What The Good Growers Already Know: Top 5 Lessons For New Growers
- Thread starter Mr. Krip
- Start date
VladimirPutin
New Member
Good job Krip, excellent post that could turn a Noob into knowledgeable personnel overnight 
KeifKeith
Well-Known Member
Hard to believe it took two years for someone to bump this thread.
LOTS of good info from Mr Krip, a newer grower should heed the lessons learned.
My #1 = "Nutes" don't grow healthy plants, you do. Drop the bottles and pick up a compost bin.
LOTS of good info from Mr Krip, a newer grower should heed the lessons learned.
My #1 = "Nutes" don't grow healthy plants, you do. Drop the bottles and pick up a compost bin.
OR S.IT AND GET OFF THE POT. The more time you spend with your medicine is always ideal, and as far as nutes are concerned, if you have failed more times than a beginner has even tried, beware the nutes, especially if you are not sure what's up with them, but if you have learned, then I advise using nutes in your soil, and after watering, as needed.
Alchemist420
New Member
Great post
onewarmguy
Well-Known Member
WHAT THE GOOD GROWERS ALREADY KNOW
Now that I've finished harvesting my first two plants, I thought I'd share my "Top 5 Tips for New Growers".
I hope this will help others out there, especially the newer growers, who are being bombarded with all kinds of new and different information and having to try to figure out what's worth remembering.
Here's the stuff to remember!
1) As far as soil or hydro, which brand of nutes, which type of lights (LED, CFL, MH, HPS, T5, etc.), what's the best way to train (FIM, Top, LST, SCROG, etc.), and other questions related to technique - The "best method" is the one(s) that work for you! Different growers have different styles of growing and where one method, or nute regime, works great for one grower, another may have better success with something different. Opposing methods are not something to argue over, they are something to learn from. The more techniques you learn, the more you can experiment with to find the method that works best for you.
2) The plant is a living organism that will do its best to survive and thrive like any other living organism. That means, as growers, our plants don't die. WE kill them! We do this by NOT giving them what they need to survive. They need water, light, air, nutrients, and a favorable climate. If we can provide these, the plants repay us for it with bountiful harvests of great meds!
3) Before you start worrying about spending lots of money on nutes, put your money into providing a good environment for your plants. Proper lighting, ventillation, humidity, and temperatures will do more for maintaining healthy plants than any nutes you'll find. I'd rather grow with lower quality nutes in a good environment than try to make a go using the best nutes in a bad environment.
4) Part of maintaining the right environment MUST include PH. Once again, it doesn't matter how good your nutes are (or how good you think they are!), if the PH is out of range, the nutrients may not be able to be absorbed by the plants. Often I'll see growers who have a perfectly sound nute regime identify a deficiency and then try to make up for it by simply adding more nutes and never checking/adjustig PH. Then they say something like, "geez...I'm giving the plant tons of phosphorous but she's still showing a phosphorous deficiency!" Well, before you give the plant more Phosphorous, you should ask yourself, "why, if I'm on a sound nute regime, is the plant showing a P deficiency?" The answer will most likely be related to PH or other environmental factors and NOT the lack of Phosphorous in the nutes.
5) Listen to the plants! I had numerous growers tell me to do this before I really understood what it meant. It's not only being able to look at the plants to identify a specific issue, or when to harvest, but on it's most basic level, it's to determine that you have an issue before it becomes a BIG issue. For example, if you walk in your growroom and see your plants looking a little droopy, don't think "Well, I'll just give it another day and see if it gets any worse". It will! Your plants are telling you there's SOME issue...maybe overwatering, maybe underwatering, maybe temps, RH, or something else, but don't expect it to get better unless and until YOU make some adjustments!
Happy Harvests!
K[/QUOTE]
Hi K, Great post! I just cropped my first two and had radically different results that actually back up a lot of what you say.
Rule 2: Drowned my first two germinated seeds
Rule 3: Had insufficient light levels for the next two. Didn't find out that two of my T8's were out for a while and they were only getting 64W
Rule 4: Took almost 30 days before I realized that my cheap moisture/Ph meter was giving reading about two levels away what they really were. Turns out that what I thought was a Ph of 6.5 was almost 8.
I'm amazed they survived and actually wound up producing a few remarkably good looking nugs for plants that were only 6" tall.
I'm gonna chalk this one up as a learning experience.
Now that I've finished harvesting my first two plants, I thought I'd share my "Top 5 Tips for New Growers".
I hope this will help others out there, especially the newer growers, who are being bombarded with all kinds of new and different information and having to try to figure out what's worth remembering.
Here's the stuff to remember!
1) As far as soil or hydro, which brand of nutes, which type of lights (LED, CFL, MH, HPS, T5, etc.), what's the best way to train (FIM, Top, LST, SCROG, etc.), and other questions related to technique - The "best method" is the one(s) that work for you! Different growers have different styles of growing and where one method, or nute regime, works great for one grower, another may have better success with something different. Opposing methods are not something to argue over, they are something to learn from. The more techniques you learn, the more you can experiment with to find the method that works best for you.
2) The plant is a living organism that will do its best to survive and thrive like any other living organism. That means, as growers, our plants don't die. WE kill them! We do this by NOT giving them what they need to survive. They need water, light, air, nutrients, and a favorable climate. If we can provide these, the plants repay us for it with bountiful harvests of great meds!
3) Before you start worrying about spending lots of money on nutes, put your money into providing a good environment for your plants. Proper lighting, ventillation, humidity, and temperatures will do more for maintaining healthy plants than any nutes you'll find. I'd rather grow with lower quality nutes in a good environment than try to make a go using the best nutes in a bad environment.
4) Part of maintaining the right environment MUST include PH. Once again, it doesn't matter how good your nutes are (or how good you think they are!), if the PH is out of range, the nutrients may not be able to be absorbed by the plants. Often I'll see growers who have a perfectly sound nute regime identify a deficiency and then try to make up for it by simply adding more nutes and never checking/adjustig PH. Then they say something like, "geez...I'm giving the plant tons of phosphorous but she's still showing a phosphorous deficiency!" Well, before you give the plant more Phosphorous, you should ask yourself, "why, if I'm on a sound nute regime, is the plant showing a P deficiency?" The answer will most likely be related to PH or other environmental factors and NOT the lack of Phosphorous in the nutes.
5) Listen to the plants! I had numerous growers tell me to do this before I really understood what it meant. It's not only being able to look at the plants to identify a specific issue, or when to harvest, but on it's most basic level, it's to determine that you have an issue before it becomes a BIG issue. For example, if you walk in your growroom and see your plants looking a little droopy, don't think "Well, I'll just give it another day and see if it gets any worse". It will! Your plants are telling you there's SOME issue...maybe overwatering, maybe underwatering, maybe temps, RH, or something else, but don't expect it to get better unless and until YOU make some adjustments!
Happy Harvests!
K[/QUOTE]
Hi K, Great post! I just cropped my first two and had radically different results that actually back up a lot of what you say.
Rule 2: Drowned my first two germinated seeds
Rule 3: Had insufficient light levels for the next two. Didn't find out that two of my T8's were out for a while and they were only getting 64W
Rule 4: Took almost 30 days before I realized that my cheap moisture/Ph meter was giving reading about two levels away what they really were. Turns out that what I thought was a Ph of 6.5 was almost 8.
I'm amazed they survived and actually wound up producing a few remarkably good looking nugs for plants that were only 6" tall.
I'm gonna chalk this one up as a learning experience.
Wow, great post. I'm glad I read your signature. Also gives this a good bump since the last post. Thanks for taking the time to put that together.
2percentmilk
Well-Known Member
Probably the best advice I have ever gotten, really helped me after my failure of a first year. K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple, Stupid. Nature isnt dumb and it will thrive. Think of the plant as you would in the wild with no human interaction. It grows, and very very well I might add. A lot of newbies, including myself have made the mistake of handling their girls way way to much to start and will wind up regretting it down the long run.
Bud
Well-Known Member
I range between 6.4 and 6.6 it has done me well in soil lol
Only tip I haven't seen (or Missed) is make sure you are dialed in before flipping to 12/12 on photo's. If u got issues in veg its gonna be ten times worse when you flip to flower.
When flipped to flower your ladies put all their effort into reproduction (buds) and will cannibalize themselves if need to be do it. In late flower you'll often see lower leaves dying on a healthy plant because they no longer need them.
Also every strain is a little different. My last grow I had one strain I could feed 1000ppm in late bloom with no burnt tips and the other strain would show burn around 400.
When flipped to flower your ladies put all their effort into reproduction (buds) and will cannibalize themselves if need to be do it. In late flower you'll often see lower leaves dying on a healthy plant because they no longer need them.
Also every strain is a little different. My last grow I had one strain I could feed 1000ppm in late bloom with no burnt tips and the other strain would show burn around 400.
Bud
Well-Known Member
I sure do understand that, lm growen 3 diff strains,luckily I picked ones with similar needs.
TheMadMonk
Active Member
Great post and info !
SunsetSarah
Well-Known Member
I recently posted this in my grow journal, and its received some good response, so I thought I'd post it here also...
___________________________________________________
WHAT THE GOOD GROWERS ALREADY KNOW
Now that I've finished harvesting my first two plants, I thought I'd share my "Top 5 Tips for New Growers".
I hope this will help others out there, especially the newer growers, who are being bombarded with all kinds of new and different information and having to try to figure out what's worth remembering.
Here's the stuff to remember!
1) As far as soil or hydro, which brand of nutes, which type of lights (LED, CFL, MH, HPS, T5, etc.), what's the best way to train (FIM, Top, LST, SCROG, etc.), and other questions related to technique - The "best method" is the one(s) that work for you! Different growers have different styles of growing and where one method, or nute regime, works great for one grower, another may have better success with something different. Opposing methods are not something to argue over, they are something to learn from. The more techniques you learn, the more you can experiment with to find the method that works best for you.
2) The plant is a living organism that will do its best to survive and thrive like any other living organism. That means, as growers, our plants don't die. WE kill them! We do this by NOT giving them what they need to survive. They need water, light, air, nutrients, and a favorable climate. If we can provide these, the plants repay us for it with bountiful harvests of great meds!
3) Before you start worrying about spending lots of money on nutes, put your money into providing a good environment for your plants. Proper lighting, ventillation, humidity, and temperatures will do more for maintaining healthy plants than any nutes you'll find. I'd rather grow with lower quality nutes in a good environment than try to make a go using the best nutes in a bad environment.
4) Part of maintaining the right environment MUST include PH. Once again, it doesn't matter how good your nutes are (or how good you think they are!), if the PH is out of range, the nutrients may not be able to be absorbed by the plants. Often I'll see growers who have a perfectly sound nute regime identify a deficiency and then try to make up for it by simply adding more nutes and never checking/adjustig PH. Then they say something like, "geez...I'm giving the plant tons of phosphorous but she's still showing a phosphorous deficiency!" Well, before you give the plant more Phosphorous, you should ask yourself, "why, if I'm on a sound nute regime, is the plant showing a P deficiency?" The answer will most likely be related to PH or other environmental factors and NOT the lack of Phosphorous in the nutes.
5) Listen to the plants! I had numerous growers tell me to do this before I really understood what it meant. It's not only being able to look at the plants to identify a specific issue, or when to harvest, but on it's most basic level, it's to determine that you have an issue before it becomes a BIG issue. For example, if you walk in your growroom and see your plants looking a little droopy, don't think "Well, I'll just give it another day and see if it gets any worse". It will! Your plants are telling you there's SOME issue...maybe overwatering, maybe underwatering, maybe temps, RH, or something else, but don't expect it to get better unless and until YOU make some adjustments!
Happy Harvests!
K
I did # 2 to the T.. I spent close too $4,000 bucks I put into just building my envirorment .. i have 4 bottles of nutes lol have only used 2 so far.
gira
Active Member
pH is always talked about as important, but so many thoughts/opinions on best way to determine. I mean it's easy to check and adjust water/nute pH but how do we determine what the pH is between, or if it get's and stays out of range of the medium the plant is sitting in? Some say checking run-off is useless. Thoughts?I recently posted this in my grow journal, and its received some good response, so I thought I'd post it here also...
___________________________________________________
WHAT THE GOOD GROWERS ALREADY KNOW
Now that I've finished harvesting my first two plants, I thought I'd share my "Top 5 Tips for New Growers".
I hope this will help others out there, especially the newer growers, who are being bombarded with all kinds of new and different information and having to try to figure out what's worth remembering.
Here's the stuff to remember!
1) As far as soil or hydro, which brand of nutes, which type of lights (LED, CFL, MH, HPS, T5, etc.), what's the best way to train (FIM, Top, LST, SCROG, etc.), and other questions related to technique - The "best method" is the one(s) that work for you! Different growers have different styles of growing and where one method, or nute regime, works great for one grower, another may have better success with something different. Opposing methods are not something to argue over, they are something to learn from. The more techniques you learn, the more you can experiment with to find the method that works best for you.
2) The plant is a living organism that will do its best to survive and thrive like any other living organism. That means, as growers, our plants don't die. WE kill them! We do this by NOT giving them what they need to survive. They need water, light, air, nutrients, and a favorable climate. If we can provide these, the plants repay us for it with bountiful harvests of great meds!
3) Before you start worrying about spending lots of money on nutes, put your money into providing a good environment for your plants. Proper lighting, ventillation, humidity, and temperatures will do more for maintaining healthy plants than any nutes you'll find. I'd rather grow with lower quality nutes in a good environment than try to make a go using the best nutes in a bad environment.
4) Part of maintaining the right environment MUST include PH. Once again, it doesn't matter how good your nutes are (or how good you think they are!), if the PH is out of range, the nutrients may not be able to be absorbed by the plants. Often I'll see growers who have a perfectly sound nute regime identify a deficiency and then try to make up for it by simply adding more nutes and never checking/adjustig PH. Then they say something like, "geez...I'm giving the plant tons of phosphorous but she's still showing a phosphorous deficiency!" Well, before you give the plant more Phosphorous, you should ask yourself, "why, if I'm on a sound nute regime, is the plant showing a P deficiency?" The answer will most likely be related to PH or other environmental factors and NOT the lack of Phosphorous in the nutes.
5) Listen to the plants! I had numerous growers tell me to do this before I really understood what it meant. It's not only being able to look at the plants to identify a specific issue, or when to harvest, but on it's most basic level, it's to determine that you have an issue before it becomes a BIG issue. For example, if you walk in your growroom and see your plants looking a little droopy, don't think "Well, I'll just give it another day and see if it gets any worse". It will! Your plants are telling you there's SOME issue...maybe overwatering, maybe underwatering, maybe temps, RH, or something else, but don't expect it to get better unless and until YOU make some adjustments!
Happy Harvests!
K
- Thread starter
- #115
Well, not sure what you mean by "between" but it's important to consider the difference between soil & hydro. If using good soil with a good water source, you'll likely not need to worry about your PH. Soil is, itself, an excellent PH buffer. Pure water has a PH of 7, which would be rather high for hydro but no issue in a good soil mix.
Checking run-off PH can be helpful in soil and passive hydro like hempy and coco. If you take the difference between the starting PH and run-off PH, you'll know what the medium is doing (raising or lowering the starting PH) and, the greater the difference between starting and run-off PH, the more "off" the medium is.
There are soil PH meters available and you can have your soil tested at most home centers but this is a quick, "down & dirty" way to test PH in soil:
And, composition...
gira
Active Member
Thanx for your time and information. Have a few grows in but none as good as the first.
scrogster
Well-Known Member
Patience is key to not overthink what you're doing. 
I believe this entire thing was a major contributor to the disastrous end of my first grow last year. A very difficult lesson to learn. My environment was horrendous. I made changes for this year... primarily my mindset!
Another thing learned is I assumed they were doing fine because they looked fine... until the didn't! In my mind, it seems like they were fine one day and the next day I saw all the problems. Infested with mold and pests. 100% preventable and I caused it. I became complacent with my care and went on auto-pilot.
Thanks for ANOTHER great post @Mr. Krip
scrogster
Well-Known Member
I treat my flower room like a surgical room. Only time I go in is right after I shower. Only I go in the room , no pets , no friend's I do not take clones from friend's. I always start from seed. After each flower cycle I wipe every thing down with h20/bleach mix. Every since I started this practice I do not run into any issues . proper air flow and temp/humidity helps as well. But then again im super anal.
Grow medium, lighting , environment (temp ,r.h etc)and nutrients and most importantly ph &ppm .If u can hold that together the rest is what you will figure out .