Cocktail Hour in Carmen's Kitchen

[Carmen Ray]

Fungus Gnats

My Red Mimosa XL has gnats. I have given it a dose of Bio Insek, which is Beauveria Bassiana. "Bio-Insek is a biological insecticide. Spores of the fungus, when landing on insects, parasitizes the body and if present in the soil, will parasitize the larvae and even eggs of insects. Bio-Insek is non-phytotoxic, does not leave any residues, is conducive to integrated pest management, is biodegradable, does not contain any heavy metals and is non-carcinogenic. The product is used to control for example Whitefly, aphids, thrips, mealie bug and snout beetle."

I also coated the soil surface in Diatomaceous Earth (DE), which will shred the live insects as they try to escape the soil. I have hung yellow sticky cards to attract those that are errant.

Neither the Blueberry nor the MAC #1 show signs of the bugs at this stage. I hope I have caught the breeders in time so that they don't infect these pots.

 

[Carmen Ray]

Blueberry Training
@InTheShed, I managed to get hold of @Jon, thank you both. He agreed with me that the secondary branches should go and I should remove the restraints. I have propped up the branches so that they will start to grow vertically. I have left the leaves on in case I run into trouble down the line with calcium or anything.

Blueberry Auto by Seedsman

• Carmen Ray
• Tuesday at 4:11 AM
• auto training blueberry auto organic autos seedsman vipar spectra xs 1500 pro

Post pruning and release of restraints.

Blueberry Auto by Seedsman

• Carmen Ray
• Tuesday at 4:11 AM
• auto training blueberry auto organic autos seedsman vipar spectra xs 1500 pro

Post pruning

Blueberry Auto Larf

• Carmen Ray
• Tuesday at 4:11 AM
• auto training blueberry auto organic autos seedsman vipar spectra xs 1500 pro

This leaf bothers me. @Gee64 what do you think about this leaf?

Burnt leaf tip

• Carmen Ray
• Tuesday at 4:11 AM

Nod three. No other leaves present with this condition.

In addition to the snip snip larf removal on the Blueberry auto today, I delarfed the other two yesterday.

MAC #1Auto

Red Mimosa XL Auto

Thanks for looking in!

 

[Gee64]

Blueberry Training
@InTheShed, I managed to get hold of @Jon, thank you both. He agreed with me that the secondary branches should go and I should remove the restraints. I have propped up the branches so that they will start to grow vertically. I have left the leaves on in case I run into trouble down the line with calcium or anything.

Blueberry Auto by Seedsman

• Carmen Ray
• Tuesday at 4:11 AM
• auto training blueberry auto organic autos seedsman vipar spectra xs 1500 pro

Post pruning and release of restraints.

Blueberry Auto by Seedsman

• Carmen Ray
• Tuesday at 4:11 AM
• auto training blueberry auto organic autos seedsman vipar spectra xs 1500 pro

Post pruning

Blueberry Auto Larf

• Carmen Ray
• Tuesday at 4:11 AM
• auto training blueberry auto organic autos seedsman vipar spectra xs 1500 pro

This leaf bothers me. @Gee64 what do you think about this leaf?

Burnt leaf tip

• Carmen Ray
• Tuesday at 4:11 AM

Nod three. No other leaves present with this condition.

In addition to the snip snip larf removal on the Blueberry auto today, I delarfed the other two yesterday.

MAC #1Auto

Red Mimosa XL Auto

Thanks for looking in!

You know, I saw it last time you posted it and I honestly don't know. It almost looks like either a drip of something got on it or it's just a weird auto anomaly as so many baby autos seem to have. It doesn't look like a deficiency or bugs.

 

[InTheShed]

The secondary branches are very short atm and I don't know if they can even grow long enough to contribute to bud making. I am concerned that in trying to spread the auxins I am actually stunting the branches and I should rather snip off the secondary branches and release the restraints.
In this final photo you can see the distance between the third node secondaries, and the tops.

@InTheShed, I managed to get hold of @Jon, thank you both. He agreed with me that the secondary branches should go and I should remove the restraints. I have propped up the branches so that they will start to grow vertically. I have left the leaves on in case I run into trouble down the line with calcium or anything.

When training plants, there is no reason to lay lower branches out unless the plant gives you a long enough veg for them to reach the canopy, whether topped or not. Lower branches will always produce smaller flowers (though not provably lower in THC from a valid test I've seen).

And for dense plants it's probably better to remove upper fans (as you did) rather than spread out lower branches if light penetration is the goal.

Generally, if the lowers on the lowers are so small they will barely form flowers in the end, those would be candidates for removal. If you can stop the plant from growing those it will have a better chance of pushing the ends higher toward the canopy where the plant focuses on bud production. The lowest two nodes on my summer plants would be nowhere near the canopy if I left all the lower growth on them.

 

[Carmen Ray]

When training plants, there is no reason to lay lower branches out unless the plant gives you a long enough veg for them to reach the canopy, whether topped or not. Lower branches will always produce smaller flowers (though not provably lower in THC from a valid test I've seen).

And for dense plants it's probably better to remove upper fans (as you did) rather than spread out lower branches if light penetration is the goal.

Generally, if the lowers on the lowers are so small they will barely form flowers in the end, those would be candidates for removal. If you can stop the plant from growing those it will have a better chance of pushing the ends higher toward the canopy where the plant focuses on bud production. The lowest two nodes on my summer plants would be nowhere near the canopy if I left all the lower growth on them.

Thank you Shed. The difficulty for me is when to make the call that those branches are not going stretch. I'd hate to cut something viable by being wrong. I needed someone with a keen eye to say now is the time. I'd rather leave larf on than remove something viable in error. I hope this means I will ultimately harvest more volume than if I'd left the larfy bits on!

 

[InTheShed]

Thank you Shed. The difficulty for me is when to make the call that those branches are not going stretch. I'd hate to cut something viable by being wrong. I needed someone with a keen eye to say now is the time. I'd rather leave larf on than remove something viable in error. I hope this means I will ultimately harvest more volume than if I'd left the larfy bits on!

Thinning smaller plants when the jars aren't full usually means it's better to err on the side of caution. And leaving the final call to someone 10,000 miles away looking at pics will never be as good as listening to your own intuition after you've heard all the opinions.

 

[Carmen Ray]

Thinning smaller plants when the jars aren't full usually means it's better to err on the side of caution. And leaving the final call to someone 10,000 miles away looking at pics will never be as good as listening to your own intuition after you've heard all the opinions.

Morning Shed, well the jars are emptying now after an extended down time. I hope I did the right thing. I'll know soon enough.

The plants are getting bigger and taller. The MAC #1 is in flower whilst the other two have early stigmas showing. They are all filling out nicely and as expected.

The funky leaf on the blueberry is still funky but it's still only the one leaf.

Red Mimosa XL Auto by Sweet Seeds

• Carmen Ray
• Yesterday at 5:25 AM
• red mimosa xl auto sweet seeds

Day 33

Blueberry Auto by Seedsman

• Carmen Ray
• Yesterday at 5:25 AM
• blueberry auto seedsman

Day 33

MAC #1 Auto by Dutch Passion

• Carmen Ray
• Yesterday at 5:25 AM
• mac1 auto

Day 33

Happy hump day. Have a good one.

 

[Carmen Ray]

The plants are five weeks old today. They all sprouted on the same day, with a slight lag in the Red Mimosa XL auto. That plant has remained diminutive and as such has not been given pride of place under the lights. According to the DLI charts, the light intensity is still within the desired range for an auto plant at this stage of growth.

The lights remain at 75 % intensity are giving me good coverage.

Watering has been a breeze. I am still high on Gee64's ol-lady-squeeze-test for the soil moisture at up-potting, because the plants have not needed much water at all up to the five week mark. Now that they are flowering they will want more frequent watering and I am monitoring that with the bamboo skewer method. When the skewers come out bone dry I feed with a solution of fish ferts and microbes to begin with, and then only the fish ferts solution going forward.

I top dressed at the right time it seems, because the plants remain consistently green and healthy.

I noticed some gnats on the Red Mimosa, and I dosed the plant with a root drench of Beauveria Bassiana and sprinkled DE on the surface to shred them as they try to escape. I sprinkled the Blueberry surface with DE too. That was two days ago and seems to have taken care of the buggers.

I am using living organic soil that I rebuilt. I am beyond happy with the results. This is my first time using my own rebuilt soil. I want to add that all I have learnt about living organic soil has taken place in the Gee Spot, Gee64's perpetual thread. The Gee Spot can only be described as a gathering of some of the most erudite organic growers online in the world today. No exaggeration. If you have an interest in organics, that is the coolest place to hang out.

Training is an ongoing project that I thoroughly enjoy.

Table Top Auto Grow

• Carmen Ray
• Yesterday at 10:32 PM
• table top grow tabletop grow vipar spectra xs 1500 pro

Blueberry Auto (L); Red Mimosa XL Auto (C); MAC#1 Auto (R) 5 weeks today.

Table Top Auto Grow

• Carmen Ray
• Yesterday at 10:32 PM
• table top grow tabletop grow vipar spectra xs 1500 pro

Blueberry Auto (L); Red Mimosa XL Auto (C); MAC#1 Auto (R) 5 weeks today.