Why a Grower Journal Makes You a Better Cannabis Grower

As we have found several times in the past, growing cannabis can be very addicting. Most of the time, I tell would-be breeders not to care too much about how they grow. As long as you plant seeds in the ground and grow your own weed – you win in life!

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t improve your growing technique. After all, every breeder started out as a novice and it was experience that trained their eyes and hands. However, if you keep cutting out and not measuring your results, you are leaving a lot to chance.

Unless you are studying your own technique or writing down the progress of your plants, it is time to incorporate a Grower’s Journal into your practice.

What exactly is a grower’s journal? Light a joint, sit back, and relax – this article will tell you which data points to focus on when growing weed.

What is a Grower’s Journal?

A grower’s journal is a log book that contains information about each plant you are growing. This includes the variety, dates, nutrient ratios, soil composition, light cycles, etc. In this log, you measure the process of your plants, make notes for later, and essentially analyze your entire harvest cycle from seed to smoke.

You can even write down “post-cure notes” showing the effect, taste, smell, duration, etc.

The Grower’s Journal can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be. You may just want to track the data to have a rough idea of ​​when to toggle the light cycles. You might just be interested in the rudimentary data like light cycle, nutrients, and strain names – that really depends on your personal preference.

In this article, we’re going to talk about a few main categories that you can consider for your own journal.

But first…

Why have a grow journal at all?

As mentioned earlier, keeping a log of your activity gives you a unique perspective on your progress over time. While we have the ability to analyze ourselves in our head over time, we usually forget many important details.

A Grower’s Journal is a great way to write down how this has affected the growth and development of your plants if there are any developments around your plants, be it dealing with pests, switching to different nutrients, lighting, etc.

You can start experimenting and try different techniques and ideas on different plants of the same strain to see if you can optimize the results.

Journaling this gives you access to valuable basic research that can help you grow in the future.

Maybe you can save yourself a week of growing and still get similar results, or maybe you can wait a specific amount of time for curing to maximize the terpene profile? If you don’t track progress it becomes very difficult to know whether your actions are making a difference or not.

The Grower’s Journal measures your progress over time so you can change your technique and maximize results.

Sure, it takes a bit of discipline to keep going – but when you see your plant go through the development cycles and read the appropriate notes – you’ll get addicted to your Grower’s Journal too.

It really does become a very valuable asset over time.

It can help in breeding new varieties

A grower’s journal also gives you the opportunity to breed new strains and record their development. You can see the manifestation of the various traits across generations. This gives you a unique perspective on the genetic expression of cannabis and will help you improve your dominant traits selection.

With detailed logs, you can return to a “checkpoint” within your breeding process at any time and create new subspecies.

However, if you don’t keep a log of progress, it can be very easy to lose track of your ultimate goal.

The best way to start a cannabis journal

I believe in simplicity. So if you want to keep an analog journal, consider topics like;

• Tribe name + genetics

• corridor

• method

• Nutrients (if used)

• Soil composition

• Date and Time

• Feeding schedule

• Lighting plans

• Plum days

• Etc.

Just use a notebook and start organizing these data points. Assign it over a calendar and you are golden!

However, if you want a more digital solution, you can check out Grow Diaries.

Diaries grow

I didn’t know about this website until I started researching Grow Journals. To my surprise, there is a strong community of breeders with a diary that keeps track of all of their progress. All of the data points I mentioned before are included and what’s even better is that there is a community to comment on your progress.

In essence, you can partner with breeders from around the world and share knowledge. What’s even more interesting is that they run competitions and have freebies.

I’m sure they will use our data to advertise and promote equipment and what not, but I think for a marijuana grower having access to growing equipment and tips is worth sharing.

Grow Diaries didn’t sponsor this article, I just found them online and decided to include them in this article. I didn’t use them myself either – I just scanned what they had to offer and thought it was a pretty decent option and well worth including in this article.

The sticky end result

Whether you work digital or analog, a grow journal is essential if you want to improve your craft. Growing cannabis is a hell of a experience, and once you can see the benefits of tracking your progress, improve your technique – you too will know why it is any grower’s best kept secret!

CANNABIS JOURNALING, READ MORE …

WHAT IS CANNABIS JOURNALING AND HOW DO YOU START?