A Grower's Biggest Headaches

[mastacheeser]

im sure its on here already but its needs to be on here 40 more times
azamax/azatrol
if all gardners used this mites would be gone!!!!!!
with a fogger of course

 

[Seamaiden]

Aye, that fogger is definitely a good thing, so I need to get myself hooked up.

Extra room ... never seems to be enough room to work on the girls proper.

Man, you ain't kiddin'!

To the others who addressed my improperly placed hole, thank you.

 

[swisscheese]

Got to test out my mop today, definitely should be at the top of everyones list along with azamax.

 

[Nobodynobody]

I own a nutramist fogger 3 head. how long do you run one of them for pest? seems like some people know how to use them.

 

[eyecandi]

for hydro (helpful for soil too) a must have for emergencies is Clearex!!!! nute lockup is a bitch and Clearex fixes it within hours. I've saved entire crops with it.

 

[Shady]

Good thread Seamaiden! Hope to see some of your work someday... Well, I'm surprised no one has said it yet, but a good waterproof combo meter... I love my Hanna 98129 since I work with so many diff strains, mediums, nutrients, and stages of growth concurrently... It's hands down the best investment I've made to date... :cool

 

[Seamaiden]

Gotta spread some rep before hitting Shady again

Shady, thank you.

I intentionally kept away from 'basic equipment' because the presumption here is that the (new) grower has gotten all the basics, but hasn't covered the bases for emergent situations. Otherwise there are all sorts of things that would be included in this list.

I can steer you elsewhere that you'll find a grow of mine, although the last one I started went with root aphids and those girls, with two to four weeks to go, are looking sorry. I've posted grows on a private site that allows me full editing abilities for the life of my account. Not being able to edit my own posts after 24 hours leaves me feeling extremely uncomfortable, so I'm avoiding posting grow pix. I have put some up, but they're all of previous grows only, nothing current.

 

[Shady]

Ahh... My bad on the basic gear... Although there are quite a few farmers without combo meters as a basic gear... :itwasntme

Anyways, I feel your pain on the root aphids... Been battling those bastards for a year and a half now, but I've been winning the battle and you prob couldn't tell that they've been fighting me by seeing my threads... Stay safe and grow on! :rock

 

[Seamaiden]

Triazicide, flood the tables, leave for two days. Rinse and repeat as needed. I have no idea if they'll build up a tolerance, so I have other stuff waiting in the wings.

There are indeed a lot of farmers without that kind of basic gear. I resisted for a couple of years, but after switching to coco I found I really do need to know what's going on.

 

[Shady]

Right on... I recently hit all of my plants in veg with Bayer Tree and Shrub at 3 ml/gal in RO plus 2 ml/gal of CalMag, and pH'd appropriately... I also shower my girls periodically with Azamax and sometimes with a Zone plus Penetrator combo... Gonna hit them with Green Cure tonight as I just flipped the switch on a few... Gotta keep the multifaceted prevention approach in full effect! :evilgrin0040:

 

[doBpop]

fix mistake holes in flood trays

Hey SM - great thread!

To repair your mistakenly drilled holes use an expansion plug similar to the ones pictured at test caps and plugs.
They call them "test caps and plugs" but the most common name is "expansion plug".

Not sure if homedepot or lowes has them but you can get them in most any auto supply store. It expands on BOTH sides of the hole.

Quick and easy and if it ever does leak (shouldn't) just tighten it a little more. :)

HTH​

 

[phenotyper]

I really like Serenade for dealing with PM.

I don't recall ever using it on flowering plants (it smells horrible), but I used it for some clones I picked up that had a bit of PM and it got rid of it posthaste.

Oh and I may catch some flak for this, but No Pest Strips keep all the spider mites away. I have a lot of ventilation and run them indoors inside my tent. I lost a 707headband overnight to the mites and ever since using these, pests are minimal and no mites to be found.

 

[Seamaiden]

Spectracide--just have it on hand. Cheap and effective.

Thanks for the bump, pheno!

 

[Giddeon]

Make sure you have a Wet/Dry Vac on hand, There will be floods especially if you go the hydro route. There will be a day where you are filling a res and decide you need to run to the store, and forget about your res filling, then upon your return you find the basement with 3 inches of water and you res is now quite full. You will then bust out the wet/dry vac and begin clean up. Make sure all extension cords are already tied up off the ground since you dont want too be fighting electrical while wading in you new basement pond.

After this install float valves everywhere you need water filling and swear you will never do it again.....YEAH RIGHT ha it happened again

I always like to keep rockwool plugs, jiffy pots, or Rapid rooters in my stock room since you never know when you are going to need to clip a clone or 2. As well as clonex clone gel and solutions.

Razor blades, scissors, and Hemp twine are also used quite often in my rooms.

I also feel it good to get away as well. You need a place away from all your plants where you can gather your thoughts, come up with new Ideas and just kick back turn the vape on, roll up a blunt, or rip the bong which ever you prefer.

 

[wobbly goblin]

I really like Serenade for dealing with PM.

I don't recall ever using it on flowering plants (it smells horrible), but I used it for some clones I picked up that had a bit of PM and it got rid of it posthaste.

Oh and I may catch some flak for this, but No Pest Strips keep all the spider mites away. I have a lot of ventilation and run them indoors inside my tent. I lost a 707headband overnight to the mites and ever since using these, pests are minimal and no mites to be found.

just a note regarding the no pest strips and this is from my personal experience

the mites will become immune to them after a month or so and you must do your duty to kill all mites that have become immune with a series of doses of avid/floramek or other miticide that will long term kill "ALL" mites

if you don't kill "ALL" of the newly immune mites? you will burn in hell
and trust me
i will be there and be the one holding the flame to your ass

save us both some time in hell and revolve your miticides

thank you

fwiw

 

[Seamaiden]

LMAO! Listen to the goblin, he means it. WG, you haven't been introduced to Root Aphids yet? The Borg ain't got nothin' on those little bastages.

 

[phenotyper]

I seriously have panic attacks thinking about losing crops to those mites again. WG, thanks for the tip, I should have a second round of defense on hand. Because flowering plants are my biggest concern, what is the preferred spray to kill the little bastards?

Seriously, I am away from my crop right now for a few days and all I can think about is SUPER MITES. Unlikely, but christ, the mites, they haunt me.

 

[Seamaiden]

I've written before about what my son, who is constantly battling mites, finally hit on. I call it..

Blowing Fan
Green Bamboo

Basically the mites don't dig being on plants that are being blown around, so what he does is stick a stick of green bamboo into the pot, so that it touches the plant. Then he points a fan onto the plant. After several hours/overnight, most of the mites have traveled over to the bamboo stake and are gathering toward the top, likely looking for a more stable host. He takes a paper towel soaked in Forbid and just wipes them off the stake. He has practically eliminated mite infestations for several grows doing this instead of constantly spraying, messing around with CO2 and all of that typical typical.

 

[phenotyper]

SM --- that is brilliant and I will absolutely try that before spraying something on my babies. Thanks for being so consistently helpful. I would rep you more if I could, but apparently I have to spread it around a bit more. Awesome thread.

 

[420Gator]

a cargo van or box truck- in case you have to move your grow