Teal Smith

@PsyCLown Hey bud :) Yes, I thought of using Neem as a last resort too! trying hard not to For now it's been H202, Silicone Plus, Diatomacious earth and dryness, and will follow up with something I ordered yesterday - Margaret Roberts Mosquito Inscetacide (Bacillus thuringiensis). It'll arrive tomorrow so I'll keep you posted on how well it works. It's meant to get rid of them completely, in all stages of their life cycle. I'm considering using cinnamon as well but I think between these things and less water, it should do the trick OTN I'll be watering even less from now on. Looks like I'll have to give in to watering every day. I was trying to get away with watering every other day for time saving purposes but even that seems like too much, hence the gnats...

Nice one, thanks for confirming, bud. I feel watering the desperate ones now is the right thing to do also. I'll go easy on the volume of water, so that they can be ready to be watered again tomorrow. As luck would have it, I have been adding some silica to my nutrient solution for the last week or so. I'll keep up with that :) Thanks man :) I'm sure they'll be okay. They are adult and close to finish, so I think I'll be okay.

Hey Organinc, thanks bud :) They got big so fast man, the first time I've worked with autos, so I was surprised at the speed :) The LSD from FastBuds is particularly impressive. They've been dry as a bone for 1.5 days now. Pots are now super light and some the plants are drooping alot. The plants that have yellow and spotty leaves are being hit the hardest by the gnat larvae and those are especially feeling the dryness, with some leaf tips curling up as of yesterday afternoon. I dimmed the lights lower last night to avoid overdehydration, say 1/3 power, and early this morning switched lights off completely, ready to water now... Should I hold on longer before I water?? A couple plants are looking like they might be getting damaged from being so dry. I'm not sure if they'll make 7 days of dryness, not sure exactly how long I can take them before doing irreversible damage.... The fabric pots are real small, only 5L and so they dry out pretty quickly. Looking forward to hearing about the Gelato BL :) :)

Hi Dave. This is my first time growing properly indoors and I'm using autos. I chose autos because we have a lot of power cuts in our area and autos don't mind as much as photos. For me that is one of the biggest benefits to using autos. That and you can get an extra yield in the year, even if auto yields are a bit smaller than photo. Another plus is that your bets are more spread because you have more grows, so if something goes wrong with one of your grows it doesn't hurt your overall annual yield as much. I don't really have much to gauge them against due to inexperience but in the beginning I did have some weird finnicky things going on with some auto phenos, whereas most others were perfectly fine. There were also some runts. I germinated about 80% sucessfully, the others never grew. I think it's worth spending extra for good genetics. The LSD autos I got from FastBuds are producing large colas, even for photos. They grow quickly too, even for autos, at 8-9 weeks from seed to finish.

@Bakstein420 looking great. Love the purple.

Thanks Baksteen :) I'm excited to test drive them. I have something called Eco-Dust, basically calcium carbonate powderized. Inert. Sounds like it could be similar to Karbadust.

@Bakstein420 Thanks man :D Top layer of soil is dry - check I'll layer on some DE tonight, turn lights off as some plants are really dry and I'm noticing some leaf tips curling upwards as of about 2 hours ago, so figured having the lights off would be good. Some plants can't wait much longer as I've already been drying the pots out for 2 days. Yes, you're right - they must have laid their eggs about 2 weeks ago, after I watered, while there were about a trillion of them flying around outside (and some inside LOL). I swear I've never seen so many, they were just hanging out at every entrance waiting to come inside. I have been watering every other day for the last 5 weeks or so. I let the pots go from wet to almost completely dry before watering

Cheers Dave, thanks so much. We hardly have any cinnamon left so will hit the pots w some Diatomacious Earth tonight, then get cinnamon 1st thing in the morning, sprinkle, and then water again with hydrogen peroxide. Hopefully theat combo will be okay. That's the current plan

Also in the running is Diatomacious Earth. But I know that has to be applied to dry medium only. I could apply that tonighth and stretch the watering until tomorrow morning. Not sure if 12 hours will be enough for the DE to kill the larvae...

@DamDave Sounds good. Though, does the cinnamon have to be dry to work or can it be watered in? I ask because a couple of the girls are super dry and need to be watered tonight still

@DamDave thanks man :) is that just for prevention or is it a cure too? Will it kill the larvae I have right now?

Whatsup Guys :) Been a little off the radar lately, been super busy. So the grow has been going well and most of the girls are looking good (pls excuse the lighting in some photos). Unfortunately we have had a ton of fungus gnats in our area for the last month or so and they seem to have made it inside the tent (1st photo shows the leaves yellowing w/ brown spots - only a couple plants have this happening). New growth looks okay. I assume they are fungus gnat larvae but am not entirely sure - I can't get a photo because they move too quickly. They look like little worms/maggots, long and thin. Whitish, about 2mm long. I noticed them 2 days ago when I began to water. As the water drained down through the coco, I saw quite a few of them moving about in the water. When the water drained completely and they touched the coco's surface, they jumped around a few cms and then burrowed under again... Almost all pots have the larvae Besides bug barriers on intake and exhaust, towels under the doors, organic insect spray around the windows and doors outside the building, manually squishing them, I have followed the treatment below for the last 48 hours (also been keeping the temp low and RH as dry as possible): * Oct 19 - Added 3ml of 50% strength HYDROGEN PEROXIDE per 5L of water and gave along with nutrients as the girls needed to be fed and watered that day. * Oct 20 - Sprayed the surface of the coco with BioGrow's PYROL. 40ml per 1L @ 60ml per small pot. I sprayed liberally until surface was wet, and covered the base of the stem too. I avoided leaves and buds very carefully. Since then I've found out that Pyrol only kills the eggs and flying gnats, not the larvae I suppose it will kill the gnats as soon as they emerge. If the peroxide doesn't kill them. * Oct 21, today, pending - (some plants are very dry and ready to be watered). My current plan is to add 4ml of peroxide, increased dose, per 5L of PH balanced water and water them as usual. I will also be mounting some sticky cards horizontally the the medium surface. Anyone care to share how they deal with fungus gnats? Could I be doing anything better or differently (besides the obvious prevention)? I did prevention-spray several times before flower with a product called "Buddi All-Rounder" but not much of it went onto the surface of the coco so was clearly ineffective. Today I discovered a Margaret Roberts product called "Biological Mosquito Insectacide". It kills the larvae too. Wish I knew of it earlier! Ordered it today but will probably only arrive in 2 days. Could I be doing anything in the meantime? Thanks guys! (Below pics are auto GSC, LSD, AK x Critical Mass, UK Cheese)

Morning everyone, Looks like the few sick ones have gained a little more traction and are looking much better (1st 2 pics). Those are the same AK x CM that were looking iffy in the photos above. The last 2 photos are of what the rest looks like (excuse the yellowish hue the lights give off in the last 2 pics, they are darker green in reality. Also I messed some DE on the GSC plant in the last pic - not PM or anything like that). While they were definitely over-watered once when I flushed, I actually think that did alot of good too. There was a 0.7 difference on the EC from runoff to what went inside, and that tells me that the Atami High Porosity Coco has quite a bit of additives and is hotter than I once thought (I only fed very tiny amounts of nutes before that, so was surprised at the difference). After the flush they all perked up a bit and continued to become better. The spots and wilty symptoms occurred before the flush or any foliar sprays, which tells me that besides a little overwatering, there was something else going on in the beginning too. But that seems to be resolved now as can be seen in the new growth. I also think that genetics on the AK strain were messing me around a little, since most others are looking just dandy. Looks like we are back on track. The other guys involved in this grow are happier now... Kippie over here has to do all the research LOL :D As always thanks to those who shared knowledge/experience/advice. You okes rock

Just want to mention again that these problematic AKs are only a few of quite a bunch of other AKs which now look fine. Planted on the same day are 3 other strains and almost all of them are looking great, besides the odd runt or weirdo. All plants have been receiving the exact same treatment. Only a few are sick. That's why I'm puzzled...

I was thinking the same thing about the Atami coco... better I get a more plain coco next time, not preloaded.... I think whatever is in there may be a part of the cause of why my AKs were not loving life... Much better now though. Ya the draining of the flush is not fun! haha. so glad I don't have to do it as much. Right now I'm aiming to water/feed every other day, and at a push every 3rd but that's less ideal. When they bigger, I will water more frequently. If I can see the top 5cm or so dry and the pot feels light I will water again. That's how I've been doing it. I think my error was the flush, especially that early with smaller plants. My fabric pots are small and the medium drys out fairly fast even after complete saturation, so that is helpful. I've had the opposite effect in larger pots before and that was more difficult to get the waterings right.

100% that sounds like some solid advice. That makes alot of sense and I'll do it that way moving forward. So glad I don't have to worry as much and flush as often - rather water more without nutes and give the plant a chance to uptake the nutrients you gave them before instead of flushing them out. Thanks alot :)

Hey Prom, thanks for your comment. It couldn't have been the foliar spray causing the spots because the spots were already there before I did that... And the AK was also showing weird symptoms before the flush and sitting wet (all other strains were looking good)... They were actually the reason I did the flush. After that they seemed to perk up and become a little better. Though I do agree they got too much water. If anything they were more on the under-watered side before the flush and were def looking far worse. So I believe that besides being over-watered that one time, there was/is also something else going on here. . New growth looks good though... so think it's under control I lifted them before I flushed them and they were really light, then came the flush which was obviously too much too early for a few plants.

@ORGANinc. Thanks :) I was thinking I needed to flush after every couple of feedings to avoid buildup of salts? (or every other feeding if dosing large) The EC was actually quite a lot higher on the runoff though, something like 0.7 difference, which surprised me as I was taking it so easy on the nutes (1st dose - 1/8, 2nd dose - 1/4, 3rd dose 1/2 + some mild foliar nute sprays). Most of them seemed to perk up after that flush (and go a shade greener), though for a few it seems it could have been too much water. They getting big fast though, so should soak up much more water soon. So when they're small seedlings, never flush or soak the medium? How does one deal with buildup?

It could be. I over-watered once, trying to get some runoff but they were still quite small so think I may have overdid it. But most never seemed to mind. It's strange

Thanks Psyclown. Yes am feeding closer to normal nute schedule now. Should I have lower PH than 5.7? It's been between 5.7 & 6.2

@Dank In the beginning I wasn't and the problem has been there from the start. Recently, I have started foliar spraying, say the last week - with a weak dilution of nutes, and once with copper soap for PM and other mold/mildew prevention, and it has made things much better. I also thought thrips damage in the beginning but no bugs anywhere to be found. The other plants (the majority) are all looking great as well. Using Atami's High Porosity Coco, and it is slightly "hot". But not much, apparently. I also only started feeding nutes about 2 weeks in, and maybe what we're seeing is a N deficiency...? but not sure on that either. There's also the fact that I put some Mycoroot "granules" in the medium, and the roots on this strain could not be liking that. The problem seems to be under control, gets better each day that passes, and new growth looks good. So will keep an eye. Just wish I knew what I was up against, exactly

So guys, am I still worrying too much? They're looking a little better today but some still have this issue. Would love to know what it is so I can avoid next time....

The GSC & LSD on the other hand are looking pretty good (those not labeled LSD are GSC)

Hey Everyone, Happy Sunday :) So some time has passed and the seedlings I was concerned with above have developed what seems to be a deficiency, or problem of some kind. It's only about half of the AK x Critical Mass strain that's doing this. See pics below. The GSC + limited LSD seem to be very happy though, and almost all of them are looking great! :) (will post pics separately). So it's something that only this one strain isn't liking.... All seedlings being treated the same with the same light and water, food, temp, RH etc. same same. (Temp @ 22 - 24 C and humidity between 55% - 65%) On deficiency chart it looks like it could Potassium or Magnesium deficiency but not sure about that... On some, the edges were browning a little, so snipped off the dead parts. But that happened only with 3 plants. I was advised to go easy on the nutes when working with autos, and since the coco was pre-amended by Atami (Atami High Porosity Coco), I thought 2 weeks without feeding (only ph'd water) would have been ok. Rather too little than too much, was my thought. But now I'm thinking that this could be a Nitrogen deficiency? and maybe they were hungry all along? I have stated feeding with low doses of nutes since (2 feeds, low - medium doses) and they seem to be looking a little better. Definitely a shade darker also. I've had my QB's on about half power, at 30cm above canopy, could it be that they need a little more light? I've kept the PH at between 5.7 & 6.2, fluctuating between the 2 extremes with a feed every 0.2, every other day (waiting for top inch of coco to dry) so no shocking changes. Only other thing I can think of is, this strain is not liking the Mycoroot I put into the coco before planting the seeds.... but not sure if that's a thing...

Hi @zolrooker , I'was recently also looking for ways around load shedding... The eventual and ultimate answer for me was to use autoflower. They don't mind the on/off during the light cycle like the photo periodics. You could even leave them on 24/0, no dark at all if you wanted. Obviously they still need light to grow so on days where Eskom load sheds 3 times or more it can slow down growth alot unless you have power backup. I also installed a UPS. Looks like you're not going to go that route but if you do at some point, beware that AC fans do not run properly on square or modified sine wave inverters - they need Pure Sine Wave otherwise will become damaged over time. They also end up draining battery life way faster than they should. But PSW are pricey. The easiest and cheapest solution for me was to go with auto. Oh, and if you're near the coast it's always good to have backup for ventilation and air movement as PM can set in fast. Good luck, sounds interesting what you're planning. I like the IP camera idea to monitor remotely.