The Weak Link and the Art of Training Yourself to be a better grower
The weak link? Training the grower to be a better grower? What is this? It's like this.... A plant in a perfect environment, combined with a perfect feeding schedule will result in perfectly grown plant. Most of us will never get to grow under absolutely optimal conditions. Whether your space is a little too warm, or too dry, or too damp, there is usually a challenge or two to overcome in a grow, if you ever hope to get close to perfection. In some climates, it is impossible to get it perfect, with most outdoor growers knowing exactly what I am talking about. Indoors is easier to manipulate environments closer to perfection, but even still some challenges are very difficult to overcome.
For the new grower, especially if you have never grown a single plant in your life, keep it simple. There is no point in going out and spending $300 on a huge line of nutrients if you have no idea how to use them. Follow the footsteps of accomplished growers, and learn from them!! Certain mediums can have a learning curve, so for your first grow instead of going with coco and needing to worry about fluctuating PH, sometimes its better to hook up with a PH perfect formula like Advanced nutrients makes, and a good neutral PH medium like Sunshine [HASHTAG]#4[/HASHTAG] or Promix HP. Set a goal to simply get a plant from start to harvest. Don''t get hung up on size or yields on your first grow, and don't get hung up on too many small details either. Point the plants in the right direction and they know what to do!!
Every plant amongst every strain can only grow as well as conditions and genetics will allow. I refer to this as the limiting factor, also known as "The weak link in the chain". A multitude of factors can affect growth, yield, potency, taste and smell. Each time you grow a plant, if you reduce the "weak link", your quality will continue to improve, as will yields . Notice I said reduce, and not eliminate the weak link. Sometimes you can eliminate the weak link, but often efforts to eliminate super low relative humidity (and many other potentially difficult to deal with issues), can result in an improvement, sometimes only a slight improvement. Some improvement will help in the long run!! These are most of the factors that can reduce yield, smell, or potency.
1 Genetics - Let's face it...no matter how perfect your climate is, if you are growing poor, weak, small plant genetics, you are going to get small, weak plants as a result. It's the nature of the beast!! You are only as strong as the seed stock you are growing! Whether its autos or photos you want to grow choose well known breeders with great reputations to get the most from your money. Companies like Dutch Passion, Dinafem, Sweet Seeds, Delicious Seeds, Mephisto (autos only) can be bought over at seedsman. (Or whatever seed bank that carries their seed) Do research on strains, especially if you think you will have adverse conditions (outdoor).
2 Improper PH - An improper PH on either side of the prime range being 6.0-6.5 for soil, and 5.6-6.2 for hydro, will cause problems if PH drifts too far from the prime range. If the medium is too Acidic, or too Alkaline, this will heavily interfere with nutrient uptake. A high quality PH meter will make PH tests easy and accurate. Products like the Accurate 8(used for medium testing only, not for liquids!), or a Blue Labs PH meter are essential if you are having PH swings and getting nutrient lockout. Coco users will definitely want a PH meter in their toolbox.
3 Medium: Improper Drainage - A medium that is too damp will result in over watering and suffocation of the roots, which will result in severe stunting. A medium that dries out too often, is fine as long as you are able to keep up with the moisture needs. If you are running a soil medium next time get some perlite and add a bunch of that into the mix. I like it when I need to water until runoff every 24-48 hours. Using the lift a pot technique, it is easy to tell when plants need some water.
4 Improper weak feeding - Feeding too weak will result in a nutrient deficient plant, which can be fixed if you properly identify the problem and take proper steps to fix it in a rapid time frame. The most common nutrient deficiencies in the vegetative stage is nitrogen, and the most common during the flower stage is Phosphorus, Potassium , Calcium and Magnesium. Learn what these deficiencies look like in early stage, and also as they progress, so you can fix the deficiencies as soon as possible, and adjust your feeding the next time to hopefully eliminate the problem before it starts.
5 Improper strong feeding - This one is even more important than weak feeding. Feeding too strong with nutrients has a major impact on plants, and often damage from over fertilizing can be permanant. If you spot it early enough, and flush the medium which will reduce the intensity of the nutrients, you can repair the damage fairly quickly and easily.
6 Improper Pot Size - Using a pot too small will severely interfere with root expansion, and will interrupt growth rates until eventually the plants growth is forced to a complete halt. As the plant grows larger and roots are bound, watering will become difficult due to the amount of roots and water needed to fuel the plant. If you use too large of a pot, you end up wasting money in often pricey mediums.
7 Excess Heat - If your climate is too hot, plants will often have elongated nodes and also heat induced hermaphrodites are a possibility. Buds in extreme heat often fail to produce very well and are often stretched, airy buds lacking in density. If you are rocking an indoor grow, and your temperature is 90F or higher, do what you can to lower it or buds might suffer. Some strains seem to do just fine in hot temps. As a general rule, pure Sativa's, and Sativa dominant plants handle excessive heat better than those of Indica's due to their often far south lineage and decades of naturally climatizing to heat
8 Cold Temperature - If your climate is too chilly (14C/57F and under) growth rates will begin to slow down. Once into cold temps below 10C/50F plants will really suffer, tissue damage wont actually occur until close to 0C/32F but grow will slow to a halt at anything under 10C/50F. When I grow indoors under LED lights, I like a warmer temperature, especially for young plants. I prefer 80-85F/26-29C. Young plants seem like they are really susceptible to negative impacts from cooler climates, it can greatly affect their growth. Young auto plants seem particularly susceptible to cold weather stunting. Leaves will often droop in cold temps, and can often look like over watering.
9 Low Humidity - I grow in both high humidity outdoors (70%+ average), and low humidity indoors (25-30% average). Indoors the low humidity doesn't seem to be much of an issue except when it is super low(10-20%). I have tried to fix the problem, by adding water pans in my space, but our winters are cold and dry, and no amount of effort I could do would raise it above 35%, so eventually I just accepted adversity, and you know what? Low humidity doesn't seem to have a major impact. Still, if you can take your humidity and hold it at an ideal 50%, growth rates will excel and you will get bigger and better plants.
10 High humidity - High humidity has a much greater impact than low humidity will cause. Plants in high humidity (60%+) will grow great, but the problem with a high humidity is potential mold. Indoors, it's often easy to work around due to Dehumidifiers. Outdoors, you are at the mercy of mother nature on this one. If you are in high humidity outdoors, I would suggest trying to find a location that is as windy as possible. Heavily increased circulation will lessen the impact of a high humidity.
11 Over watering - This one is tough, and knowing just how much water and how frequent is also tough, due to the large amount of climate variants in different types of setups, with varied mediums, temps, air circulation, relative humidity, pot size and type, all being a factor in the ideal watering amount and frequency. Leaves will droop heavily when over watered.
12 Under watering - Usually happens less than over watering, but when it does happen, it is usually a major impact on the plants health. Personally I like to take plants almost to the point of starting to wilt from needing water, but never beyond that point. Severe under watered leaves will turn crispy, and will never return to healthy again. Indoors I grow in small 1.5 gallon(6 liter) pots. Using the lift a pot method its easy to judge when the need water. Most smaller autos I grow need 1.5 liters every 24-48 hours(depending on the plant, and their age), so getting to know the weight of the pot makes proper watering timing easy.
13 Improper Lighting - If you supply improper lighting yields and quality on your plants will suffer. Indoors, there is many selections of light from Ceramic Metal Halide, LED and old school fluorescent (T5/T8). Each light has a sweet spot and that will vary depending on the specific light model as well as the stage of growth the plant is in. If you move your light too far from the plants, they will stretch out too much, and bud spacing will be too far from the light source and density especially on the lower flowers will suffer. Outdoors, insufficient direct sunlight(less than 6 hours direct) will also impact the flower production in the same way. Indoors lights in very close proximity to the plants will often cause light stress(bleaching). Using light proper is crucial to a great grow!!
Okay, so now you have a vast majority of possible limiting factors above. Do you find you are having less than perfect grows? Consult the list above and determine which of the above is most likely. The true trick, is using this simple formula.
1 Observe - Always watch the plant closely. Nice lush green flat lying leaves are pointing to perfect health, and grow to match their appearance!! Home made Instatransplant pots is a great way to be able to monitor your root growth. Always keep an eye on your leaves, you will learn everything you need to know from your leaves once you are able to read the signs. Keep and eye out for discoloured leaves, or curled leaves up or down. All of these things are signs of issues, and we need to know what is causing them early.
2 Identify - Learn deficiencies and over fertilizing signs. It's important that you can read what the plant is telling you through their leaves. Sure, you could just drop by one of the many websites out there on growing Cannabis, but if you are seriously looking to improve your skills, learn to read the leaves, and learn how to correct the issues that will eventually likely arise. Indoors I grow 7-8 auto strains at a time (just a single plant of each) and I see a lot of variation in feeding needs. Quite a few times I have to weaken nutrients for a sensitive plant or two, while simultaneously increasing strength for heavy feeders.
3 Adapt - Ahh the action stage!! Try to fix any problems that arise. This is where you try to correct the problems that may arise. It's more than just tossing nutrients it at the plants and hoping that the one you need sticks. Master step 2, and once you know what the problem is, you are one step closer to having a solution.
4 Overcome Adversity - Sometimes all you can do is take a stab at the limiting factors you encounter. Not always will you figure out the problem quick enough to steer clear of possible damage, and all you can do is prime yourself for the next run and remember the errors, and don't fall into the same problem. Eliminate the weak links one at a time, and even if the damage is irreparable on this run, it will take you one step closer to having the perfect grow the next time
5 Accept Adversity - Hey we all make mistakes... Don't be hard on yourself, mistakes happen, the main thing is that you learn from them, and try to avoid making them again. I have always said "If you don't make mistakes in growing, all that means is you aren't smoking enough great weed!!" ha-ha seriously... mistakes happen. After many seasons of growing indoor and outdoor, I still make mistakes often, and you know every plant is different. Often the "mistakes" are often not even mistakes, when you grow a bunch of different strains from seed, they have different needs. Indoors, you can try to make your climate perfect, but some things are very difficult to overcome and sometimes they are impossible to overcome. Personally, I am super happy to grow out a bunch of strains in small pots, and get a nice variety of high potency autos and pull 2 ounces per auto in a less than ideal setup. My space is far from ideal, but I make it work. Its not what you didn't get to harvest that should matter, it's what the plants do give you that matters.
Remember that not just every strain is different, but also every plant is its own individual (okay well not so much if growing clones). It's doesn't matter how good a breeder is, there is little likelihood of a 5 pack of seeds being identical or even nearly identical. Maybe a couple of plants out of the pack will be very similar, but extremely unlikely any will be identical. There always seems to be some genetic variance amongst any strain or plant, and though they may be subtle differences, there is always some genetic drift. Of course cloned photoperiod plants are total reproductions of the mother plant, so thats an entirely different topic!
Even with clones in the same climate though there is variance in growth. If you have ever grown a 12/12 stacked SoG table with clones from the same mother plant, you know exactly what i mean!!
"Not for a free weed country or continent, but for a free weed world. Unite and grow, for a better, kinder planet"
912GreenSkell
The weak link? Training the grower to be a better grower? What is this? It's like this.... A plant in a perfect environment, combined with a perfect feeding schedule will result in perfectly grown plant. Most of us will never get to grow under absolutely optimal conditions. Whether your space is a little too warm, or too dry, or too damp, there is usually a challenge or two to overcome in a grow, if you ever hope to get close to perfection. In some climates, it is impossible to get it perfect, with most outdoor growers knowing exactly what I am talking about. Indoors is easier to manipulate environments closer to perfection, but even still some challenges are very difficult to overcome.
For the new grower, especially if you have never grown a single plant in your life, keep it simple. There is no point in going out and spending $300 on a huge line of nutrients if you have no idea how to use them. Follow the footsteps of accomplished growers, and learn from them!! Certain mediums can have a learning curve, so for your first grow instead of going with coco and needing to worry about fluctuating PH, sometimes its better to hook up with a PH perfect formula like Advanced nutrients makes, and a good neutral PH medium like Sunshine [HASHTAG]#4[/HASHTAG] or Promix HP. Set a goal to simply get a plant from start to harvest. Don''t get hung up on size or yields on your first grow, and don't get hung up on too many small details either. Point the plants in the right direction and they know what to do!!
Every plant amongst every strain can only grow as well as conditions and genetics will allow. I refer to this as the limiting factor, also known as "The weak link in the chain". A multitude of factors can affect growth, yield, potency, taste and smell. Each time you grow a plant, if you reduce the "weak link", your quality will continue to improve, as will yields . Notice I said reduce, and not eliminate the weak link. Sometimes you can eliminate the weak link, but often efforts to eliminate super low relative humidity (and many other potentially difficult to deal with issues), can result in an improvement, sometimes only a slight improvement. Some improvement will help in the long run!! These are most of the factors that can reduce yield, smell, or potency.
1 Genetics - Let's face it...no matter how perfect your climate is, if you are growing poor, weak, small plant genetics, you are going to get small, weak plants as a result. It's the nature of the beast!! You are only as strong as the seed stock you are growing! Whether its autos or photos you want to grow choose well known breeders with great reputations to get the most from your money. Companies like Dutch Passion, Dinafem, Sweet Seeds, Delicious Seeds, Mephisto (autos only) can be bought over at seedsman. (Or whatever seed bank that carries their seed) Do research on strains, especially if you think you will have adverse conditions (outdoor).
2 Improper PH - An improper PH on either side of the prime range being 6.0-6.5 for soil, and 5.6-6.2 for hydro, will cause problems if PH drifts too far from the prime range. If the medium is too Acidic, or too Alkaline, this will heavily interfere with nutrient uptake. A high quality PH meter will make PH tests easy and accurate. Products like the Accurate 8(used for medium testing only, not for liquids!), or a Blue Labs PH meter are essential if you are having PH swings and getting nutrient lockout. Coco users will definitely want a PH meter in their toolbox.
3 Medium: Improper Drainage - A medium that is too damp will result in over watering and suffocation of the roots, which will result in severe stunting. A medium that dries out too often, is fine as long as you are able to keep up with the moisture needs. If you are running a soil medium next time get some perlite and add a bunch of that into the mix. I like it when I need to water until runoff every 24-48 hours. Using the lift a pot technique, it is easy to tell when plants need some water.
4 Improper weak feeding - Feeding too weak will result in a nutrient deficient plant, which can be fixed if you properly identify the problem and take proper steps to fix it in a rapid time frame. The most common nutrient deficiencies in the vegetative stage is nitrogen, and the most common during the flower stage is Phosphorus, Potassium , Calcium and Magnesium. Learn what these deficiencies look like in early stage, and also as they progress, so you can fix the deficiencies as soon as possible, and adjust your feeding the next time to hopefully eliminate the problem before it starts.
5 Improper strong feeding - This one is even more important than weak feeding. Feeding too strong with nutrients has a major impact on plants, and often damage from over fertilizing can be permanant. If you spot it early enough, and flush the medium which will reduce the intensity of the nutrients, you can repair the damage fairly quickly and easily.
6 Improper Pot Size - Using a pot too small will severely interfere with root expansion, and will interrupt growth rates until eventually the plants growth is forced to a complete halt. As the plant grows larger and roots are bound, watering will become difficult due to the amount of roots and water needed to fuel the plant. If you use too large of a pot, you end up wasting money in often pricey mediums.
7 Excess Heat - If your climate is too hot, plants will often have elongated nodes and also heat induced hermaphrodites are a possibility. Buds in extreme heat often fail to produce very well and are often stretched, airy buds lacking in density. If you are rocking an indoor grow, and your temperature is 90F or higher, do what you can to lower it or buds might suffer. Some strains seem to do just fine in hot temps. As a general rule, pure Sativa's, and Sativa dominant plants handle excessive heat better than those of Indica's due to their often far south lineage and decades of naturally climatizing to heat
8 Cold Temperature - If your climate is too chilly (14C/57F and under) growth rates will begin to slow down. Once into cold temps below 10C/50F plants will really suffer, tissue damage wont actually occur until close to 0C/32F but grow will slow to a halt at anything under 10C/50F. When I grow indoors under LED lights, I like a warmer temperature, especially for young plants. I prefer 80-85F/26-29C. Young plants seem like they are really susceptible to negative impacts from cooler climates, it can greatly affect their growth. Young auto plants seem particularly susceptible to cold weather stunting. Leaves will often droop in cold temps, and can often look like over watering.
9 Low Humidity - I grow in both high humidity outdoors (70%+ average), and low humidity indoors (25-30% average). Indoors the low humidity doesn't seem to be much of an issue except when it is super low(10-20%). I have tried to fix the problem, by adding water pans in my space, but our winters are cold and dry, and no amount of effort I could do would raise it above 35%, so eventually I just accepted adversity, and you know what? Low humidity doesn't seem to have a major impact. Still, if you can take your humidity and hold it at an ideal 50%, growth rates will excel and you will get bigger and better plants.
10 High humidity - High humidity has a much greater impact than low humidity will cause. Plants in high humidity (60%+) will grow great, but the problem with a high humidity is potential mold. Indoors, it's often easy to work around due to Dehumidifiers. Outdoors, you are at the mercy of mother nature on this one. If you are in high humidity outdoors, I would suggest trying to find a location that is as windy as possible. Heavily increased circulation will lessen the impact of a high humidity.
11 Over watering - This one is tough, and knowing just how much water and how frequent is also tough, due to the large amount of climate variants in different types of setups, with varied mediums, temps, air circulation, relative humidity, pot size and type, all being a factor in the ideal watering amount and frequency. Leaves will droop heavily when over watered.
12 Under watering - Usually happens less than over watering, but when it does happen, it is usually a major impact on the plants health. Personally I like to take plants almost to the point of starting to wilt from needing water, but never beyond that point. Severe under watered leaves will turn crispy, and will never return to healthy again. Indoors I grow in small 1.5 gallon(6 liter) pots. Using the lift a pot method its easy to judge when the need water. Most smaller autos I grow need 1.5 liters every 24-48 hours(depending on the plant, and their age), so getting to know the weight of the pot makes proper watering timing easy.
13 Improper Lighting - If you supply improper lighting yields and quality on your plants will suffer. Indoors, there is many selections of light from Ceramic Metal Halide, LED and old school fluorescent (T5/T8). Each light has a sweet spot and that will vary depending on the specific light model as well as the stage of growth the plant is in. If you move your light too far from the plants, they will stretch out too much, and bud spacing will be too far from the light source and density especially on the lower flowers will suffer. Outdoors, insufficient direct sunlight(less than 6 hours direct) will also impact the flower production in the same way. Indoors lights in very close proximity to the plants will often cause light stress(bleaching). Using light proper is crucial to a great grow!!
Okay, so now you have a vast majority of possible limiting factors above. Do you find you are having less than perfect grows? Consult the list above and determine which of the above is most likely. The true trick, is using this simple formula.
1 Observe - Always watch the plant closely. Nice lush green flat lying leaves are pointing to perfect health, and grow to match their appearance!! Home made Instatransplant pots is a great way to be able to monitor your root growth. Always keep an eye on your leaves, you will learn everything you need to know from your leaves once you are able to read the signs. Keep and eye out for discoloured leaves, or curled leaves up or down. All of these things are signs of issues, and we need to know what is causing them early.
2 Identify - Learn deficiencies and over fertilizing signs. It's important that you can read what the plant is telling you through their leaves. Sure, you could just drop by one of the many websites out there on growing Cannabis, but if you are seriously looking to improve your skills, learn to read the leaves, and learn how to correct the issues that will eventually likely arise. Indoors I grow 7-8 auto strains at a time (just a single plant of each) and I see a lot of variation in feeding needs. Quite a few times I have to weaken nutrients for a sensitive plant or two, while simultaneously increasing strength for heavy feeders.
3 Adapt - Ahh the action stage!! Try to fix any problems that arise. This is where you try to correct the problems that may arise. It's more than just tossing nutrients it at the plants and hoping that the one you need sticks. Master step 2, and once you know what the problem is, you are one step closer to having a solution.
4 Overcome Adversity - Sometimes all you can do is take a stab at the limiting factors you encounter. Not always will you figure out the problem quick enough to steer clear of possible damage, and all you can do is prime yourself for the next run and remember the errors, and don't fall into the same problem. Eliminate the weak links one at a time, and even if the damage is irreparable on this run, it will take you one step closer to having the perfect grow the next time
5 Accept Adversity - Hey we all make mistakes... Don't be hard on yourself, mistakes happen, the main thing is that you learn from them, and try to avoid making them again. I have always said "If you don't make mistakes in growing, all that means is you aren't smoking enough great weed!!" ha-ha seriously... mistakes happen. After many seasons of growing indoor and outdoor, I still make mistakes often, and you know every plant is different. Often the "mistakes" are often not even mistakes, when you grow a bunch of different strains from seed, they have different needs. Indoors, you can try to make your climate perfect, but some things are very difficult to overcome and sometimes they are impossible to overcome. Personally, I am super happy to grow out a bunch of strains in small pots, and get a nice variety of high potency autos and pull 2 ounces per auto in a less than ideal setup. My space is far from ideal, but I make it work. Its not what you didn't get to harvest that should matter, it's what the plants do give you that matters.
Remember that not just every strain is different, but also every plant is its own individual (okay well not so much if growing clones). It's doesn't matter how good a breeder is, there is little likelihood of a 5 pack of seeds being identical or even nearly identical. Maybe a couple of plants out of the pack will be very similar, but extremely unlikely any will be identical. There always seems to be some genetic variance amongst any strain or plant, and though they may be subtle differences, there is always some genetic drift. Of course cloned photoperiod plants are total reproductions of the mother plant, so thats an entirely different topic!
Even with clones in the same climate though there is variance in growth. If you have ever grown a 12/12 stacked SoG table with clones from the same mother plant, you know exactly what i mean!! "Not for a free weed country or continent, but for a free weed world. Unite and grow, for a better, kinder planet"
912GreenSkell
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