My mistake quite frankly came from not understanding the various effects and complexities of environmental factors when dealing with grow environments compared to dealing with comfort levels and systems designed for storage and display. For example before I had the opportunity to discuss all the various elements and their relation to the final outcome I had no idea that leaf surface temp or vpd were even a thing to be truthful. Once I was able to study and discuss with other like minded people the crucial aspects became more and more apparent. Once I was able to apply the years experience from my 9-5 at that point, the results were obvious. The cause of my mistakes at that time was lack of knowledge and ignorance to what should or at least could have been obvious with experience,knowledge and skill. How about yourself Nick? Is there a mistake that stands out to you?
Truthfully. Today I can say it was arrogance on my part. I had done previous work, very basic in retrospect, with a local flower shop and thought the knowledge I had applied there would translate directly to my application and needs. The result was over saturated air and mold as well reduced yields.
Mark Baxandale
MVB Inc.
7 Bloomington Drive
Cambridge, Ontario
Canada
N1P1J4
Phone: (519) 242-4149
Email: mvbreleaf@gmail.com
Truly it’s been the mistakes that have proven the most valuable for most of us. Thanks for sharing and asking, @mvbreleaf.
One business mistake that I made was being too trusting with some of the relationships I formed within the industry. I knew some of the people with whom I was working had “flexible morals”, but I didn’t let it get in the way of business. I should have trusted my instincts and just steered clear. I am never one to burn bridges, but I also think that there’s something to be said about trusting your gut when you feel something is not quite right.
A cultivation mistake I have made ties back to IPM. I didn’t put enough precedence on the importance of proactive pest management and I felt the repercussions! Also, failing to react in the event some evil little critter finds its way into the grow. There’s nothing worse than leaving the facility thinking “I am really close to harvest, how much damage can these mites really do?”; then walking in the next day to webs on a massive crop. It’s devastating.
On that note, I never payed much attention to environmental fluctuations and didn’t realize how awful that can be for formation of molds and mildew. I learned my 35/65 rule the hard way!
A staff related mistake I made ties back to professionalism and not addressing some of the personal needs of staff. I learned that it helps to get to know everyone with whom you work – everyone, including the exterminator that comes to spray the exterior of the facility and all your vendors and all the third parties that come to your building – for a lot of reasons. It’s important to have a vested interest in those that help you and your company succeed. The practice also establishes and encourages trust, which is vital. It helps you proactively address personnel issues that can manifest into bigger problems. Also, it engenders a sense of trust and rapport with everyone on your crew, which is a positive affect and leads to a more effective workforce.
Also, when life goes south, as it does for all of us, it’s really great to be able to lean on your work family. When we had one of our staff get sick and die very quickly from cancer, we all were able to bond together and grieve as a group and support one another and ultimately honor his memory as a cohesive team. Even though we haven’t worked together in years, that team still stays close. Never could have happened if we were abrasive and terrible to each other!
The biggest personal mistake I made was failing to check my ego. Growers always seem to harbor a very unique belief: while the rest of the world might use this old adage “My shit doesn’t stink”; growers hold on to this little gem: “My shit stinks the best!” We all just need to put that belief to bed! This is an ongoing effort for growers everywhere. It’s one thing to show off your buds on GNET or Instagram, it’s completely unacceptable to show off your work on social while degrading and belittling other growers! I believe the more we collaborate the more we all grow. No matter what I think if the quality of the bud, I am always humbled and honored when I get to meet another grower who busts out that jar or shows me that grow and then asks me, “So, what do you think?” Gets me every time. Stay humble, my friends.
Space management. Didn’t go big enough and had too many plants.
One time I left the timer that the drip line pumps are plugged into set in the “off” position rather than “auto”.
Killed a good 40lbs of bud and left the trim crew hanging on a weeks worth of work.
I can’t go to sleep now without knowing for sure I’ve checked all the timers etc.
Surprised there aren’t more “left the water running” horror stories. Those are always fun.
I have several hundred “left the water running” stories! Floods happen!
Now her is a very wise statement.
The other one for growing. “It’s just a seed until you start working”
I am going to list a couple of grower ones but I think they apply to all indoor production.
As a trained horticultural professional, I wish I had just one more class in economics.
The biggest mistake I made was in my first commercial IPM program. In the early 1990’s supply of some biological was severely limited by season. We just could not get aphid Lions aka lacewing eggs in January or February.
I also learned that you can glue ladybug wings together from an old organic grower. Cool trick they don’t fly away.
The biggest cannabis mistake was in a complex outside grow in central Missouri in about 1985. We grew are seedlings in a nice greenhouse and then would transport them to river beds in spring. We where supposed to put a time released fertilizer in with each seedlings. I order the greenhouse formula instead of the nursery formula. So instead of a 120 day slow release formula, I had a 60 day formula. Needless to say it was a rather pathetic crop when we came back in fall. They where short and fat. Not tall and thin. So instead of a loss of an occasional plants being found by a hiker. The deer nailed us the whole season that year. By the way dear love cannabis, they think it’s candy. Out of 10k seedlings we had maybe 200 plants reach maturity that year. We planned to loose 9 out of 10 plants in unattended grows.
It was the first year we made a concentrate. We used giant canning pressure cooker, 40lbs of butane, 500 lbs dry ice. A big old fashioned wash tub, a little giant water pump and a lot of copper tubing. Spent a long weekend out camping and cycling butane between the pressure cooker and the butane cylinder. We had expert help of the day an organic chemistry grad student.
Never ever made concentrate that way again. Just tooooooo dangerous. We did learn about old methods for making hash that where a lot safer and gave as nice an product.
You were doing cls extraction on cannabis back in tyhe 1900’s !?
that’s dope.
I was born and raised in Missouri, my family is mostly drinkers though, so much so that whenever I came across that putrid road kill skunk bud, my older brother wouldn’t even recognize it… I remember giving him a ride one night and he said “it smells like skunks have been having an orgy in this truck” and i asked if it smelled like weed… he said “no…” and kept finding things to compare it to when it was really just the fresh ounce in my pocket.
I’m not sure if its for strictly nostalgia value or what but i really miss that skunk bud. Nothing I’ve ever grown has had as potent of a stench as that Missouri skunk weed.
Me too Saint Louis area. We uses to walk old spurs, in the 1970’s of the Katy line. We looked for Spurs that where active during WW2. The transportation museum was all to helpful. 
plus a trip to the public library. The spurs had so much cannabis growing it was nuts. The seed would fall off hemp bails going to the rope factories in north Saint Louis. We would look for the odd plants in fall and fill plastic garbages with very fine bud.
Still some of my favorite smoke. God it was nasty.
Not taking humidification as seriously as I took dehumidification, because since I have been humidifying into a proper VPD zone, I have seen overall health of my plants improve and PM completely disappear.
Biggest mistake is I had a small 6 light grow and didn’t live in the house, I was on a 3 or 4 day water. watered and came back 3 or 4 days later to a room that was 120 degrees and every plant was fried, i was days away from harvest. The breaker that my fans were on tripped and the breaker that lights were on did not. After that i wired up 50 amp timer boxes that both lights and fans were plugged into. Today my lights dim at 88deg and shut down at 92. Im in awe of the rapid technological advancements in the industry
Me too the changes in the last 40 years are wild.
/shameless plug/
that’s what we’re trying to do at LeafList!
I see a lot of the same responses here. One thing i would like to say here. Try to do preventative care on your grow area. Aswell as your plants. Being ahead of any and all issues is key. some of you might want to look into the system i run. https://www.airocide.com this is but one of many redundencies i use. Last being good old scrub down. Pre loading of Calmag + if you grow umder led. Most issues can be avoided completly.
As for me prob the worst of all. Was jaring product way to early, Having to toss it all due to mold. Drying and curing can be tricky. Nothing worse then doing all that work just to toss it. From that i did learn a lot. Try to never make the same mistake twice.
Thanks
Been there… Exhaust failed, but it was only a day and I had just watered, so a near miss…
How about the day the 8 inch watermain broke at corner of our property. I had to hire a water truck for two days mid summer Kansas City.
Yikes! Way worse the my line separation. I caught that within an hour… I got complacent about irrigating and would leave the property before that… Now i don’t leave the property when irrigating and use a sprinkler at the pond so that I can visually detect a pressure drop from a distance.
Look at sensephone. They will have a product you like so you can have a work life balance. They have been around 50 years. If you can imagine a way to watch something they will have a sensor.
They where my third line of defense agenst all things technical. If the generator started it would call me.
Will do! Thanks!