E-mail -What you Need to Start Indoor Growing

Hi Doc,
I have decided to start growing indoors. I have read some of your posts, but can you tell me what is the most important thing when growing indoors. I know you need a light, and a medium but what should I start with, there is just so many choices and I want to start off with the best stuff.
Thanks

Hello, Thanks for your question. I will touch on this topic, but as you said there are a lot of choices, I encourage people to do experiments for themselves, to determine what is best for their plants in their grow environment. I also encourage people to do searches for topics on this blog, I have been writing for three years now. If you don’t find something, send me another E-mail and I will look into it. A lot of my posts are from questions like you ask.

I think you are in the right area, HTGSupply.com is certainly one of the best grow supply stores, and they have a great reputation for great products and great customer support. You should contacts Sales@htgsupply.com with questions about any equipment, and I answer questions about plant biology.

The most important thing when growing anything is genetics. (Please see my posts on Plant Breeding). If you don’t have good genetics, the environment you create really does not matter. Once you get good seeds or cuttings then the next most important thing is a good light. Light drives photosynthesis, which provides the energy for the plant to grow and flower, not the best light = not the best plants.

I also encourage first time growers to grow in soil. It is a very forgiving medium; it has some nutrients, and holds some water but allows for good drainage if it is mixed with things like sand, vermiculite, or perilite. If you are going to grow big plants, use 5 gallon buckets, but 2-3 gallon buckets will be ok for plants under 3 feet tall.

Once you have a good light from HTGSupply.com, you need to keep the temperature between 60 and 80F in your grow area. A spare closet would be a good grow area, but a grow tent will also allow you to grow indoors if you don’t have a spare closet.

That is my recommendations for now, once you get started please feel free to E-mail me any and all questions about plant biology.
Good Growing,
Dr. E. R. Myers