New Grower Mephisto, Megacrop in soil and autopots (Skywalker, 3BOG, Sour Stomper, and 2 Illuminautos)

[terp182]

Found evidence of spider mites late last nite - a small spattering of blanched tiny dots at the end of a fan leaf on the Skywalker. I cut that and adjacent fans before I could get a pic. I checked the Infirmary and got some good insight from a post by @Mañ'O'Green, and stuff for the foliar spray is arriving Wednesday. Aside from the leaves I clipped, I see no signs of mites, but my succulents downstairs have some, so I'm hoping they're not cannabis favoring mites, which seems to be significant. I'm super concerned spotting these at day 25ish though, for obvious reasons.

Diatomaceous Earth is going down tomorrow once I get a bulb, then MOG's foliar spray on Wednesday when I get the ingredients in from Amazon. Following advice from the video MOG linked to in the Spider Mites thread, I've also reduced leaf surface temp, increased fan speed, and am letting the bottoms of the autopots dry before opening the valve manually for them, in an effort to reduce soil moisture a bit. Spinosad is also on the way as a last resort.

My questions right now: am I fucked discovering this at Day 25 on my second grow? Should I toss the Skywalker (the biggest plant so far and the one I was most excited about)? Or is it worth another 50ish days of fighting these fuckers, remembering that they're most likely not the cannabis muncher variety (wish I could find the link that mentioned that being a factor)? Also, has anyone done the 10% ISO/H20 spray?

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

It sounds like you are on top of it. They may not be detrimental to cannabis but you need to identify them to know. In fact there are beneficial predatory mites . I think you are moving in the right direction and should be able to keep these in check until harvest. Then plan on a deep clean and a fumigation of some type before the next grow.

 

[terp182]

I got all the stuff for the foliar spray in today, but since seeing that small collection of white spots and removing the leaves, I’ve seen zero sign of gnats or mites. I think I’m going to hold off on the spray until I see another sign of pests. Otherwise, on Day 28/29 every plant is thriving with the Megacrop at 530 and pH at 6.4. RH is becoming an issue to manage but I’m capping it at 65% and removing the odd lower leaf where I can. They went from 24/0 to 20/4 on day 21, and the back three are crowding each other out at this point. By this point in my first grow, I’d already flushed all three plants twice.

 

[Big Sul]

Keep up the good work. Watching closely, as this is the direction I'm leaning for my next Grow.

 

[terp182]

Thanks!! The plants continue to blow up. I'm leaf tucking 2-3x a day, and clearing bad bottom foliage a bit here and there to try to keep RH in check at 60%. I'd intended to keep 3 plants on the back row under the SP-3000, but the Skywalker and 3BOG are blowing up, and now all 4 pots have taken over the 4x4. A new SP-3000 is coming in this week, but the TS-600 is filling in a bit in a dimmer corner for now. It's now Day 35/34, with flowering just started a day or two ago. The plants are so much bigger than I'd expected, even the gf is impressed/mildly concerned at their progress compared to my first attempt. And they're all indica leaners, so I can't imagine what our sativas next round will look like. The only training I've done is topping the Skywalker at 5 nodes, then light bending/supercropping to even out the canopy. I'm not chasing a monster cola so much as several large ones, hopefully.

I'm glad you're following, because after my semi-traumatic first attempt in coco with WAY too much CalMag, this grow is a breeze! The dead simple formula that I'm sticking with is: use the Roots Organic, 30ish% perlite, mix in the myco in the soil, pre-water with molasses to wake up the microbes and get the soil to temp for a day before planting, water only for the first 15 or so days (even my first couple bottom "feeds" were water only), and then give them 500-525ish PPM MegaCrop at 6.4, and use the airdomes. Nothing else, no calmag, no foliar, nada. And then get out of the way, and maybe think about ordering another light! And put a water pump in the res with the MC - it does like to settle out but my pump goes off 5x a day for 15 min and works MUCH better than a manual stir once or twice a day.

 

[Big Sul]

Thanks!! The plants continue to blow up. I'm leaf tucking 2-3x a day, and clearing bad bottom foliage a bit here and there to try to keep RH in check at 60%. I'd intended to keep 3 plants on the back row under the SP-3000, but the Skywalker and 3BOG are blowing up, and now all 4 pots have taken over the 4x4. A new SP-3000 is coming in this week, but the TS-600 is filling in a bit in a dimmer corner for now. It's now Day 35/34, with flowering just started a day or two ago. The plants are so much bigger than I'd expected, even the gf is impressed/mildly concerned at their progress compared to my first attempt. And they're all indica leaners, so I can't imagine what our sativas next round will look like. The only training I've done is topping the Skywalker at 5 nodes, then light bending/supercropping to even out the canopy. I'm not chasing a monster cola so much as several large ones, hopefully.

I'm glad you're following, because after my semi-traumatic first attempt in coco with WAY too much CalMag, this grow is a breeze! The dead simple formula that I'm sticking with is: use the Roots Organic, 30ish% perlite, mix in the myco in the soil, pre-water with molasses to wake up the microbes and get the soil to temp for a day before planting, water only for the first 15 or so days (even my first couple bottom "feeds" were water only), and then give them 500-525ish PPM MegaCrop at 6.4, and use the airdomes. Nothing else, no calmag, no foliar, nada. And then get out of the way, and maybe think about ordering another light! And put a water pump in the res with the MC - it does like to settle out but my pump goes off 5x a day for 15 min and works MUCH better than a manual stir once or twice a day.

Water pump, not an air pump/stone? Pic? I'm very interested in ur set up. Keep doing you brotha!!!

 

[terp182]

Yup! It’s just a submersible water pump. With MC, it benefits from stirring. Not aeration. I’d used the pump before to move water from my DWC hydro setup, but it works great just to move water periodically in the res. I just removed the tube so it shoots water out the nozzle, at the bottom of the res. Works a treat. One like the one below will work fine.

songlong Submersible Pump Ultra Quiet with Dry Burning Protection for Fountains, Hydroponics, Ponds, Aquariums & More… Amazon product

 

[terp182]

Now that I’ve had coffee, I should point out that I also use an aquarium/air pump, connected to the airpots at the bottom of the autopots. I’m very happy with that. I didn’t mean to imply I’m not using an air pump, I’m just not using aeration in the reservoir.

 

[terp182]

The plants are all finally in flower, and now controlling RH is my main focus. The fan will go up to 8 trying to keep it down to 60%, and the leaf temps are around 69-71. It’s tough because the humidity outside is >75%.

Should I just get a dehumidifier for the room the tent is in? I don’t like being out of ideal VPD range and it might cost less to run the dehumidifier than to keep the tent fan on high trying time keep it just at 60%. I’ve also done a couple rounds of defoliation, just focusing on lower leaves getting no light, lower suckers, and upper leaves blocking light.

Otherwise, everything looks great with the girls. I’m trying to figure out whether to supplement with Recharge over in the “Dialing in MC” thread, but otherwise the plan is to keep it simple, resist the urge to tinker and fuck it up, and let them grow unimpeded.

Any insight on managing RH through flower (like, what RH should I realistically be happy with?) would be much appreciated!

Also - two SP-3000’s in a 4x4 is more than enough coverage. I can’t turn them up over 70% at 22+ inches without seeing light burn at the tips. This is not a complaint - I’m happy to have head room with the light wattage and know that isn’t the bottleneck in growth! But for anyone with SP-3000’s, go easy and back off the canopy with them.

 

[Big Sul]

I am currently going through the exact opposite. I can't keep rh above 50% with exhaust fan on. I put exhaust on a timer and it comes on for 30 min every 3 hours. This allowed me to maintain rh @ 70%. Drops to 47% when fan is on. Perhaps a combo of dehumidifier & exhaust & timers can assist.

Just throwing it out there, as I am dealing with environmental issues as well.

Btw, ur Grow ROCKS!