Sulfur burner in an organic garden?

[moses wellfleet]

I have been using a sulfur burner lately to get rid of powdery mildew. Sulfur is a natural element known historically as brimstone.

So it certainly seems that the sulfur vapors get into every nook and cranny to kill spores. But what about beneficial fungi? Is there sulfur crystallized on top of my mulch layer, preventing organic processes from taking place?

So far so good, plants seem to be thriving and the way I’m thinking is it is way better than having pm ridden buds!

 

[h.h.]

More concerned about residual sulfur on the buds.

 

[moses wellfleet]

More concerned about residual sulfur on the buds.

It is a concern for me because I run perpetual. One plant added one plant harvested every week so there is no such thing as only using the sulfur burner up until week 3.

Did some reading though and the vast majority of folks are reporting that residual sulfur is not really noticeable in the finished product. That could be due to lack of experience though. If you have any relevant sources please post?

Otherwise I will take the loss while I get red of this horrible shit. It has to go!

 

[h.h.]

I have no sources.Instinctively though you are going to get some residue.
Only you know how much you’re burning and in what space.
Just be careful. Maybe wash your buds even. IDK.
Don’t know the concentration. A little shouldn’t hurt.
Pitfalls of factory farming.


I’ve never had PM other than perhaps on a lemon tree that I over fertilized once.
Subtle changes in pattern and style may be just as effective.
Maybe just a good cleaning. Spray everything except flower with lactoB.
Maybe some EM-1 or Photosynthesis Plus to encourage colonization. I used natto as well. Did a lot of fermentations.


You could start from scratch. Commercial microbial products give you a jumpstart. Once established, they get redundant. If I was using excess sulfur, I would use them concurrently. I imagine the purple bacteria would benefit.


Sulfur will also change nutrient availability. It may serve to leach other’s out. Some is good. More is bad.

 

[Lapides]

Subtle changes in pattern and style may be just as effective.

This is valuable.



Moses, I know you know what you are doing.


Powdery mildew will not survive in environments that it doesn't prefer, ie, nights that are considerably colder and more humid than days.


I battled PM for AWHILE several years back. I tried EVERYTHING including sulfur. The only thing that kept it away was keeping my humidity in check.


Just a couple weeks ago, when it got really cold outside, I noticed my humidity got up to 70%+. I thought nothing of it and did nothing about it. A couple days later I wanted to shit myself. Spots of PM started showing up.


I said fuck it and just threw that plant away and kept my humidity at like 35-40% for a week.



I've been keeping humidity around 50-55% now, keeping an eye on everything and it's not showing up again.


Long story short brother, check your environment or it will keep coming back for sure.




I'm sorry but I can't give you an answer to your question. It is just sulfur, and I would ASSUME that provided you aren't going crazy with it, that it's fine for your good soil biology.

 

[moses wellfleet]

Hey thanx guys!

Yes I am definitely planning to lower humidity to below 60% usually it is much higher than that, and when cold nights set in fucking disaster prevails. I wonder if I should raise night time temps during winter?

 

[h.h.]

Moses, I know you know what you are doing.

.

My thoughts too. Trying not to be condescending in my replies why still trying to answer the question.


Another thing to look at is nitrogen. Pushing nitrogen can result in fast growth with weak cell structure. Possibly, not as likely IMO, low boron.

 

[thailer]

i dunno if this is something that started after using the SIPs or if it is ongoing, but with the SIPs i noticed the plants transpired more. i found more puddles on leaves that were touching each other. maybe some defoliation and increasing air flow would help?

i'm not sure what lights you use, but switching from my single ended to double ended HID lights has significantly reduced humidity from the heat. i live on the coast and i'm betting you do too, so our humidity is just high all the time. so if you can get away with using hotter light's, that really made a big change in my environment.

but i'd like to also suggest some changes in the environment for a long term solution.

i have used a sulfur burner in flower and i didn't notice much difference but i didn't use it the last three weeks and burned 2 or 3 times. i think most people don't like it in flower also are making concentrates. what i was told is that it really makes a difference then but with flower, it's not noticeable. i just smoke flower tho.