Xlr8's Quest For The Best - 2012

[fish cake]

Hi Ya Xlr8 ....Hope you are feeling better Man .... That Deadhead Ripper is a thing of beauty !! But you better be very careful, have someone standing by when you are trimming because you'll need someone to pull your fingers apart. Like the old song "Hot, Sweet and Sticky". I looked but couldn't find where it started but there was talk about pipe cleaners. If you were talking about tying branches I use surveyors tape ...nice and soft on plants and easy to tie and untie, no need to tie it tight.

montrose and the red rocker

 

[clayhead]

Thanks Fish for jogging the old memory bank ....Yep Montrose !!

 

[Alaskan1]

montrose and the red rocker

Sorry, I just can't drive 55.......................

Saw Slammin Sammy and loverboy in concert back in the early 80's, was def a great concert!

Doin a drive by X.........Get to feel better

 

[Xlr8]

apparently I gotta spread some reps around but your shit is just textbook bro. I wish the guys at hydro stores know what you know and had the backup like you do. That's prolly why I all my questions on this site and not locally lol

Thanks a ton, UG. What a nice thing to say! I agree on the hydro store bit. If I had a quarter for every bit of bad advice I've ever gotten there...

Over time, I've managed to find a few whose opinions I value, but not until I already knew enough myself to be able to discern that they knew what they were talking about. There are some amazingly talented growers and members here on 420magazine for sure. I lurked a lot here to learn about growing before I did it. I've been trying to "give back" a little of that knowledge whenever I can.

The first time I went to a hydroponics store, the guy told me that I wouldn't be successful with hydroponics because it was too complicated for someone who hadn't done it before. Huh.... wait whaaat?!?

You can see how well I listened to his advice.

 

[Xlr8]

I think too many people would try smoking the catalogs!

ya mon

Doh! Hadn't thought of that. (In my best Homer voice): Mmmm..... caaaaaatalogs...

 

[Xlr8]

Hi Ya Xlr8 ....Hope you are feeling better Man .... That Deadhead Ripper is a thing of beauty !! But you better be very careful, have someone standing by when you are trimming because you'll need someone to pull your fingers apart. Like the old song "Hot, Sweet and Sticky". I looked but couldn't find where it started but there was talk about pipe cleaners. If you were talking about tying branches I use surveyors tape ...nice and soft on plants and easy to tie and untie, no need to tie it tight.

Hi Clayhead -

Sticky is right! I was pulling a couple of leaves off and adjusting branches the other night and my arms ended up covered in goo and my arm-hairs will all matted and stuck to my skin. It was crazzzzy how much alcohol I needed to get my arms unsticky. Before I worked at getting it off, things kept sticking to my arm (leaf clipping, a post it note, piece of paper towel...)

Montrose rocked - Sammy at his best. I actually am not a huge Sammy fan, but I'm a huge fan of his time with Montrose.

Montrose- Rock Candy - YouTube

​

 

[Xlr8]

Sorry, I just can't drive 55.......................

Saw Slammin Sammy and loverboy in concert back in the early 80's, was def a great concert!

Doin a drive by X.........Get to feel better

Hi A1 -

Bet that was a good concert. I saw him with Van Halen, and I guess I did like him with Van Halen. I just didn't care for his solo stuff as much though there are a few gems (Three Lock Box for one!). Loverboy was great, too!

Just posted some thoughts on your journal about late harvesting and leaving the lowers to go longer - as well as some thoughts on your cloning situation. Sorry I haven't been get around as much lately - I've not been feeling well at all. Hope things look up for you soon - make sure you take care of yourself, stress is a bitch!

Loverboy- Working For The Weekend - YouTube

 

[Xlr8]

A few bonus pics from the other day...


When I first peeked in to take pics, I noticed a bunch of the branches on the right side especially had started to fall over as the buds became heavier. I've since tied a bunch up to keep them closer to the lights.

There are 3 plants in this picture. The Jack the Ripper is in the upper left. Back row middle/right is Deadhead Ripper, and middle front is OG Ripper. There were 2 more plants in here at one point! Hard to tell by these pics, but these have been kept pretty well defoliated other than leaving a couple of fans up top. The middle/lower buds on these are still very nice and I don't expect a lot of popcorn/waste buds from these. Because they are mostly Sativa, I had to really bush them out so there are a lot of tops in there for 3 plants...

These are mostly OG Ripper, but there are a few Deadhead Rippers upper right of the picture...

OG Ripper - if you look close you can see she's getting a nice subtle burgundy/purple color on some of her buds and fan leaves, much like the OG Kush in her maternal lineage.

Deadhead Ripper - you can see where I clipped a bud leaf to look at trichs if you look close. I also look at the buds themselves with a small handheld microscope from R@dioshack:

OG Ripper:

Hope you are all well!

 

[fish cake]

hey X got about 2 weeks left to harvest and now i got freakin spider mites. do you think that they are going to ruin my grow? or am I going to ruin it by spraying with tobacco juice? your input would be very much welcome

 

[s1ingblade]

I like the DIY airpots. do any of you fellow growers know the name of the cheapo microscopes on eBay for dig. cameras?

 

[Xlr8]

hey X got about 2 weeks left to harvest and now i got freakin spider mites. do you think that they are going to ruin my grow? or am I going to ruin it by spraying with tobacco juice? your input would be very much welcome

Hi Fish Cake -

I haven't had spider mites before, so I'll just share some things I've read, etc. I don't know if I'd spray anything on the plants this late in the game, personally, for fear of contaminating or ruining your buds.

One thing I'd do right away, is consider hanging up a "No Pests" strip by Hot Shots. It contains an odorless vapor, Dichlorvos, that is supposed to be effective against spider mites but shouldn't leave any residue or harm your buds. They say it's safe for people as long as you aren't in the room with it for more than about 3 hours per day. I keep one in my grow room at all times now as it will help keep a number of things at bay, bug-wise. Maybe you can eliminate them this way before harvest, not sure...? I've heard good feedback from others that this works pretty well for mites.

Diatomaceous earth is a white powder that can be sprinkled on top of your media and around your plants. Safe for people and pets, but cuts bugs into shreds if they touch it, and/or dries them to a crisp upon contact. Really cool stuff. I keep it around and sprinkle it on the shelf and around my plants any time I'm considered that I may have insects.

Another thought is predator insects that will hunt your mites for you.

Also, when you harvest if you can... cut off branches, and hang the branches upside down from a line. When you do, supposedly the mites will all migrate toward the top where it attaches to the line (the bottom stem portion of the branch). Trim any buds away from that end of the branch so that it's mostly stalk. Then, put something sticky around the base of the branch like duct tape sticky side out so that they get stuck when they walk across it. Also, after you hang the branch you can wait for them to run up the stalk and suck them off with a shop-vac or something.

I think if you don't have bazillions of them you can try wiping them off the leaves with a little bit of soap/water. Don't get anything on the buds though...

The tobacco thing I've heard works, but you need to be aware that our plants don't like tobacco and are susceptible to the tobacco mosaic virus, a systemic illness, so I don't personally care a ton for that treatment. Others have had success with it though - I'm not sure about in flower...

These are just a couple of things I've seen other people do, I haven't tried these personally so I'm not sure I can provide much other insight. Hope something there helps. If it were me I'd have a Hot Shots "No Pests" strip in there ASAP, but read up to make sure you're comfortable with it (it doesn't worry me and I've had no issues nor seen anyone else have issues).

 

[fish cake]

thank you X, thats pretty much what I've read to.
but I do dig your input

 

[Xlr8]

I like the DIY airpots. do any of you fellow growers know the name of the cheapo microscopes on eBay for dig. cameras?

Hi Arizonameds -

Do you mean, like a USB microscope that takes close-up digital pictures? This one is used here quite often and is the one I'm thinking of getting:

Celestron 44302 Deluxe Handheld Digital Microscope 2MP

 

[Xlr8]

thank you X, thats pretty much what I've read to.
but I do dig your input

Even though I've not battled mites, I've battled a bunch of bugs. No Pests strips have been really effective against everything I've put them up against. They need to be replaced about every 4 months. I write the date on them when I put them up so I don't lose track of when I put it up...

 

[UrbanGrower]

X, would you suggest using them right from the start? ie seedling and clone, or would you wait until something happened?

 

[fish cake]

Even though I've not battled mites, I've battled a bunch of bugs. No Pests strips have been really effective against everything I've put them up against. They need to be replaced about every 4 months. I write the date on them when I put them up so I don't lose track of when I put it up...

yeah this is a big mistake on my part. goin to HD now for what its worth.
just hopin the buds will finish before the kill her

 

[Xlr8]

X, would you suggest using them right from the start? ie seedling and clone, or would you wait until something happened?

Hi UG!

Knowing what I know now, I'd personally use them from the start. It's not expensive preventative measure, especially when you weigh the risk of bugs or mites ruining your crop. If you grow long enough, you will have bugs eventually. Not if, when. Not maybe, for sure. I'm like Adrian Monk when it comes to how clean and organized I am with things. And I do hydro. If I can get them, anyone can, IMO.

The biggest wildcard for me is that I have a dog, and he brings things in with him. Otherwise, I don't go near my plants if I've recently been in the yard, etc.

Even the smallest bugs can really stress your plants. A lot of times, they go somewhat undetected for a while. They really suck!!

Just be sure that you yourself are comfortable with a vapor product like dichlorvos, but after reading up on it some, I was okay with it - but I'm not in the room more than 3 hours either.

Also, anywhere you store water keep a chunk of mosquito dunk in a sock or something in with your water reservoirs. It will keep fungus gnats from ever taking hold (there is a bacteria in them that's harmless to humans but starves fungus gnats, mosquitos, etc.).

Around the perimeter of your room, outside the entries and around your house... spray "Home Defense Max" or similar product to keep them from wanting to sneak in, too.

 

[UrbanGrower]

dang bro that answer was exactly what I was hopin for


I feel you on bein crazy cautious, I have a cat that I won't touch unless I have no plans to go in the room. I also take off all my clothes except boxers and get in a tyrek suit with some hospital booties. I've sprayed my room that the tent is in prior to planting seeds with home defence and have done around the perimeter as well. I know I'll get them eventually, I'd rather just know I took all the preventatives I could before it happens. I will be having a 55 gal trash can outside of the room filled with nutes that I mix up weekly and just water with wand when needed, I will place some dunks in there. Would it leave any bad residues or anything in the water that plants won't like?


edit: sorry i'm going off about this...your plants look absolutely incredible and we should be talking about that lol

 

[NorCaliwood]

Hey Xlr. See that bad word mites somewhere. Look into mitey wash. They claim up to day of harvest. If it was me and If you have 2-3 weeks left it should work. I'd thin it alittle and try. Here's the site, NPK Industries presents Mighty Wash
Not saying anything bad but you can get 'digital microscopes' on E-Bay for like 20 bucks. I have one and it works great. Those little pocket microscopes are like 2 dollars on e-bay. They come from China. And includes batteries. Free postage too. Man that's alot of work for them to get 2$.
Xlr plant is looking great. Man she has some long ass stalks on them trichomes. Getting closer I see. they just need to ballon up atad more. Hope she smokes as good as she looks. Keepem Green

 

[Mr. Krip]

I like the DIY airpots. do any of you fellow growers know the name of the cheapo microscopes on eBay for dig. cameras?

I'm not entirely sure which one you're referring to, but it may the the Celestron Microscope.