1st. Grow

In a couple of weeks I'll be ready for my first grow. My wife has Multiple Sclerosis and it seems reasonable to start growing our own. I plan on growing just enough to take care of her medical needs, so I'm thinking of planting 4 or 5 seeds anticipating that half or more may be male plants. I have a small closet that will be dedicated for the grow room. I plan at least for the first few grows to use soil, but I admit that hydroponics is intriguing. So I've done a little reading and growing our own seems at on one level to be pretty straight forward but on other levels seems pretty complex. I'd like to keep it simple as possible for now. But what seems overwhelming about all of this is the shear amount of different strains there are. I'd like stay with an indica strain because of it's medicinal properties. So to get to the question;What are some recommendations for a first time indica grow?

If you found a seed out of many buds of the same hydro it's most likely a female. I use an 8x8 foot grow area when I grow with one 1000w hps. I will curtain this area off with white on one side black on the other side fire resistant reflective plastic. I will seal this section off so I can control the atmospheric pressure inside the growing area. I build my plant pot using a 3x3 ft piece of plywood and 1x4 inch boards I gang together to get 7 inch sides. I line it with a thick plastic shower curtain and make a hole in one corner of the box. The upper corner is 1 inch higher than the drain hole corner and the other two corners are level. I use a tin can with the ends cut out and holes punched into it in my drain corner to keep my growing medium out of the drain. I use a rubbermaid for a resevoir. You will need a water pump and air bubbler. Flood times are 15 minutes start to finish every 8 hours. You will need a digital timer and your water pump will have to pump slightly faster than your drain is draining. Top up resevoir daily. To prevent floods because of screw ups don't put more water in your res than your bed can take, max. Total water change every five days. Use 1/6 the fertilizer as recommended for dirt per gallon of water. I have run seeds in this but after I've picked out my moms I run clones. I use an electric drill and screws for most constructions. This is for lava rock and/or clay gravel using rockwool as a seed/clone starter. There are many other ways to set up a flood and drain budding hydro system.

Try and keep things as simple as you can for your first grow. Make sure you have good soil that has good drainage. A decent light helps. Fresh air and a way to take the old hot stale air out. Check the ph of your soil and water. Get some nutes for veg and flowering, you don't need anything pricey to start out with. Indica's are a great staring point, I lean toward the kush's. i have been growing afghan kush for the past while and am very impressed with it. Has a great fruity taste to it. If you have any q's feel free to drop me a line. Best of luck to you and your wife!

also when it becomes close to harvest time and you are checking your trichomes for color, you will want more amber than cloudy or clear. This will give more of a narcotic effect which will help alot more with your wifes ms then an uppy high will.

Thanks for the get-backs to my post. Yeah I'm definitely growing in soil to start with, although I'm putting together an areoponics grow box to experiment growing tomatoes with this fall and winter. Thanks for the heads up about the trichomes color, I had no idea, and yes I'm looking for that narcotic effect to deal with her pain and tremors. I knew I was forgetting something and I'm glad it was mentioned, an exhaust fan! I forgot I need to put in an exhaust. The closet I will be using is 4'-7" x 6'-2". I've light proofed the closet and installed a lock on the door. The closet is in my office (I work from home). So let me ask this; Will a bathroom exhaust fan do the trick? I can simply replace the existing light fixture with a bathroom exhaust and vent to the attic. The closet is located by an outside wall and there are vents along the soffit. Keep in mind I'll only be growing one or to plants at a time. Do you foresee in problems with my thinking? Afghan Kush looks like a winner, thanks for the advice.

usually bathroom fans are about 100-200cfm. It will probably work as far as drawing fresh air in.