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Diary Lets grow some weed

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
Hello everybody!
Just got a new led (mars hydro TS1000), so let's grow some weed.
I wanted to grow 4 plants and since I want this to be simple and take little of my time I've chosen autos.
We'll use Critical Kush for this first go.
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Since the pack had an extra seed in it and to be sure I get at least 4 plants I've put 5 seeds to germinate.
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As you can see we got 100% germ rate, so I decided one pot will hold 2 plants. I don't usually do this but 4 pots fit perfectly under the light, 5 not so much.
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Pots are 12 liters each, organic soil mix made from lots of good stuff (unfertilised potting soil, peat, coco coir, spaghnum moss, earthworm castings, perlite, vermiculite, pumice, lava rock, zeolite, EM fungi starter, organic pellet fertiliser). Basically I've threw everything I got in there. I may have even forgot some amendaments I used.
As I think I've seen a fungus gnat when I opened the potting soil bag I put some sticky traps up to make sure they won't be a problem. I also sprayed the soil with neem oil mixed with water hoping it will repel any gnats that may be around.
Here is the whole set-up:
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Light will be on for 24 hours a day for the first 2-3 weeks. For now it is 12 inch apart from the soil surface and since plants have not come out of the soil yet it is dimmed to 12W (almost minimum power).
I will soon add some vents and an extractor, some soil humidity sensors and maybe other stuff too. We'll see!
Everybody is welcomed here with advice, opinions,questions or just to say hello.
I will try to update the thread about once a week or if something interesting happens.
 

DARKSIDER

Official Seed Tester
Moderator
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Nice clean tidy set up with some nice genetics by the sound of them good luck and happy growing my chair is seated. :lurk:
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
Thank you and welcome! My aim with this thread is to show weed can be grown with relatively cheap stuff and not much attention. My patience is not as available as when I was younger, and I learned less is more when growing weed. So hopefully I can just set it up properly and just watch plants grow.
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
The fugnus gnat i wasn't sure I saw was real, there are 3 gnats on the sticky tapes already. So I continued spraying with neem oil and water mix and also ordered 10 liters of pea gravel to put on the soil. If any of you know any other organic gnat control method please share.
The neem oil and water mix seems to stop the flyers in an instant, dunno if it works on larvae too, tho. Hopefully I can control them before they can harm the plants. I can't see any larvae on the soil yet.
I'm starting to regret my decision of not "quarantining" the potting soil like I always do, but I already put the seeds to germ before I realised I don't have enaugh unferted potting soil to fill the pots, so I had to buy some. But I'm sure I can get rid of them.
And for good news.. 2 of the seedlings are already above ground. I expect the others to follow soon. Once they are all out I will post some new pictures.

Later.edit: 4/5 are out of the soil, I only seen one more gnat and no larvae yet. The neem oil seems to work for now. Once the pea gravel is delivered and plants are all out of the soil i will cover the soil so that should end the problem for good.
I set the light at 40W for now.
 
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exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
As I said, 100 % germ rate.No sign of any more fungus gnats flyers and no larvae seen yet. The neem oil seems to work for now. Also, the pea gravel is ready to be put over the soil surface once the seedlings get a stronger stem. I don't want to risk breaking them with the gravel, especially since the gnats seem to have dissapeared for now.
I have installed soil humidity meters in 2 of the pots and I am reading room atmospheric pressure, relative humidity and temperature and also calculating VPD.
I have been lazy, no ventilation yet. But it will come.
See you laters!

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Chevy cHaze

Out Of Dankness Cometh Light
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Sooo subbed good Sir!
Nice one and keep them coming. Cheap and not much attention? Tell me about it hahaha, so good.
Regarding the VPD... 15 seems a hell of a lot?


Best of luck brother
CC
 

GMT

The Tri Guy
Veteran
Forgive me if the spelling is bollocks, but diatomacious earth spread as a thin layer on top is said to be effective. I've not tried it myself, I tend to let the pots dry out to combat the compost hitch hikers. Seems to work too.
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
Thank you everyone for visiting!

Regarding the VPD... 15 seems a hell of a lot?


Best of luck brother
CC

Yeah it's a bit over optimum, it was 13 and not 15, but it was one of the last hot days outside (i have not installed ventilation yet) and the tent was opened for hours since I was working on it. With the tent closed I now have T24, H78 and VPD 7, which is right there near perfect. Soon I will install humidifier and exhaust vent and they will both work when needed to control VPD (I am working right now on idiot proffing the electrics needed to control those so I can be high around them and still live). So hopefully plants won't go out of range again.

Forgive me if the spelling is bollocks, but diatomacious earth spread as a thin layer on top is said to be effective. I've not tried it myself, I tend to let the pots dry out to combat the compost hitch hikers. Seems to work too.

No worries about spelling, I know what you mean and sadly I can't find it around here. Also if it gets airborne I heard it can be an irritant for human breathing apparatus, so I am a bit worried about that. In the past I prevented and cured same fungus gnat problem with perlite over the soil, but that again is dangerous for the lungs, so now I will try to use something more inert.
Thank you for the advice, tho.
 
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exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
Thank you brothers! You are welcomed here.

Yesterday i installed the humidifier but it's not needed yet. I started it just for fun and in under 5 mins I was at 98% RH. Today I hope to tackle the ventilation.
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
Not much happened since last update, except I have put the "gravel" over the soil. When opening the package I have found out that the guys shipped me carrara marble gravel instead of river rock gravel. It was more expensive but it was their mistake so now I have a luxurious gravel in my pots. The marble dust that is covering the stones might even add to the soil elements, so we'll go with it. I have put a 60 gr/meter horticultural mesh under the marble bits so I don't mix them into the soil if i decide to reuse the soil and/or marble.
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As you can see they are growing, but some don't look as happy (note the yellow bith near leaves tips on some, and also the one that's way smaller than the others). I am wondering if the soil mix is too hot or maybe if the neem oil treatments or intense led lights harmed them a bit.
Anyway, no matter what caused that should fix itself after they grow a bit more.
Growing conditions are 23C / 78%RH / 5.5 VPD. Soil humidity is around 85% since I just watered them after adding the gravel. Light is still around 40W for now.
If anyone can narrow down why they aren't as happy as they should be please post.
See you guys soon!
 

aliceklar

Active member
Fungus gnats

Fungus gnats

The fugnus gnat i wasn't sure I saw was real, there are 3 gnats on the sticky tapes already. So I continued spraying with neem oil and water mix and also ordered 10 liters of pea gravel to put on the soil. If any of you know any other organic gnat control method please share.
The neem oil and water mix seems to stop the flyers in an instant, dunno if it works on larvae too, tho. Hopefully I can control them before they can harm the plants. I can't see any larvae on the soil yet.


I struggled with fungus gnats for ages after importing them in a batch of unpasteurised compost. I tried all sorts to get rid of them - diatomaceous earth (didnt stop the gnats, but made a horrible mess and gave off really nasty dust when applying it), expensive neem based hyrdoponic stuff (made everything smell nice - didnt stop the gnats), drying out the pots (stressed the plants, didnt deter the gnats) and top dressing with sand and gravel (this helped a little, I think). Even when used in crazy quantities, yellow stickies were not enough on their own - although they are great at giving you an quick visual guage on how bad the numbers are.



Two organic controls worked well to keep the numbers right down, and since I've since been alternating these every couple of months, I've had no further problems:



1) BTi - the powder, not the mosquito dunks.
2) Parasitic nematodes - these were the biz. I could literally see larvae trying to escape the pots after the first application.


I also encourage spiders in my grow-room, but realise that some folk are not fans! (way I see it, they are free organic pest control - bonus!)



Looks like a very tidy grow! Best of luck mate.


Peace, AK :tiphat:
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
I struggled with fungus gnats for ages after importing them in a batch of unpasteurised compost. I tried all sorts to get rid of them - diatomaceous earth (didnt stop the gnats, but made a horrible mess and gave off really nasty dust when applying it), expensive neem based hyrdoponic stuff (made everything smell nice - didnt stop the gnats), drying out the pots (stressed the plants, didnt deter the gnats) and top dressing with sand and gravel (this helped a little, I think). Even when used in crazy quantities, yellow stickies were not enough on their own - although they are great at giving you an quick visual guage on how bad the numbers are.



Two organic controls worked well to keep the numbers right down, and since I've since been alternating these every couple of months, I've had no further problems:



1) BTi - the powder, not the mosquito dunks.
2) Parasitic nematodes - these were the biz. I could literally see larvae trying to escape the pots after the first application.


I also encourage spiders in my grow-room, but realise that some folk are not fans! (way I see it, they are free organic pest control - bonus!)



Looks like a very tidy grow! Best of luck mate.


Peace, AK :tiphat:

Thank you for sharing that. As I beat a fungus gnat infection in the past just by covering the pots with perlite and letting them a bit dry, I think I will manage.
Sadly I can't find nematodes or BTI, I wish I could. The mesh and marble gravel should do, since before applying them I have seen no other fungus gnat and the soil didin't looked like it had any larvae in it.
Maybe the neem spray helped too, I don't know for sure.
I should also mention that the holes at the bottom are also protected by mesh and vermiculite/perlite so now they should have no way of getting in.
We'll see what happens.
To be sure I got rid of them in a few days I will place a bait pot with fresh soil and some sticky tapes in the tent to see of I get any new visitors on the tape.
 
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