Mistakes on your first grow

[LeafmeBee]

Hello everyone! I’m a new grower, and as new growers tend to do I made a lot of mistakes lol. I started with 9 seeds from a local trusted seed bank, 3 were photo periods, and the other 6 were autos. Of those seeds 2 made it to flower, one photo, and one auto ToT.
PROBLEM NUMBER 1: damping off. Every seed sprouted HOWEVER, most did not make it past the seedling stage… I found out later that my soil was too moist which invited yk.. funguses and germs and such.
PROBLEM NUMBER 2: of the seedlings that survived damping off, I might’ve… stressed them a little too fast.. I did an outside grow in pots, and I live in a pretty hot and dry area.. it should’ve been common sense to keep them inside longer now that I look back lol.
PROBLEM NUMBER 3: PESTS!!! God I have hate in my heartt now for some of these bugs. Fuck spider mites, and ESPECIALLY APHIDS! When my auto was ready to harvest and I was trimming it, I noticed that the aphids really buried themselves deep inside my buds, so I didn’t see them when I checked my flower. So I learned that although picking around ur buds can damage the tricombs, it is far better to damage them a bit when checking them than to just trust you have no pests since there’s none on the outside (￣▽￣
PROBLEM NUMBER 4 (the most tragic): I shouldn’t have underestimated my dry climate lol… my bud dried to fast…
It’s not all doom and gloom for me tho, I had so much fun doing my first grow! And my photo is finally in flower! I’m sad that the bud from my auto is probably gonna be sub par… but before things got chaotic it was so sparkly and fragrant! Just need to tweak some things with my harvest and dry so I don’t mess up my photoperiod!
anyways I’ve dragged on long enough, so what Im curious about is what mistakes yall made on your first grow? Especially mistakes that seemed obvious in hindsight lol

[bboyfromwayback]

When I started, tents weren’t that popular. My first grow was in a spare bedroom. I put trash bags over the windows but gave no thought to the light coming in under the door or what time the dark period was occurring. Eventually the whole grow hermied.

That was a long time ago. Luckily for new growers, today’s technology and sites like this one make it easy to shorten the learning curve

[LeafmeBee]

It’s kinda crazy how much things have changed! I don’t think my grows would have been as good without this site, and if I lived in a stricter state I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do an outside grow at all lol

[bboyfromwayback]

You can still grow outdoors in illegal states, just have to be an outlaw 👍🏻

[DabberDog]

I was disgusted and disheartened by my first or second grow. To this day, they were some of the prettiest colas I've grown. Disgust and disheartenment came when I found some nanners and removed half the plant. I didn't realize it was still smokable or that I could dump it all in a bubble bag. Really, I had no idea how hash was made.

[LeafmeBee]

Tats totally how I felt about the aphids in mine! My colas were so pretty and sparkly, and I had so much sugar leaves! I was so excited to turn the trim into canna butter or something… but then.. aphids. I had to remove all the sugar leaves and throw them away you live and you learn right? Lol

[Smallgrow]

My actual first grow were rescue plants I got when someone moved away and abandoned them. I didn’t get the males out fast enough so I got seed weed among other deficiencies. I did get some bud to smoke tho.
I actually have a few buds left from that in the weed vault, as they contain the seeds so I thought I would save some. It’s was kinda nice old school Critical mass cross

[LeafmeBee]

That’s actually so cool! It’s a shame about the seed weed tho, did you turn them into edibles and stuff?

[Smallgrow]

Hell no , ya pick the seeds out and smoke that shit, just like the old days. Seed weed is just fine aside from the odd fire hazard from popping seeds, 😆. Hard on tshirts and couches like hash joints

History lesson for the few younglings around here, it all used to have seeds till the 70’s 80’s.

[LeafmeBee]

lol, I forget how easy we have it now 😂

[Bluey]

My biggest mistakes in my early days growing indoors in coco as follows

1. Not controlling humidity with a dehumidifier. Result, mold everywhere.

2. Using a cheap shit pH meter. Result..battling deficiency because of nute lockout.

3. Drying a bit too fast. Result, hay/grass odour.

4. Trying to do lighting on the cheap instead of using dedicated full spectrum LED bar lights. Result. It worked well but the little I saved wasn't worth all the hassle and difficulty setting ideal heights. It was a PITA.

5. Should have started years earlier instead of persisting with outdoor grows.

[Smallgrow]

OMG cheap PH meters ,yes!

[ductwizard]

i think my biggest goof this yr was not writing everything down. i lost track of which plant was which after a wind storm blew my markers away. after battlin bugs and 9o degree heat 4 weeks i got about 12 oz. outta my auto's and am waitin 4 my photos 2 finish.

[LeafmeBee]

Id say that was probably one of my mistakes too, tbh my grow wasn’t super thought out lol. I kinda just woke up one day late spring and was like “I should try growin this stuff myself” and yeah that’s what I did 😂

[Allotrope1000]

Hey, Leafme.
Everyone is new at something all the time. Simply chalk your grow problems up to that. Allow me to offer my solutions. I am an outdoor grower and also a Master Gardener, so have bit of practice.

Problem1. I plant 1/2" long root, sprouted seeds in hydrated Jiffy Pellets and put each one in a yogurt cup under a grow light. I keep them moist and leave them uncovered. Don't cover them!
That can/will cause dampening off.

Problem 2. After root tips show through the Jiffy Pellet, I transplant into 4" pots, then into one gallon pots, then outside into final grow location/media. I always transplant 4-5"+ tall seedlings with well-developed root balls - better survival. I grow in the summer hellscape of metro
Phoenix with temps of 105°-115°F all summer long and 10% RH. Location is important. Right now I have two legal grow photos ("Apple Betty" from Herbies Seeds) in the ground, 7'+ tall and just dripping buds. Did good soil prep and placed in mottled shade with a sunscreen shading them from the most intense heat of the day. Try in ground vs pots. The roots will stay much cooler and happier.

Problem 3. I recommend you read up on integrated pest management (IPM), which is the skill of dealing with pest problems.
Good info here on GWE.
Prevention is better than treatment. I generously dusted diatomaceous earth (DE) around the plant base (buy at a pool supply) and coffee grounds, both of which deter insects - done so three times. I also had a couple dozen, tiny predatory wasps find a home in the plants.
I check daily and have seen no aphids, no spider mites.

Problem 4. Dry your crop indoors, in a dark room and use a humidifier to raise the RH. I cheat, though, having a basement room that is a constant 55°F and 50% RH. Ten days or so later, they are ready to trim.

Full disclosure. I have never grown indoors, always outdoors in a greenhouse with 50/50 coco perlite, 7 to 12 gallon fabric pots and GH nutes. My current in ground grow is the easiest ever, no fancy, expensive soil or fertilizer, no constant attention. Hoping to get 5+ lbs of bud from the two sativa dominant plants.

Hope this lengthy answer helps!

[LeafmeBee]

Dude! This helps so much you have no idea, I was getting really discouraged with the damping off. I don’t live somewhere as hot and dry as Arizona (idk if I could survive constant 110+ degree temps lol), but I do live in the south west, and it still gets pretty hot and dry, and I just don’t have enough room inside to have a huge grow tent. I think I’ll def take ur advice on the ipm because I foolishly thought pests wouldn’t be a big deal… then they were lol

[Allenpro]

I have heard that sprinkling cinnamon around the base of a sprout will stop the damping off problem

[Bowhunterwoody]

For me my biggest mistake was using miracle grow for my first outdoor grow. Plants had complete nitrogen toxicity. Disgusting looking nute burn. Made me find this site though, so not all bad.

[ductwizard]

i did the same thing last year, got about 3/4 oz. outta 4 plants. i think it was used a cpl. times b-4 that

[bboyfromwayback]

Wish I’d found this site a few years earlier myself but definitely learned what not to do

[LeafmeBee]

I really dislike miraclegrow, their soil sucks, it doesn’t matter what you plant in it

[golfnrl]

My biggest mistake was not being fully prepared. Second biggest mistake was buying stuff I didn't need or buying inexpensive gear that didn't last. My first indoor grow was in a 2x2.5x6' tent in 5 gallon pots using Ocean Forest Blend soil with Fox Farm Tiger Bloom and Grow Big nutrients, hand watered. I almost drowned them with too much love, didn't fully understand lighting, PH, RH and all the things that make weed grow well. Never mind that the nutrients weren't applied correctly or were even the right ones. I found GWE while trying to find a better way, been here ever since.

[bboyfromwayback]

I was totally unprepared as well. My buddy came over to help me trim and freaked me out by saying he could smell my grow from the street when he got out of his car so we took it into the woods to trim on some gas pipeline in the middle of nowhere. We had 2 regular scissors and no gloves or running alchol. It was a complete cluster fuck