I'm fairly new to the game myself, so I know how it is. I received the newest copy of High Times Grow Guide recently and it had several excellent write-ups on "from seed to weed". It starts at the germination process (choosing the right seeds, soaking the seeks in distilled water for 24-30 hours), through the first days the new plant sees light all the way through harvest. I have spent a lot of time in my local Hydro store - they don't seem to mind talking to me now that I've dropped a bunch of cash...makes sense. I've read the most common cause for marijuana plant death is over watering. Me being as paranoid as I am about over-watering, I bought a bag of medium (soilless) called Botanicare Aeration Formula. It has Coco, Perlite and other stuff in it. It has basically NO nutrients (NPK) - I think it's like .001/.001/.001. This medium DOES require watering a little more often but the folks who make it claim "it's virtually impossible to overwater your plant with this formula". Yeah that's a bold claim - I can't imagine anyhow would sit out in the backyard with the garden hose running into the plant for a few hours or something. I am not suggesting you get this particular product, although me being fairly new at this, I wanted to play it safe. I do water until I get about 10% run-off - and then test the pH from that. These guys are right - there is a LOT to this. pH, TDS (total dissolved solids), mixing nutrients (nutes), etc... This is not something you can plant and go camping for a weekend - it requires a lot of time and care.
As for nutes - I am using Botanicare Pro Grow & Pro Bloom (I'm not in the flowering stages yet so I'm not using the Bloom). Also, Botanicare makes something called Liquid Karma - which is a suppliment that has things your plant needs! I've been mixing Pro Grow (15ml) and Liquid Karma (10ml) per 4L (per 1 gallon).... I've read it's important to get on a strict watering/feeding plan. If I were to water today (no nutes), I'd watch a full day with NOTHING, and then on the 3rd day, I'd water/nutes them. Naturally this is the NON scientific way of doing things as I don't have my EC meter yet (Friday!!)....but I haven't had any yellowing leaves and the plants are going CRAZY - so being a little conservative seems better than giving them too much.
I am just using small pots right now that will give them a lot of growing room. Many seasoned growers say to only transplant once. So if you start off in a Solo cup, once it gets a good week, week and a half into being happy about being alive, then you can transplant it to it's permanent home. So people transplant to a little bit bigger pot...then a little bigger....they say that's a no, no. Transplating causes shock to the plant. I've been using a product for transplants which I give to it once the transplant is over - it's supposed to really help the root system of the transplant. I haven't lost one in a transplant yet!