Hello cheap home growed Nation. This is sham a coma from the chief homegirl podcast and on today's show. I have a j AKA can can grow on Instagram and YouTube That's CA n CA n n gr. OU W. I've talked to over 60 Growers since starting my podcast and ITell AJ knew exactly what he was talking about. Just based on the vibe. I got from him within the first few minutes of talking to him. He has a massive indoor grow operation of which you can see on episode 9 of growing with my fellow Growers. I felt the cheap home grow Nation could benefit from having him on the show. So the topic AJ and I decided to talk about was how does one dial in their grow operation? During this podcast episode AJ and I covered various sub topics such as budget growing in a simplistic way propagation environment nutrients growing style growing process post-harvest disaster management and grow room management. I spoke with AJ for nearly two hours. So I opted to break this podcast and to Two different parts. This is part 1 and part 2 will be airing tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. Eastern time. Please rate review subscribe and enjoy the show. Hello and welcome to the cheap home grow podcast a show for individuals that want to learn more about growing cannabis indoors. This is a podcast dedicated to helping you with your indoor growing Adventure. You'll learn how to grow your own and not have to rely on others for your medicine the cheap home grow podcast will also feature timely interviews with cannabis industry. Veterans shaping the culture and politics of cannabis. All right here is your host Shane McCormick and the cheap home grow podcast. Hello everybody. This is Shea McCormick from the cheap home grow podcast. And on today's show. We have AJ from can Canna grow on Instagram and YouTube and On his YouTube. He has nearly 2,000 subscribers. And on his Instagram. Let me check it out right now. He has a little over 500 currently at the time of this recording and AJ. He is going to be coming on the show today and we are going to be talking about how to dial in your grow and not in other words how to get the well how to get the maximum out of your grow and like I said, he can be found on. You and Instagram at can can grow that CA n CA n n gr. OU W. But before we get into the topic of conversation AJ, if you could could you please tell my audience a little bit about yourself? Sure and let me start off by saying that I really appreciate you having me on the show Sharon and as far as myself goes. I've been really focused on plenty enough that the topic is dialing in I've been really focused and engulfed in my grow for the past two years, dr. Than dialing it in for the specific purpose of finding out. What is the best way to produce the highest quality and highest yielding medicine from and being able to take that from a Personal grow environment into a much larger project that I've been working on. I'm not at Liberty right now to kind of go into too many details, but a lot of what I've been doing has been focused on that. So it's been non-stop research and effort over the past couple years prior to that. I was involved with some a CMP our medical grows up here in Canada work. Working for various ones somewhere more formal than others were just some friends grows all under medical licenses. So, I mean that's that's how I got into growing cannabis and obviously for my entire life. I've kind of been exposed to to this plant and this medicine but probably more so The past few years. Okay. Alright and you know, I mean, I don't mean to to delve deep here, but I am curious and you know, and if you don't want to to answer this this question that that's you know, that's perfectly okay with me but I am curious about something why in the past couple of years have you really I guess did a deep dive of your cannabis knowledge. I mean, I mean what you know, what's the yeah. I mean if you've been around cannabis for a A long time then why all of a sudden you decided to to to basically learn how to to grow your own? Yeah. No, no problem. Well up here in Canada. I'm in Canada and this entire industry as it is now anyways is something that's been a topic of conversation here over the past the recent years. Last couple of years or so so with legalization happening this past October 17th, I believe in was and everything leading up to that just naturally for myself. Anyways with friends family and colleagues thinking about how we might be able to support and impact the community up here in Canada as that. In addition happened was something that was of great interest to me. And so as as those conversations got more detailed. I found that where I really wanted to be involved and where I think where I felt I could provide the most benefit and impact would be in the cultivation. And so so that's why I really that's specific reason, okay. All right. All right, sir. We'll listen. I do appreciate you coming on the show, but I'll tell you what. I mean, let's let's get right into the meat of the conversation. Right? And you know, really my my first question for you is and and yes, it's a rather, you know, it's a rather broad question. But with that being said my question to you is this how does one go about dialing in their? Grow and really getting the maximum amount of cannabis out of what it is that they are growing. I mean, what does you know, what does excuse me? I'm what should one do and also what one shouldn't do, right? So as you mentioned, this is a pretty extraordinary pretty broad net here, but we'll try and keep our what we'll try and stay on topic sure, but so let me start I guess by saying that everything that we'll talk about here applies specifically to endure gross although some of it because apply to Growing Outdoors, but I'm an indoor grower and I believe that the beauty of growing indoors is that it literally allows you to control a hundred percent of your grow virtually and every aspect Of your Grosso and when you have that ability when you have the ability to do that, then obviously, you know in my opinion dialing it in just becomes part of the process. So before we get into specific areas that you would want to look at I think just some general points here. Is that one if you're going to get into growing your own. Then the first thing I said, I would always say is you have to plan ahead planning ahead is the first step to being able to dial in your grow. And then I think that you have to ask yourself. I think you'll find as we go over certain points. There's just I think there's a lot of questions that people need to answer for themselves. And if they answer them honestly and correctly it'll it'll help them to be successful. And not only dialing in their grow but you know in producing the best quality medicine for themselves. So the other thing that I think that people need to ask themselves is when they're thinking about that plan is what your budget you can you know, really you can approach this and you can you can be successful. So I point to make there is that it doesn't matter what your budget is. Okay, you can be successful regardless of what that is. Don't have to you know, you can you can be successful on a shoestring. It's perfectly fine, but you need to know that going in. Okay, if you don't, you know, if you don't specify what that is. Well, you could find yourself in some trouble as you'll see what we'll talk about some points. Sorry. Go ahead. You mentioned that you don't have to be on a huge budget, which is great because I mean as you know, I mean my my podcast it's called cheap home grow, you know, so it's it's It's targeting the person that I mean really is growing either for the first time or maybe they have you know, or maybe they have a couple of grows under their belt. But you know, they're not all that experienced. So piggybacking off of what you just said in terms of a budget, you know, I mean how much in your opinion or really in your experience? I mean how much money does one have to spend in order to get you know a fairly Yield and not have to spend that much money in your opinion. Well, okay, so that's a bit of a loaded question as I'm sure you know, so it's a perfectly valid one. I think the important thing first. Like I said is to have a budget I think a lot of people maybe, you know get really excited and they jump into it and they forget to have that budget and then they come across things that they find a they need and maybe they've overspent on one area and now don't have enough to you know set up something. Siri and another so I mean as far as the budget goes you can do it for as little in my opinion you can do it for as little as a couple hundred bucks if you're really resourceful and you know, I think a lot of a lot of people would would be able to vouch for that. But like I said, there's so many things that kind of factor into that and I don't want to jump ahead to other subjects but I mean You just look at purchasing the right genetics that in and of itself at a couple hundred dollars budget. If you're not careful that could eat up your whole budget sure so, you know, but if you're resourceful and you may be local contacts who might be able to point you in the direction of someone who might be able to gift you some, you know some seeds or what have you then, you know, of course that if that's what your budget is then you know you Maybe go that route and that's when I talk it that's what I mean, you know have a Target number in mind that that you can stick to because and that again that ties right into planning ahead. So now I mean what can your budget be the honest truth is for someone who's real enthusiasts and hobbyists regardless of how much they're able to grow in the garden. I mean the answer that budget is how much Do you have I mean, you're gonna go you can really just you can just keep going right and I think and I hope I hope that you know through this conversation. It'll help people decide where they want to where they want to invest their money because it's a sliding scale meaning that so the question you you added a caveat to that question, which was you know to produce good quality and yield High. Well, here's a the fact that Act is the more you can invest the more likely you're going to yield more and produce better quality the less you're able to invest the fact is I'm not saying it's not possible but you will likely produce a little you know, your quality and your yield me suffer. Let's put it that way sure right. So it's a sliding scale. Right? Right. Yeah. I mean it's, you know, I guess to to basically summing up. Up, the more money you spend the more money. You're going to yield the less money. You spend the less you are going to yield pretty much. Yes, you can potentially be on let's let's go right let's let's throw that in there. Right because you know, I know some unbelievable Growers who can out produce people on the fraction of the button on the budget. So just just a little caveat in there. So it's maybe some people don't so people don't go thinking. Okay. Well here I'm just going to throw a bunch of money at it and buy it. Find out. Oh, man, that didn't work. Yeah, that's that's true. Yeah. Yeah my my mistake there and you know, I mean I should you know, it's like anything else when I should I should know better by now. But yeah, I mean I completely completely understand where you are coming from for sure. Absolutely. Um, I'm sorry and that's what we're talking about investing. I guess. It doesn't in my opinion. It doesn't just come down the money the question you need to ask yourself to is how much time I'm can you invest in it and I'd like a you know, this is just something some people have more time than others. And once again, that's really going to affect some of your decisions on you know, how what type of scale you're looking, you know to be able to or how much you're going to be able to scale your group. So I think that's important too. That's true. Yeah, that's that's that's a good point. I mean, you know it and I mean, you know in terms of time, I mean it really it depends on you know, I guess in a way it does depend on what what medium you are growing and I mean if you're growing in soil, I'm not saying it doesn't take time or I'm not saying you don't have to invest time because you certainly do but if you're growing and say Hydro, it's I mean in my now I've never grown in in Hydro, but from what I understand and I've talked to a lot of people that do in my opinion and not In my non-professional opinion Hydro, it's a little bit more labor intensive than say growing in soil. I mean, would you agree or would you not agree with that statement? Not necessarily and I think you know, you'll find with a lot of our topics of conversation here. There's there's always going to be a but right and when it comes to when it comes to Hydroponics, for example, like solo I'll use myself as an example. Okay? You know one of the reason so I originally started growing in dirt and specifically I guess what some may call a semi soilless mix which is like promix HP going in pots and what have you and had a lot of success doing that but I found and I know that it's not and it wasn't organic. It wasn't what you were referring to a little bit in your Austin but I changed my setup to Hydroponics to be able to free up time because that the set up you know, how you said that up will allow you for example to automate some processes and that's not to say you can't do that with dirt, you know, but the fact of the matter is you can you can save yourself time. It's what I'm getting at with Hutch, but now it does require you I think. The one point there with Hydroponics is it does require you to be much more on top of all aspects of your grow and being able because sit, you know, there's more moving parts. So more risk of failures sure exactly. So, you know, you have to be attentive to that now, you know, so it's in my opinion. It really just depends because I don't think growing medium matters. As much to the amount of time you can invest as the size of your grow for example, because I don't care what you're growing in if you're growing more plants, it's going to take more time the style of your grow. Are you, you know, are you growing and we'll talk a bit about this, you know, are you growing a sea of green and just allowing your plants naturally grow or are you or are you training doing a significant amount of plant training to you know, Maximize your your space. So all of these things are going to involve different amounts of time. Right? So, you know the every I just I think that it doesn't it definitely doesn't just depend on growing medium. It also depends on you know, how what kind of grower you are. Like, there are some that are what I call I call them green thumbs or they just you know, they just they play it. By ear so the speed and then there's people like me who have a bit of a an IT background. For example, I'm very detail-oriented. So I'm the type of person that likes I need to know every single every single detail and be in control of that that makes sense. So so those those things will affect how much time you need to invest in your in your grill. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I can I We agree with that because I've I've seen your grow on Skype and I got to say it is it is impressive. I wish you know, I wish the the podcast listeners can see it because I mean wow, it's I mean, I got to say it's I mean I've I mean I've interviewed well not so much interviewed. I've talked to now, I don't know maybe 55 60 maybe even 70 home Growers and yours. It's got to be one of the most impressive it is. All right, I appreciate that. I appreciate your kind words and it's just you know from a hobby standpoint. I mean, I enjoy kind of, you know, tweaking it and finding just what kind of what kind of limits we can we can breach and so yeah for sure. Okay. All right. Well AJ, let's let's I tell you what, I mean we went off a little well sorta a little off topic there. But I mean, let's Let's let's backtrack a little bit and really let's get let's let's talk about really how to dial in your grow. And the first thing that you mentioned is budget which which which you know, which certainly makes sense and we did, you know, sort of a deep dive on that. But I mean what what other I guess what other other things should a home grower be concerned about when trying to dial in their grow Okay, so Let's I'm gonna you know that I kind of thought about this a little bit and I think there's I kind of broke it down at the specific areas that you would want to look at when dialing things in and before I highlight what those areas are even with what we've already talked about just specifically for your listeners. Listen. I just want to encourage people keep things simple like we may touch on a lot of topics and you know, we may die. And you know throw a lot of details either like even right now somebody listening might think oh my goodness, you know, they're just considering going and and even from what we just discussed. Wow, you know, I got to think about all these things. Look don't think that everything we talk about here complicates things. So my what I encourage people is start Simple Start basic and build your bro. So meaning it's kind of like, you know, if you're going to get in the groin or if you buy a car you buy a car and then you add you soup it up. So to speak later, you know with your grow start with something basic just get started. That's the key right so don't get don't get caught up in all the details now with that said the areas that I think that people can dial in their grow. So to speak one is in propagation, you know, where you start what you're starting with and in case you you know again for With respect to beginners propagation. I'm really more specifically talking about are you going to start with seeds or clones? And so and so forth and there are things to dial in with that another area that I think you can dial in obviously as environment. That's a pretty wide topic but definitely an area that especially growing indoors because you're not going Outdoors where mother nature of than you know, your environment your indoors you can you literally are in Control of every aspect of your grow another area where you dial in is in nutrients how you decide to provide or not provide nutrients to your plants? And when I say that obviously I'm referring to people who grow maybe is no till or organically or with super soils where you know, you're relying on that the medium of the Axon. You know and inorganic you're actually not being your plant your feet and your your dirt. So to speak you're speeding soil. So you dial in with that another area where you dial in is your growing style you need to you can dial in how it is that you want how it is that you want to grow when I say growing style. I mean, you know, I've touched on a little bit earlier. Are you someone who wants to do a sea of green? Are you somebody that only wants to work, you know, you can you can take a five by five ten. So this week let's say a five by five grow area or grow tent and there are many different ways that you can grow in that you can grow for me. For example, I'm a sea of green grower where I have to produce the yield. I want I have many plans for example in the 5x5 area. I have 20 plants. Whereas somebody if they wanted to produce a certain yield can grow just one plant and yield the same thing, but there are considerations for that. So you have to That's another area where you would dial things in another area where you dial things in is a good you're growing process. You know, how are you going to irrigate, you know type of type of water so on and so forth and then another one is post-harvest how you're going to dial in what you're going to do. Once your Harvest is done. Another area is disaster management. How are you going to dial in or Handle, if things go wrong power outage water outage pest infestation. So and so forth and again, you know, I'm sorry rattling all these off and I think the point of consideration and some of these may be added the scope of this episode of this conversation, but definitely worth considering grow room management, you know dialing in how you're going to keep things clean. We're going to store things how you're going to dispose of things and so on and so forth. So those are the areas that I broke it down. Okay. Yeah. Well, you know Jesus, you know, if I mean, I mean, thank you AJ. I mean we've got I mean, yeah, we have you know, your first one is to you know, keep it simple keep it basic and then propagation environment nutrients growing style growing process post-harvest disaster management and room Room management. Okay. Wow. Did I did I forget anything that I don't think I don't think ya know you got them. All right. Yeah myself. So I mean I'm down into this into this podcast. There you go. Well, I mean, you know something though. I mean I freaking should write I mean, it's my own podcast for Christ sakes. I mean, you know, come on right? Yeah. But you know some I'll tell you what, I mean, let's you know, I mean we don't have to do I mean like like what you just mentioned that mean a few of these might be even out of the scope of this podcast. So really, I mean, you know, really if you wanted to come back on and do another podcast and and deep dive some of these topics that would that would be okay with me, but I'll tell you what let's you know, we talked about budget. I'll tell you what let's let's keep it. Well, let's Let's keep it simple and basic and really again, I know this is this is a very broad question. I understand that and probably during this podcast. I'm going to ask you probably quite a few more broad questions, but you know, you mentioned keep it simple and keep it basic. Okay fine. So my question to you is AJ, how does one keep it simple and keep it basic when either they are first starting to grow or like I said, you know a little while ago they have a You grows under their belt, but they still you know, they're not, you know, they're not, you know, quote Master Growers so to speak but you know, they've been around the plant they've had a few harvest in the past. So really what is your advice to those different types of people in you know, in your opinion. Well the best way I can say to keep it basic is for those individuals is try not to compare yourself or to other people or think that you can read like we live in a day and age right now where which is awesome we have access to so much information with regards to this specifically to being able to cultivate, you know, this awesome plan and but the the I find that one of the potential downfalls of that is people will look at that and say oh I How to do that I gotta do this, I gotta you know, and they try and mimic a lot of that one when really in some of those cases like for again, I'll use myself an example if somebody were to be able to see my set up my grow and and even try and mimic so to speak some of my processes like those took literally years to establish. So keeping it simple first off is you know realize what you want to get out of it and kind of stay true to that meaning that you know, if this is if you're you're maybe your main objective is to actually just to save yourself some money so that you don't have to be paying astronomical prices at your local dispensary or what-have-you. Well then, you know ask yourself. You know, how much how much really do I want to produce? Bruce, you know each Harvest instead of for example, some people fall in the Trap of you know, thinking that they're unsuccessful if they're not producing quote-unquote pounds, you know, like that's it doesn't that you know, or they read. Oh, I read that you have to produce some such-and-such per watt and blah blah blah. That doesn't that may not apply to you. Right? Right, so don't over complicate, you know, and sometimes people feel Oh, oh, it's not going well, or they look at pictures on Instagram and then they'll compare them to what's going on with their grow. Look, you know why you're growing your hair grow. And do you want to make it better sure and that's why you'll want to dial things in so that the next time you'll make it better but don't over complicate it don't you know, your don't spend your time chasing your tail because that you can do that man. You can look at your plants and say, oh they don't look like this one. They don't or I don't You know and they end up going to their local hydro store. And then oh, I do look at this. They look at that. They're looking the shelves and before you know it they've totally lost where they're at. They probably spent a hell of a lot more money. They wanted to and their grow most importantly is probably suffering instead of flourishing, you know, so pick the number of plants you want to grow or know how much you want to produce, you know, germinate the seeds put it in the dirt and just and let it do its thing. I mean you'd be Be surprised how well, you know this plant will do with just a little bit not a ton a little bit of TLC, you know, you know, yeah, you know, listen II completely, you know, I understand where you are coming from because I mean as as many of my sister has no I mean, I'm not the best grower in the world. Actually. I started this podcast to you know, really to educate myself and I mean, you know, I don't want to sound like a like a braggadocio, but I think I think I am not just educating myself. But I am I am educating quite a few people which is which is an AA always you know, which is a nice thing to do of course, right? Right. And and really, I mean, I understand, you know where you are coming from entirely because I just went through my first harvest with you know in my buddies grow chamber and really I'm I mean it was it was a I grew a automatic a germinated seed at the beginning of January and I you know something I didn't give it any nutrients at all. And you know, I just well I just dried and cured it and it took me, you know the entire process it took me maybe like 85 maybe like 90 days or so and really you know, and You know, I it was you know, it was exceedingly simple. All I did was give it water either once or twice a day 500 milliliters of water and at the end of that of that say like 90 days I had you know, it's not a great yield, but I had I have about you know, approximately an ounce and a half. So I mean again, it's not great. But but you know something for me and Where and where I am, you know currently at in my growing game for me. It's absolutely perfect. And and I'm completely happy and I am completely completely happy with it. So really you're you know, you're sick your suggestion to keep it simple and basic for me. It completely makes sense because that's exactly what I did and I'm really happy that you you know that you put it that way because that that reassures what you know what I am currently doing so You know, well, you know that that's awesome. And you know, the one the only one thing I'll disagree with you on is when you say, you know wasn't great. I think it's great. It is great because it you you did it you you you got what you wanted out of it and out of it and you you enjoyed it. I mean and that's great and sure. I mean we're just as people, you know, and particularly as Growers sure we want better and that's fine, you know, and you can make it Greater, but It's great and I just thought I just want people you know who are in the city because your story is awesome and there are kind of your listeners who are probably living the same story right now and I don't want them looking at the my disabled. Well, it's not great. No, it's great and you'll make better but it's great. Right? Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, let's yeah, let's let's let's make our grows great again. So there you go. Alright. Yeah. Alright well I mean, you know, we've talked about budget, you know, keeping it simple and basic, you know, let's I mean, let's let's say we're let's let's go down this this list here. I mean assuming that you have some time. I don't know, you know, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I definitely have time then what would you like? I said just to kind of preempted it, you know, if we don't get the chance to cover, you know, everything I I kind of laid these out in I guess in order of what I think is important. Orton for a beginner grower and newer grower for someone who's restructuring their grow to look into so, you know, we'll start at the the first you know, and then we'll go on because some of the other things aren't necessarily things they have to consider right away, right? Sure. Absolutely So to that point I guess we'll start with we'll start with the propagation propagation. Yes. Yes. What nation right, right. Yeah. Well, yeah. I'm sorry, I what were you going to say their age? I just you know, I what I have kind of know that years propagation. / what are you going to start with? Ok now so basically, you know the, you know staying true to dialing it in for you to be able to know how you know where to dial things in the first thing to the first thing I understand or first thing to to know. No is what am I am I going to be growing from seed or my growing from clones? Because that is there are two different approaches there, right? And and then you want to ask yourself some point that you brought up which was a very valid one is what am I going to be growing? Am I going to be growing a photo period plant for those that are who don't know what that is. We're talking about plants where you are in control of when they will go in the flour because they're photosensitive or are you going to grow on auto flower which takes out that variable, you know there again, it's not in the scope of this conversation. There's there's pros and cons depending how you I don't like to say cons because I think they're both awesome. I've grown them both. I am specifically for in case The viewers our listeners are wondering I am a photo period grower. I am not currently growing any other flowers, but they're depending on your setup that maybe the way that works best for you know for you but I you need to decide am I going to grow out of flowers or am I going to grow for the periods and now my suggestion for people first off with the seeds and clones is start from seed. That's my suggestion sure if you're able to Start from seed why because well one it's just in my opinion. It's a really fun way to start, you know, your cultivation hobby, you know watching and see Germany. They're learning how you know, I think that that's cool. But the second thing is you are your now allowing you're in control of not bringing in potential problems in your Gardens into your garden. Sorry, because when you start to look for places to acquire clones and what have you you are potentially already starting with some problems they bring in past that they bring in disease and so on and so forth when you're growing from seed your you know, what happened to that plant is all on you. That's yeah, that's true. That that's a good point because when you're grown from clone, I mean you don't I mean you have no No idea what the hell you're bringing into your garden, you know, you just you just haven't you just have no clue, right? Yeah, the one benefit of going from clone. If you have seen the type of Bud type of flower that that mother plant has produced then the nice thing about it is you already know what to what you're going to expect whereas from seed. There's always that you know, unknown variable different phenotypes and you know, but I definitely recommend starting from seed and one point on that too. So when I thought about dialing in and specifically about this particular area where you can dial in here is you just eat where you going to do the leg work here after you answer those questions and my growing from seed what type of you know, what type of plant my growing is you need to dial in or vet your Source meaning I can't say enough that probably the most important Up here to being able to finish with a strong product and successful result is start with strong genetics. You're never going like I've because you know, you can if you start with strong genetics, you could be an inexperience and I don't mean this in a derogatory way but a subpar grower and still produce quality bud you could be Be the best grow on the planet. If you have poor genetics, you are never going to be happy with the result. Sure. So, right okay. Yeah exactly, but I don't mean interrupted there, but I'll tell you what, I mean, here's here's a little side question that I have for you and really again, this is a very broad question. But how do you tell what are good genetics and what are what are bad? So, you know with that you're going to want to make sure that the source of your the source of your seeds is from a very reputable and proven breather or what would I call them seed bank or retailer sure, you know with the way and I think it's awesome with the way that the landscape is changing for the Cannabis industry. It's great because it's starting to give people so So many options out there now the cat the problem is everybody in their mother is starting to maybe jump on this and there are so many in my experience. There's so many I don't want to put any down but there's so many seed banks coming up that are I'm not going to accuse them of being malicious, but they're putting out genetics that are just really poor quality. I've seen it. Yeah. No way. There's no way to sugarcoat that button. So at the end of the day, how do you do that? Well, you're going to have to make sure that you get I would suggest getting referrals from trusted sources ideally from people that you know, specifically who are experiencing industry. If you don't have that, for example, then you know, if you're forced to have to maybe look for that online then do so, but make sure you are. Again that your wedding the source of that information and who is providing that information and another way you can do it is listen to shows like the cheap home grow because some people that are speaking on there are speaking from experience and they will point you in the right direction of what where to go and where not to go right? Well, well, you know, I think you know again, I appreciate that that's that is a very a very flattering statement man. So You know, thank you AJ and I appreciate that dude. All right. Well, okay fair enough. I mean, I'll tell you what let's you know, let's let's let's go down the the list. Let's continue on this journey right now. How about now? The next one on your list is environment now. Yes. Okay. I mean let's talk about one's environment when growing and mean, you know, if well, you know, I mean now Now I know I can ask you about this and have you talked about it, but doesn't environment. I mean doesn't it have a large part to do with your growing meet with your growing medium or or a No-No what I say environment, so we're creating. So let me let me just make a point that you know, it's something I have on with regards to medium here at my opinion that first. Yes the Some the the primary purpose of growing medium is basically to hold the plant up. I mean your growing medium is there so your plant has somewhere to Anchor itself the I know that some people are going to like this. That's that's just but that's that it that is the main purpose. It serves now different growing mediums bring different value to the plan meaning that you know, you you know it can A change different mediums allow you to basically provide nutrients or certain things that the plant needs and different it, you know in different ways, but it really that you know, that doesn't dictate anything to do with environment. So when I talk about environment, it doesn't matter what Medium you're growing in. Okay, these you know these these this matter all the same need for example, if you're going I'm wrong, I grown rock wall or if you're an organic grower hot temperature is still the same whatever temperature, you know, we we need to control. We need to control a certain, you know, growing plants in a certain range. Ideally, right? Another another aspect of environment is, you know airflow Whoa. Well again, I don't care what Medium you're growing in, you know good airflow is necessary. It doesn't matter what Medium you're growing in you need light, you know, so these when I talk about environment, I'm talking about temperature humidity light air exchange air circulation. So regardless of medium those things have to be dialed in and you need to consider that when you're you know, if you're considering Getting it starting growing or if you already have an existing grow and you want to step up your game or if you want to fix a problem and you know, and you need to look at battling in your environment. This is what you're going to look at. You know, what what are my temperatures? How am I going to control my temperature? What is my humidity? How am I going to control my humidity? What type of light source do I have or am I going to use how much are Change or lack of air exchanges there and what what am I going to use to circulate air? So these are things that if you grow outdoors, it's all taken care of for you. Right if you're an indoor grower. Well now, you know, you are the one that is, you know, your plants are relying on you to supply all of this right and at that so and it's really not I you know, another thing I want to point out with this is I don't want Hours to get so caught up. There is an ideal. There's a sweet spot 100% rare plants, but if you can't going back to the budget and you may not have the budget to hit that sweet spot in your grow. You just might not you know don't panic. I mean, you know, we have resilient plants they will still grow but depending on how severe you have an issue with some These things it just you just something's got to give so it may affect a certain, you know, it may affect yield. For example, if your temps are just way way way too high it may, you know, affect your yield and you know a little bit so the but it doesn't mean it's not going to grow. It doesn't mean that you can't produce bud and it doesn't mean that your flower is not going to be you know potent it can be it can be done. Just don't get so caught up but It is an ongoing process and something that you'll want, you know, people will want to work on and always want to well dial in right so exactly so yeah, I think that I think that that's oh and another I just as I looked at my notes here. Another thing to consider is it's an extra consideration is older suppression. You might want to you know, when you're talking about your environment. Are you going to be okay with you know? Completely dank smelling house. And hey, that's great. You know or maybe I dang smelling neighborhood depending on what you're drawing that's you know, or do you know I is this going to be something you you're going to have to concern yourself with? Right, right. That's that's true. Yeah, that's a good that's like, you know some that's a good question because it's funny because I I got asked that question by a gentleman this past Sunday night on the live stream and he's like, well, you know what? You know what carbon filter would you recommend? You know that I buy so I don't have any smell my house. And I mean, I guess it all really depends on how big your grow is and you know, so on and so forth the mean, you know depends on how many plants are in there, you know, so, you know, I mean, I don't know I mean it you know, and it also the depends on if you have a wife if you have a girlfriend, you know, do they mind All that weed and mean if you know, it's like I said, there's the everybody everybody so I find you know to that point like this is the thing. This is why sometimes I get concerned, you know online and online forms for example, or or just or other videos, and I'm not saying that and to be fair even you know on some of the some of your shows that I've listened to I try not to give or when I Give it advice or if I answer a question. I try not to say look this this I try and point out that this is a general answer but it may not apply to your you know, all situations because everybody's situation is different, right? So what is the right answer for one person may not necessarily be the right answer for another so, you know, I just say it it definitely is some some point of consideration I think by and large Still most people want to be able to suppress over there in the gross, but you know, hey, everybody's different. Sure. Yeah, right exactly. Exactly AJ. Um, well, I'll tell you what. Yeah, we did a little bit of a deep dive with environment. I'll tell you what, let's go. Let's go down the list. Let's talk about nutrients. All right. Sorry. I'm just before we leave environment. Okay, if people are you know, we're listening and say, okay. Well, that's great. You pointed out that out, but You know, we haven't how do I dial all these things in it? So for an example, you know when you're talking at just I won't get I don't want to get too far into it. But you know winter for example, if you're looking at temperature, I think the most obvious thing that if you're if you're new to Growing your biggest battle with temp is going to be high temperatures because everything in your garden almost everything in your garden is going to produce heat particularly your light so it's being a you I know that the struggle for most gardeners is how do I lower temps the simple answer to that is well, you know is AC but that's not always that's not always doable for everybody. So, you know having some type of an exhaust the more that you can exhaust the easier it is that you're going to be able to control temperatures and so on so forth. So, you know, you'll want to dial in temperatures based on that humidity obviously, you know, depending on your environment you may need a dehumidifier or a humidifier depending on if you live in the you know in The Damp or dry environment if you're taught if you're if you're talking about lights how you dialing? Your lights is oh, I mean that in itself is a whole episode, you know, obviously you got to determine what type of light you're going to use and nine times out of ten. The type of light you're going to use is usually going to be determined by your budget. That's the Bottom line, I you may want to use a certain light and it just may not it may not fit in your budget. Another thing will be if I talked about are exchanged. Well you just seem to make sure so for those that are looking to grow in a closet you have to think about how you're going to get fresh air in there. Your plants are going to need fresh air and a constant supply of CO2 and you know, not an external Supply. I'm not going to jump into Ooh it but for those that are saying oh, I'm going to get Co2 look unless you have a sealed environment my personal opinion on that is you're wasting your time. But CO2. So that's a you know, well, you know CO2 in an average are it's 400 parts per million of CO2. If you're going to supplement your garden with CO2 unless it's a closed environment. It's constantly going to be dissipating. So unless you're able to maintain Over 900 ppm's in there. You're not in my opinion. You're really not going to see a benefit and the real the only way you're going to see significant and there will be significant benefits and to yield if you can get it up to 1500 or 1600 ppm's but you're never going to do that unless it's a sealed environment. So right yes, that's so I mean, that's that's okay. Yeah that I mean that is a lot of that is a shit ton of friggin ppm's man. Holy holy. Christ I mean, you know, yeah, but that's and that's it that's sweet. But that's where they loved it actually possible deal more even mm. I have you I mean once you get up to 4000 ppm's it's actually going to start to kill the plants. But you know, you're never going to you know, and the way they get sealed it and see this is where when we talk about dialing in can you you know, is it possible? Like if you're gonna have a sealed environment then you're not exhausting. Well, that means if you're not exhausting then you need to find another way to deal with temperatures and so on so they All they're all intertwined, but sorry, I don't want to go off intended on the CO2 thing. But you know, you want to you want to have the exchange, you know, you know, if as long as you can get decent are exchanging their you're going to have you're going to be able to produce great results not good results, you're still be able to you will be able to produce great results without CO2. I don't use CO2. None of my tanks are sealed environment. So I don't bother I just don't I just don't bother. either so so that's the you know, the are exchanged and then obviously air circulation you have to you have to have some sort of air circulation in there or else you will almost certainly start to deal with issues with mold or powdery mildew or you know, or other things, you know, you'll have hot spots in your garden where certain plants will You know be suffering because air is not being circulated around its own self. So anyways, I know we want to move on but I just want to make those points you'll want when you're talking about dialing in your environment. You're going to want to look at all these things, you know, circulation fans and exhaustion. So and that's that's how you'll be able to know those in. Okay. All right. Yeah, so basically take take inventory of your environment and basically go from there and and adjust as needed. David absolutely, you know fair enough. Okay. All right. Well, I'll tell you what AG let's I mean if let's let's talk. Let's talk a little bit about nutrients. I mean how you know, how does one? You know, how does one dial in their newts when growing their own right? So, you know with nutrients the first thing I mean the first thing to an earlier point you brought up is are you going to be using them, you know? Do you want to grow with nutrients? And you know, I'm one we're talking about. Do you want to use nutrients? We are talking about synthetic nutrients and I try to stay away from calling it that because it almost sounds like you, you know, her people who don't have experience. They almost you know, they think oh it's bad to use synthetic newts. No, they're just their nutrients. They're good. They're fine. They're clean. Sorry, you know, they They in when you use the word synthetic people automatically think chemical and when they think chemical well chemical and in their minds chemical and Medicine cannabis. It shouldn't be the same sentence. If not, you can produce absolutely clean cannabis clean medicine using a synthetic nutrient line up. Okay, but with I said if you don't want to use that you can grow organically and organically is essentially again for those that may not know it's just the way it's growing in a way where the the culture of bacteria that you feed in in the dirt is going to supply your plants with everything they need so you're not going to be feeding the plants. You're feeding the dirt. You're keeping your lid. A living bio organisms. I'm not a huge scientist and clearly I don't grow organically, but you're going to keep that alive which will in turn keep your plant alive. So, you know, definitely you want to decide whether you're going to use nukes. Now, if you've made the decision and most people will usually at least try nutrients at some time. They may decide to go organic, you know grow organic and that's your choice. You know, they may have their own reasons to do so, but they will most likely at least try it on, you know nutrients at some point and if that's the case then you need to decide well, which nutrients are you going to use and my answer to that is quite simply just I mean just pick one, you know, my experience has been that they all almost almost all of them have what your the basic things. Is that your plant needs, you know, there's very few nutrient lineups that are going I don't really know any of that either on the shelf that are going to harm your plants there. You know, it's just some neutral lineups may come across as more confusing for people because they have so many different things. But every every nutrient lineup has what they call a Des okay, so you have your base nutrients, for example, if you have botanic are you know, they have their you know, every nutrient has a base if you're using Advance Nutrients, for example, they have their base 1 part 2 part 3 part whatever and then they have you so in addition their base, they always have additives or supplements. All right, you don't need supplements to grow great. Flower, you know once you know what you can do with the base, then you can add things to see if you can improve things. So don't overcomplicate it pick your nutrients use the base. I use General Hydroponics three-part. Okay, I use the florist series most three parts have what they call a micro a grow and the bloom so it's a liquid nutrient. So I General Hydroponics three-part and that's what I use just and understand when you're picking your nutrient loss. Another thing with that is understand that it's a consumable so you're going to have to keep buying it. So your budget May dictate which nutrients you go with, right? That's that's true. That's a good point. Actually. Yeah with especially with with with the newts. You know, it depends on. Yeah. I mean, there's I mean listen, I mean there's a million Lien different, you know different nutrient lines out there. So I mean, you know at the it all depends it kind of comes down to what you want to spend, you know, and and you know, what your what your goal is for that, you know for that specific grow. Absolutely and sometimes the decision that would new twitch newts you decide to go with might be what knowledge base you have access to locally. For example, if you have a Cool group of Growers that you might turn to for help and they're using a certain line of nutrients. Well, you may want to use that line of nutrients to because at least you know, the help that you get is going to be specific to you know, that nutrient line up. I mean if you decide to go Rogue and use your own nutrient, you know different nutrient lineup that's perfectly fine, but it might if it differs from everybody. Well then, you know, you may not be able to get the exact advice you want right? That's it. That's true. I mean it's you know, I mean with I mean, like I said with with newts there's just so many, you know, there's so many choices you can make I mean, it's almost I mean it's not confusing but yet again, it's sort of is you know to a certain extent but but you know, but, you know hopping back to your point, you know, you're you're you know original point is to just keep you know is to keep it simple keep it basic and and don't overcomplicate your nutrients pick. And go with it and that's absolutely and realize that nutrients are just supplements their sorry. So to use an analogy nutrients is not food. They're they're they're basically just vitamins. So, you know, you're the food your plant your plant uses those nutrients to to create food. So it just realize that and when we say and I say that and And many people say it will say this because you want to use you want to be of the mind that less is more. You don't need to go crazy with newts and think that you know, you're helping your plants the nutrients are vitamins. And if you as a human being if you take vitamins, whatever, you know, let's say you take some daily vitamins to help you. If you overdo any vitamin, it's eventually going to be bad for you. Sure. Sure. So that's that's what that's what nutrients are. You know, that's what nutrients are so don't get all caught up on it because you know, they're just vitamins your better serves spending a lot more time, you know understanding what the plants really feed off of which is things like light, you know, and you know things of that than nature right? Absolutely, you know, and and really I mean if I guess if we really wanted to we can do a whole nother show about lights and like and and Hannah and Hannah dial in those, right? Yeah. Well, I mean, like I said, I'm very weird even though we're probably going, you know pretty long here. I mean, we're only just touching the you'll survive darling is it's just it's an ongoing thing and the whole point. I hope that you know, this particular episode is just to you know, shed some light to people on things and different areas of the grow where they might be able to improve on overtime, you know? Yeah, I mean, I mean, that's what I'm really am. That's what the what's with the cheap home grow podcast is all about it's all about, you know, improving your grow in the most cost-effective way. Hello cheap home grow Nation. Thanks for listening to my first episode with AJ on Hannah dial in your grow operation this podcast covered a lot of information. So please stay tuned for the second episode which will be airing tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. Eastern time. Odd to will be covering growing style growing process post-harvest disaster management and grow room management. Thanks, and I'll be talking with you tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. As always please rate review And subscribe.
On today's show, I have AJ aka cancanngrow on IG and youtube. I've talked to over 60 growers since starting my podcast and I could tell AJ knew exactly what he was talking about just based on the vibe I got from him within the first few minutes of talking to him. He has a massive indoor grow operation of which you can see in episode 9 of "Growing With My Fellow Growers". I felt the "CHG Nation" could benefit from having him on the show so the topic AJ and I decided to talk about was "how does one dial-in there grow operation". We covered various sub-topics such as your budget, growing in a simplistic way, propagation, environment, nutrients, growing style, growing process, post-harvest, disaster management and grow room management. I spoke with AJ nearly for two hours so I opted to break this podcast into two different parts. This is part 1 and part 2 will be airing tomorrow at 8 AM eastern time. Please rate, review, subscribe and enjoy the show! 