Your 1st thing that ruined a grow

[2buds]

Hey everybody,
Well after 90 days into my first soil grow,(never done hydro) I fugged up.
I didn't educate myself about pests and pest control. Aphids I believe. Everything is dead and I'm trying to sterilize everything and think prevention in the future.
I'm asking all that read this to name the 1st thing that ruined a crop for you.
After you read stuff for months and thought you knew it all, what snuck up and bit you on the ars and made you say "DAMN, I FUGGED UP!" Post it no matter how stupid it sounds, if you can find a link to a good thread here at IC about your problem that helped you fix it or would help now, include it if possible. I'm looking at natural pest for future controls of insects, lady bugs and praying mantise, They say the praying mantis will not eat lady bugs because they taste bitter but between the 2 they will eat any type bug.

My #1 recommendation for educating yourself on before you grow: PESTS/INSECTS

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=18473&highlight=borgs
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=163840&highlight=aphids#post163840

If anybody has another thread that should go here under pests/insects, send it to me and I'll add it.

Peace,
2buds

Add:http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=21677&highlight=beneficial+insects

 

[Sleepy]

damn sorry to hear that.

knowledge is power, they say...

arm yourself with a good book or two...jorge cervantes' new book is out and his last one, is a must have...

here's a link to Amazon...http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/s...-keywords=jorge+cervantes&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go

cleaning the grow space is a must between cycles...while you have it nice and clean in there, drop a bomb or two of pyrethrum just to make sure that all of the critters and their eggs are all gone.

you have indeed headed in the right direction...prevention is much easier than battling the borg during the grow.

it sucks, but its a good way to learn...

i bet you don't have any pests next time.

 

[Guest]

My first grow was killed by day 5 from seed. I but WAAAY too much bone/blood and other shit into the soil, not really having a clue. They sprouted and FRIED immediately.

The upside is, when you lose a plant at day 5, you dont feel so bad.

 

[Big Eggy]

i've never had pests ruin a harvest... i'v killed dozens of seedlings in the early days. BUT spider mites killed my oldest bonsai mother [ak48] and raveged my others luckly i only lost the one mum. sadly i resorted to chemical warfare as i had to be quick! all started after i'd brought the christmas tree in the flat.

eggy

 

[Guest]

i've never had pests ruin a harvest... i'v killed dozens of seedlings in the early days. BUT spider mites killed my oldest bonsai mother [ak48] and raveged my others luckly i only lost the one mum. sadly i resorted to chemical warfare as i had to be quick! all started after i'd brought the christmas tree in the flat.

eggy

Whoa.

never thought of things like that!!!

 

[Guest]

Shoot... 1. wrong soil 2. wrong water 3. lights fell on plant killed it.

 

[landover80]

sorry about the aphids. (little bastards)I had a run in with them last year. that and dirty jugs!

 

[2buds]

Great help

Great help

Hey everyone
Sleepy - Thanks for the link and the condolences.(my grammar sucks)
Jumblyjoe - At least your's was quick and painless.
Big Eggy - Sucks about your bonsai, Thanks for the pointer on the Christmas tree, I'm wondering if the bags of soil I brought in 2 weeks ago weren't my culprits.
jumblyjoe - That's what I was hoping to accomplish with this thread.
Turkish - Damn, when it rained it poured.
landover - That's them, all 1 bazillion of them, felt like it, warm temps and they exploded
JJScorpio - Thanks for bringing to light the importance of light cycles.

Thanks everyone for adding to my, What to watch out for list.
Peace,2buds

 

[NightFire]

My first grow (which was indoors) didn't turn out so great. I had to use bag seed (seedbanks weren't to very easy to find then). My "auto wateriing" system (homemade drip thing) failed and a lot of the plants dehydrated. Poor transplanting skills killed several others. By the time it was all said and done, I had 1 plant left out of ~15. That one had been through a crap load of stress, and hermied on me (did I mention the light pollution?)

I took about 20 cuttings, 1 rooted, then died shortly after.

The plus side of it was I learned a crap load of things NOT to do, and now about 15 years latter, I am able to grow very well indoors. My last harvest was around .8 gpw with 30 days veg, 70 days flower. Not the best yeild around, but I think it's still pretty decent.

 

[Guest]

There was a loud knock on the door. The pests entered bearing warrants and bad attitudes. They uprooted all my plants before my very eyes.

Not only ruining my grow, ruined my bloody day as well.

 

[NightFire]

There was a loud knock on the door. The pests entered bearing warrants and bad attitudes. They uprooted all my plants before my very eyes.

Not only ruining my grow, ruined my bloody day as well.

Wow....that's a demoralizing thing there...especially with a first grow....
I was fortunate not to have the same thing happen to me. I was so excited I was finally growing this "killer" bud that I told a few to many people. At first it was all hush hush, but as my poor decrepid plant got bigger, and buds started forming I HAD to show SOMEBODY....I was lucky they never turned me in.

 

[Guest]

Heat ruined my first attempt...we are talking 100+ degrees and 85%+ humidity =] hurricanes too...

 

[2buds]

Thanks for contributing peeps:
NightFire-Sounds like the school of hardknocks for ya-Made ya better didn't it.
THSeek-Sorry to hear that bro, hope things work out for you in th elong run.
Dez-Not much you can do about the hurricane, hope you and your family had somewhere to go to stay safe.

Thanks to everyone that took a minute to contribute!

 

[landover80]

turning into a good preventive thread 2buds

i got me some of these.

 

[Guest]

i had some ligth leakage(!) first time and they turned hermie soo...

 

[2buds]

Hey folks,
landover80- yes sir, that's where I'm heading the bug eat bug world
purplehaes- thanks for the tip man, I cut on you in another thread, clubdrug was just looking for an idea on how to save his girl, dang dude why tell another bro "I'm too tired," when he's desperate? Man I ain't throwing a punch, just saying would you want to be kicked when you were down. Peace purple and thanks for the compliment landover80.

 

[Skunkenstein]

It was'nt my first ever..but probobly 3 or fourth. I had about 25 under 2sets of 4ft.floros.The shop lights were eye bolted to 2x4's, and as the plants would grow,I would place blocks under the boards raising the lights..very dicey!! It looked like stacked domino's on each end..One night I heard a LOUD crash..Oh shit!!My cat had used the boards as a stepping stone to the dryer,where she liked to sleep.The lights,2x4's,blocks had effectively smashed every plant..Suprisingly though,I was able to bandage most..and best of all,I learned alot about pruning..most of those plants turned into nice little bushes!!

 

[ripit]

1st major fuck up i had? every muthafuckin one of em was male! mind ya it was bagseed but still wasted 2 months of my life. ever smoke pollen? i picked close to 3 grams of open flowers ,smoked em up, got me ripped but tasted like shit

 

[Closet Funk]

I always ignored the pests section in grow books and looked at it last. This past grow I had some problems with a few pests, nothing major but could of done some damage if I didn' take care of it. Now I pay more attention to bugs.

 

[CaptJamesTKirk]

Looking back, it's hard to believe I could have EVER gotten to a harvest - let alone a GOOD harvest.

Lessons visited - once or twice?,,,,,

Watering

Good soil

Flowering nutes and PH drop - boy will THAT ruin your month!!- And convince me a PH meter was a "New necessity" and worth the cash.

Fox Farms soil really is cheap.

And - the last one,, Ya just can't rush quality.

Shine on!

Warp 9
Engage!