The ONE thing to do BEFORE you grow

guardiangk

Well-Known Member
That ONE thing? It's spending about 4 to 6 hours reading.

Trying to fix problems after they happen is a lot more difficult than prevention.

Spent $100 on seed but only bought one crappy fan. Then shortly after that seed sprouts in waterlogged poorly draining over fertilized soil they wilt and fall over dead. At which point we try to figure out what happened. Go back to that one thing we should have done and it'll save time and money.

Maybe one makes it past the seedling stage, but those plants never seem to look like anything more then cannibis version of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. So one pours more water on them after finally find them among the shadows, under the dim compact fluorescent lights. Then once they are stunted one finally goes and reads the forums to find out that you have to get a compact fluorescent light really close to your plant. And that more water doesn't solve most problems.

Maybe on that first grow a guy gets lucky and actually gets 4 or 5 sets of leaves. Then notices on his stretched out, magic Beanstalk looking plant, tiny red spiders having a party. They start throwing silk everywhere but never seem to turn into pretty butterflies. Those plants curl up turn brown and die. Then e take a picture and posted on the forums and wonder what went wrong. Guy puts his hand in front of the one cheap fan they bought and wonder if it's pushing any air. He realizes it set on high but you can still count the revolutions per minute.

Maybe we get a little farther into the grow without reading up first. Maybe now those two or three plants have filled up the tiny little closet they are in. And we figure plants love humidity, as you watch the walls drip condensation. The plants love it so much that soon they're growing what appears to be cocaine all over their leaves. And then they wilt and die. And then we spend some time reading on the forums all about powdery mildew.

I could go on and on but I'm wasting the time we should be spending reading what the experienced to growers have to say. 4 hours of reading before you germinate your first seed is the minimum. It will save you countless hours of wasted time, and wasted money. Growing is a great hobby for me. It keeps me from being intellectually lazy.

Hope this was worth reading. And thank you to all the experienced growers that have shared their time and efforts on this forum.

Vhawk

1st grow, swapped lights just for the pic.
Day 2 on 12/12, germinated on 1/5. Northern Lights #5. Little 2x4x6 tent. 400w HPS. Three 6 in clip on fans, one oscillating 10 inch fan suspended, charcoal in line filter, giant ass vent fan that pushes way more air than it probably needs. 5gal Smart pots on rolling pot stands to keep air flowing under. FF soil and nutes. + a little extra cal-mag. View attachment 3609487
View attachment 3609487

It's called hindsight, always 20/20.

Reading is good, discovering who knows what they are talking about is better, then read. Experience is still the best teacher. Pay attention to the lessons.
 

vhawk

Well-Known Member
"...discovering who knows what they are taking about is better..."

That's the tough part. Especially when some of the guys that might know what they're talking about come off as assholes. Hard to listen to somebody when all your thinking about is how you want to shove a root ball in their mouth.

I'm going to stick to the four hour reading recommendation. Start reading 20 to 30 hours when you realize everybody here disagrees with everybody else about everything. Shit gets more complicated then it should.
 

420monster

Well-Known Member
One thing I think alot of people miss being in either a tent or a entire room sterilization simple bleach water in a spray bottle can go a long way in saving you headaches later on down the road

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Rollitup mobile app
 

vhawk

Well-Known Member
One thing I think alot of people miss being in either a tent or a entire room sterilization simple bleach water in a spray bottle can go a long way in saving you headaches later on down the road

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Rollitup mobile app
Already on that bleach wagon. Thanks for bringing it up. I give the plastic drain water catchers a spray after I drain them. There's always a tiny bit of water I can't get out. The smart pots sit above any drainage. I've got them on rolling pot stands.
 
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