Trouble in the grow room

[Saturnalia]

Hi all. The last few weeks have been a nightmare. Plants were too overcrowded and spindly. Then I had an infestation of spider mites. I managed to get on top of these problems and then I noticed that the plants were developing really slowly. Tiny yields. One plant gave me a yield of just a bit more than a quarter dry! The leafs told me it was a calmag deficiency so I treated for that. Because I have had the system pretty well dialled in for a while it never occurred to me to check the pH. Finally got round to checking it and it was hovering between 5 and 5.5. ! My calmag def was because the plants were unable to take on the nutirents, even though they were present in the soil, because of the acidity.
Have been treating with dolomite lime and things are now getting back on track. However, I am going to finish off all the plants that I have waiting to go in the flower tent. This will take another few months. Then I am going to have a massive clean out and start again from the beginning. It's a massive learning curve, which is good, but I want it to all go right again.

[Groot]

the dolomite lime works good at helping buffer/stabilize the ph level .
it only takes a little.

That's about the time I make a batch of EWC tea
mj's chicken soup.

[canbethewicked]

sounds like you have it under control Saturnalia, hope it turns out well for you. good luck on the rest of your grow, hope it turns out well for you,

[Saturnalia]

Thanks guys. It took me a few doses of lime to get the pH back up to 6.5. Now I can see lovely vibrant green in the new growth. Hoping this is all fixed now.
Interesting to note, I have one plant which has been happy throughout all of these problems. Not sure what strain as it was a donation (we've been calling it Ben More Gold). Looking pretty healthy though. I had already suspected it was sativa dominant because of its structure. Now I read that sativas prefer more acidity. Just goes to show how what suits one plant may not suit another.
Will get some pics of this plant and post them here. It's not massive but I reckon if I gave it time and grew it SCROG style through a screen it would yield pretty well. Been around 10 weeks since it went under 12/12. Lots of crystals and stinky as fuck.

[Saturnalia]

Whoops. I spoke too soon. The tent is alive with spider mites. Having a massive problem. Because the tent is over crowded I haven't really been able to inspect the ones at the back properly and the infestation has got a bit out of hand. I've given it a good spray with neem oil and have ordered some predator mites to hunt them down and eat them. They will be here next week. Am very excited to see how they work. Will keep you posted.

[Groot]

I have a little help naturally...
We have plenty of them...




Sometimes...Too Much
.
Cabin infested again (3).JPG

[Saturnalia]

Haha! Yeah that would be the preferred option. I do put them up there when I find them, but they've been on short supply. 2 so far this year. Count them 1 and 2. :-) I could eat more spider mites than they could. You're lucky to have such a resource.
To be honest, I've been having poor results for a couple of months now and reckon I've had them chewing away in the background all that time. I treated a couple of times with neem oil but didn't do enough about it. It's my own fault. The signs were there but I just didn't act effectively. Massive lesson learnt. Leggy little fucks.

[Groot]

When I used something before.... it was this "Bug-B-Gone"
I'd use it on a Q tip and chase the little guys... (Aphids)

[Saturnalia]

Predator mites due to arrive tomorrow. I sprayed last week with neem oil and it knocked the little critters back a bit. They're just making a comeback now so will be just right for the predators. Normally my grow room is dedicated to peace and love, but tomorrow it's all out war! Yay!

[Jebber]

I had an infestation of spider mites (took in a clone that I should have quarantined)

I used a product designed by a college friend of mine (lifelong chemist) - called Insect Annihilator. All organic containing containing no preservatives it kills mites on contact and is approved by the Colorado Department of Ag to treat medical MMJ. My friend claims it is the only treatment that kills mites while strengthening the plant.

It took me a month to get rid of them completely, kill the mites but the f'ing eggs kept hatching.

http://greeneagletechnologies.com/pr...nihilator.html

[Saturnalia]

Thanks for the feedback Jebber. Not sure if we can get that in the UK though.
Here's an update. After the predator mites had done their stuff I got hold of two more products. One was called pyrethrum 5 EC, can't remember what the other one was. The pyrethrum is made from Chrysanthemum flowers, the other one was made from rape seed oil. Both were recommended for edible crops and as such I used them on my flowering plants.
The reading I have done on this said to use a variety of methods as the mites very quickly develop a tolerance.
Anyway, the outcome of all this is that there are no more mites in sight. However, despite the plants in the flowering tent picking up and looking good now, the plants in the veg room still look pretty sick. There is some new growth that looks OK but the plants look quite bedraggled with patchy leaves and miniaturised growth. If they don't pick up soon I am going to bin them and start again.