Ahhhhh.... muther fukker. One of the girls has some PM. Two days ago I first noticed that strange phenomenon where randomly, only once or twice, I saw water had collected between two leaves that were touching. That happened the last time -- as I'm sure I've mentioned -- two grows ago I lost an entire crop to PM. That previous run was the first time I had ever seen PM in an indoor grow, and I was not prepared.
I just did a massive defoliation (I did a good sized one two days ago after first seeing the water on the leaves). My first 4 grows I was so happy growing thick cannabis forests, but it would appear that won't be happening anymore. After my last grow completed without incident, I thought maybe the bad grow happened because of a series of identifiable mistakes and I was back on track to growing in the style I like most. But apparently not.
I've always thought thin spindly grows looked less healthy and lush, but it is definitely better than nothing. I expect to do another trim before this is over. Hopefully with some GreenCure I can keep ahead of it, because flowers are starting... not sure what I can do/spray/add once they get going. I've got the fans on high and the dehumidifier on Max, between that and the heat buildup (from the dehumidifier) it will hopefully be an inhospitable environment for PM.
One thing I learned in my after-the-fact research after my last encounter with PM, is that you have to be careful not to over-water because when the leaves are constantly fully hydrated they can sweat (there is a technical word for it but I don't recall it) moisture making the leaves more conducive to breeding PM. That would explain the moisture build-up between the leaves. Hmmmmm... with SIPs, there is constant water. I wonder if I should let my SIPs dry out between fillings?
As it is, I just filled them. Five days and they each took 3 gallons +/-. I will definitely not use these bins in this tent again. As I trim, leaves are falling behind them and there is no way I can reach them to clean them up. My understanding is that those leaves can become a breeding ground for PM. It's also just more water than I need. I have a pair of SIPs made from 5 gallon cloth pots over 3 gallon buckets that I'll try next time.
In the end, I chalk this up to my own case of the Icarus Syndrome -- I'm always trying to see how much I can squeeze into a space and how much I can get out of it. Moving forward I'll spend less time trying to out do myself, and more time just focusing on getting plants to run to completion.