I think I have bugs?

I don't have a camera or else i'd get some pictures on here.

Put I see gnats for sure flying around in my grow space, and I have also found that there is a whiteish spot forming on one of the leaves of one of my plant.

Just today I also noticed that the very tops of my plants were turning a little orange slowly and curling upwards toward the light.
I've read thats either from too much water or too much nutrients I believe.

I have been spraying Garden Safe 3 in 1 (Insecticide, Germicide, and Pesticide) on my plants for about four days, and nothing really has changed. I've also been spraying the soil down, because I read a lot of the times thats where the problems come from.

Seeing peoples grows on here it makes me just want to pull mine up and qive up.. Obviously this is my first time, and was just curious what you guys thought, and if you have been in the same spot and have tips for me?

If I get a good handful of replies i'll try my hardest to get pics up to show you all. It's pretty ametuer so you'll have to not make fun of me, ha.

Looking forward to seeing what ya'll have to say.
-Dj

yes u have bugs

As far as the tops turning orange, could be the lights are a little close and they got burnt. If the leaves are curling up its usually a sign of heat stress. What kind of light/ventilation do you have and how far away are the plants? If it is nutrient burn you will see the outside of the leaves affected first, then it will move to the middle. A light burn will burn wherever is hottest.

If its just gnats, don't stress too much. They rarely ruin a grow, more of an annoyance. You can water with products like Gnatrol (spelling?) which help kill the eggs and larvae that are in your soil. It breaks the life cycle down and will take care of it in time. You can also use an array of natural sprays or unnatural pesticides.

I would inspect the white spot on your leaves carefully to make sure it is not eggs from another pest like spider mites. Since gnats live in the soil if you see eggs you know you have another pest to deal with.

If this doesn't help, borrow a camera. Good luck.

Try this if your worried about smaller bugs https://www.rollitup.org/bugs/335046-grizzlys-guide-pulverizing-pests.html

I have had gnats flying around every one of my grows i just put up a fly strip and that usually controls them.

Seeing peoples grows on here it makes me just want to pull mine up and qive up.. Obviously this is my first time, and was just curious what you guys thought, and if you have been in the same spot and have tips for me?

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Tips? I'll try and give you a couple that I think are most important, for a new grower.....

-Get a quality soil, if available. If you have to use stuff of lesser-quality, that's doable, too. Add 20% perlite(approx.) to just about any soil, and it'll perform well.

-Don't skimp on the lighting. If you have any doubts, go bigger, except for the first week after a seed sprouts, or a clone has taken root. Fluoros work well for that stage, but HIDs can be used, if they are positioned far enough away from the plants.

-After the seeding/cloning stage, water them thoroughly, then let the soil get nearly dry, before watering again. Try not to let them get dry to the point where they droop. Learn to catch them just before that happens.

-As for nutes...less is more, in most cases. It's alot easier to correct a mild deficiency, than it is to fix an overfert problem. Less risky, as well. Also, keep your fert mix and water(when you aren't feeding) PH'ed to around 6.5, and you'll be good to go.

-Temps? Keep 'em as close to 75* as possible, and you'll never have a problem.

-Humidity? Try to keep it around 50% for veg, and 35% for bloom. You have quite a bit of leeway here, so don't panic if your bloom is 50% or your veg is 70%. Same, if the humidity is lower. More humidity, increases the risk of mold/fungus, so it's better to be low, than really high.

-Ventilation? An oscillating fan can be your plants' best friend. Always keep one sweeping across the upper half of your plants, in both veg and bloom. Also, the more fresh air you bring in, the better. Just make sure you are exhausting it as fast as you are taking it in(again, with leeway).

-And finally....light leaks. Do your best to seal up every single area where light can get in, during the dark periods. Tha darker the better, simple as that.

Off the top of my head, those are the main issue to worry about. Everything else is fine-tuning, and learning. While they're growing, read your ass off, ask questions, do whatever you can, to educate yourself. Knowledge is power.

I think that pretty much covers the basics. If anything else comes to mind, I'll be back to add more, unless someone else already beat me to it. Sound good?

Hah thanks for the tips everyone. I've decided that I've messed it all up this time and instead of just killing my plants, I put them out in the woods not too far from my house, and maybe a miracle will happen, and they will grow without my help.

The reason I have so much trouble is because I attend highschool and still live with my parents (obviously), and so I can't really get top quality lights, or soil, nutes, etc etc. I especially have problems with fans because if they hear one, and go to investigate, I'm effed!

My main goal was to grow them up as best as I could indoors, and plant them outdoors. So in theory I achieved my goal, but one of my plants is about 9 inches and the other about 6 inches (measured by guessing by eye). I had my set up in an old locker in my basement, with a hanging lamp thing from my friends pig farm, and a regular old light bulb I found around the house (probably the reason I got heat stress..). I was also just using Miracle Grow soil (hence the gnats, or so I read). And using water from the sink.

If anyone has any ways to make a secret grow box that would be insanely helpful.


I figure i'll just wait until I get some more bud and get some seeds to try again.

gnats will not kill your plants BUT they WILL make them Hermie!! been there done that!!

Yeah, that MG soil is nasty for carrying gnat larvae. That's the main reason I switched to FF. Otherwise, the MG with lots of perlite, was working great. Just couldn't keep those gnats from emerging. I've read that any soil containing pine bark, is at risk of carrying gnats, and MG has it. I had to use sand to get rid of them. A thin layer sprinkled on top of the soil, took care of them in less than two weeks. By the time I made the switch to FF, they were gone. Pheew.lol

Also, those plants should do pretty good outside, especially if they are in decent soil, and are getting lots of direct sunlight.

Anything posted in red, I would appreciate a specific answer for.
When I answered my own question, it is in green. But, I don't know if it's the right answer or not, so please correct me on that

They are getting fair amount of sunlight, I'm probably going to go out there tonight or tomorrow and clear away some brush or anything blocking the sun. Although, will it be ok if they are sometimes getting shaded by a tree or two? There isn't much I can do about that..

I pretty much just transplanted the rootball and any MG into a hole in the dirt, then put regular dirt on top and packed it down nice and snug. The root system was amazing, I had them in the bottem halves of 2 Litters (Redneck Planter) and I could see all types of roots. That was just a bit I was proud of .

Anyways, the soil seems nice, its very soft, light brown on top, and a pretty dark brown down lower (obviously).

A few more questions, since they are outside, will I have to worry about spidermites, or any other bug problem that would completely kill my plants?
Also, since they are outside in a somewhat 16 hr lights 2 hr dusk 6 hr darkness, would they grow and bud naturally, or would I have to cover them up at certain times to make it 12 light 12 dark? Since they are outside, will I have to place a box or something over them during rain? My friend does that for his.

Last question, how much longer will they take to grow? With my indoor setup I was calculating it would take until about mid august to be able to cut and dry the buds. Will the timeframe be moving back now? (IF they do manage to grow)

Any answers?

Also, since they are outside in a somewhat 16 hr lights 2 hr dusk 6 hr darkness, would they grow and bud naturally, or would I have to cover them up at certain times to make it 12 light 12 dark?

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how much longer will they take to grow?

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I only have time to answer this part, so here goes...

....They'll go into bloom in the fall, when the photoperiod get's down towards that 12/12 they need to start flowering. They'll still be vegging in August(unless they're autos?), and the only way around that is to cover them completely, limiting them to 12/12, purposely. Otherwise, there's no way around it, they won't bloom til the photoperiod starts to change. Figure on a little over 3 months, that's Mother Nature.

Thanks man, the answers really help.

I accidently placed an order on the sponsered seed site on here and so I'm kind of freakin cause its going to send some cash thing to my address.. So I have to cancel it before my mom is like, "What the hell is this?.." Haha.

Anywho.. I guess now if anyone has any tips for outdoor growing as well? I got a soft rain tonight, very hot outside as well.. So I'm hopin' all goes well.. Going to chop some brush tomorrow most likely.

fly strips !!!!!

will it be ok if they are sometimes getting shaded by a tree or two?

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Okay? Yes. Ideal? No. Light, is the single most important determining factor, in growing, bar none. You could have the absolute best setup in the world, but, light will still, ultimately....be what determines yield. A simple setup using 5 gallon buckets with some decent soil, under a 1000 watt HPS, will outproduce the most advanced hydro setup,(for example) if it's only using 400 watts. Okay, now use that for perspective.

Your location will work just fine, they'll veg well, and as long as it isn't too shaded...yield well. But, they'd yield better in direct sunlight, proportionate to the increase in intensity. Luckily, the sun kicks ass, so you'll still end up with a nice finished product, even with some shading.

P.S. I never had any real experience growing outside, so can't offer any solid advice about pests. There's plenty of risk, I'm sure, so it'd be a good idea to start using some kind of pest spray, in an attempt to prevent an infestation before it starts.

Yea I already lost one plant.. Completely withered.

The other one was knocked over by rain (im guessing) but the top was bended upwards toward the sun. So I placed bits of bark and twig all around the base of it to stand it up, and brace it during rain.

Things keep going from bad to worse, but I have to much hope in these, now *this*, plant. And, if there is anything I can do to prevent it from just flat out dying, im going to do it.