Ok, if anyone new to growing is reading this, maybe it will help to summarize the mistakes I have made so far in this grow. Some of this will be a copy/paste from earlier in the thread, and some will be new thoughts.
(1) Fertilizing too early. I killed about ten seedlings because I hit them with fertilizer when they were only about two weeks old.
Lesson Learned: Do not fertilize your new seedlings with a strong fertilizer when they are young. If you absolutely have to hit them with something in order to feel as if you are doing something, then make a manure tea and use that. If you don't want to make the tea (or don't care to learn how to make your own) you can buy tea from many hydro stores and nurseries.
(2) Over-watering while potted. Luckily I didn't kill any of the plants, but I did stunt their growth some early on.
Lesson Learned: Let the plant dry out in between watering. Each plant will be different as to how much water it uses, even if planted at exactly the same time. There are many different methods of ensuring you do not over-water your plants. You can weigh the pots both wet and dry, feel the soil, look at the soil, or, even better, invest in a decent moisture measuring tool.
(3) Transplanting into an unsuitable native soil. Hasn't caused me any issues yet, but may end up limiting the size of my plants.
Lesson Learned: Heavy clay soils are not the best soil type. While heavy clay soil is fairly common here in my state, I should have found a better site. But, instead I fell in love with my current outdoor site because of its relatively close proximity to a natural water source, concealing features of the old growth blackberry site I am using and great sunlight.
Update: I believe the soil type has affected both height and density of the plants. The positives to a heavy clay soil is that they do tend to hold moisture well, which helps in reducing the frequency of watering.
(4) Amending a heavy clay soil. Hasn't caused me any issues yet, but may end up limiting the size of my plants.
Lesson Learned: Amending a heavy clay soil will most likely cause my roots to want to stay within the amended "better" soil. This issue is not as big of a deal because I did dig some relatively large holes (each hole displaced 5 or more cu ft of native earth - about 35+ gallons per hole).
Update: Plants are 5' to 6' in height and while not as dense as I would like them do cover a diameter of roughly 4' to 7' depending on the plant. All plants have very strong stems and appear to have what will be very productive flowering nodes.
(5) Using an auger to dig in a heavy clay soil without fracturing the sides and bottoms of the hole. Has caused the death of two of my best plants. I incorrectly watered my plants because I mistook over-watering stress for under-watering stress (both stresses appear similar).
Lesson Learned: In a heavy clay soil the walls and bottom of the hole dug should be uneven, not smooth. Use a large screwdriver or chisel to create nooks and crannies in the sides and bottom of the hole. This will encourage the roots to expand into the native soil section.
Actually, if I had everything to do over again, I would have transplanted my plants to a 5 gallon bucket with drain holes in the bottom and sides of the bucket. I would have then buried the bucket into a properly fractured hole. This would have allowed me to have a good quality grow soil and the roots could travel out of the drain holes and into the native soil. Sort of the best of both worlds in a bad native soil.
(6) Failing to adequately stake or otherwise support my plants. High winds resulted in the eventual loss of four plants. Two were destroyed immediately and two were so badly damaged that they were unable to recover.
Lesson Learned: Always stake your plants or provide them with some form of support. Not only will this enable your plants to better withstand high winds and heavy, driving rain, but staking early will keep from damaging expanding root systems.
(7) Failing to adequately protect plants when placed outside. I lost nine seedlings (the entire second grow - which was supposed to replace some of the plants I had lost at that point) and four larger plants over the course of the grow to predation. The seedlings I am relatively positive were eaten by rabbits and the larger plants were either eaten or destroyed by deer.
Lesson Learned: Even the use of Liquid Fence, soap, human hair, and mothballs can not fully protect from predation. Sometimes the deer just get hungry enough to try the plant.
The only measure of predation control that really works is physical barriers, and the only physical barriers that will work 100% are those that enclose the plants completely and leave no access to the deer. If a strong physical barrier is not an option, then using Liquid Fence and other methods can minimize the level of predation. At that point you just have to be willing to accept some losses.
(8 ) Purchasing seeds from a less than reputable seed bank. I bought "feminized" seeds from amsterdammarijuanaseeds.com and all of the so-called feminized seeds grew balls. Big nasty pollen filled nanners.
Lesson Learned: If you have to buy seeds, buy from a seed bank that has been in business long enough to develop a positive reputation. A good spot to start is
http://www.seedbankupdate.com/
If clones are available to you, then as long as you are not violating the first rule of growing (that no one besides you knows you grow - by the way, that is also the second and third rule of growing), then by all means go with the clones.
And that should end this update of mistakes (so far). I started with 34 seedlings. I killed an even 10 of them with fertilizer. Out of the remaining 24 only 18 made it into the grow site due to early insect predation (grasshoppers). And due to watering stresses, predation, and a statistical outlier in male to female ratios I am left with 3 very healthy, 5' to 6' tall plants that should be harvested somewhere in the first or second week of October.
Maybe I will get a pound or so for my efforts, which doesn't really make the effort and expense involved worthwhile, but when the gained knowledge is counted I am ahead of the game even if I get no cured and dried bud at all.
Happy growing to all and hope I have helped someone! I certainly appreciate all of the experienced growers who have given me their thoughts.
