Another first timer (soil)

[JDJP]

Ok guys, I have been looking around here for a while befor I posted.
Now I think Im ready to get started. I was thinking about trying to grow in my closet, but figured if I m gunna do It i better do it right the first time.

SO, Im going to build a closet, 3'Wx2'x6'Tall, out of ply wood. going to cover the walls in emergency blankets.I was thinking about putting a 1' shelf at the top with CFLs for cloning and seedlings. The bottom grow space will be 2x3x5 I was thinking of getting a 400w HPS(is that to much?) and a couple CFLs. Im not sure how I am going to do venting, but probably do one fan on the side down low for intake, and an exhaust at the top with some kind of vent so air can flow through the shelf.

From what ive read:
No nutes for the first 2 weeks
CFLs for vegging
HPS for budding.
Start budding when plants are around 2'
after after first two weeks fox farm(not sure what kind yet)
during budding plants need more K?(fox farm budding nutes)

Just a start, anything you guys think i need to address, I will be doing much more resaerch soon
..

 

[DankCloset]

you can flower when ever you want indoors, thats the great part, you control everything pretty much. you can do what ever kinda nutes you want, some people are pretty religious about nutes and what they use, but a few i recommend, fox farm, whitney farms, fish emulsions(alaska), what kinda soil are you using? no miracle grow please... do you know what npk is? its the scale of how much each element is in content, n=nitrogen p=phosphorus k=potasium each of these are vital for the plants success, the hard part is getting the prime number of each to optimize yield. bat guano is a good source of nitrogen, super phosphate is a good source of phosphorus, and iam not givin out what i use for potasium because you cant get it anyway. ahh the perks of owning a nursery... anyway, just remember ventilation is a very important factor when working with h.i.d lighting. you can always get a tube w/hood and just vent the light out the side of the closet. have an intake fan on the bottom of the closet. ok my fingers hurt, next session lol..

 

[JDJP]

I picked up the only non fert potting soil i could find at walmart, Im just going to use that for when the seeds pop, then when I transplant I will look afor a Tomato soil, any recomendation I could find locally?
I do know what NPK is and I remember, up, down, all around....
veg nute's will have a rating of 6-2-2 and flowering will have like 2-8-6, does that sound right?

I plan on doing 2-4 plants in this closet.

 

[JDJP]

Ok, guys, thanks for the help so far, I am going to take your advice and use the whole cabinet area for the plants, I may make another smaller box with CFLs for young plants and starting clones.
I just bought a 400w HPS fixture on ebay.
I will be going to home depot or lowes soon, to pick up some materials.
I will have the HPS hunging at the top, and plan to put 2 normal bulb fixtures on each side of the box stagered. Ill put splitters on each of those so, that will be a total of up to 8 CFLs for vegging.(What CFLs should I buy?cool/blue, warm/red, or daylight, and what wattage should I get?)

Im also going to look for some vent fans today, might just put one good sized one up top, and have an impassive intake at the bottom.
going to look for a temp/himidity meter while there too.

ANything else I should grab while im there??? I work at a hardware store, but we are small and don't carry everything, so I have to drive 20 miles to town for a lot of things.

Im really excited guys, I have some bag seeds(from good stuff
)+ in paper towels, and two of them popped today!

 

[Akornpatch]

Power strips?

Timer for the lights/fans?

PH and moisture testers?

 

[rds_sk8er420]

extension cord? (incase your box isnt right infront of the outlet)
deffinatly a timer for the lights i control my fan manually during lights out.
a thermometer so you know the heat inside the box.
not sure if power strips are the same but power bars you can hang on the walls or roof of the box for those cfl's.
id recommend daylight for veg, im using 6 right now and they seem to love em, and i was told cool white for flowring.
aswell as for the cfl's at home depot you can pick up these outlet->bulb socket for $3 and just plug em into the power bar. heres my grow lights b4 i added 2 more.

 

[JDJP]

Ok, just ordered some alaska:start up, fish emulsion, and morebloom, and some superthrive, so I think Im good for nutes.
RDS, I like that idea better, ill go get some of those plug in sockets today.
I got some 26watt CFLs yesterday, and they are "Soft white" will they work, or should I go get some that say "daylight"?