Emmie's Perpetual Vegetative Grow Rooms - 2020-2021

[CADBOY]

Veg, Day 12
Here is an update on our various little veggers. I think I have realized that in order to avoid some of this early mottling that I have been seeing, is to start pre treating the soil in my cups with @GeoFlora Nutrients so as to get the organic feeding cycle started, before the plants need to rely on it.

These plants are catching up, and even the one Hippy Hash that looked like it wasn't going to make it, now has greened up and looks like it is still fighting to survive. It is shown here in the first photo... the one with the yellow cotylydons. The other plants are just going nuts with rapid growth.

I've discovered this myself too the hard way. Now I keep a bucket of Nutrient rich soil & well feed microbes damp all the time, so when I need soil, its ready to make some happy plants ,)

 

[Emilya Green]

On this update I would like to center in on @DYNOMYCO as we can start to see its effectiveness in the grow.
Since I started using the Myco late, over half of the plants presently in bloom did not get the treatment. The ones that did however, show a dramatic difference.

Two of the plants that got Dynomyco are under the Mars light. Looking strictly at the height of the plants we can see something interesting. The two plants with Myco under the Mars light are taller than their sisters who live under the other MEGA light and they are taller than the 3rd plant under the Martian light.

But also look at this shot of the rest of the plants that live under the MEGA. The right side of the room shows the plants that got DynoMyco. With the exception of one outlier plant on the non Myco side, all of the plants that got Myco early are taller and more robust than any of the others in the room.

It is no coincidence... the DynoMyco plants are doing better. They have better color and better buds. Making sure to have healthy Myco in the soil is definitely making a difference.

 

[DYNOMYCO]

Hell Yeah @Emilya!
This is awesome! It really goes to show just how effective and important AMF fungi are in achieving a healthy rhizosphere. Those plants look great, tall, and healthy! It is awesome to see DYNOMYCO doing great things for your plants!

Super stoked to see such impressive results! DYNOMYCO for the win

Thanks for the support, we look forward to seeing DYNOMYCO in more journals to come

 

[Emilya Green]

It is time to come clean. I have been having the worst experience of my growing career in the veg room since the last update. The fault for this was all mine because I got lazy and failed to follow my own advice to never let commercial soil into my grow area before sterilizing it.

It is well known that Fox Farm soil, especially Ocean Forest, can attract fugus gnats while in the shipping and warehousing process. Not only did I know that, but I had seen signs of gnats in my previous grows using this soil from this supplier in this new space, and despite the warnings right in front of me, I ignored them. I was not afraid of a few fungus gnats, for I had always been able to deal with them before this by letting the soil dry out between waterings in veg and by using pine bark mulch on the top of the soil.

So I stupidly used the soil right out of the bag and lazily built my solo cups with it and my 5 clones and 10 more plants from seeds were put in that soil, along with a healthy dose of Dynomyco.

So, I started out with an infestation already in progress, and then I willingly fed that infestation with more fungi. The fungus gnat problem got much worse immediately upon transplanting, I believe because I was feeding them! Egads.

I tried SNS 203. It knocked them back a bit, but the damaged roots were not taking up enough water to be able to saturate the soil with the SNS more than once, so I went to spraying the area 3-5 times a day instead of overwatering. This again killed a bunch of gnats, but they were still thriving, and the plants continued to deteriorate as the gnat larvae continued to munch on my finest root hairs.

In desperation I decided to kill those gnats, whatever it took, to try to save the grow, since a majority of the seeds were gifts or sponsored seeds. I bought a hot shot and put it in the veg room to kill the fliers, knowing that the airflow would take the chemicals out of the window in the back of the room, not allowing it to get into the bloom room to contaminate the buds.

I also ordered mosquito bits and beneficial nematodes, and put up yellow sticky cards. It took a few days, but the gnats have now mostly been wiped out. The Durbans in the mother room still have a bit going on, but it is working in there too and those plants will be able to make it soon to the bloom room, mostly bug free.

Veg Room #1 is not in as good of shape; actually it is almost a total disaster. The young plants were attacked too soon by too many gnats and most of them were not able to develop strong enough roots to get out of the solo cups, not to mention survive or even be able to stand up on their own. I started 3 out of 5 seeds from the Do-Si-Do and the Wedding Cake, and at this point it would be better to start over with the 2 remaining seeds I have of each, instead of taking the next month trying to save the couple of plants that survived. I have ended up with 4 Poison Daddys and one Hippy Hash that look like they could survive... as I said, the worst disaster I have ever seen from plants that made it to the surface. It took a lot of courage and putting away of my ego as well as eating a good portion of crow to post this update, honestly documenting my colossal failure, but here it is... a classic example of what fungus gnat damage can cause.

Never again do I want to be in this situation. All the soil ready to go now has been baked in the oven and should be bug free. Never again will I fail to be concerned when I see even one fungus gnat and Mosquito bits are going to be a regular addition to my containers when building them for future grows.

 

[Bode]

Highya Emmie,

So sorry about the gnats and such. I think we all needed a lesson in not getting mentally lazy. Similar situation with my garden starts last year. Killed off almost a quarter watering with sugar in the water (I didn't know, at first). We learn things we'll never forget.

On a brighter note, I'm a Tom Brady (I live in Maine) fan, and know your a Partick Mahomes fan. So, I think we'll both be watching the Super Bowl next week with great anticipation! Should be a great game!

Hope you can get things looking good again so you'll feel much better about growing, again!! Happy Smokin'

 

[Emilya Green]

Highya Emmie,

So sorry about the gnats and such. I think we all needed a lesson in not getting mentally lazy. Similar situation with my garden starts last year. Killed off almost a quarter watering with sugar in the water (I didn't know, at first). We learn things we'll never forget.

On a brighter note, I'm a Tom Brady (I live in Maine) fan, and know your a Partick Mahomes fan. So, I think we'll both be watching the Super Bowl next week with great anticipation! Should be a great game!

Hope you can get things looking good again so you'll feel much better about growing, again!! Happy Smokin'

Hi Bode! Thanks for stopping in and for the encouraging words. Yes, it has been a rough month around here, not just in the garden, but with the changes in administrations I have had to work some 12 and 16 hour days trying to analyze where our company goes from here financially. At the end of all of this, I will probably be asked to resign, having not anticipated our current situation by being prepared with a plan for the next 4 years.

One of the shining lights that keeps me going is our Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes. I am also greatly looking forward to this next matchup between these two quarterbacking geniuses, and it is fascinating to watch them adjust to each other each time they play. This time, without Belichick to guide him, I think that Tom is in trouble, because I suspect that Coach Reid and Patrick have his number. I still remember the overtime playoff game where I watched our inexperienced young hero learn a valuable lesson from his older peer, and I have seen him play the endgame differently ever since.

It is going to be a great game.... I predict 34-27, Chiefs. I predict 2 pick 6's and 3 sacks for Brady... the GOAT has met his match.

 

[Bode]

Yeah, Tom Brady threw three interceptions last game, but still won it. I think he has been with Bellichek long enough to project what would Bellichek do? They're letting him call most of the plays from the huddle. Should be interesting!! I am surprised that Patrick Mahomes is as good as he is being so young! He can only get better.

So sorry to hear about work trouble! I hope you will land on your feet in the aftermath! You're a sharp cookie!

I've seen Tom do some pretty amazing things, and I don't think he's lost that fire. I think he'll win his seventh. But, I hate to predict the score. Happy Smokin'

 

[Emilya Green]

I want to make some further observations about the @DYNOMYCO that I have started using in all of my grows. While having active fungi in all of my solo cups did help the fungus gnats thrive and go out of control, it is not the fault of the Dynomyco what happened... it is all mine. I am more interested in what has happened since I have effectively treated the gnats, from 3 different directions, and after I have stopped their little annoying life cycles.

The plants that have managed to survive the infestation are now thriving. They are going to town in just the last few days, and I have to credit the DynoMyco for them being so strong today. The trick to this is to just not start out with fungus gnats.

I will continue to use the DynoMyco in every container as the benefits of having active fungi growing and working along with the roots, far outweighs not having it in there. I in no way want to make people think that I am blaming my fungus gnat outbreak on the DynoMyco... I blame the shipping and careless storage of the Fox Farm's soils I purchased this summer and fall, and my lack of sterilizing that infested soil as it came in the door.

So here I am, proudly wearing my DynoMyco t-shirt! Thank you Joshua!

 

[NuttyProfessor]

some we win some we lose , its nature ive a white widow that looks terrible ,it happens
this time i put seaweed dust, rock dust and neemcake powder and got no pests sprinkled over top layer , but watch high (n) ,
dropped it on the floor was in a 5 gal had to put in a 3 gal , its auto too so its snookered lol

 

[DYNOMYCO]

I want to make some further observations about the @DYNOMYCO that I have started using in all of my grows. While having active fungi in all of my solo cups did help the fungus gnats thrive and go out of control, it is not the fault of the Dynomyco what happened... it is all mine. I am more interested in what has happened since I have effectively treated the gnats, from 3 different directions, and after I have stopped their little annoying life cycles.

The plants that have managed to survive the infestation are now thriving. They are going to town in just the last few days, and I have to credit the DynoMyco for them being so strong today. The trick to this is to just not start out with fungus gnats.

I will continue to use the DynoMyco in every container as the benefits of having active fungi growing and working along with the roots, far outweighs not having it in there. I in no way want to make people think that I am blaming my fungus gnat outbreak on the DynoMyco... I blame the shipping and careless storage of the Fox Farm's soils I purchased this summer and fall, and my lack of sterilizing that infested soil as it came in the door.

So here I am, proudly wearing my DynoMyco t-shirt! Thank you Joshua!

Always a pleasure @Emilya!

Happy to hear that you managed to overcome your gnat issue. As you mentioned yourself DYNOMYCO could not be at fault and if anything may have helped your plants push through their gnat issue.

We are so stoked to have you part of our DYNOMYCOMMUNITY and cant wait to see how your plants turn out after overcoming the gnats and especially since DYNOMYCO is in the mix.

The shirt looks great on you

 

[DutchinAB]

Dang sorry to hear about the gnats, glad to hear you’re on top of it now. That’s just good journaling, noting the lows along with the highs!

 

[Plant Dad]

It is time to come clean. I have been having the worst experience of my growing career in the veg room since the last update. The fault for this was all mine because I got lazy and failed to follow my own advice to never let commercial soil into my grow area before sterilizing it.

It is well known that Fox Farm soil, especially Ocean Forest, can attract fugus gnats while in the shipping and warehousing process. Not only did I know that, but I had seen signs of gnats in my previous grows using this soil from this supplier in this new space, and despite the warnings right in front of me, I ignored them. I was not afraid of a few fungus gnats, for I had always been able to deal with them before this by letting the soil dry out between waterings in veg and by using pine bark mulch on the top of the soil.

So I stupidly used the soil right out of the bag and lazily built my solo cups with it and my 5 clones and 10 more plants from seeds were put in that soil, along with a healthy dose of Dynomyco.

So, I started out with an infestation already in progress, and then I willingly fed that infestation with more fungi. The fungus gnat problem got much worse immediately upon transplanting, I believe because I was feeding them! Egads.

I tried SNS 203. It knocked them back a bit, but the damaged roots were not taking up enough water to be able to saturate the soil with the SNS more than once, so I went to spraying the area 3-5 times a day instead of overwatering. This again killed a bunch of gnats, but they were still thriving, and the plants continued to deteriorate as the gnat larvae continued to munch on my finest root hairs.

In desperation I decided to kill those gnats, whatever it took, to try to save the grow, since a majority of the seeds were gifts or sponsored seeds. I bought a hot shot and put it in the veg room to kill the fliers, knowing that the airflow would take the chemicals out of the window in the back of the room, not allowing it to get into the bloom room to contaminate the buds.

I also ordered mosquito bits and beneficial nematodes, and put up yellow sticky cards. It took a few days, but the gnats have now mostly been wiped out. The Durbans in the mother room still have a bit going on, but it is working in there too and those plants will be able to make it soon to the bloom room, mostly bug free.

Veg Room #1 is not in as good of shape; actually it is almost a total disaster. The young plants were attacked too soon by too many gnats and most of them were not able to develop strong enough roots to get out of the solo cups, not to mention survive or even be able to stand up on their own. I started 3 out of 5 seeds from the Do-Si-Do and the Wedding Cake, and at this point it would be better to start over with the 2 remaining seeds I have of each, instead of taking the next month trying to save the couple of plants that survived. I have ended up with 4 Poison Daddys and one Hippy Hash that look like they could survive... as I said, the worst disaster I have ever seen from plants that made it to the surface. It took a lot of courage and putting away of my ego as well as eating a good portion of crow to post this update, honestly documenting my colossal failure, but here it is... a classic example of what fungus gnat damage can cause.

Never again do I want to be in this situation. All the soil ready to go now has been baked in the oven and should be bug free. Never again will I fail to be concerned when I see even one fungus gnat and Mosquito bits are going to be a regular addition to my containers when building them for future grows.

Are those mosquito bits the same thing as Mosquito dunks?

 

[Emilya Green]

Are those mosquito bits the same thing as Mosquito dunks?

yep, same thing. Crush up a dunk and you have a bit.

 

[Emilya Green]

I have officially started 2 more Dos-Si-Do's and 2 more Wedding Cakes. One Wedding cake has survived the great gnat infestation of 2021. Two Hippy hash will make it and all five Poison Daddy's are thriving, disproving the old wive's tale that seeds need to dry out for a period of time before trying to plant them. Also, we have several Durban's coming out of the cloner soon with roots. Life is good when the gnats are gone.

The Durbans in the mother room are 106 days old as of today, and they are massive. I am going to transplant them from the 3 gallon containers to at least 7gal, and we will veg them out for another 2-3 weeks. Those 4 will be the only thing in the bloom room for a while.

 

[Bode]

Highya Emmie,

Sounds like you have your hands full with all those ladies going. The more, the merrier!

I'm wondering with great anticipation about SB55! Are you excited yet? Happy Smokin'

 

[Timhomegrow]

It is time to come clean. I have been having the worst experience of my growing career in the veg room since the last update. The fault for this was all mine because I got lazy and failed to follow my own advice to never let commercial soil into my grow area before sterilizing it.

It is well known that Fox Farm soil, especially Ocean Forest, can attract fugus gnats while in the shipping and warehousing process. Not only did I know that, but I had seen signs of gnats in my previous grows using this soil from this supplier in this new space, and despite the warnings right in front of me, I ignored them. I was not afraid of a few fungus gnats, for I had always been able to deal with them before this by letting the soil dry out between waterings in veg and by using pine bark mulch on the top of the soil.

So I stupidly used the soil right out of the bag and lazily built my solo cups with it and my 5 clones and 10 more plants from seeds were put in that soil, along with a healthy dose of Dynomyco.

So, I started out with an infestation already in progress, and then I willingly fed that infestation with more fungi. The fungus gnat problem got much worse immediately upon transplanting, I believe because I was feeding them! Egads.

I tried SNS 203. It knocked them back a bit, but the damaged roots were not taking up enough water to be able to saturate the soil with the SNS more than once, so I went to spraying the area 3-5 times a day instead of overwatering. This again killed a bunch of gnats, but they were still thriving, and the plants continued to deteriorate as the gnat larvae continued to munch on my finest root hairs.

In desperation I decided to kill those gnats, whatever it took, to try to save the grow, since a majority of the seeds were gifts or sponsored seeds. I bought a hot shot and put it in the veg room to kill the fliers, knowing that the airflow would take the chemicals out of the window in the back of the room, not allowing it to get into the bloom room to contaminate the buds.

I also ordered mosquito bits and beneficial nematodes, and put up yellow sticky cards. It took a few days, but the gnats have now mostly been wiped out. The Durbans in the mother room still have a bit going on, but it is working in there too and those plants will be able to make it soon to the bloom room, mostly bug free.

Veg Room #1 is not in as good of shape; actually it is almost a total disaster. The young plants were attacked too soon by too many gnats and most of them were not able to develop strong enough roots to get out of the solo cups, not to mention survive or even be able to stand up on their own. I started 3 out of 5 seeds from the Do-Si-Do and the Wedding Cake, and at this point it would be better to start over with the 2 remaining seeds I have of each, instead of taking the next month trying to save the couple of plants that survived. I have ended up with 4 Poison Daddys and one Hippy Hash that look like they could survive... as I said, the worst disaster I have ever seen from plants that made it to the surface. It took a lot of courage and putting away of my ego as well as eating a good portion of crow to post this update, honestly documenting my colossal failure, but here it is... a classic example of what fungus gnat damage can cause.

Never again do I want to be in this situation. All the soil ready to go now has been baked in the oven and should be bug free. Never again will I fail to be concerned when I see even one fungus gnat and Mosquito bits are going to be a regular addition to my containers when building them for future grows.

Oh no, sorry to hear but it sounds like you got things straight.

I haven't seen a gnat this grow since I added the pine bark, thank you, always struggled before this with gnats

 

[Emilya Green]

Oh no, sorry to hear but it sounds like you got things straight.

I haven't seen a gnat this grow since I added the pine bark, thank you, always struggled before this with gnats

This time, the gnats were too strong for the pine bark mulch trick... I tried, but there were just too many of them. That explains a good part of the yellowing and the mediocre yield in the bloom room. I was determined to stop the bugs from now on, starting with the plants in the veg rooms, and it was a huge challenge, but I am pleased to report that I have emerged as the victor. Here is Veg Room #1 this evening, after transplanting all of the now thriving plants that were able to drain their solo cups in a day or so, to 1 gallon containers.

It looks like the final results of the Gnat wars are in... one Wedding Cake looks like it will survive, but it barely made it. One Hippy Hash made it, and no idea if it is even female. All 5 Poison Daddy's made it too, hopefully a credit to its strong family tree.

In the mother room, instead of nematodes in the mother plants, I relied on the yellow sticky card, the hot shot and the mosquito bits, and I let those plants go frighteningly dry before this last watering. For the 4x 100 day old Durban clones, I went also with the nematodes. In Veg room #1, I threw the whole thing at them, including 2 rounds of nematodes. I am pleased to report that there are no more living bugs and all the plants are looking better as of today.

The plants in the mother room have gotten a little out of hand and drastic steps needed to be taken. The veg table in that room was removed so we could sit the plants on the floor and gain some more vertical height. Soon the mother plants are going to need a trim so we can get some more clones going and to bush them out a bit more for the move to the outdoors later in the spring. The 4 Durbans will be transplanted to larger containers in the next few days... the 4x mother plants will be kept in the 3 gallon containers for now, simply to slow them down a bit.

The 2x Wedding Cake and Dos-Si-Do seeds that are right now being dunked, will be put into soil in the morning and to that end I prepared 4 Solo cups for that task. 2x 1/2 tsp layers of @DYNOMYCO was put in the cups of sterilized FFOF and FFHF mix, one at the 1/3 point and one at the 2/3 point, just below the surface. @GeoFlora Nutrients VEG and some mosquito bits were also applied and watered in, so as to get the soil pre-activated with microlife and to continue protecting against fungus gnats. I suspect that these plants will get a much better start than the last ones did.

 

[Plant Dad]

I'm sure you're aware, but I will throw it out there. Hypoaspis miles in worm castings. Apparently these mites like to eat gnat larva. Someone was talking about this on a thread I was reading a few weeks ago. I found it interesting. I started using as a top dressing. I figured it couldn't hurt.

 

[Emilya Green]

I'm sure you're aware, but I will throw it out there. Hypoaspis miles in worm castings. Apparently these mites like to eat gnat larva. Someone was talking about this on a thread I was reading a few weeks ago. I found it interesting. I started using as a top dressing. I figured it couldn't hurt.

I wasn't aware of that, so thank you! I have a 1/4 bag of WC sitting on my raw nutes shelf... I think I will apply some in a few selected spots and see what happens.

 

[Bode]

Highya Emmie,

Sounds like you'll be a busy girl with all that going. I was reading about gnats the other day, and it talked about loosing roots to them. Explains why they're such a PIA! Really sounds like you're back on track now. And wiser for dealing the pesky varmints! Happy Smokin'