SmokehouseCarl
Active Member
Good day to you all, and thank you in advance for any valued advice you may contribute to a humble newbie like myself! This is my first time actually posting but I’m a LONG time reader. This is my first official grow but I feel as if I should have a degree in growing from the amount of the knowledge I have obtained from here. I have attempted to grow in the past but they either end up getting stolen by (friends) or ruined by mishap. I have countless hours of knowledge from reading and rereading forums over the years so I'm very confident that I can finally pull off at least a halfway decent grow despite the lack of actual experience and other unforeseen risks.
With that being said, I am running an organic grow of 2 different strains, Headband (Reserva Privada) and Kosher Tangie (DNA Genetics), in 45 gallon smart pots. They were started from seed in my grow box. I kept them on a 24 hour light cycle to try to make up for the short amount of time I could keep them in my home due to various reasons. I foliar sprayed them with Protekt about once or twice a week and that was about all I gave them. They were hardened off and let to get about 14 in. in length before put outside. I LSTd them to try to keep them at an adequate height in my grow box and I topped at the 5th node. I must say, they exploded in the short period of time that I actually had them here. The mix that was put in the smart pots is about 30% perlite, 30% peat moss, & 40% compost. I've added worm castings, blood meal, bone meal, bat guano, kelp meal, neem seed meal, alfalfa meal, some rock phosphate, and of course some lime. I also added a little soil moist to help with water retention. I figured that was a pretty solid variety of amendments to put in a soil. My soil was only able to cook about 6 weeks now, but I gave it an AACT at 3 weeks & again this past week at 6. The plants won't need to be transplanted for about another 2 or 3 weeks so I figure that 2 months will be a sufficient amount of time for everything to have cooked.
On to more important things. I believe that I have the typical spider mite problem that I've read about numerous times. I have spotted a few spotted leaves and a few leaves that have been eaten lightly, and one or two that have been munched at least 25-50% of the way down. The plants have been outside for at least 3 weeks now and this is the first sign of any problem with the plants at all despite the lack of maintenance I've been giving them. I sprayed with Mighty Wash and Protekt the day I put them out, then not again until this last visit which was at least 2 weeks apart. Is it safe to assume that this is the reason for the eaten leaves?
With that being said, I am running an organic grow of 2 different strains, Headband (Reserva Privada) and Kosher Tangie (DNA Genetics), in 45 gallon smart pots. They were started from seed in my grow box. I kept them on a 24 hour light cycle to try to make up for the short amount of time I could keep them in my home due to various reasons. I foliar sprayed them with Protekt about once or twice a week and that was about all I gave them. They were hardened off and let to get about 14 in. in length before put outside. I LSTd them to try to keep them at an adequate height in my grow box and I topped at the 5th node. I must say, they exploded in the short period of time that I actually had them here. The mix that was put in the smart pots is about 30% perlite, 30% peat moss, & 40% compost. I've added worm castings, blood meal, bone meal, bat guano, kelp meal, neem seed meal, alfalfa meal, some rock phosphate, and of course some lime. I also added a little soil moist to help with water retention. I figured that was a pretty solid variety of amendments to put in a soil. My soil was only able to cook about 6 weeks now, but I gave it an AACT at 3 weeks & again this past week at 6. The plants won't need to be transplanted for about another 2 or 3 weeks so I figure that 2 months will be a sufficient amount of time for everything to have cooked.
On to more important things. I believe that I have the typical spider mite problem that I've read about numerous times. I have spotted a few spotted leaves and a few leaves that have been eaten lightly, and one or two that have been munched at least 25-50% of the way down. The plants have been outside for at least 3 weeks now and this is the first sign of any problem with the plants at all despite the lack of maintenance I've been giving them. I sprayed with Mighty Wash and Protekt the day I put them out, then not again until this last visit which was at least 2 weeks apart. Is it safe to assume that this is the reason for the eaten leaves?
