Growing Elite Marijuana...

[TCortese]

Okay, so I'm preparing for my first grow, but I've been growing ethnobotanicals and exotic plants both organically and hydroponically for over a decade. I've also been reading and compiling information on the subject of marijuana cultivation for years now. I made the mistake of purchasing Ryan Riley's "Growing Elite Marijuana" ebook, and I'm curious if I'm the only one who has some serious complaints with this book...

I see a lot of positive reviews for this work and I can't help but be shocked every time. The book is horribly written (and I mean horribly, I can't imagine Mr. Riley has taken even a single introduction to college writing course), filled with images grabbed right off the internet, and has enough erroneous information that even someone like me who hasn't even popped his first bean yet can pick out the errors. Hell, I didn't even see a single source cited in the entire work (swear to God...), let alone a references section! How did we go from Cervantes to Riley?

I will be glad to elaborate further, but first I want to make sure that this isn't the new standard of writing in the cannabis growing community. I'd hate to be bashed right off the Rollitup forums after my second post because this place is filled with fans of this author.

I strongly believe in the sharing of ebooks in the global library that is the internet and if this sort of thing isn't frowned upon here, I'd be glad to post a link with the book so people can glance through it and decide for themselves if they want to spend the $50 on a legitimate copy of their own.

So what's your opinion? Liked it? Hated it? Haven't read it?




Tony.

 

[CannaCole]

Haven't read it. I got by on Cervantes when I first started growing. A lot of my techniques differ from what he says but it gave me a starting point... now I have RIU.

 

[CannaCole]

Oh and when it comes to writing, doesn't bother me unless it contains nothing useful. Read what some of the shit users on here write.

I never took a college writing course.

 

[skunkd0c]

Okay, so I'm preparing for my first grow, but I've been growing ethnobotanicals and exotic plants both organically and hydroponically for over a decade. I've also been reading and compiling information on the subject of marijuana cultivation for years now. I made the mistake of purchasing Ryan Riley's "Growing Elite Marijuana" ebook, and I'm curious if I'm the only one who has some serious complaints with this book...

I see a lot of positive reviews for this work and I can't help but be shocked every time. The book is horribly written (and I mean horribly, I can't imagine Mr. Riley has taken even a single introduction to college writing course), filled with images grabbed right off the internet, and has enough erroneous information that even someone like me who hasn't even popped his first bean yet can pick out the errors. Hell, I didn't even see a single source cited in the entire work (swear to God...), let alone a references section! How did we go from Cervantes to Riley?

I will be glad to elaborate further, but first I want to make sure that this isn't the new standard of writing in the cannabis growing community. I'd hate to be bashed right off the Rollitup forums after my second post because this place is filled with fans of this author.

I strongly believe in the sharing of ebooks in the global library that is the internet and if this sort of thing isn't frowned upon here, I'd be glad to post a link with the book so people can glance through it and decide for themselves if they want to spend the $50 on a legitimate copy of their own.

So what's your opinion? Liked it? Hated it? Haven't read it?



Tony.

never heard of him (Mr Riley
but funny you mention jorge cervantes him along with ed rosenthal wrote very similar books
mainly for soil growers with very little helpful information on hydroponics

i would not encourage anyone to read these books they are full of outdated nonsense and personal opinion not facts
much more updated information is free today on the internet no need for these books

much better off reading real plant biology/horticulture books written by folk with extensive qualifications
rather than books about marijuana written by hippies from the swinging 60s lol

peace

 

[racerboy71]

i agree with the others, and i'd go so far as saying that i don't think that jorge has ever grown a single cannabis plant himself either.. imo, all of his "knowledge" is all passed on from pro growers, and he just passes it on to unsuspecting people who think he's some sort of guru..
if you want to read one book on cannabis, i'd go with marijuana botany, by robert clarke i do believe.. other than that, like has been said, information is free now a days, just read as many different forums as you can.. i'd even say go over to some regular gardening forums as they don't seem to be as infiltrated with forum gossip as some cannabis forums are, and most of what applies for them applies to cannabis as well.. tomatoes are always a good cover crop when talking about cannabis with the non canna-crowd..

 

[TCortese]

Oh and when it comes to writing, doesn't bother me unless it contains nothing useful. Read what some of the shit users on here write.

I never took a college writing course.

Yea, Cervantes is a fantastic writer.

There's nothing wrong with not taking a college writing course, unless of course you plan on writing a book and don't have an innate skill for said activity.

The problem I have with this, is now that marijuana is becoming more and more socially acceptable/legal, I think it's our duty to change the moronic stoner stereotype. Of course I don't expect everyone in the community to be brilliant, I don't judge people based on perceived intelligence, but authors (those who we consider authorities on the subject) should be held to a higher standard.

 

[CannaCole]

Yea, Cervantes is a fantastic writer.

There's nothing wrong with not taking a college writing course, unless of course you plan on writing a book and don't have an innate skill for said activity.

The problem I have with this, is now that marijuana is becoming more and more socially acceptable/legal, I think it's our duty to change the moronic stoner stereotype. Of course I don't expect everyone in the community to be brilliant, I don't judge people based on perceived intelligence, but authors (those who we consider authorities on the subject) should be held to a higher standard.

That's why I'd hire a ghost writer

 

[Jimdamick]

If I had the amount of experience that you profess to have, I would just grow the fucking plant. It is not a orchid.

 

[TCortese]

never heard of him (Mr Riley
but funny you mention jorge cervantes him along with ed rosenthal wrote very similar books
mainly for soil growers with very little helpful information on hydroponics

i would not encourage anyone to read these books they are full of outdated nonsense and personal opinion not facts
much more updated information is free today on the internet no need for these books

much better off reading real plant biology/horticulture books written by folk with extensive qualifications
rather than books about marijuana written by hippies from the swinging 60s lol

peace

Absolutely, the knowledge is out there and free for everyone. Cervantes' books may not be as relevant as they used to be (just as Otto Snow's books on clandestine chemistry are no longer as relevant), but at-least they were well thought out and held viable information. There was a level of professionalism which is completely lacking in Riley's work.

I am a double major; botany and organic chemistry, so of course I agree it would be great if everyone got their information from text books or extensively qualified authors (and kudos to you for that!), but sadly that's rarely the case in this community. That's what saddened me when I read the book. I know damn well how many people in this community will be excited after reading Riley's introduction of "how stoked he is for the reader" (I swear to god...) and how he's going to teach people how to grow "sticky dank buds as fast as possible"....keep in mind this is a reference book.

Shouldn't there be a higher standard and more professionalism among writers in the community?

 

[TCortese]

If I had the amount of experience that you profess to have, I would just grow the fucking plant. It is not a orchid.

I never claimed to have experience with marijuana, you might want to read my post over again as I actually said I never so much as popped a single bean.

It's always nice to have a reference book in any hobby you undertake, especially those of a scientific nature.

 

[ZoBudd]

Skunk makes an excellent point:

"much better off reading real plant biology/horticulture books written by folk with extensive qualifications..."

I'm reading Lowenfels & Lewis, Teaming with Microbes right now and loving it!!! It's a general gardening/soil biology book. Well written, very informative and really well sourced. It has already made me a better soil grower. Understanding that there is a largely unseen, interdependent universe in the soil, and understanding the roles that different micro organisms play is fascinating.

I've tried to get a thread going on what books are and are not helpful, but alas, it has never gained enough steam.

zo

 

[TCortese]

Not to get too off topic, but I originally had plans of getting into the field of microbiology. It is truly an amazing discipline! The book sounds great, and you're spot on, we need a thread that highlights useful books, that's an absolutely brilliant idea.

 

[TCortese]

I guess there are others who are displeased with the book, I just found this post. The poster quickly highlights some of the bad information, but trust me there is more than that in the book.

http://forums.cannabisculture.com/forums/index.php?/topic/183672-growing-elite-marijuana-best-to-be-avoided/

 

[skunkd0c]

if you have never grown a cannabis plant before
what is your motivation for not liking this dudes book im sure there are 1000s of badly written books on various subjects
do you want to stop others buying it .. are you writing a book yourself
just curious

 

[ZoBudd]

Not to get too off topic, but I originally had plans of getting into the field of microbiology. It is truly an amazing discipline! The book sounds great, and you're spot on, we need a thread that highlights useful books, that's an absolutely brilliant idea.

Ah,.... our dreams of education past.... years ago I was a genetics major, until I wasn't. Only about 1/3 of the students made it through organic chemistry, and I was not one of them.

I'm willing to give a book thread another chance. Let's see what kind of list we can all put together. I'm thinking we can use the "poll" function to generate initial interest. Folks should send me titles and authors and I'll pull it together.

 

[TCortese]

I feel cheated, I looked up reviews of the book before purchasing it. Here I thought I was spend $60 on the only reference to growing pot I would ever need, instead I got this garbage. Yes, I want to warn others, and sure, there are tons of poorly written books out there, and I've posted warnings in the proper forums about those as well.

What's really starting to get to me, is the more I google Growing Elite Marijuana, the more I see that the reviews are obviously done by the author, or at least sponsored by him (www.growingelitemarijuanareview.com for instance....). I get the impression from the book's marketing campaign alone that this is someone who is taking advantage of the pot boom and trying to cash out, it's dishonest and that's making this somewhat personal for me.

I don't have the experience to even consider writing a comprehensive book on the subject at this point, all my knowledge is secondhand.

 

[racerboy71]

this imo, is a good book to read if you're even remotely interested in the subject, and tcortese, i'd think this book is written more on an academic level that you'd appreciate..

 

[TCortese]

Ah,.... our dreams of education past.... years ago I was a genetics major, until I wasn't. Only about 1/3 of the students made it through organic chemistry, and I was not one of them.

I'm willing to give a book thread another chance. Let's see what kind of list we can all put together. I'm thinking we can use the "poll" function to generate initial interest. Folks should send me titles and authors and I'll pull it together.

Heh, yea organic chemistry is no joke, I'm half way to my bachelors. This was the most grueling two years I've experienced in my education thus far.

As for the books thread, books I'd recommend, Hydroponics: A Practical Guide for the Soilless Grower by J Benton Jones immediately comes to mind, it was easily the best introductory to hydroponics I've ever read.

I'll have to go through my bookshelves and see what else pops out at me.

 

[bigworm6969]

george cerventies rocks man i love his book, it has taught me alot even on useing hydro to grow plants, i got like 6 different books and his is the best one, i must be dumb cause i dont like the clarke book marijuana botany

 

[TCortese]

I was surprised not too many people here have good things to say about Cervantes, I learned a lot from him when marijuana cultivation first piqued my interest some years back. Cervantes' Marijuana Horticulture was a great book I thought.

Thanks for the suggestion Racer, I'm going to download Clarke's Marijuana Botany right now. It's only $15 for the kindle download, so it's certainly fairly priced. With all that said, I'm with Skunk, in that I believe you can learn a hell of a lot more from horticulture books not directly related to cannabis.

And with that, I'm off for the night guys. I'm glad I made this post if for no other reason than the reassurance I got that the rollitup community does indeed cater to intelligent people. One of my pet peeves is that so few people read in this day and age, and it's always a pleasure to meet literate and intelligent tokers.