The Homegrown Helpers

AJ Tibayan, known as CanCannGrow on most platforms including Instagram, joined me almost a full year ago to record this great interview that covers a huge range of topics. As this is an old interview, and AJ does homegrow consulting in Canada, the format covers a wider range of topics instead of going deep on a few topics like we have been. We talk a lot about how to increase yields, his suggestions for Integrated Pest Management, his biggest challenge with PM, and more. Along with this BONUS episode, I also include the BONUS content that we usually publish on our website. You'll get almost an hour of quality cultivation educational content! This bonus episode is brought to you because we're currently accepting new members in to help elevate grow skills with the guidance of our team at MyGrowPass.com. Join up and master your grow with our help! New show partner, RainScience Grow Bags, will be participating in our giveaways moving forward. Listeners and members will have many chances to win a few of their 3-gallon grow bags, designed for easy cleaning, transplanting and some of the best water flow through of any grow bag out there! Check them out at RainScienceGrowBags.com and let them know The Homegrown Helpers sent you! Dr. Coco is continuing to do a ton for our community, and the cannabis community in general. Join him at 3pm EST in the GrowPass Grower's Chat on Slack to get your questions answered, or WIN a 20-minute call with Dr. Coco by becoming a member at MyGrowPass.com! You can see all his work at cocoforcannabis.com along with joining their current Grow Challenge!

HG Burner joins me to share his advice on popping cannabis seeds, picking the right plants to keep in the garden, picking the right strains for you, and some beginner breeding tips sprinkled throughout.  After walking through his grow setup, where he doesn't have any air conditioning(!), HG provides tips to growers to avoid problems and achieve success. We dig right into plant selection and strain selection, enjoy how in-depth this conversation goes. Connect and follow along with HG on Instagram @hg_burner2 Let us help you master your grow with the knowledge and experience locked away inside MyGrowPass.com. Join today before it's too late! Get in on the giveaways by October 1st to maximize your chances at winning a piece of the $6k giveaway.  We're also doubling down on our AMAs this month - sign up to attend one at mygrowpass.com/ama Find everything we do, including applying to be on the show, at linktr.ee/growcast SuiteLeaf.com is a partner for just a few more days. Use code GROWCAST15 to get 15% off on their entire nutrient as well as the tents, watering systems and everything else on the site. Expires 9/30, grab your Suite Leaf today! Have you smelled Fish Shit before? Before the product came along, I would have never thought I'd be able to say yes to that question. Let me tell you, it doesn't smell good - so you know it's got to be good for your plants. Use in any application, from seedling to flower and reap the rewards of increased cannabinoids, terpenes and plant health. Use GROWCAST at checkout at FishHeadFarms.com and save 10% on your entire order.

Thor joins me from his garden in Western Maine where he's found a new home and got to chase his dreams of growing great cannabis and helping people with a variety of ailments as a caregiver. Between Thor and his wife, they share a long history growing in Deep Water Culture and Thor shares that background and how DWC turned into what defined him as a grower! You'll enjoy stories from Thor's past, tips for getting started with DWC, and how to pick the right strain for you. You'll also get that down to earth feeling when you are done with this interview.  Connect with Thor on Instagram @VikingGardens_Thor or via email at cgud1989@gmail.com. Follow linktr.ee/growcast to find everything that we're doing at The Homegrown Helpers, Growcast and MyGrowPass.com. What can you find there? Well, a link to all of our resources, sign up for our latest giveaway featuring TrimBag, apply to be on The Homegrown Helpers, or start a 7-day GrowPass trial. Thanks to Green Goddess Supply for their continued partnership, please make sure you use them to grab all the smoking supplies that you need from papers, to dab kits, to bowls and rolling trays, and more! Use code GROWCAST to save 10% at GreenGoddessSupply.com. While you're there, check out The Armoire, a personal, self-contained grow cabinet perfect for that discreet grower. Use code GROWCAST100 to save $100 off The Armoire. Ready for the best ventilation components on the market? Check out the fans over at ACInfinity.com because you won't find better products anywhere else. You can save 15% on all of their grow room ventilation, ducting, and clamps that you'll need. Code works on Amazon too! Check them out at ACInfinity.com and save 15% using code GROWCAST15!

Doc Calyx has a passion for helping people and wants to help people realize better health through cannabis. Combining his two passions in life brought Doc here, to share his grow room setup with you along with other tips that will help you in the grow room! Doc and I cover lots of helpful tips, but most importantly a discussion about how to get started with Korean Natural Farming and steps to take to avoid overwhelm. We also cover his critical steps to transplanting to avoid shock to your plants and impede their growth.  Find and connect with Doc @doc_calyx on Instagram where he does regular live videos where he discusses a wide range of topics that is sure to help you out in the cannabis garden. Doc will be in Slack tonight, 9/11/2020at 7 pm EST / 4 pm PST. Hit the link in our Instagram bio or at Linktr.ee/growcast to join Slack and hang with Doc and all our other previous guests! The Fireside with Frenchy was so much fun. We're gonna be releasing the replay within the next couple of days to our GrowPass members, so if you want to catch it make sure you join up on September 23rd when we open the doors again! DYNOMYCO Giveaway - Drawn on 9/13 with our very special Harvest Giveaway starting next where we give a TrimBag to one very special winner - drawn on 9/30. RootedLyfe.com to get your premium CBD products that I personally use every single day from their all-in-one tincture to their soothing pain cream and topical salve, I need all organic inputs in any cannabinoid I consume, and I trust Rooted Lyfe to deliver that. Use GROWCAST at checkout to save 10% at RootedLyfe.com. DYNOMYCO is the most refined, premium mycorrhizal fungi on the market, perfectly designed to enhance your cannabis grow and improve your results. Proven to increase yields from 20-30% without any other inputs, DYNOMYCO stands out against the competition with proven results. Use code GROWCAST to save 10% at DYNOMYCO.com or Amazon!

Aaron brings the heat during this interview, and it couldn't be better timing as fall settles in and your outdoor plants need a little extra care in order to have a successful fall harvest. After learning about Aaron's path to get here which takes him from Florida, to Northern California and soon to be Oklahoma. Aaron then goes through how his outdoor grow setup and how he lives off grid growing amazing cannabis outdoor. We spend the rest of the show digging deep into two topics - drying/curing your cannabis and how to get through the fall, avoiding bud rot, powdery mildew, and bug issues. This is a must listen to episode if you are growing outdoor this fall. Sign up for the Fireside with Frenchy happening on September 10th at 8 pm EST by hitting the link HERE! Aaron brings the heat during this interview, and it couldn't be better timing as fall settles in and your outdoor plants need a little extra care in order to have a successful fall harvest. After learning about Aaron's path to get here which takes him from Florida, to Northern California and soon to be Oklahoma. Aaron then goes through how his outdoor grow setup and how he lives off grid growing amazing cannabis outdoor. We spend the rest of the show digging deep into two topics - drying/curing your cannabis and how to get through the fall, avoiding bud rot, powdery mildew, and bug issues. This is a must listen to episode if you are growing outdoor this fall. Sign up for the Fireside with Frenchy happening on September 10th at 8 pm EST by hitting the link HERE!

Max joins me for a long-awaited interview where we cover a wide range of topics all designed to help the homegrower learn a little something to improve their garden. Max lives in the land of prohibition still, and as a reminder, we all have a part to keep pushing legalization forward and for everyone's rights to grow this plant. After going through Max's history and how he got to be on The Homegrown Helpers with me and discussing how his grow room is set up, we move onto quite a big topic, discretion, as we all can't grow freely and there are people out there, besides law enforcement, that want to take your plants. I go on a little rant about rippers in the fall and how they should all be removed from this planet. We go onto a good talk about fighting, Max's biggest lesson learned around plants that hermied on him and so much more that you'll have to listen to the show to learn. Connect with Max @max_scrim_n_ruby on Instagram, or find his podcast "Talking Buds" that I'll be on this weekend. You can also hang out with Max in our Slack channel this Sunday at 3pm EST, join HERE! Big, EXCITING Announcement: Frenchy & Madame Cannoli will be joining us for a Zoom call to share stories from years in the "industry" and then answer your questions about hash making, traveling, or just being awesome, along with whatever else comes to mind. Sign up to ensure you get the invite at https://www.mygrowpass.com/fireside/ Today's episode is brought to you by our friends at Green Goddess Supply along with their grow cabinet The Armoire! Along with 10% off their well-designed smoking accessories that are exclusive to Green Goddess Supply (because they design them) like rolling trays, stash boxes, pipes, grinders, and more, they also have designed an amazing, self-contained grow cabinet with everything you need to yield 2-3 ounces every 100 days or less! Use code GROWCAST to get 10% off at GreenGoddessSupply.com and then GROWCAST100 to save yourself $100 on The Armoire! Fall harvest season is coming up, and that means trim jail for a lot of you. Free yourself from jail by getting the Trim Bag, and use code GROWCAST to get $30 off + free shipping. Save time, effort, and energy with Trim Bag, you won't be disappointed with the quality of bud that comes out or the time that it saves you. Check out their videos on Instagram @TrimBag - this thing works great! Members save an additional $20 by using the member-only code at TrimBag.com!

Smot Poker joins me from his home in Pennsylvania where he's been growing cannabis for medical reasons for many years, but we kind of focus on the last 5 years where he's grown Autoflowering cannabis strains in a room that has other uses - meaning the plants just sit in an open room while Smot does other things around them! I bet you weren't expecting to hear that today! On this episode, we cover all things autoflowers, and how to keep you grow super simple while yielding great results. You'll hear how Smot yields 8 ounces per plant in under 100 days, all while growing in the center of a room with no tent and no light leak prevention. Growing cannabis is great because you get to decide how much effort and how "perfect"  you want to make your grow. Even with a ton of effort, things will still go wrong! Give Smot Poker a follow and check out his grow journal over at CocoForCannabis.com and on Instagram at @RealSmotPoker. Also, join Smot Poker in our Slack Channel at 3pm EST Sunday August 23, 2020 to talk about the interview along with Dr. Coco. Enjoy the interview! Linktr.ee/growcast includes a link to our Slack Channel, Listener discounts, apply to be on the show, Extensive Resources, and start a 7 day trial of GrowPass. Check out BuxtonHollowFarm.com to grab your biochar, compost tea kits, worm castings and so much more. The best part? It's a family-owned company in Rhode Island making premium products for your cannabis garden & you get 10% off by using GCL10 at checkout. https://www.buxtonhollowfarm.com/ DYNOMYCO is setting the cannabis industry on fire with their formulation of endomycorrhizal fungus that is returning 20-30% yield increase when no other inputs have been changed! Who doesn't want 30% more weight on each plant? Head on over to DYNOMYCO.com and use code GROWCAST to save 10% on all sizes, and yes, it does work on Amazon.

Dr. Coco joins us me to discuss the upcoming Plant Training Grow Challenge found at CocoForCannabis.com, along with his history with cannabis, his current grow setup, and what caused him to create the site, forum, and grow challenges found at CocoForCananbis.com and what he hopes growers will find there. We dig into cultivation talk as we discuss environmental controls and the problems that Dr. Coco is experiencing as the temps and humidity rise in California and across the country. This is a great discussion for this time of year as growers across the world will be dealing with botrytis or bud rot due to humidity and moist conditions as we head into the outdoor harvest season. Join the CocoForCannabis.com Plant Training Grow Challenge and flip your plants on October 1st with Dr. Coco & the rest of the crew featured in the last 3 weeks here - Miss Myrcene, Mike Angel, and Bill! Win $50 to shop at GreenCraftDistribution.com and scoop some Buddha's Tree, Clean Roots Platform or Kushley's by entering our giveaway at growcastpodcast.com/giveaway Ready to share your story? Join me by submitting at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply Check out SuiteLeaf.com to enjoy 15% off EVERYTHING you need to get growing, and growing better, bigger buds from lights to soil, timers and more - not just their award-winning nutrient line for all growing media. Help dial in your grow and remove disappointments with this amazing line of nutrients found at SuiteLeaf.com and use code GROWCAST15 to save 15% off. Want the best fans in the industry? Want 15% off all your ventilation needs for your tents or grow rooms? Visit ACInfinity.com and use our code GROWCAST15 to save 15% on the industry-leading fans, duct work, controllers & more. You won't be disappointed, these fans are the best in the business. ACInfinity.com!

Mike Angel joins me from sunny Southern California to discuss growing with a community and why it's critical to his success and why he suggests the CocoForCannabis.com's growing challenges to get started, how to sort through the myriad of advice on the internet and determine the best advice to follow. If you'd like to connect with Mike join our Slack Channel on 8/8/2020 from 9am - 12pm EST and find out why community is so important! We kick things off with Mike (find him @MichaelangeloGrows on Instagram and anywhere else he hangs out) with his medical history and how he got into growing cannabis for medical relief for the last 15 years. We go into great detail on Mike's unique grow setup, which is dutch bucket style, and we get into a great conversation about nutrient absorption and Mike provided his PPM info after the interview, as we discussed. 20 gal reservoir ph kept in check between 5.8~6.1 6/9/2020  - 805ppm 6/10/202 -  827ppm 6/11/20 - 890ppm 6/12/20 - Topped off with 10 gal of water -> 797ppm 6/13/20 - At work, unable to come home and measure 6/14/20 - Topped off with apx 5 gal of water 595ppm 6/15/20 - Final 900ppm (approximate 5 gallons of fluid left in the system, high concentration) Mike wraps things up with a personal invite to reach out to him if you are a professional and are concerned with consuming cannabis because of work, he'll help you navigate what that looks like. Enjoy! Apply to be on the show at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply. In need of web design, site building, social networking and more? Check out our friends at CannaPlanners and the new site they built for us at growcastpodcast.com. They are a local New England company owned and ran by a husband and wife team that knock things out of the park. When you talk to them make sure you tell them Growcast or The Homegrown Helpers sent you! Fish Head Farms is sponsoring our latest giveaway for you to enter at GrowcastPodcast.com/Giveaway. Win one of 2 Liters of Fish Shit, for free, just be entering your email address. MyGrowPass.com members are entered to win every giveaway automatically. Fish Shit is aquaponics in a bottle and helps you to maximize all other inputs for your plants. Use code GROWCAST for 10% off at FishHeadFarms.com.

Miss Myrcene joins me fresh off her first harvest, reaping the rewards but realizing how much work proper curing methods can be! With one complete grow under her belt, this was a great time to hear her thoughts on all the things she can improve upon and make better for the next grow. We cover things like her personal journey to growing cannabis, including a horrible first experience at a shady dispensary in California which she overcame to realize the true medical benefit after a visit to The Apothocarium in San Francisco. I go on to pick Miss Myrcene's brain about the many lessons learned and the improvements she plans on making for the next grow like better journaling, airflow/circulation, and overall environmental controls. Miss Myrcene attributes a lot of her success to the help she received from the form at CocoForCannabis.com. She also plans to use the Atlas Plant Trainer in the upcoming Plant Training Grow Challenge hosted on CocoForCannabis.com! This amazing episode is brought to you by Green Goddess Supply and their discreet grow cabinet, The Armoire. Check out their personalized lineup of smoking accessories at GreenGoddessSupply.com and use the code GROWCAST to save 10% off, while our members enjoy 25% off all the stuff you'll need to consume the fine cannabis we help you grow. Lastly, use GROWCAST100 to get $100 off the amazing Armoire! Make sure you scoop your environmental controls with ACInfinity.com using code GROWCAST15 to save 15% off your entire order on fans, ducting and more at ACInfinity.com Also brought to you by the amazing time-saving invention - Trim Bag and their $30 off + free shipping using code GROWCAST. save yourself time, effort, and frustration by using the amazing Trim Bag on your next harvest. With a few flicks of the wrist, and some light tossing you'll be amazed when your harvest comes out close to trimmed without ever using a pair of scissors. Check it out at TrimBag.com and make sure you watch the videos & use coe GROWCAST to save $30 & free shipping.

Today I’m joined by Bill The OC Grower calling in from sunny Southern California where he’s ready to share his cannabis story and tell us all about his current grow setup and the lessons he’s learned from his years of growing marijuana. Bill shares how he found Cocoforcannabis.com and how Dr. Coco’s site helped Bill reinvigorated love for cannabis cultivation, all about his unique Sea-Of-Green style and grow setup, as well as lessons learned from setting this style of grow up. Bill does a great job bringing us into his grow room and through his decision to grow Sea of Green and how helpful some growers in the Cocoforcannabis.com forums were in helping encourage this decision. We walk through his strain selection process, including a discussion on genetics and also how important CO2 supplementation can be for a grow. Find Bill on CocoForCannabis.com under OCMan76 or on Instagram at OCgrower76 and connect with him there! Are you ready to join Bill on the show and share your story to help other growers learn from your journey? Go to thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply and fill out the form! Check out Buxton Hollow Farm and their full line of organic inputs for your cannabis, vegetable, or flower garden including worm castings, biochar, compost tea brewers, and more. Run from a family farm in Rhode Island with locally sourced products to provide the best nutrients to your plants. Check them out at BuxtonHollowFarm.com and use code GCL10 to save 10% off all inputs, while MyGrowPass.com members enjoy 20% off all the time. This episode is also brought to you by the industry-leading fans from ACInfinity.com. We sought out this partnership because of demand from our members and consistently hearing the name from guests on both this show and Growcast. Save 15% on all your grow room ventilation using GROWCAST15 at ACInfinity.com.

Tyler joins me from Kansas to talk all about being a closet-closet (not a typo - gotta listen) autoflower cannabis grower and how he got started consuming cannabis. As a “late bloomer” that found the only true relief from his medical issues from cannabis, and then started growing his own cannabis to relieve that pain, Tyler’s story and the message should hit home for a lot of listeners. This is the type of interview that I continue to do what I do and help growers learn to become self-sufficient. This was a perfectly timed interview because I had a ton of questions to ask that came up during our most recent GrowPass “Ask-Us-Anythings” and I got Tyler’s take on all of them. The topics covered range from plant training & topping, light cycles, up potting, and more. Essentially, when it comes to growing autoflowers, the question really is how must stress can a plant endure. That brings us into the conversation about autoflower genetics and the variances that a grower can experience when growing autoflower cannabis plants. Tyler will be joining our Slack Channel on June 26th at 10am EST if you want to chat about this episode or have questions about growing autoflowering cannabis strains. Join us in Slack HERE! Are you ready to share your story and help other growers from around the world grow better cannabis? Fill out our form at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply and I’ll be in touch soon! Join our Diamond Cut Co giveaway at growcastpodcast.com/giveaway and be entered to win 2 pair of scissors that will go to 5 lucky winners! Check out Suite Leaf Plant Nutrients at SuiteLeaf.com for not only their full line of veganic nutrients but their complete offerings of everything you need in your grow room from tents to lights and controllers to hydroponic setups. If you need it for your garden, you should start looking at SuiteLeaf.com and use code GROWCAST15 to save 15% off their entire lineup of products. DYNOMYCO is bringing the premier mycorrhizal fungi to your garden to help your plants thrive in any environment. They have seen 20-30% yield increases in commercial test facilities with just the addition of DYNOMYCO during transplant. Our team has loved DYNOMYCO and we’re sure you will too! Check out their Amazon store and use code GROWCAST to save 10% on all sizes, while members enjoy 25% off the 2 larger sizes. DYNOMYCO.com to learn more and start shopping!

We are so incredibly grateful for all of our members, and our newest members that just joined! We reached our goal, and extended registration through this holiday of 7/10...and added to the new member prizes! Check us out in Instagram for full details or just sign up at MyGrowPass! Robin joins me today to chat about growing cannabis with his custom-built hydroponic system. We get really deep on plant training, and we don't even talk (a lot) about Atlas Plant Trainer.  We talk a lot about his projects with his company Clutch Cannabis where he helps new growers get set up, builds their custom hydroponic systems, and sees them through to success. We wrap things up with an interesting discussion about his philosophy of leaving his plants alone and letting them grow without constant supervision.  I think you will really enjoy this episode, and it's always good to hear different perspectives from people that dont' do things the same way as you! You can find Robin on Instagram @clutchcannabis7 Ready to be featured on The Homegrown Helpers? Apply today at TheHomegrownHelpers.com/Apply and I'll talk to you soon! This amazing episode is brought to you by 2 of our MyGrowPass.com partners: Use code GROWCAST for 10% off at RootedLyfe.com on all their premium CBD products from tincture to topicals to salves, they have it all! Owned and led by two marvelous women from New England, you can count on Rooted Lyfe's triple lab party tested, all organic ingredients CBD products. RootedLyfe.com for all your CBD needs! Also brought to you by our newest partners DYNOMYCO! Premium mycorrhizal fungus for your plants that they will love! No more transplant shock, healthiest roots, biggest fruits. Use code GROWCAST to save 10% on all sizes while members can save 25% on the 2 larger sizes! DYNOMYCO.com

Jordan River, host of Growcast, my good friend and business partner and I get together for this simulcasted, cross-posted episode where we kick things off talking about the amazing program we've created at MyGrowPass.com and how the last year has gone for us and our members. Then the conversation shifts and I get to interview Jordan about his grow. We discuss his current grow setup, some lessons learned with popping seeds, and other mistakes he's made. If you don't already listen to Jordan, find him at growcastpodcast.com or on Instagram @growcast MyGrowPass.com membership is currently open for new members, cut closes on July 9th. We have tons of new prizes and benefits in store including a new member prize worth over $350 going to one lucky new member. That could be you if you join today at https://www.mygrowpass.com/sign-up/! Our https://www.mygrowpass.com/sign-up/ partners for this show are: RootedLyfe.com offers premium CBD products that are formulated specifically to help alleviate your pains without raising more concerns about the quality. With all organic, USA made, triple lab tested products, you can rest assured that what's on the label is what's in the bottle. Use GROWPASS20 to save 20% off, which is the GrowPass member code. Take advantage at https://rootedlyfe.com/ Also, our brand new partner DYNOMYCO with some really amazing mycorrhizae fungi that our entire team is super impressed with. Created in Israel with 30 plus years of scientific backing, this fungi mixture has proven to increase yields between 20 and 30% with no other changes to the grow other than DYNOMYCO being added. Use code GROWCAST at growcastpodcast.com/dynomyco or their Amazon store to save 10% on all their mycorrhizae sizes.  

LoneStar joins us from his grow in Texas where he talks about the need to be discreet in a completely illegal state, and an in-depth description of his grow setup and how he landed on growing organically. The interview continues with talks about how important supplementing CO2 is to your grow. We've been talking about this a lot lately, and it was good to have a guest speak about his success and process with carbon dioxide. We wrap things up with a great conversation on his IPM protocols and the mistakes he's made with bugs. MyGrowPass.com membership is open! Grab yours today at https://www.mygrowpass.com/sign-up/ or scoop a FREE 7-day trial by hitting the DM on Instagram and we'll supply the code! Enter to win 1 of 2 quarts of The Amazing Doctor Zymes Eliminator at growcastpodcast.com/giveaway. See everything we do at linktr.ee/growcast There are only a few days left to use the code GROWCAST10 at SoHumSoils.com as they will no longer be a partner as of July 1. Use their water only soil to make growing organically easier than ever. Visit SoHumSoils.com and use code GROWCAST10 to save 10% on all your soil. Diamond Cut Co has created the industry-leading scissors that you need for your next harvest. Use code GROWCAST15 at checkout to save 15% off all products including the Starting Lineup, which gets you their complete lineup of scissors. These scissors are designed for the cannabis trimmer that puts in long hours trimming beautiful cannabis flowers. https://diamondcutco.com/shop  

Jordan joins me from Minnesota to finally connect and share his grower's journey! We kick it off with a detailed discussion about his grow room setup and the extensive research he did before starting to grow his own cannabis medicine. Walking us through his typical cycle, Jordan brings you into his grow room in order to learn exactly how he grows. We move onto discuss how Jordan ended up growing organically from the very beginning, and the extent that he takes his organic gardening practices and IPM solutions as he's transitioned away from essential oils and focuses on all-natural biocontrols. We want you to be on The Homegrown Helpers! If you have a unique process, a story to tell, or advice to give, we'd love to have you apply at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply MyGrowPass.com membership opens up within 5 days on June 22nd! Grab a trial today at mygrowpass.com/sign-up and experience what we can do for your garden so you're ready to scoop a membership when we open! Things to check out: We just kicked off a giveaway with The Amazing Doctor Zymes. WIn 1 of 2 quarts of The Eliminator Concentrate at growcastpodcast.com/giveaway or linktr.ee/growcast Tired of subpar fans and controllers? Looking for an all in one unit that can easily control the environment in your tent or room? Check out ACInfinity.com and use code GROWCAST15 on all your grow room ventilation needs such as fans, ducting, controllers, and more! ACInfinity.com Also, check out the product Fish Shit at FishHeadFarms.com. An ecosystem in a bottle brings your soil and plant health to all-new levels. Harvested from a tilapia farm in Central Massachusetts, this product brings out the absolute best stuff from all your plants, not just cannabis! Use code GROWCAST to save 10% on all your Fish Shit...all the time!  

John from the United Kingdom joins me for an amazing conversation about cannabis culture in the UK with a little bit of grow advice sprinkled in. I love hearing stories from other countries to see how their culture and history with cannabis matches up and differs from our history and current view on cannabis in the US. John has seen it all in his time with the plant, and shares some stories around that. We then dig into the grow advice which covers a transition from synthetic to organic growing and how to troubleshoot deficiency problems during that transition. We also cover things new growers should avoid in the garden, planning for success, and more helpful gardening advice! You can find and connect with John on GrowDiaries.com and find him at Interalia666 and see all the plants he grows! Apply to be featured on The Homegrown Helpers you can go to thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply and submit your application today! We have so much going on at The Homegrown Helpers, Growcast and MyGrowPass.com for our fans and our members! Enter to win 1 of 5 $50 gift cards to shop online at GreenCraftDistribution.com simply by entering in your name and email address at https://www.mygrowpass.com/growcast-listener-giveaway/ or by following the linktr.ee/growcast link in our bio. Green Craft Distribution has all your hard to find brands that you NEED in your garden. Find Buddha’s Tree, Clean Roots, Stashlogixx, Kushley’s along with a full line of the CBD products that you know, trust, and love. Use code GROWCAST to get 10% off at greencraftdistribution.com while our MyGrowPass.com members enjoy 25% all the time! We’ve also partnered with DYNOMYCO to get you free samples of their industry-leading mycorrhizae product that is changing the way gardeners grow across the globe. In the little time, we’ve been supporting their product, we’ve heard countless stories from others about how much healthier their plants seem. Improve root health, decrease transplant shock, and increase yield with the addition of DYNOMYCO to your routine. HIt up growcastpodcast.com/dynosample and grab yours today, all you have to do is pay shipping & handling charges. Go visit BuxtonHollowFarm.com for the organic inputs that you have been looking for! Use their compost tea brewing kit, biochar, nourished Coir and worm castings! When you are there make sure you use code GCL10 to save 10% off on your entire order! Support this small business during these times we’re living through, they need you more than large corporations that make subpar products. Visit buxtonhollowfarm.com/ today! Have you ever dreaded harvest time in your garden? That’s not how it’s supposed to be! Harvest time is the best time, and Trim Bag makes it even better with their innovative solution to the dreaded trimming session. Using their patented technology, and your arm strength you can trim up to 2 pounds of flower within a matter of minutes and get the final product extremely close to hand trimmed quality. Use code GROWCAST to save $30 and get free shipping at TrimBag.com!

Johnny joins me from Southern Humboldt County where we cover his personal experiences with cannabis that brought him to a legal cannabis farm in California. After reviewing his personal grow setup, we go real deep on his personal propagation process which everyone will be able to pull some tips from. We then move to what to do when you walk into your room and you have some broken branches. Then we wrap things up with Johnny's thoughts on things for new growers to avoid in the garden. Make sure you find and connect with Johnny on Instagram @dank.tek and @drinkpuddlesgrowtrees Friendly reminder regarding our Rate & Review contest - enter to win People Under the Stairs genetics by sending us a screenshot of your review on your favorite podcast app. Apply to be on the show at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply and connect with our homegrowers by sharing your story, advice and guidance. Start a 7-day trial at MyGrowPass.com and experience just a sample of all the benefits we offer our monthly members from the invaluable resources, weekly podcasts and discounts on most everything a grower needs to grow with! Be sure to check out SuiteLeaf.com for their expanded selection of hydroponic equipment alongside their award-winning veganic based nutrients. From lighting to tents to fans, they have it all including complete grow packages with everything you need to grow with. Use code GROWCAST15 at SuiteLeaf.com and save 15% off all your needs. Remember, our members at MyGrowPass.com save 25% off sitewide.

Kyle joins me to chat about growing cannabis in South Africa and what it's like to deal with the power cycling, outages, and other lighting topics. We start by covering Kyle's history and the cannabis scene in Africa we dive into what his current grow setup looks like. We wrap up with a quick chat about PAR values and lighting quality. Connect w/ Kyle @ganjaplanter420 on Instagram! If you're ready to share your story I want to talk to you. TheHomegrownHelpers.com/Apply to be considered to be on the show and share your grow advice! Diamond Cut Co contest - win one of 10 pair of scissors at growcastpodcast.com/giveaway Rate and Review the podcast for a chance to win one of 2 packs of People Under The Stairs Genetics. Email or Instagram DM us the screenshot of your review and be entered to win. Today's MyGrowPass.com partners are: Use GCL10 to save 10% off your order with Buxton Hollow Farm. Check them out for a bunch of organic gardening inputs like Biochar, compost tea kits and so much more. Visit buxtonhollowfarm.com and grab yours using GCL10 at checkout. The Amazing Doctor Zymes is the industry's leading IPM solution that takes care of soft-bodied insects along with molds and mildews that can attack your plants! Use from seedling through harvest to protect your garden and all the hard work you've poured into this harvest. Use code GROWCAST10 at doctorzymes.com to save 10% on all products.  

Chris joined me for part 2 as he felt there was a lot more useful information he didn't get to share, and he didn't disappoint! This episode is focused on learning opportunities and how Chris pushed through and learned from his mistakes. We cover a wide range of topics from mistakes with IPM protocols and getting mites, nutrient brand overload and then we chat about how miserable lugging what every day can be. Along with a ton of valuable tidbits scattered throughout the interview, this is a can't miss. I'm finally booking new guests - share your story with me on air! Apply at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply Even though we're not currently accepting new members at MyGrowPass.com you can still sign up for a 7-day trial or join the wait list! Our MyGrowPass.com partners that made today's show possible are: Atlas Plant Trainer, the only completely customizable, functional and FUN plant training and support solution for your cannabis garden. Never throw away bamboo stakes again with the reusable, washable, and modular Atlas Plant Trainer. Grab yours today at atlasplanttrainer.com and use code GROWCAST at checkout to save yourself 10%. Diamond Cut Co are the leaders in trimming scissor technology. Designed for long term use and comfort, these scissors were made for your hands. Durability, comfort and sharpness are just a few of the qualities these scissors possess, along with being made for the cannabis plant. Grab yours for 15% off at diamondcutco.com using code GROWCAST15.

This episode I'm joined by Chris who is from Maine but currently in Hawaii on a work-cation and it's 5 am there when we record. After covering his history which includes several deployments with the Navy, Chris goes into great detail on how he built his grow room to suit, but also on a budget. After covering the details and why he set his room up the way he did, we then dig into his tips on what new growers should avoid doing in the grow room. We finish this episode up with why Chris thinks that keeping a consistent journal is critical for increasing yields in your cannabis garden. Chris joins us for a second part next week to cover all the mistakes he's made in the garden. Be sure to tune in so you can learn more of what NOT TO DO in the garden! We're looking for guests! If you're a homegrower with a story, advice, tips, tricks or a new process to share I want to talk to you! Apply to be on the show at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply Check out our latest giveaway with Trim Bag! growcastpodcast.com/giveaway or find the linktr.ee/growcast in our Instagram bio! This episode is brought to you by our friends at Rooted Lyfe and their premium CBD products. This woman founded and led company delivers quality and consistency in their triple lab-tested CBD products like a tincture, cooling pain gel, a salve or facemasks, they have a product that will help ease your ailments. Grab 10% off at RootedLyfe.com, or save 20% as a member at MyGrowPass.com. You should also be using Fish Shit in your garden, from our partner Fish Head Farms. Aquaponics in a bottle, a complete ecosystem brought indoors for your plants. Use from seedling through flower for increased potency and smell. Use code GROWCAST at checkout at fishheadfarms.com to save 10% on all orders...just don't blame us for the smell.

Fairly new grower Rick joins me from his home in Michigan where he’s eager to share his learnings from a few years of growing for himself. After learning how important and versatile cannabis is, Rick converted into a cannabis consumer, grower, and advocate. Rick takes the time to share advice on what it’s like starting from bag seed and building into a successful grow while staying within a budget. We also get into his plant training tips, and a solid discussion on photoperiod versus autoflowers and why one is more suited to beginner growers. Sometimes taking on a new task, like growing cannabis, can be daunting because you want to be the best that you can be at it, naturally. When learning about growing, you see these fancy setups that cost a lot of money and you get intimidated. Well, Rick is here to tell you that the fancy equipment is not that important to growing quality cannabis. Sure it helps, but you can grow quality cannabis while staying under your budget, no matter what it is. We’re working our way through all of our previous interviews and are going to be scheduling new interviews by month’s end, so if you want your opportunity to be featured as a Homegrown Helper, please apply at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply and I’ll be in touch soon This episode is brought to you by two of our partners at MyGrowPass.com. We may not be allowing new members to join right now, but we always have the option of a 7-day trial to check out a few of the benefits that we offer our members. Sohum Soils created the most complete organic soil that is the easiest solution for new growers to use. Simply add water...nothing more, nothing less. You don't’ even need to pH that water before you add it. Clones and seedlings will need a less active soil, and be sure to give your plant enough soil to get through to harvest - and you will enjoy every last second of growing with Sohum Soils! Grab 10% off all your bags at sohumsoils.com by using code GROWCAST10 at checkout. Trim Bag is a revolutionary time-saving product that will change the way that you trim forever. Easily trim up to 2 pounds in just a matter of minutes and a bit of arm action shaking the bag. With minimal loss of trichomes, you’ll be overly impressed with the trim quality achieved with the Trim Bag. Use code GROWCAST to save $30 + free shipping at TrimBag.com. Also, enter to win a Trim Bag of your own at growcastpodcast.com/giveaway

This was my first time having two guests on the show, but these two guys did great! Mr. Macblunts calling in from Spain, and Joaquin joining us from Southern California. This show took a bit to get scheduled, but I'm glad I did as this is some solid info delivered by these guys. There are some connection issues here, but it's worth sticking through. After walking us through their history and current grow setups, we dive into their advice for starting a breeding project. Like we've heard before, planning for the end result is the first step in any successful venture. We then shift to talk on Korean Natural Farming and it's benefits for your plants and Mother Earth and how it translates into bigger yields when giving your plants exactly what it needs. Ready to share some growing advice that you've learned in the garden? Hit up thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply and join us soon! Don't forget, we appreciate all those ratings and reviews you leave for us! Subscribe to the show if you like what you hear! This episode is brought to you by the best water only soil on the market, Sohum Living Soils. From personal experience, Sohum Living Soils is easy to use and with little effort will yield a great final product. No need to even pH your water, just make sure you have enough soil to get you through to harvest and you'll enjoy the results! Use GROWCAST10 at checkout to get 10% off your ready to use organic soil at SohumSoils.com. Have you heard about Trim Bag? This is the easiest way to trim your entire harvest in a fraction of the time it used to take. I'm always amazed at how nice buds look coming out of the Trim Bag. You can trim up to 2 pounds in a few minutes of moving and shaking the bag back and forth. Grab $30 off along with free shipping by using code GROWCAST at TrimBag.com, while mygrowpass.com members get $50 off & free shipping.  

Sam joins me from his home in South Africa to help you become a better cannabis gardener. Sam has practical grow tips from trial and error with indoor and outdoor gardens. Sharing his IPM protocols, how important grower ingenuity is and what it's like dealing with daily power outages he'll help you take several steps forward in your grow game. Imagine getting a notice from your power company every day that your power will be going out at 4pm. Sometimes it's for 4 hours, sometimes it's for 8 hours, or 12, or longer. It doesn't always come back on when they say it's going to either. Growers in most places of the world don't know what it's like to be flexible with these types of situations. Some panic when the power goes out for 2 hours, but not the South African growers! Ready to get your grow featured? Is it time for you to share your grow advice for others to learn from? Apply at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply and we'll be in touch soon. We're currently doing a giveaway for 5 - 250ml bottles of Fish Sh!t from Fish Head Farms. All you have to do to signup is head to linktr.ee/growcast or growcastpodcast.com/giveaway and enter your information. We draw on 5/5/2020. This episode is brought to you by Buxton Hollow Farm, purveyors of premium organic gardening inputs. Grab a compost tea kit, supercharged biochar, and a bunch of other great products for home growers at buxtonhollowfarm.com and make sure you use code GCL10 to save 10% off your entire order! Also, Diamond Cut Co who makes the world's leading cannabis trimming scissors. Made with long hours and your comfort in mind, experience the difference at diamondcutco.com and use code GROWCAST to get 15% off! Tired of the hand cramping, spring breaking, and constant dulling of your current scissors? Experience that best with Diamond Cut Co today! Start a 7-day trial at MyGrowPass.com and see a sneak preview of all the benefits that we have to offer our members, including up to 25% off the sponsors of today's show.

**Join MyGrowPass.com by 4/15/20 and be entered into a special "New Member" drawing** Nathan has been growing in the United Kingdom for 30 years, and has built a very intricate home grow box that includes a spectacular IPM set up that every home grower should want to emulate. With Nathan, he truly lives up to the "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" moniker investing time and effort into keeping problems out of his garden. Nathan also shares stories from underground growing and the cannabis culture in the United Kingdom. There's also more grow advice around choosing the right products (don't go cheap) and some of the biggest mistakes he's made in the garden to help you to not make the same ones! Are you ready for your interview? Apply at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply and we'll be in touch soon! Don't forget to rate, review, subscribe and share with your best growmie! Today's MyGrowPass.com partners that make this show, Growcast and our membership program possible: RootedLyfe.com carries some of the most trustworthy CBD products that are on the market today. With so many choices, you need one you can trust, and that's Rooted Lyfe. Created, owned, and led by women, Rooted Lyfe wants to help you feel better through these crazy times. Use code GROWCAST at RootedLyfe.com to save 10% on tinctures, balms, salves and more to help you find your Y! Fish Head Farms and their ecosystem in a bottle called Fish Shit is exactly that, harvested from a tilapia farm in Massachusetts and bottled to bring you all the benefits of aquaponics without all the fish! Use Fish Shit to maximize terpene and cannabinoid production from seedling all the way up to harvest to maximize production across the board! Get 10% off at fishheadfarms.com by using code GROWCAST at checkout, while members save 25% every day!

Greg joins us from Michigan where he recounts the precarious start of his passion for growing cannabis with many stories from 50 years of being around cannabis gardens. Starting in 1969 through the midst of the drug war and now enjoying legalization, Greg shares some great tales! While this episode doesn't get into deep detail on any particular gardening strategy or procedure, it has some amazing theoretical advice based on Greg's 50 years of experience, as he tries to help you avoid making the same mistakes he's made or seen many others make. Don't forget to rate, review, subscribe and share if you like what you hear! We're looking for new guests on the show! Ready to share your gardening tips and tricks? Hit up thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply to share your story! This episode is brought to you by MyGrowPass.com partners Atlas Plant Trainer. With so much uncertainty in the world today, one thing that you can do for yourself is grow your own, and Atlas Plant Trainer is the device to help you maximize your yields in the garden. LIsteners can save 10% using code GROWCAST at checkout, while our members enjoy 25% off every order with Atlas Plant Trainer and up to 25% with many online retailers. This episode is also brought to you by The Amazing Doctor Zymes and their two products - Multi Purpose Cleaner and The Eliminator. Many of our guests from around the world use The Eliminator for their ONLY IPM solution. You can use it on seedlings all the way through harvest without concern of it damaging your flowers. Eliminate soft-bodied insects, molds, and mildews and save 10% with code GROWCAST10 at doctorzymes.com, while MyGrowPass.com members get a code for 25% off all their orders!

Sativa Steve hops back on the phone to finish out our interview, and answer the questions I had lined up to ask him. In part 1 we chat and get off track, so we had to get together and provide more value for you. We kick things off with a deep dive into troubleshooting nutrient deficiencies in an organic garden. When you try to add all your nutrients into the soil, it can be more complicated figuring out plant problems than when you add nutrients directly into your water. Steve created an amazing resource for you to download at thehomegrownhelpers.com/checklist Steve also talks about planning for success and starting the plans for your grow with the result and working the plan backwards. This includes timing, desired yield, and space requirements in order to improve the efficiency of your grow and learning curve. We finally dig into Steve's view on what's happening in the world of breeding as he's spent some time on a breeding project trying to develop stronger, more resilient strains. We're looking for home growers that want to share details about their grow and advice they've learned from growing the cannabis plant. If that's you, apply at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply Check out our membership program, MyGrowPass.com, and sign up while you still can. We will stop accepting members in mid-April, so don't miss your chance at discounts, giveaways, AMAs, podcasts and so much more! Today's MyGrowPass.com partners: Atlas Plant Trainer is the solution to your plant training problems and will help you easily achieve bigger yields with each and every harvest. Steve gives a great testimonial from a true customer, long before our phone calls. Check the product out at atlasplanttrainer.com and if you decide it's for you use code GROWCAST to save 10%, or 25% as a member at mygrowpass.com. Also, check out Diamond Cut Co for the premium trimming scissors for your cannabis trimming needs! They have a few different models to choose from, but Steve suggests the Artisan model. These scissors are designed by the cannabis trimmer, for the cannabis trimmer, and to be used for hours on end. Use code GROWCAST to save 15% at diamondcutco.com while our members save 25% on all their snips.

Steve joins me on the phone to share his journey with cannabis as it's transitioned from recreational marijuana usage to using none, and then fully transition to medical cannabis after a long stint in the military. Steve is now fully involved with the cannabis industry, serving as an intern on a large breeding project and helping growers on Instagram improve their grows. Steve covers his current grow setup, his transition from organic soil to his new hydroponic setup, organic gardening tips and so much more. This episode is LOADED with practical, specific grow advice that's going to help growers at any stage. Ready to be on the show and share your story and advice with growers from around the world? Apply at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply Check out our membership program at MyGrowPass.com where we give our members exclusive audio content, discounts with more than a dozen leading vendors and products, a quarterly $5,000 giveaway, a dynamic resource section and so much more! We are currently accepting new members for a few more weeks, and we're offering special pricing at 25% off if you sign up for a 3-month membership with us! Hit up MyGrowPass.com and sign up today! This episode is brought to you by Buxton Hollow Farm and their amazing line of handcrafted organic inputs for your cannabis garden! Check them out at buxtonhollowfarm.com and scoop up a compost tea brew kit, bio-char and many other items that will help in your pursuit of the best organic medicine you can grow for yourself. While your there, use code GCL10 to save 10% off all of your purchases - but if you are a member at MyGrowPass.com you can save 20% off on all their products! This show is also brought to you by the newest time-saving addition to your garden - the Trim Bag. Whether you have just a few plants or dozens, Trim Bag is going to help you save time on the most tedious of gardening tasks - trimming! Within minutes you can trim 2 pounds that will require very little touch-up work to look like it was all hand-trimmed to perfection. Use code GROWCAST at TrimBag.com to save $30 & free shipping while every one of our members gets their own code to save $50 & free shipping. 

Manuel joins us from his home (and the roadside) in Hawaii as he prepares to go teach local school children about natural farming and plant biology. Manny shares his evolution to an organic gardener along with practical gardening tips to help you make that transition. Manny goes on to share some of his biggest failures and how he learned from them and overcame them. He shares a familiar story to many outdoor growers of finding the first caterpillar in his outdoor garden. He quickly learned that butterflies are not the beautiful animal he once thought they were. He also shares his typical IPM protocols and how to keep these caterpillars off your plants in the future. Ready for your feature? Want to share your gardening practices to help growers expedite their learning process? Apply to be on the show at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply Please take a moment to check out our membership program at MyGrowPass.com as the doors are open and we're accepting new members for the first time in months! We offer our members exclusive learning opportunities, chances to hang with the Growcast and HGH crew, exclusive discounts, a quarterly $5,000 giveaway (to members only) along with so MUCH MORE! With everything happening in the world today, we decided to create a special 3-month package at a 25% discount from our normal pricing! Get 3 months of access for as low as $11/month and get all of our amazing resources and audio content to learn and perfect your skills with us! Check out all the perks and sign up at mygrowpass.com/sign-up You should also check out The Amazing Doctor Zymes and their incredible IPM solution - The Eliminator! This takes care of soft-bodied insects, molds and mildews using all-natural OMRI certified products that are safe to use from seedling through harvest. Use code GROWCAST10 to save 10 at DoctorZymes.com and be sure to enter into their giveaway (http://growcastpodcast.com/giveaway) that ends 3/25 for a chance to win 1 of 4 quarts of Eliminator concentrate! Please consider leaving a rating or review if you've been loving the show!

Brandon joins me on the phone from South Africa to share his personal experiences with the cannabis plant and growing his own under the hot sun in South Africa and dealing with the ambiguity of the laws in his home country as well.  We also discuss how Brandon planned out his entire garden and received only 2 freight shipments from a vendor Monster Gardens here in the states. We cover IPM in South Africa, and why Brandon chose to grow DWC style. You can find and follow Brandon @zimgro on Instagram to check out his grow and results. I am personally fascinated when I speak to growers from around the world and learn their experience with cannabis and how it varies from my own. If you're interested in being featured and have a unique story or can help growers learn from your experiences, please apply at http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply This episode is brought to you by two of our partners at MyGrowPass.com where membership opens again March 18th. Head over to RootedLyfe.com and use code GROWCAST to save 10% on all of the amazing CBD products that are triple-tested for quality and consistency. This woman-owned and led business is changing moods and lives with their full-spectrum CBD products. RootedLyfe.com and use GROWCAST for 10% off. Our members receive 20% off as well as a chance at CBD products in our quarterly drawing for members only. Also brought to you by Fish Head Farms and their premium aquaponics solution in a bottle Fish Shit. It's a complete microbial system in a bottle, harvested from a tilapia farm in New England. Use Fish Shit from seed to harvest to bring out the absolute best from your genetics. Use GROWCAST to save 10% off, while our MyGrowPass.com members save 25% every day.

Allie joins us from Phoenix, Arizona as she walks us through her history with cannabis and offers practical grow advice from the cloning experiments that she's done, She has a deep passion for propagation, and you'll take away some solid tips from this. She also shares her experiences working through the ranks at commercial operations as well as the tribulations from her own personal medical grow. You can find and connect with Allie on Instagram @allie_growsthings Want to be on the show? Apply at thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply Check out Linktr.ee/growcast for all the amazing stuff we have to offer. The FishShit giveaway, 7-day GrowPass trial, or donate to our current charity partner. Also, check out the FREE SHIPPING offer in our swag store (3/6-3/8) along with so much more! This episode was made possible by ACInfinity.com and their full line of grow room and tent supplies like fans, ducting and all the accessories you need. We've heard some amazing things about these products since announcing this partnership, but you have to experience the magic yourself. Currently, you can get 20% off using code GROWCAST20 until April 1st, and then it will be 15% off using GROWCAST15. Take advantage today at ACInfinity.com. We're also brought to you by our MyGrowPass.com partner, The Amazing Doctor Zymes! Killing soft bodied insects, molds and mildews with just this one all natural product. Check them out at doctorzymes.com and use code GROWCAST10 to save 10% on all your orders, or join up at MyGrowPass.com starting March 17th and you can save 25% on all your Doctor Zymes products!  

Donnie Waterman joins Rob on the line as he's shucking industrial hemp in the middle of January! We dig deep into his activism efforts, cover his current grow setup and his advice on cloning cannabis plants. and more tips on growing great cannabis. Donnie is in the process of supporting the legalization movements in Pennsylvania and the Tri-State area as he's ready to open up a nursery, and offered everyone from the area of his eventual store 1 cutting of a premium mother plant, to help overgrow the planet. Follow along with Donnie's grow on Instagram @dizonofjuanathon or on Cannabuzz at Spirit Bomb. Do you have a unique perspective to growing? An experience that every grower needs to learn from? Submit your application to be on the show at http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply Check out our www.MyGrowPass.com partners for today's show, Buxton Hollow Farm and Fish Head Farms. Buxton Hollow Farm has some amazing products for any organic grower out there, or any grower looking to add a little organic component to their garden. Including a complete compost tea kit, Biochar, mineral and nutrient kits along with much more. Use code GCL10 for 10% off at BuxtonHollowFarm.com, or become a member from 3/17 - 4/15 at MyGrowPass.com and gain access to 20% off. Fish Head Farms is the purveyor of the very first aquaponics in a bottle, providing your plant with all the benefits of aquaponics without any of the work of harvesting the Fish Shit! Activating nutrients in your soil, and bringing out the very best in your plant from seedling to harvest, Fish Shit can be universally used every day of your grow. Grab 10% at FishHeadFarms.com using code GROWCAST at checkout, while GrowPass members receive 25% all the time. Please make sure you give the show a rating and review if you enjoy what you hear. Subscribe so you don't miss anything, and share it with a growmie of yours.

Wrapping up the interview with Matt from Michigan (@doctillasgarden on Instagram) where we dig into his EXACT feeding regimen for his 5-gallon Deep Water Culture (DWC) buckets. We then discuss the common perception that hydroponically grown cannabis has less terpene production and Matt gives some tips on having the smelliest cannabis possible. We also talk about plant training and mistakes he's made that we're hoping you can learn from. We're looking for amazing home growers with a unique perspective and a desire to educate. If that's you, go to thehomegrownhelpers.com/apply. This episode brought to you by our MyGrowPass.com partners, Rooted Lyfe and Trim Bag. With Rooted Lyfe, you are getting the highest quality CBD products on the market. From tinctures to face masks, they offer a wide range of products that fit within national guidelines for THC content, due to their triple lab testing on every batch of product. Head to rootedlyfe.com and use code GROWCAST to save 10% on all your orders, and if you like what you get, become a member of GrowPass and get a code for 20% off everything! Trim Bag is the leader in simple trimming solutions. This bag can trim up to 2 pounds in a matter of minutes. It's been called the "shake weight of the cannabis industry" because it's not a trimming machine - you are the machine as you are responsible for the movement. I was skeptical of this product, but every time I've seen it in action it works great. Save yourself $30 along with free shipping at TrimBag.com. Please, if you like what you hear leave us a 5-star rating and review on whatever podcast you listen to. Want extra cool bonus points? Share it with a grower friend that might need some help or guidance in the garden! Many thanks!

Matt from Michigan (@doctillasgarden on Instagram) joins me in this 2 part episode to share his knowledge from years of growing cannabis in 5-gallon deep water culture buckets. He's made mistakes to help you learn from them. Do you have experience growing cannabis? Have a unique perspective or advice to share? Apply to be on the show: homegrownhelpers.com/apply Brought to you by atlasplanttrainer.com, the worlds first completely customizable plant training and support system that can be built to the exact size, shape, and dimensions that you desire. Be sure to use code GROWCAST for 10% off while our members at mygrowpass.com enjoy a 25% discount on all their orders. Also brought to you by Diamond Cut Co, makers of the best trimming scissors on the market. Designed with the cannabis trimmer in mind, they have reduced pressure and increased the ergonomics on all their scissor designs. Visit diamondcutco.com and get 10% off with code GROWCAST, or wait until membership opens again at mygrowpass.com and save yourself 20% off all orders.

As promised, we're BACK with an all new format. Instead of interviewing only home grow consultants to bring you tons of grow tips and advice, we're now interviewing growers just like you! Bringing you practical, first hand knowledge that has been tried and tested in their gardens! Apply to be on the show HERE! Download our free version of our Grow Journal!

For full show notes go to http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/rhizo-rich-illinois-cannabis-consulting/ Rhizo Rich from Illinois Cannabis Consulting joins me to bring you more grow advice to improve your game in the grow room. We kick off the show covering Rich’s background and how he got into growing cannabis, which is really cool because this is our first 3rd generation cannabis cultivator on the show. We also discuss the impending legalization of cannabis in Illinois and how that impacts Rich’s business. Rich starts to run through his room setup, which sounds impressive because she's really maxed out his lighting setup with a couple of ceramic metal halide fixtures as well as a few HPS fixtures on light rails so that the light penetration is as wide and deep as possible. Rich makes his own soil, and... What should growers pay attention to for healthy plants? Shortly after 17 minutes, we get into Rich’s thoughts on this question, and he starts off with environment as the #1 answer. Shortly after 19 minutes, we discuss how to get the most out of Illinois’ plant count limit of 5 flowering per person. Rich’s solution is to train plants, and we go into greater detail on a few different methods that Rich uses in his garden. When discussing IPM around 25:30, Rich talks a lot about being present in your garden and specifically paying attention to the underside of the leaves. Rich calls it “scouting”, where he’s regularly spending time in his garden, looking at the plants, taking a minute with a microscope or jeweler’s loupe and... Just before 29 minutes, we start to discuss the character traits that make the most successful grower. Rich’s last words of wisdom he wanted to share: be humble, try new things and monitor results. It’ll make for a more interesting hobby and If you liked what you heard today, check out http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/bonus and grab about another 15 minutes from Rich and all of our other guests. We get a little more personal with a little more grow advice all available within the bonus content. Our MyGrowPass.com partners for this show make this possible, and many thanks go to Sohum Living Soils and Harvest Mutual Seed Bank. Sohum Living Soils is the premier, water only, fully amended living soil on the market today. Sohum Living Soils contains everything that your plant needs to get from clone through harvest, in one bag, all you have to do is add water. The best part about this product is that you don’t even need to ph balance your water, just bottom feed, and the soil will take care of the rest. Grab yours today at sohumsoils.com and use code GROWCAST10 to save 10% on your entire order, or use your mygrowpass.com membership to save 20% on all your bags of soil. Harvest Mutual Seed Bank carries some of the best seeds in the world, such as Gage Green Group, Dungeon’s Vault Genetics, Mephisto and so many more. Use code GROWCAST to get free shipping or save 10% as well as the free shipping as a member at mygrowpass.com. You can find and connect with Rich @rhizo_rich_icc and @illinoiscannabisconsulting on Instagram where you can check out his multiple strains and how beautiful they are. He’ll be ready to help you get your grow up and running starting in 2020. If you need a consultant before then or are not in Illinois, please reach out to me rob@thehomegrownhelpers.com and I’ll help you find the consultant that best suits your needs.

Marcus Wilson joins me on the line for a fun and informative interview. Using cannabis for medicine and following the guidance of some great doctors, Marcus is helping other patients learn to grow their own medicine and loving every minute of it! Grab a great discount at RootedLyfe.com and save 25% by using the code CANNABIS at checkout.  Full show notes to follow. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy the long weekend!

Victor Sheppard joins me on the line from his home in New York State where he’s helping medical patients and veterans with genetics and some grow advice. He’s very passionate about the plant and his mission of helping those most in need and loves to focus on good quality genetics when starting off a grow. Victor starts off by getting into great detail talking about his current grow setup around the 9:30 mark, and shares exactly how his 2’x’4’ grow tent grows from seed through flower! Just after 12 minutes, we dig into his tips for keeping your plants as healthy as possible. His advice is to pay attention to the details. Keep your environment as simple as possible, but learn to pay attention to the nuances of your plants. At 15:30 we discuss how to increase yield off limited plant counts. Low-stress training is his go-to solution and suggests topping might not always be necessary. Right around 18 minutes we discuss IPM in an indoor garden. How does Victor keep his garden clean and healthy, beneficial nematodes and predatory mites. Strong work ethic and a willingness to learn are the 2 character traits that Victor suggests you cultivate within yourself in order to become a great cannabis gardener. Just before 24 minutes, Victor shares his last bits of advice and that is to keep trying new things, plant more seeds and share your knowledge. If you liked how Victor talked about growing cannabis and think you’d like to learn more from him, reach out to @blueridgeconsulting, @blueridgebandit420 and @blueridgebotanicals or hit us up here at rob@thehomegrownhelpers.com for an introduction to Victor. If you’re ready to hire someone, even if it’s not Victor, we can find the right consultant for you, your location and the size/type of job you have to do. Today’s MyGrowPass.com partners are Danny Danko and Atlas Plant Trainer and Humble Garden. Danny has a new book “Cannabis: A Beginner’s Guide to Growing Marijuana” that he gives away one copy to our quarterly $5k giveaway winner, as well as signs all of our bloom members' books for free. If you do grab a book, make sure you leave a review for Danny. It would make his day. Atlas Plant Trainer is your go-to solution for bigger yields. Maximize your plant yields by easily growing bigger plants with our customizable plant training and support solution! Grab yours for the low price of only $80 per set, and use code GROWCAST to save an additional 10% off today at atlasplanttrainer.com. Also, members get a whopping 25% off their sets when accessing the code through their member portal at mygrowpass.com. Humble Garden is the only smartphone filter to remove that ugly, annoying yellow light that HPS lights create in your grow room. We all know they don’t make for flattering photographs of the buds you’ve worked so hard to grow. Show off your plants with the Humble Garden HPS lens. Grab yours today at humblegarden.co and use code GROWCAST to save 15% or 25% after you become a member at GrowPass. For full show notes please go to h

For full show notes please visit http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/robert-stewart-the-weed-squad/ Robert Stewart from The Weed Squad located in St. Louis Missouri joins me to share his journey and grow advice from 15+ years of growing cannabis. With Missouri recently passing a medical marijuana bill allowing for 6 plants to be flowered at home, Robert saw an opportunity to help new patients learn how to grow their own quality medicine at home. Starting off with a brief discussion on the Missouri medical marijuana laws and the current state of the program, we then get into Robert’s personal grow set up at 11:40 of the interview. 19 minutes - Robert and I discuss what growers should look at to improve overall plant health. His answer is very in line with a lot of our other guests, and it was to get your environment dialed in. 23:30 - minutes we start to discuss what growers should do to increase yield, and his answer is to use a trellis set up and use the SCROG method to maximize your plant canopy. 31:30 - we start to discuss how Robert keeps his plants clean and healthy. His number 1 tip is to keep pets out of the grow room, and then he suggests using... 35:45 - we discuss what type of character traits will make the most successful grower. 38:45 - Robert gives his last words of advice, and that’s to get your environment, and furthermore your grow, dialed in to have the best success. If you liked this interview, and want to hear more from this week's Homegrown Helper please head over to http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/bonus and download the rest of the show! Lastly, if you are looking for a Homegrown Helper of your own, a consultant to help you take your grow to the next level – WE ARE HERE TO HELP! Email me at rob@thehomegrownhelpers.com and I’ll work to get you the consultant that’s right for your job, your location and your personality. We have more than 30 qualified consultants ready and waiting to serve you. Our MyGrowPass.com partners for the show are Gorilla Grow Tent and The Amazing Doctor Zymes. Gorilla Grow Tent is the leader in tent manufacturing where each tent comes with a free 1’ height extension kit, and offer an additional 2’ height extension, bringing each tent close to 10’ tall for those that like to grow tall plants indoors. Get Free Shipping using code GROWCAST at gorillagrowtent.com or get a 10% off code (as well as free shipping) when you become a member at mygrowpass.com. The Amazing Doctor Zymes is an all-natural, OMRI listed fungicide and insecticide eliminating soft-bodied insects, molds and mildews on your indoor and outdoor plants. Many growers have experienced an increase in yields due to not having to use harmful oils to combat insects or molds, and Doctor Zymes can be used every day all the way through flower. Go to doctorzymes.com and use code GROWCAST10 for 10% off the Eliminator and Multi-Purpose Cleaner, or grab a 25% code within your member portal at mygrowpass.com.

I accidentally uploaded the bonus content for everyone to hear! Hope you enjoyed it! Here's the full episode for your listening pleasure! Maria Swansen joins me from the farm in Washington where she’s recently taken over a problem project and turned it around in just a few short months. As a friend of a previous guest Erin Lapsansky, I knew that Maria was gonna drop some knowledge on the show for all of you. She details her history with cannabis gardening and then dives right into practical advice that you can immediately put to action in the garden. Maria grows in a 300 sq. ft. garden right now, and has 15 flowering plants in 10-gallon pots in that space which is a pretty nice space for that garden. She grows in Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil and uses only intake and exhaust to manage the temperature and other environmental factors. She grows with LED lights now and says that just reducing the temperature in her grow room after changing from HPS bulbs increased her yield 50% or more. Maria’s advice for improving the health of your plant? Get your environment dialed in. Balance out your temperature and humidity to ensure your plant growth is optimized and protected all at the same time. We dig into it around 14 minutes, listen up. Maria also discusses VPD fairly in-depth and how to use the chart when it comes to growing cannabis at 15 minutes through 18 minutes. At 18 minutes we start to discuss how a grower can improve their yields off limited plant counts. She first states that environment is first on the list, but then goes on to discuss other pieces of advice. She discusses the importance of scrog’ing and how manganese impacts yields and when to use it to maximize yields. Just before 25 minutes, we start to discuss the next question and her Integrated Pest Management practices. She tries to stick with organic microbial products, and only spray things within the first 4 weeks trying to stay on top of and prevent any issues from springing up. Procidic is something she suggests using every 6 days to keep the powdery mildew at bay and then goes on to suggest getting an industrial paint sprayer to expedite and improve the task of spraying large gardens. Maria suggests growers should keep an open mind in order to be as successful as possible. Any time she has felt confident in her abilities she seems to come across a small problem that humbles her, and she encourages every grower to be humble and be willing to learn and try new things. Maria’s last bits of advice: Get your environment dialed in and then pay attention to your plants every single day. Once they are healthy, set a baseline and ensure that you start to react and improve if your plants start to look anything less than perfectly healthy. Connect with Maria @mariaaajuana_chronicles on Instagram or reach out to us and we’ll help make an introduction if you’d like to hire Maria to help you improve your garden, set things up or troubleshoot any problem you might be having. If you liked this interview, and want to hear more from this week's Homegrown Helper please head over to http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/bonus and download the rest of the show! Our MyGrowPass.com partners for the show are Cultilux and Green Craft Distribution. Sign up today to get discounts from these and so many more partners, along with quarterly giveaways, resources and exclusive audio content. Cultilux save 10% using code GROWCAST10! Cultilux makes interchangeable Ceramic Metal Halide bulbs and fixtures make it easy to upgrade to bigger, broader lights without completely changing out your fixtures. Grab a 315w, 630w or the industry-leading 1000w bulb at cultilux.com using code GROWCAST10, or become a member and save 25% on all your CMH needs! Green Craft Distribution is the only distributor in the United States of Buddha’s Tree, one of the leaders in hydroponic gardening on the international market. They also carry Kushley’s, Canna-Tie, Stash Logix and so many more – including a few premium CBD brands. Use code GROWCAST for 10% off on all their brands, and members get a discount code for 25%. Check out greencraftdistribution.com for more info.

Maria Swansen joins me from the farm in Washington where she’s recently taken over a problem project and turned it around in just a few short months. As a friend of a previous guest Erin Lapsansky, I knew that Maria was gonna drop some knowledge on the show for all of you. She details her history with cannabis gardening and then dives right into practical advice that you can immediately put to action in the garden. Maria grows in a 300 sq. ft. garden right now, and has 15 flowering plants in 10-gallon pots in that space which is a pretty nice space for that garden. She grows in Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil and uses only intake and exhaust to manage the temperature and other environmental factors. She grows with LED lights now and says that just reducing the temperature in her grow room after changing from HPS bulbs increased her yield 50% or more. Maria’s advice for improving the health of your plant? Get your environment dialed in. Balance out your temperature and humidity to ensure your plant growth is optimized and protected all at the same time. We dig into it around 14 minutes, listen up. Maria also discusses VPD fairly in-depth and how to use the chart when it comes to growing cannabis at 15 minutes through 18 minutes. At 18 minutes we start to discuss how a grower can improve their yields off limited plant counts. She first states that environment is first on the list, but then goes on to discuss other pieces of advice. She discusses the importance of scrog’ing and how manganese impacts yields and when to use it to maximize yields. Just before 25 minutes, we start to discuss the next question and her Integrated Pest Management practices. She tries to stick with organic microbial products, and only spray things within the first 4 weeks trying to stay on top of and prevent any issues from springing up. Procidic is something she suggests using every 6 days to keep the powdery mildew at bay and then goes on to suggest getting an industrial paint sprayer to expedite and improve the task of spraying large gardens. Maria suggests growers should keep an open mind in order to be as successful as possible. Any time she has felt confident in her abilities she seems to come across a small problem that humbles her, and she encourages every grower to be humble and be willing to learn and try new things. Maria’s last bits of advice: Get your environment dialed in and then pay attention to your plants every single day. Once they are healthy, set a baseline and ensure that you start to react and improve if your plants start to look anything less than perfectly healthy. Connect with Maria @mariaaajuana_chronicles on Instagram or reach out to us and we’ll help make an introduction if you’d like to hire Maria to help you improve your garden, set things up or troubleshoot any problem you might be having. If you liked this interview, and want to hear more from this week's Homegrown Helper please head over to http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/bonus and download the rest of the show! Our MyGrowPass.com partners for the show are Cultilux and Green Craft Distribution. Sign up today to get discounts from these and so many more partners, along with quarterly giveaways, resources and exclusive audio content. Cultilux save 10% using code GROWCAST10! Cultilux makes interchangeable Ceramic Metal Halide bulbs and fixtures make it easy to upgrade to bigger, broader lights without completely changing out your fixtures. Grab a 315w, 630w or the industry-leading 1000w bulb at cultilux.com using code GROWCAST10, or become a member and save 25% on all your CMH needs! Green Craft Distribution is the only distributor in the United States of Buddha’s Tree, one of the leaders in hydroponic gardening on the international market. They also carry Kushley’s, Canna-Tie, Stash Logix and so many more – including a few premium CBD brands. Use code GROWCAST for 10% off on all their brands, and members get a discount code for 25%. Check out greencraftdistribution.com for more info.  

Nathan Lou joins me from his spot in California, rocking it at Lou Family Farm and Nursery. With 15+ years of experience under his belt, he feels confident in his abilities and wanted to share his knowledge with growers new and experienced to help them elevate their grow to the next level. Nathan covers his background and why he feels he’s uniquely qualified to be your Homegrown Helper. Nathan’s current grow setup gets discussed around 11 minutes, where he talks about setting up grow tents versus setting up and sealing off a whole room to grow in. He prefers a 4.5’x4.5’ grow tent so he can fit a 4’x4’ tray in there to catch water and still have some space on the outside. He also suggests using Radicle Bags for their functionality and ease of use. He typically uses Roots Organic soil, along with some Malibu Compost or Royal Gold. Typically he likes to use slow draining soils in veg and fast-draining soils in flower. This helps him feed more frequently in flower, giving the plants more food and more timely feedings, listen in at 16 minutes to learn exactly what he’s talking about here. Nathan and I discuss his practices of up-potting so frequently, and specifically in flower. We talk about the benefits and potential downsides to such frequent and late up-potting, and I think you’ll enjoy the conversation right around 17 minutes. Just before 25 minutes, we shift to the next question and the overall health of the plant. Nathan’s answer was to ensure the biodiversity of your soil was on point, as that is the home of the roots and the feed to your plants. Without happy roots, you won’t get amazing fruits so your soil needs to be healthy and clean. Nathan is really passionate about his soil, and he’s spot on with a lot of what he has to say. At 30 minutes we start to dig into how to increase yields off your limited plant counts. Nathan’s solution here is pruning, based on his background as an orchardist. He wants to pay attention to a solid plant structure, and he accomplishes that with early and frequent pruning of the lower and inner nodes and only keeping the strongest branches. He also goes on to discuss the need to bump up your potassium and phosphorus feedings during week 5 through 7 of flower to help deliver bigger yields. Just before 37 minutes, we dig into Integrated Pest Management and Nathan’s practices in his gardens. He starts off plugging Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap and the all-natural benefits of a nice soap spray for your plants and then discusses predator mites and biocontrol products.  He gives a tip of dropping your flower room temp down to 55-60 degrees which should eliminate any pest population. What type of character traits should growers cultivate within themselves in order to succeed? Inner diligence is one that Nathan suggests. Take your time to learn, read everything, and participate in the process of your plants growing. Be willing to take risks and try new things. Mistakes will happen, and we can learn the most from failures rather than successes. Just before the 50-minute mark, Nathan suggests that everyone try growing their own cannabis. His last tips are that growing cannabis is a lifestyle change and one that will make you a better person and in better health. Connect with Nathan at mongoltribe.org, @mongoltribe or @loufamilyfarm. IF you liked the way that Nathan talked about growing cannabis, you can reach out directly to him or us here at The Homegrown Helpers by emailing thehomegrownhelpers@gmail.com and asking for your very own Homegrown Helper. If you want to hear more from Nathan grab the bonus content from him and all of our other Homegrown Helpers. It’s 5 more questions where we get a little more personal, a little hypothetical and then finish with what their biggest mistake has been and how they recovered it. Really great content, make sure you download today! Our MyGrowPass.com partners for this show are Humble Garden, Green Craft Distribution, and Dealzer.com! Check out the listener discounts and the benefits that they offer to our members. Humble Garden is the world's first clip-on smartphone filter to eliminate the yellow lighting created from High-Pressure Sodium bulbs in your grow space. Anyone who has ever grown with HPS bulbs knows the pain of taking pictures of beautiful buds but never really seeing the true beauty. Well, the wait is over. The Humble Garden lens removes that yellow light and gives you a soft white light in all your pictures, and it’s so easy to use. Use code Growcast at checkout to save 15% and free shipping at humblegarden.co or get 25% and free shipping after becoming a member at mygrowpass.com! Sohum Living Soils is the best water only soil on the market, mentioned in this episode. Giving your plant all the nutrients it needs for an entire growth cycle right in the bag, all you need to supply is water and you don’t’ even need to PH it! Growcast10 gives you 10% off all your soil orders and you can get 20% after you become a member at mygrowpass.com! Dealzer.com is the online, and brick and mortar hydroponic store, offering you more than 20,000 products online and with a sweet 10% discount when you use code Podcast10 at checkout. Grab everything you need in grow gear, along with some amazing entry-level grow packages that give you everything you need to start and keep growing well! Members of mygrowpass.com save 15% on all their gardening needs at dealzer.com!

Alexandria Irons joins me for a great interview from her home and business location in Nevada County in Northern California. After a long history of self-medicating with cannabis, she decided to start a cannabis brand and pursued a cultivation license under the brand Royal Crest Cannabis, she’s now out on her own and helping cultivators with all facets of business but has found a niche in helping homegrowers achieve success in the garden. Alexandria starts off telling us about her current grow of 3 large plants (check out her Instagram to see some great pics of her garden) and how important it is for her to grow plants in full sun, planted right in the soil. She wants the macro and micronutrients that the earth’s soil provides with minimal amendments. We go on to discuss plant energy and root growth when planting directly into soil. Right around 13:30 she shares her process for planting directly into mother earth and more thoughts on the importance of doing so, What’s Alexandria’s tip for improving the health of your plant? Listen in just before 17 minutes to hear about her observational and journaling practices. She encourages you to track all your inputs, but also take notes on plant structure, root structure, leaf color, shape, and size. The more you can notice about your plant the quicker the journey will be to gaining experience in your garden. At 19 minutes we dig into Alexandria’s tips for increasing yield off your limited plant counts. Of course her first tip is to put your plant into the ground, however, that isn’t always possible when you grow inside. Her indoor garden tip would be CO2 enrichment. She shares some science behind why CO2 is so imperative for your cannabis plants and the yields you’re able to achieve. She shares that she’d like to harvest CO2 from her soon to be built mushroom room, as mushrooms breathe oxygen and give off CO2 so the two make a perfect pair. Right at 31 minutes, Alexandria discusses one of her passions, Integrated Pest Management. Her first tip to every gardener is to keep people out of your garden, and always shower, change your clothes and shoes before entering your gardening space. She then goes on to discuss biological practices and her favorite fungus. Tune in at 33 minutes to hear exactly what isaria fumosorosea is and how she uses it! At 35 minutes I ask Alexandria what type of characteristics make the best growers. Her answer was keeping a beginner state of mind. Don’t get stuck in a certain way, and ignore what might be a better solution. Keep an open mind and understand what you’re doing and why you are doing it. Alexandria’s last bit of advice for every grower is to stay positive. Your plant absorbs your energy so stay positive in your garden and tell your plants that you love them and that they are beautiful. I add that you should tell that to all the ladies in your life, not just your plants. Right, Danielle? Please connect with Alexandria pretty much everywhere by searching Queen of the Sun LLC. Instagram, YouTube, a website and in-person consultation all under that brand name. Have you enjoyed today’s show? Grab a few more minutes with Alexandria and all of our guests at http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/bonus and then you can get episodes and the bonus content delivered straight to your inbox. Need a bit more help in the garden than we can provide in the podcast? Need someone to come to your house and help troubleshoot a problem, set up a room or watch over your plants while on vacation? We got you covered with one of our fine consultants here at The Homegrown Helpers. Just email rob@thehomegrownhelpers.com and I’ll make an introduction for you. This weeks MyGrowPass.com partners that make the show possible are Suite Leaf Plant Nutrients and Fish Head Farms. Grab amazing discounts from these partners as well as a dozen more, gain access to exclusive audio podcasts and get entered in to our quarterly $5k giveaway by becoming a member at MyGrowPass.com for as little as $14.95 a month! Suite Leaf Plant Nutrients offers listeners 15% their full line of veganic nutrients by using code Growcast15 at checkout, or members gain 25% off from within their member portal. With many happy customers, and great testimonials, this nutrient line has also won several awards for how amazing their product is. Several High Times Stash Awards for their Cal-Mag Maximizer and other additives, you know you’re getting a premium plant nutrient when you choose to go with Suite Leaf. Grab yours today at suiteleaf.com. Fish Head Farms and their product Fish Shit can be yours with Growcast at checkout for 10% off or become a member for access to a 25% discount code. Fish Shit is a nutrient maximizer - helping increase yields, cannabinoid, terpene, and flavonoid production, Fish Shit is great for your plants from clone all the way through the flush. An ecosystem in a bottle, aquaponics on the go making all your nutrients more bioavailable. Grab yours today at fishheadfarms.com!

This week Christian Ballard of Missouri Caregivers Alliance joins me on the phone to talk about his past in the NFL and why medical cannabis has such an impact on his life now. He’s passionate about helping new growers figure out how to grow cannabis at home, as well as helping athletes realize how cannabis can help them heal, mentally and physically. With a sorted past in and around sports, depression, and drugs Christian made the tough decision to give up on a sport that he grew up playing and eventually decided to follow his passion and get into the cannabis industry. Christian gives us a good rundown of the Missouri State cannabis laws between 10 and 13 minutes in, check it out if you’re curious. Christian’s current grow set up is within the legal limit of Missouri, with 6 flowering plants inside a 4’x4’ tent. He started off growing in coco but has now switched to a more peat moss base with some organic amendments with top dressing and compost teas. He sticks to a 3’x3’ for his veg tent and works hard on low-stress training to maximize his yields and grow those plants for 6 or 7 weeks if possible. Environment is key when it comes to the health of your plants, as we’ve heard before, but Christian echoes these sentiments around 14 minutes. He advises his clients to try to mimic nature as much as possible because that’s where the plant is meant to grow. Check out the specific settings he suggests right around 15 minutes through 17:30. What’s the key to bigger yields off a limited number of plants. Christian goes back to ensuring that your environment is dialed into perfection. Make sure your plants are happy and healthy, and they will reach their full potential. He suggests to new growers to start off with autoflower strains to eliminate chances of failure. Right before 20 minutes, we get into a discussion about topping vs pinching. He is totally against cutting the plant due to the recovery time and leans towards a twist and pinch motion to change the direction of growth. How does Christian keep his plants clean and healthy? Grandevo is his go-to preventative, but he’s used other products like Regalia as a root drench and foliar spray. He’s also used Azamax and Pyganic. He goes on to talk about the importance of how to spray your plants over what to spray on them between 26 and 29 minutes. What are the character traits that make the most successful cannabis growers? He suggests that it’s a fine line between understanding and ambition, someone that’s enthusiastic about gardening but can take things slowly and not over complicate things. He goes on to say that a grower must be ok with failure, and keep at the process in order to succeed. He urges all his new clients to read the Jeff Lowenfels series of “Teaming With...” which includes microbes, nutrients, and fungi. I talk about the Regenerative Organic Cannabis Conference and how important spaces like this are to the future of our cannabis industry. They have 4 conferences scheduled From California, Canada, Michigan, and Maine but also plan on some live stream of the events as well, so if you can’t make it make sure you sign up for one of those. This team is doing amazing work, and we fully support their mission.   Christian’s parting shot: Just keep going. You’ll make mistakes, you’ll want to stop, you’ll want to make it easy and go buy your own product. Don’t. Keep going, and keep improving and you’ll get it dialed in and you’ll be really happy with the results. Our GrowPass partners for this show are Sohum Living Soils and Cultilux! Grab discounts from each of those great brands by using the listener codes or becoming a member at mygrowpass.com and becoming a member to save up to 25%. Also, thanks to the Amazing Doctor Zymes for allowing us to give away some samples of their great product at growcastpodcast.com/zymes, grab yours today! Sohum Living Soils was created to take the thinking out of growing clean quality cannabis. With all of the liquid fertilizer on the market, consumers can be afraid to try and be a chemist when mixing nutrients. No need for that with Sohum. Just add plain water, you don’t even need to PH it. That's it! They have a super useful chart that shows you the proper size container to ensure you get enough food to the plant for a full flower cycle with just adding water. The soil is designed with beneficial bacteria and fungus as well as all the macro and micronutrients that your plant needs. Set it and forget it. It's that easy. Grab yours today with code GROWCAST10 to save 10% off all your Sohum products! Members receive a code for 20%, which makes the switch to organics even easier! Cultilux makes premium Ceramic Metal Halide fixtures and bulbs, and the fixtures are designed to provide our customers with an easy and inexpensive option to upgrade. The 1000w Series DE CMH Lamps can be interchangeable with the DE Series fixture, and most DE CMH fixtures. The 315w and 630w are the industry’s highest producing lamp at their respective levels. These results and features allow our customers to grow as we grow. Many growers start out as a small-scale operation with the intention to expand. Our unique features allow our customers to keep their initial fixture investment and upgrade to higher wattage options without having to change the fixture or ballast. Upgrade your lighting to Cultilux by using code GROWCAST10 at checkout for a 10% savings, or become a member of mygrowpass.com and save yourself 25% on a new CMH bulb and fixture!

This week’s Homegrown Helper is AJ Ortenstone. AJ joins us from Truly Oreganic farm in Oregon where they specialize in an ocean grown style, where they harvest all of the rainwater to feed their living soil fed plants. We discuss what it’s like harvesting rainwater so close to the ocean and some precautions that one might need to take if they choose to harvest their own water. The grow that we dive into details about at the 17-minute mark is the grow that AJ currently manages. It’s 3000 square feet of full light dep, with 25-gallon living soil pots right on the ground. AJ says his biggest struggle with being in a fully light dep facility is controlling the humidity levels, and he has plenty of de-hus (dehumidifiers) rocking in the facility. They never put anything synthetic on their plants, and try to take the all-natural bio-control approach with their IPM practices as well. Right at 20 minutes, we discuss AJ’s tip for growing the healthiest plants, which is getting a PH meter and properly adjusting the PH of your water/feed to ensure that it’s within appropriate levels and keeping your soil PH on point as well. AJ goes on to talk about liquid/synthetic nutrients and ensuring that you follow the directions on the bottle, as well as ensuring they do actually “buffer” the PH if that’s a feature that they offer. Always test the mix before putting on your plants. We go into how important it is to grow organically for all phases of health, including my own and my experience with Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome. I reference the article Radioactive Buds on Big Buds Magazine and AJ shares a story about a fellow gardener using rat poison around his grow and then the poison becoming systemic within the plant and causing it to fail tests in the bud. What should growers do in order to increase yield from a limited plant count? At 29 minutes AJ suggests paying attention to your water practices. Ensure your grow media is drying out properly and allowing the roots to breathe, but not allowing your plant to wilt. He suggests picking up your plant pot every day to learn where the sweet spot is to water your plants each time. Diving into IPM at 35 minutes, AJ strongly suggests getting a small jeweler’s loupe or a handheld microscope to identify pests within your garden. Pay attention to your plants and if you find a problem, you can pull the leaf off, stick it in a Ziploc bag and use the scope to get a good picture of it. Then use the handy dandy Google to start to identify the pest. If IPM is your thing you should listen in at 38 minutes to hear AJ’s specific bugs that he uses in his garden. What are the character traits that AJ thinks make the most successful growers? At 41 minutes, AJ says it’s the ability to ask questions. Asking questions is really the only way to learn what other people think and different ways to do something in the garden. AJ’s last bits of advice for all the homegrowers out there are to have persistence and open-mindedness with this process. Keep going, we’re all learning, and we’ve all had the problems that you’re working through right now. Don’t be afraid to ask questions in order to gain knowledge. Be sure to connect with AJ @ajortenstone on Instagram and follow along in his grower journey. If you liked this interview, and want to hear more from this week's Homegrown Helper please head over to http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/bonus and download the rest of the show! Also, please take a moment to leave us a 5 star review on whatever podcast app you are listening on! Ready to hire your own Homegrown Helper? Email me at rob@thehomegrownhelpers.com and let me know what you’re in need of, and I’ll do my best to find you a consultant that fits your needs, location and personality. Our MyGrowPass partners for this show are Harvest Mutual Seed Bank, Danny Danko and The Amazing Doctor Zymes. Danny has recently written the book “Cannabis: A Beginner’s Guide to Growing Marijuana” which is a great book for beginners and experienced growers alike. Check out growcastpodcast.com/danko to grab your book today. If you are a bloom member Danny will sign your book and ship it directly to you from the High Times offices. Harvest Mutual Seed Bank is your choice for premium strain selections from the world's top breeders. Regular seeds, feminized and autoflower, they have it all! Grab yours today and use code GROWCAST for free shipping, or become a member of mygrowpass.com and save 10% as well as the shipping charges! https://harvestmutualseedbank.com/ The Amazing Doctor Zymes Eliminator is an all-natural fungicide, pesticide and overall plant protector. Killing soft-bodied insects in their tracks, stopping molds and mildews before they can get started and giving you peace of mind, The Amazing Doctor Zymes has you covered. Use code GROWCAST to save 10% off your entire order, or 25% after becoming a member at mygrowpass.com. https://www.doctorzymes.com/  

This is my solo episode; I hope you enjoy it! I had a lot of fun recording this and sharing all of my thoughts as I’ve gone through the last 6 months of recording this podcast. I’ve learned a lot from our guests and changed my opinions on some of our questions as this project has progressed. I’m excited to share my thoughts with you in greater detail. Right at 7:00, I start off sharing more details about my background and history within the cannabis space. I know a lot of people have heard me on episodes of Growcast or have followed my entrepreneurial journey with Atlas Plant Trainer but I’ve never really shared the full details of our grow before. So this is the opportunity to hear in greater detail exactly how the rooms and business were set up. I then move onto discussing what to pay attention to in order to improve overall plant health. While lots of guests have said environment, and I couldn’t agree more, I talk about the time you spend in and attention you pay to your garden and your plants. Check them over regularly, take pictures, make notes and you’ll be quick to notice differences in the plant. Spotting problems before they get out of hand is key in order to prevent them from getting out of hand. Of course, I discuss Low-Stress Training and how critical it is to increasing bigger yields. I try not to go on and on like I can do, when discussing low-stress training. Reach out to me if you’d like to have a more detailed explanation of low-stress training emailed to you. Right around 27 minutes I discuss my IPM protocols from my previous grows and what I’ve changed from learning more about biocontrols and natural, organic gardening practices. I share my experience with Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome and the potential for pesticides and even heavy nutrient usage being a lead cause of CHS. Neem poisoning has been linked directly to extreme vomiting but doesn’t seem to have the same resolution as CHS. I also suggest using The Amazing Doctor Zymes and Mammoth Bio Control as two products I would trust on the market right now. Persistence and patience are the two character traits that I think every grower needs to possess in order to grow some truly amazing cannabis. We’re all going to make mistakes in the garden as we learn, hell, we’re gonna make mistakes when we’re learning anything. Have patience with yourself and don’t get frustrated or overwhelmed. The last words of advice that I share at 42:30 is to not forget that there are still many people that are still not able to grow cannabis legally and we have to fight for our rights to grow. Even against other people in the legal cannabis industry, as they lobby to reduce or eliminate our rights to grow a plant at home and provide medicine for ourselves. Don’t stop fighting, or supporting those that are fighting for the rights of home growers everywhere. A brand-new partner for today’s show is Growhouse.supply. a fully stocked online hydroponic store with over 10,000 items in stock and ready to ship. From grow media, containers, lights, controllers, tents, tools and everything else you’ll need in order to succeed, grab your supplies today at Growhouse.supply and save 10% on your entire order, and if you order over $200 worth of gear you can save 15%. Go to growhouse.supply/growcast to have that happen automatically. Our 2 mygrowpass.com partners for today’s show are Rooted Lyfe and Atlas Plant Trainer. Grab your high quality, broad-spectrum CBD products from Rooted Lyfe at a great discount of 20% after joining mygrowpass.com for as little as $14.95 a month. You can count on this woman-owned and led company that believes in providing premium CBD products and educating their customers on how it can help them. Use code GROWCAST at checkout at rootedlyfe.com and save yourself 10% on all orders or grab 20% after becoming a member. Atlas Plant Trainer provides you will a customizable plant training and support solution. It will be the last and only plant training device or tool that you will need. With just 4 easy steps, click, connect, clip, and bend you’ll gain 20% to 50% over your previous yields. Atlas Plant Trainer takes the stress out of low-stress training – just one click a day for bigger yields. Learn more at atlasplanttrainer.com. If you liked this interview, and want to hear more from this week's Homegrown Helper please head over to http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/bonus and download the rest of the show! Also, email me if you’re ready to elevate your grow to the next level and hire a consultant to solve the problems you haven’t been able to. Hit me up at rob@thehomegrownhelpers.com

Buddy joins me on the phone from Ontario, Canada where he’s recently started Canadian Cannabis Consulting Company in order to spread his extensive cultivation knowledge as well as his passion for activism. Buddy has been a part of the cannabis movement in Canada for many years that has helped push the legalization bill forward in Canada. Right around 8 minutes, we discuss Buddy’s current grow set up. He has 4 outdoor plants in 65-gallon smart pots in his own soil mixture including peat, perlite, limestone, compost, and a couple of other additives. He’s growing some classic strains with GG #4, Sour Diesel, Blueberry and a Cheese variety, which is what he advises his clients to do. Get reliable genetics and keep the process simple, especially when helping a new outdoor grower. What are Buddy’s tips for ensuring the best health of your plant? Right at 13 minutes, he states that improving root growth and paying attention to the health of your roots is his #1 tip. Then, in an indoor grow setting he wants people to also ensure cleanliness and airflow around your room. At 17:00 we start to discuss exactly how to increase yield off a limited plant count. Buddy goes back to using smart pots and a healthy root zone. He had previously used clay or plastic pots and always had unhappy, unhealthy bound-up root zones for his previous grows. Since he’s made the switch, he’s seen much bigger yields due to improved root zone health. At 19:20 we start our discussion on Integrated Pest Management in an indoor garden. His tips include using a predatory bug such as ladybug’s, ensure that temp and humidity are dialed in, and keep your space clean. He likes grow tents because they can be separated from a space and easier to keep them clean opposed to a larger room like the basement. Just before 22 minutes, we discuss the most critical characteristics a grower must possess to be successful. Buddy says it’s as simple as common sense and patience. Pay attention to your plant, watch when it changes, look for bugs and color changes. He also states that it’s a MUST to spend time with your plants in order to see these changes. What are Buddy’s last thoughts (26:30)? Have patience and do your part to bring cannabis responsibly into our society to negate the negative perceptions that still oppose us and our industry. If you liked this episode please head over to http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/bonus and listen to the next 5 questions that we ask Buddy! Also, if you’d like to enlist the services of any of our Homegrown Helpers please email me rob@thehomegrownhelpers.com and I’ll help make an introduction. Connect with Buddy at http://www.canadiancannabisconsultant.com, give his YouTube channel a follow or find him on Instagram @canadiancannabisconsultant. Many thanks to Sohum living soils was created to take the thinking out of growing clean quality cannabis. With all of the liquid fertilizer on the market, consumers can be afraid to try and be a chemist when mixing nutrients. No need for that with Sohum. Just add plain water, you don’t even need to PH it. That's it! They have a super useful chart that shows you the proper size container to ensure you get enough food to the plant for a full flower cycle with just adding water. The soil is designed with beneficial bacteria and fungus as well as all the macro and micronutrients that your plant needs. Set it and forget it. It's that easy. Use code GROWCAST10 for 10% off, or members gain access to 20% off at https://sohumsoils.com/ Also, thank you to Mammoth Microbes for partnering with us to give away more than $500 worth of product and swag to our members in our upcoming $5k Quarterly Giveaway on October 1st. Made from a specialized blend of a thyme compound, Mammoth Biocontrol Preventative Insecticide keeps your buds safe by preventing an attack and repelling and suffocating mites and thrips. MB-PI is an all-natural, 25(b) EPA exempt, plant-derived solution recommended for application throughout vegetation and is safe for testing. Check both of their fine products out at mammothmicrobes.com or at a local shop near you.

David Kurth, CEO and head grower at U-Bud Cannabis Services helps brand new growers in the Toronto, Canada area get their feet wet with marijuana growing and have a successful first harvest! With cannabis being legalized nationwide in October 2018, you can imagine that there is lots of opportunity for an entrepreneurial grower like David to capitalize on his skills and knowledge while helping growers learn the ropes. I know I relied on my friends in much the same way, thankfully they didn’t charge me. Typically, David can visit his clients one or two times after the initial setup visit, and with the help of technology and a well laid out plan sees many of his customers have a bountiful first harvest. After that, they can renew the contract, purchase the equipment and continue on their own, or pull the equipment out. Currently, David is helping people grow their legal 4 plants in a 4x4 grow tent, with oversized carbon filter and exhaust fan. The lighting varies a bit between a 315w Ceramic metal halide or a full spectrum LED light, they do offer an advanced grow with 2 LED lights within the same tent. They also provide super soil and 2.5-gallon pots for each of the 4 plants. Providing donated seeds to each customer, he helps to get them germinated on the customer’s kitchen counter. Providing a complete tutorial to help them be successful is also a key component to the business’ success. With David’s business, he tries to keep the variables small and the things to pay attention to minimal. He has his new growers watch temperature and humidity to ensure the environment stays dialed in. Beyond that, he asks them for simple observational health of the plant. Color and shade of the leaves, any blemishes or signs of bugs, changes in the top of the dirt and any anomalies from one plant to the next. They also encourage having customers send pictures if they’re concerned about a plant and even have some setups with cameras within their tent.  What’s David’s advice for increasing yield off each plant? He suggests more lighting to his customers and putting those 2 LED lights in each tent to maximize the wattage and spectrum available to the plants. Typically, they don’t encourage plant training to new customers but work with a few experienced customers to teach them the sea of green technique. What’s David tell his customers about Integrated Pest Management? Keep your outdoor pests outdoors, and you’ll prevent them from being in your indoor garden. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure in their small setups. If there are signs of problems, he suggests an essential microbe spray, EM-1 from Stepwell Super Soil on the leaves to help with powdery mildew and bug prevention. What types of character traits does David love to set up a new grow for? For them, it’s as simple as following a process. They have simplified the first grow for customers so well that as long as they can follow directions, they see close to 100% success rate. After the first grow, he does help growers experiment a bit but encourages everyone to keep it simple and not to get too far ahead of their abilities. David’s parting words: don’t cheap out when purchasing equipment or accruing knowledge. Quality comes with a cost, but if it’s truly quality it will return dividends time after time. Check out U-bud.ca to connect with David and his team, or find them on any social media platform that you frequent. You can also find them at a few places in Ontario if you’re in the area, reach out and check it out! If you liked this interview, and want to hear more from David please head over to http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/bonus and download the rest of the show!  After you check out the bonus information, if you need a little more guidance or help setting up a room, troubleshooting a problem or whatever you need in the garden – reach out to me at rob@thehomegrownhelpers.com and I’ll do some research to help you find the right consultant for the job, your location and your personality. This episode is brought to you by 2 MyGrowPass.com partners. Dealzer.com is a full service online hydroponic shop. Use “Podcast10” to save 10% on your entire order, or become a member and gain access to that exclusive 15% off code. Dealzer has your entire supply of hydroponic needs from pots to lights to tents. Grab your entire shopping list at dealzer.com and save 10% using “Podcast10” during checkout at dealzer.com. We also partnered with Green Craft Distribution who offers lines like Kushley, StashLogixx, Buddha’s Tree and more, along with several lines of CBD products from several quality lines sourced from around the country. Use code “Growcast” to get 10% off or become a member and gain 25% at greencraftdistribution.com.

We're replaying our most popular episode for you today from one of my first interviews with a cannabis consultant, Miami Mango. We're bringing you this today as we are running out of guests! Can you believe it? There are not as many consultants that are helping people learn how to grow at home as I thought there would be, so I need your help! If you know of anyone that is currently teaching other people how to grow at home, and gain the confidence it takes to grow great cannabis on their own then I want to talk to them.  Don't worry, we probably have a month worth of fresh episodes still to release, and these ones won't dissapoint. I'm committed to bringing you great content to help you learn how to grow your own marijuana at home, we won't slouch on our quality of guests and the content we release. However, you're help would be appreciated in making this happen! We did switch up our GrowPass partners for this show. They are Humble Garden and Suite Leaf Plant Nutrients!  Humble Garden is the makers of the first ever HPS filter that fits on any smart phone! Slide this thing over your camera and it immediately turns that yellow light white, giving you higher quality pictures of your hard work. No need for people to guess what your plants actually look like with Humble Garden. Grab yours today at humblegarden.co and use code GROWCAST to save 15% off your products, or get 25% off your filters after becoming a member at mygrowpass.com! With Suite Leaf Plant Nutrients, you will use less nutrients and gain more from your plants. These are smart nutrients, for smart growers - as described by Elaine Keevin, co-founder of Excelsior Extracts and guest on Growcast.  "I call Suite Leaf smart nutrients or plant steroids because of how amazing the plants look! I've used every nutrient on the market, but have never achieved total plant success like I do with SuiteLeaf." Grab your Suite Leaf Plant Nutrients for all your gardens, not just the cannabis one, at suiteleaf.com and use code GROWCAST15 to get 15% off, or gain access to a 25% off coupon code after you join up at mygrowpass.com!

Kyle Hamilton joins us from just outside of Boston where he is very involved with the cannabis industry as a home grow consultant as well as consults for products and dispensaries in the area. He has over 10 years of growing experience to share with you today, from a variety of sizes and styles throughout his past. Currently, Kyle has a few small spaces that he grows in. One has a 3’x3’ indoor grow tent with a bunch of flowering plants for a pheno hunt where he likes to experiment with different setups of soil and nutrients to find what works best. Currently, he’s using a few of our GrowPass partners in Buddha’s Tree and Fish Shit. He prefers to grow under LEDs due to the power output as well as the ability to keep his rooms cool. Along with his outdoor grow in living soil with all-natural inputs, he manages to keep several grows and many plants well kept and producing. What’s a grower supposed to pay attention to when it comes to overall plant health? Starting with the basics, he wants to get a feel for room environment and inputs. He strongly suggests keeping a journal of all of this stuff on a daily basis to track your inputs and results so that you can spot problems before they get out of hand. This is Kyle’s suggested starting point as it will help you learn what your plants are telling you early on. What can a grower do in order to achieve the best yield off a single plant? Kyle suggests ensuring you have a quality light to start with. Kyle talks about photomorphogenesis around 13 minutes, which is how plants grow in response to light. He talks about ensuring that your plants are a proper distance from your lights to ensure that a good amount of nodes are forming, a good distance from each other to maximize the number of bud sites available on the plant. Around 15:30 we get into the importance of low-stress training, be sure to listen in to hear Kyle’s tips. Kyle and I go off the rails a little bit around 18 minutes and talk about plant energy, since you know I’m so passionate about the topic. He shares that sequoia trees actually stop drawing up water and nutrients from the soil after they get to a certain size and then only absorb water from the air. Amazing stuff! What is Kyle’s Integrated Pest Management solution? Right at 22:30 we get into his solutions, and his first tip in mindfulness. He wants you to keep your rooms clean, and be aware of what you are bringing in to your house or grow space. Be mindful of walks outdoors, hanging with your pets, or hitting up the grow store as those are all problem places that can bring a host of issues into your grow room. Further, he is a fan of biocontrols such as ladybugs and praying mantis’. He gives some tips on how to apply biocontrols in your rooms, listen in to learn. What type of person is the most likely to succeed in the grow room? The type of person that can make a plan and stick to it. Don’t change too many variables because you really don’t know which variable is making the desired impact. So decide how you want to grow, but don’t be afraid to pivot if there are problems. Kyle’s last words of advice for the audience is to always keep an open mind. Don’t be afraid to try new things, as the industry and the science is evolving as the industry grows. If something didn’t work for you a few years ago, things may have changed and LED’s (for example) continue to improve. Connect with Kyle @imonfirecc on Instagram or @heylookimonfire which is his personal account. You can email him heylookimonfire@gmail.com, you can reach out regarding growing, a variety of cannabis products, or his performance theatrics if desired. Ready to hire on a consultant to help you take your grow to the next level? Reach out to us here at rob@thehomegrownhelpers.com and we can ensure you get the best Homegrown Helper for your needs! If you liked this interview, and want to hear more from this week's Homegrown Helper please head over to http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/bonus and download the rest of the show!  Today’s show is brought to you by Cultilux and Fish Head Farms, both partners of GrowPass give away 25% to our members! Cultilux is a leading supplier in the industry dedicated to providing lamps and fixtures. See, plants require a variety of specific needs to grow to their full potential. They have managed to design a lighting source that will deliver exactly what the plants need, while eliminates lighting that the plant does not need. With their industry-leading 315watt, 630watt and brand new 1000w Double-ended CMH bulb, Cultilux has the right fixture and bulb for your needs. Grab them today at cultilux.com and use code GROWCAST10 to save 10%. Fish Sh!t is a full spectrum microbial product, an ecosystem in a bottle. Fish Sh!t can be used from seedling all the way through flush. It’s an ecosystem of microbes work to make nutrients more bio-available. Promoting sustainable growth throughout its life cycle and even breaking down salts when used as a flushing agent. Their beneficial microbes aid in bud development, overall yield, terpene production, aroma, and taste. Grab your fish shit at fishheadfarms.com and use code GROWCAST at checkout to save 10%. Fish shit - bring life back to your media.

Erin joins us bright and early in the morning from Cascadia Farms in Washington, where she’s gotten her feet wet with the cannabis plant and in the cannabis industry. Cascadia Farms was the second time that she’s ever seen a cannabis plant, but since she joined the company, she’s been a strong cannabis supporter and recognizes the cannabis plant is great medicine. Since joining the company, she and a few other members of Cascadia Farms have started Full Spectrum consulting providing service to everyone from growers to retailers on packaging, retail, cultivation and most anything else that comes up for retail cannabis operations. Erin currently is the head grower for Cascadia and has about 7000 sq. ft. of canopy that she manages which consists of 4 flowering rooms and 1 vegetative room, all in soil with an organic focus on the growing style. She also has her own personal medical grow to combat a chronic migraine disorder. She has 15 plants, and we suggest you tune into the podcast around 8:45 to hear all about how she sets it up. How does Erin think about overall plant health? Listen up around 13:30 to hear about good watering practices. She thinks people overthink additives, sprays, and water timing. Regularly people overwater their plants, and she advises that roots need to breath and allow the soil to dry out in between waterings. Maybe add some extra perlite to ensure the roots have room to breathe and loosen up the soil. Around 18:40 we discuss increasing yields. Her tip is straight-up lollipopping your plant or shaving the legs as Wolfman puts it regularly. Reduce the amount of energy that the plant invests into growing small wispy buds, and have it focus on just the top 4” of growth and ensure that you have a nice full canopy. Right at 20:20 she discusses her feelings on full defoliation, or schwazzing as it’s been referred to in the industry. Around 23 minutes we get into plant energy, schwazzing, tall plants and how the plants reach to such tall, full plants. She doesn’t think that yield will increase with growing such tall plants without proper airflow, light penetration, ability to spray, etc. She does think that growing such tall plants without any actual plant material on them is a waste of plant energy, but she also doesn’t blow any wind on her plants and allows them to strengthen on their own. It’s also a labor nightmare, in her words! A bit after 29 minutes, we discuss IPM in an indoor garden. She tries to mimic the outdoors as much as possible, and she focuses on microbes for all-natural pest management. She relates the plant to a dinner table, listen in right at 30 minutes to hear how she discusses beneficial microbes and filling up the table with them! If necessary, she’ll bring in insects to help control the problems, but she knows how hard it can be to keep them alive and kicking around your grow room. What type of traits does Erin think make the most successful grower? Open minds are the ones that are going to succeed, you simply can’t know it all and think that the way that you’ve done it is the right way because there is always room to improve. Don’t be afraid to be wrong. “Stop buying cartoon labels on products for your cannabis plants” is her last words of advice for all the listeners. She discusses more at 35 minutes, but essentially it boils down to not treating the cannabis plant so differently than other plants that have been grown for production value. While we’re learning to grow a new plant, there is a foundation of research done on all other plants that we can all learn from and then expand upon with cannabis. Connect with Erin @erin.cascadia on Instagram or email her at erin.lapsansky@gmail.com. If you like what Erin is about, or any of our other guests on The Homegrown Helpers you can book them through me at rob@thehomegrownhelpers.com. We will do the work for you to find the right consultant for you, your task and your location. If you liked this interview, and want to hear more from this week's Homegrown Helper please head over to http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/bonus and download the rest of the show!  Our partners today are Danny Danko and The Amazing Doctor Zymes. Danny has just written a new book, "Cannabis: a beginner’s guide to growing marijuana". Even experienced growers know that you need to continue your education in order to continue improving. Our bloom members get their book signed by the author himself by contacting us and allowing us to help you place the order Also, we have The Amazing Doctor Zymes. Use code Growcast10 at or become a member of mygrowpass.com to get 25% off. It’s a revolutionary green solution that kills soft-bodied insects, molds and mildews that is handcrafted to ensure quality control Many growers have experienced a yield increase due to not having to use any harmful sprays or oils. OMRI approved for organic gardening practices, you can use The Amazing Doctor Zymes all the way through flower.