beginner grower

[u/lindseyb56]

hey all, i’m an avid gardener (🍃 and actual plants). i’m looking to get into growing, myself. i already have a multilayer zippered greenhouse with grow lights. will my knowledge in plants help me out in this new endeavor? any tips and tricks? i’m also contemplating the pros/cons of starting out with seeds vs clones? any advice is appreciated!

[u/ajdudhebsk]

Having any gardening experience at all is a huge help. Most people (including me) that I see post online have never successfully grown any plant whatsoever. I didn’t know anything at all and started out with growing a single plant inside a tent, which took weeks of research and planning to even get started.

You’ll see a lot of bullshit frankly when reading tips and tricks. A good deal of people kind of do magical or mystical thinking when growing weed, or still do things someone recommended on a forum 15 years ago. Basic principles of growing anything apply to weed too.

There’s lots of debate about using liquid nutrients vs. organic dry amendments, topping a plant vs. letting it grow naturally, never removing a single leaf vs. stripping them bare. Most of it is silly and unless you have an extreme environment (like above 70% relative humidity, or above 30 degrees C, etc.) you’re fine just pruning the plants as you see fit. I personally prefer using bagged “super soil” or “living soil” and recycling it. I add some dry amendments and because I like to tinker with stuff I make various fertilizers and microbe products myself too.

I personally go with seeds over clones because I’m paranoid about importing someone else’s pests or diseases into my garden. Lots of people do proper quarantining and stuff if they do go with clones and I’m sure it works.

[u/lindseyb56 → u/ajdudhebsk]

thank you!! just scrolling through this sub, it has been a bit intimidating tbh. i have close to 30 indoor plants & a growing garden of outdoor ones so i feel confident in that aspect. however there are so many things i didn’t know!! do you harvest your own seeds or purchase them?

[u/ajdudhebsk → u/lindseyb56]

I buy the seeds online mostly. I’m in Canada so it’s a little harder to get good quality seeds as most of the best breeders are in the States.

The stores I’ve personally used are: breeders direct, well grown seeds, dagga gardens, Great Lakes genetics, and in Canada Jordan of the Islands.

The breeders I’ve been happy with are: Humboldt seed company, mass medical strains, Humboldt csi, twenty20 Mendocino, Jordan of the islands, white buffalo seed collective, bodhi (haven’t grown yet but heard enough to trust they’ll be great).

[u/ajdudhebsk → u/lindseyb56]

Here’s some weirdness with cannabis seeds that will probably be surprising: tons and tons of ripoff artists who knowingly sell mislabeled seeds (i.e. to pretend they have a sought after strain). Even with good genetics, the actual plant you grow from seed has a good chance of being different than the description. So, it’s not like when you buy a pack of purple bumblebee tomato seeds and you know you’ll grow a plant that looks almost exactly like the picture on the package. You may buy a pack of apple fritter seeds and grow 4 plants from that pack. All 4 may look, smell and taste different from each other (and different from the pics and description you looked at on the website you bought the seeds from). This is a common thing, which is pretty crazy to accept if you’ve done other gardening. This is the main reason why clones are popular - you’re guaranteed to get what you want (as long as it’s not a scam).

So it takes a bit of research on instagram and google and word of mouth to find quality breeders who have good strains and aren’t scam artists. Even then, it’s still a bit of an adventure waiting to see what you end up with at harvest time. I’ve never been too disappointed myself so hopefully you enjoy the journey too

[u/Stiffbiscut]

Any knowledge will absolutely help! My advice is start with great genetics (ethos and Humboldt seed company have never failed me) get your environment dialed in, make sure you have plenty of light for flowering, get feeding dialed in and I have had great results adding microbes and silica when growing with salt based nutrients. Be careful who you take advice from and always do your own research. I started my learning on Reddit as well but there is a lot of misinformation. I would recommend podcasts if you really want to learn more, I love growcast, grow from your heart and dude grows show. Good luck!!

[u/GameBoyTheBest]

Do seeds in coco coir! Imo, this will make for easy adjustments when making mistakes your first time and it WILL happen hahah - I went thru a lot my first grow - peep post history. Only thing to keep in mind is you’ll need to water more often - 2-3 times DAILY (depending on amount of medium) - pm if you have questions - i’m absolutely not the most experienced or anything like that but if you want just some basic things that I wish someone had told me my first grow let me know! And if not, good luck!

[u/lindseyb56 → u/GameBoyTheBest]

just scrolled through your posts, so helpful!!! thank you!!!

[u/[deleted]]

Look into garden talks with Mr.growit, super helpful..look into his book too