Blueberry forever! My second (and perpetual) grow

And the weight is in! 3.25 oz from plant #1, though I expect to lost a bit more weight as it drys up more during the curing process. We took plant #2 down today and from the looks of it that one is gong to yield closer to 4 (or maybe a bit more), so I have to say that the first two plants in this grow have been a success.

The next set coming along behind I have mixed feelings about. The plant that had the light dropped on it is also the one with the spider mite problem, and there is a part of me that just wants to chop the thing down today and get it out of the room before the little bastards decide to migrate to my healthier plants. On the other hand, at this point it's only got about another 10 days left before harvest and I've been using neem to knock the mites back on their heels. I'm going to have to get off my lazy butt and take a trip up to wally world to get a couple of fresh hot shot no pest strips this weekend too, since I think the reason that I have this infestation is that the one in my flowering room wore out. I know some people are all freaked out about the chemicals used in them, but after all the crap I took into my lungs during the gulf war the chemicals from a piddly ass no pest strip aren't going to make a difference.

Overall the grow is coming along nicely, though heat issues and a lack of light coverage in the flowering room remain a problem. I've been looking at AC units for that room since even venting the air isn't going to solve the heat issue (it hits 90-95 in there during the summer even without the lights on), but I'm sort of balking at the $300+ price tag for a portable that only covers one room. I've got windows that open sideways so the standard window mount types won't fit (and would leave a 3 foot gap open above them), so portable or central are about my only options. I might be able to justify the expense of adding central air since i think i could get some tax credits if I did it the right way(not to mention 0% financing for 5 years), but where am I supposed to hide a bunch of 4 foot tall plants while their installation guys are putting it in? Sure, I'm legal, but I still don't want most people to have any idea I'm growing stuff here.

Quick update. The neem oil spraying hasn't seemed to have much effect and the spider mites were starting to completely over run the plant they started on and were beginning to migrate to another plant, so i decided to call in the (flying) cavalry. As of about 4 hours ago my vegging and flowering room have right around 2000 lady bugs living in them, and from what I've read they should pretty much exteriminate the mites in a matter of days (at the most). My only concern is that the stupid things like to fly into the lights and my hoods don't have glass shields, so they keep frying themselves. Hopefully their are enough of them to take out the spider mites tonight, or enough survive the light being on tomorrow to make sure the job get's done.

hey man forget the neem oil....i found this stuff called organicide from home depot. about $15 but it works. i had no luck with the neem oil and as soon as i used the organicide, i noticed the mites were completly wiped out.

BM,

I may have to give that a try. I had a bit of a brain fart when I released the lady bugs and forgot to take the no pest strips out of the room. Needless to say I had a ton of dead lady bugs by the next morning, and so far I've only spotted a couple that survived.

EdGreyfox said:

BM,

I may have to give that a try. I had a bit of a brain fart when I released the lady bugs and forgot to take the no pest strips out of the room. Needless to say I had a ton of dead lady bugs by the next morning, and so far I've only spotted a couple that survived.

Click to expand...

Oh no!!! Have you tried spider mite predictors?

Mite predictors? That's a new one on me. Only way I know to tell the things are around is to either spot one, or to see the signs of it feeding on my leaves. I've had problems with them off and on for the last six months, and it seems like ever time I'm sure they have been wiped out and start to relax a little that a new batch shows up.

Time for another update. I harvested the two that had the spider mite problem yesterday, and it looks like I managed to keep them from spreading to any of the other plants that are left, though I intend to continue giving them weekly neem spraying for prevention. These were the plants that were in smaller pots and that had the light fall on them, so they ended up being quite a bit smaller and didn't yield nearly what the last set did. Best guess at this point is between 2 and 2.5 oz per plant.

The heat issues are continuing to be a problem, and I'm pretty sure that's whats keeping me from getting my clones to root currently. I'm still looking at AC and other methods to cool the rooms down, but my finances just won't cover the steps I really need to take (cool tubes, in take and exhaust fans, ducting that vents either outside or into my attic, etc). I may end up needing to move the grow to the basement whether it's really ideal or not, since at least it stays cool down there. Hard part will be deciding how i want to divide the basement and keep light from one side from getting to the other, since there isn't any existing framing for me to work with. I definately won't be able to add another light down there, but getting my girls into a room thats not hitting 95+ every afternoon is more important then adding another 600w at this point.

THe heat is definatly a problem. my flowering closet is about 95F %90 of the time. but invest in small inlines. i have three 6in inlines that were $24 with a 240cfm per fan. it braught the temp down to 86F-91F.

You're using the inline fans without the lines? I thought they were only useful if you had them connected to lines that actually vented the hot air outside the room? The main reason I've been planning to move to the basement rather then just modify my existing rooms is that I they only have two ventilation options-up through the ceiling into the attic (and I'd rather not drill holes in my roof), or out an open second story window where any type of tubing or exhaust fan is going to stick out like a sore thumb.

looks good ed! loved the lady bug slaughter, hilarious

and that pic with the cola, the cola sticks out like a sore thumb
lets see some pics!

ill have pics up on my thread soon but i have my closet set up with an extention built out of plywood on the door. so i have two in line fans built in the door one for intake and one outtake. the third is on the other end of duct for the outtake to help suck more of the heat out

Ah, ok. That makes sense. I've had a cold and have been too sick to do anything more then keep my plants watered for the last few days, but things are coming along ok. I still haven't managed to wipe out the spider mites completely, but I've knocked them back pretty hard. I was planning on using azitrol/azamax, but when I went up to the local garden store the stuff was $65 for the smallest size they carried, so i decided to give the doctor doom fogger a try. It seems to have been very effective at killing the live ones, but it looks like some of the eggs survived because I'm still finding a few of them on one of my girls. I'll be able to redose them with neem oil and with the fogger in another day or two, so I'm hoping the combination of the two will finally kill the little bastards off once and for all.

EdGreyfox said:

Mite predictors? That's a new one on me. Only way I know to tell the things are around is to either spot one, or to see the signs of it feeding on my leaves. I've had problems with them off and on for the last six months, and it seems like ever time I'm sure they have been wiped out and start to relax a little that a new batch shows up.

Click to expand...

I meant predators*****

You can get them from your local grow store - they are tiny little bugs that eat spider mites. They are MUCH more aggressive than lady bugs. They come in different levels... you can buy some that are really aggressive and hardcore attack them or ones that aren't too intense but still get the job done.

What I've done though when I had a mite problem was wiped off every single leaf with two clean sponges (one on top of leaf and one on the bottom) and wiped every spider mite and egg off.. worked the best IMO. It gets all the big ones and most of the eggs too. Then the spider mite predators will eat all the eggs that are left.

MZ. Will the predators survive once they've wiped out the mites, or am I going to have to replace them every time I get a new infestation? I've read up a bit on them and they seem effective, but they are pricey enough that I can't afford to be buying a new set every 3-4 months.

EdGreyfox said:

MZ. Will the predators survive once they've wiped out the mites, or am I going to have to replace them every time I get a new infestation? I've read up a bit on them and they seem effective, but they are pricey enough that I can't afford to be buying a new set every 3-4 months.

Click to expand...

My friend feeds them bugs that he catches to keep his alive - I just try to let them do their job and keep the mites out of my garden.

Hmmm,

I'll have to look into what all there is available and what they eat besides mites. The Dr doom stuff works, but it doesn't seem to kill the eggs very well so the little bastards keep coming back. They are in my flowering area, so the plants that they keep popping up on are between 3 and 5 ft tall, which makes trying to clean every leaf or cover they undersides of all of them with neem oil or the spray kind of difficult.

I finally lost my temper with the temperature problems the day before yesterday. We had a record high, and the temp in my flowering room was over 101 (that's as high as my thermometer will read), and since it's only June and i can look forward to plenty of even hotter days in the next few months I decide it was time to move to the basement, despite it's shortcomings. So far it seems to be working out pretty well, but I've got to do some work to make it really suitable. The temp has sat between 70-75 all day long with the lights on, and drops down to about 65 at night, so it looks like i could actually add another light without creating any heat issues. I'm not positive though, because at the moment the walls are bare grey concrete, as is the floor, so they are soaking up a lot of the heat. If I put mylar/panda film up on the walls the way I've been planning and build a raised platform so that my pots aren't sitting directly on the concrete I'm pretty sure it's going to raise the temp at least a few degrees, in which case adding another light might recreate the heat issues I moved to get away from. Hopefully not, because I really, really need to add another light.

My plants are doing really great, though the two that should have been ready for harvest this week are taking their time about getting done. I suspect the heat slowed them down a bit, and I also believe enough light was getting in through the covering over the window in the evening so that they were getting closer to 13/11 then 12/12 (yet another problem the move to the basement has solved). The damn spider mites continue to be a minor issue, though I'm keeping them knocked back enough that they are only chewing on a few of the lower leaves on a couple of plants. Sooner or later I'm going to wipe them out, and once I do I'm going to make sure they never get established again. The biggest issue I still have is that my plants are just too big for the single 600w light I've been using to flower them. Right now I've got 6 under it (sort of) , but only two are really getting as much light as they should. I've got another plant thats been sitting in my vegging room for an extra 3 weeks now because there isn't any way to fit it into the available light in the flowering room, and the thing is nearly 4 foot tall now. It also won't fit under my veg light any more, so I've got to get it moved quick.

What I need to decide is whether I need to add another 600w, or just a 400w. Do you think that a 600 and a 400 hanging side by side about 4 feet apart will cover 8-10 plants, or do you think I'm going to have to go with another 600w?

P.S. You're going to love this. I asked my sister why she hadn't brought the camera by with her lately, and it turns out her puppy ate it. I know, it's the oldest excuse out there, but her son left it sitting on the coffee table in its case, and the puppy decided the case would make a good chew toy. Her teeth went right through the case and punched holes through the screen and lense, so it looks like any pics I get for a while are going to be cell phone quality.

Nevermind. After thinking about it most of today I broke down and sprang for another 600w hps system. Once it's in and I've had a chance to see what it does to the basements temperature (probably not much) I'll decide on the mylar, raised platform, or any other additions I want to make. I really don't want to go too overboard, because I know that once winter gets here the basement will probably be too cold and I'll have to relocate back upstairs again.

HA AWWW about the camera! We invested in a Polaroid digital camera 12.1 megapixle forget the zoom but it's not bad - for $89 at Target, it takes awesome pics and videos!

Glad to hear the move went smooth and can't wait to hear what happens when you ad the other light - I doubt it will change much.

$89? At that price there's no reason i can't afford to go grab one. I'm not much of a tech person, so I'l admit that it's been years since I priced one. Back then the cheap ones were a couple hundred bucks, but you also had to go to either a camera store or someplace like best buy to find one.

Anyway, time for the 4th of July update! As part of the celebration of our nations birthday I figured it would only be fitting to harvest one of my plants, and since i had one that was a week overdue anyway it got the axe (well, the pruner, at least) this morning. It really didn't look "done" to me, but there were a fair amount of amber trichomes and all the rest were nice and milky under the glass. Main issue I had were that the pistils hadn't really withdrawn and gone red/gold, but since I'm down to my last oz of dried bud it's going to have to do. The main cola ended up weighing in at whopping 83.3 grams before hanging to dry, and I'm betting it's going to yield close to an oz by itself. The blasted thing is 11 inches long and as big around as my clenched fist for most of it's length. I'm pretty sure that this particular plant ended up sitting almost directly under one of my lights for it's entire flowering period (unlike the others, that got rotated out to the edge for about 2 weeks out of the , which I think is what explains why the cola got so big. Luckily I'm now in a position to make that happen for all my plants, so hopefully I'll see a lot more just like it.

Which leads me into the second part of my update. My new 600w arrived on Friday, and I've now got my plants arranged so that there are two directly under each light and two more in the middle getting it from both sides. Adding the 2nd 600w raised the room temp to 82 (and it sits steady there all day long) which is a little high, but not enough to make me feel I need to do anything about it. The plants have a lot more room between them now as well, so they don't have branches running into each other as long as I keep the heaviest flowered branches tied up to the stakes (if I forgot to mention it, I'm now staking each plant and tying the main stalk to it at about the 24" mark). I'm hoping that the combination of tying the branches up and the space between the plants for light to get through will result in a lot fuller buds overall, since they'll be getting a lot more light then they were before.

Final bit of news is that I've added two new strains to the lineup. The first is white rhino, and If what I grow comes out at all like what I've smoked from the dispensaries it will end up being a permanent addition to my rotation. The other is called blowfish, and I haven't been able to find out that much about it. From what I've read the company in Holland that bred the strain went out of business, and the strain is supposed to be hard to find. They are supposed to be a sativa dominant hybrid, and the look of the two clones I picked up fits that description, but other then that I can't be 100% sure that what I have are really blowfish and not some other locally developed strain that someone decided to hang the name on. If it turns out to have the sort of potency blowfish is supposed to have then I may just keep this one as part of the rotation permanently as well.

Just wanted to jot down a few thoughts to ponder. I've got enough grows and harvest under my belt now that I'm starting to understand things i read 6+ months ago when I was first getting going, and I'm starting to think about which optional methods I should start incorporating into my grow. I've decide to start trimming off lower growth from the stalks for about the first 1/4 of the plant, and may go a bit higher once I see the results on a few harvested plants (about 6-7 weeks from now). I'm also thinking about whether I should continue growing monster plants, or whether or not I should cut down on plant size. The big plants are a lot more work, and I can fit fewer under the lights at a time, but I'd prefer to keep my plant count as low as possible. I just can't quite decide where the balance lays between plant size, plant count, and yield. Yeah, I've got paperwork that will cover my for up to 24 plants and another 24 for my sister, but I'd still like to keep the total as close to the 6 the state laws say we can each have as possible.