Well friends, its been a few weeks. Life got busy on me; nothing bad, just a bunch of little stuff that adds up to be incredibly time consuming.
Then I got spider mites in a flowering tent. Then I noticed them other places. After a mix of harvesting some plants early and moving things around, the best option I could come up with was to move the three remaining Pondo BX1s into a tent under short days. They were getting some size to them and some still hadn’t told me if they’re guys or gals… plus the logistics & space available (or unavailable) made it the only viable option.
I planted all six, one was a dud, two confirmed males. Out of what’s left, there is one probable female and two stubborn ones yet to give up their secret… labeled P1,P2,P3.
Good news is that the spider mite treatment is going well. I’m not seeing any activity but am treating every three days for another week to make damn sure they’re toast. That should coincide for when the stretch really gets going. I’ll do some pruning and training as necessary, but I like for the plants to tell me what they want to do first before I decide what shape to shoot for. I took cuttings of each in case the mites win this time… sometimes its better to clone your way out of a mess, but I think I’ve got 'em taken care of. On to the pictures… note: they’re all a little butt-hurt from the spider mite treatment and change in environment, but they’re taking it pretty well. I think we’ll be ok.
Three remaining.
P3 is probable female, node spacing staying pretty tight & seems to want to have a strong center. I may top this one.
P2 seems to want to have an even canopy all by itself, I may do a little low stress training here and help it even itself out.
P1 structure overall is in between P2 and P3, but leaning more towards P2’s shape, but it has some odd leaves. Extra leaflets here.
More weird P2 leaves.
Even more weird P2 leaves, this one has extra leaflets coming out above and below the others.
Other than all that, all is well. Maybe a bit of a setback & unplanned move to short days, but I think we’ll be ok. I’ve noticed a few burned areas from soapy water, but nothing serious. I’m seeing purple petioles and some slight purpling in the veins of a few leaves. Has anyone seen this in theirs or the parents? Trying to determine if I need to correct a slight P deficiency or if its genetic… or just a little sunburn (the bottoms of petioles and shaded ones are all nice and green)
Oh, and is anyone else seeing any of those weird leaves? Kinda cool lookin…
Cool looking leaves, @Ivy. I didn’t see this in the Ponderosa Pine and haven’t grown the bx1’s yet. Sorry to hear about the mites. Such a pain in the ass. I dealt with russets several years ago. The worst thing ever. I killed every plant in the house and went 8 weeks before starting again.
Yeah, @Hashpants! She’s looking 
Yeah man, mites a pain. I used to never get them, but they started popping up in the yard a few years back. I think they came in on a viburnum bush I picked up & got on some of my tropical plants outside and then went nuts in the greenhouse over the winter… then when I took the tropicals out in the spring, they were distributed around the yard. This year I’m going to buy some of those predatory mites for the greenhouse and try to breed a shit-ton of those in there over the winter… hoping to grow an army that’ll be unleashed the following spring.
Sometimes a full shut down is all you can do… but I think I’m winning this one. I’ve beat 'em before, I can do it again!
Wettable sulfur and water spray kills mites!
Pondo bx1 throwing pistils today . Maybe get a smoke report after all.
Thanks for the info. Ya know, I was just reading about that last week and picked up a pack… but then read about how not to spray it on anything that had any oil applied recently. I’ve been using insecticidal soap because its worked great for me before & the overspray can get all over the tent & floor & kill those little bastards that fell off. I’ve been alternating that w/ JPs MTA recipe every three days. That MTA has some oil it in… so I’m playing it safe but will try out the sulfur sooner or later…
Maybe next time around I’ll soap down the tent & take the ladies outside for a sulfur bath.
I gave 'em all new 5 gallon pots & soil & did some pruning, tying, shaping, and removed some of the lower growth (mite hiding places). I think they’re gonna make it. Despite the treatments & hasty changes they look like they’re taking it in stride. I’ll get some pictures put up when they get accustomed to their new training regime… I don’t wanna scare people w/ newly trained plants…you guys will think I beat them.
AAaaaand yours is lookin’ real good, as always.
Man , I had sulfur left over from when a fox got in our dogs heated beds outdoors. It killed the mites , cured the fox and kept them tick and flea free until now from one dusting of thier beds. Also that same 10 dollar bag has kept the cannabis clean so far.
Well damn, now you’re giving me ideas. Perhaps I’ll start the outdoor mite assault early, a late summer sulfur bombardment to soften up their positions before unleashing the predatory ground troops in the spring. You cant go wrong with a combined arms assault.
I wonder if it works on solicitors…
If you answer the door with the powder on your nose, maybe.
You can do a sulfur burn in the tent as well, but the fumes are very bad for people’s and animals.
Oh yeah, the old lady would love that. 
Unfortunately the tent is within living quarters. I blew the house out once with fish fertilizer and crab meal…stunk like low tide for a few days. I think smoking the house out with sulfur would end my growing hobby for good.
I lived in Wyoming for a bit and our well had loads of sulfur in it…not an odor, not a scent, just an overwhelming wave of unholy stench, it would fill the whole house… god almighty buddy… nothing worse than working your ass off all day and coming home to a nice warm rotten egg fart shower. I swear that showerhead was laughing at me.
Good to know, but I believe I’ll pass on any sulfur fumes. 
I have a house at Kiptopeake and the new well water is so strong sulfur, I don’t know how I’m even gonna shower there . I guess I won’t have to worry about armpit mites.
There’s ways to clean it up & downstream-from-pump treatments varying in price and complexity depending on whether you have hydrogen sulfide, sulfur bacteria, and how bad it is. It has been quite a while, so I can’t remember the details. My place was a rental and the owner wasn’t about to shell out any cash. Cold showers made it bearable… but cold showers in the Wyoming winter aren’t exactly a good time.
I get a slight odor here on the east coast from iron and sulfur bacteria. I have a 10micron poly cartidge filter followed by a 10 micron carbon. It has made a huge improvement. It’ll start stinkin’ again in 4-5 months. If you go that route, don’t put the carbon one first in line… the bacteria just love growing in carbon, it’ll jam up in a hurry.
It’s all tidal flats around a tiny peninsula of land. So I’m guessing sulfide?
Could be. A water test should be able to tell ya. Wrong county, but still decent info:
https://co.caroline.va.us/DocumentCenter/View/5295/Why-Does-my-Water-Smell-PDF
Stretching big time. Looking great!
If you still looking for tester i am interested
Sent you a msg.
