Hey now.. We are having an issue with the powder. It's driving me nuts! I have researched and researched this issue and tried various methods to try and keep it under control, to no avail. I feel like I'm losing the battle. I take measures one night, and the next the problem seems to have multiplied, so I figured I'll post details about our grow and maybe receive some insight or guidance we haven't thought of yet. (there are some nutrient issues as well, but I won't have pics til tonight, so I'll post again. I wanted to focus on the PWM. All the vegetation around our house gets it as well so this may just be something we have to deal with? I am trying to stay on top of the problem but as anyone whose dealt with it knows, it multiplies faster than one can possibly keep up. Here is some info on our situation. Experience: This is not our first grow, but I'd say it's our first real successful grow as we now have the time that our plants need. Prior, we didn't put much energy into checking PH and such. Yes we suffered and wasted much time and energy. Moving on. room size: 10x12x10 lighting: 4 - 1000's # of plants - 24 (6 under each 1000) They are touching but not too crowded... yet. We did not 'train' or net them as we need to move them around at times to feed or take care of issues. They are bushy. (part of the problem?) Flower phase: Week 4 (day 30 since we went 12/12). Buds looking great and growing big. Strains: Lemon Sour Diesel, Blueberry Kush, Blackberry Kush, Master Kush, Blue Dream, Shipwreck, Durban Poison. Issues are mainly affecting all but lesser on the Durban Poison and blueberries. pot size: 3 gal. Although 2 are in 4 gal and 1 is in 5 gal cause they are huge. Medium: Soil/perlite and some have lava rocks. Added mychroz during transplant. topped soil with lime at transplant. Ventilation: 4" intake inline fan. Hole is cut in bottom of room. We are using a filter (homemade from our air filters we use for central air. Its bunched up inside 4" ducting. Ducting reaches from fan to middle of room. Ducting has holes poked in it to assist in air circulation. Exhaust: 8" inline in ceiling, opposite side of room as intake. Fans: 4 16" oscillating fans for each light. Mounted on wall. 2 on north wall, 2 on the south wall. RH: 30-50% but lingers mostly around 40. (our hygrometer is on one side of room against wall, halfway down. right placement?) Dehumidifier: Yes in middle of room. On 24/7. Temp: 50/78 degrees Ph: 5.9-6.3 (runoff 6.3) Water/Food: They are needing H2O every other day. Sometimes I go 2 days in between watering. Food every other water. I originally thought maybe too much water but I check that soil is dry before watering. I notice the soil in bottom of pot is dry too before watering. I don't allow too much run-off and remove any excess if it happens. To treat the PWM, I have been spraying the affected leaves with H2O2 by nutrilife. Mixing 3 ml in a regular size squirt bottle. 1 L maybe? I have noticed a couple buds have burnt pistils and I'm wondering if I accidentally sprayed them or the leaves may have dripped. Been trying to be careful to hit only the leaves but it feels impossible. I haven't wiped them down, just sprayed, hoping that would work. Last night spent a couple hours removing leaves that were more than 50% affected. The ones that were mostly affected were the smaller leaves under the canopy. Did some cleaning up under there of the leaves/stems that don't seem to be doing any good but collecting powder. We took a gamble and did a sulphur burn yesterday. Took the clones and vegging plants in the same room. Snuck in about 4.5 hours into the dark cycle. Sulphur burned for 1/2 hour. Kept fans off for about 4 hours. Hardly any smell by time lights came on. I think we treaded lightly and didn't do it enough, BUT I do not want to do it again. I feel we are risking the whole crop. It had zero affect on the powder. Actually, it appeared it was worse. lol Luckily the sulphur smell did not seem to linger at all. As of now, I'd say the powder is mild but with 4-6 weeks left, I'm getting nervous it's going to take over. No powder on the buds. Any help would be appreciated.
try Sierra Natural Science http://sierranaturalscience.com/ . I have been using their products for 3 years, and it works.
Brew a compost tea and strain with a 400 micron screen so it wont clog the sprayers. It will coat ur leaves with beneficials outweighing the foothold the pm has.
Ok.. I'll look into both of these options. Can you tell what may or may not be happening to invite the issue? or what we can change in our room to make it less inviting? Again, rh is on average 30-40% and never exceeds 50%. Dehumidifier on 24/7.
Okay, so even if OP doesn't get this, it may help someone. Here's a good reference to PWM in general that will help understand it better: http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenproblems/a/PowderyMildew.htm. Another issue that I've come across is PWM is systemic. If you're growing from clones, the mother may have had it and it's now a part of the clones genetics as well. Conditions in your grow room may affect the outbreak. I've had PWM in my grow room for the past two weeks when I actually noticed it. I have a dual bladed window fan (your mileage may vary) blowing directly across my plants at pot level. This keeps the air moving and doesn't give the PWM a chance to take hold. Another thing I do is prune interior leaves to allow more air flow. There's a 50/50 split on whether or not to do this, but I would you rather lose 20% due to less bud production as opposed to 75% due to PWM missed. I'll take my chances. Keep a close eye on your buds and clip areas you can't see. Don't go wild, but don't leave places that can hold moisture.
thank you, I appreciate this! My guess is that it's coming from the clones because our room is not PM friendly with 4 oscillating fans for each light and I believe we have proper in/outtake. Combined with dehumidifier and low RH, I can only imagine it came from the clones... Or perhaps the intake is inviting it from the surrounding outside trees/plants. (I have seen it in abundance in the area). We may have to do more pruning than we had thought.. Lotsa little little stuff that is not needed inside the canopy. They are pretty bushy. I was just hoping I could let it grow. Right now I'm removing leaves that have 50% or more PM or if it's on the little leaves near buds, I have no choice but to trim it up to avoid it getting in the pretty sticky yummy buds. Thanks again. I appreciate you taking the time.
Sierra Natural Science never worked for my Mildew so careful purchasing that. It also stunk of neem which isnt pleasant at least not for me. From what im reading im gunna try a product called "Plant Cleanse" from skunk labs horticulture, its been mentioned in the forums to fight pests and remove mildew. http://www.Skunklabshc.com I didnt order it there but they have the option i got it from amazon. havent used it yet but should be good, they have a nice info page for application too.
It can come from several sources but once its there it wont entirely go away try the plant cleanse i mentioned above, it's always better to use products as a preventative all the way up through early flower in general and you wont have the prob as long as u control humidity.
powdery meldew thrives in conditions of room temperatures between 60F to 70F and a humidity above 50% so changing the rooms environment so it is not favourable to PM needs will help by trying to keep your room temps above 70F which from what you say can go down as low as 50F which is not good for your plants anyway as thats way too cold and try keeping RH below 50% will help!!!! you say that it might be common place where you live to get PM on plants so why not try a preventative measure next time like neem oil which is what i use from the beginning of veg giving my plants a spray every 2 weeks up until the second week in flower which also repels spider mites and other bugs and fungas's!!!!
So you pretty much just copied what i wrote, and then say to use neem, well neem didnt control mildew for me and nor did it help with mites once infected. neem is more of a preventative for mites, id try something else like plant cleanse like i post ealier something that will actually help someone with an infection not a preventative product. Specially neem that stuff makes me nauseous. Now i run humidity of 50-65% throughout flower with no mildew. plenty grows like this too, it no so much about humidity as long as its not super high, its more about preventative. but neem wont do anything for a mildew outbreak or even heavily infested mites.
dude take a chill pill or light up a big fat one and stop throwing your toys out the pram cause i didnt look at what you wrote before writting what i did as i couldnt be assed to read what everyone wrote!!! now i dont claim to be a know it all expert but at the same time i can assure you that i dont need to leach off you or anyone else for that matter as far as only copying what other people have said coz i dont know the answer myself and i also think its quite childesh of you to throw a school boy wobbly and get all protective over what you wrote as i use this site to learn things i dont know for myself and if i can to help others with things i've learnt along the way as im not on here to try and boost my own self ego by trying to display myself as being more cleaver and knowladgable than what i really am!!! now i said to use neem as a preventative measure which works just fine for me and thousands of others and if it didnt work for you then unlucky for you mister!!!!! i didnt say that RH above 50% would corse PM i said that its PM favourable conditions to be in the 50% and above and if you already have PM then having RH above 50% is only helping it to thrive!!!! now i would suggest you put your dummy back in your mouth and stop crying like a little girl cause your acting like a spoiled little brat in a school play ground trying to make yourself look like a green fingered albert einstien which doesnt impress me one little bit so try jumping on someone elses dick as im done b**ch f**king!!!!! x x x
Im just trying to give people the right info.. some people do things once or twice and try to give other info, sometimes it annoys me.. I dont think i was attacking you, i re-read what i wrote and it pretty much just good solid info.
Scrap your grow or else itll never go away, I battled that shit for a year, I got tired of fighting a losing battle, cut EVERYTHING, cleaned about 4 times, shut down for 4months, got a sulfur burner, new seeds, been mold/mildew free for over a year, also I don't take clones from other people and keep RH under 40% in flower, PM is a crop ruiner I take all precautions Sent from my HUAWEI-M835 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
look no harm done matey so lets just forget about it and move on tho please beleave me that i didnt look at what you wrote and then thought to myself im gonna copy that and put it in my own words cause that really wasnt the case!!!! so many people have so many ways of doing different things when it comes to growing cannabis which may work for some people and not for others, try and pick out what would work best for you which is what i do as not everyone can be right but at the same time not everyone else can be wrong either!!!! sorry for what i said and all the best with your future grows mister!!!!!
Have you tried cleaning the rooms?? Ive been fighting pm for awhile now with little success, but after my last run I decided to completely clean the bloom and veg rooms..working on an empty bloom room, I gave it a long sulfur burn (as in hours, total over kill), then I cleaned all surfaces with hot water and bleach (i heard pool shock is better but I didnt have time to run to kmart in redwood city)..I used about 1cup bleach to 1 gallon of water...Strong enough that it broke down the sponge I used, and I did keep the fans on while cleaning...I cleaned the walls (plastic), the ceiling (plastic), the floor (concrete), ducts, lights, wires.. I let it dry for a day, then I did it again, the burn and the wipedown....I let it dry for another day and did it again...When I put the plants in, i gave them a spray with Serenade Garden Disease Control Concentrate (which smells quite lovely but works well )..Im now a 20+ days into a bloom cycle in that room and its PM free so far (X'd fingers!)....I was told that PM sticks to surfaces, so a clean grow room reduces the chances PM has to take hold...so I also removed all my old pots and unused grow equipment in the area of the grow, and all old plant matter. I had a bucket that I used to collect leaves and plant parts, now I empty it every day and rinse the bucket...imo, if a plant has so much PM that you cant remove all the obviously effected area's your better off pulling it from your grow room, so it doesnt infect anyone else. Remember you cant smoke anything with PM as it is harmful to your lungs, but you can use it to make bubble hash (I always use high ph clorinated water when the batch has pm), as the pm is killed in the process.... Fighting PM seems more like war then a battle...lots of weapons are the only way to win it...or a nuke (but who wants to totally shut down)...gl
On Skunk Labs Horticulture facebook page they have 32oz Plant Cleanse and Vital Rinse samples available, not sure how long that will last though.
I'm so sorry I didn't see these responses! I was getting email notifications and I must've turned them off.. anyways - Thank you all for sharing... Here is an update: It's been a battle and learning curve to say the least. I am still battling it in week 8. I'm considering harvesting early as I fear I will lose the battle. The buds are big and beautiful. Best grow I've ever had. I spray leaves with 7ml of H2O2 in gal of distilled water about every other day. I am watching carefully to make sure my buds don't mold. The powder is considerably less the next day... I am avoiding burning them. it's saving me so far. I am spending HOURS every time those lights turn on, fighting this battle. No fun but I can safely say I know my ladies VERY well now... I have considered scrapping the whole grow (can't bare to) but reality is - half the plants are infected, the others are not. As it is my first grow in this room, these lights, type of food, etc, I decided I may as well learn from it. I did have to cut down 4 plants. Interestingly, the thing they have in common is they are all in the same part of the room. Directly under my exhaust... ???? thoughts? When I cut these plants down I moved a couple into that same space to make room and now those few are developing way more powder. The only benefit to this really is that I may be narrowing down on the problem that is contributing to this problem... I believe it has everything to do with my ventilation. I have not been able to clean the room at this point in harvest because the plants are too big and moving them around has become a chore. Of course, doing the best we can but not a full 100% spray down. that will come here in a couple weeks before the next plants go into flower. In which time I'll be cleaning every nook and cranny and sulphur burning. Question with that is................ My clones in the next room have begun showing signs of pwm. I'm crushed - but feel it's inevitable... so do I say f*ck it and try cleaning the room and sulphur burning them before they get flowers on them or scrap them and start over with new clones.. (grrrrrrr!) Now..... get this.......... I did something crazy............. it may deserve its own thread but here goes: on the 4 plants that I pulled early - the buds were so beautiful I had a hard time letting go. I came upon a video of Jorge Cervantes basically giving his buds a 'bath'. It was so counter intuitive that I waited a couple days (which happens to be today) before getting the courage.. Then it came down to - I'm trying this as a total last resort or I'm tossing all these beauties... So far, I've 'washed' 3 plants... (I'm laughing as I type this because it's totally absurd). I cannot yet tell you end results as of yet but I can tell you that so far I am thoroughly impressed... It is a learning curve but the buds are drying nicely and I can say that I will actually try smoking some. They are sticky, beautiful and the smell is better than before. I'm still in shock because I did my first wash today.. I had to trim them wet and will do another final after fully dry. I won't smoke them if I see ANY signs of pwm. Call me crazy... I know.. I know.. But.......... I've never grown such amazing girls.. can't bare to let go... So... Now I'm debating do I flush the rest of them for the next 1-2 weeks (some look ready any day now others need couple weeks) and wash them like I did these or do I pull early, before total flush and before the pwm has taken over? I don't think I can stay as on top of it for another 2 weeks.. It multiplies in front of my eyes, so it seems.
Here is a link to the youtube video of jorge... (still laughing). yes.. I did this. time will tell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7jE7qzfgQs&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DS7jE7qzfgQs&has_verified=1