June 11, I've been having an ongoing problem with spider mites. I thought I was dealing with them but all of a sudden they were everywhere. I had to pull my Chocolope and Grand Daddy Purple a bit early because they were infested. Week 8 today and both show cloudy but not enough I'd like to have let them go another week.
I cut and washed all of the buds with peroxide - then lemon juice and baking soda and finely cold water. Lots of debris washing I had to skim off floating crap numerous times. I will now be adding washing to all future harvests. I hung to dry with oscillating fan for 2 hrs then turned off the fan.
Today I pulled all of my flowering plants out of the flower room took them outside and violently sprayed them down thoroughly with a strong fine mist then shook them off and did it again. Then let them dry outside, cloudy 17c light wind.
While my plants were drying I pulled all plant stands & fans out, swept and vacuumed then bleached the floors, panda plastic frames, curtains all stands and fans. I cleaned the reflector , lamp and everything I could spray. Then after a couple of hours I returned all plants to their place.
Yesterday while washing my buds one fell to the side and I missed it until I'd cleaned every thing up. I took my microscope to it and sure enough spider mites. Not wanting to throw it out I just washed it in cold water. I then checked and I had to search but I still found a couple of mites so I washed in cold water one more time and now the fkers are all gone. No lemon juice baking soda or peroxide but a good washing got rid eggs shit and the bugs. A light went off, I took them outside and sprayed them off twice today before returning them to a sterilized room, Tomorrow I'm spraying them with a concoction of essential oils and Dr.Bronners soap to try and kill off any remaining critters with my pressure washer.
June 23, Washing the buds is awesome, I love how they dried after the washing. The amount of debris I've been smoking in the past is gross. Once a washer always a washer. The pot smokes clean & smooth without the cough I was getting, its like WTF have I been smoking for so long, I missed that part of the growing and harvesting in my growing & harvesting education and it should be part of the process 100% of the time, at least in my grow where dust, dirt,hair, bugs & their shit has obviously ended up in my smoke in the past.
The Chocolope is now in my perpetual cycle, the smooth sweet taste, hard brown buds and high are unmatched in my line up, It has a lot to do with the washing but I washed the Grand Daddy Purple at the same time, it has a smooth smoke but it doesn't have the sweet taste of the Choc. I find now when I go for a smoke I'm going for it rather than anything else. I have some clones behind her but they're months from harvest, I'm going to have to slow down on it before its gone.
I've had to turn the clock around in my flower room. I like having the light on through the day to be able to work on plants at my leisure but the high heat has forced my to have lights on at night. 10:30pm - 10:30 am.The girls were in the dark for 27 hrs before I could complete the time readjustment. I still have to open the curtains to allow more airflow. 10:30 pm is for me too late to be working on the plants but I still have to open them. Then at 10:30 am I have to close it all up to prevent light leaks from my veg room that still has lights on. Awkward working on anything in the morning and dealing with plants too.
I was able to take a couple picks with lights off of my 4 remaining plants in flower. ( 1 more month)
I saw in the pick drooping plants at the back so I wastered otherwise I'd have let them sit another 10+ hrs in the dark 80f with no water before I noticed it, taking picks saved me a few leaves.lol
