Designated Dave

[DesignatedDave]

Hi All,

Been lurking the forums for about 6 months now, I'm new to growing and it is fast becoming an absolute passion.

I'm very much interested the organic growing and the soil science which goes along with it.

I'm 38, and to pays the bills, I am a business owner in the cloud and hosting space, but my passion is definitely in cannabis and the recreational industry of it as a whole.

As I grow I learn and I would love to share some of these random things I discovered along the way and maybe they can help someone:

 - Powdery Mildew, I would swear this stuff is released by governments in mass quantities to prevent people from growing weed (Davespiracy #347).

   I have tried every single known treatment from milk to commercially produced Powdery Mildew sprays, and of course this damn ironman mutated powdery mildew just laughs at it like you spraying Axe deodorant.

   I have finally found a solution that works and works really well.  This being potassium bicarbonate with a wetting agent. Potassium Bicarbonate kills the powdery mildew pretty quickly with the bonus of the potassium being absorbed by the plant as a nutrient. Pick up some Potassium Bicarbonate (https://homegrodepot.co.za/products/potassium-bicarbonate) and the Wetting agent (https://homegrodepot.co.za/products/jadam-wetting-agent) (or you can make your own).

Mix 3g of potassium bicarbonate into some dechlorinated water and add  2ml /1L of wetting agent. Mix it all together and put it in a spray bottle. You will need to spray down your plants either just before sundown or when your lights are going to be turning off in your tent. You basically want to spray the plants and then let them dry in the dark. otherwise you will get leaf burn. You can also use this without the wetting agent (you shouldn't use the wetting agent from 30 days prior to harvest, well you can if you just targeting specific leaves). I use this weekly now as an IPM, and the plants seem to love it.

If you have a really bad infestation and you at the point of throwing your plant away, Use 5g potassium bicarbonate / 1L water and add 30ml wetting agent. 

Spray your plant down entirely and drench the mildew, leave your plant in low light for 24 hours, then take your plant outside and hose it down with a hosepipe and use a sponge to wipe down all the leaves. Sure you will end up with a bit of burn on the edges on your leaves, but I have successfully brought 3 plants back from the edge using this extreme method and managed to completely eradicate the PM on the plants (they now flowering beautifully).

That's my introduction 

-Dave

 

 

Edited July 14, 2022 by DesignatedDave

[ORGANinc.]

I think PM took over your introduction lol. But welcome, I like soil too 

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

Welcome @DesignatedDave 

I use KHCO3 too, love it, but for a long time Neem kept me safe. always good to spray more than one product over long periods of time so the PM in your area don't get time to build immunity to what it is you spraying. stick with spraying only the KHNO3 for long enough you'll have the same problem. 

for indoor growers maintaining low RH with adequate FAE and constant air movement also helps a lot with PM.

if you work with plants or in a garden a lot, also good to change clothes or even take a shower before visiting the tent. a lot of stuff present in our indoor gardens is stuff we bring there ourselves. 

Excited to see what you do!! 

[Prom]

As mentioned before... PM is a climate thing. Those spores are EVERYWHERE.. really.. everywhere ^^ They only get active in certain climate situations. 18-24 degrees warm and 68-80% humidity. You have that, spores will bloom and once it grows it becomes more resistant and can endure more temp range and humidity range. 

During Veg i use copper soap and during flower you shouldn't go over 50% humidity.. ergo, you handle your tent climate well, PM should not be any issue at all. If you run into PM in regular intervals, you might want to increase drastically your tent ventilation. Eskom is the biggest challenge in that regard. If you can't fully backup your tent ventilation.. not sure you should start. Light is easy to backup with those cheap LED lights from PnP ^^ you just have to set em right by hand.