First grow, need some advice

So I decided to go the cheap & easy route for my soil by buying one of those all-in-one potting soil bags.

This bag includes "forest product compost", sphagnum peat, perlite, "a wetting agent", and supposedly four months worth of nutes. The nutes are 0.07% nitrogen, 0.01% phosphorous, and 0.03% potassium, by bag volume. And the bag is 8 quarts volume and 4.8 lb (2.17 kg) weight.

Now I plan on buying additional nutes for it in the right proportions for vegging, specifically 12-6-6. But will the preincluded nutes be good to start off with?

Also, please check out my setup and let me know if this is going to be sufficient at least to start off with.

Here's some pics:





I'm using a beer can with the top cut off and some holes drilled into the bottom as the first pot, and a broken Aerogarden that I found as the light source. And the seeds are being germinated in a damp paper towl sealed in a plastic bag.

Also, are the seeds going to need to be in total darkness to germinate or should I leave them slightly out of the light like they are now?

I'm trying to make this grow as cheap as possible, so try not to be too critical about the cheapness of it all.

i germinate my seeds in a paper towel that's inbetween two plates and then i tuck it away under my bed. I'm pretty sure light is not good for the tap root because it's not good for roots in general. hope this helps

i'm using mg potting soil and perlite, and milk jugs, but you'll need something bigger than a beer can once they start building their root system. I wouldn't really worry about using the ferts on the seedlings, i don't think you're supposed to. Just straight up water.

Alright, thanks. I'll just turn the light off in there and leave the seeds in darkness. And I definately plan on replanting them into bigger pots once they start to outgrow the beer cans.

Thanks for the tips.

Another question, would it be safer just to plant the seeds in soil and skip the paper towel method? I'm kinda worried about them not having enough oxygen and being oversoaked, plus the bag is starting to smell funky, like its gonna start growing fungus inside or something.

My main worries are with the germination period, once their sprouted i know what to do.

i put my seeds in a cup of water for 24 hours to let the seed completely soak. then i do the paper towel method on a plate and put it in darkness. u kinda want a little bit of a warm place for them to germinate. if the paper towels are smelling bad, just get a couple new ones.

I wouldn't plant them in cans... Aluminum oxide is toxic to plants and seedlings, I just wouldn't chance it.

Unless this is a known technique that I'm unaware of?

Yeah, you never heard of the beer can technique? That's what all the top growers are doin!

Well the cans are only temporary, i don't think they'll even be in there long enough for the roots to touch the metal, plus I believe that cans are coated on the inside with a clear material that keeps the metal from corroding, but thanks for pointing that out. Should I change it immediately or can it wait untill their sprouted? cause I already put a couple seeds into cans to germinate in the soil.

And I've been keeping the seeds at about 85-90°F

your beans will crack all you have to do is not worry about them. forget about the til tomorrow or even the next day...i've and when you plant the seedlings it may take a few more days for the sprouts to break the soil...it's all hurry up and wait for a little bit...but as far as the cans i think you'll be fine

alright thanks for the reassurance. and a 16-16-16 generic plant food wouldn't be any good for my plants either in veg or flowering would it? But I would only use that if for some reason i couldn't find the proper nutes, like say 20-10-10 for veg or 10-20-20 for flowering.

Hello fellow green thumbers heh heh. I have about three or four years of decent grows under my belt, and quite a few rather nice yields. still just an amateur though, after all, since I've stayed with a simple system due to space, resources, etc. It seems to work for me, nevertheless. At any rate brother, as I said, I am no botanist, but in my experience, germinating your beans separately is really unnecessary. I mean, cannabis (and all other plants of course) have survived and flourished for aeons without paper towles and plastic bags, if you dig. Just bore a one to two inch hole in your medium, drop in your ittle kernal, and cover lightly without packing the soil and keep moist for about a week to twn days, until you see the sprout break the soil. As the other fellow mentioned, you might want to think about investing in some plastic 8 or 10" pots, a couple of bucks at Walmart or Home Depot. Well, good luck and keep cultivating God's garden...

P.S. I wouldm't add any nutes to a potting mix with nutes included. You can add some high N nutes gradually as the plant develops (switching to high P during flowering) but you shouldn't need more than you got there, yet anyway. Take care.