What is your limiting factor?

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phxazcraig

phxazcraig

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We all have tendencies and most of us are not willing to self reflect and admit them 😝

1) Any experienced growers care to suggest what they think most new/novice growers deal with as their limiting factor to optimal growth? Hydro or organic.

2) How many runs with particular strain before you felt dialed in?
I'm a novice grower with only 3 grows in now. Learned a lot on each one. First two in soil, last one in coco.

Soil: watering. It's just so easy to overwater, which seems to happen to about 100% of new growers. Basically the right amount of water. Secondarily what is in the water, meaning nutrients.

All: lighting measurements. (Partly coupled with space for lighting) One needs to have the right amount of light on your plants, and everyone seems to start out with a huge problem. That problem being that nobody (beginner) knows how strong their lighting is, simply because the meter you need to properly measure it is so expensive. (Apogee PAR meters). And so we have a ridiculous number of posts 'specifying' the distance their light is from the plant and some percentage of power dimming applied. Then there are the inaccurate-but-cheap meters and phone apps.
 
Blastfact

Blastfact

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#1: Patience,,,,,, If you don't have patience you will never be a grower at any level. It is seen day in and day out. A new grower spent a evening reading the net in hypermode on there near useless cell phone. And then they show up here and all over the otherwise ignored net and database with a auto grow in coco and not a clue. Got to have it now,,, china gear and all.
 
steamroller

steamroller

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The limiting factors for me is equipment ,space for equipment and knowledge.
I need to learn more before biting off too much .
Patience is completely necessary along being attentive.
Being attentive without knowledge is no good though .
Knowledge is what holds most common /hobby growers back IMO.
 
Johnlandy420

Johnlandy420

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As someone who has grown for a long time, I would have to say the most limiting factor for me would be my lack of proper documentation. It is damn near impossible to properly asses a situation without all of the pertinent information. I can tell myself the same thing every year "im going to write down everything", then lo and behold , I'm halfway through another grow and I have a couple of things scrawled down on the back of a waterlogged pop tart box, and a handful of receipts from the local gardening store stuffed into an old peat pot that has been sitting in the same spot since I cut my finger trying to separate the damn thing from its siamese twin and had to go find a band-aid.
All joking aside, if I had to pick one thing that i think holds me back from being a REALLY GOOD grower that would be the one. Im 56 years old and have been growing since I was in my early twenties, with some time off for family and career and such, ive done indoor/ outdoor hydro and organic, and without the notes I would have been starting over every year. When we attempt to solve a problem the first thing we do is ask for information, and without those answers often we are lost, so yes proper documentation is key for me.
This is a huge issue for me right now. I’m obsessed with data but it serves me no good when I cant find my last IN/OUT pH & EC readings. I’m working on this one.
 
Johnlandy420

Johnlandy420

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#1: Patience,,,,,, If you don't have patience you will never be a grower at any level. It is seen day in and day out. A new grower spent a evening reading the net in hypermode on there near useless cell phone. And then they show up here and all over the otherwise ignored net and database with a auto grow in coco and not a clue. Got to have it now,,, china gear and all.
Haha. The net told me to grow autos in DWC.
 
Anthem

Anthem

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The last few years has been one heck of a learning curve. I have been at it for almost 5 years now and about 45 grows. I have to say that the salesman at the hydro store are some of the most limiting factors for a lot of folks. The challenge is the way the marketing and sales reps work. Just about every single guy working at the hydro store gets hooked up with free product if they want it. That being said it is pretty simple I give you free product and you promote my products. It was all cool at first, I wanted to get away from Botanicare because I felt it was expensive and I thought there was better stuff out there. I went with another product line and I had great results. Now came the PK boosters. I think that was a whole year of this and that. About the same time it was switching to Coco because I thought I was a great grower. Well coco kicked my ass because I treated it like soil and it does not work well if it gets dried out.
Realizing I needed to change along came hydro. I use an ebb and flow set up that is fully automated. The largest problem I found was with nutrients. Switching to hydro meant I was going to be going thru a lot more nutrients so right away I felt like liquid nutrients where an absolute waste because at the end of every week about 30 gallons goes down the drain. So I stated off with Athena Pro Line. It works and works well at first, but the stuff starts to pick up water out of the air and it throws the balance off because their core is calcium nitrate and their grow and bloom have products in the mix that are hydroscopic. So as time goes on each time you mix up a new batch of nutrients the NPK ratios are off because the grow and bloom pick up water out of the air. This single issue probably took me a year to get to the bottom of it and hours and hours of research. Athena and HGV are very similar. They are very high in Calcium and Calcium does not play well with some other Macro Nutrients. So I would always see nutrient problems specifically around the switch to flower. I found I could somewhat combat this with Calcium and Magnesium. I was in the hydro store one day and I stumbled across grow more no N cal mag. Great product and at 10 mils per gallon the problems either went away or where no much of a concern. Well time and costs continued to rise so I wanted to revisit the nutrients and I came across @BillFarthing and balling on a budget. Probably one of the most helpful threads I have ran across on the site. Bill is pretty well versed in nutrients and has many homemade recipes for the crap everyone runs to the hydro store to purchase. I am presently running a modified version of balling on a budget that Bill posted on another site. It works, it about as cheap as you can go. It simple works.
So right now the limiting factor is me. I have full environmental control, great lighting and CO2 enrichment. So really it comes down to the person calling the shots at this point. Most everyone thinks that is magic in the bottles and that is just not the case. Get yourself a good quality 2 or 3 part and focus on the environment and things you can control outside of the nutrients. Never overlook PH is is a limiting factory with hydro and one of the easiest to correct, but you have to put the time in.
While there are a few products that do help most are snake oil. Take @Aqua Man, he is sold on Massive by Green Planet. I can tell you it works and increases mass but I believe at a price of terps and oils. Another one that works is fulvic acid. But again go thru Balling on a budget it is all there for the taking. Kelp is also another great product. As well as Monosilic acid. Apart from these and maybe some hammerhead that is all it really takes to grow in Coco or hydro.

One thing that happened to me at the hydro store about 6 months ago is the icing on the cake for this post. Part of balling on a budget is the base nutrients. Jacks 321 is what Bill mostly pushes and I use it. I was at the hydro store talking to the manager and one of the works came in and somehow I mentioned Jacks and the guy said this. What that shit you can buy at Walmart. That is a joke. Well the joke is on him because the basic components in Jacks is the bases of nearly all nutrient lines. But some will argue and I understand that. I will finish with this, JR Peters mother company of Jacks has been in the nutrient business for 70 plus years.
 
Buzzzz

Buzzzz

1,127
163
Surprisingly for me it's space and males. I live on 40acres but when dealing with males and pollen you have to be careful. I only have 2 locations (so far) that i can guarantee non contamination. So i can only make so many crosses at a time and be confident the seeds will be what i need them to be.
So to compound that you have to schedule and time when you hunt males so ur sensimilia doesn't get jacked...males are a huge pain in the ass.

The last few years has been one heck of a learning curve. I have been at it for almost 5 years now and about 45 grows. I have to say that the salesman at the hydro store are some of the most limiting factors for a lot of folks. The challenge is the way the marketing and sales reps work. Just about every single guy working at the hydro store gets hooked up with free product if they want it. That being said it is pretty simple I give you free product and you promote my products. It was all cool at first, I wanted to get away from Botanicare because I felt it was expensive and I thought there was better stuff out there. I went with another product line and I had great results. Now came the PK boosters. I think that was a whole year of this and that. About the same time it was switching to Coco because I thought I was a great grower. Well coco kicked my ass because I treated it like soil and it does not work well if it gets dried out.
Realizing I needed to change along came hydro. I use an ebb and flow set up that is fully automated. The largest problem I found was with nutrients. Switching to hydro meant I was going to be going thru a lot more nutrients so right away I felt like liquid nutrients where an absolute waste because at the end of every week about 30 gallons goes down the drain. So I stated off with Athena Pro Line. It works and works well at first, but the stuff starts to pick up water out of the air and it throws the balance off because their core is calcium nitrate and their grow and bloom have products in the mix that are hydroscopic. So as time goes on each time you mix up a new batch of nutrients the NPK ratios are off because the grow and bloom pick up water out of the air. This single issue probably took me a year to get to the bottom of it and hours and hours of research. Athena and HGV are very similar. They are very high in Calcium and Calcium does not play well with some other Macro Nutrients. So I would always see nutrient problems specifically around the switch to flower. I found I could somewhat combat this with Calcium and Magnesium. I was in the hydro store one day and I stumbled across grow more no N cal mag. Great product and at 10 mils per gallon the problems either went away or where no much of a concern. Well time and costs continued to rise so I wanted to revisit the nutrients and I came across @BillFarthing and balling on a budget. Probably one of the most helpful threads I have ran across on the site. Bill is pretty well versed in nutrients and has many homemade recipes for the crap everyone runs to the hydro store to purchase. I am presently running a modified version of balling on a budget that Bill posted on another site. It works, it about as cheap as you can go. It simple works.
So right now the limiting factor is me. I have full environmental control, great lighting and CO2 enrichment. So really it comes down to the person calling the shots at this point. Most everyone thinks that is magic in the bottles and that is just not the case. Get yourself a good quality 2 or 3 part and focus on the environment and things you can control outside of the nutrients. Never overlook PH is is a limiting factory with hydro and one of the easiest to correct, but you have to put the time in.
While there are a few products that do help most are snake oil. Take @Aqua Man, he is sold on Massive by Green Planet. I can tell you it works and increases mass but I believe at a price of terps and oils. Another one that works is fulvic acid. But again go thru Balling on a budget it is all there for the taking. Kelp is also another great product. As well as Monosilic acid. Apart from these and maybe some hammerhead that is all it really takes to grow in Coco or hydro.

One thing that happened to me at the hydro store about 6 months ago is the icing on the cake for this post. Part of balling on a budget is the base nutrients. Jacks 321 is what Bill mostly pushes and I use it. I was at the hydro store talking to the manager and one of the works came in and somehow I mentioned Jacks and the guy said this. What that shit you can buy at Walmart. That is a joke. Well the joke is on him because the basic components in Jacks is the bases of nearly all nutrient lines. But some will argue and I understand that. I will finish with this, JR Peters mother company of Jacks has been in the nutrient business for 70 plus years.
Peters makes the best there is in dry form,it was always top end ferts.
 
TSD

TSD

2,795
263
As someone who has grown for a long time, I would have to say the most limiting factor for me would be my lack of proper documentation. It is damn near impossible to properly asses a situation without all of the pertinent information. I can tell myself the same thing every year "im going to write down everything", then lo and behold , I'm halfway through another grow and I have a couple of things scrawled down on the back of a waterlogged pop tart box, and a handful of receipts from the local gardening store stuffed into an old peat pot that has been sitting in the same spot since I cut my finger trying to separate the damn thing from its siamese twin and had to go find a band-aid.
All joking aside, if I had to pick one thing that i think holds me back from being a REALLY GOOD grower that would be the one. Im 56 years old and have been growing since I was in my early twenties, with some time off for family and career and such, ive done indoor/ outdoor hydro and organic, and without the notes I would have been starting over every year. When we attempt to solve a problem the first thing we do is ask for information, and without those answers often we are lost, so yes proper documentation is key for me.
I've said that every year for years as well. This year I got a calendar notebook, I just jot down what I did to whom on each day that I tend the ladies. I go by how they look, not any set schedule, so it's good to see when you fed last and such.
 
Cashmeh

Cashmeh

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Dirt is everyones limiting factor lol. . hydro should be the go to for new growers.

When you fail in soil it takes forever to get back to where you were. In hydro you tend to fail faster or see positive results faster.

Yet to much conflicting advice also makes it very difficult.

I dont think im special. If my ass can do it anyone can. Just need more people like aqua to help us.

If you showed me my diaries two years ago and said it was me. . id suggest I was cloned in the future. . .

Anyways. . I swear on all that soil is the biggest limiting factor for the majority of cultivators.
 
TSD

TSD

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263
Dirt is everyones limiting factor lol. . hydro should be the go to for new growers.

When you fail in soil it takes forever to get back to where you were. In hydro you tend to fail faster or see positive results faster.

Yet to much conflicting advice also makes it very difficult.

I dont think im special. If my ass can do it anyone can. Just need more people like aqua to help us.

If you showed me my diaries two years ago and said it was me. . id suggest I was cloned in the future. . .

Anyways. . I swear on all that soil is the biggest limiting factor for the majority of cultivators.
I'd like to try my hand at hydro some day. Every method has it's pros and cons and every person has thier preferences. I'm a gardener, so I love playing in the dirt. I prefer outdoor because I personally think the taste can't be beat, and I'm a taste gal. I try to keep my chemical intake at a minimum, so I keep it as organic as possible. So for me, dirt is perfect. Yes it's probably more work and less margin for error. Pests are a part of life outside, but it's near impossible to fuck up the dirt in the ground if you start with good dirt and have a base level gardening and weed knowledge and don't shoot yourself in the foot. Indoor is a bit more precise. Pros and cons to everything.
 
Brownthumb

Brownthumb

259
63
Patience, knowledge, environmental control, good genetics, grow space, time, and money… wtf have I gotten myself into- 🤣
 
Cashmeh

Cashmeh

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263
I'd like to try my hand at hydro some day. Every method has it's pros and cons and every person has thier preferences. I'm a gardener, so I love playing in the dirt. I prefer outdoor because I personally think the taste can't be beat, and I'm a taste gal. I try to keep my chemical intake at a minimum, so I keep it as organic as possible. So for me, dirt is perfect. Yes it's probably more work and less margin for error. Pests are a part of life outside, but it's near impossible to fuck up the dirt in the ground if you start with good dirt and have a base level gardening and weed knowledge and don't shoot yourself in the foot. Indoor is a bit more precise. Pros and cons to everything.
For me growing in soil would be to challenging for too little results in too much time.

I know aquaman has a good two week photo. . but heres my two week growth.

My struggle is figuring out how to do an outdoor hydro food farm on my 1/2 acre. Still mentally planning it.
 
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weed420420420420420

weed420420420420420

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overfeeding and lockout.
cheap ph equipment. wrong ph and lockout.
What may look like bug damage is really cal mag deficiency or something else.
Overpruning/overtopping. Top once and you'll get a bush... any further topping should be only for controlling your canopy. Dont just keep topping to make more tops. If you go overboard she'll say "ouch". And then your buds wont finish right.
And then when you notice it's not finishing nice and chunky like it should. You push more nutes right at the end. And you get stalled undermatured super harsh buds.
Not to mention you waited a little too long trying to get her to fill out and now there's lots of mold as well.

thats how I roll.

One more thing. Defoliating. Some people say you wanna see more light hit the ground. I say thats stupid. You wanna carefully remove some fan leaves where they are obviously blocking the action. You still want a full shadow on the ground... If you overdo the defoliating you can stall the plant also.
 
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TSD

TSD

2,795
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For me growing in soil would be to challenging for too little results in too much time.

I know aquaman has a good two week photo. . but heres my two week growth.

My struggle is figuring out how to do an outdoor hydro food farm on my 1/2 acre. Still mentally planning it.
That would be sweet. I'm super interested in the whole using a living ecosystem with fish then growing hydro in the tank thing that Aqua was talking about... I would totally try that outside in the summer. That's it, new challenge... the "10 gallon, 10 fish, 1 plant challenge" 🤣
 
weed420420420420420

weed420420420420420

798
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Also buy some mycorhizzae. There's never enough in the soil like it says there is.
 
Anthem

Anthem

4,155
263
Dirt is everyones limiting factor lol. . hydro should be the go to for new growers.

When you fail in soil it takes forever to get back to where you were. In hydro you tend to fail faster or see positive results faster.

Yet to much conflicting advice also makes it very difficult.

I dont think im special. If my ass can do it anyone can. Just need more people like aqua to help us.

If you showed me my diaries two years ago and said it was me. . id suggest I was cloned in the future. . .

Anyways. . I swear on all that soil is the biggest limiting factor for the majority of cultivators.
Cashmeh dirt is not really a limiting factor. I thought the same but I have been helping out a new grower and I even gave him some genetics. There are advantages to dirt IMO one of the advantages being oil and terp production. It is really hard to be soil for that.
 
strider26554

strider26554

228
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This is a huge issue for me right now. I’m obsessed with data but it serves me no good when I cant find my last IN/OUT pH & EC readings. I’m working on this one.
Let me know when you get this ironed out, as i will, currently, I have an individual daily log book for each room, with three/ four rooms, one for cloning one for veg, and a stasis/ motherplant room for my queens. I have an overall grow log that gets the information from each log book added weekly and an overall accounting book. method seems tiresome but its actually working for this year so far. I also am documenting more with pictures, not on my phone, but an actual digital camera that can download to flash drives, sometimes if we can look at a picture from the onset of a problem we might catch something that would have been overlooked.
 
Cashmeh

Cashmeh

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Cashmeh dirt is not really a limiting factor. I thought the same but I have been helping out a new grower and I even gave him some genetics. There are advantages to dirt IMO one of the advantages being oil and terp production. It is really hard to be soil for that.

I wish I could test mine. Yet I can say my weed is the smelliest, stickiest, and most potent of all lol. Im bias but others are not. My shit ruins all.

I would suggest the opposite. If growth rates are increased, so would terps.

Ive heard live vs sterile, meaning microbes vs no microbes makes a difference in terps, but I just don't see how my weed could smell or taste any better. Shit blows my mind every grow.

Generally when some one asks me what the difference difference in quality is between hydro and soil I tell them there is none. It just grows faster in water.
 
Blastfact

Blastfact

756
143
My personnel limiting factor is space. I just don't have the room. There are other activities that go on in my grow space so it has to be a well choreographed and managed affair.
 
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