New growers top 5 mistakes.

Evergreengardener

Agronomist,
This is a repost (I didn’t write this a friend did)

Hey there new grower! Are you excited to grow your first plant? Ready to start harvesting pounds? Well, hold up there homie, you have to be able to get through a full grow from seed to harvest and drying before you can start slangin them bows. Lets makes sure you get off to a good start by avoiding some of these common rookie mistakes bruh.

Rookie mistake #1 Read read read!
The best thing you can do before you ever start growing is reading up and learning. This is the boring part for some and I get it, reading a book isn't on the top of the list of things do(getting stoned and pimpin hoes ranks pretty high up there though)

Rookie mistake #2 Planning
Since you skipped over the studying part you're not all that familiar with a proper grow room environment(with your non-reading ass). So you didn't take the time to go over what you needed and how to set it all up correctly. There are a lot of things to consider here. Things like heat and air exchange, plant count, vertical grow space, and lets not forget smell

Rookie mistake #3 Over-fucking-watering
Now that you got a little corner of your closet all decked out with a 14w cfl that you stole from the kitchen, a cut up milk jug with miracle-grow soil, and tin foil taped to the walls you're going hard! So you have to make sure this little bitch goes hard too. Time to pour a gallon of water on half a gallon of soil at least 3-4 times a week, that'll do it! NO NO and NO! The soil does NOT need to be fully saturated 24/7! Go back to mistake #1 and read up on watering you asshole

Rookie mistake #4 Over-fucking-loving
The plant is wilting and the leaves aren't as green as they were yesterday so you flip teh fuck out! You start seeing all these deficiencies. Is it P? No, maybe it Ca? Maybe I burnt it? Must be time for a flush! Yea, lets dump MORE water on it to clean out all that nasty shit in the soil. You go through all this stuff in your head when its probably just over watered. If you stopped trying to figure out what's wrong with it and backed off the watering, everything would've been fine. Which leads to the next mistake.

Rookie mistake #5 Lack of patience
Because you over loved the plant, you never gave it time to fully recover before you created another problem. Most of the time you have to just let the poor plant grow. We get in our own way sometimes by being impatient. Lack of patience can fuck you in more ways then one when it comes to growing. There is not one single stage of growing weed that can be rushed from seedling to vegging to flowering to harvest to drying and finally curing. You should not skimp out on any of those 6 stages of growing.

Reading this will NOT make you a master grower, but I do hope it helps a new grower avoid a few headaches on their journey to slangin bows and pimpin hoes. Growing Cannabis can be a very rewarding experience, but there are some that have gave it up because they made it more difficult than it needed to be.


Good luck and happy growing
 
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thenotsoesoteric

Shinobi of seeds
I think the heat exchange is the #1 issue I see with newer growers, and I was guilty of this when I started too.

I had a 400w hps in a closet 3x4x5 with no air exchange. Temps would climb over a 100F and I wondered why my buds had the look and taste of hay?!?

This was even though I read both Ed R's indoor grow guide and Jorge's indoor bible by this time too but just stubborn I guess.

Then I'd say the next thing I see rookies do is over fertilize. I used to blast them plants with 1500-2000 ppms overfeed, even in veg??? Always wondered why my smoke tasted like chemicals and burnt salt, lol. I would even flush back then for 2 weeks. Little did I know that once you over fertilize you plants, even in veg, you will never be able to go back to that same flavor you would have had if you didn't over do it.

Now I rarely go over 700 ppms even for huge plants in dwc. Honestly I usually veg at about 200-300 ppm of nutrients, tap water is a nice 40 ppm so no need for RO, and I usually flower around 400-500 ppm. Since I started low dosing the plants I've found the need to "flush" is no longer warranted.
 

Dope Heffalump

Tip burner
I think the heat exchange is the #1 issue I see with newer growers, and I was guilty of this when I started too.

I had a 400w hps in a closet 3x4x5 with no air exchange. Temps would climb over a 100F and I wondered why my buds had the look and taste of hay?!?

This was even though I read both Ed R's indoor grow guide and Jorge's indoor bible by this time too but just stubborn I guess.

Then I'd say the next thing I see rookies do is over fertilize. I used to blast them plants with 1500-2000 ppms overfeed, even in veg??? Always wondered why my smoke tasted like chemicals and burnt salt, lol. I would even flush back then for 2 weeks. Little did I know that once you over fertilize you plants, even in veg, you will never be able to go back to that same flavor you would have had if you didn't over do it.

Now I rarely go over 700 ppms even for huge plants in dwc. Honestly I usually veg at about 200-300 ppm of nutrients, tap water is a nice 40 ppm so no need for RO, and I usually flower around 400-500 ppm. Since I started low dosing the plants I've found the need to "flush" is no longer warranted.
Great advice Eso.
When you say ppm, at what EC or conversion rate are you using?
1 mistake that I see noobs make quite often on the internet, is the overuse and or heavy handed use of defoliation.
The use of defoliation is not something that someone who is still trying to figure out the basics, should be concerning themselves with.
.
 

shimz

vapest
Interesting point on defoliation. I had been growing for a bit when I finally picked up that tech from an old-timer. Upped my game big time. This was pre-internet tho. I don't see how you can eff it up unless you're really rough or something or maybe timing is way off.
 

Dope Heffalump

Tip burner
Interesting point on defoliation. I had been growing for a bit when I finally picked up that tech from an old-timer. Upped my game big time. This was pre-internet tho. I don't see how you can eff it up unless you're really rough or something or maybe timing is way off.
So many noob plants with 1 gram buds, because they thought those leaves were for show and had to go.
 

Bodyne

PICK YOUR OWN
I got many things ironed out the hard way , but being kinda ocd, the overwatering and just messin with em too much was my biggest deal. I agree on the air/heat exchange. I have also noticed, and this is just my observation, last few rounds, if I defoliate too much, it shocks my plant and I get a bean or two. This round, Ive cleaned out the very lowest level and let everything else go. FIgure its a fight to the light, lol. Nothing is turning yellow on the lowers, so Ima let em go. See if it affects diff than me clearing out some of the bush. I also learned the food thing the hard way, back in the day, tried two parters, three parters, wasn't hardly any one parters yet. and additives, etc. Now its just megacrop and urb with a splash of liquid karma all the way thru and added homeade calmag/sweet during flower. Plants are some of the prettiest and hearty, etc Ive done, being as they are all crammed in a tent. One of my flowering gals is in the corner and when you pull her out, thats what half of her looks like, squared off, but not one yellow leaf, but they sure are growing in wild directions, lol I love it when hittin on all cylinderss
 

thenotsoesoteric

Shinobi of seeds
Great advice Eso.
When you say ppm, at what EC or conversion rate are you using?
1 mistake that I see noobs make quite often on the internet, is the overuse and or heavy handed use of defoliation.
The use of defoliation is not something that someone who is still trying to figure out the basics, should be concerning themselves with.
.
I'm not sure the ec rate. I just use a cheap ppm meter so it's not as precise as a nice ec meter. I guess it is hard to judge since the conversion rates are a bit different depending on which scale you use.
 

Cob_nUt

"Justa Ganja Lover"
Cheap ones usually come 500 EC from the manufacturer.Well all my hanna's did before I went to blue lab.
I defoil heavily in veg and up to 3 weeks of flower.After stretch is done and my plant shape is how I want it,I do selective pruning and defoil all thru flower.
 
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gwheels

Hobby Farmer
Other major things a newbie should really consider...at first you think i dont need this or that etc...

A quality waterproof PH and TDS (or EC) meter. They fall in the water (my cheapo lasted 4 weeks and then got wet and that was it).
I use a bluelab PH meter and a quality waterproof tds meter and it has helped me immensly.

Lighting...If you upgrade and chose cobs/samsungs strips or boards or run CMH stick with it and GROW. They all work great and i have grown first hand with the 3 and cant pick between them. Light your space right and pick any of them.

Check your water out first. If your tap water starts at 800ppm you do not want to use the shit to grow. If it is 400 or less you may be ok and 200 or less is better.

Which leads me to this....get an RO water maker. Do not buy RO water.
I used to fill them 10 at a time every 2 weeks and the guy said wow you go through a lot of water what the hell do you do with it.....and after a 3 second silence i said i have 200 gallon aquariums and they require a 20% water change pretty regularly....(Genius eh!!)
So own your own filter and no one is the wiser.

CALMAG....if you go to RO water get calmag. You need it.

Think about using COCO COIR....A great medium for growing.

and the most important rule if you are in an unfriendly province/state/country....TELL NO ONE.

If someone says this shit is fire where did it come from you say I know a guy....This one will save you a lot of BS and it is like an immunity idol in survivor...only the truly smart people can keep their mouths shut.

The rest always blab...

:)

Being legal changes that perspective.

And defoliation is useful in certain situations...and has a lot to do with lighting. If you do not defoliate samsung boards/strips i believe you are sacrificing weight for an idea that works with different lighting.

And after having beat the ever loving crap out of plants I know one thing....they really do rebound and come back with more strength and vigor. But keep it at veg...a few minor tweaks at flower and it works out.
 
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Hillbill

Member
Been playing with non radical defoliation and am surprised at how quickly they recover and make bigger leaves higher on the plant. I seem also to have more waste leaves to dispose of (feed to worms). Also messing with number of branch buds to leave in LST for flower.

Overwatering is a constant nemesis for indoor gardeners (me). More drainage still is needed in LED gardens as they don’t heat the leavesand mix like HIDs.
 

gwheels

Hobby Farmer
Oh i forgot...it is not the number of plants in the tent that determine your yield. Veg time and number of plants determine your yield.
I have the gwheels formula and it has worked every time.

In a tent you will yield 50% to 200% of your square footage in ounces. The better you get at manipulation (LST/TOPPING/SUPERCROP etc) and if you have adquate lighting (40 watts per square foot or so) you get closer to 200%.
My last 5 square foot yield was 7 oz of dense buds and 2 oz of popcorn. My 4 x 4 was close to 16 oz with a 315.

Strains and skill fit in to that formula too. If you blow out to get more than 2 pounds in a 4 x 4 their may be an anomaly tweak but the simple math plays out. 90% of the time in 4 out of 5 attempts :D

You can veg 1 for longer and fill a 4 x 4 in a scrog
You can veg 2 for 3 weeks less and fill a 4 x 4 in a scrog or with stakes
You can veg 16 for 1 week and fill a 4 x 4 with no scrog or stakes.

For seeds i recomend 1 to 4 for a cost vs value thing.

For clones and no plant limit i would sea of green all day long. With a drip system.

I have personally done 3 and 4 plants in a 4 x 4 to test it and the most robust were the 3 i grew but they were white widow and sour kush and they can yield some weight.
 
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Dope Heffalump

Tip burner
Oh i forgot...it is not the number of plants in the tent that determine your yield. Veg time and number of plants determine your yield.
I have the gwheels formula and it has worked every time.

In a tent you will yield 50% to 200% of your square footage in ounces. The better you get at manipulation (LST/TOPPING/SUPERCROP etc) and if you have adquate lighting (40 watts per square foot or so) you get closer to 200%.
My last 5 square foot yield was 7 oz of dense buds and 2 oz of popcorn. My 4 x 4 was close to 16 oz with a 315.

Strains and skill fit in to that formula too. If you blow out to get more than 2 pounds in a 4 x 4 their may be an anomaly tweak but the simple math plays out. 90% of the time in 4 out of 5 attempts :D

You can veg 1 for longer and fill a 4 x 4 in a scrog
You can veg 2 for 3 weeks less and fill a 4 x 4 in a scrog or with stakes
You can veg 16 for 1 week and fill a 4 x 4 with no scrog or stakes.

For seeds i recomend 1 to 4 for a cost vs value thing.

For clones and no plant limit i would sea of green all day long. With a drip system.

I have personally done 3 and 4 plants in a 4 x 4 to test it and the most robust were the 3 i grew but they were white widow and sour kush and they can yield some weight.
I thought I'd ask how you like the 315 CMH in a 4x4?
Most people claim a 3x3 is best, but back in the day, I would use a 400 watt halide in a 4x4.
 

gwheels

Hobby Farmer
The 315 did not fill the 4 x 4 but i liked the bit of room it afforded. At that time i had my 13 gallon autopot res in the tent (full covert ops).
The 315 is a great light and it is very capable of 1 pound. Way better canopy penetration than samsung and a little better or equal to cobs. I got 15 oz with 315 watts and this was the first decent grams per watt i had achieved (1.3 grams per watt)
:D

Height constraints are the only reason i am not using it now.
 
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