Growing under screened room enclosure

[Debudman]

With all the problems I have had with budworms growing outdoors
this year I thought I would try enclosing my plants with a Coleman Screen Room.
Basically this is just a 10x10 tent that has no floor, but has screened walls all the way around
that zip up on two sides. I just set it up today and my 4 plants fit in there perfectly.
The thing I was wondering about is the 50+ UV protection that it states the screen has.
It seems that the sun is getting through just fine, but I was wondering if this UV protection
will impact my plants bud production? Has anyone used these outdoors?

Initially my plan was to just put it over the plants at night and take it off in the day, but this enclosure
is larger than I thought and would be very difficult for one person to lift it on and off. So I was hoping I could just leave it on through the season.

 

[Srilania]

According to the stuff I've read, you're doing yourself a disservice by blocking UV radiation, as a lot of people seem to agree that UVb can affect trichromes and THC production. As far as dealing with those worms, you will want to either bury the bottom edges to prevent bugs getting in, or get some Bt to wipe the bugs out, since those critters HATE Bt. Only other way to keep them down would be to put in a mantid to make sure it's protected.

 

[Debudman]

I believe I will be doing more of a disservice by allowing the white moth attacks.
My thought is that I would rather use a screened room to prevent attacks before having to resort to spraying BT.

The intention of my question here is to find someone who has the facts about whether the minimal UV block
in the screen will impact the potency of your flowers. Personally I wouldn't think so myself.
But I will soon know after I finish this years grow under the screen.

 

[Srilania]

BT is a natural product, made from the bacterial spores. It usually affects bugs that eat it, ingesting it and killing them. using a small bit on your babies isn't terrible, and now that I think about it, a small solar panel feeding an inverter with a UVb CF bulb plugged in would get you the UV, without a dime in electricity.

 

[Conradino23]

Blocking UVB will affect potency of your buds as this is the most important factor keeping steady THC levels.

 

[Debudman]

Thanks for your responses...
I have used BT in the past. I just think it is far better to eliminate the possibility of attack with a screened enclosure than gambling whether pre spraying BT on your plants will prevent the moths from attacking. In my experience BT only works to kill the worms after your plants have already been attacked by the moth. Then it will only kill the worms if it comes in contact with them. Those bastards bury themselves so deep in your most prime colas that most survive the BT spray.

I have since read quite a few documents regarding tests and I agree, it seems UV does play a big role in the development of your buds.
However, I have encountered the moth attacks before and I'll tell you I think I would rather have a slight degradation in bud potency then losing half my buds to the worms. In addition to your time and stress having to deal with those little b**T%%#))+. This was my thought process anyway that led me to purchase the screen tent. Initially I was just going to build a frame to surround my plants and then toss mosquito netting over the top. This actually would have probably been the easiest way to do it. But all is not lost. What I am doing is just unzipping the door of the tent screen in the morning and pulling the tent back away from the plants. This way I get the best of both worlds.. I get the protection I need and unprotected full sun during the day. The only pain about this is that the tent doesn't have a zipper horizontally along the top so you can't open the screen all the way making it a bit of a tight squeeze when pulling the tent back and fourth across the plants. I am now thinking of getting some plant stands with wheels so I can just roll them in and out of the screened room tent daily and leave the tent in a stationary position.. I think that should serve my purposes well.

Mannnnn!!!! The price you have to pay to combat the elements of the outdoors..

 

[Srilania]

Well, besides Bt, the other alternative is to use mantises or assassin bugs, natural predators of the budworm.