Boo’s Perpetual Grow Journal

load those outside girls up with liquid in the mornings to help them make it through these hot days?
Yes!

I also use ice. You don’t have to worry about the cold on the roots - If it’s a hot enough day to do it, the melted ice is warm by the time it hits the roots!

I put a layer of ice on the surface and let it melt. It keeps things a bit cooler and reduces moisture loss in the soil. Ill do this particularly during the hottest part of the day.
If they're in dark colored pots, you should cover the pots or paint them white- if you can keep the soil cooler, they'll take a little longer to dry out- and the roots won't get toasted from 100 degree+ soil....(that will also cause yellowing leaves, among other things)

I was thinking this exactly! :thumb:
have mine in milk crates that I wrap an old pillow case around.

I do this w my smaller plants but use a burlap sack to wrap around the crate.

I do the same in the big black plastic pots If I’m flowering in them (But wrap a round the pot like BigD is saying). The burlap sack is a great insulator and you can also soak it in water, which helps keep things cool and slows drying.

Lots of shenanagins, growing outside in pots! Always worth it too :)
 
I have mine in milk crates that I wrap an old pillow case around. Sometimes I move them into the shade for a while when it gets too hot. Don’t want them suffering from heat stress.
The pillow case trick sounds like an easy beginning to help the situation out. I’d like to try to move them too. Problem is, they are big old plants - one of them 7’ and growing... Once I supercrop them it’s gonna get crazy awkward trying to continue that since the “landscape” around here is rural so trying to put them on something with wheels isn’t really helpful. Maybe I can create shade for them?:idea:
I also use ice. You don’t have to worry about the cold on the roots - If it’s a hot enough day to do it, the melted ice is warm by the time it hits the roots!

I put a layer of ice on the surface and let it melt. It keeps things a bit cooler and reduces moisture loss in the soil. Ill do this particularly during the hottest part of the day.
Brilliant! They got a cool drink of water this morning and four ice cubes each almost an hour ago. I will continue those every few hours and see how that helps the outcome by the end of the day! :thanks:
I do the same in the big black plastic pots If I’m flowering in them (But wrap a round the pot like BigD is saying). The burlap sack is a great insulator and you can also soak it in water, which helps keep things cool and slows drying.
I will paint AND get burlap to create sacks with - good idea soaking them too!

Thank all of you so much! I’ve got two little auto seedlings that I plan to grow outside as well (but no way are they going outside right now!) so this info will give me a bit of a head start on that second grow! :green_heart:
 
7’ plant......yeah moving something that big would be chore But not impossible. Check out post #28......it can be done. :laughtwo:

 
7’ plant......yeah moving something that big would be chore But not impossible. Check out post #28......it can be done. :laughtwo:

Oh Man! That’s a BIG transplant! LOL. :oops:
We had some tree work done recently and I noticed that they used what looked like a plastic sled with a rope on it to put a lot of the large debris in and move it easily by just sliding it on the ground. I’m thinking that might be a good solution for moving them into the shade. They just got more ice cubes (Im trying every couple of hours to start).
 
Don’t skimp on the ice cubes. I used 2-3 trays per pot - so 20+cubes
The outdoor Cindys fared better today. I started their morning with a long cool drink, followed by ice cubes through the day, and moved them into the shade at the hottest point of the day. This evening they shared a gallon (1/2 gal each) of MC @ 3 grams/ gal. I am at the beginnings of using MC so still starting slow. If I can maintain this for a couple of days then I will do a big supercrop on Friday.

Thank you again to everyone who has been helping me with these gals. I’m excited to see them growing and changing and have learned a lot from everyone along the way!:circle-of-love:
 
Pardon the catch-up!
One question (for anyone who cares to answer!). The outdoor Cindys are taking a gallon every other day - it has been mid to high 90‘s here for a couple of weeks and it is continuing. I fed the one with pre-flowers at 1/2 the recommended amount of Mega Crop yesterday (2.5 grams/gal) and will continue to increase as she will allow. Question is: should I be giving nutes every time I water or will that be too much? Hopefully that makes sense...
Start your plants on 5g/gallon of MC and move up from there. There is no transition between nute brands needed, and plants in flower (which even your outside ones are) need more food.
“Generally, a good practice...is to irrigate with fertilizer solution three times and do the fourth irrigation with plain water to leach excess nutrients/salts. This would be applicable to all growing media.”
I don't subscribe to his watering method in soil and certainly not in ProMix. I'd say never leave a plant in a nute-free substrate. If you want to leach the excess salts from the soil, plain water to runoff should be followed by full strength nutes.
Spinosad in the water as a soil drench for spider mites
In my experience and from my reading, spinosad works on everything except mites. That's on the leaves though, not sure about soil drenching.
This wet and dry cycle doesn’t seem healthy for them. They have leaves yellowing.
As mentioned by carcass and Big D, yellowing leaves can certainly be deficiencies from the diluted nutes.
I think it’s time to bump up the MC.
Yes!
I feel like I need to do something to stop these EXTREME wet/DRY cycles.
The wet dry cycle is for plants in veg. Once in flower (which all of yours are as I mentioned), never let the soil dry out as you would in veg. I water a day sooner in flower than I do in veg, and I soak the plants completely every time so the bottom roots get as wet as the top. Lack of water in flower will also yellow the leaves as the plant desperately looks for moisture.
 
Let me add in that in my opinion, as I continue to expand on and modify my thoughts on the proper watering of these plants, I believe that you have not harmed a thing by letting them go dry this time, and indeed, have helped them a bit.

Although Shed is right, that bloom is the time to use the roots that you developed during veg, so as to be able to push water at the plants and get them to drink more water/nutes than they ever would be able to with a strict wet/dry cycle...

...but just like in veg, the roots need to see oxygen once in a while to be able to work at maximum capacity. Allowing them once in a while to suck down oxygen to the lower roots while in bloom adds a vigor to the grow that just has to be seen to be understood. I have been experimenting with this over the last couple of grows and I think now I have been convinced that it is going to be very beneficial to water 3 cycles of pushing water, and then let them "flush" out the water and bring in the oxygen on the 4th pass by letting the container go "lift the pot" dry before pushing water again.

I now think that this so important, that as I enter final bud stretch and do my flush, I will let them dry out like this once, totally flushing the container not just of salts and leftover nutes, but also all the water, right there as we go into the 2 week final push. Out with all the old and in with a flush of oxygen. I believe that the affect this has on the end will be dramatic, and as I get my operation going full steam here, I intend to test this thoroughly. For now, I give you the gift of my theory that this method, including this additional stressor at the end, is going to work best, but I have no proof yet to offer you. I also hope to have reassured you that you did no harm by letting them go a little long by telling you about this experiment that I am planning to fully document in my current grow journal.
 
I found this about Spinosad on the National Pesticide Information Center.


They say it does work on spider mites. I know it’s not listed on the Monterey with Spinosad label that I can find. I’m not sure about a soil drench, but I’ve read that some people do that, so I’m going to try it......for science.
 
Okay friends. Any idea what these spots all over my Cindys in the tent are? I’ve done nothing different than usual for the last week.. help!
IMG_20200709_192603.jpg
 
yes, it could be Spider mites Boo :eek: crappy but not at all uncommon unfortunately.

The most effective and least harmful product i have used on mites is Green Cleaner. I recommend it! If that’s what they are.

Do you ave a loupe or small magnifying glass to take a look at the underside of a few leaves? Pull a few off from different spots in the tent and inspect to confirm - and order some Green Cleaner!
 
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