What's new
  • ICMag and The Vault are running a NEW contest! You can check it here. Prizes are seeds & forum premium access. Come join in!

A book that anyone interested in growing or already growing should have IMO.

Protea

Member
when me and the wife bought this house (that has a good basement room for growing). i spent loads of time thinking how best to present the idea of growing to her. before i find a good way. this book come from amazon.She had orderd it for me, and totally approves.
it was hard to get alot of the info at first. but this book has thought me so much. i know it isn't perfect but I have spent so many hours reading it. one thing i missed as a super noob(now i think of myself as just a noob) was a small scale grow example, like the big scale one there is, but whit less than 1000 watts. and two lamps max.but it is easy to find growlogs, so not to bad. adn some of it is not relevant to newgrowers, like how to install a light mover, and lot of security things that dont mean that much where i live. so i read selected chapters rather than the hole book. in the beginning. the chapters on hydro/outdoor/guerrilla/breeding and others, where not so interesting for me, since i was using soil indoor. but as i learn things as a grower it very helpful to me to sit down and read the air and water chapters. and maybe in a few years the breeding chapters will be interesting


he does over complicates things and has loads of lists, and charts, and whatnot, now i find them good, easy as a referrals, like the pH lockout chart in the soil chapter. and many of them are irrelevant to my grow. this is a hard book for beginners, but it they went through the trouble of getting this book, then they are interested on growing, and they will read it and understand it, not all in one go, but they will do fine.
and the book has survived into our third grow. and has only slight sign of wear. if it would be in hardcover it would be the perfect book
 

jd4083

Active member
Veteran
I've yet to read a published book that even begins to approach the amount and quality of information that I received from OG when I was getting started, and still continue to receive from this site now. Forums like this do tend to breed a lot of bullshit pseudo-science, but at the end of the day this is the bleeding edge of growing techs...
 

bobblehead

Active member
Veteran
I second what JD said. The BIO and CHEM will help you decipher the bullshit from the facts. You'll be able to reason why something is or isn't a good idea. For example, why is breathing ozone harmful? Why do we pH our water? Plant structure, metabolism, genetics, it's all there. Any "breeder" worth their salt has studied biology and chemistry. If you want to be as good as or better than them, you had better put in the work. The quality of your grows will improve by leaps and bounds.
 
You have to be able to walk before you can run...a grow

You have to be able to walk before you can run...a grow

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } quote=bobblehead;4065516]I would recommend Chemistry and Biology books... If you really want to understand what's going on.[/quote]

I think you are spot on bobblehead.



Something that has not always sat right with me about the nature of accepted information in the Ganja growing world is that if the information was not born out of The Ganja world it can not be utilized in the Ganja World.

In other words high quality(Academic, Industry) sources of information are often overlooked and replaced by lower quality info.

I wonder how many growers have started their investigation on a grow subject by hitting the stacks at the library? Are the differences between growing tomato plants and a cannabis plants really greater than their similarities? Just like people we are way more similar than we are different. There are 100's of modern VERY high quality books on growing tomatoes at any scale, both indoor and out. Just as there are countless books on: bio/organic chemistry, soil science, fertilizer science both traditional and organic, indoor horticulture, plant physiology/biology ect ect. When I started growing I started in the library and when Cervantes MJ Hort. book made it into my hands I did not feel like I really learned that much for how many pages I had to flip, what I did learn was helpful though.

In summery I think my approach has resulted in having more "tools" in my toolbox than if I would have concentrated my energy on info born out of the extensive misinformation and pseudo/folk science floating around the Ganja world. A combination of both worlds (academic/Ganja) is best, but you have to learn how to walk before you can run.

My motivation in writing this is an attempt to point new growers down the most fruitful path of their growing experience. Initially it is not the easy path but in the long run (IMO) they will be better off.

I refuse to believe that the average herb smoker turned grower is not smart enough to utilize this approach.

And

I look forward to the day when the significance and utility of the Scientific Method and its correct application become the industry standard in the Ganja world.
 

bobblehead

Active member
Veteran
Agreed. Any specific suggestions out there?

I specifically suggest enrolling yourself in the closest community college. :) or university, but that's more expensive. I recommend starting with BIO131 and CHEM131. These are the foundations of how our world works. Life truly is nothing but a series of chemical reactions.

Anyway, the text books cost $1-200... used... lol I pay $70 a credit hour at my local CC... 4 credit science class is $280. There's another component here: lab. A lot of it seems stupid, but you're getting hands on experience and you get to see a lot of what you're studying. The small experiments build up to the bigger more interesting ones in higher level classes. I'm finishing up with Microbiology. I've been cultivating bacteria the past 14 weeks. :) Fun stuff. It didn't start out that way... lol... One of my labs involved looking at sticks in BIO131... I was so pissed. It does matter though when you're talking about differences between plants... You won't get the same experience just reading the text. You need to have someone guide you through it and help you experience it.
 

teemu shalanie

WeeDGamE StannisBaratheoN
Veteran
It is a god book and a great start if dont know F.A , I got it years ago and still look up stuff occasionally good all around kind of stuff , but its nice to have a another grower to get schooled by , even if its over phone or Icmag
Peace Ts
 

MangoCat

Member
Why the Biology & Chem classes, unless they are prerequisites to a Botany class from which one would really learn how plants work. The Bio class I took didn't get into plant life as much as I'd have liked. Some Junior/Community Colleges offer a Botany 101 class with no prerequisites.
If someone didn't want to devote the time to a Botany class though, they could go to one of those "Grow Big Tomato" seminars that they put on at gardening stores from time to time. If you can grow great tomatoes, you're on your way!
Other than that, I've found everything I need right here.
 

bobblehead

Active member
Veteran
b/c they are the foundations. I've never taken botany, so I can't really argue... But if you take chem and bio, you have the basic information to learn anything you want. I could pick up a botany book and start reading it and truly understand what I am being taught and the reasoning behind it b/c I have a solid foundation in CHEM and BIO. It just helps you to get a deeper understanding. Then when you want to tweak things, you have a better idea of where to start...

For your average joe growing pot, w/e... I'm just saying the quality and quantity of my grows has excelled over the past year, in large part due to what I've learned in the classroom... Growing is my job. I have to be better.
 
C

CANNATOPIA

It defiantly is a very handy book with tons of tips & Ideas. I always have one close by in my garden.
 

jeffie

Member
I don't think you really need books. All information is available on the internet today, or at least enough for you to grow and produce as good of bud as most ppl do. after which it's all about your own experience.
 
C

Carl Carlson

My big complaint with Cervantes' book is about his chapter on pH. http://books.google.com/books?id=rn...uana Horticulture&pg=PA85#v=onepage&q&f=false

He really misses the mark when it comes to understanding (and hence explaining to newbie growers) the role that water quality plays in terms of raising or lowering the medium's pH.

On the other hand, you'll rarely find the same errors in the numerous free greenhouse growing related publications from American universities and state agricultural offices.
 
Last edited:

bobblehead

Active member
Veteran
My big complaint with Cervantes' book is about his chapter on pH.

He really misses the mark when it comes to understanding (and hence explaining to newbie growers) the role that water quality plays in terms of raising or lowering the medium's pH.

On the other hand, you'll rarely find the same errors in the numerous free greenhouse growing related publications from American universities and state agricultural offices.

Imagine that... Reading studies done by real scientists who probably weren't high while they were conducting the research...
 

Old Dirt

New member
W
O
R
D


Well, I got me these here Books, and even though I'z read um!.......I got me a Bunch a Stupid Questions!?? Cuz....:yoinks:

How the Hell else am I gonna increase me Post count!!! :dunno::jump:
 

Attachments

  • Books.jpg
    Books.jpg
    79 KB · Views: 9
Book Learnin'

Book Learnin'

I don't think you really need books. All information is available on the internet today, or at least enough for you to grow and produce as good of bud as most ppl do. after which it's all about your own experience.

I don't think all the information is available on the Net. What I am talking about is understanding the science behind the

" if your H20 pH is @ 8 bring it down to 6.7 it will make your plants grow better"

kind of advice where the correct information is there but the knowledge of explaining why it works is often absent.

With a more in depth understanding of the world around you and in particular the science of Cannabis you will be better equipped to come up with innovative solutions to your specific challenges.

"Innovative" means you came up with solutions that nobody has even thought of or at least made public.

Solutions that are better than the available alternatives.

This is not saying IC mag has nothing to offer because there is a ton of awesome information here and a ton of not so great information.

Having the tools to think for yourself is key in growing herb and is not a bad way to go about things in general.
 
Top