2021 Small greenhouse and garden grow

[Socksnsandals]

Greetings peeps.

 

 

Test of dehumidifier screen.  I leave the triangular bit at the top in place and will add the rectangular sections when dehumidification is needed as the buds form.  Tomato blight in the garden as the weather has been so humid. Am training the ?SS to the R away so it doesn't touch the screen, although some touching of the sides of the space is inevitable as the plants are in the far 2 feet of the greenhouse.  Dehumidifier will keep humidity down. 

 

 

 

Flowering well under way for the ?SS and starting for the ESxS.  Have stopped training as there is plenty of room for vertical growth but not much for horizontal.

 

 

S6 outside.  Plague of baby snails has been eating the oldest fan leaves at the centre which is no big deal.  I pick the snails off every morning.  Mice eat any slug pellets.  Am easing off the training as it goes into pre-flower and will let multiple vertical shoots grow.  Now that the poppies have gone brown it is not going to get any less stealthy if it grows a couple of feet taller.

 

If I had left it alone it would have the characteristic weed shape and probably be 5 - 7 feet tall without the growth restriction resulting from topping, some breakages and pruning.  Trying to grow it in a fan shape adds complexity since even if you stop it growing vertically, it still wants to grow as a disc so next year I may top at the 2nd internode and plant in the centre of its plot, training it into a disc.

 

That's all for this week folks!

[Socksnsandals]

Greetings Peeps.

 

 

Well, after making the screen I didn't deploy it and the dehumidifier early enough.  In retrospect the amount of fungal growth in the garden, with tomato blight and a host of other plants like sunflowers and dahlias showing foci of blight should have made me extra-cautious about the in-greenhouse plants.  One night mould hit a few of the colitas (on what I thought originally was a SS auto but can't be as it is clearly a photo).  I chopped this, the top colita off and decided to leave the remainder and see if dehumidifying would arrest the fungus given that it has to have high humidity to continue grow.  

 

 

Here the ESxSativa to the L and the other to the R.  Have been using screen and dehumidifier to keep the rh to less than 60%, only at night for the last few days but am keeping both in place today as we have poor weather with high humidity and thunderstorms.  Rh is 67% at 23C inside the house.  The bud rot has completely regressed with the affected areas going brown and crispy and the areas beyond those continuing to grow fine so I probably didn't have to sacrifice the top colita.  No mould on the ESxS.  It was later to flower so I don't think the buds were as dense to allow the fungus to get a hold. 

 

With the screen in place the dehumidifier only has to work on the last section of the greenhouse, a (deliberately imperfectly sealed) area of approx 60 cubic feet with a soil floor. I set it to 50% humidity and the lowest fan speed.  It is on pretty continuously using about 500w = 8p an hour, initially only overnight but today during the day as well.  The water it collects exits via a pipe under the greenhouse base.

 

Will be interesting to see what the temperature rises to as there is intermittent sun and ofc I have disabled the auto-louvres in that part of the greenhouse to stop the dry air being replaced by humid air, though there will be a small and necessary amount of air exchange.  Because rh drops as the temperature rises, the dehumidifier should shut off when the rh drops to 50%, either because it has extracted the water or because the sun has pushed the temperature in the greenhouse high enough to make the rh drop.  When the dehumidifier turns off it will stop heating the air.  I may experiment with putting plastic sheet on the soil in the dehumidified zone to reduce evaporation but will have to keep an eye out for slugs which would love a sweaty plastic covered soil, though they probably wouldn't venture out into dry air.

 

 

S6 getting into flower.  Still picking off and squashing occasional baby snails each morning.  There are usually about half a dozen common green shield bugs (Palomina prasina) on it.  They just seem to like hanging out there and are not obviously feeding as they do not appear to have their mouthparts in contact with the plant, though they do live on sap.  The RHS website says that they don't cause significant damage so I leave them to enjoy the cheesy smell.  All the poppies are dry. I am leaving the bolting Rocket as the bees like the yellow flowers and it provides a visual distraction which a bare area around the S6 would not.  No sign of mould.  My S6 in the garden last year did not suffer from mould.

 

That's all for now folks!

[Socksnsandals]

PS. Reading about tomato blight caused by Phytopthora infestans, a fungus-like oomycete in the alga family which caused the Irish potato famine.... they say that blight can be predicted with a high degree of certainty when the temperature is between 10-24C with relative humidity of >75% for 48hrs+ or, a relative humidity of at least 90% for 10 hours a day for 8 days.  I think that both sets of conditions were met in the greenhouse during the weeks-long cool spell we had until last weekend. 

However the fungi which cause bud rot are separate from the oomycetes; if interested see this paper from the Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology, which has great pictures of fungal diseases of cannabis including electron micrographs: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07060661.2018.1535467 

Edited September 9, 2021 by Socksnsandals
Added reference

[Socksnsandals]

Greetings peeps.

 

No pics today as little change (and I forgot to take them but will post some next week!) but only four updates:

 

1) I'm leaving the dehumidifier on 24/7 atm and it seems to be doing the trick.  All rot areas which I did not remove are now crispy and pale brown.

 

2) Putting polythene sheet on the soil has worked fine, with a little condensation beneath.

 

3) Plants inside and out are developing as expected.

 

4) An interesting and cautionary discovery when preparing some food this evening:  I feed my plants in coco and the plants in the soil in the greenhouse with a commercial three-bottle feed suitable, in different dilutions, for either hydroponic/coco or a soil watering/feeding regimen.  The three bottles contain different concentrations of N-P-K and one dilutes different amounts from each bottle in water depending on what stage your plants are at, from first leaves to flower so that when diluted in the correct ratios the different quantities of NPK (and trace elements) in the bottles are optimised for the stage at which the plants are at.  Today, when lifting the bottle of 5-0-1 concentrate, I heard a gravelly noise and realised that some of the mix had crystallised (given the N-predominant ratio, probably a nitrate).  That means that whatever had crystallised (likely the nitrogen containing component) was no longer present in the supernatant and therefore the liquid concentrate you draw off would be lacking in that element.  Now, in soil there is a degree of compensation from the nutrients available in the soil, but in coco or hydroponics they would be lacking.  I heated the bottle in the microwave (having expelled air to make space for expansion) and the gravelly noise reduced after shaking, implying that some of the crystals had dissolved, but will be more careful in future to ensure that any crystals are re-dissolved prior to usage. 

 

That's all for now folks!

[Socksnsandals]

Greetings peeps.

 

 

The dehumidifier screen has been up and the dehumidifier on continuously (it downcycles when the humidity drops below about 45%).  Although I feared RSM in the now dry and warm environment because the dehumidifier keeps it above about 17c even at night, there has been no outbreak.  ES x S on the left upper buds fattening up nicely.  SS (which can't be as it is a photo) still stretching and not fattening much.  

 

 

Here is a section of the SS (not) which was affected by bud rot showing how it totally resolves when the humidity is brought down, with the affected sections of bud just shrivelling away while the plant continues happily.  In retrospect I needn't have cut off the top cola which was worst affected.

 

 

ES x S buds getting fatter.

 

 

S6 outside.  Oldest fan leaves near (trained) stem to centre left of photo being skeletalised by baby snails.  I pick off several every morning.  

 

That's all for now folks!

[Socksnsandals]

Greetings peeps.

 

 

Plants in dehumidified section of greenhouse progressing fine.

 

 

SS (not) still not fattening up but stretching.

 

 

ESxS fattening.

 

 

Last year I chopped my S6 outside at about the 10th of October.  This one has further potential but 1) there have been a couple of small foci of bud rot 2) the weather forecast is not good and 3) with the two plants in the greenhouse and the autos grown earlier there will be far more than I need for the year ahead so have decided to chop the whole plant before this afternoon's rain arrives.

 

That's all for this week folks!

[SubSpecies]

Lookin fantastic!! You have really looked after those girls, your reward gonna be abundant and well deserved! Big respects Sir!!

 

Jah Bless bro

[Roofless won]

Socks, the s6 outside, do you mean chop and harvest or chop and dispose? The reason I ask is because I've had to chop most of my plants early for a variety of reasons - and early harvested bud is really trippy with occasional paranoia thrown in - at least in my experience - and that s6 looks quite immature, I would be terrified of smoking that

[Revive]

Great work @Socksnsandals its mission accomplished if you have enough to stay self sufficient until the next season comes around.

Enjoy the fruits of your labour squire 

[Socksnsandals]

On 30/09/2021 at 1:08 PM, Roofless won said:

Socks, the s6 outside, do you mean chop and harvest or chop and dispose? The reason I ask is because I've had to chop most of my plants early for a variety of reasons - and early harvested bud is really trippy with occasional paranoia thrown in - at least in my experience - and that s6 looks quite immature, I would be terrified of smoking that

 

Chop for harvest because of a couple of foci of bud rot and bad weather coming that day.  Thanks for the warning!

[Socksnsandals]

Greetings peeps.

 

 

First the ESxS.  As I expected, the warm dry environment day and night due to the dehumidifier has allowed the RSM to get going with webs but not worth treating with predators as the RSM won't cause too much trouble prior to the harvest.  Today took most of the larger, higher colitas from this.  Trichromes look clear. 

 

 

This mystery plant is stretching more and more, with little fattening of the buds so far.  Seems to be relatively spared the RSM which are well established on the ESxS at left of picture. 

 

 

Closer pic of the mystery strain's flowers.  Do y'all think they'll fatten up or not?  Is this a very sativa phenotype and if so, is this what to expect?  I don't really want to run the dehumidifier 24/7 if this is not going to finish fairly soon. 

 

Thanks everyone, that's all for this week folks!

Edited October 7, 2021 by Socksnsandals
Got right and left mixed up... oops.

[OldFord]

Coming along very nicely ,  loving the segmented greenhouse idea and may need to pilfer & adapt to suit my needs.   

 

As for the mystery girl , you taken her this far .... may as well keep pushing as long as shes happy & healthy      

 

All the best sir

[Crow River]

Excellent grow. There must be a pungent aroma in your greenhouse these days!  

 

 

[Socksnsandals]

Greetings peeps!

 

 

This week I harvested the few remaining lower branches on the S6 which remained outside and the remainder of the ESxS in the greenhouse.  That leaves just the mystery plant which continues to stretch and produce new flowers with trichromes aplenty on the ?pistils but little fattening or frostification of the colas.  A puzzle.  I don't want to keep her going for weeks because I have plenty of bud already.  On the other hand, my padron peppers are enjoying the warmth which leaks out from the partitioned area. 

 

Because the ESxS is no longer occupying its spot I have further subdivided the greenhouse with polythene which now extends diagonally from the end of this section of screen to the back of the greenhouse at the R hand side of the central louvred third, reducing cold damp air ingress and leaving a space for the dehumidifier as you can see.  I fixed another piece of wood against the frame and have used drawing pins to keep polythene in place with some tape at the top to keep it sealed against the roof.  So far the mystery plant does not seem to mind the warm dry air blowing up just next to it.  As the dehumidifier only has to dehumidify a small space it is switching on and off as it is designed to do (and saving some electricity!).

 

Thanks to all for your input.  @OldFord yes, I have found partitioning easy and effective and am pleased that you plan to copy my innovation!  Were I to do it again I would make three equal-sized upright sections and one the depth of one 2 foot greenhouse section (or 4 foot if you want to use a double depth) so that with only one plant, as now, I could put a partition perpendicular to the current one rather than fiddling with drawing pins every couple of days when I inspect the plant.  Of course, partitioning only works with a dehumidifier as one would get severe bud rot in a day or two as the humidity would be 95%+ since there is no ventilation apart from air leakage around the deliberately imperfectly sealed partition.

 

Lessons from this year and preliminary thoughts for next year:

 

1)  In April/May a few autos in pots in coco to train and move around the garden as this year to give an early guaranteed crop.

2)  Another S6 outside, but placed centrally in its plot, topped at the 2nd or 3rd internode and trained radially in a circle rather than trying to make a fan shape. 

3)  I am impressed with the ESxS as it grew vigorously and flowering proceeded fast and finished fast.  I will do one or perhaps two of those in the far end of the greenhouse, topping very early and training each into two vertical branches or not topping but bending the whole plant over to promote growth of side branches whilst limiting height.  Alternatively, just one big plant centrally in the far end without topping but training the side branches horizontally using weights.

4)  As soon as a heatwave is forecast or at any sign of the likelihood of RSM I will order the predator mites although they were very effective this year even when I left it a bit late and the RSM were numerous.

5)  Likewise, I will keep a keen eye out for bud rot and erect the partition and start dehumidifying at night if it seems likely.

6)  My experience with the dehumidifier stopping rot dead in hours means that in future I won't sacrifice any colas, just dehumidify; as you have seen it is highly effective and the affected areas just shrivel away with no impact on nearby unaffected areas.  They can be removed at the trimming stage. 

7)  When I am dehumidifying I will order some RSM predators.  The issue will be that they don't like a rh of <75% and are said to migrate to the bottom of the plant so perhaps some judicious misting will be required, odd as that seems.

 

All those plans depend on me being around and I want to go abroad for periods of a few weeks next year which would make greenhouse growing difficult, so my plans may come to nought!

 

That's all for now folks!

[Socksnsandals]

Greetings peeps!

 

The mystery photo about to be chopped.  I took off the fan leaves for the photo.

 

 

Still puzzled by this; it keeps putting on more slim flowers but they don't fatten and there is little sugardusting of the leaves amongst the flowers.

 

 

Closer photo.  Especially with COP on in Glasgow I don't want to keep running the dehumidifier for weeks and weeks for this plant so decided to call it a day.  Interesting that it was (until dehumidified) more susceptible to mould than the ESxS which had a much tighter flower structure.  Very little scissor hash on trimming.  

 

Right, that's all for this year folks!  Enjoy your growing / harvest. S&S