Hey all. Newbie to growing. Had some bag seeds and on a whim with no knowledge I planted 7 into some Miracle-Gro soil the wife had hanging around. Had them outside but not expecting much. Two turned into seedlings so the fever started to hit. As I watched it grow (VERY slowly) and knowing it wasn’t going to last outside in the Northeast very long I decided to buy indoor equipment after reading tons of topics here. These plants were outdoors for 2 weeks before coming inside. These were in one of those 8 compartment paper seedling starter tray. I didn’t have FFOF at the time so I transplanted them into some organic soil I found at Lowe’s.
After several days a saw a little mark on one of the leaves. I wasn’t sure what it was but I figured since this was a first attempt I thought I would monitor the situation. I thought maybe some sort of nutrient deficiency but figured this was a learning plant and I didn’t put much effort into it so let’s see what happens.
My FFOF arrived a couple of days ago and in anticipation of that I figured I’d do two plants from start to finish with things I’ve been learning here (you all are amazing). Well the seeds cracked and I planted them into a 1/4 inch of seedling soil in a SOLO cup with the holes soldered like many have suggested and a ziplock bag as a dome. When they’re ready to transplant I’ll be putting them into their forever home with FFOF.
Today I went to check on the girls (hope they are!) and saw another mark on the same leaf and some tiny holes. I immediately brought both original two seedlings out to inspect. After looking at the leaf I must have touched it right and a small larva fell onto the soil. They are both now quarantined and I’m thinking of culling them.
Two questions:
should I? I didn’t really put a lot of effort into it and these plants were outside on my deck for 2 weeks so I don’t know what else they could be harboring.
chances are good my two soon to be seedlings in their ziplock done are not contaminated, right?
My tent is only 24×48×60 so I’m not even sure four plants would be comfortable in that space anyway.
I’ve honestly never had a pest control problem because i’ve never grew outdoors but I did find this blog on ILGM thats very informative about pest control, hope it helps!
First off welcome to the best forum online Did you find it on plant or in soil @Tylan
I think you said on plant so I would assume it came from outside looking for the green leaves they love to eat them
I would also do a close inspection to all other plants as well
I would do this get some food grade de (must be food grade ) De for pools will hurt you and should never be used on anything you injest
dust the leave stop and underneath as well
Also dust the soil with it as well a light coating on the top will dry out insects and kill them
Organic soils tend to have soil may larvee as well so some sticky traps will also help
And using potato slices draws the larvee up and to the potato when you see the larvee on slice place it in plastic bag and dispose replace potato slice as long as you see larvee once you see no more your good and can stop using the potato slice
The potato trick was taught to me by @garrigan62 FYI
@Countryboyjvd1971 - thanks Yes it was on the leaf of one plant. I didn’t see any on the soil. I’ve thoroughly inspected both plants (accidently broke the top of one of the leaves on one of them ). Is the de something that has to be bought online? I’m not sure where to pick that up locally. I’m going to try the potato trick now. That’s a good trick .
On that same note though I was thinking of transplanting these two into a new pot with FFOF (before I found the larva) but being so expensive I would rather not waste the soil on potentially doomed plants. These two plants haven’t really grown much and I’m sure if they’re starving for nutrients that this organic soil doesn’t have (I only have a big bloom 15-35-15 bag of nutes that I wasn’t planning on using for these just yet). Would it be better to take the plants out of this organic soil and clean them somehow (is that even possible) and then replant them? If they stress out and die then I’m not going to cry over it as I really put no effort into these two. Would the soil be reusable at that point?
@Tylan
You can definitely transfer them to the ffof if you’d like
You can use the organic soil as well but may have ph issue in the beginning since it my not be ph balance soil ? I would need to look up the soil type to know for sure
The fox farm is ph adjusted to a ph of about 6.5 which is best for mj
If you want you can gently remove the plant and soil as one and if you have a big tub or something similar fill it with water and carefully and slowly agitate the root ball back and forth in water until soil washes away then repot it into the he ffof
I wouldn’t be to concerned if you found it on the leaves it was probably just looking for lunch hahaha
You can try looking at a local garden center
You can get it online as well Amazon has 10 lbs bags with a duster for like 20$
That’s just a screen shot but you can search it on Amazon or Walmart online
I’m. It a fan of reusing soil @Tylan
When I’m done with a grow I toss my root balls into a composite pile ? Myself
Oh good. I think I’ll try the wash and transplant method then @Countryboyjvd1971. I’ll put a couple of potato slices down after the transplant as a precautionary measure.
Just my ignorance speaking, but after you harvest you can reuse soil? I figured the nutes would be all out of the FFOF at that point and it wouldn’t be worth salvaging.
I don’t reuse it myself I’ve heard of other baking it and then cleaning out any old dead plant matter i.e. Old roots
But it seems like to much work for me
I throw mine into a compost pile and will reuse on the property and in garden in the future but it will be there for a while maybe a year or two before I do mixed in with all the yard waste not wood just leaves plus chicken droppings I have seven of them lol
And all the vegetable waste etc
I think it better to just use new soil each grow
You are growing medicine after all you want to start of with the best you can imo
That makes sense. I would rather use new each time anyway. Spending $30 a bag is more worth it to me then the time it would take to do anything with the old soil.
@Countryboyjvd1971 ok so washed both and put in FFOF with some potato slices. I should know soon enough if they were happy with me. On the one plant that I didn’t see the larva some of the roots came off while I was cleaning and I may have accidentally squeezed too hard on the stem. I’m guessing if they are not going to make it I would probably know in 12 to 24 hours. If they do make it they will be stronger for it
@Tylan sounds great I’m sure they will all survive the transplant
And will reward you for the hard work
I would just mist the soil once or twice a day till you see new growth
I think you’ll be ok and yes in 48 hrs you’ll know the results it they are tuff plants so I have good vibes on this
Goggle qheee to buy food grade DE with your up code I’m sure some one local carries it
I use Amazon a lot just cause it so convenient
But yeah any feed place should carry it since it’s use to control fleas and mite with farm animals
Thanks for the reminder @Laurap I forgot about that
Warning: de goes a long way. Had bugs dusted bottom of tent and girls. Week to ten days later walls of tent were sucking in. Thought maybe need to turn down exhaust. Still no change. So started looking around & found that only lower vent ( lg retangular one in back) was closed solid with a wall of de. As soon as I vaccumed off tent returned to normal
Picked up some DE from the local True Value so now I’m good to go. Checked on both transplants and the one I man handled too much looked a little droopy this morning but when I just looked it looked a lot better. I’m having high hopes. The one with the larva also looks good. None of the potato slices have trapped anything yet so good there as well. On top of that, one of my seeds just popped through the soil overnight
I also was dumbly using distilled water until I realized last night after more reading that’s not so good so this morning I filled a 5 gallon bucket with tap and pH downed it from 7.8 to 6.4. I’m going to use that moving forward. I’ll be starting a grow journal probably tomorrow. This is exciting
Great to hear. These girls are truly resilient and you caught it quite early. Never think at some point you can coast. There will be pests, temps, humidity problems. However I’ve also had so much fun and a “OMG look what I can do!” Everybody here is so helpful. No question is stupid & Everyone wants to see you succeed.
Yes it was on the leaf of one plant. I didn’t see any on the soil. I’ve thoroughly inspected both plants (accidently broke the top of one of the leaves on one of them 
). Is the de something that has to be bought online? I’m not sure where to pick that up locally. I’m going to try the potato trick now. That’s a good trick 
