I swear to dog I am going to lose it. Those of a sensitive nature may wish to skip this post and move on to something else. Also, I mean no offense whatsoever to those who have actually grown these plants and have had experience with certain things that have worked or not worked - it is just that I am fed up with running in circles with information. So, I am going to have a real good rant now.

As a complete newbie to growing this sort of plant, but not being new to either gardening or growing plants indoors, I've been trying to absorb as much information possible about these specific little critters. I've got a bunch of ebooks, videos, archived web sites, and of course the living, breathing web to draw on. And what am I learning?

I am learning that a substantial number of people giving advice about growing these plants are completely and utterly full of shit. No, that doesn't mean YOU specifically. Don't get your panties/boxers in a bunch. I mean people who just pull crap out of their arses who have never grown, or have never done anything but one specific kind of growing or whatever but consider themselves an authority on all things cannabis. Because of this, I think I just found teeth marks in my keyboard - I must have been subconsciously chewing on it while I was curled up in the foetal position on the floor after reading yet ANOTHER piece of contradictory information.

Over the last few weeks, I have found information that directly contradicts other information on lighting, feeding, pot size, transplanting, seed starting, cloning, soil, water, environment, male vs. female plants, and temperature ?? and more. And I don't mean one person says 68F is good, and another says 70F is good. I mean I'll find one source that says 68-74F is perfect, then one that says 80-88F is perfect, and then another that says the warmer the better but don't go over 96-98F, and growing under 85F produces slow, limited growth. And out of all of those things, I found only one source that said "temperature tolerances of the plants may vary by strain", and only one other that said "this is what worked for me, but I have not tried anything else so your mileage may vary". Lighting is the worst of all - how much, what colour, what wattage, what process is used to produce the light, where it is hung, what materials are reflective vs "absorbing" light... when faced with the sum total of all this, the ONLY conclusion I have been able to draw is that I should try something out and if it works out, great. If not, tough rocks, start over with something different. Not exactly the most affordable solution for me since all I live on is a small gov't disability cheque, but oh well. Like I said, tough rocks - for me.

The worst part of this all is the utterly and completely nonsensical aspect of some of the information available - some of it simply has no scientific or logical basis at all. I am not going to cite one of the half dozen specifics on the top of my head, but much of the information ends up being of this sort of quality: Guy grows plants. While growing his plants, he injures his testicles and has to have a hernia operation. While home recuperating, he produces his best yield ever. So, rather than concluding it was because of his extra time and attention dedicated to his plants, he decides that it was his groin pain that led to his better yield. This means that for every grow from then on, he punches himself in the balls daily to ensure good growth. He then goes on a forum on the web recommending nut punches for all growers to improve the quality of their plants.

Is this ridiculous? Of course it is. But, that is the state of the information out there (even in some of the books). Someone arrives at a conclusion without any significant supporting research and just continues to believe that, never trying to prove or disprove it. I get it - of all people I know that turning something you paid $5-25 a seed for into a science project might not be the wisest thing to do... but really, do they HAVE to put it up as gospel on a web page and shamelessly plug it as the only way to do things?

Growing plants of any kind successfully is a combination of art and science. The part where you get the plants to grow at all is usually the science part. The part where you get them to grow really well is the art part. Sometimes knowing just when to water or fertilize for the best yield (be it tomatoes, marigolds or cannabis) is more about instinct and feeling than it is about precise, raw data analysis. But, there is one thing it isn't - it is not a religion. Religion is believing something is true based on faith, even if there is not conclusive scientific evidence or data to support it. Yet, over and over I find people calling their growing information a "bible", as though some prophet was inhaling fumes while burning a bush when out popped a stone tablet with THE definitive 420 steps of instructions on how to produce a good, solid, high-quality weed and they based all their future plantings of ganja on that list and that list alone. It really is enough to make your head asplode!

I know from experience with other plants that usually the most ideal growing conditions for a plant are the conditions under which the plant evolved (or was bred) in. Deviations from this may produce improved results but there is almost always a trade-off. You might get more fruit from something in a single harvest, but it may not live as long. Alternatively, you can extend the life of some plants beyond what nature provided but that often leads to smaller yields in the short term, or lower quality fruit/leaves/herbs, or stunted growth, or overgrowth, or some other balancing factor. The plants evolved the way they did because that was the best genetic stock, the plants that were able to produce the most seeds to reproduce themselves produced the most offspring, and eventually those of inferior genetic stock were driven out. Yup, Ma Nature is a bitch - but at least she is not vindictive about it. It happens to everyone and everything over time on this little blue and green marble we call home.

There is only one way to prove something works, in terms of science. That is to have an ??experimental group?? and a ??control group??, and expose both to the exact same controlled conditions. You can??t insist that one kind of plant food is the best or the worst unless you have experimented with them all, tested them under identical conditions, and have generated reproducible results with qualitative data. ??My buddy used powdered reindeer colons and he gets the best dank ever? or ??I tried Miracle Gro and all I got was a bunch of schwag? are not conclusive or scientific results ?? that??s just how things turned out in that specific situation. It is the starting point to experiment from, not the definitive conclusion ?? yet over and over certain individuals INSIST that this is proof of the efficacy or lack thereof of a particular method or substance or piece of equipment. What you have there is a possible contributing factor, not evidence or proof.

I??m sorry, but I am just really tired of it. The plant is called weed for a reason ?? because in its natural environment, it grows like one. Reproduce as much of that environment as you can, and you will do well. There are a few ways to really screw it up, but from what I have seen and read about almost everything is recoverable (short of the plants being completely dead) with patience, persistence and determination. There doesn??t appear to be any absolute right or wrong as long as you treat it like a plant and give it what it needs, just things that can make things a little better here and there. Nothing is absolutely foolproof ?? fools are much too resilient for that ?? but sharing what works for you without insisting that someone MUST do it only your way is, in my opinion, the most helpful you can be (which, BTW, I have noticed is the attitude of the most helpful people on this site).

Please, share what has worked for you ?? don??t stop. But remember that unless you have done every possible combination and permutation of growing, there is no way you know the one, perfect true way to do it. We should all be here to listen and learn, even the most experienced at something will occasionally get an idea or inspiration from the newest person doing it. Even the most expensive setup can occasionally produce poorly, and even the cheapest can produce unexpectedly well - such is life.

I appreciate every bit of honest information I can come by. I appreciate when someone says ??What worked for me was? X or Y or Z. But those of you who have only ever done things one way and that was ??good enough?, well, share what worked for you (or if some specific thing didn??t) but don??t attack what you don??t know. There are enough Monday Morning Quarterback Growers around as it is.

Believe me, us noobs will find it a lot easier to follow if there are fewer people insisting there is only one true path (especially if it is a path that demands $1000 or more in startup costs) to growing.

And we??ll thank you for it, in the end.
PottyBear Reviewed by PottyBear on . Contradictions! Seriously - WTF!? I swear to dog I am going to lose it. Those of a sensitive nature may wish to skip this post and move on to something else. Also, I mean no offense whatsoever to those who have actually grown these plants and have had experience with certain things that have worked or not worked - it is just that I am fed up with running in circles with information. So, I am going to have a real good rant now. As a complete newbie to growing this sort of plant, but not being new to either gardening or Rating: 5