What’s the best ?

[Somatek]

As this is going to be a common question inevitably I thought it’d be useful to have a more nuanced discussion about growing that puts those questions in perspective.

To be blunt, there isn’t a “best” way to grow, variety to cultivate, strategy for dealing with pests or anything else.  It’s really a question of what works best to meet your needs, based on your lifestyle and climate conditions as everyone is different which affects what’ll be the best fit for them compared to someone else.

Where you grow has a huge effect on how to grow; someone on the pacific coast where the humidity is higher and you don’t have the harsh/cold winters will have a fundamentally different experience vs me growing in Ontario during the winter (cold, low humidity generally) vs someone growing in India during the wet season.  The best way to dry and cure for me may have no relevance in the other situations.  Which means the more localized the advice the better, failing that understanding how every aspect of a grow is interdependent on other aspects helps you understand how to tailor advice to your situation.

Lifestyle definitely plays a huge role, as a patient on social support who’s single with no dependents I have a lot more time and limited money which creates different priorities from someone with a full time job, family and kids to balance where the costs aren’t necessarily as important as time invested.  What are your needs and wants around growing?  Are you looking for quality, yield or simply saving money vs buying at inflated prices due to prohibition?  Do you want a hobby to fill your time or an automated system that condenses the work instead?  What are your core values, is being “organic and natural” important or do you consider it marketing? What do you need to get out of the experience and what do you want to get out of it?  Those are the kinds of questions only you can answer and significantly impact how your gardening system should be designed.

I guess in short it’s always good to keep in mind that there are as many ways to garden as there are gardeners, the more you educate yourself by learning the fundamentals of botany and horticulture; the more successful your garden will be.

[Brad104]

I’m kinda like you I suppose my dependents are living on there own now,so it’s just my wife and I.I was hurt quite a while back so I’m unemployed and have lots of time but unfortunately not lots of cash.Moral of all of this is.I am the type of human that will listen to anyone’s idea.They may know the secret to success.Im saying I will listen to an 80 yo or an 18 yo and then I will think 💬 about what and how they explained what they were trying to teach me.Then I’ll weigh all of the options and decide whether or not to take there advice.Im trying to say that a young man may be able to teach me or anyone something we weren’t doing, and that needs to be done.Simply put don’t forget to sift through all the bull shit to get to the truth.I always think the way I’m doing things are the best, until I am shown different ha ha 😅

[Somatek]

That is a wonderful perspective considering how much science is challenging established “facts” of growing like the need to flush or defoliate.  It’s important to realise and respect what the old heads where able to achieve with limited access to info or tech, talk to anyone who grew in the 80’s about where they got their light and half the time it’s stories of stealing city lights or having to learn how to wire a light, the proper way to coil copper around steel plates to make a ballast or even the paranoia of going to a grow shop after “operation green merchant”.  It’s incredible what has been achieved but equally that doesn’t mean it makes sense.  Nothing illustrates that better then the fact AI’s have destroyed all the established chess/go strategies we have developed based on assumptions.  We’re entering the golden age of growing where it’s accessible and people have the info needed to make solid decisions instead of following bro science because it’s what’s always been done.

[Author]

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