Black Destroyer 2019 (II)

Day 46 from seed. Okay, the positives: the plant has steadily grown. The canopy is somewhat even (somewhat). There is no major damage or dying leaves. The negatives: I have been dealing with my first ever pest problem - fungus gnats - and Black Destroyer took it the worst. The flies absolutely infested the soil of this plant, and their activity have caused the pot to not drain properly causing a weird divide of bone dry on top and water logged on bottom. If you think the leaves look dehydrated they are, I have to let the soil dry out. I did water today after the photos but not very much. My pest control does seem to be working although it has taken a week and there are still some flies. I have had sticky traps up all week and have regularly changed them. This is just raw passive population control. Observing the traps indicates there are less gnats. I have also recently been using near 99% ethanol as a tent sanitizing and plant spray. I have read online on many threads about pest control with peroxide or alcohol, and many threads with bad results directly on plants. All these scenarios use a dilute mixture. I am curious if the mixture of water leads to residue or damaged leaves/plants. My buddy, a former GrowDiaries user, has used pure ethanol or moonshine for weeks without damage. The moonshine was made in a still for use with THC extract and edibles, it doubles for this. I am a few applications in without damage. Pure ethanol sprayed through a bottle easily coats the surfaces, pots, tent, leaves, soil, and seems to kill pests directly. I am not saturating the soil, but I am making sure I lightly spray everything! At room temperature, ethanol evaporates. It evaporates more quickly than water. Diluting alcohol in water would effect evaporation. So in general the tent is cleared and dry very quickly. This has killed many adult flies and likely much microscopic life. I will look to flower Black Destroyer in a week when my tent clears. If I do transfer some fungus gnats, the flowering fan is so strong and direct they are a non factor.