Reading this short list of the most common mistakes for beginning growers might save you a lot of frustration and probably also a lot of money
Outdoor growing:
1. Burned leaves: Moving your seedlings from a greenhouse or indoor setup to an outdoor location can be tricky. Indoor plants are not used to direct sunlight, The UV is kept out by the glass. That is also why you cannot get a tan behind a window. if you move your plants directly into a sunny spot they WILL burn all most of their leaves. The new leaves will adapt but the plants growth will stop for at least 2 weeks.
Move them gradually, first move them to a spot outdoors with a little direct sunlight and gradually move them to a spot with more sunny hours. Eventually find a spot with maximum sun hours.
2. Wet Feet: Marijuana don’t like wet feet. I once tried to grow some plants near a small pond. I kept a distance to the water of about 5 feet but that was not enough. You have to be aware that the water level represents the waterlevel in the ground as well. A big plant can have roots going as deep as 12 feet. Make sure that at least a couple of feet (deep) are there for the plant to form roots.
3. Shade: If you want the maximum yield find the most sunny spot out there! A plant will yield almost nothing and stay small on a shady. Of course you don’t want people to notice it from miles away but growing in the middle of a forest with tall trees will not bring you any weed.
4. Mind the wind: Marijuana loves wind, that is not the problem. The problem is that when you move a little plant outdoors you will have to take measures to support the trunk and the top when the plant is still small -> 8 weeks.
Indoor growing
1. Fungus: Try and work as clean as possible. Clean your pots and make sure you have fresh soil and use fresh water (no chloride!) for the plants. I have often seen compost start to develop a small layer of fungus and this will hold back your plants growth. This also has to do with the humidity which at the start must be pretty high 70% but lower it gradually to around 40% in the first month.
2. Airflow: To avoid fungus make sure the airflow is good, Marijuana likes a little windy surrounding, fungus does not. By pumping around the air you can have a higher humidity without fungus.
3. Lights and distance to the plants: Don’t let them burn! Keep a close eye on the distance between your plants and the lights above. You can let your plants get used to a high light intensity but the real problem is the heat (which doesn’t go for LED). Check out this table per light source: Distance between lights and plant.
4. Pot size: A common mistake is to think that pot size does not really matter if you add a lot of nutrients in the water or soil. Well actually it matters a lot. The size of the pot determines the size of the root system and how much nutrients the plant can absorb. It’s like with a bonsai tree there is a limit to how big a plant can grow with a certain amount of roots. So if you have the room and the height to go with a bigger pot, do it!