I believe throughout the years cleanliness is paramount in the learning curve…
4 Likes
I’ve been at this a long while and I think the hardest lesson I’ve learned is that when most people don’t know something they tend to fall back on hippie lore and passed down info that everyone considers gospel.
Not all the old wives tales are true and sometimes trying something yourself is the best way to learn.
And if offering someone advice know the info is legit and not just passed down second hand jargon.
Ymmv in all situations and there are no short cuts
10 Likes
My biggest lesson has been grow only as much as you can personally handle. Growing a few hundred plants then trying to harvest them all by yourself is next to impossible… then realising you have completely inadequate drying space for what you can get through. I’ve been through the bugs and pm but that was all manageable… having too much weed is not. End of the day its not worth the risk or time put in for something that can’t get the necessary drying and cure.
I guess the 2nd big lesson I learnt many moons ago was to not trust our nursery potting soils. Real garbage we get out here… and learning to build a soil and actually having it tested is what really helped me get things locked in properly and a huge lesson.
12 Likes
My three hardest lessons kinda go together. The first one has been said, but bears repeating:
Don’t believe the hype.
Don’t believe any of it, ever, whether it’s strains or equipment or methods. The hype is always manufactured. If you ever get that OMG I GOTTA HAVE IT feeling, take a few days to reassess. For all the reasons already mentioned. @plantmoreseeds 
The second one goes hand 'n glove with the first:
YMMV
Your grow will turn out different than anyone else’s, even with the same elite cuts, similar methods, environment and equipment. That’s OK. Throwing money at expensive seeds or clones or nutes or lights won’t make you a better grower. Don’t reinvent the wheel, but also don’t be a copycat. Learn. Adapt. Grow. Terroir is a real thing, so is epigenetics.
Lastly, don’t forget there’s a good reason why we say:
It grows like a weed.
Have patience, and keep it simple. Most of the time, pot doesn’t need a lot of babying. Don’t overdo it. Nurture nature, don’t enslave it. Also remember that if something’s worth doing right, it’s worth doing right the first time.
10 Likes
Sorry, if I do not answer this then this thread has no meaning/continuity. People keep asking me more questions about MITES here! Mite control is critical to grows though, now more than ever. And it has been a tough learning curve for me and one that I have a lot of experience with. More species of mites keep coming at us as well.
Anyway, my mite philosophy is that if you spray your plants and get rid of the mites, then you know you have gotten rid of ALL the mites. The plants are the feedback indicators. If you chop your grow and spray the grow room or greenhouse, you have no way of knowing if you got all the little f’ers. For reasons that you post here; they get into crevices and go dormant, or they lay eggs, either of which can survive for long periods of time. Females can go dormant over winter, and eggs can survive (depending on the mite species and the average temperatures) for many months before hatching. Also beware that seeds can have mite eggs on them.
Maybe I will start a mite thread…
6 Likes
Not the hardest lesson learned. Actually one of the easiest. When I was in Jr High my mom used to drop me off at an Italian friend of hers to learn how to cook real Italian food. Northern Lombardy Italian food. We would cook up gobs of pasta and freeze it for the coming month. Her father was from Milan, Italy and did not speak English. But he taught me how to plant and harvest by the moon. This is lore that goes back to before Roman times in Italy.
Simple system: plant during the new moon, and harvest during the full moon.
7 Likes
I’ve always heard about using lunar cycles to grow, but don’t really understand it.
2 Likes
There’s a couple threads here I believe regarding lunar moon phase planting if ya can contribute please do so I’v been doing it here and there. Thanks
2 Likes
Hey man I"m all in favor of Neem, it’s what I use, the only problem is you need to keep it up every 10 days, and if you spray it past the first week or two of flower you will taste it in the buds, or possibly even have Azadachtrin in the buds to a certain degree.
1 Like
if the full moon isn’t out you can’t see anything to harvest into the evening, that’s where “Harvest Moon” gets its name.
2 Likes
I use refined neem oil. It has the aza removed. I have never had any neem smell on my buds after harvest. Even when spraying up to a week before. You can also rinse your buds when harvesting to get the dead bugs, dust and residual soap and oil off of them. See my thread on Farking Mites for details.
3 Likes
W Italia fiero che il mio paese ti sia rimasto nel cuore io della Campania