So you've decided to grow your own. Congratulations! This is a beginning of a wonderful journey, that's gonna lead you to a deeper understanding of this unique plant. But before you start, you should try and dig these few words of advice, that will spare you hair-pulling and running for the hills later!
Growing weed can be easy and stress-free or stressful, painful and disappointing... but it's really up to you. It's all about how you approach things and how you decide to proceed. If you think it's about putting seeds in the ground, watering and letting them grow, you're kinda right, cause it's exactly that. But if you think it's about fertilising the shit out of it, then you're VERY WRONG!
Whatever you may think, try to understand first, that cannabis is a plant like all the other ones. And that means it uses photosynthesis to grow by converting light, carbon dioxide and water into chemical energy with the help of nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients, producing hydrogen, carbon and oxygen in the process, which are later transformed into sugars and proteins.
It's really pretty simple if you let the plant stay in the driver's seat... which most rookies don't do unfortunately, assuming they should be the supervisor and the boss. And from that comes usually a series of disasters, that are hard to fix if you don't listen to more experienced growers!
The first and the most fatal mistake, that first time growers make by the boatload! Fertilisers are sometimes necessary, but definitely not all the time and not from the start. Using too much fertilisers – especially synthetic ones – will burn your plant in a flash, and she'll rarely recover from it.
It's really as common as newbie growing, and can be seen on every cannabis forum. Call for help usually looks like that: „Hey I gave my plant some nutes, she got brown, and she looks kind of sad now. What do I do?” The answer: „Pull her, and start over”.
A piece of precious advice, if you don't want to start over all the time, LAY OFF NUTES UNTIL FLOWERING, learn what NPK is, and check your soil's nutrient values before applying any fertiliser.
Cannabis is not a monster plant, it'll thrive with low levels of nutrients, and 90% of commercial potting mixes are so saturated with them, there's rarely any need to add more throughout the grow! In fact, most of them have to be cut by 50% with clay, sand or peat in order to be apt for cannabis growing.
Cannabis definitely needs water, but the amount of it is strictly proportional to the root mass of the plant. Unfortunately for the rookie grower, young seedlings have very small root, so they need very little of it, and they'll only need more when they get bigger!
In fact, the best practise for a plant under 2 weeks is misting the soil and the plant with a sprayer, which will provide just enough water for it to grow, and in the same time it will stimulate the root to go deeper into the soil to look for capillary water.
The rule of a thumb indoor and outdoor is to water potted plant with 4-5 nodes not more than twice a week, and plant in the ground not more than once a week. Basically, the need for watering is reversely proportional to the size of the pot, but directly proportional to the temperature of soil... so you have to do the math, and find the sweet spot!
I don't remember how many times I've seen growers calling for help, cause their plant overgrew their tent or backyard, barely started flowering while the first snow hit the ground or 90% of buds were destroyed by grey mould, cause the climate was too wet for these chunky goodies advertised by the seed bank!
It always comes down to bad decision-making due to little research done, lack of understanding how diverse cannabis genome is, and refusing to see the obvious red flags... so I'm repeating another time, that genetics is half of your success. You pick the right one, you'll win. You pick the wrong one, you'll lose.
Basically, you need to take into account all the factors. If you're growing indoor or outdoor, soil or hydro, if your climate is wet or dry, if you get strong winds or no wind at all, if your season is short or long, or what your latitude is, if your tent is tiny or large, if you're patient enough to go through 15 weeks of flowering or not more than 7.
And only after you know exactly what your conditions are, you can start looking for the right strain, always doublechecking by asking other growers how their grows with this strain went, and comparing to your own situation. And if there's anything raising doubts, drop the idea and go for something else!
Patience in growing is a virtue, and often an overlooked one. Without patience you're gonna accomplish nothing, and with patience you're gonna accomplish everything. IT'S REALLY THAT SIMPLE!
Cannabis is a plant, which means it takes time to grow. The seed needs to be germinated, put in the soil, and the plant has to go though veg and flowering before it can be harvested. THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS TO THIS!
All this time is better spent watching and learning, than applying new fertiliser every week, spraying some toxic shit, plucking the leaves or trying to look up some sillly ways to speed up the whole process... which you're gonna definitely find, but I DON'T RECOMMEND THEM.
Moreover, it also TAKES TIME to properly dry and cure your bud, so your smoke can be as good as it really can be. Otherwise, the whole operation is not worth your while, and you can stick to your local dispensary or a dealer, who push hydro weed without curing on a daily basis.
Do you know how master growers harvest fire? By being patient and learning new things every year... cause good buds really come to those who wait and educate themselves!
So you're shopping for an advice, cause some weird shit went down with your plant... most likely cause you've ignored above-mentioned. And there's nothing wrong with it, believe me. Even the most experienced growers need a hand from time to time, especially when they have to deal with genetics they have never dealt with before.
However, there's one thing you should remember: NEVER TAKE A WORD OF ADVICE FROM SOMEONE WHO'S AS GREEN AS YOU. This is exactly how blind start leading the blind by spreading myths, disinformation and old wives' tales they found legit, cause THEY'VE NEVER DONE ANY RESEARCH THEMSELVES!
If you're to take a piece of advice from someone, always verify his/her credentials by looking at his/her plants, his/her rep, checking how long he's/she's been around, and getting a second opinion if you remain unconvinced.
And never ever go along with something that came from someone, who said they were on their 1st, 2nd or 3rd grow, cause this is a no-no, and can put you in deeper shit, than you were before! You wanna be getting sound advice? Learn how and where to look for it first! Otherwise you're better off solving your problem yourself!
Photo credits (from the top):
Liberty Haze (Barney's Farm) grown with Doc Bud's High Brix Kit in Oregon by Major PITA. Jilly Bean (TGA) grown organically in NorCal by Cola Monster. Tikal (Ace Seeds) grown indoor under LED by Graytail. Blueberry (Dutch Passion) grown indor by Van Stank
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