My first grow, my many errors and some questions

Jman108227 said:

Bag seed seems to be a gateway drug for growing from threads I’ve come across haha myself included. I’m on my third grow and by far the best advice I’ve been given on top of all the other great advice and tips would be...to just relax. Get off to a good start...don’t overthink it..let your plant do it’s thing and make small adjustments throughout the grow. There’s a lot of great people on here with a lot of great advice. Definitely start a grow thread or post your new grow on this one. I love watching and learning through everyone. Good luck

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Thanks man, appreciate the feedback. I'm certainly going to take it more easy this time. I'm not kidding when I say I actually lost sleep over this. I even had a dream one night that i looked in the tent in the morning and she'd keeled over. I WILL relax!

JMystery said:

I don't really have anywhere I could bake the soil even if the sun was out (which is rare!). I did hang sticky papers around the grow tent and they worked well, but obviously only for the adults. I never got rid of the larvae unfortunately and pretty sure this is what was killing my first plant. I did also get some pressed Neem oil and organic soap but it didn't get rid of the issue either with spraying or soil drench.

I DO know that I need to change the watering habit though and changing the pots I was using will go a long way to keeping the soil aerated and the top layer more dry than previously.

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Try raising the pots with a spacer. I used a sprinkler head cover. Place a rock wool cube under the hole where it drains. Water just enough to wet the top.

smokin away said:

Try raising the pots with a spacer. I used a sprinkler head cover. Place a rock wool cube under the hole where it drains. Water just enough to wet the top.

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I actually had a steel mesh under the pot, between it and the saucer. Water never sat at the bottom and any run-through I had was cleaned up. I think the biggest issue was my over-watering. Still don't know for sure what i'm meant to give at different stages of life-cycle.

JMystery said:

I actually had a steel mesh under the pot, between it and the saucer. Water never sat at the bottom and any run-through I had was cleaned up. I think the biggest issue was my over-watering. Still don't know for sure what i'm meant to give at different stages of life-cycle.

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Why don't you try a really trusted source for some more info. Believe me it's a learning experience and it takes time.

That's an awesome reference, thanks for posting. I'll bookmark that!

JMystery said:

Wow - I find that absolutely amazing! You're making me want to switch to hydro too - but I think i should walk before I can run. You know... I only started all of this growing malarkey because I found a seed in a bag of weed. Then bought a seed to grow. Now I find myself getting all serious about doing it right at least once!

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I started with hydro and was advised it’s better to start in soil as well to keep it simple. Personally I’m glad I went the way I did.

I never have any questions about what my ph or nutrient level numbers are. I can tune all that myself with some precision on a daily basis in about 2 minutes. Some of the bug issues with soil are less of a concern as well. There are more mechanical and moving parts for stuff that can go wrong like water pumps, but I think the benefits outweigh that. Having spent a lot of time reading here new growers seem to struggle with things like watering frequency and nutrient levels. In soil those are decisions that tend to be made from experience and judgement, something noobs don’t have. I’m much more comfortable reading a tds or ph meter and watering on an ebb and flow schedule than I am weighing pots to try to guess if it’s time to water again. Ymmv.

Just wanted to write a quick update on this. As I mentioned in the original post, I chopped down my first plant probably 3 - 4 weeks early due to complications. However, having dried, cured and tried her - I have to say, despite the early harvest she's actually turned out really well. I'm actually stunned and thrilled that I've managed to produce something! Still probably needs another week of curing and the buds aren't massive but still - despite all of the 'mistakes' I made in my original post, what I did salvage is tasty. A little too much towards the cerebral side for me because she didn't get to mature as far as I would have preferred, but damn.... she works!