It's all about experience.

Exactly. Very rarely do you see a first timer pulling great herb. Shit I'm still not where I want to be. I dont think anyone is in this hobby.

hey greenup, patience is the key. read as much as you can about the various growing styles and techniques. i would recommend starting off with femmed seeds and don't even think about cloning the first couple of runs. just harvest some decent smoke for yourself. i think you'll find that most experienced growers are willing to help you make progress. make use of the FAQ's section and study the forums. you'll probably find that most of your questions have already been answered. make friends with an experienced grower. you'll do fine. good luck.

Take care of your shit. Flush your rez every week, clean your rez every week, check your ph and your ppm's, caliberate your ph and ppm's every cycle, make sure your lines are clean and not clogged up, have fans blowing on your tops as air movement is very important, seal your room, stand in your room with everything off and the lights off looking for any light leaks, make sure that the any plants going into the room are as healthy and clean as they can be and most important is to not freak out if something goes wrong. Things can and do go wrong. Don't panic. Correct the problem and hopefully learn from what happened. Running a setup isn't hard but running a setup that produces those awesome looking ladies takes some learning! Oh and one more thing. Its easy to want to run like 10 different styles of plants. Try to not do that. Pick a couple of plants and get those dialed in first before you move on to the next grouping of plants. You'll find that once you understand a plant you will get alot better results. Also check the forums as they have great information.
Good luck.
Gkhan.

There is no substitue for experience. However, the biggest mistakes I see newbies make is...They can't keep their mouth shut and they either get busted or ripped off. The second is patience. Most newbies hack their plants weeks early and then bitch about lack of potency or they don't have the patience to allow any "fixes" to a grow going bad to take effect so they end up fuckin the whole grow up.

There is no skill set that will make you a better grower, just experience. Just jump in with both feet and be prepared for setbacks. Soon, you will be smoking your own crops and enjoying the reason we all grow...for meds. Good luck.

Read as much as you can on the subject of cannabis and plant biology in general. In time you will understand the basics of plants needs and go from there. There is no substitue for good ol trial and error, as oscar wilde once said, experience is nothing more than a name we give to our many mistakes. Keep reading, (this is important) to further develop an intricate understanding of a plants needs and physiology. Do this and you will reach a point where you have some confidence in your abilities(dont stop here though, keep learning 4ever). You will develop your own tweaks and methods in time, so be patient. Above all,(like my Bio prof. said) simplicity is elegance, and elegance is simplicity. Keep things simple and Don't bite of more than you can chew. Most importantly, you must be aware and keep in mind the fact that you are entering uncharted waters. The dangers involved in this game are a plenty. Especially when considering the horrible injustice we canna lovers can face. Loose lips sink ships, so remember to keep your mouth shut. In a perfect world, growers would be able to say "check out this herb I grew, it is lovely." That aint the case though. Stay vigilant, and never allow yourself to reach a point of complacency. This is how mucho disasters occur. You must be on top of everything, and seriously stay on top of your security.
"Do not fear perfection, for you shall never achieve it." Salvadore Dali

good looking all!

i think you need to understand a few different aspects first.
first being, how to build an effective grow room. how to cool it, and understanding the lighting.

you need to understand genetics. this is very important.

than you cant start thinking about growing.

cleanliness, environmental control and patience... all mentioned and i cannot stress enough how important these things are... good luck...

In order!

Security - BEST SKILL EVAH! Loose lips sink ships!

Experience - Comes with time and lots of mistakes!! You will always learn something new everyday!! If not, make it your new goal. Reading does not hurt one bit!!! Read everything!!!! BINGE READ TILL YOU PUKE!!! (with reading I was able to accomplish something furious my first time)

Setup - Good running environment! No light leaks, good lighting, able to manage temperature/humidity, good air circulation, fresh air(or CO2 supplemented) and last but not least control of odor!

NOW

Plan!! Make sure you have a backup for your backup! I am serious, cause when shit goes down it goes down fast! I personally have everything to a T planned out ahead of time.

Pay attention to all the details! Make sure you are giving your plants their TLC for the day! I am always on the watch for bugs, nute burn, nute deficiency, mold, snakes, highs and lows for humidity and temperature.

Each grow I start a new log where the last one was BURNED!!! I write my temperatures, humidity, PH swings, PPM swings, water used for the day. Res temp, what was added to the res, and what was subtracted.
I do this because it helps me diagnose anything that could go wrong.

and make sure you burn your log after harvest!! This is just a precautionary measure in case you get caught! Nothing like seeing you had 30 cycles before you where presented to a judge, huh?!