Start Here: Basic Growing Info, Help Template & Best Beginner Links

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Welcome to Basic Growing Information. This forum is for beginner and general cultivation questions: soil, coco, hydro basics, lights, watering, pH, feeding, plant stages, training, and common “is this normal?” questions.

This thread replaces the old sticky stack so new growers have one clean place to start.

This is a reference thread. Please start a new thread for your own grow question.

1. Before you post a new question

Please do these first:

1. Search the forum using a few simple words: “overwatered seedling,” “pH coco,” “yellow tips,” “reveg,” “3 finger leaves,” “when to harvest,” etc.
2. Post in the right section. Sick plant or urgent diagnosis? Use the Cannabis Infirmary. Harvest, drying, curing, or “is it ready?” Use Cannabis Harvesting & Curing.
3. Upload clear photos directly to THCFarmer. Use white/natural light when possible. Purple blurple photos are hard to diagnose.
4. Include your grow details. A photo alone is usually not enough.

Useful sections:

• Cannabis Infirmary — sick plants, deficiencies, pests, disease, urgent diagnosis
• Cannabis Harvesting & Curing — harvest timing, drying, curing, storage
• Grow Diaries — journals, progress logs, full grow documentation
• THCFarmer Learn Center: Growing — articles by topic

2. New grower starting point

New to growing? Start here:

• Complete Step by Step Guide to Growing Marijuana From Seeds
• Archive: A collection of the best threads at The Farm
• How to ask better grow-help questions

3. Copy/paste help template

When asking for help, copy this into your post and fill in as much as possible.

Indoor or outdoor:
Strain / genetics:
Photoperiod, autoflower, regular, feminized, or unknown:
Plant age:
Vegetative or flowering stage:
Days/weeks in flower, if applicable:

Grow medium: soil / coco / hydro / living soil / other:
Pot size:
Container type: plastic / fabric / air pot / bed / other:
Water source: tap / RO / distilled / rain / other:
Watering frequency:
How much water per plant:
Runoff? yes/no:
pH going in:
pH runoff, if measured:
EC/PPM, if measured:

Nutrients used:
Feed strength and schedule:
Last feeding:
Last plain watering:
Recent changes: transplant, light change, feed change, pest spray, training, etc.

Light brand/model/wattage:
Light distance from canopy:
Light schedule:
Tent/room size:
Temperature day/night:
Humidity day/night:
Airflow/exhaust setup:

Pests seen? yes/no/unsure:
Problem description:
When did it start?
What have you already tried?

Photos:
- Whole plant
- Close-up of affected leaves/buds
- Top of plant
- Under leaves if pests are suspected
- Pot/medium surface
- Natural/white light if possible

Good thread title format:

[Indoor/Soil/Veg] Leaves drooping after transplant
[Outdoor/Flower] Brown spots spreading on fan leaves
[Coco/Seedling] Yellow tips after first feed
[Hydro/DWC] Roots browning and pH drifting


4. Best beginner topics

Watering, pots, and media

• Watering: how media, pot size/shape and environment affect it
• New simplified way to water

pH, EC, PPM, and source water

• pH: a basic explanation

Nutrients and visual diagnosis

• Plant nutrition and visual diagnosis

Lighting and environment

• Growing articles: lighting, environment, soil, hydro, nutrients, transplanting and more

Sexing, autos, photos, and plant stage questions

• Male Cannabis Plants VS Female Cannabis Plants

Odd growth, reveg, and three-finger leaves

• Why are my leaves growing three fingers?

Pests and IPM

• Organic Integrated Pest Management

Advanced chemistry questions

• Cannabis Chemistry 101 / chemistry questions

5. Basic troubleshooting checklist

Before changing everything at once, slow down and check the basics.

• Watering: Is the pot actually dry, or just dry on top? Is the root zone staying saturated?
• Medium: Soil, coco, and hydro are not watered or fed the same way.
• pH/EC: Guessing is not the same as measuring. Bad readings can also come from uncalibrated meters.
• Environment: Temperature, humidity, airflow, and light intensity can mimic nutrient problems.
• Pests: Check under leaves and along stems with magnification.
• Recent changes: Most problems start after a change: transplant, stronger light, new feed, pH adjustment, pest spray, heavy defoliation, or overcorrection.
• Do one correction at a time. Changing water, feed, light, pH, pot size, and environment all at once makes the real cause harder to find.

6. Forum rules that matter in this section

• Keep posts legal, respectful, and on topic.
• Do not post duplicate threads across multiple sections.
• Upload images directly to THCFarmer instead of hotlinking outside image hosts.
• Do not use the open forum for buying, selling, trading, swapping, testing, giving, or soliciting seeds, clones, pollen, cannabis, hash, or other substances.
• No spam, flaming, trolling, personal information, or off-topic arguments.