Temptations to Avoid When Growing Cannabis
Consistently maintaining a cannabis garden can be very time consuming. Growers who keep indoor gardens year-round tend to get bogged down by tedious chores that come with such operations. How you deal with those cultivation and upkeep tasks defines your good and bad habits in the growroom.
No cannabis cultivator is immune to the bad habits that come with regular garden work. Whether you are a newbie grower or seasoned veteran, it’s easy to fall victim to corner-cutting and complacency which aren’t necessarily good for your plants, like failing to pH-test your water.
As you develop your cannabis-growing skills, it is essential to be mindful of such temptations when they arise. Being complacent with standard garden care can have detrimental effects on the overall health of your plants.
To help readers identify such urges before they become habits, we put together a brief list of common temptations to avoid when growing cannabis. Ideally, this brief exploration into the mind of an indoor grower will help you better refine your own cultivation practices.
Overwatering Cannabis Plants
Overwatering is a common bad habit plaguing all cannabis growers. Yet, people’s reasons for overwatering drastically vary from case-to-case: some people simply love spending time with their plants. While it is great to be passionate about cannabis, be sure not to “love your plants to death” by overwatering them. It’s amazing how many growers fall victim to this basic temptation.
Cannabis plants grow best when the cultivation medium dries out between irrigation sessions. However, when you fall victim to overwatering, you starve the plant’s root system of precious oxygen. In worst-case scenarios, this consistent immersion in damp soils can cause root rot. All things considered, it’s best to resist the temptation to water your cannabis plants until you are 100 percent sure they need water.
Checking on Your Plants in the Dark
If you have grown cannabis indoors, you probably have been tempted to check on your growroom during the “nighttime” hours of flowering. Some cultivators simply can’t resist the urge to take a peek and monitor plant health and environmental conditions during the dark period. In other cases, individuals do chores in the dark hours under the luminescence of a “green light” because it is said these light spectrums don’t react with cannabis. Whatever your reasons for entering your growroom in the nighttime, it is generally not a good idea.
Cannabis gardens respond well to consistency. Many expert growers believe light leaks will stress plants to the point of causing hermaphrodites in your grow. Male flowers in the garden can put all plants into see, dramatically lessening the value. As such, falling victim to the temptation of visiting your garden in the dark is simply not a good move.
Visiting Your Friends’ Growroom
You cannot deny the fact growing cannabis is a lot of fun. Not only do you get to experiment with cool new strains and hydro equipment, but you also get a crash course in the fundamentals of controlled environment agriculture. These experiences are even more enjoyable when you can share them with your friends. Yet, the temptation to visit other grows on a regular basis should be avoided as this is a surefire way to spread pathogens.
Human beings are one of the primary catalysts for spreading bugs like spider mites and aphids, as well as harmful diseases like powdery mildew and botrytis. Unfortunately, when you visit another person’s garden then return home to your own operation, you could be harboring these pesky bugs and molds. Once they make it into your garden, these pathogens are extremely difficult to get rid of.
If you enjoy sharing trade secrets with your grow community (which we fully support), be sure to change clothes and shower before you re-enter your growroom. Or better yet, resist the temptation to visit other gardens at all and save yourself some serious trouble.
Summary
It takes a good deal of time and energy to consistently produce high-yield cannabis harvests. After weeks, months, and years, even established veterans can get bogged down by the monotonous tasks that come with basic plant care. Nonetheless, it’s essential to maintain a steadfast approach to garden chores and not fall victim to novice temptations.
Some bad habits form from laziness, while others come about with obsessiveness and naivete. Overwatering is a common mistake plaguing growers of all levels; it often happens out of ignorance or compulsion. Conversely, mistakes like checking your garden in the dark or cross-contaminating your space with pathogens from a friend’s growroom are easily avoided.
In the end, cannabis plants thrive on consistency. Unfortunately for us, the rhythms of our days and weeks don’t always align with the demands of our plants. Perhaps this is one of the most important hurdles to overcome to progress as a grower: putting your plants’ needs above your own.
