Things You found Out on your own

FootballFirst said:

i've learned that if you have fungus gnats and are using soil, you should put up fly traps to catch the live ones, then kill the larvae and eggs by mixing in neem oil at 2 tbsp per gallon for the next 2 waterings then, on every 3rd watering for prevention.

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You can also place a small glass of red wine near the grow pots/bags. The little fuckers like to get drunk and drown!

Ive had fungus gnats for years ..That's the price you pay for using a little fresh compost here and there .. Mine don't really grow that fast there I think once I quite trying to Poison them they quite try to reproduce as much and to top it off last time I got mold there were no flys then when I beat the mold and it never came back my little fungas gants did so I keep them around I kinda think there good luck now but I have seen them completely out of control in some gardens to were sheets and sheets of fly strips were black mine defiantly don't reproduce that fast I just see a fly here and there but not often..

Guitar Man said:

You can also place a small glass of red wine near the grow pots/bags. The little fuckers like to get drunk and drown!

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Save the wine for yourself! Just fill a cup with soap suds with a shot of vinegar. They cant resist the vinegar smell and stick to the soap suds. You can clear the adults out fast.

I have found that sand on top of the pots, Nematodes (Scan mask) top dress watering, gnatrol bottom soaking the drain holes is the only way to end Fungus gnats infestations. Nematodes are any soil or coco growers best friend. Also kill 270 other pests in soil and they are all natural good microscopic bugs. As important as the soil for all plant stages. Well worth the price.

I found out that having less plants isn't a bad thing if im flowering for 70 days and I only have one flower room Im also vegging for 70 days

I discovered that putting my T5-HO lights in an A-frame arrangement produces more light in a more concentrated area for vegging, and a lot of the light is on the sides of the plants instead of all of it coming from above.

Cloning is easy.

MJ is a tough species that thrives under adverse growing conditions.

Everything.
That's what I learned on my own.
About 4 yrs growing and I still learn something new all the time. Still just scratching the surface. Organic is the key for me. Soil/Soilless. Compost. then amendments. Brew Teas microherds beneficials roots roots roots
perlite is my best friend I also love molasses. Grow lots of strains and find "yours" clone clone clone
My best advice.. Veg longer smoke more make hash.. Sorry I sound like a foreigner I'm just high as akite

I have learned many things the hard way!
if you dont foliar spray less things will go wrong- accidently sprayed the glass on my hood and the entire glass shattered into tiny pieces over all my kids.
if your air pumps are on the ground next to your res if the air pump goes out it will siphon all the water out of your res...
if your plan res is lower or less gallons than your r/o res and you turn the pump off... the r/o res will still siphon and empty completely. I have installed back up hose switches.
KEEP A JOURNAL!
constantly refresh your skills with reading up on things or techniques you don't practice.
Never put a stugling plant into flower ( its like trying to bake with half the ingredients)
use duct clamps not tape!!!!
cold water helps a lot in cloners toss a frozen bottle of water in it every day
DWC is super easy butttt i have learned to have my bucket off the ground from the start so i can pull the bucket out from under it without having to worry about moving the plant from its supports
plans can hermie at any time during flower!
never take a trip while ur bud is curing
water from your dehumidifier can be reused in your grow

If you see a post on roll it up that is wrong- let the person know in a polite way and you both may learn something!

I found out how to treat a girl at a very early age just by watching how my sisters were treated (like crap) and was able to perfect my talent, until my wife grabbed me 14 years ago.

bigbillyrocka said:

I found out how to treat a girl at a very early age just by watching how my sisters were treated (like crap) and was able to perfect my talent, until my wife grabbed me 14 years ago.

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Well, mine grabbed me too.....by the balls...... and has never let go.

they say that means its good trim!

keep your 4 footed friends away from your garden (outdoors) this means get a fence up, or scare the shit outta them so they don't cross that invisible line again and again, and tear up your hard work.

You can grow pot for about $20, its just really difficult, and you won't have a way to mask the smell, you will have a good idea of how it grows, what to look for etc. on your next grow when you actually spend real $$.

all this advanced germination is shit... I took 50 seeds, put them in a gallon bucket of dirt, added about a cup of water, within 2 weeks I was culling new shoots left and right, these seeds came up super fast

it doesn't take a lot of non-thinking to ruin a grow, especially if you grow with partners (keep everyone on the same page at the same time...)

It is really easy to clone. I took a seedling tray I got from walmark and added potting soil, packing the holes a little extra tight for where I was putting the clones, I cut the clone and ran under water, and poked into the dirt, a week later I had a couple healthy clones (no gels, no heat mats, only dirt, sink water and lights)

more to come when I think about it

What I have learned on my own the list is endless, but for this plant, wow. My biggest learning curve was that you can spend an ungodly amount of money on seeds and not have much to show for it. This made me realize that I needed about 6 good strains of genetics to make seeds and my medicine if you will the rest of my life. Research for some really good genetics that you like and enjoy, their family history, compare and figure out how their genetics can be enhanced with breeding/pollen chuck'n. One more sativa when I decide what I really want and no more angry wife over seed purchases.

Less is more, remain a beginner, plants are sculptures, and if you work to fill a void the plants know.....Feel fulfillment as you germinate and let your garden reflect your abundance of spirit. Helping people is very important.

Buy a tent, don't build your own box.. unless you are experienced with construction and have access to cheap materials.

After buying all the wood and screws and brackets and hole saws/tools I needed, I spent about $200-250 building a somewhat decent 4x4x5 box. It was heavy and hard to move/deconstruct.

I spent $160 on a 5x5x6 tent that has made my life 100x easier. And, I can take it down in 20 minutes if I hustle.

What I have learned on my own hmmmmm. Very few people here on riu know anything about nothing. They all know something just ask them.......

ok, got back from a day out in the sun... more things I just found out, or knew before but didn't have time to post, these are mainly with outdoor stuff:
1. be prepared (as an eagle scout that one is embedded in my mind, but I am never surprised anymore when I realize after toking up, that I have left something very important. So this last time I made a list. Down to the absolute basics of a paper towel so I could wipe my face from the sweat (100+ degrees yikes!) to the myriad of writing utensils (pen, pencil, marker that I knew I would need) and a short shopping list.

2. this one might be more for me, but Know what you can carry, and how you are getting it there. I have a 15 mile bike ride (yes a bicycle not a motorcycle) through town, then a gravel road, then a country road, then a dirt road and then up a hill. I almost killed myself at 4:30 in the morning trying to discreetly carry a half gallon of purified water to my site. Hindsight, shoulda gotten a backpack or bag or something to carry that stuff in. I had no room in my bike, and the weight dragged me to the left, and any right turns would have resulted in a sudden and severe case of broken neck. I am still here though, so that didn't happen. I had to MacGyver a bottle of water to my bike with my bike lock, thank god it stayed tight enough I didn't lose it, and deal with fog so thick I coulda eaten it with a spoon.

3. Bring pest control for YOU. not just your plants. I have at least 1 orange flying thing that is the biggest thing I've ever seen (at least its the loudest one I've ever heard) and it is out to kill me. I can't remember how many times I've come running out of the garden after hearing the tk-tk-tk-tk-tk-tk machine gun sound of its wings as it dive bombs me from some unknown direction. A can of raid later, and Larry is absent, thank GOD.

4. Poison Ivy. look it up and watch out for it. also Poison Oak, sumac, stuff like that. I thought I was digging in some weeds, til the next day when my back, legs, and arms were all infected with the poison stuff, not fun.
5. Get plenty of rest. If you gotta take a 15 mile or so hike, you wanna be rested, cause at the END of that hike, is when the work starts. There's been a couple days when I get to the garden and all I wanna do is lie down and sleep, which means that I will wake up infested with ticks and mosquito bites.

6. Stay hydrated, but keep it separate from what you feed your plants. I will take a gatorade bottle, nice unique shape there. its mine. Good electrolytes and all that scientific stuff that means that I stay healthy and hydrated. then a bottle of water (totally different shape. I can grab either of them with my hand, not look and know which it is. that said, your plant feed should be clearly labeled so you don't add the wrong nutrients

Hey fairly new to RIU, not to growing anything green. After hundreds hours of scouring/reading/policing I have found out One important thing I did not know before I started. I did not know there was no botanist on the RIU staff! There can't be, with all the fallacies here why is no one correcting these statements. No one seems to know the basics of gardening, people arguing 2 different points and both are actually wrong, pages and pages of crap, name calling, racism...you name it! All of this could be nipped in the bud if a proper botanist was able to step in and shut down the parties in question before the wars start. No one wins when it is allowed to decay like I see in sooooo many threads.

JonnyAppleSeed420 said:

Hey fairly new to RIU, not to growing anything green. After hundreds hours of scouring/reading/policing I have found out One important thing I did not know before I started. I did not know there was no botanist on the RIU staff! There can't be, with all the fallacies here why is no one correcting these statements. No one seems to know the basics of gardening, people arguing 2 different points and both are actually wrong, pages and pages of crap, name calling, racism...you name it! All of this could be nipped in the bud if a proper botanist was able to step in and shut down the parties in question before the wars start. No one wins when it is allowed to decay like I see in sooooo many threads.

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I agree with you 100 percent you get a few idiots to agree on something it becomes fact to the masses no matter if they are wrong.