My first grow story! need help and advice.

Hello to all members here,

You can all see i'm newbie here and also in growing world. I will start this tread so i can get good advice's and also some new experience. (sry about my bad English its not my native langue but i hope we can understand each-other.)
This is my story and how i begun to grow my own weed.
- First of all i'm regular weed smoker but not pothead.. i have work and first i do all my day tasks then i get high. I live in really small Balkan country who have less GDP from Paris Hilton pocket money . My story and idea for growing comes not for good but for bad... for cure... for cure of lung cancer that my dad was diagnose 1 mouth ago. Dad was ok whit my idea of growing at home after he done research about the benefit of medical marijuana and cannabinoids that are in this plants.

So here hows my setup looks like (it's a big barrel that i modify for growing):

---Soil---.
The soil is 100% nutrient soil from local flower shop.. I think this is my mistake and where my problem begins. On next seeding which will be soon i will put mixed soil of regular soil from my yard, nutrient soil and some rocks or perlite if i find some.
---Lights---
I use 3 CFL's lights 34w each and 2700k warmlight and 6400k daylight.

i've start growing some autoflower seed which my friend who was in amsterdam give it to me. My first plant is't kinda sick and not happy at all... you can all see there is a yellowish leaves and i don't know if she gonna make it.

i haven't given them any nutrition's or anything except tap water. After germination of the seed and first signs of live out of the soil i put her by my window and 1 weeк was not on CFLs .. just on sun. Now i plan just to grow on lights on 18/6 light schedule.

All the best,

O.

You would be making a mistake if you use soil (dirt) from outside. You have no idea what's in or not in that soil.

The soil from the nursery should be fine. Don't add any nutrients for at least a month. The soil you are using has plenty.

18/6 is the right light schedule until you put them into flower (12/12).

If you surf this site or any of the other grow sites you'll experience what I call information-overload. There's so many different opinions on how to grow pot, often contradicting each other.

My advice to you on your first grow is to keep it simple. It will be a major accomplishment if you don't kill 'em by trying all the techniques you'll be reading about on here. You've got good soil and a seed. You'll be needing lighting, and you can grow good weed under CFL bulbs. Try to get some that are 6000K for vegging, and add 2700K for flowering.

To keep your plants alive I can tell you what NOT to do:

1. Over-watering is EVERY new grower's mistake. Saturate the soil and then hide the watering can for 3-4 days.
2. Over-feeding and feeding too soon is another new grower's mistake. More is not better. Wait at least a month and then only give 1/2 of the dosage recommended by the nutrient company....then wait another 3 weeks and give a full dose.
3. Don't use too small of a pot. The one you have your plant in now is fine for the first month, but then you should transplant into something bigger. How big? It depends on how big of a plant you want to grow. Most growers find a 5 gal container works well for indoor growing.
4. You will need a fan gently blowing on your plant. This keeps many bugs from making it a home, and strengthens the plant's branches and stalk.

That should get you going. Keep reading and keep getting informed. There's no one "correct" way of growing pot. The first grow should be all about seeing how a pot plant grows and your following grows you can fine-tune what works best for you. It's my opinion that you shouldn't prune leaves, do any LSTing, or any other advanced growing techniques on your first grow.

My prayers to your dad's recovery.

lilroach is giving good advice. Keep it simple. Try to get some perlite in that soil, otherwise you will need to be very careful about over watering.