Gardening Basics!

No matter how much people read up on the basics of gardening they always seem to make the same mistakes, you think watering a plant is easy and anyone can do it right! Wrong its probably the main mistake most new growers make. Then theres the ferts, no comprehension of how they work or wether added cal/mag is needed. Ph seems a tricky one to master as well.

Maybe we or someone could put together a foolproof guide to explain these fundamentals, i see they are explained in every marijuana book but still after reading people go and disregaurd the information. I did too so understand it is not that easy.

Wouldn't a picture guide to watering, ferts and pH be such a good start to growing weed with the novice grower? Maybe we can put together some guide that stops the new grower having to make these basic mistakes time and time again!

I know all the info is on this site but couldn't we pull it all together and throw in some must read threads to make weed school that little bit easier. Honestly the amount of overwatering problems, pH problems and ferts problems in here is unbelievable which leads me to think the sticky's are totally useless and outdated.

If its agood idea i'm sure it will happen so contribute some opinions or good luck with the out of date stickies and endless plant def charts that still leave a novice grower asking-

''What is wrong with my plant'' and the answer is still overwatering even though they have read countless books and info!!!!!!

Kingrow1 said:

they are explained in every marijuana book but still after reading people go and disregaurd the information.

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Alas you rather answer it yourself. Internet forums are no different. Before the forum was updated, there was an extremely extensive FAQ which has now disappeared, the same questions were asked then as they are now. I see two possible reasons, 1 is that while they have read the principals, they can't be bothered to actually work to aply it to a grow, instead they prefere to come and ask and hope to be spoonfed what to do until they become an able grower. Alternatively i think that it has something to do with people needing attention, it doesn't make sense to me, but some of the threads created, well they're either 12 year old or they simply for some reason crave the attention that only creating a thread creates.

You're right though, we could still do with our FAQ back.

Agreed tip-top, at least you understand that it could be a lot easier for the new grower and a lot less demanding for the pro grower. Shame there was a FAQ and its gone. Maybe its time some pros made a new one, if it was good enough we could lend it to the other sites too!Lol! I just think there could be a chart that holds someones hand when learning to water for instance, so many people don't understand when the soil is dry or that the plants need to breath in between etc etc.

I know it would be a lot of hard work and with the relevant pics etc etc but it would be worth its weight in gold. The plant def pics on here identify the def but are useless for growers to use, people think they got like manganese def when its really pH or copper when its overwatering. The wrong diagnosis can lead to even more problems. I have next week free but i want some input, maybe i could do one for watering and see what people think, take evryones opinions and change it till we all like it. Then when the novice says what is wrong we link him to the watering chart, ph chart and fert chart and say come back when you are doing this then we will have a look at the problem.

I only seek to help and be constructive, i too have used all the charts and found they didn't help one bit but now i can grow the charts make sense a lot more. The novice grower rarely has one problem but many, if we could eliminat the basics we could get somewhere faster.

Agreed, the watering issues drive me crazy, and believe it or not....I see underwatering happening, almost as much as overwatering, due to guys being scared shitless from watering their plants thoroughly. I see alot of deficiencies happening, not because the soil is lacking nutrients, but because the soil is always dry, or partly dry, particularly around the edges, keeping plants from accessing nutes in those areas. Then come the nutes....lol Anyway,...yeah, a tutorial on the subjects would be helpful, especially in video form. I think a viveo would help tremendously on matters which are hard to explain accurately, such as watering. Rather than try to tell someone how to do it properly, it'd be nice to let them watch for theirselves, and perhaps, read, as well.

Watering seems to be a big one. I do not think you can effectively give a visual representation of things. After trial and error and various suggestions, i finally came across the suggestion of pot weight. Learn the weight of the pot when dry and the weight of the pot when watered. This is a touch vague at first, but by far the most accurate and simple method of working out whether to water or not, hasn't failed me yet and you quickly get accustomed to it.

Takes a while to trust the soil to dry for novices, even saying pot weight is hard for people to understand and even me when i was starting out. A video sounds real good but cheesy and would you want the whole site watching you water a plant, could work though but i feel this idea might have been done before, maybe some copyright infringements need to be broken and the relevant video copy and pasted to a watering thread along with visual representation as well or diagrams.

Nice idea, i like it. Would you say watering/water, pH and ferts are the big three? or am i missing somthing here? Thanks guys great suggestions.

i would appreciate this, is it just for soil

I wish there was one available for you my friend, until then just keep posting.

Does indeed take a bit to get used to wet and dry weights but i have never found a method that is better than this. Even soil moisture meters are less accurate and more hassle to use. I would honestly never tell anyone to use any other method.

tip top toker said:

Does indeed take a bit to get used to wet and dry weights but i have never found a method that is better than this. Even soil moisture meters are less accurate and more hassle to use. I would honestly never tell anyone to use any other method.

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Do it long enough and you don't even have to pick them up. LOL

Now, I just nudge or tip the containers a bit. You can tell, 1 gallon or 5 gallon, the difference in weight from wet to dry is so much, it gets easy to tell.

Wet

Wetdog said:

Do it long enough and you don't even have to pick them up. LOL

Now, I just nudge or tip the containers a bit. You can tell, 1 gallon or 5 gallon, the difference in weight from wet to dry is so much, it gets easy to tell.

Wet

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Oh, definately. With my DWC tubs i just kick em, if they don't slide there's plenty of water, pots i just tip one edge as you say.

And still there are many who will never understand this until the plant is dead. This is all well and good but what about seedlings and small plants that have not established in the pot, shouldnt the advice be water the plant roots not the whole pot? I wish it was as easy as going of pot weight but still this dosen't really give the grower any experience, they are just left guessing what weight the pot should be when it needs emptying! I think it's a bit more complicated than just this otherwise so many people wouldn't be overwatering.

I like to let the water wick through the soil over time down to the bottom of the pot rather than just pour lots of water on the pot and hoping that dose the job. Probably the reason why the top half of the pot dries but the bottom is always waterlogged.

You are making out growing cannabis to be a hell of a lot harder than it really is, experienced or new grower. My first grow, i did my research, as much as was sensible, the only issue i encountered was as a result of not doing enough research and tried to save money buying a shitty analogy 3-in-1 ph meter.

In all honesty, growing cannabis is that easy, the hobby just appears to attract dome dumb and lazy people. How many threads or posts have i read asking what ratio of nutrients to water they should use. It's on the bottle for a reason. I see soooo many new growers who fuck their plants up because they can't leave the damned thing alone. There is no guessing what a wet and a dry pot feel like, you pick up a dry pot, you pick up a wet pot, you have hard data. One of the reasons people are advised to start seeds in small pots is that the roots are gonna pretty rapidly fill it, there's not really the issue of having wet soil with no roots to dry it up. If the pot's not dry, don't water it, that is as simple as avoiding overwatering needs to be.

I'll say it again, i would never advise anything but going by pot weight. It's not more complicated than this, just an abundance of crap growers who can't be bothered to learn anything

One other thought, if you've never killed a plant, how do you know your tolerances or learn your lessons? i don't understand how half the growers get themselves into the issues they do.

Kingrow1 said:

Maybe we or someone could put together a foolproof guide to explain these fundamentals, i see they are explained in every marijuana book but still after reading people go and disregaurd the information. I did too so understand it is not that easy.

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You can't make a 'foolproof' guide if the fools just disregard the information.

Or, think they are smarter than the information being provided. I've seen more than a few " the directions said ........ but, I think that's wrong, so I ...."

Kill a few plants and perhaps start to pay more attention to provided information.

Wet

Ok you guys are invariablly right but i just wanted to deal with the problem a lot of growers have, yer they are lazy and don't read, those that do misread information and screw up. Topics like cal/mag and pH don't get enough notice.

Maybe its not watering i need to focus on but the right soil and potsize which would lead them to be able to water better.

I like your input, very critical of the subject, which is what i wanted. You have made me realise that there are even basic'er basics before watering. Maybe it is these that i should address so that the grower ends up in a good situation with which to deal with problems like flushing and pH.

Just seen a small plant in a very big pot with a hell of a lot of soil, obviously a flush would really stress the plant loads but if they had a smaller pot where the roots had established a flush would be easy and quick. How can i advise someone to flush the soil when they have like 2 gallons/9 litres of soil and just some small little plant, the thing will just float off or compact in all that soil, i know a flush can be done but asking a novice to flush 2gals of soil and not kill a small plant in the process is asking a lot.

I see how being in the right situation with the right equipment will allow you to deal effectively and quickly with the problem. If i or some people got a guide together for some of the basics and you were impressed then i think this would be a worthwhile guide, if you weren't i suppose it would be back to the drawing board. Thanks

Now i'm just sounding like i'm raining on all your thoughts. But. I do not know what you refer to when you say cal/mag other than of course calcium and magnesium, but well, other than that i've no idea, never needed it whatever it might be. As to ph, well soil aim for 6.5, hydro 5.5, i followed those two numbers when i started growing and aside from a shitty ph meter, never encountered an issue other than those directly caused by my laziness or drunken clumsiness. What i find myself asking a lot of new growers when i read help threads, does it look green, for a new grower, if it is nice and green, they need to stop worrying. Green is good and far too people appear to invent problems for some reason or other, the rest just don't leave their plants alone and create the problem as a result.

As to flushing a small plant in a big pot, i agree on all points, my first grow i did 4 different strains in a home made soil mix, all in their final size pots, very first thing i became aware of was not to follow the advice of water for runoff, you certainly could, but i found it much much easier and safer just to water sparingly.

^"The right soil" is a big one, as far as watering goes. It's not necessarily whether it 'right' or 'wrong', it's their drainage properties that dictate watering, which makes it near impossible to lay down a set of guidelines that'll work for all. The guy using no perlite,(and asking for trouble, IMO) could only be watering once a week, and still have overwatering issues, whereas a guy using 50% perlite, could water every day, and not have a problem. Lots of variables. I think I'm going to agree with Tip Top, about feeling the weight of your pots. That's how I learned, and it worked excellent. Also, for christ-sakes,....use some perlite, or you're asking for trouble.LOL

Hear you and for some it is simple, in the UK most soil available is pH'ed to 6.3 and contains 50% and more peat. The water is low in calcium and magnesium and so is the soil and ferts. Dose this sound like somthing that needs dealing with because i have 10 threads goin with the same problem. I say flush, add garden lime and touch of epsomsalts and the problem sorts itself out. Glad some don't have this problem but i am gona say these are or seem the main reasons grows fail.

I do agree with your advice but it is posted in every plant problem sticky and every grow guide, even the eager grower fails to grasp this. If it were that easy to do i think the hospital part of this thread would be a lot smaller. Here i disagree, how do you not have pH problems in soil that contains peat without first understanding garden lime, pH and buffering? No way my soil stays put pH wise and learning to control this is a bit easier said than done. A guide would help people leave their plants alone when they are growing good (another section i should consider) if they followed the information.

You do indeed appear to suffer from a lot more issues thatn yourself. Not sure what the ph or such of my soil was, i just bought a random bag of soil, a bag of perlite and a bag of gravel. I mixed it all up, threw it in some pots and popped the seeds straight in and watered. I have not read the first thing about lime, have not read the first thing about buffering although i understand what it is to an extent. I ph'ed my water and nute mix to 6.5 and fed it. Prior to planting those seeds the single piece of gardening experience i had under my belt was in year 3 when we learnt that cress stretches when left in the dark The ph of the soil could have been heavens knows what, but they grew healthy and green and that's what i was aiming for on my first grow, not the maximum yield possible.

UK born and bred

edit: here's one of the plants from my first ever grow. Biobizz grow and bloom, ph down, nothing else.

But we all agree the stickies on this forum are a bit lame though?