first time grower hows my setup

whats up my peeps. Ive been blazing herb for about seven years and about two weeks ago i decided to start a garden. First off i gathered some seeds from a local bag of herb witch is a fairly nice strain (not green or mids) almost shitty grown chron it seems. I threw about ten in a cup of water and i got three to crack. I placed the embyos in styrophome cups that had miracle grow organic choice potting mix whitch contains .10% nitrogen .o5%phosphate and .05% of soluble potash (was this a wise soil selection)? Alright well my sprouts broke ground on the 1st and i transplanted them to bigger buckets with about 10 inches of the soil in it. The transplant went fine and the sprouts have been under two 250w incandesent bulbs since the first of this month. All three seem to be growing at the same rate and ive been watering with bottled nestle water (should i change this) Right now there about 4-6 inches tall and are just past the three finger leaf stage and i can see the 5 leafers starting to form. I plan on getting a 400w hps light but im not sure how much they cost and whrer to get one. Im also thinking about transplanting again to 5 gal. buckets cause im planning on vegging till about mid may so i figure theyll be over two feet right? and i dont want the roots bottoming out. One thing though, on the tips of a few leave its turning almost burnt do you think its my lights or should i start the nutes. I also have a 30 w flouresent do you think i should switch over two that considering my current lights suck? Well sry for the long post i just wanted to explain my sit. in detail to get the most accurate answers. Any advice will be much appreciated
thanx

Well i wanna start off by saying congrats on starting your first grow, i can only offer what i've learned from videos as i have not started my grow yet. The nestle water should be fine as long as it's filtered, now the lighting situation, you have 2 250w supporting 3 plants, thats plenty of light for the veg, even when you transplant you wont need the HPS till budding. On the burnt tips, how far away are the lights from the plant tops?

He said he's using incandescent bulbs, those won't give you good results in the long run, go find some CFLs they're the spiral light bulbs, the higher the wattage and lumens the better, you'll want the daylight variety for vegetative growth, the fit in your normal fixture.

Nice eye catching that entropic, i havent heard anyone using incandescent so i read over that. Wow i feel like an idiot yes CFL switch immediately even though your plants oddly are growing with incandescent.

oddly yeah i get that response a lot. But since then ive switched to the cfls so thax for that advice! They seem much "happier" now. What soil should i switch over too? I currently have mg organic mix and its burned my plants mildly but i need more soil in there to prevent the roots from bottoming any suggestions???

The best soil you can use is Pro-Mix, or Fox Farm Ocean Forrest Potting soil. Generally you want to mix your own soil from these standard brands, usually adding %10 pearlite and %10 washed builders sand will give you great drainage. Add worm castings for better nutrient availability, they are a bit expensive and not always easy to find but you can't go wrong or over use it. You can use Espoma Organic "Plant-Tone" as an alternative but if you can't get either then thats fine, you just need to fertilize a bit more often. Stay away from pre-fertilized soils will time release fertilizer, you have little control and you can easily burn or stunt your plants. Same goes for what you plant your seedlings in, but you found that out already. Other then that you should be able to get great results! My babies loved this soil!

One word of warning though, a well draining soil is best for your plants but it WILL leak out the bottom when you water, I found that is is actually a good thing and usually prevents toxic salt buildup in the soil so you may not have to flush the soil at all, which is a big pain in the ass.

i would swap out those incadescents not good because they put out to much heat for your plants a workshop flourscent light will work for vegging plants.i would also let your water set out for a day atleast in room tempature it level's out the ph balance.u can over a hps light off the net or read the post above u about hps/mh security lights by doobsday it's a great hp 150watts for around 22-30bucks it requires some slight rewireing but it is simple.if u can not do this i recommed getting cfl's compact flourscents is what it stands for u can purchase them at lowes.and if u do not have a fan i would get one and have it oscilateing 24/7

Hey Northern you suggested fox farm or pro-mix and i take it that those are"nuetral soils" with no ferts right? And im guessing since theres not ferts i need to combine perlite and the worm castings to keep my plant fed? So when i go to get this stuff all ill need is the soil the perlite the worm shit and that sand to have the perfect combo for soil. And if i cant get that stuff plant tone will do the trick? Do i get any nutrients as well? My lighting is officialy set for the vegging i just need to buy some soil and transplant and then ill be all set till budding! thanks!

Yep, actually with the fox farm soil you may not need the worm castings, from what I read it's more rich is nutrients. But yeh, just mix it together and you got a great soil... You want the soil to be somewhat spongy, if you take a clump of it in your hand when it's just a little moist and squeez it, it should re-expand a bit. Thats the sign of a good airy soil. And yeh you still need nutrients, MJ uses up a LOT of them when growing, fox farm is your best bet there but even the cheep stuff works.