Airavata's Continuous 2-Tent Grow - Soil - 600W HPS

[airavata]

Sorry to hear Airavata about the root damage. I am still battling my own gnats. The DE seems to kill alot but had to remove it so the soil could get some air. I covered the top of the pot with some nylon. Hopefully any that hatch out will not be able to fly off and I can go up every so often and kill them.

Your pots are pretty smallish, why dont you try slipping the bottom in some panty hose and bring them up over the top. Tie them around the stem.

Yeah, I've been thinking of doing that. I think I'll see if I can find some. Thanks.

 

[Planter]

plants are lookin great air.

 

[420 Skunk Ave]

Hey Air, My one point of advice I would have is to check your PH coming out of your pots and work to get them in the right range, every sick plant I have had in dirt can be traced to low PH. I use fox farms ocean harvest and the PH on that stuff is all over the place contrary to what they state. And good luck with the gnats, I hang hot shot no pest strip in my tents and have had no outbreaks of mites since, might help with gnats also.

 

[airavata]

plants are lookin great air.

Thanks, Staffy. They're still hanging in there.

Hey Air, My one point of advice I would have is to check your PH coming out of your pots and work to get them in the right range, every sick plant I have had in dirt can be traced to low PH. I use fox farms ocean harvest and the PH on that stuff is all over the place contrary to what they state. And good luck with the gnats, I hang hot shot no pest strip in my tents and have had no outbreaks of mites since, might help with gnats also.

Thanks, 420. That had occurred to me and I didn't do it b/c I didn't think it was an issue. You're right though, I should rule that out.

 

[Tmac12]

Hotshot No Pest Strip is worthless against fungus gnats and there larva. I drenched my Sassy with perethin today. She is not getting any nutes so figured it couldnt hurt. If she does not respond in a few day, I will cut her down. Things are not gonna get better til I kill all the buggers~~

 

[Sonzor]

What's up airavata,

Looks like you have all the makings to grow some great meds. I know MG gets a bad rap, but there are a few people out there that have had some good luck with it. I have grown with MG organic and had pretty good results. Not sure its anyone's first choice and I do think there is a nack to using it. For one you really have to go easy on the nutes and two you really should not add anything for the first 2 months or so. With that said I am almost 100% sure you issues are not caused by insect. My first course of action would be to check you ph from the run off from the bottom of you pots. I would guess you are having some sort of lock up issue and the plants are not getting something they are in desperate need of. If your ph is too high or too low I would give those things a really good flush with ph'ed water and let them go a week or so without any added nutes and see how things work out...

Take what I way with a grain of salt please. There are many out here with way more experience than I that I hope get over here and lend you a hand. I will see if I can get a couple over here. Good luck + rep

 

[airavata]

What's up airavata,

Looks like you have all the makings to grow some great meds. I know MG gets a bad rap, but there are a few people out there that have had some good luck with it. I have grown with MG organic and had pretty good results. Not sure its anyone's first choice and I do think there is a nack to using it. For one you really have to go easy on the nutes and two you really should not add anything for the first 2 months or so. With that said I am almost 100% sure you issues are not caused by insect. My first course of action would be to check you ph from the run off from the bottom of you pots. I would guess you are having some sort of lock up issue and the plants are not getting something they are in desperate need of. If your ph is too high or too low I would give those things a really good flush with ph'ed water and let them go a week or so without any added nutes and see how things work out...

Take what I way with a grain of salt please. There are many out here with way more experience than I that I hope get over here and lend you a hand. I will see if I can get a couple over here. Good luck + rep

Hey, Sonzor. Thanks for taking the time to try and help me get to the bottom of this. Initially, I thought that I was looking at nutrient lockout too. But my soil and tap are both 6.8-7 ph. I double-checked tonight and checked the runoff ph too, at the prompting of yourself and others, and confirmed that they are all 6.8-7 ph.

My last grow (admittedly a long time ago), although my main focus was on trying my hand at hydro, I also had a couple Kush plants along with a deck full of tomatoes, vegetables, and herbs going on the same soil mix (I amend heavily) and feeding regimen. I pulled the plug on the MJ about 4 weeks early due to insufficient lighting and ventilation so I consider it an unsuccessful grow. I didn't have any issues with nutrients, ph, or toxic salt buildup in the plants I had in soil (the hydro was a different story) though. Just wispy, slow-growing buds.

I think your theory is the most likely scenario, but my observations don't seem to support it. If you have any other ideas, please keep them coming though. I'd rather eat my words than watch my babies die. lol.

Thanks again for the thoughtful response and for the reps.

 

[airavata]

Hotshot No Pest Strip is worthless against fungus gnats and there larva. I drenched my Sassy with perethin today. She is not getting any nutes so figured it couldnt hurt. If she does not respond in a few day, I will cut her down. Things are not gonna get better til I kill all the buggers~~

Damn bugs. Turns out my nematodes weren't viable and my gnat infestation is still a problem. I informed the vendor today. Hopefully they'll send me some live ones fast. Good luck with your girls.

 

[airavata]

No word back from the vendor who sold me the bunk nematodes yet. I'll give them another day before I start telling my story. lol.

I drenched my plants' roots in neem today. LOTS of dead bugs. The plants look a little perkier than usual.

 

[Wingman420]

Whats up airavata? I would get the PH down to 5.5 to 6.5 but the leaves yellowing look more like spider mite damage. I would hit them with Azamax or get a beneficial insect that feasts on them. Please keep us posted!

+Rep Keep your chin up

 

[airavata]

Whats up airavata? I would get the PH down to 5.5 to 6.5 but the leaves yellowing look more like spider mite damage. I would hit them with Azamax or get a beneficial insect that feasts on them. Please keep us posted!

+Rep Keep your chin up

Hey, Wingman, thanks. Do you really think I should go that low? I thought those were hydro ph ranges. I've always aimed for 6.5-7ph in soil.

 

[airavata]

Sorry, no photo today. Waiting on a new camera to arrive. I don't want to use the crappy one I have now.

My buds did not seem to make any progress overnight last night, while toxicity symptoms continued to progress. So today I added a little more fertilizer (an organic bloom fertilizer). They responded negatively right away. The amount of fertilizer they've been given is really minute so my theory is that they're hypersensitive because of root damage. Anyway, I flushed them really well, this time with charcoal-filtered water, and witheld the fertilizer. We'll see what happens.....They seemed to regain a lot of color immediately so that's a good sign.

On a positive note, my infestation has dropped dramatically. I think I'll periodically hit the roots with neem, to keep the larvae at bay, for the next couple of weeks. Then I'll give the plants the last four weeks of flower to get that crap out of their system, assuming they last that long.

One thing I forgot to mention b/c I'm coming into this journal a little late: I waited for signs of nutrient deficiency to repot these plants b/c I didn't know how old they were. When I spotted the deficiency I didn't have time to repot so I used ground hempseed (leftover from an oil press) to supply them with some nitrogen while they waited. The manufacturer of this machine had recommended it as "great compost". I should have known better, I've heard plenty of people warn not to compost in potted scenarios. I just wasn't thinking. Anyway, the next day this stuff smelled like ass. Big time. This probably has at least something to do with my gnat infestation. I would imagine the smell attracts them. Also, they have retained the funky smell to some extent. I catch a whiff of it here and there. I have a hunch the bacteria responsible for the smell is doing undesirable things to the plants as well. This grow was probably doomed from the start. But I'll keep you guys posted as to the outome. I'll put pictures up asap.

 

[airavata]

Whats up airavata? I would get the PH down to 5.5 to 6.5 but the leaves yellowing look more like spider mite damage. I would hit them with Azamax or get a beneficial insect that feasts on them. Please keep us posted!

+Rep Keep your chin up

Wingman, I've been researching and I think your ph advice is sound. I will try dropping that today. I might water with a little epsom salt as well. Azamax sounds like a good idea. I will probably pick some up when I have some extra $.

 

[airavata]

Oh, yeah, don't buy beneficial insects from "naturescontrol.com". If you have any problems with your order, you will never hear from them again.

 

[airavata]

Thank you for tuning in to this week's installment of 'How to Kill Your Plants'! Here's my picture update:

Veg plants at 3 weeks, 2 days

Here are the latest symptoms. This started happening 2 days ago. (below)

Kush2 @ 4 weeks, 2 days into 12/12 photoperiod(Below)

Blackberry @ 4 weeks, 2 days into 12/12 photoperiod(Below)

 

[airavata]

I opted against dropping the PH of my soil to 5.5-6.5. This is indicated for a couple types of nutrient deficiency.....but whether I am observing a deficiency because I'm not fertilizing enough to make up for all the flushing I've been doing, it is toxicity from some salt that charcoal filtering doesn't address, it is hypersensitivity of the roots b/c of insect damage, or some combination of the above is still in question. For now I will be fertilizing with a mild 5-10-10 solution. I will wait to adjust the PH drastically until I can identify a specific problem that calls for such a measure....or maybe as a last resort if they continue dying on me.

 

[airavata]

Oh, yeah, don't buy beneficial insects from "naturescontrol.com". If you have any problems with your order, you will never hear from them again.

Well, it took a while for nature's control to get back to me but they did resolve the situation satisfactorily.

 

[airavata]

This week, I've moved 3 of my veg. plants into the flower chamber. I left a high planes and the diesel in the veg tent. They will be my clone mothers for the next batch I flower.

Although I still see some gnats, I have been proactive about hitting them with neem, but I started seeing multiple deficiency/toxicity symptoms in my veg plants at week 4. Just like clockwork. Soooooo........I installed a reverse osmosis filtration system. Wasn't really any way around it. But now I have pretty much all the variables isolated. I'm not happy with the dirt or my fertilizer...but I should be able to make that stuff work. So I spent the day flushing my plants with RO water. I'm excited to see how they grow now.

And here is Kush2 at 5.5 weeks into flowering:

And Blackberry is still hanging on but with basically no leaves left to support life so I will not be fertilizing. I'm going to let her go 2 more weeks and harvest 2 weeks early.

 

[Tmac12]

You may have the gnats worse than you think. The larva feast on the tender roots, and they, the roots cannot absorb your nutes, and start draining the leaves of nutes. IF you have gnats bad you will see your buds stop progressing. I have gotten lucky and now that Sassy is gnat free she started growing again. But has practically lost all her leaves. The Blackberry is at least near harvest. Hope you dont have them bad, but if you are still seeing them..... Have you seen them in your veg room??

 

[airavata]

How'd that Azamax work out for you, Tmac?