You always give solid advice, @archie gemmill. And your laid back attitude towards growing should be adopted by everyone. It took me a couple of grows to fully understand that and just get out of the way and let the weed grow like a weed. You are correct. Actual boots-on-the-ground growing is more of an art than a science. The science is interesting to tell us why we're seeing what we're seeing, but going out and actually doing it is truly an art form.aiming high and setting standards is all good and well.but to set the standards of a master grower thats plants and pics are used for seed bank catologues,is just setting yourself up for a disapointment.
its like asking a kid not to fall off a bike when you take the stabilizers off for the first time.be realistic
growing is more feel than science.just like the way overwatering and underwatering can look similar,but they are oppositesa first grow is about avoiding disaster,making it to harvest,and getting a few buds.grow 2,3,4,5 are for adjusting and tweeking.
a spare potted up pot sat in the corner somewhere thats never been watered,is my reference pot.some 250/500/1L bottles of water that i can set ontop of dry pot and gauge what my pots with plants in them have.plant A dry pot + 500ml its fine,feed tomorrow.plant B its heavy dry pot + 1L bottle,it dont need fed 2,3 days.plant C its almost as light as dry pot in corner,it needs watered now.
the first few weeks are slow,need very lil water compare to what they drink when they 3 foot tall.
a new grower will learn more from other new growers than a master grower.an average grower will learn a lot from a master grower.other new growers are having same/similar issues to yourself,things a master grower seldomly has to deal with.
sorry its a lot to get your head round,growing is easy its just a weed
good luck n keep er lit.
At the end of a grow, you always say "I could have done this," or "I should have done that." This is the learning process in action. They are also the things that the master growers have already gone through and don't often think about any more. They don't mention them anymore in their journals.
It takes a while to learn to read what's going on with your plants just by looking at them. I learned a very important lesson during my last grow. I had what looked like a potassium deficiency, a calcium deficiency and a magnesium toxicity all at the same time. My initial instinct was to throw more nutrients at the plant. It turns out, that my lights were too bright and my tent was too warm. It was causing my plants to drink more than I thought they were. They were burning themselves by up-taking more nutrients than they needed for their stage in their growth cycle. It took me a couple of days to figure that out. And I found out by looking at a website for beginning growers. This is something that a master grower wouldn't really think about.
So...again...solid advice. Thanks.
still young 'n green to this hobby, but i'm having fun. 
