneficial to find someone else who grows and sort of intern under them for awhile? Like offer to trim for free and help them with their plants in order to learn what to do when I have my own, like an apprenticeship. I feel like this would be a great way to learn as I'm the type who learns by watching then trying but I also feel like other growers would be hesitant to let an outsider into their grow room, if they were even comfortable teaching someone in the first place.

That about sums it up, sorry if my questions are stupid. I've only been reading up on all this for about 3 weeks now so I still have a ways to go, thanks in advance!

[WPX_tacoman477]

Well as far as costs go, you can do several setups that cost very little, but there is a point where your gonna have to spend a certain amount of money to get the proper equipment to have a successful yield.. Your going to need light, medium (either soil, or something for hydro), water, and maybe a light timer so you can ensure the plant gets it's proper light cycle on time for the right amount of time every day (usually when flowering because it calls for 12 hours on 12 hours off). Mild to somewhat crapy qualities of these will get you by with weak little plants, but will not survive without.. You can use the sun, but that means you'll have to have sunlight reaching the plants and that's potentially a window for nosy little eyes! You can go with cfl's which you'll either need ALLOT of little ones, or several big ones.. You can start the plants with a couple little ones, since they'll be little.. And add as they get biger with time.. But you'll need a certain amount of light eventually, and you'll probably want something more red in it when it comes time to flower.. Nutrients will be required by plants, but if your growing soil, you can get a soil with nutrients in it.. The plant will eat them up in no time and will eventually need new nutrients, but I've seen little crapy plants come from pre nutrient soil.. Not a great recommendation, but if you don't have the money for nutrients, than pre fed soil is better than no nutrients at all, as they'll die without any at all.. You could get a basic little feeding set such as the general hydroponics 3 part feed: the micro, veg, and bloom kit. They are about the cheapest I've seen (depending on you area or if your buying online) but that is the main nutrients your plant will need. You'll see allot of people using these, plus about 10 other bottles, but these 3 are essentially all you nessisarily need to keep them alive. If you plan on getting and using these, research how to use them first off, and second, don't use them during the plants first week or so because seeds/ new seedlings usually provide all the essentials themselves and won't need outside nutrients till the roots get going..

As far as breeding goes, a plant will not produce seeds alone If it is a female plant (sensimelia). You will need a male plant for the pollen, the male plant usually isn't good for smoking since it's low thc levels, but will need to be used to create pollen if you plan on growing cannabis to produce bud and seeds. The female plant produces bud and will create seeds if pollen gets to it.. But if no pollen is present.. Your female (sensimelia) will produce no seeds and spend it's life's energy producing more thc and trichromes.

As far as getting involved with other growers.. It could potentially be a security risk.. That's usually why you find allot of people here on forums. I occasionally talk to an ex guru grower that has been a family friend since he was little and was always a friend before a grower to our family and he does not know if or where I'm growing, but he understands and doesn't ask those kinda questions. But I mainly like to stick to everything on my own and talk little about it and I try not to tell anyone I'm growing or that I'm a grower for my own safety.. Because it's illegal here and you can never be too careful. But that's up to you if you could find someone willing to do that for you and how much you trust them.

[Lemonade]

Thanks for the insight WPX, it was helpful!

[WPX_tacoman477]

Any time! If you got any more questions just let me know

[thefalloutboy]

Your going to need light, medium (either soil, or something for hydro), water, and maybe a light timer so you can ensure the plant gets it's proper light cycle on time for the right amount of time every day (usually when flowering because it calls for 12 hours on 12 hours off). Mild to somewhat crapy qualities of these will get you by with weak little plants, but will not survive without..

Nutrients will be required by plants, but if your growing soil, you can get a soil with nutrients in it.. The plant will eat them up in no time and will eventually need new nutrients, but I've seen little crapy plants come from pre nutrient soil.. Not a great recommendation, but if you don't have the money for nutrients, than pre fed soil is better than no nutrients at all, as they'll die without any at all..

Okay I have a couple of questions of my own, being a prospective grower myself. So, first do you need a light timer for autos? Or can I just light them up 24/7?
Nutrients! I have not heard anything about nutrients, or having to buy them. What exactly do I need to make sure my plant makes it to the flowering stage? Because I never heard anything about needing to buy extra supplements, I just assumed they got what they needed from plain old tap water. Also, is it okay to water using tap water?
Lastly, as for sustaining your "farm", can you count on cloning to keep a steady supply of plants in your grow room? Or am I going to need to purchase a lot of seeds?

Thanks so much for the advice!!

[WPX_tacoman477]

Well, to answer your question about lighting.. I haven't done much research with autos so I have no idea, ill look it up when I get the chance if you can't find an answer.. But as far as nutrients go, try checking out the nutrient section of this website, there's some main nutrients you want allot of and then there's some you just want a little bit of.. It depends on what strain your growing and the setup you have and if your growing using soil or hydro.. If your using soil, it matters what type of soil your using and so on.. But you'll find that all plants require NPK.. Abriviation of Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.. The ratios vary in the two different stages of the plant.. You usually want more nitrogen during vegging (the early weeks/months where it has no buds) than the flowering stage you usually want higher phosphorus than the other two.. But you still want all 3.. You should look into researching a little bit about nutes, I can only give the basics without getting confusing lol.. But you should be giving them nutes on a schedule weather your using soil or hydro, it just depends on the setup and the medium. And hell yeah you can!! Clones are what keep the world spinning haha. If you ever heard something about "the mother plant" that's referring to the plant were they keep it vegetating and never bloom it so it grows vigorously so that cuttings can be taken from it to have a constant suply of babies, also cloning knocks off about a week of the plants life because they don't have to go through the seedling stage, starting as branches that is.. And these clones will take after their mother plant, they carry the same genetics and everything! If you take a cutting from a female plant, than you'll get female babies, and those cuttings also inherit the mothers age, strain genetics, requirements, and even diseases.. That's why you want a strong and healthy mother plant so your babies don't get sick! If you grow a mother clone that has a weak immune system that's constantly and easily sick, than you'll have the same issue with the babies which just isn't good! As far as tap water goes, you can use it.. But it's ideal to know what's in your water though.. You can request a water analysis for free from your water company, people do it all the time so no need to worry about them wondering why.. They're actually required to provide them free! But it's ideal to use closest to pure water so that you don't give the plants anything they don't want.. If you do use tap water. You should let it sit out over night so that the chlorine has time to evaporate because they won't like the chlorine.. You have a ways to go! I recomend getting a book that goes over ALL of what I'm saying, that's where I get all my knowledge from anyways lol and it'll teach you allot of things that you don't even know to ask about. You got a ways to go, but you'll make it in no time! Welcome to the wonderfully addictive world of growing cannabis lol.. You'll find it's more addicting to grow than the government says it is to get stoned!

[Roofie]

Hi Falloutboy.
Most people light autos for around 20/4. Anywhere 18+ will do it. Some people go for 24/24 with no problems at all whereas others feel that this stresses the plant too much. So here's the thing. If you do not have a timer, just light them up 24/24 and you shouldn't really have any problems. If you get a timer, and they only cost a few bucks from ebay, then set it at 20/4 and give the girls a break. That is what I would do.

[Dreadzone]

FallOutBoy
Autos don't need any nutes for the first week or two. There's plenty in the soil to keep them going. You can start using a diluted mix after that. They will start flowering at about three weeks so use a general purpose fertilizer for a week if you want and then switch straight on to bloom nutes. Or do what a lot of poeple do and just start straight off with the diluted bloom nutes at about 15-20 days and it works fine. Gradually move up to full strength by 30 days. Hope this helps.

[Wizard51]

The three primary things needed for growing are Light, Medium and Nutrients. Lighting can be accomplished by several means, but typically, fluorescents are the cheapest but are not very good for flowering. they will get you through the vegetative stage just fine, but you will want something more powerful for flowering, like an HID lighting kit. If you go on Ebay, you can probably get a pretty decent lighting kit a LOT cheaper than a shop. I was able to pick up a new, unused 1000 watt lighting kit complete with hangers, hood, switchable 1000 watt ballast, timer and a 1000 watt HPS bulb, and I only paid 162.50, shipping was free, and I had the light within 5 days.

As far as Nutrients go, they are mostly determined by your growing medium. Most growers prefer to use organic nutrients, which if you're growing in soil, is pretty easy to keep to. Most grow shops carry several brands of organic nutrients, and most will work just fine. Growing in Hydro, there are SOME nutrients that are organic and can be used in a Hydro setup, but for the most part, you will be dealing with chemical salts that contain the base nutrients in a soluble state so that the plants take them in more readily. Organic nutrients tend to clog up a Hydro system, since the nutrients aren't soluble. My personal opinion and I believe most here share it, is to go with soil until you get more proficient at growing and judging your plants health at a glance. For one thing, Hydro is a little less forgiving than soil. Anything you do in a hydro setup has an almost immediate effect on the plants. Too much acidity or alkalinity can kill your plants pretty quick. Soils tend to stay more neutral than Hydro setups do. Too much or too little nutrient can also damage the plant pretty quick. There are several recipes for soil mixes out there, including quite a few here in the forums. I usually use Fox Farms Ocean Forest. It already has a decent mix of perlite and drains well.

There are a few types of Hydro, the more common ones are drip irrigation or ebb and flow. You can build your own setup for either with items from your local hardware store for the most part. Of the Hydro systems I've seen though, the cheapest one is probably the DWC system, or Deep Water Culture. I'm currently running this system myself for cost reasons. Total setup cost was under $50.00 dollars for 6 plants. All you need is a bucket, a net top, clay pebbles, an Air pump, some black air hose, and an air stone. The plant sits in the net top surrounded by the clay pebbles. The net top sits in the bucket and the bucket is filled with nutrient solution. The air stone is placed in the bucket of solution and oxygenates the solution so the roots get the oxygen they need. As the plant matures, the roots grow down through the net top and form a root ball in the bucket. The biggest problem I have had with this system is that the plants aren't as stable as they would be in another system. I have to tie them to supports to keep them from falling over.

Hope this helps.