Is it time to switch to 12/12?

[InTheShed]

Dark. The darker the better. Pitch black is ideal. With a fan gently blowing nearby. But if you do it in a tent you will need to keep the venting system on or the tent open so the moisture has somewhere to go.

 

[keith1975]

Well, wash water notwithstanding, you lose about 75% of your harvest weight when dry. If you didn't weigh them before the wash, all bets are off!

So if I weight them after, it will be less than 25%? So the worst case scenario is 25% if I weight it now?

 

[keith1975]

Dark. The darker the better. Pitch black is ideal. With a fan gently blowing nearby. But if you do it in a tent you will need to keep the venting system on or the tent open so the moisture has somewhere to go.

I have them in a cupboard that is slightly open, in a room with curtains, but not 100% pitchblack. I thought it becomes more important when using jars, as they can go in a closed cupboard hidden away?

 

[keith1975]

Just thought I'd mention that I got just under 600 grams for the 4 plants. It's not dried yet, so that might become much less. And that's after I chopped off a lot of the big branches that were still attached. Lost about 30 grams through branches alone. Will be interesting to see what my final weight is. (and if I will be smoking mites for the next couple of months)

 

[keith1975]

One more note... I'm investigating spider mite traps. This guys story really has me excited [i removed link because its probably not a sponsor of the site... but anyway, I'm looking at spider mite traps]

 

[keith1975]

One more note... I'm investigating spider mite traps. This guys story really has me excited [i removed link because its probably not a sponsor of the site... but anyway, I'm looking at spider mite traps]

Looking promising. Its like a fly ribbon for mites that you hang above plant so they crawl up and get stuck. Im for sure going to get some!

 

[keith1975]

@InTheShed , this morning I see bugs on the photoperiod plants that are blooming. So the spinosad didnt do anything. I'm going to up the dose and actually use what this specific bottle recommends, instead of reverse calculating. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong if the spinosad works so well for you.

 

[keith1975]

I found "Phytoseiulus persimilis", i.e. a predatory mite that I can buy 2000 mites per bottle. For about 40 USD per bottle. Think I should give it a go? And is 2000 a lot for three small grow tents? Or should I aim higher?

 

[InTheShed]

No idea about predatory mites as I'm not a natural grower . Spinosad works at the right dose so follow instructions duh! And I doubt hanging mite traps work. They live, breed, and die on the leaves.

A dark room is fine. No direct light. In terms of weight, just sit tight and weigh them when they're dry. Leaning off the sidewalk to check if you can see the bus doesn't make it come any sooner .

 

[keith1975]

No idea about predatory mites as I'm not a natural grower . Spinosad works at the right dose so follow instructions duh! And I doubt hanging mite traps work. They live, breed, and die on the leaves.

A dark room is fine. No direct light. In terms of weight, just sit tight and weigh them when they're dry. Leaning off the sidewalk to check if you can see the bus doesn't make it come any sooner .

Today is the last day I'm going to try spinosad. After this, I give up and will wash every day with iso or just plain water til harvest. Spinosad has not helped me at all. 30 minutes after spraying they come back.

As for the mite trap, i also didn't think it could work. But apparently you hang it above the cola head and then hang a string into the plant. Which they then crawl up because they always try to get to the top. The stickyness on the sheet is also severely more sticky than a normal fly ribbon. I think I'm going to give it a bash. Will try anything really...

 

[InTheShed]

This isn't RAID. They don't die instantly. If they did you'd be spraying poison on your buds.

 

[keith1975]

This isn't RAID. They don't die instantly. If they did you'd be spraying poison on your buds.

Okay, but they are there the next day still. How long till it starts working?

 

[InTheShed]

They hatch, eat the leaves with the spinosad, and die. It's a life cycle thing. Go with the iso/water mix if you want that dead on contact thing! But you have to do it every other day or so.

 

[keith1975]

They hatch, eat the leaves with the spinosad, and die. It's a life cycle thing. Go with the iso/water mix if you want that dead on contact thing! But you have to do it every other day or so.

Did not know that. Will def give it some time!

 

[keith1975]

My bottle says i must use 40 to 100 mls with 400mls of water. Its a lot of spinosad, about 4 times as much as i was using before. So i just sprayed one plant for now, will spray the other two if this works out. Currently i only have noticeable mites on the one plant anyway.

How long after spraying should can i expect to see less crawling mites on the plants?

Also, my dried out buds are looking good. Smells like hay though. I read that is normal, so now im just waiting til twigs snap and dont bend, then i’ll start curing. Its only day 3, so i’ll probably only be able to do that sometime next weekend. I dont see mites, but there are still an odd black dot under a leaf. But it does look like its starting to turn into smokeable buds.

 

[InTheShed]

The live ones eat and die, the new ones hatch, eat, and die. And I use 4 tablespoons/gallon. Using too little of anything is just a waste!

Drying bud smells like hay. That changes over the weeks of burping the jars.

 

[keith1975]

The live ones eat and die, the new ones hatch, eat, and die. And I use 4 tablespoons/gallon. Using too little of anything is just a waste!

I think I got enough in there now! But I'm also getting predatory mites later the week. Will spinosad kill them?

 

[InTheShed]

Yes.

 

[keith1975]

Yes.

Well that sucks. Haha. They are arriving in the next few days. So how long til Spinosad wears off then? I assume a week?

 

[InTheShed]

Half life is 7-16 days I think, but if the predators just eat the mites they should be fine. Just don't spray with anything at all.