Many, many moons ago...before I ever decided to take on this enlightening and fulfilling hobby, I found myself reading EVERY book ever published on the topic. Even several that were out-of-print. Before I ever even purchased my first light, or any of the other necessities needed to have a quasi-successful grow, I purchased every piece of literature on the topic that I could find. (The internet wasn't flourishing then quite like it is now...books were still the best way to go.)

So, after reading countless books - many full of great advice, others full of so-so advice - I thought I was ready to tackle my first organic grow. I made all sorts of silly calculations based on the varying degrees of information I had obtained from my books, and jumped headlong into what I thought was going to be a fruitful & productive first grow. Boy, was I ever wrong...

Right off the bat, I ended up killing some seedlings by either over-watering, or letting them dry out completely. Those that did survive my initial experimentation were notably stunted, and took quite a while to resume normal growth. Then, I realized that a 1000W HPS in a closet, with little to no ventilation, wasn't very suitable for strong growth either. Took me a while to figure out what I needed to do, but I finally got it, and had air flowing freely in and out of the closet. And just when I thought I was back on track, and well on my way to a bountiful harvest, I ended up killing several more of my plants by over-fertilizing them! Needless to say, I was distraught. So, I had one or two plants left - obviously the strongest of all that I had started - and after successfully getting them to grow a few feet tall, I induced flowering with great exhilaration.

A few weeks later, I discovered that they were both males...:cursing:

I knew where it all went wrong, but still concluded that this was simply too difficult to do correctly. So I resorted back to buying crappy quality buds from sketchy & non-reliable black market dealers...confident in the fact that this was my only option. But, after wasting countless dollars & much time haggling with shady dealers, I decided to give growing another shot. I knew that nothing I could have possibly grown could have been worse than the garbage that I was buying, so I saw little incentive to keep going the route I was going.

I still made some mistakes on my second grow, but at least managed to harvest a small quantity of skimpy (but potent) buds. Now that I realized it was possible to grow my own medicine, I decided to get serious about it. I discovered ways to make the best of my situation, and constantly refined everything I "knew" about growing. Every time I started a new grow, I prepared myself for a learning experience...and knew that I would be learning many new things along the way. Even now, after having many successful grows under my belt, I'm still learning something new every time I start a new crop.

So, while patience is certainly a tool that new growers should utilize and "sharpen" frequently, the same can be said about perseverance and humility. I know a lot more now than I did back when I started, and have a method that never fails to produce a great harvest. Still, I'm not afraid to ask for help when I need it, and am always willing to try new methods that have worked for others.
Mr. Clandestine Reviewed by Mr. Clandestine on . PATIENCE my newbie friends PATIENCE; What it is, and , what it AINT' Patience is not a virtue; you heard me, patience is NOT a virtue. Patience, in our little (or big) hobby is no more a virtue than a ph or ppm meter, or nutes. Patience IS a tool, a tool that must be kept sharp and used often. Let's consider a newbies journey into growing. The newbie starts by talking with his friends about the price of local weed and it's nasty taste. The newbie then considers growing (of course the newbie sees Mr. Freedom's Rating: 5