loose buds and sativa time and...

[imager777]

In the interest of keeping the forum uncluttered, I'm going to just ask all my questions here; pretty much in order of importance to me.

1. I have gnats A.K.A. fruit flies in the soil. I let my soil dry between waterings and still water enough to keep my plants healthy; however, those suckers are still breeding. They're not in any other part of the house and pretty much just concentrated in the soil. So, the little beasties themselves aren't that big a deal to me at this point. I've learned to get along with them. The thing is, they like to fly into the buds and get stuck there. I pick them out as best I can; but still miss the occassional gnat or two. My question is, will it harm the bud or really reduce potency if I just run the harvested buds under a warm tap or rinse them in a bowl before letting them air dry out in the open. Will that be safe when it comes to mould as well? I don't want to water cure or anything. I just want to try to rinse any bugs and also dust/dirt off.

2. One of my plants is flowering with really loose/airy buds. It's been topped and grown in the same conditions as a couple of my other plants. I use plain Walmart soil maybe a little Miracle Grow at about half strengh every other week, or as I see fit. I was going to move it to a larger container, but don't want to waste the space if it's jsut gimpy. In that case I'd rather just grow out what I can from it and use the larger container and space for something more beneficial. The first four pictures are of the offending plant. The next two are of a normal one, grown in the same conditions. Both are White Widow from seed, from marijuana-seeds.nl. I have one 400x HPS and some overhead flourescents, for the room, if that's helpful.

3. Final Question... this is my first time growing a sativa (Thai Stick -- Thai x Cali Skunk). It's from the same seed bank mentioned above. The next two pics are where it's at now. It's winter and chilly in my basement, so it's been taking my plants a little longer to mature. I'm fine with that. It's been flowering so far since November 1st. I was thinking it may be close or done by the beginning of March. I just want to know how much longer you think it will be, since I'm just guesstimating. As of right now, the trichomes are mostly clear. Yes, I have a microscope. I have no clue how thick sativa buds get. I'm sure they won't be as chunky as my crosses; but once again, just guesstimating.

The last couple of picks are just another Widow I'm going to take down around Valentines Day. I figured I'd post it just to show.

Thanks in advance!

 

[CoolGuy]

i have been in a never ending battle with those damn gnats...however mine like to **** the life from my plants causing them to grow slower then i believe they should. i notice brown/yellow dots on the leafs then a week later that same leaf dies. lack of leaves i bet slows the growth.

i harvested my first plant few weeks ago andv now i let the soil dry out compleatly and i stir it up some every once in a while to see if that killed them. still 3, 4 weeks later they are in the soil.

 

[mal_crane]

You need to get some pesticide that kills the larvae in the soil. And hang some fly strips around to kill the adults. The gnats aren't really a big deal, but the larvae will eat the hell out of your root mass.

 

[allgrownup]

PM Hick.....he is a mod here and knows his **** with the soil grows. he posted a link over in KingKuhanas GJ that talks about diatomacious? soil. for topsoil. sounds like exactly whatcha need.

 

[allgrownup]

whats up with your pots man? how do they drain and how do you contain the runoff? moving the plants constantly stress's em....and i think you should put some holes in the bottom of those buckets and water them more frequently. Mix a good soil mix with perlite/dolomite/soil w/o ferts. feed those plants some nutes and on a schedule so you know exactly what they are getting. PH test your soil. frequently.

i think your probs may be PH and stress? What is your ph? id be curious to exam your roots.


also, water does not hurt the bud or reduce its potency. touching your buds and "plucking" them does. touch your weed as little as possible.

is this plant with the loose buds directly under the light or is it on the outside of the circle where the lumens are greatly reduced?

have you used Super Thrive? you can get it at wal mart and OSH etc. you need some. its for use on stressed plants. just foliar feed it only and sparingly.

flouro's gotta be inches from the plant to be effective. i don't see any flouros. hps should be as close as possible BUT what are the temps at the canopy? you can only go as low as your temps will allow. Is your reflector exhausted?

temps condusive to growing and a consistent growing environment are very important. Good dense sticky danky budz are what we are all aspiring for LOL if it were easy, it wouldn't be so much fun

Keep it green

 

[Kupunakane]

Yeppers,
Had the same problem with those gnats, and yes Hick hooked me with the idea of Diatomacious Earth. I found it at an Ace Hardware, just a light dusting onto the soil, and viola the problem was gone. The DE stuff is like chalk, it's natural, won't harm you or your plants. I'm very happy with it, and am grateful to Hick for the good help.
allgrownup covers the rest real sweet like.

smoke in peace
KingKahuuna

 

[imager777]

Wow, already replies and lots of help; thanks guys!

My buckets definitely have drainage holes in them. I take a drill to those suckers before filling them. The smaller square planters are completely netted. The sides are covered in either foil or plastic wrap to keep things neater.

I forgot to mention that I mixed vermiculite into alot of my soil, and some of those little stirofome peanut things... all broken up, of course.

allgrownup: I sometimes fondle my ladies like they do in the Green House Seed videos on youtube I've haven't really touched the one with the loose buds, at all, though. It was just kind of sitting there looking all suspicious like to me. It is in the outer circle right now and has been there for a few days. Before that it was pretty much right under the light. I only moved it, because I replanted a smaller clone and wanted to devote more light resources to that. The clone's not gimpy at all and neither are any of it's sisters. That's why this particular plant set off alarms with me. As a side note, the clone I took off the gimp when she was young killed over. My other clones lived.

There's no exhaust on my reflector. It's in an open basement and inches from my plants (sativa) right now. You can actually see it in the picture. It's doubling as a heater and keeping them reasonably warm right now. It stays between 60 - 70 over in that area. It's been a little warmer lately and as the weather gets even hotter I'll move it farther away. I basically keep it as close as I can without burning. That sativa's been trying to grow into the light lately though. The main one and it's clones have had this massive growth spurt recently, probably because it's gotten warmer. My other plants started spurting too, but not like these things.

So you say there is a way to actually get rid of these gnats without excessive pesticides!! That makes me happy. I'm going to *GASP* use the forum search feature before I go PMing anyone. I know that on more than one occassion larvae have killed clones or seedlings of mine and they're wreaking havok on some of the clones I'm rooting at this very moment. Luckily I've seeded some plants, so I have backups. Until I get more info on this "Diatomaceous Earth", I'll wash away! It's good to know that no ill effects will come of it. There's nothing worse than going to a fine dining establishment and finding a fly in your soup.

[ edit: found some http://rosecare1.stores.yahoo.net/dia02lb.html Thanks again ]

 

[allgrownup]

sounds good man....just trying to diagnosis any problem areas. seems like your on the right track.

my worst budz to date were the ones affected by bug problems. the plant is focusing its energy on repairing itself and stay'n alive rather than resinous buddage.

After you harvest....and i may consider harvesting early and getting a jump on a healthier crop. make sure to fumigate and clean that basement good.

where do you access that basement from. One of those auto dispensing bug spray things in an enclosed stairway, hall, etc. would help kill any unwanted pests before they infiltrate your grow space. a very wise investment.

a space heater may help ya a bit too. 70's a good growin temp...60seems low for optimum growth but, i have never let mine get that cold so i don't really know bout that.

buy some large trays from gro shop to keep your plants in so they can drain through and then uproot what they need. buy some square pots so you can utilize your growspace under the light efficiently.


good growin to ya.

 

[trillions of atoms]

well, for gnats put an inch at least of perlite sand or other loose material that will create a barrier between the soil and air. to prevent them from laying eggs and hatching through. that should clear them up. just be easy when u water after adding the material as dumping water will wash away the material if your not gentle.

as far as the thin buds, could be that they need lumens or it could have more sativa in it and they just take longer. as u said they may not fill out but it could just be the phenotype as they vary if there not clones.

the sativa will take longer and u need to wait till the trikes are cloudy at least 50% then you know yer getting close.its up to you really, i like to chop whan a good bit turn amber for hard hitting smoke.

goodluck

 

[imager777]

allgrownup: I've had pretty much a perpetual harvest since last year sometime There's always plants growing... not see of green, by any means; but no more five footers for me either! I grow em like I like my women; small and tight.

My Walmart doesn't carry Super Thrive for some reason. They have some other folar feeding stuff that supposed to be all organic (I forgot the name of it.) Other than that they have Peter's, Miricle Grow, and some stuff for roses (Can't recall the name of that either.)

Thanks for the drainage tip. I've also been looking for good square pots forever! The black ones I have are the best I've been able to find locally. They're maybe two and a half gallons and I can fit six of them, lined up, almost directly under the light. Anything larger, that I've seen in a garden center, tends to be at least as wide as it is deep. The larger buckets I have are five gallon paint/laundry detergent buckets. I was thinking the Thai Stick needed the extra root space. Even flowering from germination, cropping, and super cropping, it's gotten larger than all the other plants. I just scored a couple of large kitty litter containers though! I don't know how many gallons they are, but they're taller than the black ones I have now and only a little wider. Should I move the Thai stick to the side and stack the other plants directly under the light?

trillions of atoms: I just ordered up some diatomaceous earth. Can I layer the perlite on top and use it in conjunction with the diatomaceous earth; or will one be enough?

I just went out to Walmart and picked up some more soil. All they had was Miricle Grow this time I'm going to transplant it into one of the larger kitty litter containers, see if I can check the roots for signs of damage, then see if it just needs room, light and space to fill out. I just didn't want to waste valuable light space and luments. So far, no one's made it seem like it's a lost cause though. So, I'm hopeful and willing to make the effort.

[EDIT] Update: I just repotted gimpy. The poor thing was root bound. Hopefully she survives the transplant, perks up, and in a month or so kicks out some real buds. [/EDIT]