Scratching My Way To Harvest....Hopefully.

I've read the how to build a compost brewer section but haven't ventured into the other stuff. now that you mention it, I proooobably should. I try to be a logical gardener but should really look into some things further.

so far, light teas with BSM and EWC that just have some stuff like 2 0z per 3 gallons neptunes fish ferts 2-4-1, 2 T guano company's super tea 0.5-0.5-0.01 really. once every other week I've added a splash of Sea Crop (not SeaCrop from the AEA) and maxicrop per instructions on bottle when the brew is finished now instead of adding before. seems to work better for me.

I think I tend to sway towards your approach and would agree maybe I could go so far as to say that it's the AN of organics.....12 different awesome stuff to be the grandmaster. or just some earthworm shit, and a small amount to brew up some goodness that is going to get figured out in the soil anyways. but that's just my newb non expert non experienced naïve opinion....whew! I hope I covered all the stuff I've been called.

"Dipshit Know-Nothing" is my personal favourite XD

From someone who thinks senescence is a nutrient deficiency, so I took it as a compliment.

even I know what that is.

I know. I can't take your title from you buddy. Perhaps I should come up with my own eh?

And for the record, I don't think you're a dipshit know nothing. Youre the only person who helped me with the brewer that was right. You saved my bacon.

Hah, thanks, but I've got a thicker skin than that. If I can schmooze them to change my title, it's my first choice

Mikell said:

Veeerry nice. Glad the tea is working out. If you haven't found it yet, microbeorganics.com. I find the percentages easy to work with, and he debunks a number of myths, veg and flower teas among them (though that may be on TLG).

Many people call me a tea nazi hehehe. I call them "clusterfuck tea makers", which, I like anyone am guilty of at one point. Now it's just compost/ewc and molasses, though sometimes add veeerry small amounts of oatmeal, alfalfa, kelp, etc. Nutrient teas are useful, but when I'm brewing microbes, I brew microbes.

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I like microbemans site very interesting and helpful! I love fish ferts{hydroslate} in my teas.

I made some clones today

I soaked them in some aloe, ful-power, maxicrop and coconut water for probably 30 mins before taking them out, making the final 45 degree cut, scoring the sides gently, plugging them into Root Riots, trimming all fan leaves and extra parts, then into a celled tray with the bottom and sides filled with perlite. then I put a layer of perlite on top gently, misted them with the aloe, coconut, etc concoction and then domed them and now they're under a cfl bulb at 77F and 78% RH looking rather happy. I added water to the tray from our well which has a low 30 ppm avg along with a couple drops of copper sulfate using dutchmasters zone for disinfecting and dampening off of roots

brother also came over and dismantled the beds because I painted over the screws
tomorrow I will build it using some supplies I got at Home Depot today. Got (4) 2x2 squares pieces that will make up the first 4x4 area so there can be four different levels so I can perpetually put plants in and take them out but they will all have the same canopy height. I have some leftover pieces of wood I can use to make a edge or lip for the new wooden catch tray i'm building and cover it with some panda film for any run off. The one thing I'm having a problem with is finding something to put under the 2x2s catch trays so they can vary in height. have you seen the prices of trays and buying four is out of the question! suggestions??

Also bought thermostat fan controller because I'm removing my AC unit for winter and installing a filtered passive intake using a furnace filter. I also got an oil filled radiant heater for night time that has a thermostat that will heat up when it gets too cold. for right now, the AC is just on fan mode blowing in air on low until I go in there later and turn it off when the temps get colder. can not wait for brother to help me. I need someone outside to catch the AC when I unsecure it from the grow room. sigh...glad I have someone I can trust.

Also picked up some buckets for the brewer so I can brew bloom and veg teas at the same time gotta get some labels for that.....stoner error could happen!

well a lot has gone on in the garden since I last posted. The clones I bought, Durban Bubble and Pennywise, came from a dispensary that has knowingly sold broad mite infested clones all summer long, sprayed them with three types of chemical sprays for their IPM program and now I'm pretty sure I have super mites. I ordered some abamectin and it should arrive Tuesday where I plan to dunk all clones, spray down the comfrey plant and soil drenching, burn the dream berry mother (too big to dunk), then I'm tearing down my room, boiling the clay pellets, renting a steam cleaner to clean walls, floors, trays, fans, painting walls white and then if I need to mop up anything, I'm sure there will be a big puddle of tears....

IF the abamectin works on first use, which it may not, then I will veg them out until I am positive there is no more broad mites (probably three weeks time) and in that case, at the end, I will take clones, and put them into bloom. when I'm sure the clones have taken, all plants will be burned in a bonfire where I will invited everyone over who's going to help me clean and we can hope that this will be over. I really want to buy a Pylon bomb but they're like $200 each but they're supposed to be awesome for room coverage. I am going to use avid and then sanitize I guess. I read on here that you can use a cheap paint sprayer and an air compressor for spraying to get the best atomized spray; the kind they use for car painting. not sure if I can get our air compressor out of the wood shop though; it's huge. but thought I'd mention it for people to use for any type of spraying. it would just have to be no particulates in the spray but the atom sized spray pattern would be amazing.

if it doesn't work and do indeed have super mites, then I am burning all plants and boiling anything I can like the pellets and maybe the smart pots (melt factor?) and throwing away everything else, painting all surfaces and replace, replace, replace, AGAIN.

I use a wagner paint sprayer to spray foliars with it works great. I think it was 80 bucks.....been going 2 or more years for me and i spray a lot.....

That is perfect! Thank you!

I should add I bought a respirator for organophosphates, eye goggles and full body suit. $45 Home Depot.
Using dish washing gloves for hands and putting big socks over my shoes. Why socks? I had an exbf who was a paint and body guy at an autobody place and the disposable suits don't keep the spray out of openings so his ankles and wrists always had paint. Eyes are also very absorbent as they're moist or whatever I'm no Dr but there's an explanation.

opps you did!....

yes but not before learning a lot about bondo, how to spray on paint, and the importance of scuffing/prepping a car beforehand.

first bf was a dealer and he taught me about car safety and how to move large amounts except he left out the part where I would be responsible for driving his ass around...

I've also learned about minor car repairs, guns, several religions, fishing, dogs, more guns, hunting things dead, zombies, beer snobbery, and then to finish it up, I'm sure there was more talk about guns...lol

each bf I've learned something from whether good or bad

ladyluckybean said:

That is perfect! Thank you!

I should add I bought a respirator for organophosphates, eye goggles and full body suit. $45 Home Depot.
Using dish washing gloves for hands and putting big socks over my shoes. Why socks? I had an exbf who was a paint and body guy at an autobody place and the disposable suits don't keep the spray out of openings so his ankles and wrists always had paint. Eyes are also very absorbent as they're moist or whatever I'm no Dr but there's an explanation.

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Alright sounds like u got a good plan going. Id say about spraying as long as u use a product like indicate 51 it will penetrate the plant and translocate to all parts of the plant, so that u don't have to get front and back of the plant, although its best to cover as much of the plant as possible.

Make urself a good plan so u have everything done and can stay out of the room as long as possible. turn off all air flow, then vent as best u can after ur done.

Id recommend a second spray to ensure that u kill them all and break the cycle. Same chemical twice is ok. Just not all the time. Once u spray and sanitized everything u will be good to go hopefully for a long time. I got rid of mine a couple few years ago and they never returned. Although any time we take in a new clone we run that chance.

I'm using avid which is not systemic so you have to apply to all parts. it is translaminar which just means that it is absorbed by the plant but has little systemic effect unlike others which will carry it forever from what I've understood.

good advice on the turning off exhaust and stuff when spraying. I'm just spraying the comfrey plant. I don't even know if it could have it but I'm not spraying my aloe plants. I think I will give them a soil drench instead due to the fungus gnats that appeared. not very many at all but best be safe as they travel this way. aloe doesn't have pests as far as I know so it should be quite safe in that regards. comfrey was listed as having few pests and some grow it in their rooms so I'm not terribly worried about anything other than eggs and larvae from the gnats.

everyone acts like they can't get rid of them so I'm really a bit worried. I only took in these clones because they came from a reputable place or so I thought. I even kept them separate from my grow for a week before putting them in there and honestly, right now they look healthy except for a few spiral leaves and some yellowing, spindly unopened tips. they didn't even have the spiral leaves until recently. I think that broad mites is one of the few pests that can sneak past anyone's eye and comes up when you're further along so that makes it tough when using clones. this place though at first thought it was root aphids and then someone locally who grows for them got broad mites and used avid to get rid of them and he only sprayed once if I remember correctly. he never said he got them from this place I got the clones from but I know that is where he sells his stuff to and it's the same strains so it is all coincidental. but the plants were sprayed with floramite, forbid and something else on rotation as part of their IPM program...ugh and after hearing that, I'm pretty certain I have plants that have all sorts of stuff sprayed on them with the mites all summer long so I don't even know now after a little research if it's even worth pursuing. maybe I should really just cut and burn

ladyluckybean said:

I'm using avid which is not systemic so you have to apply to all parts. it is translaminar which just means that it is absorbed by the plant but has little systemic effect unlike others which will carry it forever from what I've understood.

good advice on the turning off exhaust and stuff when spraying. I'm just spraying the comfrey plant. I don't even know if it could have it but I'm not spraying my aloe plants. I think I will give them a soil drench instead due to the fungus gnats that appeared. not very many at all but best be safe as they travel this way. aloe doesn't have pests as far as I know so it should be quite safe in that regards. comfrey was listed as having few pests and some grow it in their rooms so I'm not terribly worried about anything other than eggs and larvae from the gnats.

everyone acts like they can't get rid of them so I'm really a bit worried. I only took in these clones because they came from a reputable place or so I thought. I even kept them separate from my grow for a week before putting them in there and honestly, right now they look healthy except for a few spiral leaves and some yellowing, spindly unopened tips. they didn't even have the spiral leaves until recently. I think that broad mites is one of the few pests that can sneak past anyone's eye and comes up when you're further along so that makes it tough when using clones. this place though at first thought it was root aphids and then someone locally who grows for them got broad mites and used avid to get rid of them and he only sprayed once if I remember correctly. he never said he got them from this place I got the clones from but I know that is where he sells his stuff to and it's the same strains so it is all coincidental. but the plants were sprayed with floramite, forbid and something else on rotation as part of their IPM program...ugh and after hearing that, I'm pretty certain I have plants that have all sorts of stuff sprayed on them with the mites all summer long so I don't even know now after a little research if it's even worth pursuing. maybe I should really just cut and burn

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Of course that's up to u but if u wait a period of time before flowering I think it will be fine. And like I said once I got rid of them no probs since. so u can kill them off and honestly it sounds like u have a good plan to do so. So quit wimpering about and get it done!

So what I've done so far to eradicate the broad mites is to dunk them in Nuke Em at full strength and then soil drench with left overs. I also used the left overs to mop surfaces like floors. Nuke Em isn't effective towards broad mites even though it says it is on the package. it'll kill your plants before it kills the mites. it's great for spider mite eggs though and it kills spider mites while Avid is only for adults. Nuke Em is OMRI listed and smells like oranges. I'm hoping I can use it along with 100% neem oil to kill the eggs and larvae while avid takes care of the adults.

So today, I got the Avid in the mail which I ordered through Amazon in a 1/3oz bottle for around $20 including shipping. I read the instructions online which stated you need safety gear to cover you head to toe and a SPECIAL respirator for organophosphates, paint spraying type of level. after you're done you should look like this and yes that is me. crappy lighting couldn't pick up my fist of fury and lady bug rain boots. the suit is disposable and $10 for heavy duty and I am wearing eye goggles to protect my eyes from any splashes. I am really glad I did all this as the pesticide changed the color of my gloves even though it is clear when mixed. made my hands itch even despite protection so I would suggest using the correct plastic they mention in the instructions.


dosage is 1 ml per gallon almost or rather 6 ml per 5 gallons for the accurate minded person. I added 5 ml to 4 gallons along with 2 tablespoons of Dr Bronners Peppermint soap to help as a surfactant. Avid states that it is more effective when using horticultural oils (duh for eggs and stuff) and I wasn't sure if I should add my neem with it or separately so I thought it should just be done individually since I have the time I guess. I was thinking in two days. I also have some Safers sulphur which I could use as well. some of these can't be combined I think so I need to check and make sure to avoid phototoxicity as these things tend to do that. to lessen that, then it was suggested to lower temps to around 70F for a day or two.

I would also like to mention that in the instructions there is a warning for people taking certain medications, one which I am currently on. please take note as they are common medications taken both for medical and rec uses like valium.

I also pH'd the water after I added the avid which I would suggest doing before as I have read somewhere but don't quote me that it works best he first fifteen mins after mixing. it took longer than I thought to dunk everyone. the instructions list that is most effective at 5, 7, and 9. when I ph'd my water it was at 6.5 and all I had was ph down so I started adding and adding and I'm not sure if my ph pen is broken or not but I really had to add a lot of GH brand down. also, the ph pen is now contaminated and instructions list that anything that touched it must be "triple washed". I also need to go into the room tomorrow after the 12 hour curtain of clearance and get the clay pellets that are underneath. I moved them away from it and there are no fans or flyers to spread them and I was sweating and concerned about my hands itching more than anything and then they will get boiling water poured on them in my bath tub. and the whole room will get mopped with hot boiling water as I am too broke for a steam mop and I can't get the room up to 110-120F for heat sterilization.

In a few days, I plan on hitting them with some neem dunks.

I didn't even know I had them until I got home with a bunch on new AC hoods and shit for my new bloom room redesign. I was moving plants in just to take a stupid pic for icmag when I noticed this leaf



and then I noticed that this plant which was in the back had one finger leaves and looked very stressed out so I grabbed the scope and caught a video of this tiny bug crawling all over, in fact there were a few of them on the new growth tip. here's the video link http://youtu.be/EJBWTmyMtcU

all pics I tried to get were just not good enough with the 60x scope. after I do some eradication efforts, I will invest in a new scope. I'm too scared to scope them again and get them contaminated. how do you clean a scope without fucking it up?

What I have learned from this: never taking clones again. if they don't have bugs, they spray them with chemicals and if you're trying for a chem free grow like I originally was, them you already have them on your plants. seeds, seeds, seeds. I don't have good luck with them at all really so I have them but have avoided using them after some unsuccessful attempts. I was going to save them for when I was a better grower

but after this, i am popping the vanilla kush and critical kush with bangi haze saved for my summer adventure along with pennywise. The clones I took of pennywise before I found the BM were infected as well so they got treated. the pennys were really taking it tough and I accidently pulled one from it's plug and it barely had nubs while the Durban Bubbles had huge roots and need transplanted tomorrow they seem to be ok.

when everything is cleaned up and I am done giving them treatments, I will monitor the progress and cull plants down to two each of the best ones for mothers. Avid is not systemic and stays where it was sprayed so new growth can be used

This new growth in a clean environment will get an organic IPM plan which is being worked on right now which will include things other than sprays like complete filtration, regular sterilization as well as regular cleaning practices like no dead leaves or standing water. These were things I already was implementing or was in the process of doing. wouldn't have mattered as the clones were infected anyways and since they were treated with forbid and some others, then they didn't start showing signs for two weeks. I did notice a few weird things but when the puzzle pieces fit together like burnt pistils on preflowers, I knew immediately I was fucked before I broke the scope out.

each fuck up really sucks and sets me back so far but I really do learn each time how to prevent it in the future. after a few more I should be good to go

Excellent job!

A couple things for ya.

Its expensive but indicate 51 is a surfactant, and spreader, and ph balances ur spray for ya without having to use ur meter.

Sulphur and oils like neem etc.. are a no no. they will burn when used together.

Phytotox test new sprays on a leaf that u label and check later before using on whole crop.

Krunch just used a strong dose of nukem and screwed his plants up, so keep an eye on em.

Great vid. cant believe u caught them little buggers on vid.

Nice Suit. U could be in breaking bad making some meth. lol jk, I know it gets warm in those things doesn't it? I never got itchy hands, but It looks like u used chem gloves, did u spill any on u?

All in all, great attention to detail. Make sure u sanitize everything, and get rid of old plant debris and medium that might be harboring them.

BONUS, now ur ready for the ebola scare!

glad you mentioned the soil. I forgot to mention I also dumped some of the 4 gallons of leftovers into each container till run off. I honestly just bolted so they're sitting in the puddle right now I just don't want to go back out there as my hands are a little irritated still.

the gloves I used were from the Draino brand and listed chemicals and a score from 1-4 on protection. they were listed as okay for most harsh stuff. they came with the goggles too for around $3. all of these things can be found next to each other in the paint section.

the itching hands came from the suit sliding up because I was wearing a DriWick long sleeve under armor type shirt. it's silky so it made it easier and then since I am dunking, the sleeve got wet. made my whole wrist and hands itch for an hour or two. on the directions it said to get in the shower and scrub with soap and water for 20 on any point of contact. didn't seem to help but the itch went away fairly quickly.

signs you need to call for help would include tremors and shaking as it effects your nervous system. this shaking would be fairly noticeable and you will feel a sense that it's uncontrollable. it's not a little tremor; it's more twitching.