[FastForward]

aka Things I Wish I’d Known and Learned The Hard Way

This is an evolving list that I'll update as and when I learn something the hard way
For anyone new reading this, I'm about 6 or 7 weeks into my first grow....so if you're just starting out hopefully what I've learned in my short time can save you some hassle...

1) Less is More, Keep It Simple, Don’t Overthink It... people don’t say it because they think you’re not up to it, or because you’re stupid...it’s because it’s tried and tested. Start simple, then develop with time. Hand water soil or coco first, then think about hydro or aero, or drip to waste coco etc.

2) Water Pumps Are Your Friend. Forget drilling out drain taps for reservoirs, or sucking nutes through a hose. Put a water pump in the res with a hose on, and empty into a bucket/drain. Also put one in your res whilst you’re mixing nutes...instant mixing, no stirring. Leave it in the res for circulation as an alternative/addition to airstones.

3) Water Coco Daily. Forget all the “it’s better if it dries” crap – just water them daily with runoff, more frequently for younger/smaller plants. You can leave bigger pots for a day or even two, but think of it more as for emergency rather than practice. Some people swear that you should leave it to dry, but from what I've seen in diaries, daily/frequent watering is the way forward. Simpler too.

4) Soak Hydroton in pH’d water. Rinsing them is one thing, and it has to be done very very thoroughly so there is next to NO silt/residue. In addition they have to be soaked to ensure pH stays relatively level once the system is going. IF NOT, MASSIVE PH SWINGS WITH SILTING.

5) Distilled Water or RO water (EC0) is no good on its own. It’s too pure and there’s nothing to buffer pH. Cut with tap water. 70/30 (ish) RO to tap seems to work well for me.

6) NEVER turn off your extractor. Increase humidity other ways, but never turn it off. Low ventilation plus humidity = very bad (algae, pests, pythium etc)

7) Cheap pH meters – don’t do it. If you can afford it, spend the extra money and get a good one with a replaceable bulb. pH is so important that if it breaks you’re screwed. Don’t buy cheap – it’s a false economy.

8) Seed Selection. Don’t use your very best, most elite genetics for your first attempt at propagation. Use something cheaper and more disposable just in case you get it wrong. It’s not difficult but it does take some honing to get good germ rates, with whatever methods works best for you. I just put mine straight in coco now and into a heated prop until they break the surface when I put them under lights and start on formulex (5ml/ltr).

[rocky]

I dont use coco, but i like to let the soil get pretty dry. Like when i stick my finger an inch or so in the soil its pretty dry. Which is usually about every 3-4 days. I have gone 5 days once before, and then it just barely started to look thirsty. Ive heard its bad to water everyday, the plants get overwatered and dont grow as good. Also when you let the soil dry it encourages root growth cuz the roots are tunneling searchin for that water. Also i would think there is a highly less of a chance of your roots rotting or gettin moldy or something like that. Ive just heard overwatering is very bad for the plants, and watering everyday could run the risk of overwatering. But i dont use coco so i dont know how those go.

Also with pH, at first i didnt have anything to test ph so i wasnt adjusting the water at all. Started to have some problems, those pH pens that are like $150 are way to much for me. For some of you big rollers its nothing the shell out 150, but to me it is. I kept hearing, dont bother with anything else besides a pH pen, so i never got anything. But my problem kept getting worse, finnaly my buddy hooked me up with this simple pH test thing. Works fine for me, cant break, and my plants are finally thriving(i think atleast). So if you cant afford a pH pen, get some kind of cheap thing to test pH, otherwise your gunna have problems. All i do on mine is get the water i want to test drop in 3 drops of the ph test stuff, shake it up and match colors.

Cool thread ff, should help some people alot.

[mace]

I recently had to clean a bunch of hydroton. The easiest most efficient way i've found so far is to use some net pots and a hose. Run the hose water over the hydroton till the runoff is clean, being sure to agitate slightly.

Building a large square screen from window screening would work well to i'd imagine.

[ProGroWannabe]

Nice thread FF!! Good idea.

[Aerokush101]

Good Words of advise....!

I never feed my Coco that much though, I feed it like soil, always turned out perfect to me....

AK101