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- #41
Cool. Never heard of this before. That's why this is such a great site!
Beats the idea of spraying with poison. I imagine Neem oil is innocuous though...
Will investigate.
Cool. Never heard of this before. That's why this is such a great site!
Beats the idea of spraying with poison. I imagine Neem oil is innocuous though...
Will investigate.
A mild soap and water spray kills mites just fine. Till the next batch of eggs hatch out in five minutes. Just don't spray the buds directly as it will kill the pistils and turn them red. The beauty of a systemic pesticide like neem is that it is absorbed by the plant and turns the whole plant into bait as well as poison for several weeks, killing off enough generations of mites and eggs that you can eradicate the whole accursed tribe.
Whatever you're spraying with, you'll probably want to quit 2 or 3 weeks before harvest unless you don't mind smoking it.
Whatever you're spraying with, you'll probably want to quit 2 or 3 weeks before harvest unless you don't mind smoking it.
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- #43
Yup. I used a mild liquid soap solution to get rid of mites on a big ficus a while back. The job had to be done in the shower because it was during the winter. I think I got rid of them but maybe not, or maybe the ficus doesn't provide as hospitable an environment as our ladies do. Am not religious but feel like saying 'bless them' right now.
millertm
Well-Known Member
Here you go
Deleterious effects of UV-B radiation on herbivorous spider mites: they can avoid it by remaining on lower leaf surfaces. - PubMed - NCBI
Good read about why I switched to uvb over spray. Limiting factor is bulb will cause white spots on leafs if used to long or is placed to close.
Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420
Deleterious effects of UV-B radiation on herbivorous spider mites: they can avoid it by remaining on lower leaf surfaces. - PubMed - NCBI
Good read about why I switched to uvb over spray. Limiting factor is bulb will cause white spots on leafs if used to long or is placed to close.
Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420
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- #45
Very cool, especially since it's from a reputable source. Nice claim ("artificial UV-B irradiation strongly decreased survivorship and egg production"). Gotta love science finding so many ways to kill things.
I have to factor into the decision that (1) I only grow two plants at a time and (2) I'd like to try SCROG on my second grow. Am planning on autos again and I understand they're generally short. So am not sure about whether there'd be enough room for the bulb below the canopy, or whether it would burn the plants with heat and/or light.
Comments welcome.
Cheers
I have to factor into the decision that (1) I only grow two plants at a time and (2) I'd like to try SCROG on my second grow. Am planning on autos again and I understand they're generally short. So am not sure about whether there'd be enough room for the bulb below the canopy, or whether it would burn the plants with heat and/or light.
Comments welcome.
Cheers
millertm
Well-Known Member
OK, up to speed now. Few things I see, CFL under 5000K, will starve plants with lack of blue, to much yellow, low red. I use 6400K and 5000K. MG is time release fert, it will starve you plant and burn it if feed. I'm seeing MG jack up grows everywhere. I'd look at some budget nutes Dayna grow, Fox Farm liquid trio. Amazon ships those world wide, not sure if your in US or not but other nutes are there if needed, Dutch passion ext. Properly feeding and environmental control are what brings great yields.Hey all,
Great forum with tons of info. I'm green, new and with envy.
I'm a first timer here on a shoestring and things aren't going well. Mary and Jane (sorry) are only 8 inches tall after six weeks from germination. They spent a little time outdoors for the first couple of weeks but are now indoors.
- 2 x Northern Lights auto fem from Crop King
- Miracle Grow potting soil
- In pots 8.5" tall by 8.5" diameter.
- 1 x 200W 2700k CFL and a single spot 23W daylight mostly on Jane
- Maintaining a light breeze with a fan
- No nutes (I haven't been able to get any yet)
- Spider mites. Am taking them off daily by hand and seem to have them under control.
- Yellowing leaves on Mary with a brown patch. From research, I attributed this to Mary being too close to the light (2 to 3 inches) so I've backed her off to 5 to 6 inches.
- In a basement but RH is 45 to 55%
- Haven't been able to get a pH meter or light meter yet.
- 18/6
- There are tons of flowers on Mary and Jane is starting with some now that she's caught up.
I'm curious about whether the 2700k bulb may have caused premature flowering. If so, should I give up on height and switch to 12/12 now?
Or am I being impatient and should expect another 6 weeks before going to 12/12?
I'll take any advice anyone would care to send my way and send thanks in advance!
Mary
Jane and Mary
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- #47
Re: Noob Doing Better
Well, a couple of interesting things going on but am still on the same track with MC soil, mites, and a dubious situation wrt nutrients and supplements because the soil is black box. Still, the plants are surprisingly full of flowers and it seems some product is highly likely, barring the unmentionables.
A couple of leaves acquired brown patches overnight. Mites. No question. I can see the little bastards. So the girls had their first shower after a thorough spraying with palmolive in water 1:40. "You're soaking in it, Marg", I told them. They didn't seem to mind, though Mary bent right over under the weight of water and her chunky cola. She's fine. I have to do that again twice two days apart.
Neem oil arrived and today would have been a good opportunity to combine with the soap spray. Thing is, I think of the "Do not ingest" exhortation on the bottle and see inhalation as a more acute situation than ingestion. The other thing is that my best guess that harvest is around Aug 26 for Mary and Sep 2 for Jane, depending on colour changes etc. Aug 26 isn't much more than two weeks away and I don't know about Neem half life, absorption into the plant, degradation, etc. So am holding off until I find out more.
Any commentary I've come across about autos photoperiod has said go 18/6 or even 24/0. I suppose that's thinking about pumping as much photo energy into the plant in as short a time as possible. Maybe plants operate like that kind of machine but my spidey sense tells me something is not quite right. It makes it sound as though this is a linear process. Cells are complicated, aren't they? Anyway, I switched to a 12/12 regime and found within two days the plants seem to be much happier. Now both ladies have much bigger and fuller fan leaves. But there may be other variables...
Anyway, still hanging in by the skin of my teeth having way too much fun.
Cheers
Well, a couple of interesting things going on but am still on the same track with MC soil, mites, and a dubious situation wrt nutrients and supplements because the soil is black box. Still, the plants are surprisingly full of flowers and it seems some product is highly likely, barring the unmentionables.
A couple of leaves acquired brown patches overnight. Mites. No question. I can see the little bastards. So the girls had their first shower after a thorough spraying with palmolive in water 1:40. "You're soaking in it, Marg", I told them. They didn't seem to mind, though Mary bent right over under the weight of water and her chunky cola. She's fine. I have to do that again twice two days apart.
Neem oil arrived and today would have been a good opportunity to combine with the soap spray. Thing is, I think of the "Do not ingest" exhortation on the bottle and see inhalation as a more acute situation than ingestion. The other thing is that my best guess that harvest is around Aug 26 for Mary and Sep 2 for Jane, depending on colour changes etc. Aug 26 isn't much more than two weeks away and I don't know about Neem half life, absorption into the plant, degradation, etc. So am holding off until I find out more.
Any commentary I've come across about autos photoperiod has said go 18/6 or even 24/0. I suppose that's thinking about pumping as much photo energy into the plant in as short a time as possible. Maybe plants operate like that kind of machine but my spidey sense tells me something is not quite right. It makes it sound as though this is a linear process. Cells are complicated, aren't they? Anyway, I switched to a 12/12 regime and found within two days the plants seem to be much happier. Now both ladies have much bigger and fuller fan leaves. But there may be other variables...
Anyway, still hanging in by the skin of my teeth having way too much fun.
Cheers
- Thread starter
- #48
I sprayed with Neem oil at 8ml/l yesterday. Since I hadn't read at that point that it's systemic agent, I sprayed both plants fully, flowers and all. Pistils are turning brown today but, thanks to this forum, I understand that isn't a sign my girls are ready for harvest. I don't have a loupe yet but my phone magnifier app seems to be telling me the frosting is clear without amber. Anyway, here are the top colas at 41 and 34 days from first flower respectively.
Looks nice and frosty. You're doing great. What are your future growing plans?
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- #50
Yikes! My face is red. 
I remembered your guidance as soon as I saw it above. No excuses, though I was mite (lol) under the weather that day. I know because I'm also keeping a cycle #1 journal on the effects of the Pacific Yew extract.
Thanks for asking about future plans. I've been thinking about them a lot. There are things I have to do for sure:
1. Find good soil. Am not sure I'm ready to jump into hydro. Sounds tricky and I don't have a pH or ppm meter. But I used to raise trout and salmon and they're pretty finicky. You have to get a feel for how they're feeling too.
2. Get bigger pots. Present ones are 1 gal. The girls are surely root-bound.
3. Move. Right now the setup is in a spare room in the basement, a walkout so temperature and humidity are pretty good. I have a fan on the plants 24/7 and a window open. You can smell the perfume as soon as you start down the stairs to the basement. Am considering moving to a bathroom down there, mine. It's a big room and has a nice exhaust fan that exits the house at the back of the attached garage, where no one goes. I'd move the fan control from the auto-off timer to an on/off switch. There's a drop ceiling so hanging things would be easy. The only issue would be humidity spikes from when I shower in there, but the fan is pretty good and I don't think ladies would mind a bit of nudity and extra humidity in the morning.
4. I bought NL seeds because I'd read it's a low-odour strain. But I think I'd like to try a high-THC yet forgiving sativa-dominant. Maybe White Widow from Nirvana. Am still thinking auto fem, mainly because I'm not sure about getting another light.
5. My 200W 2,700k CFL wasn't cheap and I think I can get better results with better soil. But I'm tempted to go LED. Would one 300W be sufficient for two or three plants? Could I use both an LED and my CFL? I read an interesting article recently about full-spectrum light. I don't understand why the LEDs out there don't put out green. Maybe efficiency and energy cost-related?
6. I will try SCROG and only need to know how high above the soil is a reasonable height for the mesh.
Thanks for keeping an eye on my posts. It's helpful and reassuring to know.
Cheers
I remembered your guidance as soon as I saw it above. No excuses, though I was mite (lol) under the weather that day. I know because I'm also keeping a cycle #1 journal on the effects of the Pacific Yew extract.Thanks for asking about future plans. I've been thinking about them a lot. There are things I have to do for sure:
1. Find good soil. Am not sure I'm ready to jump into hydro. Sounds tricky and I don't have a pH or ppm meter. But I used to raise trout and salmon and they're pretty finicky. You have to get a feel for how they're feeling too.
2. Get bigger pots. Present ones are 1 gal. The girls are surely root-bound.
3. Move. Right now the setup is in a spare room in the basement, a walkout so temperature and humidity are pretty good. I have a fan on the plants 24/7 and a window open. You can smell the perfume as soon as you start down the stairs to the basement. Am considering moving to a bathroom down there, mine. It's a big room and has a nice exhaust fan that exits the house at the back of the attached garage, where no one goes. I'd move the fan control from the auto-off timer to an on/off switch. There's a drop ceiling so hanging things would be easy. The only issue would be humidity spikes from when I shower in there, but the fan is pretty good and I don't think ladies would mind a bit of nudity and extra humidity in the morning.
4. I bought NL seeds because I'd read it's a low-odour strain. But I think I'd like to try a high-THC yet forgiving sativa-dominant. Maybe White Widow from Nirvana. Am still thinking auto fem, mainly because I'm not sure about getting another light.
5. My 200W 2,700k CFL wasn't cheap and I think I can get better results with better soil. But I'm tempted to go LED. Would one 300W be sufficient for two or three plants? Could I use both an LED and my CFL? I read an interesting article recently about full-spectrum light. I don't understand why the LEDs out there don't put out green. Maybe efficiency and energy cost-related?
6. I will try SCROG and only need to know how high above the soil is a reasonable height for the mesh.
Thanks for keeping an eye on my posts. It's helpful and reassuring to know.
Cheers
I'm kind of on the run so I'll reply to this when I get more time.
If you can run your bathroom fan through a thermostat is best. You can buy ones that plug into an outlet - they have an outlet on them for the fan to plug into- as well as a control to set the temp you want it to turn on at.
I don't use LEDs but I know you can buy the older ones very cheap and they'll grow a few plants for you. The Mars 300's come up a lot on this sort of conversation. Check ebay and google the area coverage of those lights. Cfls are good for mini grows but they don't expand well into bigger setups- you end up with a bunch of expensive (and toxic) bulbs when you could have spent less on an led or hid setup and had more of a future with it.
Scrog probably wouldn't be very suitable for autos I scrog most of my plants and keep about a 10" height between pot and screen. Really the only factor here is giving yourself some room for hands to get in and prune and water the soil.
Soil is probably the best growing medium if you have a good soil mix. Soilless mixes like coco and peat are also good - though with the complication of dealing with ph.
Will be back. Cheers
If you can run your bathroom fan through a thermostat is best. You can buy ones that plug into an outlet - they have an outlet on them for the fan to plug into- as well as a control to set the temp you want it to turn on at.
I don't use LEDs but I know you can buy the older ones very cheap and they'll grow a few plants for you. The Mars 300's come up a lot on this sort of conversation. Check ebay and google the area coverage of those lights. Cfls are good for mini grows but they don't expand well into bigger setups- you end up with a bunch of expensive (and toxic) bulbs when you could have spent less on an led or hid setup and had more of a future with it.
Scrog probably wouldn't be very suitable for autos I scrog most of my plants and keep about a 10" height between pot and screen. Really the only factor here is giving yourself some room for hands to get in and prune and water the soil.
Soil is probably the best growing medium if you have a good soil mix. Soilless mixes like coco and peat are also good - though with the complication of dealing with ph.
Will be back. Cheers
- Thread starter
- #52
When you get back, I'd appreciate a comment on why SCROG might not work well with autos. Is it that they tend not to grow as tall as photoperiod sensitive plants?
If pH control is primarily about the pH of the water/nutrients/supplements, I wouldn't have a problem. My first career was as an analytical chemist.
I gather the basics are a mix like coco:vermiculite 75:25, and feed veg+bloom+CaMg. Doesn't sound complicated. I'd rather go down that road than spend another grow cycle stuck with crappy soil.
Looking forward to your return.
If pH control is primarily about the pH of the water/nutrients/supplements, I wouldn't have a problem. My first career was as an analytical chemist.
I gather the basics are a mix like coco:vermiculite 75:25, and feed veg+bloom+CaMg. Doesn't sound complicated. I'd rather go down that road than spend another grow cycle stuck with crappy soil.
Looking forward to your return.
- Thread starter
- #53
Well, I don't grow autos- so I only really know what I've read mostly. Most people try to get them off to a great start- with little or no training, and have them rocket on their merry way to the finish line of their short lives with as little trauma as possible. In recent years great headway has been made in learning to top and train autos. Members like Atrain and TheBeast come to mind as auto growing mentors who've done some amazing things. So yeah, autos can be topped and do fine I just haven't seen anyone scrog one yet- it involves quite a lot of disturbance of the plant. I don't pay much attention to autos myself and don't even know that much about them, so could have missed it.
I grow in soilless. Sunshine mix, which is mostly peat, along with about 30% perlite. Coco growers usually use about the same ratio of perlite. Not vermiculite.
Yeah basically you test ph of everything you feed and water the plant with. As long as you stay in the right range things should be fine. Common issues are- crappy cheap pH testers, pH testers breaking without you knowing it (yet), uncalibrated pH testers, grower forgetfulness and screw ups, occasional annoying factors which cause ph changes or ph creep, different strains with different needs, etc. But generally it's not too bad especially if you buy a good ph meter. Or at least take good care of the cheap one. One must remain vigilant. Unlike with soil. But results are good if you don't F up.
I didn't quite get the last comment.
I grow in soilless. Sunshine mix, which is mostly peat, along with about 30% perlite. Coco growers usually use about the same ratio of perlite. Not vermiculite.
Yeah basically you test ph of everything you feed and water the plant with. As long as you stay in the right range things should be fine. Common issues are- crappy cheap pH testers, pH testers breaking without you knowing it (yet), uncalibrated pH testers, grower forgetfulness and screw ups, occasional annoying factors which cause ph changes or ph creep, different strains with different needs, etc. But generally it's not too bad especially if you buy a good ph meter. Or at least take good care of the cheap one. One must remain vigilant. Unlike with soil. But results are good if you don't F up.
I didn't quite get the last comment.
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- #55
Sounds like I could handle it after figuring out what nutrients to use at what concentrations. Coco or Sunshine mix and perlite. Cool. Thanks.
My last comment was just a throw away about giving up on this if the logistics of a move to the bathroom are too daunting. But there's no window in there so light control would be better. So, autos are smaller, more delicate, and have lower yiekds. I
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My last comment was just a throw away about giving up on this if the logistics of a move to the bathroom are too daunting. But there's no window in there so light control would be better. So, autos are smaller, more delicate, and have lower yiekds. I
Sent from my SM-G935W8 using 420
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- #56
- Thread starter
- #57
I gave the girls a good spraying with neem two or three days apart and have the mites under control. Am a bit surprised because I found that I'd bought carrier oil by mistake and a little research has suggested this might only contain 10% of the good stuff. It isn't solid or even viscous at room temperature.
My pH metre arrived in the mail. I'd just mixed up nutes and need to buy distilled water for the calibration.
Plants doing well and Jane now has some nice buds coming.
Still no loupe but my phone app yells me there is still a while to go before the frost goes cloudy and yellow. Pics later.
Cheers
Sent from my SM-G935W8 using 420
My pH metre arrived in the mail. I'd just mixed up nutes and need to buy distilled water for the calibration.
Plants doing well and Jane now has some nice buds coming.
Still no loupe but my phone app yells me there is still a while to go before the frost goes cloudy and yellow. Pics later.
Cheers
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- #58
YIKES! Baby Seeds!!!
Best guest based on time estimate notes (not trichomes) is that one plant has a week to go the other has two. But I picked off what I thought were two hermie balls this morning and found baby seeds inside. They're about 20% or less the volume of a mature seed.
What should I do, if anything?
My concern is that conversion to THC at this stage might be hampered by use of energy going into seed production, but that might just be paranoia.
Poor girls, they've gone through so much.
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions!
Best guest based on time estimate notes (not trichomes) is that one plant has a week to go the other has two. But I picked off what I thought were two hermie balls this morning and found baby seeds inside. They're about 20% or less the volume of a mature seed.
What should I do, if anything?
My concern is that conversion to THC at this stage might be hampered by use of energy going into seed production, but that might just be paranoia.
Poor girls, they've gone through so much.
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions!
millertm
Well-Known Member
They look great, yes seeds will pull energy but looking very good. Great job.
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Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420
The particular calyx that is pollinated will turn its energy to seed production. The rest of the bud should be unaffected. Buds can be chock full of seeds and be just as potent- what it amounts to is that you have less bud, since so much of it's composed of seeds.
Pics would be good though - your description doesn't sound like an immature seed to me. Immature seeds just look like mature seeds from the outside. The calyx swells up and gets fat. The immature seed inside is a very soft pasty white substance- I wouldn't describe it as looking like a small seed, at least in my experience.
If you do have seeds then you presumably have hermaphrodite flowers somewhere, aka 'nanners'. Google that and inspect the buds for them. Then remove them.
Another possibility (or not) is that male pollen drifted in from the outside world somewhere. Usually unlikely but it depends on your situation obviously.
But I wouldn't worry about it much. At this stage it's not going to affect anything really. Unless the buds are very well pollinated, which seems unlikely.
Pics would be good though - your description doesn't sound like an immature seed to me. Immature seeds just look like mature seeds from the outside. The calyx swells up and gets fat. The immature seed inside is a very soft pasty white substance- I wouldn't describe it as looking like a small seed, at least in my experience.
If you do have seeds then you presumably have hermaphrodite flowers somewhere, aka 'nanners'. Google that and inspect the buds for them. Then remove them.
Another possibility (or not) is that male pollen drifted in from the outside world somewhere. Usually unlikely but it depends on your situation obviously.
But I wouldn't worry about it much. At this stage it's not going to affect anything really. Unless the buds are very well pollinated, which seems unlikely.
