Happy Week 2!
Still trying to dial in the grow tent set up for the remainder of the grow. The Earthbox instructions recommend placing a single seedling on the opposite side of the water fill tube. I noticed right away that doing in my tent this puts the seedlings very close to the back wall. I transplanted the seedlings into the middle of the earth box on day 8. They receive more even light there and should have more room for growth when they get older. I cut through the sour diesel's tap root during the transplant. Other than some droopy leaves for a couple days, there wasn't any major consequence. By the end of the week she was standing tall like her tent mates.
The plants all look healthy and green right now. They sprouted their second set of true leaves on day 10. I watered once when I saw that. The next day I got rid of the cloches. At some point this week I changed the light cycle to 20:4. This was done mostly to help keep the plants warm under the light. I'll change back to an 18:6 cycle when they are a bit bigger. The lights are 8-10 inches from the plants. Air temp is 80ish during the day. I'm not tracking the night temp too closely. The house gets down to 64, so maybe 64? RH ~35-40%. Still haven't begun actively regulating the VPD.
Thanks for checking in!
I applied some beneficial nematodes a little over a week ago and the gnat problem has almost gotten under control. I might do another application later this week or next.
I also put up some sticky traps to catch the adult fliers.
@PartTimeUnicorn,
Love to hear that. Seeing those gnats in the tent is such a downer! The zevo that I put in the tent seems to have resolved the problem for me too. I haven't seen any new gnats in a few days.
I top dressed my soil two days ago because the plants were showing pre-flower. I didn't see any gnats crawling around in the soil when I pulled back to plastic cover sheet. Hopefully it holds up.
Have you had any issues with fungas gnats in the earthboxes? Seems like whenever I top dress, I get an infestation of them. I did add some beneficial nematodes recently and it seems to be helping.
@PartTimeUnicorn
Dude! Fucking YES!
I haven't put up my week 3 post yet, but I have started noticing them. I ran a power cord with a zevo bug catcher into the tent. It's quelled them but there's still a few stragglers. The bug catcher emits a blue light to attract the gnats. I use them in my house during the summer, especially near the sink and fruit bowl. They work well.
I had gnats in a lime tree pot a few years ago and used nematodes with good effect, but ended up changing the soil when I moved the plant outside the following spring. Otherwise I'm trying not to put more water in the basin than can be absorbed in a day or two. The fungal gnats drive me fucking crazy though!
The earth boxes are so damp that I think gnats are going to be a problem the whole time. I asked my GF for some of the milled mustard seed from build a soil for Xmas. Its supposed to kill of gnats and boost mycelial growth. Hopefully that helps. I'll let you know if it does.
Good luck hunting!