Indoor WWWillie Grows

[wwwillie]

Happy New Year!
First full feeding. Everyone looks pretty good. Signs if infestation though, even expecting it, still, ya know. I washed the room fairly well, new pots and soil, so hopefully by consciously applying some AzaMax I can break the cycle and be free of them. We’ll see.
Made adjustments to the lights. Turned them up a bit. I’m using a little incident light meter to balance the two lights and recording the Lux readings. They won’t mean anything to anyone but me but it should be interesting and perhaps help me gauge intensity levels, feed consumption, stuff like that.
Peace,
WWW

 

[Bob's Auto's]

Happy New Year brother!! May all your wishes come true

 

[wwwillie]

Happy New Year brother!! May all your wishes come true

Happy New Year!

 

[wwwillie]

Hey Now,
Things are growing. The clones seem to be taking nicely, some better than others, but still. I built a humidifier out of an old wet vac that I blew the motor on. It’s runs great but lately not so much. I put new crystals in the transducer and it’s good to go again! It works great has an auto fill connection so it takes care of itself pretty much.

 

[wwwillie]

Hey Now,
Two weeks, two freakin’ weeks. Thrips, western thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis and currently the bane of my existence. At least I know now what I’m up against and why this grow is going sideways and the last one went teats up! I kept hoping I was on course for ridding myself of this curse but after almost two weeks since I discovered them they are still here!
I used AzaMax to no effect, same with Trifecta Crop Control. I’m using Spinosad currently and that’s helping a lot. If you look at the picture you can see the yellow sticky cards. They’re not for control but for census and the last one saw a dramatic reduction. I have ordered a pyrethin based product if the spinosad isn’t working.
So my research seems to point to thrips being able to quickly build tolerance to insecticides and that may be the reason they are so hard to eliminate. They also stress rotating the insecticides used. I had not idea thrips were such an invasive, insidious pest. They are really f’ing with the growth of the plants. I’ll post more later.

 

[wwwillie]

Someone asked how I found them so here is a copy of my reply. Some history . . .

If you don't mind my asking...
How did you detect them and how are you treating them???

Hey,
Sure, and I’m journaling it all in “WWWillie Grows” too.
I must admit the hardest part was the diagnosis! I’ve been fairly lucky all these years with regards to infestations. Some fungus gnats, mites, PM. . . the usual suspects. The damage done by these thrips, to me, looked like a nutrient, light, environmental problem and not an insect infestation. Some of my nutrients we’re getting old so I replaced, new light, that HLG 650 R maybe too strong , I’ve had a soil recycling program going for a while, so lots of variables I usually don’t deal with.
I eventually figured it was something else and was treating it casually although I did wash down the room with a strong bleach, new pots and soil thinking that should do it. Put the clones in the dirt and after a week or so they started looking the same way with stunted, curling leaves, spots on the leaves and a general look of malnutrition. Looking closely I could see them on the leaves! I hung a yellow sticky to catch some for identification and after some research THRIPS!!!
That brings me to today after three different insecticides!
Check out “WWWillie Grows” for more details.
Peace,
WWW

 

[wwwillie]

Hey now,
It’s finally time to give this a go. The vacuum still that is. Here’s all the parts so far. Vacuum pump, chilling coil (actually a “jockey box” coil for beer), boiling vessel and reclaim vessel. First I’m going to run some isopropyl alcohol through the coil to clean it.
Here’s the parts. Hopefully later today I’ll have it together for my 1st run!

 

[wwwillie]

Okay it’s all together and under vacuum for a pressured test. It should hold nicely. If it does I’ll be running my 1st batch.

 

[wwwillie]

Hey now,
Has it really been two weeks!
Happy to report that the garden is flourishing. I’ve managed to get a handle on the thrips, at least for now. Starting to look like real trees now!
With everything going well now I’ve been back on track with my feeding schedule. NFTG is the main line of product along with all sorts add ons. Foop canna sweetener, Photosynthesis plus, Recharge, Fulvic, MagAmped, SLF-100, Dr. Earth. Crazy!! But so am I I guess.

 

[wwwillie]

Here’s some pictures of the plants!