First, a big thank you to 420 Magazine for hosting these contests, and the sponsors for providing the prizes to the winners!
There are three different contests each month, Plant of the Month, Nug of the Month, and Member of the Month. In this guide we are only focusing on the first two. Look here for tips on how to win Member of the Month. The prizes vary but most often there some nutrients, rolling papers, 420 Magazine nug jar, reputation points and a title under your username! How cool is that?
Consider these tips before entering in POTM and/or NOTM to increase your chance at winning! If you're going to enter why not aim high?
There are some attributes your plant/nug must have to earn votes from members. I've participated in many contests and did not win for a long time until I applied some of these tips. We are only allowed two images per member when entering them. So how are you going to best showcase our plant/nug with only two pictures?
• PHOTO QUALITY (POTM/NOTM): No matter how awesome your plant/nug is when your picture is out of focus, off color, underexposed (dark), and overexposed (too bright) then you have very low chance at winning. Camera with 10MP or higher and set it on auto will do. Stay away from using your phone/webcam. Take tons of pictures and pick the two best images to enter. Have one picture that showcase the entire plant/nug and one close up.
• LATE BLOOM (POTM): All winning plants are in their late flowering stage. Best to enter your plant during the last few weeks of flowering when it is ripen and ready to harvest. That is when the buds are most swollen, frosty, sticky, gooey you get the idea. Plants that are almost done, ripe, or overripe gets more votes versus plants that are early in bloom or still in vegetative growth.
• SIZE (POTM): Yes, size does matter for POTM. Not so much for NOTM. We all desire to have a huge tree in our backyard or even indoor grow. Bigger plant often yield more and the sheer size allow others to start dreaming of growing one. How big is big? Plants with numerous colas, abnormal height, bushy plants (width). Bigger the better. For outdoor growers consider entering, your plant will most likely be huge!
• HEALTH (POTM/NOTM): Now, how can we tell if the plant is healthy from looking at the pictures? Simple. It looks perfect. No sign of pest eating away at the leaves. No sign of spider and its web. No sign of nutrient deficiencies or burn. No sign of light or environmental stress. Leaves are nice and open no claws. Well feed plant and not starving. Having a healthy plant can attract votes.
• RARITY (POTM/NOTM): Are you growing some strains that no one else is growing? Or not many growing them? Consider entering. Perhaps you breed them yourself or was lucky enough to obtained the seed/clone from else where. This will bring something new to the table.
• COLORS (POTM/NOTM): Does your plant give off colors other than green? Most winning plant/nug are purple, or a combination of other colors from the rainbow. During late flowering consider flushing your plants. It helps to bring out some colors. Also the coldness can bring out some purple in them. Strain vary. Colors always attracts votes.
• SOLO (POTM/NOTM): For SOG (Sea of Green) grower tend to take pictures of the entire garden. Even if they try to focus on one plant the surrounding plants can be distracting. Or take pictures of a pile of nuggets instead of single nug. For SOG grower best to take picture of one plant, prefer your best looking one out of the bunch. Same for NOTM a single nug shot different angle is better than a few shot at a pile. Keep in mind that quality over quantity.
• FROSTY (POTM/NOTM): This apply to both but more so for NOTM. Nug that has the most trichome coverage often win because trichomes contains the key ingredient, THC. Many will make the connection that more THC equal good time. This is not always the case, however we cannot smoke test the entries to get a sense the potency. So we rely on the trichomes to get a sense of quality, visually. Frosty = votes.
• DENSITY (POTM/NOTM): If your plant showcase bud density, or your nug looks dense you get more votes. We cannot feel them to really know the true density, however there are signs that showcase this. If there are gaps between the calyx then it is airy. Like looking through a keyhole. Dense nug looks solid with no gaps. This does not mean that it is low in potency. Again, we cannot smoke test them to know. If it does not look dense your chance at winning is low.
Well guys that should cover the basics. We cannot get potency, taste, flavor, aroma, from the pictures but for everything else we get a sense of quality from your plant/nug from the above mentioned attributes. These tips are only as suggestion. The winning plant/nug have combination of these attributes so take a look at previous winners to get an idea.
If you don't win this time that does not mean you're a bad grower. Just that others prefer plants of higher attributes and they vary from person to person, after all because we too want them in our own garden. Enter them again if you feel it deserve a second chance. Remember to retake some pictures of it (if you still have the plant/nug), and if not go back to your photo album and pick the next best two images that best represent the plant/nug visually. Photo quality is very important and most with a decent camera set on auto does not have to worry about this.
Nevertheless, always have fun in growing, bud tending, medicating, and entering in contests. Remember, to always read the guidelines before participating and never try to cheat the contests with multiple accounts voting. I saw too many great members getting taken off the run for cheating. Shame shame.
Enjoy the win/loose and stay positive.
There are three different contests each month, Plant of the Month, Nug of the Month, and Member of the Month. In this guide we are only focusing on the first two. Look here for tips on how to win Member of the Month. The prizes vary but most often there some nutrients, rolling papers, 420 Magazine nug jar, reputation points and a title under your username! How cool is that?
Consider these tips before entering in POTM and/or NOTM to increase your chance at winning! If you're going to enter why not aim high?
There are some attributes your plant/nug must have to earn votes from members. I've participated in many contests and did not win for a long time until I applied some of these tips. We are only allowed two images per member when entering them. So how are you going to best showcase our plant/nug with only two pictures?
• PHOTO QUALITY (POTM/NOTM): No matter how awesome your plant/nug is when your picture is out of focus, off color, underexposed (dark), and overexposed (too bright) then you have very low chance at winning. Camera with 10MP or higher and set it on auto will do. Stay away from using your phone/webcam. Take tons of pictures and pick the two best images to enter. Have one picture that showcase the entire plant/nug and one close up.
• LATE BLOOM (POTM): All winning plants are in their late flowering stage. Best to enter your plant during the last few weeks of flowering when it is ripen and ready to harvest. That is when the buds are most swollen, frosty, sticky, gooey you get the idea. Plants that are almost done, ripe, or overripe gets more votes versus plants that are early in bloom or still in vegetative growth.
• SIZE (POTM): Yes, size does matter for POTM. Not so much for NOTM. We all desire to have a huge tree in our backyard or even indoor grow. Bigger plant often yield more and the sheer size allow others to start dreaming of growing one. How big is big? Plants with numerous colas, abnormal height, bushy plants (width). Bigger the better. For outdoor growers consider entering, your plant will most likely be huge!
• HEALTH (POTM/NOTM): Now, how can we tell if the plant is healthy from looking at the pictures? Simple. It looks perfect. No sign of pest eating away at the leaves. No sign of spider and its web. No sign of nutrient deficiencies or burn. No sign of light or environmental stress. Leaves are nice and open no claws. Well feed plant and not starving. Having a healthy plant can attract votes.
• RARITY (POTM/NOTM): Are you growing some strains that no one else is growing? Or not many growing them? Consider entering. Perhaps you breed them yourself or was lucky enough to obtained the seed/clone from else where. This will bring something new to the table.
• COLORS (POTM/NOTM): Does your plant give off colors other than green? Most winning plant/nug are purple, or a combination of other colors from the rainbow. During late flowering consider flushing your plants. It helps to bring out some colors. Also the coldness can bring out some purple in them. Strain vary. Colors always attracts votes.
• SOLO (POTM/NOTM): For SOG (Sea of Green) grower tend to take pictures of the entire garden. Even if they try to focus on one plant the surrounding plants can be distracting. Or take pictures of a pile of nuggets instead of single nug. For SOG grower best to take picture of one plant, prefer your best looking one out of the bunch. Same for NOTM a single nug shot different angle is better than a few shot at a pile. Keep in mind that quality over quantity.
• FROSTY (POTM/NOTM): This apply to both but more so for NOTM. Nug that has the most trichome coverage often win because trichomes contains the key ingredient, THC. Many will make the connection that more THC equal good time. This is not always the case, however we cannot smoke test the entries to get a sense the potency. So we rely on the trichomes to get a sense of quality, visually. Frosty = votes.
• DENSITY (POTM/NOTM): If your plant showcase bud density, or your nug looks dense you get more votes. We cannot feel them to really know the true density, however there are signs that showcase this. If there are gaps between the calyx then it is airy. Like looking through a keyhole. Dense nug looks solid with no gaps. This does not mean that it is low in potency. Again, we cannot smoke test them to know. If it does not look dense your chance at winning is low.
Well guys that should cover the basics. We cannot get potency, taste, flavor, aroma, from the pictures but for everything else we get a sense of quality from your plant/nug from the above mentioned attributes. These tips are only as suggestion. The winning plant/nug have combination of these attributes so take a look at previous winners to get an idea.
If you don't win this time that does not mean you're a bad grower. Just that others prefer plants of higher attributes and they vary from person to person, after all because we too want them in our own garden. Enter them again if you feel it deserve a second chance. Remember to retake some pictures of it (if you still have the plant/nug), and if not go back to your photo album and pick the next best two images that best represent the plant/nug visually. Photo quality is very important and most with a decent camera set on auto does not have to worry about this.
Nevertheless, always have fun in growing, bud tending, medicating, and entering in contests. Remember, to always read the guidelines before participating and never try to cheat the contests with multiple accounts voting. I saw too many great members getting taken off the run for cheating. Shame shame.
Enjoy the win/loose and stay positive.
