Help making decisions... strain, media, etc

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Need to choose a single strain, grow media, nutrient line, et al. for first grow.

While I am designing, procuring materials, and building my grow closet, I need to get the consumables spec’d out and on the way.

Strain?
I think I have them limited down to:
Northern Lights, Bergman’s Gold, White Widow, and Guerilla Glue #4. (fem, no auto)

All relatively easy to grow indoors, decent yield and THC levels.

Anyone want to help me choose? Reasoning?

Media: I’m leaning toward a soilless media like ProMix or Coir, as I like the idea of using my eyes/instruments to learn how to feed them, reduce chances of seedling burn on some of the muted soil mixes, et al.

Recommendations?

Nutrient Line: May just start with Bergman’s as a “tip of the hat” for these forums and all the free info made available here.

But I also kinda want to lean toward the organic stuff for a number of reasons, too. Perhaps organic based would be less challenging? I’m already facing the challenge of soiless for a beginner in a new room.

#of plants and final container size:

My closet only has a 25" x 46" footprint, so I could likely cover it with one well trained/cropped plant, but I’m averse to putting all my eggs in 1 basket.

I’m considering for 1st grow to eat the cost and start with at least 5+ seedlings… pick the best 4 to go from Solo-size to 1 gal containers. Then, with more information/experience/advice, decide whether and how many to cull for transplant to final container… 2, 3, or all 4.

For 1st grow, barring disaster, I don’t want to try just one… With at least 2+, I can get experience topping/fimming, LST, HST, pruning/lollypopping, maybe even scrogging…

Final Container Size: I know that a larger container is easier to manage stability-wise, but 5 gal seems too large for even 2 plants, especially if I need a humidifier or other equip on floor…

What is the smallest container I can reasonably use that I can manage, but that won’t unnecessarily reduce potential yield?

The idea is skill exposure in this first grow to see what I like and what I might have weakness in and need practice.

Of course, I also need to put some medicine in the jars to keep me supplied UNTIL I can clean up and start the 2nd grow. As I am limited on space, I will have to run the whole seed to harvest to cure to jar op out of that small space.

Any help, recommendations, et al would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

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My recommendations:
Go with the White Widow strain. It seems to be everyone’s first beginner strain and is touted as very beginner-friendly.
Get auto-flowering seeds. They will take up less space - you should have no problem putting two into your space. Because they are lighting-hour independent, you can run staggered grows (one getting started while one is finishing).
Don’t do any LST or HST - this is your first grow. Get the basics down before doing something that could potentially harm your plant and delay your harvest even more. On your second grow, try LST on one plant and SCRoG on another. On your third grow, try some HST.
Grow in soil - this is your first grow. Soil is the most forgiving.
A 3 gallon fabric pot will work out just fine. This will leave space for you to get in there to inspect the plants, plus room for miscellaneous equipment.
Don’t germinate all 5 of your seeds at the same time and then cull 3 of them. Just do 2. If one dies, start another. Because you are (hopefully) doing auto-flowering plants, it won’t matter if one is 2 weeks older than the other. Then, you’ve still got a couple of spares in case you have issues later, or just to start your next grow.

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@TommyBahama Thanks for the reply. I appreciate your cautioning me to simplify with autos, soil, no training, et al.

There IS something to be said for the easier, faster to harvest, albeit reduced yield, but I think I want to do the feminized, no-auto. I have been gardening since I was 5 yrs old, and really want to dive in and learn some skills.

I may well take many of your other rec’s though… soil instead of soilless… I can still practice with the instruments and journal.

I may well do the White Widow (WW), too… I can get 20 for 10 either alone or in the seed/nute kit… same for Bergman’s Gold… albeit a little more yraining management for that moderate rated strain.

Since I’ll have 20 seeds, I will likely start at least one extra, but WILL go into 3 gal final containers.

I’m not really trying to do this on the cheap. I want to learn as fast as possible. I have a small grow area, 8 sq ft, but it will be fully outfitted with ventillation, temp, and RH measures/controls.

Ampera PC-60 5 in 1 pH,TDS,EC, etc kit on the way as well as temp/RH monitors.

And I have a thread in the other forum to work out materials specs for lighting/control, ventillation parts (active in and out), etc.

Thanks again… :smile:

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I’m using supersoil, just add water.

I always start at least twice as many plants as what I want to keep.

Afghani and Northern Lights have been very easy for me to grow.

At this point, I’m not a fan of autos unless you can grow out a bunch. The phenotypes are too inconsistent. Photos would give you more flexibility and the ability to recover if you make mistakes.

My $.02

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Go with white widow for easy and how forgiving it is.
3 gallon air pots you might be able to do 3 plants
I use pro mix vegetable and herb soil mix from Wal-Mart it’s cheap and work’s great i add manure and blood and bone meal in with my soil mix and myconize for when I transplanting from solo cup to the 3gallon air pot.
I use fox farm nutrients at 1/4 strength because of this along with worm poop and these natural organics, Azomite,Humic acid, Fulvic acid, Sea-90 these are cheap and only take like a 1/4 tsp per gallon of water.673415203b0c8891a207bb24e5cc828c this is the soil from Wal-Mart
Also don’t be cheap on the ph meter and get some calibration solution to calibrate and check your ph meter this alone helps keep so many problems from even happening. Here is a link to my grow journal i showed how i mixed soi,took clones and made feminized pollen and seed crop hope this helps you

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Pro mix bx Remo nutes and any seed :wink: I change nutes around but that’s all you need and a good light & ph meter

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@AAA. Thank you for the reply. I read briefly about “supersoil”. Sounds a lot like “Mel’s Mix” for Square Foot Gardening… I’ve made several cubic yards of that stuff, and LOVE IT. But not for this grow… It’s expensive to make properly in small batches, and I’d like to get started asap and eliminate variables from the system (aka: don’t want to worry that I screwed it up if I have problems). Maybe NEXT spring. :smiley:

Missed out on the 10+10 offer on NL, or it’d be no question… Hard to turn down a 10+10 if you don’t already have that seed… especially on 1st grow and “easy” strain.

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@ThcinKC Thank you! Another vote for WW, check. Another check for 3 gal pots. ove the concept of cheap soil base available locally, but don’t want to do a lot of amending adding variables, et al.

A big check on the pH meter. Already own the Apera PH-60 with cal kit, but paid the extra dough for the PC-60 with cal kit option so that I’d have a 5 in 1 ( check pH, TDS, temp+ all at once instead of two instruments). I’ll use my distilling pH meter as a backup.

Thanks again.

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@Hogmaster Hog. Thank you, sir!!
Roger that x5. :smiley:

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You will do fine.

Search supersoil on here. The instructions
say it needs to cook, but @garrigan62 says you don’t need to.

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WW is a good starter.

Personally went with Sensi Skunk first time. Haven’t had a better grow yet.

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OK… dropped an order for the WW complete set (20 seeds + nutes) and exercised the 50% off offer on 10 Bergman’s Gold seeds. Awaiting acknowledgement of payment.

@MattyBear Can you jump in here and talk media and nutes with me. While I have the basic Berman kit coming, I’m likely gonna put that on the shelf.

Which specific NFTG products do uou use? Others? I have asked for a sample pack from them.

And which Pro-Mix do you use? BX, HP, other? Do you amend it at all? Any prep before use?

I’m looking to build up a (preferably) set line of nutes to use and general dosing regimen to follow and then use management by exception to adjust for challenges, diff strains, et al.

Thanks!!

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O.k. well you said you wanted to lean on the organic side so either way your going to need to get those amendments they are very cheap and cut your bottle nutrients way down. If you look at the ingredients on the bottle you can source them your self and not have to pay 30 dollars for a bottle with a tsp of ingredients and water. I know every one grows different i have done the super expensive bottle nutrients and the cheap stuff to but it’s just like a parts store it 127 dollars there but it’s 30 dollars online i can get a pound of humic acid and amino acids for under 20 dollars and make 100 bottles of nutrients it’s just crazy to pay a cannabis tax or you could check out
kis organics and they have a raw water soluble organic nutrients and soil already ready to go with everything in it. Hope this helps you and give you more ideas good luck with your grow

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I quit using NFTG because it’s too many bottles to mix for my liking. Make sure you have extra Herculean Harvest because you will go through that fast. Other than that, they send a feeding chart you can follow.

I use Promix HP and don’t ammend with anything. Just use it straight out of the bag.

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Thank you!!! You have an EXCELLENT point, and I agree. Ultimately, I would like to be able to NOT buy water in bottles. I’ve been overwhelmed with the design/building of the room, et al. that I have not had time to do basic research on cannabis nutrition. Time to pay some attention to it and see if I can save some $$ down the line by learning to make my own.

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OK… so have you made a post somewhere about what and how you are managing nutrition now? Are you ordering buld and mixing your own like @ThcinKC mentioned above? Or something else.

OK… Pro-Mix HP… Not available locally, so I either have to pay to have it shipped, pay big Amazon Prime price, or perhaps I can find a local equivalent… I’d rather not make my own for this first go around.

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Check out kind soil. 100% organic, just water

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I am using House & Garden currently and once that’s gone I’ll start using my Jacks dry nutrients and get those dialed in

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Just spent an hour on the Jack’s site… think I’ll follow a similar path to you. I’ll use the NFTG sample up that’s on the way and/or the Bergman’s kit I bought, then move to the much cheaper Jack’s stuff.

Now to find a source for Pro-mix or an alternative that I can get.

How many times can you reuse the Pro-mix? Or do you start fresh with each plant? Can you just flush, dry, separate out most of the roots, and then top up with fresh?

@MattyBear

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I just toss it after each grow. Coco is easier to recycle than Promix. I actually just switched back to coco for a few plants. I miss it haha. Not the most user friendly for new growers, but you have some people around that can help with that :wink: Is coco more readily available to you? I am giving this brand a shot this time. Looks good to me! :sunglasses::v::bear:

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