LadyJane420's Hydro - The Purps - Grow Journal - 2013

[KingJohnC]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal-2013

for soil insects i use diatomaceous earth used as a barrier, it cuts them as they move through it. i bought my diatomaceous earth from an animal feed store, do not use the type meant for pool filters. mosquito dunks can also be used for soil insects. Sierra Natural Sciences also makes a product called SNS-203 for soil insects.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous earth

https://www.google.com mosquito dunks

SNS 203 Soil Drench Spray | Sierra Natural Science

 

[Green Knight]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal-2013

Sorry to hear about the gnats LJ, that's rotten luck. Hope you manage to get rid of the little blighters.

 

[fish cake]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal-2013

Happy Skunkday Young Lady and sorry about highjacking your thread.
Good advice from King John C. good luck with ridding your girls from them nasty critters

 

[LadyJane420]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal-2013

Hi Green Knight

Sorry to hear about the gnats LJ, that's rotten luck. Hope you manage to get rid of the little blighters.

Yeah, they really are annoying little buggers. Things seem to be dying down a bit, it's possible the Dutch Master Zone is helping, I put up some fly strips, and ordered some Safer Yard & Insect spray as a last resort.

Still no worries or regrets just pluggin' away at this mega learning experience.

Have a great week everyone.

 

[LadyJane420]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal-2013

Hey KingJohnC,

Thanks for replying. I'm not sure how I would use diatomaceous earth in my hydro tank, if it's possible please let me know. Thanks so much for the information - I'm in 7th wk of flowering right now and the poor plants are looking a bit sad but fingers crossed I have another crop in veg!

Thanks again.

 

[LadyJane420]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal-2013

Thanks fish cake!

 

[KingJohnC]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal-2013

I would not use diatomaceous earth in your hydro tank, that is how i use it for soil.

 

[LadyJane420]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal-2013

Hi All,

So here's where things stand - got rid of all the nasty gnats, I think it was the combo of Dutch Master Zone and spraying the bottom of the plants with Safer. Not very organic I know but they're gone. However my roots look like they were somebody's dinner. So I snuck a bud off one of the plants to try and and voila! It works even after all they've gone through. I've apologized to them a 100 times - but it's taught me another big lesson about roots. Thank you all you great 420 people - what I've learned has helped enormously. My next batch which is in veg will benefit greatly.

 

[LadyJane420]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal-2013

Hey R.P.

Wipe the egg off your face! I said I was a native New Yorker, not a fan of the Yankees.

Looking forward to your pics.

 

[danklover79]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal-2013

I picked up some Dutch Master Zone myself yesterday, which I plan to use next res change, did you use the black, or the gold zone?

 

[LadyJane420]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal-2013

Hi danklover79,


I picked up the Gold Range but that was all I could find. Good stuff.

Thanks again to the green knight for recommending it.

Thanks also to

 

[danklover79]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal-2013

Thank you, I bought the black zone, and my roots look great, just bought it as a kind of preventative, I guess. You can get on their website, and they have silica, which is the main ingredient in diatomaceous earth. It has many benefits, but I can't say if it has the same benefit as diatomaceous earth, which is great as a top layer on soil to stop fungus gnat infestation. My local nursery has some organic pesticide that is supposed to get rid of flying insects, but you broadcast it in the space, rather than spraying the plants themselves, like you would with neem oil.

 

[Skybound]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal - 2013

We miss you LJ, what's your status?

 

[LadyJane420]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal - 2013

Hi Skybound, Everyone

We miss you LJ, what's your status?

Been watching my plants go downhill from the root rot, and although I've got a handle on it now what's done is done. They are ready to go into flush, and I broke my own cardinal rule and cut one down (Gasp!) because I thought it was dead. What a surprise. Underneath what I thought was deadness was ripe and ready beautiful sticky buds. So I manicured it and weighed it - it was 2.5 oz & I have 7 more going into flush today. I do everything I can to try and keep them looking healthy and they do their best to give love back. I have to remember not to lose faith.

Will post some pictures of my hoard next week while manicuring. I'm really happy with the yield although I'm expecting much more with my Lucy crop now that I've learned a few more things.

Have a few tokes and a wonderful rest of the weekend.

 

[Skybound]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal - 2013

That's awesome that your on the good end of a problem. I may be going that same road in just a bit as I'm transitioning to flower as we speak and some roots were getting brown on me. Any advice for a sterile feed schedule?

 

[LadyJane420]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal - 2013

Hello Skybound & Everybody

Any advice for a sterile feed schedule?

You must think you're talking to someone who knows what the heck they're doing. I've read a lot of stuff but nothing is like doing it which you well know. All I can refer you to is the advice from the green knight in this journal regarding Dutch Master Zone.

It might be a pain and I know you said before you were restricted in opening the doors fully, but if you can then try and give the res etc a proper clean, getting everything out and using some mild bleach solution. Do another DM dip for the roots (soak them for a good 10-20 minutes) and keep running it at 6ml / 10l.

The thing we need to work out now is what's causing the root rot. There's one fundamental cause (not enough oxygen at the roots) and three possible things that contribute to this (or a combination of these):

- res temps too high reducing the nutrient solution's ability to hold O2 (and warmer temps also encourage bacterial growth, though the zone will prevent this)
- not enough enough O2 in the solution generally (do you have an air stone and pump so loads of O2 is getting in?)
- too much water / nutes to the root ball (shutting out the O2 as the roots and medium get over-saturated)

Looking at your system, are those drip feeds, and if so do you still have them running? I ran a similar system and found later on in the grow when I was running the top feeds things got a bit unhealthy because the top of the root ball gets very dense and you don't get enough O2 to it if the top feeds are running. Once the roots are in the res you don't need the top feeds and the plants much prefer it when the net pot isn't being continually bathed. The roots do fine being permanently submerged in aerated nutrient solution, and if you have an air stone the bubbles keep the net pot and root ball moist, but the top feed I've found overkills it and rot can set in at the dense top of the roots and water line, and then spread. So some other suggestions you could try after you've given things a clean again:

- turn off the top feeds, they're not needed now
- if you haven't already then get an air pump and put an air stone in the res (though I'm guessing your system has one of these anyway. You could put a second in if you can)
- if the res temps are getting too hot then try keeping them cool using bottles of frozen water

You're very late in flower now and probably not far off flush so to an extent it's about containment and preventing it from progressing, don't expect miracles. I wouldn't increase the nutes until the roots are recovering - I think the deficiency is a symptom because the roots can't take up what they need. At this stage I think it's about containing the rot and solving the root cause, run the nutes at the concentration they are (possibly even consider lowering the ppms slightly until the roots show sign signs of recovery). Hopefully things will recover a bit and she can take up some of what she needs before you flush. Shit time to happen though in terms of time to recover, but good in the sense it's late in the grow so you'll get some smoke and you can fix the cause ready for the next grow

It may not be exactly what you are looking for but it's certainly worth repeating.

 

[LadyJane420]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal - 2013

Hello Everyone

Well I finally have a pic of one of my purps in flush at the moment. It's not in the best shape but at least all was not lost and much was gained.

Almost ready to chop and move on to the next crop. No rest for the self-sustaining!

Have a wonderful day.

 

[BeemerBill]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal - 2013

Happy Munchday LJ. Nice looking buds you have there. I'm pulling up a chair even if I'm late for the show.

 

[RollingPapers]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal - 2013

Hi LJ, Your buds look great! All your hard work and research really paid off
Imagine that...all that from a teeny weeny seed
Could I get a quick summary of how you are going to harvest and cure?
I could use a few pointers because I might doing it someday soon.
My "three little seedlings" have grown up to be "three little mothers" and I already took 3 little clones from one of them and then I topped the little lady. Not to be confused with the "three little pigs" LOL. I even used the top-cutting for a 4th clone. Hopefully, all the clones will be in my flowering chamber in a few weeks.

 

[LadyJane420]

Re: LadyJane420's Hydro "The Purps" Grow Journal - 2013

Hey RP,

How's it going. Me being a beginner and all, I've tried very hard to understand what the hey they're saying in books about how to manicure. But what it comes down to is having a nice clean workspace, a good pair of clippers and a lot of patience. I'll post some pics next week when I manicure. I just take off the fan leaves and trim the rest of the leaves down as far as I can. I bought a pair of electric scissors but they're not very good for fine tuning. A good pair of manual trimmers is a must. Here's a pic from the one purps plant I chopped.

Wishing you the best and good luck to you.