I'd Like to Share a Theory on a Later Flowering Bug Solution

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gubblebum

Well-Known Member
Hello! So I've been struggling with mites recently and a friend of mine put me onto Athena's IPM. I see its active ingredient is Citric acid and a few essential oils, the usual suspects...

So while technically this is safe to spray up until harvest, it's going to effect the taste of the bud but then I found something else...

Doc Buds Bud washing which uses guess what as the active ingredient in washing your buds, (bare with me if it sounds crazy), Citric Acid/Lemon Juice!

So a lot of people choose to do the lemon juice and baking soda bud wash and swear it improves the quality of smoke unless you've been blessed with a completely pure environment. You will lose a few terpenes most probably, but the improvement in hygiene, taste and smooth smoke is worth it if you didn't have absolutely perfect growing conditions. You can research the method by googling Doc Bud's Bud Washing method over at High Brix.

So cutting to the point... Instead of using Athena's IPM Line with the essential oils which are not water soiluble for the later bud washing... I'm going to attempt a week 5 and into week 6 every other day citric acid foliar spray to try and wipe out these mites completely. I no longer need to worry about the citric acid residue because they will get a bath in it anyway on harvest day, followed by a good rinse.

Will let you guys know how it goes and would love to hear if anyone has done similar.
 
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waterproof808

Well-Known Member
Athena IPM doesn't affect the taste of buds, in my experience. Essential oils breakdown fairly rapidly and it is not a very oily product to begin with.
 
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gubblebum

Well-Known Member
So step 1, cleaned the room thoroughly with a chemical floor cleaner and binned any junk. Unlikely the mites could survive outside the tent but just in case.

Step 2, tied the branches to the stakes cause they're about to get wet/heavy.

Step 3, applied 3 TSP citric acid in 1 litre of water, along with about a TSP of neem oil mixed with some silica (emulsifier) for good measure for the first spray.

Absolutely drenched my 5x5 under and over with the solution. I have Athena IPM arriving in 2 days which is citric acid with the 3 essential oils, so in 2 days I'll spray that, then 2 days later citric only and repeat every 2 days until hopefully I can't see any pests, ideally before the 2 week left mark. I think I may bin my straw mulch layer as well before the next treatment...
 
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gubblebum

Well-Known Member
Just a follow up, today I harvested my 5x5 and did the bud washing method.

3 18 gallon Buckets of clean water first bucket with about 60 ml lemon juice (concentrated), and 60g of baking soda. Next 2 just clean water.

Grabbing a few buds at a time, i dipped in the lemon soda bucket first for about 10 seconds, gently agitating, before rinsing in the 2nd bucket the same, then a final third rinse in the 3rd bucket before hanging to dry as normal. When emptying each bucket, the 1st bucket was visibly slightly brown, so it obviously did remove some dirt!

The crystals seem absolutely fine, and they are dry to the touch as they would be normally after 12h in the gentle drying atmosphere. (60f, 60rh (trying to maintain these numbers). Also smell seems totally normal... so, so far fairly pleased I did it!
 
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gubblebum

Well-Known Member
Just an update, my dry finished a little faster than I'd hoped, day 11, but the weed looks and smells amazing. Managed to get 4 out of 5 plants trimmed and stuck into the grove bags which are sitting around 62 -64 percent. Really this is far superior to my last grow and I'm pleased with the result so far but yet to smoke... Will give a final verdict in 2 weeks but so far looks like this method has worked proper good!
 
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gubblebum

Well-Known Member
Mission absolutely successful! The cleanest ash I've ever seen, hydro white! I'm only into day 2 of curing but I stuck some samples in a jar, the rest are heat sealed in grove bags. So it's a seriously fantastic, smooth and clean smoke, if you want to spray your flowers 3 weeks from harvest this method worked great for me! So citric Athena Ipm which is citric acid and some other essential oils up to 3 weeks out and bud washing when you harvest, it works, so stoned.
 
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gubblebum

Well-Known Member
Just a follow up after curing to finish this...

The weed has a tiny bit more bite on your throat than my previous grow, it could be down to the feed but i suspect its the late ipm treatments. But its still a very enjoyable smoke, way more flavor than my previous grow, and way more potent! So overall the above method really is an amazing plan b imo! - The End
 
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