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Thanks GLO - That does look fantastic. I'll get hold of a ~120µ silkscreen and try this out.

Green Leaf Organics, was that done with a DIY screen, or a commercial/purpose-made product - e.g. bubble bag?

Thanks guys - will check these ideas out. BTW, I had a look at my brewing/grain bag under a loupe, and - although I didn't have anything to measure against - I reckon that the pore size is greater than 220 micron - my guess is around 500.

Further thought on this: I have a ~25L bag made from voile, which I got for home-brewing. I've just had a quick look, and found a forum post on a different site, where someone claimed that voile has a pore size of around 210 microns. Assuming that's true for my bag, could I get away with making a (low-quality) dry ice hash using just this bag?

I'd like to trial the dry ice hash extraction method, but don't want to invest in an expensive set of bubble bags for something that I'm not sure I'll end up using long-term. Can anyone recommend a local supplier for polyester screen material, which could be used to put an inexpensive DIY solution together? I'd ideally like to get some 160 micron and 220 micron sheets. W

Hi all Background first: Absolute novice grower. I'm growing a Dutch Passion Auto White Widow, outdoors, in coco. The breeder's notes say to harvest at 10 weeks, but this particular plant is now nearing the end of week 11. I did start bloom nutes late though, so was expecting to run past 10 weeks. My goal is to harvest half of the buds at maximum THC, and half at the point where some THC has broken down into CBN, and where the result should hopefully be more anti-anxiety/soporific. I would also like to flush the coco with pHed rain water for ~3 days before I harvest. There is still a fairly high ratio of white to brown pistils on the buds, but I have just noticed today that at least 10% (I estimate) of trichomes on the upper-most buds have turned at least faintly amber - while most of the rest are cloudy. However, if I look at buds further down the same branches, I see a mix of cloudy and cloudy/clear trichomes - most are at least partially cloudy. Also, I read somewhere that pistil colour on White Widows may be a bit deceptive, so I'm leaning towards ignoring the pistils. Given my harvest goals, does it sound like today would be a good time to start the flush? Also, should I aim to harvest the higher-THC buds first, and then give the rest another few days to develop before harvesting the higher-CBN batch? OR could I simply harvest everything at once, and then separate the upper buds from the lower ones, and hope that upper = more CBN and lower = more THC? Here are some photos of the buds. Sadly I couldn't get any through the loupe though. Main cola Upper branch Upper branch - photo taken 3 days ago. Included because lighting was better.

Hi all Many thanks for the feedback! That sounds pretty reassuring, on the balance. I'll still do my best to discourage them from spending time in my garden though - especially if their larvae may be bad news for the rest of my plants.

Hi all Can anyone identify these beetles? I have quite a lot of them in the garden at the moment - and while they seem most interested in the Eugenia flowers so far, I fear that I may be in trouble if they develop a taste for cannabis. Anything to worry about?

Thanks guys Killerx, I'd be interested to hear how your homebrew works out. Will also check out the silver thiosulphate option for future attempts. Any idea on those pollen sacs?

Hi all Some feedback on this topic, plus a follow-up question: I got hold of some stuff by a brand called Silverlab - 18ppm 'Ionic' colloidal silver - and started spraying the lower two nodes of an auto plant once a day from the start of week 3, then morning and evening from around the start of week 5. As the second node put out branches, I started focusing on the potential bud sites on those branches. I was beginning to despair that the silver wasn't having any effect, but then just today (mid-way through week 8) noticed a few pollen sacs underneath the branches. Excitement. I hadn't been paying very close attention before and had been looking/expecting to see sacs on the upper sides of the branches - around where some calyxes had appeared. Yes, this is my first grow, and I'm just bumbling through. So, this is good news, but I now realise that I have no idea how long these things have been maturing for, and when they'll be ready to harvest for pollen. The 3-week younger mum-to-be plant is in a pot right next to the she-male, but given that there are only about 8 sacs visible so far, I'd prefer to try pollinating manually, rather than leaving to the wind and the bees and hoping for the best. If anyone is able to tell from the attached photo what stage these are in, or provide any other pointers, I'd be most appreciative.

Thanks Justin. I think that the damp look may have been from the Bio pyrol. Not certain though. The plant is indoors, in a room with reasonable air-flow. I have a 45W CFL bulb about 8-10cm above it. I don't think that it's getting too hot, but does that sound a bit close? Also, I forgot to mention in my original description that the plant is positioned beneath a window and gets about 2h of mid-morning light per day, in addition to the CFL. As per advice CG420za and SkunkPharm, I flushed with a light nutrient mix on Friday (pH just a little below 6, 1ml part A and 1ml part B Hortimix nutes), then watered/fed yesterday afternoon with the same mix, plus 1g/L cal-mag plus. The damage to the bottom leaves worsened quite quickly on Friday - which I'm sure would have happened regardless of what I'd tried - but I'm a bit worried that it may now be spreading to the next set up. I've attached some updated photos. My plan was to move the plant outside at 14 days - which would be today. Does that sound like a terrible idea at this point?

Ok excellent, thank-you both for the advice - I will try this and see what happens!

Thanks SkunkPharm - do you think my pH 5.5 feed water is too low? I am using a simple liquid reagent colour test kit, which gives resolution only to 0.5 pH points, so I suppose it's possible that it could be a bit lower than 5.5.

Hi all Noticed a worrying development on my baby yesterday evening - brown patches in the middle of the first leaves. This looks slightly worse this morning, and one of these leaves is also now turned up a bit. Herewith, as much detail and history as I can think of... Strain: Auto white widow Grow medium: 80/20 coco/perlite. Coco was buffered with Cal-Mag. Feed/watering: Drain-to-waste, using 2ml part A + 2ml part B Hortimix nutrients per litre of rainwater. Final pH ~ 5.5. Since yesterday evening, I am now also adding cal-mag to the mix. Environment: Indoor, under CFL for now. Age: 12 days (since popping out of jiffy pellet) Other: Gave the coco a neem drench 1 week ago, after seeing what I suspected was a fungus gnat hopping through the coco. About 24h before the problem materialised, I had fan on the plant for much longer than I meant to - about 3h. Also, after seeing the spots yesterday, I panicked a bit and immediately gave the plant a light misting of biogrow pyrol, in case the cause was microscopic insects. I think that this application accounts for the slight shiny appearance on some of the leaves, in the photos. From images of other unhappy plants I've checked out so far, it looks like the most likely suspects are either calcium deficiency, or rust fungus. Can anyone provide a more definitive diagnosis, based on the attached images?

Looking for recommendations for ready-to-use colloidal silver sold in local stores that anyone has had success with for producing pollen from female plants? I'd prefer to not have to make my own CS from scratch, if possible.

Cool, thanks Doc.

Thanks Trailblazer. Perhaps international is the way to go. I'm just a bit put off by (old) stories of confiscation at Capemail. Anyone have any recent experience getting orders through there?

Hi all Can anyone give advice as to how transactions involving seeds are treated by the law, post-(and, since I don't think that anything has changed in this regard, I suppose also pre-)ConCourt ruling? Is buying seeds in South Africa legal/technically illegal but ignored/a bad idea? Are there any known cases where personal-use buyers have run into trouble? My preference would be local suppliers, since it feels like there's less margin for running afoul of laws that way. W