Some questions for purely educational purposes:

  1. What are some good sites to buy seeds from? Recommended strains?
  2. what are some good guides on the topic? Anything for absolute beginners?
  3. Whats the cost of equipment look like? What is the absolute bare minimum I would need to get started for indoors growing?
  • bobo@lemmy.ml
    2·
    20 hours ago

    1. There are plenty of guides and books on the internet. Look for what’s recommended now on Reddit.

    2. That really depends on how much you want to grow, and your budget. You need an enclosed space if you’re not going to grow autos, lights, fans, substrate and fertiliser.

    I’m assuming you’re on a budget, so:

    The enclosed space can be anything from a 300$+ tent to two stacked buckets or a wheelie trashcan. Hell, even a big cardboard box should do for a grow or 2. The only requirement is that you can limit light, and can ventilate.

    For the lights, if you’re on a budget use led lightbulbs and remove the diffuser. Phillips had the best lm:w ratio when I was doing it. Check on Reddit for specific guides, but if I remember correctly you need 20-30w/ft2, 4000k for both veg and flowering. When you get skilled, you’ll get slightly over 1g/w. Get a mechanical timer as well for the day-night cycle.

    Fans: used pc fans are a good temporary measure, but a toilet extractor fan is much better for not a lot of money.

    Substrate and fert: I suggest coco coir. It requires watering till runoff 1-2 times a day, and you have to learn how to make nutrient solutions, but IMO it’s far easier and cheaper than soil or pure hydro. Later on you can automate it with a couple of tanks and a water pump.

    Go to a farm store and get 3 staged fertiliser bags (usually like 1 bag for seedlings, 1 for veg, 1 for flowering and fruiting), and a bag of calcium. Tomatoes and weed have extremely similar requirements so ask the staff for help, and to suggest to you a brand that’s used for drip systems (it means they’re completely water soluble).

    For the best results, look for a fert with no C. That way you can make a big batch of concentrated solution and it won’t grow bacteria.

    WARNING: special weed fertilisers in bottles are a complete scam, avoid them. Dry fertiliser for farmers is the way to go.

    You’ll also need litmus strips and some acid. I got these at a hydro store.

    • bobo@lemmy.ml
      2·
      21 hours ago

      Living soil in a pot is the easiest way, just lmfao. I literally spent more time learning about making living soil and how to feed it than it took me to grow my first plants on Coco coir. And beyond the learning requirements, a plant will grow perfectly fine in a small bag of coir, while living soil require cubic metres of dirt in your closet to be sustainable.

  • seitzer@piefed.socialEnglish
    11·
    2 days ago

    GrowWeedEasy - Probably the best beginners guide on the interweb

    Growdiaries - Nice pictures and lots of good info (would be cool with federation…)

    SeedFinder - Strains and stuff, database with growers and sellers

    Check the big seed companies websites, they have very good blogs and wikis with lots of info.

    • SmokeyDope@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      Thanks for spending time to put these links together seitzer, you’re awesome! By chance do you have any personal tips/advice for getting started?

      • seitzer@piefed.socialEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        Once you do this long enough, you can write a book or two about getting started… Here are my personal favorites:

        • Cannabis is a weed. It will grow everywhere, if you let it. (Most important part. New growers often overdo it, slowly killing their plant with love. Just let it do it’s thing and wait)
        • Make sure you understand the basics about substrate, light, heat and cycles of growth. Get a cheap LED growlight. Don’t bother with soil/coco, start with hydroponics (it’s very easy for beginners).
        • Don’t invest too much money in your first grow. It will come over time.

        And, of course, make sure you don’t do anything illegal…or do it, I’m not your father.