AK’s Frosty Fields

Well here is the newest update. It’s a little late but anyways here we go. The plants in the flower room are doing good and starting to smell pretty good. Yesterday I gave them some fulpower as a top feed just cause they seemed to be growing slow. But they are happy and still bug free. As for the veg room the plants are doing good but are still not bug free. Last week I noticed the mites were coming back with a vengeance when I was installing the first trellis netting. They were mainly on the lower new growth and causing some of the new growth below to curl and twist. So I stripped the largest fan leaves and the lowest growth and small branches. Then I cut down the cover crop and removed all of it from the room to the dump. After that I hit the whole room and plants with neem oil and sal suds. Three days later I sprayed the room with Method 1 pps (WOW, that stuff if strong, made my eyes burn). It’s reminds me of Vick’s vapor rub. I’ve had it for over a year now but haven’t used it. Then yesterday (three days later) I spayed with my normal IPM spray of aloe, neem and agsil. Today I plucked a couple fan leaves and still found a couple of the little bastards walking around like nothing happend at all. They don’t look like a normal spider mite. I’m thinking they might be a cyclamen mite or just a younger version of the spider mites (deutonymph or protonymph). Or I possibly have both and have only killed off the spider mites. I haven’t seen a normal looking spider mite since almost the first findings. The first two sprays definitely set them back but the last one didn’t really seem to phase them that much. I’m thinking I might just have to call these four plants a loss and cut them down. I have my clones that are getting really root bound and are in need of a new home anyways. I purchased some Green Cleaner today. I haven’t tried it before but have only heard good things. I am thinking I will cut down the AKBlackberry plants, remove the mulch layer, remove the rest of the cover crop and spray the whole room down along with my clones and then transplant. I believe if I really want full eradication I will have to continue spraying every 2-3 days for about 10-12 days. Then I’ll order some new beneficial bugs. I’m thinking I’ll go with two Orange Banana kush and two AK48’s. I know it will be easier to kill off the mites if the plants are small. Here are some recent pics of everything over the past week and half. I have some pics of the bugs before I started spraying.

 

Yeah, I think the next thing I will get is SuffOil-X. From what I’ve heard about it on the KIS Organics podcasts with the “Bug Lady” it’s supposed to be highly effective. It’s a decent price and OMRI listed.

 

Well, I chopped down the AKBlackberry plants, removed the cover crop and the mulch last night. Then I sprayed the remaining plants, bed and room with Green Cleaner. I used it at full strength for the first application which is 2oz per gal. I used 1oz for a half gal cause I don’t have a lot to spray. It was a long night. The life in the bed is crazy busy. It was almost alarming...lol! There are a ton of worms and soil mites. There is also a bunch of what looks like a rove beatle but I’m not sure what they are. And then there was an occasional beneficial mite and ladybug still running around. It’s always a little disappointing to chop plants down. But I know it will make eradicating the spider mites, oh so much easier. This morning the plants looked really good in the veg room. The Green Cleaner made them really shine a healthy green, I was impressed. After mapping out the 4 plants in the bed I transplanted them and then topped them. Last week I trimmed up the bottom of them to help with pest management. They were getting pretty root bound and were starting to show signs of it. Tonight I sprayed everything down again but this time it was at half strength as per the bottle recommends. I did 1/2oz per half gallon of water. I have noticed the worms are in search of food and there mulch. Same thing really. I’m thinking with how much I over seeded the last cover crop, I probably won’t have to add anything and just keep the surface of the soil moist. I’m in no rush for another cover crop though and I have been thinking I might add a couple pieces of cardboard to stop the cover crop from growing and for a place for my worms to hang out. They really do love cardboard. Hell, I might even start adding a little of my home made worm chow under it. I’m sure they would really love that. Anyways tomorrow I will inspect for bugs very thoroughly. Like meth head with a microscope is what I tell my wife...lol! It’s got to be done regularly. I have been staying out of the bloom room as much as possible and really have only been going in there to fill the rez, check temps and check for pests real quick. Three days ago I did turn down the daytime temps a little. Only about 3 degrees though. I’ll get some pics up tomorrow. Apparently my internet sucks tonight.

 

Here are the photos I said I would post. Yesterday I sprayed the plants with plain water. Recently my humidifier took a and so did my PAR meter. The meter was an easy fix with some hot glue and super glue. Maybe someone can tell me what the rove beetle looking bug is? I’ll repost on Friday, later.

 

Well, I have been steady on the spraying every few days and I have not seen anymore signs of the mites. The life in the bed is low for the veg room. The worms are still there and digging the blumat drippers slowly into the soil as they normally do. It’s cool to see the worms build their castings around the drippers but If you don’t pay attention they will bury them soon enough. I have finally purchased some plant marker stakes, drilled them and will use them to keep the drippers off the top soil. They will tend to plug up as the worms bury them and this should help. After I install them I will add some straw mulch and then get some more beneficial bugs. More than likely It will be some more ladybugs plus some nematodes due to the price of bugs being shipped up here. (I can get these locally) The plants in the veg room are slowly starting to snap out of shock from not only being root bound but transplanted too. I also think they had some phytotoxicity going on from the spraying as a lot of the larger fan leaves are showing signs. I think i might have over done a bit of the sal suds and neem. But they are looking better everyday. The two on the left are AK48’s and the two on the right are Orange Banana Kush. I’m thinking they will put on a good show this time around. I’m keeping the PAR levels in the mid 300’s for them now. The temps in here are only fluctuating by three degrees 70-73. The humidity is going from 36-55% which is awesome since I am currently not using the humidifier. These are readings I like to see. I believe staggering the lights on and off in here have made a big difference to keep the VPD more steady. Even though it’s not on point it does help. Which of course helps to keep stress levels lower on the plants. I have done the same for the bloom room with the red LED’s. Temps in there are going from 69-75 and humidity is 15-36%. I need to get the humidifier in here. I’m not sure how it the humidity dropped down to 15% with the room being so full but apparently it did. I’m sure there is some micro climate action going on too in the canopy. So I’m not super worried about it. But 15% is way to low. Yesterday I watered in about a cup of glacier rock dust to help with the low micro nutrients. I’ll drop the temps again in here again cause the last 2-3 weeks of flower are approaching. This chemovar will show purple in the tops that catch the most light and when I drop the temps. As do most strains I have seen when they near the end. The buds are smaller than normal in here. Probably due to stripping them, but they are more uniform all the way down into the canopy. Im still waiting to see if they harden up down there. I think I’ll be happy when it’s finished either way. The flowers are just starting to swell and the weight is beginning to make some of the lower branches droop and touch the walls. The smell in here is potent to say the least. My wife said I smelled after coming out of there even when I didn’t touch any plants...lol! I think I’ll let this run go until I get a fair amount of amber trichomes. I need a good night time smoke again for my insomnia. As usual I provided some pics. I even included a dark pic this time for a more natural lighting perspective.

 

Here is the next update. I have the drippers off the soil in the veg room finally. The spider mites are still nowhere to be found and the plants are doing good in both rooms. I haven’t put the mulch in the bed yet because I wanted to put the nematodes in the soil first. I do have a new batch of ladybugs hunting around in the rooms. I dropped the temps in the flower room to where the max is 70 degrees. They are still very slowly changing colors/ fading and just starting to get that frosty white on the buds due to the trichomes going to milky. They are still putting on weight and branches are starting to droop all along the walls. Next run I might have to change the height on the second trellis net or just install a third in between the two. Anyways here are my pics. Peace

 

Here we go again. It’s week 8 in the flower room and the buds are doing good. Everything is changing colors, smelling fantastic, swelling up and falling over everywhere they can. I have the temps maxing out at 68 and the humidity is still the same as the last posts. The trichomes are starting to turn to that milky color and it’s noticeable with the naked eye if ya ask me. If your a grower that pays close attention the buds. The flowers/ trichomes will go from a clear glazed donut look to a white frosted donut look. Cut em down before that change occurs and your asking for your smoke to smell like grass. Especially if your drying area isn’t on point! Makes me almost drool being in the room. I can’t wait for the premium smoke about to come out of here. It’s the kinda smoke ya can’t get in the dispensaries. At least here in Alaska, as far as I’ve found. The plants in the veg room are doing great and have really been taking off in the last week. I have to put the first trellis netting up due to the plants already reaching the first trellis bar. So that means it’s time to start training them. The BOG sour grape seeds I started a while ago ended up being males, both of them... Booo! I know a guy who likes to breed, maybe he will want them. Anyways I think I might start some new seeds some other time in the future. The temps and humidity are still the same in the veg. I haven’t raised or lowered the lights in here and have been letting the plants grow into the lights. Once they reach the 5-600 PAR range then I’ll start moving the lights and probably flip them to flower. Anyways here are my newest pics for the journal. Later
P.S. There is a little bug porn for everyone too...lol!

 

The plants in the flower room have hit week 9 today. They are looking slightly purple with there fall colors, frosty, stinky and still hardening up slowly. The temps with the lights on are maxing out at 68 and at night it’s only going down to 66. Humidity has been staying fairly steady with a max of 56% and a min of 33%. I applied my nematodes the day before yesterday in both beds and it made it spike a little as expected. I also watered them in at lights out as it’s recommend. I’ll probably let the flowers go to week 10 or even longer just to have my nighty-night time/ couch lock smoke. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to effectively cool the room any further on its current light cycle. The plants in the veg room are doing good too. Temps and humidity are super stable in here even as the plants progress and are the same as the last update. I installed the first trellis net yesterday and started to tuck the tops under the net. Today I’ll defoliate and trim up the bottom of the plants a little. I always like to leave some good clone material down there before I make the switch to 12/12. My AK48 strain branches like a beast and I need to start trimming it now. I had a carrot run the other day in the back of this bed just like my other bed. I pulled it, reset it and readjusted it and put the moister sensor in so I can dial it back in as soon as possible. Makes me wonder if it could have been the worms...hmmm? Lol! Last night I applied a foiler spray of kelp and silica and I’m thinking I’ll start making this a new weekly routine of mine, why not? Kelp and silica have such awesome benefits for plants. Especially kelp! If you want to know some, just ask. Anyways here are some new pics. Enjoy

 

Ok, here I am again. I see people looking in here but no one has anything to say. Hmmm? Anyways on to the update...lol. The plants in flower have stopped drinking water almost completely. It’s been 4 days and they have only taken up about a gallon and a half and that was only in the last two days. Temps and humidity are still steady. The life In the soil is still cooking things up good. When I pull up the mulch things are alive for sure and the layer is getting thin from all there work. I’ll probably chop soon but the trichomes aren’t really that amber color I’m looking for yet. I did chop a nice little branch and it’s drying now just for a taste. I couldn’t wait, Ha haaaa! As far as the veg room goes the temps and humidity are still stable in here too. The plants are growing fast as I train them to fill in the net. I flipped them into 12/12 on Wednesday so today is day 3 of flower. Today I took clones, lollipoped, and moved the other strains out. I also wrote the measurements for height records sake on the pvc trellis netting pipes. The canopy is reaching the 450-550 PAR reading as they approach the 18” marker on the light rope. Once they stop stretching I’ll keep the lights in the 6-700 range this time around just to see what I can push them too. I started using a pinch of Tech Grade amino acids in the reservoir from NPK again (hydro days). I know it’s not organic but neither is the agsil16 . I want my plants to get stronger just in case any unforeseen problems arise. I know they will really pull in a lot more calcium with the added amino acids and help the plants strengthen in more than one way. I guess I’ll see what happens. My AK48 strain lacks in structure a little and normally has a ton of small branches. But it smells of cherry and leans on the Sativa side, so I keep it around as it’s a very tasty strain and a decent producer too. Tomorrow I’m going to finally add a mulch layer back in here as I am waaaaay far behind in putting it in. The worms will LOVE it along with the trim from lolipoping. Until next time, ✌️

 

Thanks for the compliments and for the kelp recipe! Yeah, check it out it. It was a decent run with some setbacks but overall a success. Hopefully this next cycle will go a little smoother. I know right, the tips are burned pretty good. I think it’s just from the over fertility of the soil. My last soil savvy test was off the charts high with almost everything except micronutrients. So I have added some glacial rock dust to both beds. I’ll probably get another test done soon for the veg room that’s just going into flower. From what I have heard some soil amendments and/ or companies can be pretty inconsistent on there strengths and vary quite a bit. Maybe I got a hot batch of something and made it worse by blindly amending after a cycle.

 

Better late than never on another update. I harvested at week ten and the smoke is dank! I don’t weigh my crops, I’m not a dealer so don’t ask...lol. The plants in the old veg room are at week three of flower today and the O.B. Kush is trying to reach the ceiling. The temps and humidity have been stable as usual, but the humidity has been high in here with the canopy being so thick. So I added a small fan under the canopy. I have done some light defoliating a couple times and will have to do it again. I loaned out my PAR meter but the are well beyond the 18in marker on my indicators. So I know they are at least in the 6-800 range for the kush and AK48’s are looking good too. Somewhere in the high 500’s I’m guessing. I need my meter back! I released some ladybugs last week in here do to the large numbers of pests in the outside garden this year. They disappeared in the canopy real quick after giving them some water. I don’t want any trouble arising mid flower. I still haven’t had a chance to put a mulch layer in here yet but it’s still kicking off just fine. I had to stop adding silica and amino acids to the blumat res as it started to create a film/ slim in the water. Can’t have that sh*#, so I started top watering it in. In my opinion it’s been helping. The day before yesterday I started some seeds in a paper towel wetted down, inserted into a baggy, laid on a plate, covered and put on top of my heating mat. They are a landrace pure Indica, Hindu Kush. All four cracked open yesterday so I put them in little 4x4 pots with KIS Organics water only soil and some of my castings thrown in there too. Back on the heating mat and covered with a dome. They have a nice warm new home and I’ll be crossing my fingers for a girl... Until next time ✌️