Lots of questions...

G

GrowthToo

New Member
Please answer what you can - I know it's a lot. Thank you for taking the time and no worries if you skip.

I've done 8 grows now. I'm almost done with my 9th. I know a lot of people have different opinions about what to do, but I'd just like to hear what everyone has to say.
Our goal is to scale to commercial, but that will take a decade at this rate.

1. How do you germinate your seeds? We do the water/paper towel method AND planting directly in soil and lose more than half of them and I really cannot figure out why. Honestly the most success we've had is with the little pucks you water and they grow and you plant the seed there. We were told that hurts autos though.

2. How much do you water after germination? I start with a small circle around the seedling and each day make that circle a little bigger (my thinking is this will make the roots stretch out for more water) just by feeling until around mid veg where I switch to 10% of the soil like people say to do. So .5 gallons each plant, spread through the whole pot.

3. What do yellow tips of leaves mean? I know if the yellowing gets bad it's light burn but what if it's just the tips? Also, what causes leaves to randomly yellow to begin with? My guess is that's when the medium is running out of nutes or is locked out of nutes?

4. What pH should you keep plant's medium at?

5. If you want to lower a plant from 8.0 pH to 6.5 pH should you use 6.5 water or like... 5.0 water?

6. What are the best tools to buy as a grower? What tools are essential or helpful that you recommend? We have a few microscopes, the cheap yellow water pH meter, the cheap black and orange soil pH meter, trim trays, LUX meter, pH up/down, a few more things.

7. How do you measure light and avoid burning? We have a LUX meter. There aren't really any good guides on LUX. I just tried using ChatGPT to calculate the difference and it seems to make sense. Not sure if anyone here can test it with both meters.

8. What's different between growing auto-flowers and fems? We topped and pruned our autos without knowing you aren't supposed to.

9. What's the best way to build a small clean space for growing? The tent is nice, but $1,000 for a tent system that will fit maybe 9 plants (4x4) but I'd like to grow more. I'd also like a cleanroom to trim and dry and cure. So any tips or videos on that would be cool. It's in a dusty unfinished basement but I'm sure it can be done. I plan to get that machine that dries and cures too.

10. How do people dose THC? I'd like to start making food but I have no idea how people calculate %THC to begin with let alone %THC to %THC after bubble hash or rosin and then %THC after cooking it into the food. That's like some f**king NASA math. I don't even know how to find out my flower's THC to begin with.

11. What's a good tool to measure PPM of a slush mixture? How important is this? The tool is expensive but if it will truly help me get better grows it's worth it to me.

12. How do you make a slush mixture properly? For PH and for PPM measurement.

Thank you all for reading and answering what you can! I may add more if I think of it. I just want to be a good grower and this will be a good thread for future readers.

MY GROW:
http://imgur.com/a/IjSTWpe
 
Last edited:
specgrade

specgrade

Active Member
Seed in soil. A drop or two of water, depending on soil dryness for sprouts.
The rest? I just go by experience with other plants and gardens. My personal grows are pretty basic and simple.
20240324_161419.jpg20240322_171036.jpg
 
Beeswings

Beeswings

Well-Known Member
GrowthToo said:
Please answer what you can - I know it's a lot. Thank you for taking the time and no worries if you skip.

I've done 8 grows now. I'm almost done with my 9th. I know a lot of people have different opinions about what to do, but I'd just like to hear what everyone has to say.
Our goal is to scale to commercial, but that will take a decade at this rate.

1. How do you germinate your seeds? We do the water/paper towel method AND planting directly in soil and lose more than half of them and I really cannot figure out why. Honestly the most success we've had is with the little pucks you water and they grow and you plant the seed there. We were told that hurts autos though.

2. How much do you water after germination? I start with a small circle around the seedling and each day make that circle a little bigger (my thinking is this will make the roots stretch out for more water) just by feeling until around mid veg where I switch to 10% of the soil like people say to do. So .5 gallons each plant, spread through the whole pot.

3. What do yellow tips of leaves mean? I know if the yellowing gets bad it's light burn but what if it's just the tips? Also, what causes leaves to randomly yellow to begin with? My guess is that's when the medium is running out of nutes or is locked out of nutes?

4. What pH should you keep plant's medium at?

5. If you want to lower a plant from 8.0 pH to 6.5 pH should you use 6.5 water or like... 5.0 water?

6. What are the best tools to buy as a grower? What tools are essential or helpful that you recommend? We have a few microscopes, the cheap yellow water pH meter, the cheap black and orange soil pH meter, trim trays, LUX meter, pH up/down, a few more things.

7. How do you measure light and avoid burning? We have a LUX meter. There aren't really any good guides on LUX. I just tried using ChatGPT to calculate the difference and it seems to make sense. Not sure if anyone here can test it with both meters.

8. What's different between growing auto-flowers and fems? We topped and pruned our autos without knowing you aren't supposed to.

9. What's the best way to build a small clean space for growing? The tent is nice, but $1,000 for a tent system that will fit maybe 9 plants (4x4) but I'd like to grow more. I'd also like a cleanroom to trim and dry and cure. So any tips or videos on that would be cool. It's in a dusty unfinished basement but I'm sure it can be done. I plan to get that machine that dries and cures too.

10. How do people dose THC? I'd like to start making food but I have no idea how people calculate %THC to begin with let alone %THC to %THC after bubble hash or rosin and then %THC after cooking it into the food. That's like some f**king NASA math. I don't even know how to find out my flower's THC to begin with.

11. What's a good tool to measure PPM of a slush mixture? How important is this? The tool is expensive but if it will truly help me get better grows it's worth it to me.

12. How do you make a slush mixture properly? For PH and for PPM measurement.

Thank you all for reading and answering what you can! I may add more if I think of it. I just want to be a good grower and this will be a good thread for future readers.

MY GROW:
http://imgur.com/a/IjSTWpe
Click to expand...
If you're trying to scale and actually know what you're getting you're going to want to run clones, not autos. I'd start with a pheno hunt or buy a legit cut and work from there. Not only autos, but any cannabis from seed won't be uniform enough for a scaled operation to run smoothly.
 
G

GrowthToo

New Member
Beeswings said:
If you're trying to scale and actually know what you're getting you're going to want to run clones, not autos. I'd start with a pheno hunt or buy a legit cut and work from there. Not only autos, but any cannabis from seed won't be uniform enough for a scaled operation to run smoothly.
Click to expand...
We're in the learning stage. I want to scale the amount of plants we can grow so we can learn faster.

We do plan on trying clones after we figure out autos.
 
E

ec121

Well-Known Member
GrowthToo said:
We're in the learning stage. I want to scale the amount of plants we can grow so we can learn faster.

We do plan on trying clones after we figure out autos.
Click to expand...
If you're in the learning stage, you should just be growing photoperiods. The questions you're asking are not questions an auto grower should need answered. I know autos are marketed to beginners, but the positives of not having to flip lights are greatly dwarfed by the fact you need to be spot on perfect with everything (nutes, environment, etc) from seed to harvest if you want to get the biggest harvest possible. With photos, you can work on your cultivation techniques and if you mess something up, you just veg it for a few more weeks. Once it's big and healthy, flip the lights.

As for commercial growing, depending on your market, you'll need to research the biz more. It seems like the juice is not worth the squeeze in most cases.
 
Hook Daddy

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
I’m just trying to be honest here and not overly critical, but if you have all those questions and are thinking of going commercial, I would recommend you take a hard look at the businesses currently in operation in your area. How well are they doing, the profit margins, the local and National competition. Many very good commercial growers are getting out, the profit is just not there, many are loosing money. If you still decide to carry on, I would hire a consultant that knows what they are doing. If your unsure of what equipment to buy, etc you’ve got at least a decade of growing before your ready for a large scale commercial grow, one mistake ruins an entire greenhouse of plants rather than just one. I’m not saying it can’t be done, and even done on your own, just make sure your doing it for the love of the plant and not to make a quick buck.
 
MtRainDog

MtRainDog

Well-Known Member
You're asking a lot of questions and assuming they have "one size fits all" answers when they really don't, i.e. different specimens are going to have different requirements. You'll also have different answers depending on your grow methods and ultimately the goals you're trying to achieve (max yield, max quality, pheno hunting, etc.)

Like others said, autos aren't a good way to go if you're trying to achieve consistent, high quality results. For that matter, photoperiods from seed aren't the best approach either. Clones are your answer there. Cup winners don't just sprout from the ground where anyone with some dirt and a light can grow bangers. No, people dial great clones in after many cycles growing it. They learn, they adapt. That's really how it works.
 
MtRainDog

MtRainDog

Well-Known Member
Hook Daddy said:
I’m just trying to be honest here and not overly critical, but if you have all those questions and are thinking of going commercial, I would recommend you take a hard look at the businesses currently in operation in your area. How well are they doing, the profit margins, the local and National competition. Many very good commercial growers are getting out, the profit is just not there, many are loosing money. If you still decide to carry on, I would hire a consultant that knows what they are doing. If your unsure of what equipment to buy, etc you’ve got at least a decade of growing before your ready for a large scale commercial grow, one mistake ruins an entire greenhouse of plants rather than just one. I’m not saying it can’t be done, and even done on your own, just make sure your doing it for the love of the plant and not to make a quick buck.
Click to expand...
All good points. And while many are getting out, many that are still in are moving product out the back door and onto the black market just to stay afloat.
 
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