5 Biggest Mistakes Made By Growers Over The Holidays

Everybody loves a little bit of time off – especially when it’s in aid of Christmas, Easter or a cheeky bank holiday!

The only problem with these brief respites from the old routine is that you can easily end up neglecting your plants by wasting away the hours watching re-runs of Only Fools and Horses, surviving soul-destroying games of Scrabble and attempting to sleep off sudden hangovers!

Don’t panic though! Knowing and avoiding the 5 most common mistakes made by growers will help you keep your plants in tip-top condition over the winter break.

The holidays are a busy period, but not feeding your plants can be disastrous! They won’t be able to get the vital nutrients and water required for growth.

Not feeding for too long could lead to root cells collapsing, paving the way for more serious problems such as Pythium.

If you’re hand-watering plants in pots – you need to maintain a regular feeding schedule. But if you need to step away from your grow room, there is a solution!

Installing a drip irrigation system will give you peace of mind and your plants will be regularly fed. They’re simple to set up, but do so in advance to ensure you get the timings and durations of feeds!

Storing your bottles of nutes and boosters in cold places can cause precipitation. You know this has happened if you shake the bottle and hear a rattling sound.

You don’t want this to happen – the key elements in your nutrients/boosters will not be accessible to plants! But it’s easy enough to avoid, simply store your nutrients somewhere with a stable temperature.

For more information on precipitation, check out ‘Protect your nutrients and boosters from the cold’

You should also avoid adding cold premixed nutrients to your system. This will shock your plants and stunt their performance! Place a nutrient heater in your reservoir to prevent this.

Picture this: it’s Christmas, and your bulb or timer fails. What do you do?

If you don’t have spares and you can’t get to a GroWell store you might have problems!

Stock up on the essentials in advance to avoid serious problems.

It’s a good idea to have replacements of lamps, timers, and nutrients or boosters, particularly over the holidays!

Monitoring your grow room temperature is important – if it’s too cold, plants will struggle to perform but if it’s too hot, plants may lose moisture and cause numerous, related problems.

Stabilising temperatures in advance means you’re less likely to get caught out by a cold snap. Establish suitable heating and extraction set ups to maintain desired conditions then check everything works as planned!

You might think bugs aren’t an issue in winter, but you'd be wrong. Pests are a year-round problem.

If you’re expecting to be away from your grow room room for any period of time, perform a thorough bug check. This will help prevent an infestation taking hold in your absence.

Check your growing space, leaves, stems etc and respond effectively if you find anything undesirable!

Going through these steps prior to the holidays will help you to relax and enjoy the time off, putting you in a much better position to cope with any problems that might be encountered.