Uncle Ben's Gardening Tweeks and Pointers

Jack in the Bud said:

UB,

Malathion huh? Just happen to have some of that already in my pile. What do you think for a dosage? About 1 Tbls (15 ml) in a gallon of water and then applied liberally with a hand pumped spray bottle?

Jack

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5 ml would be plenty based on the typical off the shelf brand. I use industrial strength, something like 42%. IOW, depends....

IceWaterBong87 said:

thx uncle ben always seen u around
-even at times when some idiot was arguing u about the guy stealing ur work n presenting it as his own lol


quick question 24hr - 48 hr dark period
when switching to flower not natural so skip it? even with all the benefits

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12 hours is enough to deal with the phytochome trigger. If it makes you feel good, then do it.

DaveCoulier said:

UB, can you suggest a good book on plant physiology to me? Particularly blooming plants. Id like one that has true information. Ive been getting a head-full of contradictory info when researching stuff like Phytochromes. Its hard to know whats true and whats not. On the subject of contradictory info, can you tell me if its Pr-->Pfr during dark period, or is it Pfr--->Pr during this time. Ive read from two different sites its Pfr--> to Pr, but then Ive got this message from a user here:

A man named D. Kroeze MSc (Horticulture) is the source of the information... I sent him the email you sent me and this was his response:

"Well it is actually a little more involved than just the red light since blue regulates the Circadian rhythms which also have to be right. The reality is that the plant wants to flower and is only "held back" by the saturation of the far-red phytochrome pigments which converts them to red phytochrome.
Then this saturation has to erase during the dark period with Pr reverting back to Pfr. Pfr is the physiologically active phytochrome. Far red light will change the Pr back to Pfr a little faster. The sequence is, during the day the plant absorbs red light converting the available Pfr to Pr which blocks floral initiation. At night, the Pr converts back to Pfr like grains in an hour glass. Once a level of Pfr is achieved, conversions begin to occur. Soon as red light is realized again, the process stops and Pr accumulates again. The secret is in converting Pr fast enough to Pfr so that the plant has time to shift characteristics prior to being stopped again.

Research suggest that it may be possible to affect this time with far red light, however, red light and blue light have effects on the overall cycle of the plant and everything has to be in line to work. The most effective wavelength of red light is between 620-640 nm (660 maximum), where as far red is most effective at 700- 725 nm maximum.

Hope this answers your question, your book is mistaken."

I hope you can help clear some confusion up for me. Thanks.

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I only threw in the R and FR in a post as an aside. Mel Frank covers the function of phytochrome a bit and Wiki has an excellent ditty on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytochrome

UB, iwas wondering if you know if 6-7 year old atami b-cuz stimulators would still be good? just going through some stuff snd foud them i think they are organic based so im not sure but i dont want to get rid of them if theyre still good.

doogleef said:

Thrips are easy to handle compared to mites. Now that you know what the damage looks like you will catch em and kill em earlier next time.

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doogleaf,

I agree. I went 3 grows with out any bug problems (other than a few fungus nats) and I guess I got complacent about them. Several years back on one of my first attempts at growing I got spider mites. Tried using insecticidal soap on them but never could get rid of them despite repeated applications of the stuff (which sure didn't do the taste of that bud any good).

I just spent 15 minutes or so inspecting my leaves with a magnifying glass and didn't see one live thrip. So I guess Malathion 50 at 10ml/gallon is an effective spray against them. It's only been around 14 hours since I applied it. I believe if I ever get spider mites again that's what I would use on them. It's cheap, readily available and if used correctly has a pretty good track record as far as human health goes.

All though from my reading it appears that there are some species of insects that have become Malathion resistant. Luckily for me the species of thrips I had doesn't appear to be one of them.

Jack

Uncle Ben said:

5 ml would be plenty based on the typical off the shelf brand. I use industrial strength, something like 42%. IOW, depends....

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UB,

I've got some of that industrial strength stuff my self. The label says it's 56.8%. The label also says that for thrips it should be applied at 1 pint / 100 gallons which my math tells me works out to be around 4.75ml/gallon. So yeah, I probably mixed it a little stronger than needed.

But I also read a label on line (from one of the brands they sell at Home Depot) and it recommended any where from 5 to 20 ml/gallon for thrips. It was 52% Malathion.

Any how I think I may have my thrip problem dealt with but I'll be watching closely over the next several days and if I see any more I'll most likely be giving the plants another treatment.

Jack

curious old fart said:

I'm fighting the mite battle, what do I use to eliminate the little bastards? I have been using neem oil....but I still have a few mites left.

peace
cof

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curious,

If I were you I think I'd have to consider trying some Malathion on them. I just used it for thrips and it sure seems to have done the job.

According to the label on the jug of it I've got (which is 58.6% strength) you need to use 1.5 times as much for spider mites as you would thrips. The actual math works out to be around 7.5 ml/gallon. I just used 10ml/gal to treat for thrips but I most likely made it stronger than I needed to.

If you decide to use Malathion please let us know the results.

Jack

growman09 said:

UB, iwas wondering if you know if 6-7 year old atami b-cuz stimulators would still be good? just going through some stuff snd foud them i think they are organic based so im not sure but i dont want to get rid of them if theyre still good.

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Don't know anything about the product. I don't use anything that even hints of being cannabis specific.

Jack, you got the adults for sure. It's about a pest's life cycle so keep on your toes.

well the neem seems to have worked for me ... the ladies are looking good and I will hit them again in another 4 days.... anybody know where those little thrip bastards come from.... a boo the first person that says their MOmmy....

madcatter said:

well the neem seems to have worked for me ... the ladies are looking good and I will hit them again in another 4 days.... anybody know where those little thrip bastards come from.... a boo the first person that says their MOmmy....

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mad,

Glad you got your thrip problem solved. I believe the Malathion treatment did the trick for me. But as Uncle Ben says it's about the pests life cycle and we may have only got the adults and not any eggs or larvae. I know I'm going to be way diligent about keeping an eye out for any more showing up for the next couple of weeks.

As to where they come from... I'm not sure what my vector for them was. It's been way below freezing where I'm at for some time now and I'm pretty sure I didn't bring them in from out side. Maybe there were some eggs or larvae in the soil mix I used. I pretty much had those silvery white splotches on one plant from the very beginning. And boy am I kicking myself for not posting a picture and asking about it 6 weeks or so ago when it was just confined to one plant.

You know, since it seems to be the cause of almost every other growing problem I've got to wonder if improperly PH'd soil might not be the culprit.

Jack

madcatter,

I've been doing a lot more reading on thrips (some of it way over my head) and it's sounding as if we'll probably have to re-treat for them because we most likely didn't kill any eggs they may have layed. In case your interested here's some links with info about thrips.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7429.html

http://forum.sensiseeds.com/images/plant_problems/thrips_c8406.html

Jack

Quick question about using guano. Is it better to usually mix in the soil or top dress? I use 6 parts promix, 2 parts earth worm castings and 2 parts perlite with about a cup of powdered dolomite thrown in(Parts = 3 quarts). I have had a few issues watering with guano tea this run on one strain, I think I burnt it up a bit, other strain looks fine.

Also would using something like jacks all purpose once in awhile affect the micro herd in the soil I was shooting for? I have read some interesting studies on organics mixed with regular salts and the results were usually better contrary to the belief that chemical salts are harmful to organic grows.

Which spider type drip system do you fellas think is the best?I had a box a friend of mine dropped off and lost the fucker.It was supposed to be the best.I built the one I have now from parts @ work but its time has come.Help me out fellas.

plaguedog said:

Quick question about using guano. Is it better to usually mix in the soil or top dress? I use 6 parts promix, 2 parts earth worm castings and 2 parts perlite with about a cup of powdered dolomite thrown in(Parts = 3 quarts). I have had a few issues watering with guano tea this run on one strain, I think I burnt it up a bit, other strain looks fine.

Also would using something like jacks all purpose once in awhile affect the micro herd in the soil I was shooting for? I have read some interesting studies on organics mixed with regular salts and the results were usually better contrary to the belief that chemical salts are harmful to organic grows.

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There's a misconception about the superiority of organics. "Chemical" is not a dirty word except to those that are wrapped up in the green movement's hysteria and propaganda machine. Unlike chemical fertilizers that are required by law to list their contents, you really don't know what's in organics. Also, if organics didn't contain chemicals (salts) they would be of no value to the plant. Here's an interesting ditty: http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Chalker-Scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/Myths/Organic%20superiority.pdf

For the best results, provide organics for their slow release properties and use chemical tweeks.

Uncle Ben said:

There's a misconception about the superiority of organics. "Chemical" is not a dirty word except to those that are wrapped up in the green movement's hysteria and propaganda machine. Unlike chemical fertilizers that are required by law to list their contents, you really don't know what's in organics. Also, if organics didn't contain chemicals (salts) they would be of no value to the plant. Here's an interesting ditty: http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Chalker-Scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/Myths/Organic%20superiority.pdf

For the best results, provide organics for their slow release properties and use chemical tweeks.

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Right on Ben. Nice read, I am trying to find the studies that showed basically the same thing, actually better results with the combination of the two.

Uncle Ben said:

There's a misconception about the superiority of organics. "Chemical" is not a dirty word except to those that are wrapped up in the green movement's hysteria and propaganda machine. Unlike chemical fertilizers that are required by law to list their contents, you really don't know what's in organics. Also, if organics didn't contain chemicals (salts) they would be of no value to the plant. Here's an interesting ditty: http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Chalker-Scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/Myths/Organic%20superiority.pdf

For the best results, provide organics for their slow release properties and use chemical tweeks.

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Ditto... this is exactly the road I'm going down now. Mixing organic and chemical media to get both sides of the coin - slow release, and quick-release when it's needed.

There's is not one tinker's damn worth of difference between a nitrate (NO3-) or an ammonium (NH4+) ion from an organic or chemical source. These ions are the level that plant nutrition functions on, and an ion is an ion. Whether the plant gets it from a nutrient solution or the spit of a microbeastie makes no material difference. And the extraction and development of organic materials for horticulture has huge environmental consequences that rival chemical production in oh so many ways - don't even get me started.

The WSU site UB listed is great -- an all-day read for real knowledge seekers.

Haha. Ben, its great to see you putting that site to good use. I made a thread awhile back promoting her myth section, but unfortunately no one even replied! Either Im not as popular as you, or most people on this site really could care less about increasing their knowledge and ultimately improving their harvest. Maybe I should have had you start that thread?

Uncle Ben has the source docs for alot of great shit... hopefully he will continue to post his links.... every time I search the net I wind up with some half baked advertising site ....

DaveCoulier said:

Haha. Ben, its great to see you putting that site to good use. I made a thread awhile back promoting her myth section, but unfortunately no one even replied! Either Im not as popular as you, or most people on this site really could care less about increasing their knowledge and ultimately improving their harvest. Maybe I should have had you start that thread?

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Must be your breath.

Yeah, thank's for the referral. I've spent alot of time on that site. It's excellent.

madcatter said:

.... every time I search the net I wind up with some half baked advertising site ....

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Kinda like that old song - "looking for love in all the wrong places, Looking for love in too many faces." Substitute cannabis forums for places and product labels/ads for faces.

what are the ramifications of mixing JACKS 10-30-20 WITH 30-10-10?

seasmoke said:

what are the ramifications of mixing JACKS 10-30-20 WITH 30-10-10?

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Perhaps a 20-20-15 if in equal amounts, halved?

Uncle Ben said:

Perhaps a 20-20-15 if in equal amounts, halved?

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Yes, that would be halved....what would full dose do?....a 40-40-30?