What the good growers already know: Top 5 lessons for new growers

I'm not taking credit for this, I found it on another site, but it's right in line with what I tell new nervous growers. It's not rocket science, it's weed!
 
WHAT THE GOOD GROWERS ALREADY KNOW

Now that I've finished harvesting my first two plants, I thought I'd share my "Top 5 Tips for New Growers".

I hope this will help others out there, especially the newer growers, who are being bombarded with all kinds of new and different information and having to try to figure out what's worth remembering.

Here's the stuff to remember!

1) As far as soil or hydro, which brand of nutes, which type of lights (LED, CFL, MH, HPS, T5, etc.), what's the best way to train (FIM, Top, LST, SCROG, etc.), and other questions related to technique - The "best method" is the one(s) that work for you! Different growers have different styles of growing and where one method, or nute regime, works great for one grower, another may have better success with something different. Opposing methods are not something to argue over, they are something to learn from. The more techniques you learn, the more you can experiment with to find the method that works best for you.

2) The plant is a living organism that will do its best to survive and thrive like any other living organism. That means, as growers, our plants don't die. WE kill them! We do this by NOT giving them what they need to survive. They need water, light, air, nutrients, and a favorable climate. If we can provide these, the plants repay us for it with bountiful harvests of great meds!

3) Before you start worrying about spending lots of money on nutes, put your money into providing a good environment for your plants. Proper lighting, ventillation, humidity, and temperatures will do more for maintaining healthy plants than any nutes you'll find. I'd rather grow with lower quality nutes in a good environment than try to make a go using the best nutes in a bad environment.

4) Part of maintaining the right environment MUST include PH. Once again, it doesn't matter how good your nutes are (or how good you think they are!), if the PH is out of range, the nutrients may not be able to be absorbed by the plants. Often I'll see growers who have a perfectly sound nute regime identify a deficiency and then try to make up for it by simply adding more nutes and never checking/adjustig PH. Then they say something like, "geez...I'm giving the plant tons of phosphorous but she's still showing a phosphorous deficiency!" Well, before you give the plant more Phosphorous, you should ask yourself, "why, if I'm on a sound nute regime, is the plant showing a P deficiency?" The answer will most likely be related to PH or other environmental factors and NOT the lack of Phosphorous in the nutes.

5) Listen to the plants! I had numerous growers tell me to do this before I really understood what it meant. It's not only being able to look at the plants to identify a specific issue, or when to harvest, but on it's most basic level, it's to determine that you have an issue before it becomes a BIG issue. For example, if you walk in your growroom and see your plants looking a little droopy, don't think "Well, I'll just give it another day and see if it gets any worse". It will! Your plants are telling you there's SOME issue...maybe overwatering, maybe underwatering, maybe temps, RH, or something else, but don't expect it to get better unless and until YOU make some adjustments!

Happy Harvests!

 

After I read this, I started thinking a lot about my own personal goals. Am I trying to be a professional grower? Not particularly, but it would be nice to know the logic in case I make that jump...
 
Before you start growing, you really should consider your own scale. Everyone LOVES big buds and fat colas (I know I do!), but do you really need that?  It's addictive, I know, and there's no better feeling than personally growing a prize winning specimen. I've been lucky a time or two, but basic bud is all I'm really looking for, it works to keep the crazy at bay. At the same time, do you want to cheap yourself out with too little gear? Think about the equipment, the space, the time and the money you will inevitably have to invest and adjust your plans accordingly. Nothing worse than finding out your grow space is too small for the monster buds you're trying to grow. Sometimes, it works opposite. You don't kill them, they overgrow you faster than you thought! We should all be so lucky, but I've made that mistake a couple times too....
 
EDIT: within minutes of my posting that last statement, I ran into this guy with the exact problem... http://forum.grasscity.com/absolute-beginners/1293194-landlord-said-i-can-grow-but-only-4-ounces-max.html
 
Sorry bud, I'm not making an example out of you because you did something wrong...

 

I see a lot of new growers "correcting" their mistakes. My advice would be when you've made a mistake, DON'T DO ANYTHING! There could still be hope (there usually is if you allow the plant to recover). Don't flush it, don't feed it, don't move it. Most times, if what you've done is to excess, removing whatever the culprit is and leaving a big gaping hole for all intents and purposes is going to cause a wild swing in the other direction. The key is not to change EVERYTHING at once because some guy did it and his plants are 9' tall. Simple is best until you know for sure what you've done and can reverse it or ride it out.

 

Interesting, no comments. I guess we're all good growers here since no one has anything to say...

 

Wait, $1500 for 2.1 oz? No, I'll grow it, thanks!

 

It's only complicated if you're unwilling to learn what you need to know and rely on other people (who may or may not have a clue) to do the job for you. That's why we have a TON of "Help, I did something wrong!" posts. I should start directing those people back to the place where they got the misinformation to continue down their path of destruction.