Maine Outdoor 2021

8/2 Fed two gallons this morning and took some hurried pictures. Did SLIGHT defoliation of dead leaves. Didn't have much time to inspect things. I'll check things out later this afternoon. Need to go in at night and see what critters are about. Woke very late so it was a very hurried morning. Rained last night like I expected. It's 68 at 9:30 and looks like rain. 8/3 Nice and sunny and 80 at noon. Didn't water as it rained last night nor did I get a chance to defoliate. After seeing a comment about mites I decided to break out the ol 100x scope. I took random samplings of leaves on different plants. I found ZERO mites. Just because I didn't find any doesn't mean they aren't there but it brings my anxiety down a little. While looking I did notice something is munching leaves. I wanted to use something to continue treatment for WPM and any random bugs but I may need to use captain jack's. I have lady bugs and don't want to kill them but I might just have too. I don't know if earwigs are a big problem or the holes are from pillars or hoppers or whatever else. Observing the weather and the 40 degree mornings and the wind tunnel I seem to be in, I don't see mites setting up shop or sticking around too long in these conditions. Either way if I missed something the IPM will get it. I bought general hydroponics cool bloom that I'm considering switching from tiger bloom. My tiger bloom is from last year and it seems to be crystalized a little in the bottom. We shall see. This is the last year of liquid nutes I hope. 8/4 Watered this morning and defoliated dead leaves. Looking on the inside of the plants I've noticed what looks like small leaves by bud sites dying or being chomped on. Not a single fucking aphid anywhere. I think those earwigs got a taste for those sweet lower bud sites and may be causing damage. It kinda helped as all they did was lollipop a couple lower branches in spots. Still I believe it will become a problem if left unchecked. Plan is to treat plants tonight with captain Jack's. I have a little more research to do but I believe that's the route I'll take. I noticed some pillar holes and other assorted pests so I think now's a good time to hit them with the Spinosid. Plants are looking good though. I can see cola's forming and hairs coming together to make small buds. What a great time. I have so much to do but I'm so busy with the other things going on it's hard to keep up. I'll update as I progress. Plans are fluid. 8/5 Topsoil was dry despite the rain we had so I watered and defoliated what needed and pruned some inner branches I missed yesterday. I don't like leaving exposed matter when it's wet. It's not supposed to rain until around 1pm. I'm getting frustrated. I can't find the earwigs anymore and "life" had kept me from being the best gardener I could be. Last year I woulda been out with a spray bottle every night looking for them. I need to visit the garden at night. I think I need to lower my pH too. Hopefully the apple cider vinegar spray I plan to use will help some. The water going in is good so I don't get how the pH is higher at the root zone. I've seen random damage from different pests. Tonight I'm putting petroleum jelly on the stalks and anywhere the bugs can climb up. I also plan on spraying spinosid tonight. I will update as I progress. The traps I made haven't caught a single bug. A little frustrated this morning but the garden looks gorgeous. 8/6 Rained last night. This wet weather sucks. Found a couple spots where bud shoots had been eaten as well as other tell tale signs. It's got to be those earwigs. I've researched my ass off and have none of the normal pests I usually would this time of year. Especially aphids. I have lady bugs but no way they controlled pests this well. More likely the wigs ran out of food and got a taste for nice cannabis shoots and leaves. I can't seem to make it happen at night so this morning I liberally sprayed all plants with a gallon of captain Jack's dead bug at 2tbsp a gallon as recommended. Spinosid works good and I've used it in the past with BT. Should take care of whatever. I sprayed around the cage too but I couldn't find anything. I read Spinosid is good at controlling those fucking earwigs too. Did you know earwigs are 20 million years old and the only species in their genus. I certainly didn't. I see leaf septoria all over the foliage around. By around I mean just driving or walking in the woods. It seems bad this year. At least it hasn't gotten to my garden yet. Garden is away from most other vegetation. I have ONE plant In that 30 gallon tote at the back outside my cage that I can tell has leaf septoria 💯. I don't know if I should cull it or try to fight it. I'll pick up a copper based fungicide and try first. I'm at that point where this plant was just extra and neglected so maybe it would be better of somewhere else. I may just isolate it. Hurried morning. No time for defoliation not pictures. I will update as I go. I will start apple cider vinegar spray probably tomorrow after I feed. I'm researching how to check my pH with an indicator liquid. Maybe I can get a better idea of the pH at my root zone. Those soil meters suck. Update I went for a hike just to check out the foliage in the area. I'm lucky. Japanese beetles have stripped a lot of vegetation around here but have luckily left my cannabis alone. I've killed like four total. I also noticed tons of fungal infections in trees (different area from my grow but within a mile). Hopefully I can come to decision about treating or culling that plant. 8/7 Looks like it's going to be a good day weather wise. Like I said my tiger bloom has what seems like small crystals that rattle when I shake the bottle. I know it's probably better to use one line of products but I switched to GH liquid cool bloom 0-10-10. It came highly recommended so we shall see. Plants seem to be doing well with the transition to flower. They look healthy despite the little ones outside the cage and the one with the fungal infection. Even that has nice tops it's just the bottom that looks fucked up. I think I'll bring it away from the others and attempt to treat it. Luckily it was just an experiment and a bag seed. After taking a hike I realized I'm quite lucky. Local foliage has been skeletonized by japanese beetles. This relentless rain has brought about fungal infections in trees, shrubs and even fruiting plants like blackberries. Things could definitely be much worse. I'm picking up a fungicide today to treat that plant. PM seems to be in check for now but I'll need to stay on top of it. Also need to try to get litmus paper or something to test soil pH. Meter is junk. I have indicator liquid though. I'll update as I progress. 8/8 Its been raining almost every night. Another challenge for the outdoor grower. I defoliated more leaves this morning. I noticed previous damage on bud sites that appears to be from earwigs. Also dead sugar leaves on new bud shoots down low and inside. Glad I got the Spinosid treatment in. At least whatever ate it will be dead. Need to still figure out what to do with that plant and whether it has leaf septoria or just a more advanced powdery mildew. I'm in town now and I'm planning to pick up a copper based fungicide just in case. I may isolate the one plant and treat everything and go from there. It's a large plant but seems to have lost most of its leaves. Not sure if switching the nutes was a good idea as I read that tiger bloom doesn't really expire and it's made to go with the rest of the nutes I'm using. Next week I need to stay on top of treatments and continuing to monitor for PM or other damage. Other than that plants look healthy and are transitioning to flower pretty well. Sunny and Tempe reached 90. RH is stupid high