WreckLoose Outdoor Soil Auto: GSC, Gelato, Blue Dream Matic, Californian Snow, Grow Journal 2020

[WreckLoose]

Honestly, it felt wrong when I was doing it. At least I know what to do next time then, thanks again!

 

[WreckLoose]

I had some really bad luck today. This morning seemed like perfect weather conditions, plenty of sunshine and a light breeze. Only 30 minutes later the breeze suddenly turned into high winds which caused a sticky trap to flatten one of the girls, damaging a few leaves in the process. I'm not sure whether to remove the damaged parts or just let her recover as best she can. I've also been looking into silica products to try and strengthen the stems and have more bug protection. Any advice on Diatomaceous Earth or something like Silica Blast?

 

[Pennywise]

I’ve used silica blast, also look at Armor SI

 

[Bode]

You can ferment down horsetail weed. It gives a lot of silica. Happy Smokin'

 

[WreckLoose]

You can ferment down horsetail weed. It gives a lot of silica. Happy Smokin'

Thanks for the idea Bode! Sadly, it seems difficult to get my hands on any in my area.

 

[WreckLoose]

Day 21: Week 3 update.

This week has been the roughest so far. The sun has been shining bright but the wind has been a nightmare which means they are getting most of their sunlight from indoors through the balcony windows (around 6-7 hours direct and 3-4 indirect). Because of this, I've upped the amount of hours under the CFL to between 8-10 hours overnight to try and stay close to the 20/4 schedule.

Apart from some wind (and sticky trap) damage three of the girls are looking pretty good, considering. The Blue Dream'matic on the other hand hasn't looked great from the beginning. Originally I put her small stature down to the description saying it would take an extra 3 weeks to finish but after looking at many examples of the same genetics at the same stage, I'm worried she looks in bad shape. It's at least half the size of the others and the leaves just don't look very healthy to me. I'm just trying to be patient and hoping for the best.

I'm thinking I might start some LST on the tallest ones in next day or two, or are they still too small?

One last thing, I've been looking into worm castings to improve overall health of the plants and provide some much needed aeration throughout the soil. Anyone have experience, good or bad?

 

[Pennywise]

I would give them more time before doing any training. They will come around. Worm castings are always good.

 

[BigD13]

I follow the LST method that @InTheShed made a tutorial of. Here's a quote from that tutorial: "I used to start bending the plant when it was much younger. Now I wait until the stem will be close to even with the top edge of the pot after it's bent."

You should check it out. Lots of good info on LST.

How I perform low stress training on my plants: Lots of pics!

Greetings all! I've had members ask about how I do my LST (low stress training) on my plants so I thought I would do a pictorial on it. My pics are of two different plants but don't let that confuse you. It's just easier to demonstrate that way. Let's discuss the theory behind LST for a...

www.420magazine.com

 

[InTheShed]

What Big D said! If you really want to start something now I would put the support tie even with the top of the pot, and then see if there's anything left to grab above that. If there is, don't tie it to the edge of the pot. Use a BBQ stick in the soil and a twist tie and pull the top over just the slightest bit, like a 20º off vertical. The point of the stick in the soil is to pull the top down rather than over because the stem is still so thin.

As it gets taller you can slowly bend it further, and eventually it will be tall enough to tie to the pot.

 

[WreckLoose]

Thanks for the advice guys! It was actually that exact lst thread from @InTheShed that got me onto this forum, I guess it's just been a couple weeks since I checked it out. I'll just hold out for another week and hopefully they'll be tall enough to start.

Any opinions on the health of the Blue Dream? Or am I just overreacting?

 

[InTheShed]

Some autos just do funny things, and because they're autos they may not have much time to grow out of it. That's just part of the "fun" with autos!

I have used Armor Si for silica in the past (as Penny mentioned) as well as ProTekt. I'm currently trying out DE mixed in my nutes to see it that provides any benefits.

 

[WreckLoose]

That's a relief, I was worried it was something I had done. I've also seen some mutations that look completely insane so it could be worse.

Awesome! I'll be following along to see what you think of the DE, it's the cheapest/most readily available where I live. I just ordered worm castings to top dress, I figure it can't hurt to try.

 

[WreckLoose]

So I was having a poke around the soil today to check if it was time to water (it isn't) and I found a small amount of white mold/fungus. I panicked a little bit and thought about using some h2o2 in the soil to get rid of it. I thought I would ask here first in case it's actually some beneficial fungus that I don't want to kill. Any advice?

Also, I was wondering when would be okay to start using the neem oil? It's worked wonders on my beard/hair but that isn't why I bought it.

 

[Pennywise]

If you’re in soiless I would treat the fungus. Neem can be used at any stage.

 

[InTheShed]

I've used H2O2 for fungus in the soil and it works well. For younger plants I'd mix 3% at 1 part H2O2 and 3 or 4 parts plain water.

 

[WreckLoose]

Great, thanks! Would it hurt to add a little neem to the h2o2 mix? Found a handful of ants in the soil today too, ordered some DE to combat them around the house in general. They plague the place all summer and looks like their getting a head start this year.

 

[InTheShed]

Since H2O2 fizzes on contact I wouldn't blend it with anything else. If the ants haven't taken up residence in the pot you can just draw a circle around each pot in DE. If they are in the pots the H2O2 might kill them, or sprinkle DE on top after the surface dries out after each watering.

 

[WreckLoose]

So I tried my hand at some LST last night using @InTheShed 's guide which made it much less intimidating and was super helpful. The main branch started to point straight back up just a couple of hours after bending. Should I have pulled it down from the next node up? Or is that something I can do later? Here's a couple of pics from this morning.

 

[Pennywise]

Go slow so you don’t break it.

 

[WreckLoose]

Go slow so you don’t break it.

Is it possible that it will break as it grows?