Return of the Jedi...

[Luke Skywalker]

In all likelihood yeah, that should be okay, as long as it's only got white oil in it. The thing about aerosols is they come out very cold, so when you use them I'd stand well, well back.... I'd even go so far as to say remove your light hood and globe if possible, (the globe alone should be okay, just cover the socket on the hood) before spraying...

 

The effects of using aerosols too close, (which most people do) is that the plant is essentially frozen, and turns to mush... or it will appear to be burned, which is what is essentially happening. Make sure you spray a looong way away from the plants, make it more of a clouding of the room itself, rather than spraying onto them.

 

Even then, I don't use em, as they tend to cost a heck of a lot more than a concentrate, and the problems with the aerosol usage I mentioned before. Just get yourself a 2 dollar spray bottle, and a 10 dollar bottle of the Yates Pest Oil... (Active Constituent : 839g/l Petroleum oil) Great stuff, and lasts for ages, as it's highly concentrated. I use it at the 15mL / L rate, just to be on the safer side... some plants take it better than others. Oh, and raise your light before spraying it on the plants too, not just for the protection of the bulb, but for the plants too... Keep light levels and temps as low as you can during treatment, anything over 35 could be really harmful to them. But your gr shouldn't be over 30 or so anyway, so this shouldn't be a problem. Still, it can make plants a little more sensitive to heat and light, so raise the lamp 10-15cm if possible, just for a day or so after spraying. And make sure you follow up, otherwise it's a waste of time. The eggs will simply hatch.

 

Do you know what the active ingredient is in the mortein you sprayed around? Just curious...

 

I'm sorry Pipeman, and I say this with the upmost respect, but I still think you're just wasting time trying to recover those plants in a dwc sys... Your "experiment" it would appear is already starting answering your hypothesis. Those plants will either die, or take forever to recover, and when they do they'll be quite sickly for the experience. MJ is tough, but not that tough. If you had transplanted into a media based system, even just a simple handwatered perlite sys, you may have gotten a recovery... As it stands, I don't think it's really going to work man, and you're just costing yourself time, money and effort. Course, you've always done what you thinks right, as we all should, but dude, I can't express my reservations about this more seriously. I don't know how others feel about it, but that's my humble opinion.

 

Oh, one more thing before I forget... If you're serious about a miticide and fungicide, and have problems with these insects getting into the grow, and you aren't going to be flowering and smoking them in the next month or two, then you can go with Wettable Sulphur. This is about as good a solution to mites and fungal problems as you can get.... And it's something that isn't systemic, and lasts for ages. The downsides are you should never apply to flowering plants, well, uless you aren't going to harvest for at least a month and have the ability to rinse them off regularly before harvest... (even then, this stuff can stick into flowers and be harmful if smoked, so is best used in veg growth, or at latest turnover to 12:12...) Mites can't stand it, nor can most fungus and molds, and it provides a good level of protection against other surface sucking insects. You should also make sure temps are as cool as possible, and as with all insecticides/pesticides you should do a test on a small part of the plant first, just to make sure there is no problems. Some strains are more delicate than others, and some just can't handle it, and need very low temps to tolerate, so test first... it can mean the difference between getting rid of insects, or getting rid of plants.

 

Whew... well, I hope that speil has helped you out mate

[pipeman]

no worries mate, just relax. you care more about my plants than I do

[Luke Skywalker]

... hee hee... ::

[pipeman]

Do you know what the active ingredient is in the mortein you sprayed around? Just curious...

 

hey Luke, according to the can, 0.7g/kg Imiprothrin and 2.0g/kg Cypermethrin

[Luke Skywalker]

Just did a quick tox search, it's not the nicest spray, but it's passable... So long as you don't smoke them in the next month or so. (that's the witholding period for Cypermethrin on food crops, I tend to double them, so I wouldn't be touching em for about 2, but it's up to you.)

 

The other one, Imiprothrin has a fairly resistant half life, particularly in soil, of around 30 days... So once again, I'd be leaving it a loooong time before smoking any product from plants directly exposed to it.

 

Still, like I said before, it's up to you really... I'm just an insecticide safety nut, I dunno, if I'm gonna grow the stuff I may as well make sure it hasn't got harmful pesticides in it.

[pipeman]

hey thanks again Luke. Its good to have someone on hand that knows about this stuff. There's no soil obviously, and it will be at least 2 months before I harvest anything from this lot. Probably 3-4 months is more like it. If ever, I've just discovered I'm relocating, so I may have to ditch this grow anyway.

 

On a side note I find it interesting that you are so careful about chemicals amd insecticides for health reasons, but then have no problem firing up the ol' billy and filling your lungs with dirty carcinogenic smoke. doesn't make sense to me personally. whadaya reckon?

[Luke Skywalker]

There's a large difference between the effect on your lungs from a home grown tobacco crop smoked and tobacco you get from a packet of cigarettes with it's myriad of additives, neh? They'll both kill ya, but at least you'll know what did it. And at least it's not going to poison you, your children, their children and every generation afterward... Lot's of these substances regularly sprayed on food and other crops for human consumption are renowned for being carcinogenic, and they last a loooooong time in the eco-system. We're still dealing with DDT and it's byproducts, and we will be for a very long time to come.

 

I understand the point tho... I suppose for me it's mostly about control over my grow, I figure if you don't need to use em, and lets face it, there's more that's not known about these pesticides than is actually known, then I don't see why I should pollute the stuff... Yeah, I smoke it, but hey, at least I don't smoke mortein or other potentially harmful substances too...

 

Well, aside from the smokes... It is hypocritical, but then again, what isn't? :)

[pipeman]

yeah all true. we all have our little philosophies in life and at the end of the day its just impossible to be dead set rational about everything, and if you try you'll just go crazy. I was just interested to see what your take on it was

[Luke Skywalker]

No worries Pipeman, always happy to oblige... (I'm sure it will come to bite me in the ass some day... )

[tabbycat]

Skywalker.. your advice and knowledge on transplanting soil to hydro esp. from bubblers to medium-based is so spot on ... i'll remember it as a number one rule when i'm thinking about the easiest and less stressful way to transplant. My experience from transplanting fully rooted clones out of a bubbler into perlite/vermiculate was a disaster - too much of a change in oxygen availability/environment. I now just probably do what you do... wait for the clones to just show roots out of their cube and transplant... there ready to go and growth starts right away.... havn't done trimming the roots but fully understand your concepts. Anyway, nice one!

 

Question: I've had a just rooted clone in a bubbler system for a week in flower... roots are just showing out of the bottom of the basket but just.... the clone has stretched quite a bit so has shown some growth.... i'm wondering if it's a waste of time... will it ever grow a proper root structure without vegging it for atleast a week or two first.... i've got a spare mother of the same clone in a bubbler setup with fairly good/healthy root structure... should i ditch the current clone with barely any root structure and throw in the mum... would be easy to transplant because its already in a small basket and would fit into a larger one... the mum would also go straight into flower as its using light from main room which was clicked near two weeks ago... its just sort of an experiment on the side so doesn't matter too much if it's put in late.

 

Have fun with your grow dude, much respect for your attitude

 

Peace.