my first grow...

Hey everybody I am going to be setting up my first grow now that I am a mmj patient. It will be a closet grow about 20 sqft.

I have watched jorge cervantes grow dvd as well as ready set grow. I was going to go with five or six cfl lights until I heard from ready set grow that cfls as well as incandescent bulbs don't produce the levels of light spectrum needed. At this point I decided to go with a 400 watt hps light with a ballist that supports meta halide as well. I think I will be going with organic soil adding nutrients as needed but that brings me to a question: when do i start giving my babies nutes, and how much does it take for the proper dose?
Question 2: where can I find an exhaust fan around the size used for a computer maybe a bit bigger?

Aside from that I'm waiting for some money then it will be on. Any tips on good clones in socal?

BTW I will be growing that fine indica, as my condition has to do with joint pain...

You are correct about incandescent bulbs not being right to grow with...but I have over 4 ounces of proof from my first (2 plants) grow that CFLs will work just fine for a small grow op. If you're not limited by money, ventilation and space, then HPS lighting is the way to go - but it is NOT the only way to get a decent harvest. I grew over 2ozs per plant from using ONLY CFLs, and the low heat made ventilation issues nearly nonexistant. They are the cheapest option for a new grower to get started, and allow for plenty of flexibility in placement to get full coverage.

As for nutes, it will depend on what soil you use and if it already has nutes in it. In most cases, you won't need to add nutes until your plants are around 3 weeks old. That can vary if you have a food loving strain that really sucks the nutes from the soil quickly. You definitely don't want to feed a seedling, as they don't have the root system to handle it until they get several leaf sets. The babies will burn or die very easily if you get over zealous with nutes! You should start at 1/4 dose from what the label says and slowly build up as long as your plants are tolerating it well.

I've seen small fans at Radio Shack that are similar to computer fans. You should probably be able to find what you need on ebay for a decent price too. I have a small 5 inch Lakewood fan that works great and is very quiet - of course, I don't have the high heat problems with my CFLs, so that is enough air movement for my closet. There may be others here who can steer you to a good supplier for your fan needs.

Good luck and happy growing! -Mandi

Cool thanks for the tips. How many cfls do you think I need for 3 plants...and they are going to be clones so I when the plant is 3 weeks from seedlings I can start with the nutes right?