That is interesting that it breaks down in around 2 weeks, obviously reassuring to know, as it is certainly preferable upon harvest that no insecticide remains in the buds.Yes, I applied the neem/potassium-soap mix every two weeks from late veg and about 5 weeks into flower. It was the only pest control I needed. The information I found was the double-whammy effect breaks down in about two weeks. So -- if you want to -- you can apply it up to about two weeks before harvest. I tried not to spray the buds directly, just leaves. Looking forward to your next photos of the quadlined girls...
I choose to apply the mixture by hand with a cloth because 1-GGa is relatively small and does not have many leaves compared to the 2 Quad girls, and because I wanted to try to avoid spraying on the developing bud sites.
Those leaf marks look like something that spinosad would be better for than neem or castille soap spray! I don't use neem in flower anyway.
I looked and saw only one product apparently available from a Gro shop here in NZ with Spinosad, not sure why it isn't sold elsewhere. It sounded like it worked similar to the BT powder that I mixed up to spray against caterpillars last year, that worked well and was non toxic.
They give a good overview of options.
That is an intriguing thought. At first I am immediately concerned that it would bust off lots of trichomes. Or the lemon juice and hot water options may dissolve them. But I have read of lots of people attesting to having once tried it, to not wanting unwashed bud again.
Must be useful as soaps are often mentioned, and easy to find at hand if needed quickly. I have read good things about milk which altho sounded surprising apparently can work great too. Altho someone mentioned the milk had contributed to a mold problem. Avoiding the flowers seems pretty hard to do with a sprayer, or mine at least, of course you would try to avoid blasting them but I'd imagine they would still get sprayed - but I guess as long as the intention is there, haha.
Both of my Quadlined girls are rather 'bulky' in shape if they are to be budwashed whole, their supercropped canopy branches are somewhat 'interlocked' in places so yeah, I will have a think about what I could find suitable in which to budwash them even partially. The bigger one (3-WWG) is over 1.3meters across, almost 4.5 feet, the smaller one (2-WW) is slightly less than 4 feet across. Their bulk will make it something of a challenge as their Quadlined training makes them fairly rigid in their shape.
Room temp is fine. The original bud wash post on the site included hot water but I don't think that's done any more. Feel free to cut the branches off and wash and hang them individually.
I wash in diluted H2O2 because it kills PM and bugs. Tent folks seem to go more for the lemon/baking soda. No RO water needed for any of it. Do shake the water off after the rinse and put a fan on them for a few hours to drive off the wash moisture.
I use and recommend Dr Bronner's unscented castille soap!
Much of that depends on the RH where you dry your plants. Folks in dry climates will get a longer dry when hung whole, but folks in higher RH climates might find their buds molded if the plant is dried whole.
I'd recommend two: one to wash and one to rinse. If you're outside you can rinse with a light spray with a hose.
Both of my Quadlined girls are rather 'bulky' in shape if they are to be budwashed whole, their supercropped canopy branches are somewhat 'interlocked' in places so yeah, I will have a think about what I could find suitable in which to budwash them even partially. The bigger one (3-WWG) is over 1.3meters across, almost 4.5 feet, the smaller one (2-WW) is slightly less than 4 feet across. Their bulk will make it something of a challenge as their Quadlined training makes them fairly rigid in their shape.
The Gorilla Glue Auto, I adjusted her LST training wires yesterday to level out the flower heads a bit better. It's shape is fairly open because of the length of the branches, but no worries, it's good for the sunshine coverage. The bug damage seems old now and there doesn't appear to be any fresh damage, but I'll keep an eye on it all the same. It's buds are developing but haven't yet started to thicken out but shouldn't be too far away from doing so.
Here are a couple of updated pics of my 2 Quadlined girls. The White Widow (2-WW) is a little ahead of her step sister the Widow/Gorgonzola cross, but both are starting to develop bud wise.
I have to do things here pretty stealthily and furtively, I don't have a dedicated dry room or tent, and it gets pretty humid here some days, so I am a little concerned about mold developing in the event of a whole plant drying. I will possibly use a dehumidifier for a couple of hours at a time to try and keep the humidity and any mold in check. If bud washing is the priority then maybe cutting the colas off to wash could the pragmatic solution.
I'd like to dry the plants whole if I can, but as you can see because of the trained shape of them it does look tricky doing so unless I had something like a nice round spa bath that I could use, which I don't, and besides if I put sufficient water into something like a spa bath I'd probably need a few gallons of H2O2 to get the desired percentage.
