First Poly Carbonate Auto Northern Lights Grow

[Socksnsandals]

Sorry late to answer re the leaves (and a beginner so treat any opinion with a peck of salt).  I see the heater in the doorway.  You didn't use it just before the leaves changed?  When my dehumidifier outflow pointed at the tomato plants the leaves in the warm dry air curled and dried and when I moved it and the air hit a couple of fan leaves on my LJExpress for an hour or so they turned away from the barren ether... hmm, some of last year's HSO LJE vapours have just hit and not only am I getting the thesaurus vibe but need to listen to "Soulsearcher - Can't Get enough"... bye for today!

[growinggold]

hello all and @AutoAberdeen and @inapond13

 

With regards the leaves, i dont think its to do with the heater that plant is actually behind the other NL so it would be on both if it was the heater. Im airing on the side of to much nutes? hey ho first year growing anything in the GH so lets see how things go. I only got it put up at the start of 2020.

 

Also snapped some more photos for you all this afternoon. I started things quite early in prop.

 

Tomato varieties in the GH are: Black cherry (harvesting now), Gardners delight (harvesting now), Canestrino di Lucca, Alicante,  Money Maker (harvesting now)

Cucumber Varieties-  Ashley and market more. Not sure which is which i think ive been harvesting about 1 week for 6 week of the marketmore they are big and spiky. I think the ashley is long and smooth but i dont seem to have any of them. 

 

Cucamelon-  actually started these quite late, but have been growing well.

How much longer do they have left? ive never eaten or tried to grow these before was recommend them by a friend who had eaten /drank them in mexico

p.s you will have to look carefully to spot them

 

Crystal lemon cucumbers:

Again ive not eaten or grown these before so im not sure when when these will be ready to, im tempted to take few bright yellow ones now.

 

Chillis:

Big jim , Serrano Hidalgo and Thai hit

My biggest big jim is starting to turn red he will be picked and eaten soon i think, also harvest loads of the little green ones and had in salads.

Nothing harvest from thais or hidalgos though.

 

 

Melons: Growing heart of gold and Delicious. 

Can remember which is which. the ones i have in the quads have stalled and wish i had put sweet mary J in these spots now.

this one here in the bucket is the best with fruit on, not sure when to pick this tbh? does it look ready?

Think its heart of gold. 

 

 

Pepper Californian Wonder:

These seem to be coming along quite nice, in the quads and pots. Hoping they will turn red soon, have harvested one green one and had this with a salad. Was lovely.

Can see something is eating the leaves here? :/ not sure what though.

 

Also finally this guy is about? is he a pest? hopeful he is on my side. grr.

 

 

I got all my veg seed from moreveg website and its all been great tbh! cant knock em, will order from them again for sure.

Also the quad grows and chillis grows have top notch i love them! I got the chilli grow on offer for only £10! 

 

Get on that poly tunnel @AutoAberdeen

 

Thanks for the read all!

Take care, good growing!

[inapond13]

Great garden update.  I have cucamelons too but not set yet.  That spider is definitely a friend.  Every plant should have one

[inapond13]

Have you had many issues getting your cucamelons pollinated?  I've just been reading up on them.  At first I only had female flowers, so of course they didn't get pollinated and set.  I now have both male and female flowers but as the plants are in my greenhouse, not many bees and other insects get in.  My door and vents are open on warmer / drier days and closed on the wet ones.  I have just removed a tiny male flower and after peeling off the petals, attempted to hand pollinate a few females.  What has been your experience?

[Socksnsandals]

All UK (not Australian) spiders are good - perhaps the one you picture are keen on polycarbonate as I have several of that type in mine.  They had a field day when a flying ant nest erupted in flying ants about a month ago but last night there was a huge buzzy fly in there which blasted through their webs.  Can't help with the other questions but the capsicum family like peppers and chillies will ripen from green to red even when separated from the plant especially if kept in a bowl with tomatoes which release ethylene.  My tomatoes have taken over so much of the gh that I'm planning only to start them in there next year and then plant out, leaving the space inside for a few auto MJ like this year, sequential salad leaf sowings and a range of peppers which, unlike the tomatoes, will not do well outside unless we have an exceptional summer.  I have found a source of pimiento "padron" seeds which I will do lots of next year.  If y'all don't know these they are a classic Spanish tapas; green peppers about 2 inches long, fried in a little olive oil or grilled, with a little garlic and salt added near the end then eaten with the fingers whole including seeds when warm, discarding just the stem and flattish bit it inserts into.  The real ones have a Russian roulette element with about 1 in 10 being hot, but those sold (in all good supermarkets) never have hot ones which is a pity.

 

ETA - to pollinate you just need to touch the flower and then the others.  You will carry sufficient pollen on your fingertip to do the job.  Can use a paintbrush instead.

Edited July 30, 2020 by Socksnsandals

[growinggold]

Hello All,

 

So here we're @ day 55.

Just watered each 500ml., is this enough water? 

Mix of 1l made   1.5ml biobizz grow and 1.5ml biobizz bloom, is this enough? 

Really trying to not over water here and feel like im under watering now, dont seem to have any droop though. 

 

 

Plant 1. NL

Really starting to bud up this girl.

 

Plant 2- this was ropey one with sick leaves, these had died off load so ive nipped them off.

as you can see not so budey and has few orange/brown pistols.

 

Also installed a new water butt, right in time for heatwave. LOL.

Sir BodgesALot strike again, love the tape me.

Fingers crossed it holds.  Any other ideas on how to rig this would be much welcomed. 

thanks.

 

 

@inapond13 and @Socksnsandals as mentioned previously regards smells, as you can see from the pic below im quite overlooked and next door neighbours retired plod likes to sit where circled.  Which inst to far away (5m?), need to keep smell down. think id get away with 4?

 

 

OH and regards cucamelon, no issues with pollination its my only plant to, just left it to it.

And also the penny has finally dropped what i thought was a melon in the corner isnt, tuned out its crystal lemon cucumber. ha. idiot. 

Also shed grow is up and running now. LED has arrived and 3 photos are vegging must be 2 weeks now.

Edited August 7, 2020 by growinggold
veggies added

[growinggold]

Praying this bit sun the next few days really fattens them up. im minded to water them each morning.

ive only been watering once every week, so 3 times in total since they went in the greenhouse. 

[inapond13]

That plant that was sick looks like it may have some budrot on the main cola, I hope it's not but please check it out and remove the affected areas asap.

 

With an ex-copper sitting regularly in that area, I can see why you are worried.  I think that you are growing so many other things in your garden and greenhouse that it shouldn't be a problem.  Your garden and greenhouse just look normal.  As long as you you keep it similar to this year with plenty of cover plants, I think you will be fine.

 

500mls doesn't seem like much.  How do the pots feel?  Are they light or heavy?  I find weight is a great way to gauge water content of pots.  You obviously know how to grow plants, if your gut is telling you they are too dry, go with it and water them a bit more.  If your soil gets too dry, it can be difficult to get it moist again and also many of the roots may die if dry for too long.

[inapond13]

Regarding you water butt connection, mine are plastic pipe that is bonded into the aluminium gutter.  There are a few kits on fleabay, just need to find one to fit your gutter profile.  Other than that, tape is working for now   

[Socksnsandals]

@growinggold for smells I think only you can tell and we are all hypersensitive to it when growing.  Does he smoke (baccy)?  If so he may not have a good enough sense of smell for the relatively subtle one of a small grow.  Do you get on well with him?  If you do and he is retired, he may have no interest in making a pointless bust which would lose a good neighbourly relationship.  I have been surprised at how little smell my three plants produced outside the greenhouse but there are occasional wafts several m away especially on the lovely warm days like we are having down / along here atm when they are hot and all the vents and louvres are open.  Conversely the small LST'd Lemon Juice Express in a pot which moves around the garden following the sun (photo album) produces a fair bit of smell, perhaps partly because it is in full sun as much as possible and partly the disturbance of moving it about, plus, if we are sitting out in the sun it is likely to be nearby.  Re. watering - for plants in pots (in coco) I use shallow pot saucers and every morning I give water/nutrients appropriate for the growth stage into the saucer.  When they stop sucking up water I stop offering it.  Because the saucers are shallow that means they do not sit in water and if using deeper saucers one could always tip it out when they have had enough.  The other greenhouse plants would enjoy it.

[growinggold]

@inapond13 on closer inspection it was definitely bud rot, will have to be super aware of this, it's the first time I've ever seen it. Thanks. The fan is on most time although saying that its not on it directly it, it was the 2nd plant in the row. Next year this maybe an issue with a quad grow run. 

 

Waterbutt wise i'll await for this storm and reaccess after. I saw em on flebay but was like £16+ for adapter. 

 

@Socksnsandals I'd love the freedom to be moving pots all day, with garden which has no neighbors. The goal.  Yeah we get on well. I don't believe he smokes. I only vape so that keeps the pong down quite a lot, which I hope helps. 

 

 

 

[Socksnsandals]

On 08/08/2020 at 11:07 PM, growinggold said:

I'd love the freedom to be moving pots all day, with garden which has no neighbors.

 

@growinggold I only move a couple of small topped and trained plants (and I also move young peppers etc to get them going and to provide something I can show to the neighbours should they be interested).  Here is the Lemon Juice Express at day 71 just about to have the top 3/4 harvested.  Yield won't be huge but I enjoy doing the training and easy to move about.  Certainly smells though!  ETA - I only took the top off just above the ?4th internode and then trained the side shoots.  No other trimming at all.

 

Edited August 10, 2020 by Socksnsandals

[inapond13]

Try not to worry too much about the bud rot, a little is always to be expected and it can be for various reasons.  Just get good at inspecting your plants and spotting it early and removing the affected areas quickly.  That Lemon Juice Express looks great but also looks like it could go a little longer.  There appear to still be quite a lot of white pistils and those buds may get bigger yet?  Still, I can appreciate why you may want to harvest now.  Great grow

[Grover Sativa]

Check out this Violeta - unheated Polycarbonate lean-to (open at both ends). It is amazing what you can grow in the UK.

 

The plant is a Malawi x Purple Kush by ACE seeds.

 

 

[Grover Sativa]

The old Moungra AKA bud rot is just a fact of life when growing outdoors - especially in the greenhouse.

1) INCREASE AIRFLOW - That couldn't be more important. Open all the windows and vents and get rid of all that vegetable nonsense - it takes up valuable space and decreases airflow. The vegetable plants are vectors for pests and diseases - cucumbers are very prone to spider mite if under watered, for example. You could lose the veg, grow 1 extra plant in the space , sell the bud and buy a years' worth of cucumbers with the profit! Plus, the extra time you gain not having to tend them can be spent on your marijuana instead - much worthier! 

2) Water as early as possible. Don't ever water just before night, if possible. Early morning sunshine helps so if you can move your plants then put the maturing ones in a place where they get sun as early as possible

3) Tidiness helps a lot. Lose all the unnecessary dead leaves on the ground or any stuff like that.

4) Trim the lower and inner branches and shoots away, to aid airflow - there is a definite art in this but experience is very helpful.

 

Look-out for mould all the time in larger or more mature flower clusters. Tell-tale signs are a dead or dying leaf in the cola - it's petiole (leaf-stem) has rotted, which is why it has started to die. Does it pull away easily? If so, open the cola right there. It will be grey mould. Cut it out carefully and prepare to harvest as soon as you can.

If you can get power in your green house then small wall mounted fans work a treat but I can't repeat enough that the best way to fight mould is to select for tolerance by making your own seeds and selecting plants grown in that same environment.

 

Choose mothers that you like but also that are not susceptible to rot, to make seeds for next years crop - this should introduce an element of tolerance to your own conditions.. make your parental selections outdoors, rather than indoors, to make hardier plants for the next seed generation. When selecting for a seed run, don't pamper your plants too much - let them be exposed to the elements that you wish to introduce a tolerance to, so that you can select away the ones which don't have that tolerance.

I have 2 beautiful Panama females that I really like this year. 1 smells sweet and of vanilla and lemon, very much like Cheesecake. It is my favourite because of the particular aromas. The other really nice one is very similar but the aromas are more peppery and less vanilla. The terpene quality is similar in both females and actually, the flower quality is higher in Pepperface but none-the-less, I like Cheesecake.

I have crossed both to the same perfect Thai male but now, later in flowering, I have lost 2 larger buds on the Cheesecake Panama (to rot.) The Pepperface Panama has not suffered a single tiny piece of rot at all, despite being at the same stage and location as Cheesecake.

It is most definitely the Pepperface - Thai seeds that I will use first and not the Cheesecake Thai. If the Pepperface Thai seeds work, the Cheesecake Thai seeds will be discarded. Selecting for tolerance is so important.

If you buy your seeds then definitely choose varieties which are known to be bud-rot resistant.

Growing outdoors is a different beast to growing indoors. Especially here in the UK. It is quite specialist! Experience helps a lot.

I don't think you need a heater until well into September, unless you are growing super fussy or indoor varieties.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Grover Sativa