Xlr8's Quest For The Best - 2012

Xlr8 said:
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.).
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Now that is really good to know X.
Been having a few problems with Fungus knats on this past grow.
And now that my new babies are in 35L air pots. It's good to know there's a preventative measure I can take to protect those soon to be massive roots from those chomping knats!

Thanks bro! :thanks:
 
I had gnats earlier in the year. Id tried diff products before with varying degrees of succes but i found they kept coming back. I was having success eradicating adults with smoke bombs but the drops i tried werent killing the eggs and larvae. So i mixed up some diluted peroxide and put that through the medium. And ive never had a gnat since! Im not advocating doing this btw as its dangerous practice and too much could kill ur plant but it does work. The plants i used it on were mothers that were very hardy and i wouldnt recommend using it on young plants at all. And i had to do a recovery programe for the roots, but they are lush now. just thought id share that.....lol
 
Hey X,

Just doing a drive by. Plants as always look great.
Having dealt with mites quite a bit products such as mighty wash, liquid ladybug and SNS217 can be used upto the day of harvest according to the companies that make these products. I personally use a 3 pronged approach. I first use AzaMax (if early enough) and then hit 2 days later with mighty wash and then 2 days later hit with liquid ladybug.....then start the process all over and do this for 2 weeks. Usually kills all the little bastards.
 
UrbanGrower said:
dang bro that answer was exactly what I was hopin for :thankyou:


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
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No prob UG. It's all good info, I love when people can exchange ideas that help all of us. This is a good topic for discussion as we all deal with it from time to time, eventually!

The dunks do break down after a bit and get like chunky oatmeal or something - chunky sawdust maybe. Anyway, I put them in a sock or nylon stocking, etc. so that no chunks get into pumps, etc. The sock can just float on top. It will not affect your plants in anyway and is perfectly safe for pets and humans (though I wouldn't start eating them like a biscuit!). It's just a people/pet/plant safe bacteria that makes fungus gnats stop eating and starve to death. If you always keep these in your reservoirs and refresh them periodically (once a month/two months perhaps?) you will win the fungus gnat battle.

If they come back, you probably just need a new mosquito dunk as you might have waited too long - or you aren't always watering with dunk-water. They are very effective if used consistently and a total "no-brainer don't even think about it" thing to do (unless money is über tight). What I do, is I always have a big container filled with clean, filtered water that I pull from for my reservoirs, buckets of pre-mix nutes, etc. The clean water reservoir has the sock with the mosquito dunk in it (half of one). It just floats on top in the sock, and the bacteria dissipates down into the water. I replace the dunk around once a month.

The cool thing about dunks and fungus gnats, is that they immediately cause the fungus gnats to stop eating, and even if you see them around for a few days/week (as more may hatch in the meantime) they aren't doing any harm, because they can't eat as soon as they're exposed to the bacteria. So it's fixed in a sense right away because even if you still see them around they aren't feeding on your plants and doing damage anyway. Cool huh?

Sounds like you are taking great precautions already. :bravo:
 
fish cake said:
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 :(
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Hi Fish cake -

I wish you all the luck in the world - I hate bugs so damned bad! I'm a bit OCD and a clean/neat freak, so we don't jive well together, bugs and I. :goodluck:

Oh shit, there's one now! :yikes:
 
Norcaliwood said:
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
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Hey Wood!

Yes, there are some pretty affordable digital microscopes out there - most of them the same but with different names on them. Same with the regular pocket microscopes. You can get them for cheap with no-name on ebay, or pay a bunch for one that says 420-scope on it, or something, lol. Great point about ebay - there are some good prices on them there for sure. Most if not all of even those cheapy digital microscopes take amazing pictures though, of trichs especially.

Awesome feedback on the Mighty Wash. I've wondered about that stuff, the bottles say nothing about what to use them for, lol, but I've heard good things. I get all of that company's products mixed up and their lack of description doesn't help any. Thanks for bringing that one up. :thumb:
 
Mr. Krip said:
I'm not entirely sure which one you're referring to, but it may the the Celestron Microscope. :Namaste:
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That's the one I've been leaning towards... But, the even lower $$ ones that get branded with many different names seem to get some praise too.

Anyone have the Celestron and have feedback on it? I'd love to hear it! Going to ask for a digi-usb-scope for X-mas, perhaps. I'd also love feedback on the other low $$ usb scopes out there like the one Norcaliwood is referring too. Thanks in advance!
 
Vick074 said:
Now that is really good to know X.
Been having a few problems with Fungus knats on this past grow.
And now that my new babies are in 35L air pots. It's good to know there's a preventative measure I can take to protect those soon to be massive roots from those chomping knats!

Thanks bro! :thanks:
Click to expand...

It's a total no-brainer preventative measure with no risks or problems (mosquito dunks in reservoirs). Doesn't affect PH, PPM's and won't harm plants/humans/pets. I'm a big believer in the "no pests" strips by Hot Shots, too, which will knock down gnats as well as many other things and can be hung right next to your plants to keep them at bay. Worst part about gnats, is they are "Fungus" gnats. They like to carry fungus/mold and spread it to your plants. This means that you should be aware you might already/also have fungus/mold issue some where - even if just decaying rotting dead leaves in the media, etc. Clean clean clean, and no exposed organic surfaces like tops of pots/soil. Cover it - I prefer hydroton pebble layer over top of my coco coir pots, for example. I also have a utility sink nearby that I poor a cap of bleach down periodically as they can breed in a thimble full of exposed water. Little bastards.

:goodluck:
 
Xlr8 said:
because they can't eat as soon as they're exposed to the bacteria. So it's fixed in a sense right away because even if you still see them around they aren't feeding on your plants and doing damage anyway. Cool huh?
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Very cool..
They're just busy dying!:rip:
 
All this talk reminds me... I have a blog post that lays out everything I personally do to keep bugs out of my grow room
Thanks to many people who've helped me gather the info for this blog post. Specifically, Mr Smith - one of the most accomplished veteran growers and members here I know, who contributed to a bunch of these tips. Bassman I think was the one who suggested Home Defense Max, and Jandre turned me on to Diatomaceous earth. If you want to keep bugs out of your growroom, check this out:

Tips for ongoing pest prevention - aka "Keeping out the Bugs"
 
Cultivator said:
I had gnats earlier in the year. Id tried diff products before with varying degrees of succes but i found they kept coming back. I was having success eradicating adults with smoke bombs but the drops i tried werent killing the eggs and larvae. So i mixed up some diluted peroxide and put that through the medium. And ive never had a gnat since! Im not advocating doing this btw as its dangerous practice and too much could kill ur plant but it does work. The plants i used it on were mothers that were very hardy and i wouldnt recommend using it on young plants at all. And i had to do a recovery programe for the roots, but they are lush now. just thought id share that.....lol
Click to expand...

Nice! Thanks for sharing what worked for you. Sounds like one of those "your mileage may vary, use caution" things, but good info for sure. Can you get those mosquito dunks and keep a chunk in each reservoir? Seemed to be very effective for me, though I did a bunch of other things too, that probably helped...
 
Alaskan1 said:
Hey X,

Just doing a drive by. Plants as always look great.
Having dealt with mites quite a bit products such as mighty wash, liquid ladybug and SNS217 can be used upto the day of harvest according to the companies that make these products. I personally use a 3 pronged approach. I first use AzaMax (if early enough) and then hit 2 days later with mighty wash and then 2 days later hit with liquid ladybug.....then start the process all over and do this for 2 weeks. Usually kills all the little bastards.
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Great post and insight, A1. :thankyou:

I wasn't sure if you could use those things that close to harvest - I've been lucky to always have issues in veg and not had to deal with issues in bloom (whew!). Battling those things is so tiring for me - I don't have much energy with all the pain I'm always in (argh!).

+ rep for a really great approach. Azamax is amazing stuff - most effective product I've used. The SNS products have worked for me too. Both are organic, but I was still unsure about how they might affect "taste" issues. Any issues with taste even if they are safe?

Thanks again for sharing your experience, even if it was painful learning it all, lol. :high-five:
 
WizHigh said:
:thedoubletake: X before I read this post, I seen that bug and smacked my screen lmao :rofl::rofl:
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Haha, thought I might get someone to slap their screen - love it! :high-five:
 
Xlr8 said:
It's a total no-brainer preventative measure with no risks or problems (mosquito dunks in reservoirs). Doesn't affect PH, PPM's and won't harm plants/humans/pets. I'm a big believer in the "no pests" strips by Hot Shots, too, which will knock down gnats as well as many other things and can be hung right next to your plants to keep them at bay. Worst part about gnats, is they are "Fungus" gnats. They like to carry fungus/mold and spread it to your plants. This means that you should be aware you might already/also have fungus/mold issue some where - even if just decaying rotting dead leaves in the media, etc. Clean clean clean, and no exposed organic surfaces like tops of pots/soil. Cover it - I prefer hydroton pebble layer over top of my coco coir pots, for example. I also have a utility sink nearby that I poor a cap of bleach down periodically as they can breed in a thimble full of exposed water. Little bastards.

:goodluck:
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Thanks X for dropping the knowledge once again, on Knats.
Mosquito dunks are on the shopping list for today.
Might as well stock up on some Hot Shots strips too just to have around.
I'm pretty anal about my cleaning too.
I can see how even a mild case of OCD can benefit the grow room..
 
Xlr8 said:
Hi Fish cake -

I wish you all the luck in the world - I hate bugs so damned bad! I'm a bit OCD and a clean/neat freak, so we don't jive well together, bugs and I. :goodluck:

Oh shit, there's one now! :yikes:
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thats funnnnnnny, dont know whether to laugh or put my fist throught he computer screen:) and you got me I tried to smash that little f*&ker:rofl:
 
Vick074 said:
Thanks X for dropping the knowledge once again, on Knats.
Mosquito dunks are on the shopping list for today.
Might as well stock up on some Hot Shots strips too just to have around.
I'm pretty anal about my cleaning too.
I can see how even a mild case of OCD can benefit the grow room..
Click to expand...

Haha, yup, it never hurts - 'cept sometimes it means I spend too much time with things. But, I love being near the plants - it's my happy space. :)
 
fish cake said:
thats funnnnnnny, dont know whether to laugh or put my fist throught he computer screen:) and you got me I tried to smash that little f*&ker:rofl:
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Haha, I love it! I was hoping to get someone with that -- you and Wiz made my day. :)
 
After searching all over town, I got some mosquito dunks and some sticky papers.
Now I have a tied off sock with a dunk in each of my 4- 5 gallon watering buckets. Also keep air stones in 2 and rotate to keep things algae free..
When I pulled the big girls out last night to do a flush, I noticed lots of fungus gnats in the soil.. SHIT! although it's kinda too late now, Now I know why I had a slowdown in bud production for a few weeks. Those bastards were chowing down on my roots!!
But now that I know this, next one is gunna be knat free..:wood:

Thanks to you X!
I'd rep ya, but I gotta hit up some other first.
 
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