First I need to get this off my chest .... fu*k and bol*ocks to spider mites! The little sods are almost impossible to totally get rid of once you have them.
This is turning out to be a struggle of a grow so its time for drastic measures. I have decided to keep this box running to finish the Snow Whites and at the same time work on building the new box in the cupboard completely from scratch. The new box will be fully sealed and nothing from the old box can be used so everything will need to be bought again to avoid any risk of transferring those mites. That means new fans, new lights new pots everything. Airflow will be improved and ventilation will be up into the loft where I also plan to add a carbon filter. To that end I will also need to upgrade my fan.
I've had 2 years out of this box and some good yields earlier on but lately I've lost much enthusiasm. I KNOW that I have as good strain in the Snow White and I have them on my fem seeds shopping list for the new box as I wont be able to transfer any clones for risk of infestation. I plan to be squeeky clean in the new home
Its the only way forward.
The new box is going to be a sealed box fitted within the cupboard, I have all of the materials to hand to begin building it and I'm drawing up a shopping list for new bulbs/fittings etc. I have decided to stick with CFL's in there because I know that I can control the temps with the ventilation I have planned. The space is in the middle of the house and stays cool even in summer.
Meantime I'm determined to see things through with Agatha and Cynthia (pics below) this may mean running 2 boxes for a while. I've been spraying them with quite high pressure spray (plain water) almost daily to literally blast those things away, my expensive product SCM (spider mite control) does not work beyond maybe helping keeping numbers down. Mites hate humidity and can be drowned in water but they are resistant to most treatments. I dont want to use chemicals on them so I'll keep on blasting them. Its important to make sure buds dry out in a breeze afterwards but it does no harm to them. Little Widdecombe the clone is doing really well but again I wont risk transferring her. I may plant her outdoors once shes bigger.
I cut down MsAngel a few days ago, again way too early but the buds good enough. I was telling tamjam that I'm finding the first SW I cut very strong
it really does have a powerful and long lasting hit even cut so early, it beats the Mazar hands down, no doubt about that. Agathas buds are looking nice for 5 weeks 12/12 I just hope I can keep the mites under control enough to stop them webbing on the buds, thats about as much as I can hope for I think, so far its working, they are not enjoying the high pressure spray
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Once the new box is up and running I'll start a new thread, but the old box is planned for use as a space for growing nice fiery chilli pepper varieties after a full strip down.