I'm new to the site and relatively new to growing. I grow outdoors and I grow in pots (trying 100 L barrels this year). I live in the North with cold Spring and cold Fall weather and my growing area is sunlight limited (hilly topography/forest cover). This will be the first year trying autoflowers (doing 50% feminized and 50% auto's).
The reason I'm switching to autoflowers is weather related. For the last few years my photo period plants are not ready (based on trichome inspection) until between the first and second week of October. The problem here is the cold temps and high humidity starting in mid September and into October make Botrytis cinerea (grey mould) infections very common. 2019 was the worst year I have had >>I of course have tried all the various methods for prevention/mitigation but realistically at this time of year the spores are at maximum concentration in the ambient air. This is the environment available to me for growing so I do the best I can.
I'm posting to pass on a couple of tips I have which help mitigate the problems with growing in this type of environment. Firstly, I trim the fan leaves as they begun to yellow and are no longer productive (leaving them on was worse than removing them). In order to stop the "cut site" from becoming an area for grey mould formation I now touch up the cut site with Waterproof wood glue (Tite bond III works well) it is safe, non toxic, water soluble and coats the dead plant material so the mould spores cannot get a foot hold. Periodically I will get a mould site on the stem and I will "paint" this area using a small brush as well. This "treatment" has been very effective for me in dealing with mould spots which appear and has no negative impact on the plant nor on the "smoke".
The second tip I have refers to harvest. In my area the late harvest time and subsequent crappy weather has caused problems with the initial drying of the harvested plants. I cut off all the branches and hang them on wires in a "pole barn" and wait for them to dry enough to trim and jar the buds. The problem is that most years the weather gets more humid not less humid so drying takes forever and can lead into the freezing temperatures of November. Also, once in a while mould will continue to attack the harvested plants even while they are hanging in the barn. The solution was to make a "drying box". I constructed an "air tight" box using vapour barrier plastic and tape and in the bottom of the box I placed shallow plastic pans. In the pans I put a solution of Magnesium Nitrate which is sold in 25 kg bags as a fertilizer. Basically you pour a couple inches of the granulated product into your plastic containers and the "salt" absorbs the moisture from the air>> so for my drying box I used 50 kg. Then I hung the branches on wires strung above the containers sealed up the box and viola I now have what is essentially a giant Boveda pack. The salt absorbs the moisture continuously down to about 55% and it can't go below that or it will give the moisture back. It worked very effectively to dry about 1700 grams in a 4 foot by 8 foot by 5 foot high box. The low humidity environment stopped mould growth and also gave me time to trim and jar at my leisure. I have no electricity at my barn so I used a small rechargeable fan to make sure the air moves around inside the "box". I have included pictures for reference.
Zak
The reason I'm switching to autoflowers is weather related. For the last few years my photo period plants are not ready (based on trichome inspection) until between the first and second week of October. The problem here is the cold temps and high humidity starting in mid September and into October make Botrytis cinerea (grey mould) infections very common. 2019 was the worst year I have had >>I of course have tried all the various methods for prevention/mitigation but realistically at this time of year the spores are at maximum concentration in the ambient air. This is the environment available to me for growing so I do the best I can.
I'm posting to pass on a couple of tips I have which help mitigate the problems with growing in this type of environment. Firstly, I trim the fan leaves as they begun to yellow and are no longer productive (leaving them on was worse than removing them). In order to stop the "cut site" from becoming an area for grey mould formation I now touch up the cut site with Waterproof wood glue (Tite bond III works well) it is safe, non toxic, water soluble and coats the dead plant material so the mould spores cannot get a foot hold. Periodically I will get a mould site on the stem and I will "paint" this area using a small brush as well. This "treatment" has been very effective for me in dealing with mould spots which appear and has no negative impact on the plant nor on the "smoke".
The second tip I have refers to harvest. In my area the late harvest time and subsequent crappy weather has caused problems with the initial drying of the harvested plants. I cut off all the branches and hang them on wires in a "pole barn" and wait for them to dry enough to trim and jar the buds. The problem is that most years the weather gets more humid not less humid so drying takes forever and can lead into the freezing temperatures of November. Also, once in a while mould will continue to attack the harvested plants even while they are hanging in the barn. The solution was to make a "drying box". I constructed an "air tight" box using vapour barrier plastic and tape and in the bottom of the box I placed shallow plastic pans. In the pans I put a solution of Magnesium Nitrate which is sold in 25 kg bags as a fertilizer. Basically you pour a couple inches of the granulated product into your plastic containers and the "salt" absorbs the moisture from the air>> so for my drying box I used 50 kg. Then I hung the branches on wires strung above the containers sealed up the box and viola I now have what is essentially a giant Boveda pack. The salt absorbs the moisture continuously down to about 55% and it can't go below that or it will give the moisture back. It worked very effectively to dry about 1700 grams in a 4 foot by 8 foot by 5 foot high box. The low humidity environment stopped mould growth and also gave me time to trim and jar at my leisure. I have no electricity at my barn so I used a small rechargeable fan to make sure the air moves around inside the "box". I have included pictures for reference.
Zak
