This week brought some challenges—I discovered thrips on the leaves of my plant. Thankfully, the infestation isn’t too severe yet, and I acted quickly to address the issue:
1. Sprayed the plant with plain water to knock off any pests.
2. Removed the top layer of soil.
3. Applied BioBizz Leaf Coat as a protective measure.
I really hope this will help. After reading up on these nasty pests, I learned that they can completely devastate the leaves if left unchecked.
Unfortunately, I have only myself to blame for their appearance. Due to the cold weather, I’ve been using a heater in the room with my growbox, which has caused the humidity to drop significantly. It sometimes dips as low as 30%, and it rarely goes above 50%. Most of the time, the humidity hovers around 35-40%, which is an ideal breeding ground for thrips.
To answer the obvious question—yes, I do have a humidifier. However, my growbox has a very powerful exhaust fan (315 m³/h for an 80x80 space), so the air is refreshed too quickly for the humidifier to make a lasting difference.
Aside from fighting thrips, I also made some adjustments to my grow this week. On Day 20, I did a little LST. Honestly, I wasn’t planning on using any training techniques in this grow, but I decided to give it a try anyway. One thing I can say for sure—I want to skip LST in my next grow. It’s quite inconvenient to water the plant when the leaves are practically touching the soil.
Additionally, I defoliated the first two sets of leaves. I felt this was necessary to improve airflow around the plant and reduce the risk of pests spreading further.
Watering:
Day 17: 400 ml
Day 20: 500 ml
I’m keeping a close eye on the plant and hope to overcome these challenges successfully.
