One of the most useful things you can do when starting out is to get yourself a notebook, pencil and eraser. TAKE NOTES!!

Why bother, you ask ? Well, unless you have an eidetic memory it's difficult to remember all the details of a grow, particularly when things go wrong. Here's a brief list of what you may want to track:
- date when seeds cracked, planted, re-planted, etc.
- what you used as a growing media, how it was mixed
- water, pH, nutes, temp, humidity, etc.
- LST, HST, when and what was done
- plant descriptions and/or pics. This I have found invaluable when comparing growing parameters such as nutes, changes in pot size....etc.

When I first began to grow in a 'serious' fashion, i.e. more than a couple of plants in a closet, I filled a hard-cover note book with hints and tips from books as well as advice I received here, plus observations and experiments done during my early grows. By going over my notes, I've improved my methods tremendously, knowing exactly what to tweak.

My notebooks now are used as grow logs, but I still occasionally go back to my original notes to check things out.

For the little effort involved, the potential pay-off could be huge. For those too paranoid to write down this stuff... grow a pair! You should be more concerned about your plants and not that the man will find your notes.

Cheers

When I started I had planned to keep a grow log, but I've often 'planned' to start journaling, maybe work on the novel I've been talking about writing since High School (lol).

My grow is a joint venture between myself and my brother, who also happens to be my best friend. He has cancer, brain tumors that cause him intense pain and dizziness, but he's the one with the organizational skills. He's keeping a log - the guy likes to record every little step.

Great thread, BTW. Sage advice indeed

what day is it?

Thanks for the response HalfBaked. A venture...lol!

Just had a look at my early 'serious' grow notes: used over forty pages for the first grow! Kept records of every parameter I could come up with, which in hindsight was a little over-the-top

More recently that page total has shrunk, in some cases to as little as three - which means I've either become complacent, or better yet more experienced at what is important and what is not.

My point, you ask ? While there is nothing wrong with over doing the note taking, with a bit of forethought information collection can be a trivial exercise. So, you ask again, what stuff is important and what is not ?

Here's what I've learned to track, fwiw:

- Strain info, date received, comments re:vendor, price, number germinated, etc.

- Media used (as I am constantly tweaking my growing mixes, this helps me see how specific bits affect my harvests).

- Dates: start date, when adding nutes, taking pH, flipping to 12/12, flush, harvest, start and end of cure

- Nutes: since I turned to the Organic side, this has become less of an issue. Used to track amounts, dilutions, dates and results of adding various ferts. Recently been using teas, so record what is in the solution, and frequency of use.

- Observations: growth spurts, discolouration, leaf tip burn, etc.

One last tip; nothing beats a photo. Get into the habit of taking pics at given intervals, say once a week. Try to include similar shots each time, say a front, top, and include a scale (ruler) in the frame. These come in handy to browse through if and when things go whacky - and I guarantee they will!

I'm sure I've missed other important points to record: feel free to respond with your ideas.