The best way to grow Auto's in a Greenhouse???

[Bayleaf]

Can you take some panes out of the GH to give yourself a breeze?

[growinggold]

Love this thread, also have quad grows in my gh will definitely stick couple autos in em enxy year for sure after seeing this. How is the smell?

[inapond13]

Thanks for popping by guys.

 

 @growinggold  The smell isn't a concern to me.  A little bit of a whiff from time to time but nothing to concern the neighbours.  The quadgrow is great and if all plays out will definitely be repeating next year.  I noticed your quadgrow a couple of weeks ago and thought back to myself last year only growing tomatoes in it.  Will check back to see how your grow is getting on.

 

@Bayleaf I already have 2 x 12" fans oscillating on 24/7, and with the dehumidifier it doesn't make any sense to take out the windows.  I've grown here for the last 10 years and have more fans on backup if needed.  Also a heater for when it gets cold.

[inapond13]

@growinggold  maybe it wasn't you, but I saw someone had a quadgrow on the forum with non cannabis plants in them???

[growinggold]

Yeah I have heated polycarb greenhouse  full of veggies and 2 northern lights autos in 12l flower pots. Think I will look to do couple next year in the quad grow. I've got 2 melons in the corner just doing nothing atm which kinds sucks wish is had replaced them sooner. This is my first year indoor and our so not schooled on the dreaded molds tbh. I've got an electric heater /fan on the floor and auto vents so hopefully it will be okay, it get majority of the sun but is blocked for few prime hours hope will it be okay other veggies seem to be doing well I'll up days the greenhouse diary this week and tag you. Regards my indoors I've be fussing them to much with overwatering and nutes so really trying to wind it in, quads may also help with this. 

[growinggold]

This is the heater and fan I'm using Bio Green PAL 2.0/GB 2KW Palma Heater with Digital Thermostat, will I need more floor standing? Also keen to know more about predators bugs are they expensive, where is best to get them?

Edited July 26, 2020 by growinggold

[inapond13]

12 hours ago, growinggold said:

This is the heater and fan I'm using Bio Green PAL 2.0/GB 2KW Palma Heater with Digital Thermostat, will I need more floor standing? Also keen to know more about predators bugs are they expensive, where is best to get them?

I have the same heater and it really works well in my 8 x 10' greenhouse.  Floor standing?  Sorry not quite sure what you mean?

 

I like to err on the side of caution when it comes to red spider mite and purchasing predator bugs.  I have been burned by these in the past.  I received my first delivery of Amblyseius andersonii about 10 days ago.  I haven't seen any RSM but for £18.50 for 20 packs from fleabay, it is a no brainer to me.  I have spread them over my cannabis, tomatoes and cucumbers.  I usually also get Phytoseiulus Persimilis Predatory Mites for a similar price but haven't purchased any yet this year.  I probably will when my photo period plants start to flower in September.

 

Please tag me in your next diary update  @growinggold

 

I have stopped worrying about hours of sun.  Look at all the shitty weather we have had this year and my plants are still growing.  Yes, more sun would be better but we get what we get.  I get direct sun from morning til about 4pm on my greenhouse but I have a massive Eucalyptus tree right next to my greenhouse that blocks a lot of that.  The shadow of the 60cm diameter trunk provides some shading to my plants throughout the day.  Not ideal but my plants still grow.

 

Been out to check the stats at 8:30am this morning while it is torrential rain - RH at 64% and temp at 18.5°C.  I'm pretty happy with that as outside is 100% RH.

[Socksnsandals]

@growinggold If you search for red spider mite predators a lot of uk vendors will come up (and though they don't give a warning "this site may contain disturbing images" they all have horror pics of infested plants).  The dragonfli website has a discussion about potential sequencing of predators as some will be happy in lower temperatures and some can live on pollen if there are no mites whereas others won't tolerate cold or absence of food etc. We used to get them for non-weed plants but I cannot remember where.  A good dose of them usually costs about the same as a pack of seeds.

 

This year, my first in a greenhouse rather than in the garden I have been lucky as it has been fairly humid (which they don't like) though that has brought the risk of mould.  Also, with a greenhouse in its first year there were no overwinter sleeper cells of mites ready to emerge when conditions suit them.  You'll see that those who have had RSM in the past like the OP (sorry thread hijack) will usually buy predators before they see any sign of them since they will be lurking somewhere and, similar to the strategy to control the current virus, in order to prevent unstoppable exponential growth you need to hit them when the numbers are low so that your predators have a chance of keeping up, both by eating the mites and by reproducing themselves so that their numbers surge along with the mites.  As I'm sure you know, do not try releasing predators on plants which you have sprayed with conventional pesticides in the last week or more as the RSM are usually highly resistant but the predators are not, so they will emerge, hungry and lean for the kill only to be destroyed by the residual failed chemical warfare agents on the battlefield.  

[inapond13]

@Socksnsandals great comment.  The Amblyseius andersonii that I have currently are a type that will eat pollen when no RSM are around.  When I purchase Phytoseiulus Persimilis, they usually come with a few RSM in the pack as that is what they were being fed while being bred.  The best Phytoseiulus Persimilis I ever purchased was from a breeder that bred them and supplied them on bean leaves.  Vermiculite is more common but the bean leaves were amazing.  They had the predators at all stages of development from eggs to adults.  Unfortunately the lady breeder retired to look after her sick husband.

[growinggold]

Great I will certainly look into them, when I get some time for a good read, so hectic atm. Got bit trimming and planting upto do in my indoor spaces atm. 

 

Wth regars floor standing I meant fan sorry I missed the word out. 

 

Do you use the digital thermometer thing, I'm tempted to use this on another project and just have it set to Manual I've read reviews on Amazon of people saying this is better. 

[inapond13]

@growinggold Floor standing fans would be fine and probably ideal, especially if you only have the floor to sit them. 

 

I am using 2 x 30cm Box Fans on speed 1 and constantly oscillating that are on my potting shelf at about waist height.  They look like this:

 

 

I also have 2 x Honeywell Turbo Force fans that are currently not being used.  They look like this:

 

 

Later in the year when my photo-period plants are in their final positions and flowering, I'll position these Honeywell fans on the floor with their blast directed up through the plants.  This has worked well in the past.

 

I actually purchased my temperature control after my heater and planned to just use the manual control on the heater, but found the added functionality of the separate thermostat more accurate and definitely useful.  The temperature control I purchased is a 'Inkbird 220V Digital Heating Temperature Controller Greenhouse Thermostat Heat Mat Thermostat Reptile Thermostat with Cycle Timer NTC Probe'  It has a few extra features but I essentially use it in the exact way your one works.  I used the heater a little early on in the season but don't plan on using it again until at least September, hopefully longer if it warms up a bit

[AutoAberdeen]

My dehumidifier tank was full so it had gone off. Emptied and the humidity read 80. Got it back on in conjunction with the trusty Dyson hot + cool, an hour later it was down to 45. The rain overnight and all day today is annoying when I’m trying to get my auto to finish.   

[Socksnsandals]

I've set up my dehumidifier with a piece of tubing so that it drains outside the greenhouse, or if you have a soil floor then you could drain inside as it would soak in and a small patch of water won't make much difference compared to the large area of damp soil in the pots or the leaf area of the plants.  Main issue is that the warmth it produces (23 degrees in the GH with it on last night) means that in the current mild weather the roof vents would open allowing all the nice dry warm air to escape and drawing in cold damp air from under the base, so I unscrew the openers in the evening.

[AutoAberdeen]

@Socksnsandals I’ll have a look for some spare hose pipe and stick that on the drain. I’m amazed at how quickly the Meaco works in the greenhouse. Will definitely show in the electric bill but I’m sure it’s a lot less than if I did an indoor tent grow!

[Socksnsandals]

@AutoAberdeen I suppose that the dehumidifier is only having to deal with a small volume of air as the greenhouse is the size of a box room or optimistic sized bedroom.  My one won't work if you just attach a hose; it has to go through the hole in the top of the reservoir which has to be in place (a safety measure to stop a poorly fitting hose from allowing water to leak out onto the floor in the house, as any leakage would go into the reservoir and ultimately trigger the off-float).  I found that the hose for a gas regulator for a BBQ or camping stove fits through the hole in the reservoir and is the correct internal diameter for the water outflow pipe.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Socksnsandals