growing one plant... serious question

cheap, 80$ budget, closet area, home depot supplies, can it be done? if so give me a shopping list! thanks, will be using feminized seed

Get a 42 watt CFL, and if you must choose one bulb only, go with a bloom bulb(a "warm bulb", or close to 3000K), and use that the whole way through. It's not the best spectrum for vegging, but is for bloom, which is where you want it. If you only have one bulb choice, I'd go with that. Go with any decent potting soil(even MG if you have no other choice) and add a bunch of perlite to it.(at least 10%, 20% if you can) As long as you add enough perlite for drainage, just about any soil will work well.

You won't have to worry about nutes for at least 3 weeks, probably more, so there's time to decide what you wanna use. As with the soil,...just about any cheap brand will work, if used in the correct doses, and have the correct N-P-K ratios. More on that later.... Grab a 5 gallon bucket for your final-sized pot, a party cup to start with, and you're good to go. If you wish, you can go with a 1-2 gallon pot for the stage after the party cup, but that's up to you. The only risk with going straight to the 5 gallon size, is overwatering. A tiny plant doesn't use much water, and that much soil can stay wet for a long time, and cause problems, if it doesn't have sufficient drainage. But, if you add enough perlite to it, you don't have to worry about that. The choice is yours. And, if you have any money left over...spend it on more CFLs, for use during flowering(or veg). You can never have enough light, so keep that it mind. Ultimatelly, that's what determines yield, above all else.

He has $80 to spend, might as well get FL 6500k daylight bulbs as well?

16 qrt bag of organic seed starter
9 oz solo cups
bag of MG soil
box of MG plant food OR tomato plant food
box of MG bloom food
timer
plastic pots
spray bottle

with a cord or two and a couple of lamp repair kits to hang bulbs, this should be 60-70 bucks. Put a 5 gal empty bucket outside in a strategic location to catch rain water. treat with H2O2

simple and cheap grow. Do us a favor and post a journal with pics as you go. I find it amazing how it is possible to grow for so cheap and so do a lot of others. I unfortunately went all out and am broke for a while...

^I definitely agree with adding the 6,500K if money allows. I just wasn't sure what CFLs cost, and was assuming that a 42 watt would be like $35 or so(I thought that was the price I saw once, but can't remember. Never grew with CFLs). But, I think it'd be a good idea to buy one of the cheap aluminum cone reflectors for $10-15, which I forgot to add to my first post. But, on the other hand, adding another bulb would add more benefit than one bulb with a reflector, so..... depends on price, really. How much are 42 watt CFls?

well this has to be somewhat incognito, like a closet in a room, 3ft by 2 1/2ft if possible, if not will have to try something new

Cheef Ganja said:

well this has to be somewhat incognito, like a closet in a room, 3ft by 2 1/2ft if possible, if not will have to try something new

Click to expand...

Um,....I don't see what you're saying? *scratches head* You can fit a pretty big plant in that area, as long as there's enough heigth. How tall is the grow area?

3 feet tall 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 base