Working With Consultant/Grower, Can You Please Tell Me What You Think Of This Advice?

[MajorGrindage]

I will be growing along with a partner, and I recently purchased a home with a 30x40 pole barn that i will be remodeling into a grow. This is our first grow, so we will be sectioning it off and only doing 24 plants maximum at first. As my partner and I hone our skills in and get a couple grows under our belts, we plan on sectioning off the barn into different zones and filling it with plants.

I have a couple of guys who work for a corporate weed grow helping me plan it out for free since they work for our family friends; I am a connoisseur and absolutely love cannabis, and am willing to put in the love/work required to get the best quality, while the consultants are more of the types who want to have a more set-and-forget grow that will allow them to go on vacations and such.


My question is, what are your guys thoughts on their advice:

1. I have always planned on hand watering, however they are mentioning a Bluemat watering system to "keep the soil at an optimal moisture at all times". I have always been told that the soil dry backs are a good thing, and that you dont want your soil completely wet all the time. Ive even seen people mention watering every couple of days

2. They recommended Build-A-Soil 3.0, however I have been planning on using Roots Organic Soil. They much prefer coco/salt nutes, but since i am adamant about organic, they recommend BAS 3.0.

3. They Recommended Sliding/Rolling Tables For Flower.

4. They Recommended tiered racking for veg. Would you guys personally do this in a 30x40 pole barn with fairly high ceilings? Or would you do somthing else like just build 1 large veg room, multiple veg rooms, etc?

5. Like i mentioned in number 2 they prefer coco, and are trying to convince me organic is more likely to grow poor quality flower than coco, dont think i should top dress, and think i should take a more synthetic approach. My plan that i originally told them is below

• --I have been planning on keeping it simple for my first grow based on my research: Dont feed during seed/clone. Feed only Compost Tea and Buddha Grow once or twice a week during first 2 weeks of Veg. Then begin top dressing with Roots Terp Tea Grow every 2 weeks. Flip to flower, and top dress with Roots Terp Tea Bloom once a week, and feed buddha bloom along with compost tea once or twice a week.

Im sorry this was a long post. I just know that there are some very knowledgable people on here, and i want to make sure this grow is being built with love and connoisseur quality in mind. I dont mind avoiding vacations and having "less of a life" as they put it, if it means that more hands on, hand watering/unautomated growing = better quality flower.

Thanks!

 

[goingrey]

Coco, Blumats and salts is fine.

Organic soil hand watered is also fine.

 

[MajorGrindage]

Coco, Blumats and salts is fine.

Organic soil hand watered is also fine.

So in your opinion a Blumat/automated watering system, can provide just as good of quality as hand watering and giving each individual plant attention?

If so, i may consider automating the grow to make life easier. I just want to make sure i do everything possible to maximize quality. I could care less about yield or anything else. Even if hand watering each plant is a ridiculous amount of work, but would provide better quality, i would hand water for sure.

I appreciate your help!

 

[goingrey]

So in your opinion a Blumat/automated watering system, can provide just as good of quality as hand watering and giving each individual plant attention?

If so, i may consider automating the grow to make life easier. I just want to make sure i do everything possible to maximize quality. I could care less about yield or anything else. Even if hand watering each plant is a ridiculous amount of work, but would provide better quality, i would hand water for sure.

I appreciate your help!

Giving "individual attention" to a barn full of plants sounds like a lot.

Are you planning to grow many different varieties with different kinds of needs?

 

[chilliwilli]

Let the soil get dry is something i do once or twice in a grow. Most of the time i do it once about 2-3 weeks after flip to flower. Sometimes in veg also.
A constant moisture level is imo a good thing and best automated with blumats. Even hand watering is not better for that, with blumat the plant gets water when the soil is dry in the moment when its dry and not when u decide its wateting time.

Never grew in coco but this methode seems to produce some good quality and very good yields. F.e. look here for handwater coco without runoff. But that is also achievable in soil or hydro.
I personaly prefere water only organic but i'm sure at a blindtest there is little difference to good grown coco or hydro.

Look up coots mix for some good watet only soilmix

 

[MajorGrindage]

Giving "individual attention" to a barn full of plants sounds like a lot.

Are you planning to grow many different varieties with different kinds of needs?

Yea once i fill the barn i am going to have to use some sort of automated system. For now though while i only use a section of the barn, im thinking hand watering shouldnt be too much work for me and my partner im hoping.

Yes i am hoping to find some nice phenos, dial them in according to their specific needs, and stick to those. But ill still always make sure to have space to test out new strains.

The eventual goal is to have the barn split into different rooms, each with its own climate control. I already talked to my HVAC guy and he said its completely possible.

 

[MajorGrindage]

Let the soil get dry is something i do once or twice in a grow. Most of the time i do it once about 2-3 weeks after flip to flower. Sometimes in veg also.
A constant moisture level is imo a good thing and best automated with blumats. Even hand watering is not better for that, with blumat the plant gets water when the soil is dry in the moment when its dry and not when u decide its wateting time.

Never grew in coco but this methode seems to produce some good quality and very good yields. F.e. look here for handwater coco without runoff. But that is also achievable in soil or hydro.
I personaly prefere water only organic but i'm sure at a blindtest there is little difference to good grown coco or hydro.

Look up coots mix for some good watet only soilmix

thats surprising, for some reason ive always been told that dry backs are important. Ive always been told its important to water, and then let it dry until the soil is retaining just enough moisture that the roots wont die, and then water again. Apparently they said it has something to do with the plants up-taking nutrients, and they said if you let your roots sit in constantly moist medium they become lazy. I guess maybe that was wrong.

So you think something like a blumat that never allows it to dry is beneficial. Interesting. Im going to have to really consider them and research them.

Do you do water only organic, and not feed them literally anything? Not even compost teas or anything? Do you use the coots mix soil you mentioned? Ill have to look into it, i didnt realize a soil could have enough nutrients to be fed strictly water for the entire grow. That sounds very intriguing.

Thank you so much for the help!

 

[Perdido]

i didnt realize a soil could have enough nutrients to be fed strictly water for the entire grow. That sounds very intriguing.

That's quite common, your method of top dressing is almost the same. Just put a layer of worm casting or other manure on top of the soil once they need it. Or use fertilized soil.
And I don't think that hand watering 24 plants is a lot of work, especially if you use a water pump and an irrigation system.
Blumat works really very well, you only should drain the whole pot once in while - in theory - but people claim it works without too.
Coco or Soil? Can't decide either, doing both.

 

[goingrey]

thats surprising, for some reason ive always been told that dry backs are important. Ive always been told its important to water, and then let it dry until the soil is retaining just enough moisture that the roots wont die, and then water again. Apparently they said it has something to do with the plants up-taking nutrients, and they said if you let your roots sit in constantly moist medium they become lazy. I guess maybe that was wrong.

So you think something like a blumat that never allows it to dry is beneficial. Interesting. Im going to have to really consider them and research them.

Do you do water only organic, and not feed them literally anything? Not even compost teas or anything? Do you use the coots mix soil you mentioned? Ill have to look into it, i didnt realize a soil could have enough nutrients to be fed strictly water for the entire grow. That sounds very intriguing.

Thank you so much for the help!

Drybacks promote root growth, can be beneficial in veg, less so in flower.

 

[MajorGrindage]

Drybacks promote root growth, can be beneficial in veg, less so in flower.

Thats exactly what i thought. So their idea of this Bluemat system that never allows drybacks doesnt seem like the best idea for quality.

Ever since ive read about growing cannabs ive always heard drybacks are important, so when the growers mentioned that i was speechless.

 

[goingrey]

Thats exactly what i thought. So their idea of this Bluemat system that never allows drybacks doesnt seem like the best idea for quality.

Ever since ive read about growing cannabs ive always heard drybacks are important, so when the growers mentioned that i was speechless.

You misunderstood. It means maybe slightly slower growth during veg, not reduced quality in the end product.

What happens if the Blumat rez goes dry?

 

[MajorGrindage]

That's quite common, your method of top dressing is almost the same. Just put a layer of worm casting or other manure on top of the soil once they need it. Or use fertilized soil.
And I don't think that hand watering 24 plants is a lot of work, especially if you use a water pump and an irrigation system.
Blumat works really very well, you only should drain the whole pot once in while - in theory - but people claim it works without too.
Coco or Soil? Can't decide either, doing both.

Ahh ive never heard of that. Roots organic Greenfields has about a month of nutrients in it but then you must begin top dressing, so it must not have as many nutrients as a soil that can take pure water during its entire grow cycle.

And lol i swear every comment switches. Some people think 24 plants is insane for 2 people, some people dont think its a lot of work. It seems theres a lot of varying opinions haha.

Im definitely going to look into the blumat, but theres so many people that say drybacks are important for root growth and nutrient uptake, so im very hesitant to use it.

Ive decided on Organic Soil if thats what youre asking, was thinking roots organic original mix or greenfields, but after talking to some people on here i am going to research some other brands before deciding. I may also experiment with coco at some point and see what works better.

 

[MajorGrindage]

You misunderstood. It means maybe slightly slower growth during veg, not reduced quality in the end product.

What happens if the Blumat rez goes dry?

Oh ok i see what you're saying. So the terps/quality of smoke is not effected at all regardless of if you allow drybacks or not. It will simply slow down your veg growth. Interesting.

If the bluemat rez goes dry youve got a big problem lol. Another reason not to use it

 

[goingrey]

Oh ok i see what you're saying. So the terps/quality of smoke is not effected at all regardless of if you allow drybacks or not. It will simply slow down your veg growth. Interesting.

If the bluemat rez goes dry youve got a big problem lol. Another reason not to use it

Yea seems like you may need to adjust them again if they dry up, not a big problem but also not very convenient for crop steering.

Have you ever grown before? Quite ambitious to aim for top quality if not. Nothing wrong with being ambitious of course. But baby steps...

 

[MajorGrindage]

Yea seems like you may need to adjust them again if they dry up, not a big problem but also not very convenient for crop steering.

Have you ever grown before? Quite ambitious to aim for top quality if not. Nothing wrong with being ambitious of course. But baby steps...

Yea i think im going to steer clear of the Bluemats. When i expand in the future i will probably have an automated drip system installed. Someone also mentioned a WaterSwitch which is an irrometer system that connects to a sprinkler system. Im going to look into that for the future too.

No ive never grown personally. My friend that will be doing this with me has worked in a few grows, but it was very minimal work and he doesn't have much experience. I know its definitely ambitious, and were almost 100% not going to get amazing quality our first grow (probably first handful of grows even), but quality is the only thing we strive for. This dispensary and corporate weed is a joke and im tired of it lol.

I definitely feel you on the baby steps. Gonna start small for sure, but i want to start pumping out some connoisseur quality, properly grown/dried/ jar cured flower as quickly as reasonably possibly.

 

[Entusia]

For quality, you should focus on really good environment control and drying/curing.
Light, nutes, water and airflow, as well as technique (including sanitization and pest/virus/mold prevention) all play a major role too.

Organic vs Mineral, not so much difference.

If you listen to sellers, they'll push whatever they're peddling, and that includes testers and the brainwashed useful idiots.
I've heard from experienced people, but they're not even that scientific or experienced about it, and i'm certainly way less scientific and experienced than them, that it's not so much *what* you use, it's how you've dialed it in, and dialing obviously takes time, patience and incremental improvements.

For everything else, just look for the evidence and never believe anyone that could potentially be a useful idiot or have ulterior motives.

 

[Dime]

Growing organics means bringing nature indoors and you can't do it like she can . Many things come into play and even your choice of water may be an issue as you don't want to kill beneficial bacteria. Pests may also be attracted so you may have to deal with them. Ph levels could be troublesome, how large you will grow them,light ,container and medium needs.You have a lot less control as well.Your success will depend on your ability to provide everything the plants need to reach their full potential,after that genetics will dictate quality. If you are not seasoned maybe growing in promix and a good 3 part would be a better route and grow organic on a small scale as well until you become better,that way you will get a return and keep you motivated. Filling your building is down the road. As mentioned by other posters,start with something that isn't overwhelming and using salts gives a great product as well ,is easier, and can rival or exceed an organic grow. I don't think that many people could smoke organic or mineral and be able to tell the difference in a blind taste. I do understand the benefits of organics but there is always a tradeoff. Best of luck,stay confident.

 

[bushed]

I agree that organic is the best method for beginners as far as achieving the best quality. There is loads more margin for error with hydroponic if you are not from a horticultural background. Although I agree that the same quality can be achieved either way its much harder to mess up an organic grow regarding PH over/under feeding.

Thought on the blumats, its my understanding that it is during seedling and veg state that letting the pots dry is important to encourage roots to spread as far and wide as possible. Once the plants are well into flower they are very thirsty and you will get better results if the plants have access to all the water they need. Perhaps hand watering in your veg area and blumats in flower may be the way forwards.

 

[Ca++]

It seems you are going to totally ignore the free industry help. Cracking on with hand watering, when you have said yourself, it's not the way.
I would let them show you, while they are still interested. There is little hardship setting a solenoid to stop the watering system.

Dry backs are part of plant steering, and can be a useful tool. Also our plants love a bit of oxygen at the root. I wouldn't want to via away from either. Though outdoors is a great example of them not dying without it. H2O2 is a great example of the benefit it brings. Our plants are at their best, in aeroponics. F&D really works the air exchange to. While ntf and dwc can kill them. I'm not particularly keen on where that leaves bluemats in the spectrum of root oxygen exchange. I have to wonder, just how professional these guys are, suggesting them.

I would be looking at drip to waste coco, with online dosing, such as dosatrons. They stop people messing about with the tank. There is no tank.

 

[Entusia]

I agree that organic is the best method for beginners as far as achieving the best quality. There is loads more margin for error with hydroponic if you are not from a horticultural background. Although I agree that the same quality can be achieved either way its much harder to mess up an organic grow regarding PH over/under feeding.

Thought on the blumats, its my understanding that it is during seedling and veg state that letting the pots dry is important to encourage roots to spread as far and wide as possible. Once the plants are well into flower they are very thirsty and you will get better results if the plants have access to all the water they need. Perhaps hand watering in your veg area and blumats in flower may be the way forwards.

Hard agree on the blumats use, hard disagree on organics for beginners.

If you want to be involved and like to figure it out, and see and understand for yourself what exactly happens when you do something, go mineral+coco. Whatever you do has consequences, and you see those right away. You have the control, and it's the best way to learn imho. Can be a bit unforgiving. If you want forgiveness, just use soil, but that's gonna cost you the fast growth, fast consequences and some degree of control. You're still in control.

With organics whatever you're doing hardly makes any sense, especially for a beginner. You basically just need to trust it and pray it works