Mildew? Mildew!

[RubySlippers]

I watered my Papaya last night and this morning noticed some white powder on a couple leaves. Humidity was high (65%). I vented the tent a teeny bit but I just got rid of a few moths and a gnat infestation so I'm trying to keep the bugs out. The plants are very bushy so there are many MANY leaves that touch each other. Anyway, what do you think? Mildew?

I just took the plant out of the tent and the fabric pot clearly has mildew on the sides. The tutorial says to spray the plants with Neem diluted 4 taps/gal. I have the re-constituted stuff (not the concentrate). Is it safe to use for mildew as I have it? And is it ok to spray the outside of the cloth pots with it? Thanks so much!

[alltatup]

Ruby, Nebula says (4 teaspoons per gallon of water) for Neem oil. You go girl, get rid of it long before it can mess with your flowers!!! Wherever the mildew is, spray and KILL it.

[RubySlippers]

Thanks, atu! All done! I'll keep a closer eye on them from here!

[alltatup]

Keep that air circulating, keep an eye on the humidity; but you know that now!! So glad you caught it long before buds!!!!!

[oldjarhead100]

Ruby you will have to spray every 10 to 14 days until about 6 weeks into harvest . if you increase your cal/mag with some omino acids it will help your plants leafs grow thicker cells than the wpm can get through . sorry for your troubles, also incresing the number of fans to keep air moving will help. I think I have 6 6 inch fans in my 5x5 room .I tried bigger fans but they move to much air for the girls

[DrPhoton]

You have somehow stumbled upon one of the biggest breakthroughs in plant biostimulants. Combining calcium with amino acids, increases the uptake of calcium. From memory, calcium is importent for the synthesis of pectin. Pectin is a polysacharide which is used as a structural material for cell walls. Increasing the uptake of calcium, improves the cellular wall structure, allowing for better prevention of pathogens that attempt to break through plant matter to reach the interstitial tissue. The interstitial tissue where the water resides, is where pathogens try to reach to continue their life sustaining process, this is why strengthening the cell wall with increased calcium uptake works so well. Pathogens die before they can reach this area and continue spreading.

Where did you find this information from ?

[oldjarhead100]

Dan I believe I got that info from Harley Smith one of those things that you store in the back of your head(actually I don't store them they just get dumped in and now and then one will pop out lol)the trouble I've had is trying to figure out the amounts with out hurting the plants so I do both. I like your explanation better, well written

[RubySlippers]

Thanks oldjarhead100
I'm assuming I need to spray the Neem oil on pretty much every leaf in the tent, even though I saw the wpm on just one plant?
I think part of the issue is that the plants are so bushy the topsoil isn't getting dried out. The humidity usually runs 55-65%. I've dealt with fungus gnats as well. I have a oscillating tower, one 10" and one suspended 4" fan. I'm planning on getting one more, but I'll have to suspend it from the ceiling, as I'm out of floor space. I have a few lower leaves that are yellowing, maybe due to lack of light. I did one big defol and I usually pluck a couple leaves here and there but it might be time for another big haircut. I plan to flip in the next two weeks but I want to make sure the ladies are healthy first.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[oldjarhead100]

so Ruby I included this picture of my room to show my oscillating 6 inch fan lol thats it hanging in front without the clip on, I tie a string on it to keep from damaging the electrical cord. I find it will really get moving all over the place, Iv'e tried bigger fans but they seem to produce to much airflow so I stick to the 6 inchers , Now in my new room I will install a couple of bigger fans on a speed reducers, the important thing is to get airflow to the whole plant

[RubySlippers]

I just realized that I must've seen a similar pic of your setup awhile back...I stole your hanging fan trick.
I really wish I had gone for the 5'x5' tent. Lesson learned. Below is a picture of my 4x4. As you can see, I am out of space. There's the oscillating tower in the back and a suspended 4" in front. It's hard to see the 10" fan on the floor on the left side.
Notice the yellow lower leaves on the front left plant. I'm guessing they're not getting any light, as the rest of it looks pretty good. I'm tempted to just remove those leaves. Thoughts on that? Seems like I defol a little bit every day and the fan leaves just spring right back. Anyway, thanks for sharing your pic. Are those dowels sticking up throughout your grow?
Thanks again, man. It help like yours that really makes growing possible for the rest of us.

[oldjarhead100]

they are pieces of bamboo but dowels would work no picture posted .so yesterday I was looking at the girls and I noticed some wpm on a few lower leafs ,My plan is to harvest top buds Monday spray neem oil on the lower, water with Molasses and give the bottom a week or so to ripen,and no where I found the wpm there is no fan blowing so gotta have the breeze. I was a wal-mart yesterday and saw they have neem oil concentrate ,I honestly don't know if re-constituted will work , I always mix with warm water and use it up or dump whats left after I spray

[RubySlippers]

oldjarhead100 I ended up seeing the wpm only twice, so I'm thankful for that! The Neem I have seems to do the trick. Sorry to hear about your situation. Sounds like you caught it early too!

Guess I forgot the picture! I started a new thread regarding my set up. I'm considering taking a plant out of the tent to let the others thrive.

[berrypilot]

🌱 Pretty plants! But it looks sooooooo bushy in there. No wonder your getting mold and the humidity is so high. The leaves at the bottom aren't getting any light at all, and the floor is in shadow. I bet the humidity in the play is close to 100%. If it were me I would give that plant a thorough plucking, and get rid of everything at the bottom and in the middle that isn't getting any light, and just making sure that leaves aren't laying on each other. One of my worst yields was when I let the plants be too bushy before flowering. The humidity was always too high even with the fan on blast and they also got not just powdery mold in veg, but also bud rot in flower I ended up losing my two best colas and one plant made my favorite bud ever, so it was pretty sad. But lessons learned! Defoliation tutorial.

Too bushy 🌿



The fact that they're so lush and beautiful means you are doing a really great job as a grower but they need you to shepherd errant plants when they go a little crazy. Some strains just go nuts with leaves, especially under a Metal Halide light (not sure if that's what you're using but that's what I was using). Making is to that each cola is well exposed will also help yields in the flowering stage! I bet if you removed a bunch of leaves the humidity would go down by 10% or more, and go down a lot in the plant canopy itself! 🌱

[oldjarhead100]

hey Ruby berrypilot is right you should trim up those girls it will help alot

[RubySlippers]

oldjarhead100berrypilot Thanks! This Is what they looked like this morning.
I've been defoliating on a regular basis, and the plants keep filling in the places I trim. When I'm looking for leaves to remove, I'm usually looking for fan leaves that are touching others or that are covering bud sites. After that I remove one of almost any paired fan leaf. Is this a good way to do it? How big should I let fan leaves get before removing them? I've read the tutorial a few times but I don't recall this being addressed. Maybe it doesn't matter? I've also been removing anything growing on the lower third or spindly stems that don't look like they'll yield much. Thanks for your advice!

[berrypilot]

I've been defoliating on a regular basis, and the plants keep filling in the places I trim.

🌱 Some plants are just like this! It can feel like a constant battle! I feel like it's worse for Indica strains. For some reason Sativa plants don't seem to do this as much. But their problem is they grow a lot of stem and get super tall really fast 🌱

When I'm looking for leaves to remove, I'm usually looking for fan leaves that are touching others or that are covering bud sites. After that I remove one of almost any paired fan leaf. Is this a good way to do it?

Perfect! 👌

How big should I let fan leaves get before removing them? I've read the tutorial a few times but I don't recall this being addressed. Maybe it doesn't matter?

Hmmm. I try to wait until they're bigger, maybe 4+ inches? With long stems. I've heard someone say hand-sized before. I'm not sure if it makes a difference, I hope someone adds to that. 🍃

I've also been removing anything growing on the lower third or spindly stems that don't look like they'll yield much. Thanks for your advice!

I think the bottom is good now. But the middle still looks too bushy. If you can't see light coming through at all I think that means you need less leaves. If it were me, I'd really be making sure to get the middle just to prevent mold. The leaves around the edges are a lot less likely to get white powdery mold since they get air.

The only other thing I want to add, is I've recently been reading about a new defoliation technique, where you remove the leaves as you normally would but you make sure to leave all the "growth tips" because that's where the bud sites are. So just make sure you're not picking that off. The benefit is you'll still get little baby nugs down there, and the plant won't be wasting any extra energy on leaves down there, so you aren't stealing from the top colas.

I copied this from the website so you can see:



I found I got better yields after I started doing this.

Does anyone else have input on that? 🌱

[oldjarhead100]

Berry you are right in your thinking but I remove the lower growth tips as well if you leave a lower growth tip then the plant will try and grow it that takes energy from the mother thus lowering yield

[berrypilot]

🌱 Yes, only for the parts of the plant that still get light.🌱

[RubySlippers]

Thanks for all your help! I removed the bottom growth and followed Sheesh's advice about trimming leaves with .5 " stem. Bud sites are going crazy, but I have some nutrient deficiency going on. I needed to start flowering last week, so I'm scrambling to get it under wraps. I'll be posting pictures in a new thread shortly, if you're interested. Thanks again!

[oldjarhead100]

momma this is a picture of one of my girls you can see how thin and scragly she looks and she did just fine . doing all of this does not keep you from getting WPM but it helps some strains are prone to it . so I harvested some yesterday and on the lower bud there was wpm. on leafs that had no fan blowing on them so air flow is crucial everywhere I had fans blowing was good .Im thinking about a couple of tower fans to make sure the bottom /middle of room is covered. It definitely is a battle but one you can win.

[Sheesh]

I've grown 4 Papaya's inside and they grew very bushy with real tight distances between nodes. Defoliation is the key for sure. Here is my opinion I posted a few weeks ago on a different thread:

Here's my opinion: Strategically remove fan leaves that block bud sites. Try to only take one fan per pair. Don't remove any fans until they have .5 inches stem. If the strain is indica with fat leaves, remove more than a Sativa with thin leaves. If the plant has very tight node spacing, you may need to take more than if the nodes are separated a lot. Remove fans and growth on the lower portions of the plant. Make sure there is good airflow through the plant. Look at the plant from the top at a few angles. You should be able to see the base of the plant through the canopy but not a gaping hole. Those are my thoughts. Others have more and less aggressive methods. Find what works for you and remember you can always remove more leaves later but you can't put them back on . Oh yeah, see GWE for a good article on defoliating.

[RubySlippers]

Thanks so much, Sheesh. My plants have been thinned out and are looking great for the most part!