First NFT system. 16 in a 4x4 tent. starting to have problems

KaNiZeChT13 · Oct 1, 2011

ok so i have been growing for quite some time now and i never had any problems until recently. i have 2 NL mother plants and an 8 planter diy dwc for my clones all under 2 4foot 2bulb t5 flourecents and i have currently one 8 planter nft in my flowering tent. im waiting til the 8 in the tent are at least four weeks in to put the other 8 plant nft system into it. so basically im going for a harvest every four weeks. in my flowering tent i only have a 400w hps but im looking into getting an air cooled 1000 watt hps. is that a good idea for this tent? i thought it would be pretty sweet to see the amount that i could get just from this little tent with 1000w. i use the whole line of dyna gro nutes and its only the first week of flowering for these ones so the ppms only around 1200.

In the tent i also have a box fax and 10 in fan on the the ground for intake and an oscillating fan at plant level and on top on that i have a 4in inline fan and carbon filter that has 375cfm i believe.

KaNiZeChT13 · Oct 1, 2011

ok so here is where my problem begins. i have had a ridiculous amount of bugs come in and now i dont know how to deal with them. mostly just the gnats are the problem. i had been using sprays for a while but nothing seemed to work. so i went online and ordered 1000 lady bugs to help with the infestation of aphids spider-mites and gnats. after a few weeks with the ladybugs almost all the aphids and mites were gone but the gnats seemed to be unaffected. i thought ladybugs killed them too? i guess not.

so i recently harvested everything that is in soil except for the 2 moms because the gnats mainly lived in those. but now i seem to be sweeping up what i think is like 45 ladybugs per day off the floor because they are all dying. im not sure how or why. maybe the gnats? idk. but it is such a problem
they are eating and destroying all of the roots and leaves to all my plants,

in the first post theres a picture of 2 little pots. one with white widow x afghan kush and the other is nebula from attitude seed bank. i had to move these out of the room and use a cfl in another room because they gnats killed the 2 before them. i really dont know what to do about this.

here are some pictures of my leaves if you can see them. i need to try taking them when lights out with green light so u can actually see them
View attachment 1814732 View attachment 1814733 View attachment 1814734 View attachment 1814735

so if anyone has any suggestions at all that would be greatly apprectiated
ive been on riu for a long time but never posted only read posts because i have never had any problems but now i am in serious need of some change because they are killing off my crop

MrW · Oct 2, 2011

i know that ladybugs love the hps light, they start to fly into the bulb after a few days and get fried...

GreenLantern1 · Oct 2, 2011

Use some of the mosquito dunks you can get at hardware store mixed in water and flood the soil in the pots. Or you need nematodes for the soil to combat the gnats.

lordjin · Oct 3, 2011

GreenLantern1 said:
Use some of the mosquito dunks you can get at hardware store mixed in water and flood the soil in the pots. Or you need nematodes for the soil to combat the gnats.

Wow, that's too much wildlife for me.

In the future, please keep those dirty soil pots AWAY from your hydro area. Thank you.

NWMED · Oct 5, 2011

KaNiZeChT13 said:
ok so here is where my problem begins. i have had a ridiculous amount of bugs come in and now i dont know how to deal with them. mostly just the gnats are the problem. i had been using sprays for a while but nothing seemed to work. so i went online and ordered 1000 lady bugs to help with the infestation of aphids spider-mites and gnats. after a few weeks with the ladybugs almost all the aphids and mites were gone but the gnats seemed to be unaffected. i thought ladybugs killed them too? i guess not.

so i recently harvested everything that is in soil except for the 2 moms because the gnats mainly lived in those. but now i seem to be sweeping up what i think is like 45 ladybugs per day off the floor because they are all dying. im not sure how or why. maybe the gnats? idk. but it is such a problem
they are eating and destroying all of the roots and leaves to all my plants,

in the first post theres a picture of 2 little pots. one with white widow x afghan kush and the other is nebula from attitude seed bank. i had to move these out of the room and use a cfl in another room because they gnats killed the 2 before them. i really dont know what to do about this.

here are some pictures of my leaves if you can see them. i need to try taking them when lights out with green light so u can actually see them
View attachment 1814732 View attachment 1814733 View attachment 1814734 View attachment 1814735

so if anyone has any suggestions at all that would be greatly apprectiated
ive been on riu for a long time but never posted only read posts because i have never had any problems but now i am in serious need of some change because they are killing off my crop

Sounds like thrips or spider mites. Look for what looks like spider webs (spider mites). Or brown/black spots on underside of leaves (thrips). I don't believe lady bugs get them. That's why they are dying. No more food. You should be able to get other bugs that do from the same place you got the ladies. I'm baked otherwise I could name them lol. Damn you green crack! Good luck. Those little bastards killed three of my girls in my last grow.

NWMED · Oct 5, 2011

GreenLantern1 said:
Use some of the mosquito dunks you can get at hardware store mixed in water and flood the soil in the pots. Or you need nematodes for the soil to combat the gnats.

Ah ha! Nematodes thank you Green Lantern. I should read to the bottom before open my stoned ass mouth lmfao.

NWMED · Oct 5, 2011

Oh ya I guess I should ask my question I came for. How is you're NFT set up? I'm starting a hydro set up. I have most the material. Someone asked why I was setting up a drip system instead of NFT. Unfortunately they didn't elaborate as to how or why I should go NFT. Sounds like its working for you. could you fill me in on how it works?

NWMED · Oct 5, 2011

Nice thread! I'm setting up a hydro room. Still trying to decide which path I'd best for my grow. I believe you said you grew the buds in your pic with 400watts HPS. I was told they covered a 3x3 area. How many plants? Did you get 6oz per plant or overall? I have 3 400w HPS and a 15 plant legal limit in my state. I'm thinkin 12 girls under the three HPS and a few moms for cloning. Any suggestions? Can I expect 6oz per lady? I can taste it already!

KaNiZeChT13 · Oct 5, 2011

yeah i think you could definitely expect some good yields off of that. i have a 4x4 tent and i definitely am in need of a bigger light. and i havent yet had a harvest with this nft system. this will be my first time with it so im kinda just seeing how it goes.

but what exactly are nematodes and where do i get them? lol and also what are mosquito dunks?

and does anyone know what will kill thrips? cuz i guess i might have em lol

KaNiZeChT13 · Oct 5, 2011

but all in all i think it is a great system. its pretty easily maintained. at least it would be if i didnt have some ridiculous outbreak of bugs like this but other than that the only other thing i can say bad is that for a little in the beginning i had to water some from the top til the roots got big enough to hang down into the water. but i started using a dwc system for the vegging stages and the roots have already gotten big enough to put into the nft system.
so soon enough i will have 16 in that 4x4 tent and as long as i dont get anymore random bugs it should be good!

NWMED · Oct 5, 2011

What ever you do don't use ecosmart organic insecticide. I used it on my girls for thrips during flower because you could use it right to the last day of harvest. First I sprayed the soil first because I had used seven the day before. It killed the thrips just fine. The problem was when I sprayed the plants 5 days later it killed my girls over night. The plants had definitely had a rough go but were not looking bad when I sprayed. So don't use it.

Seven spray kept them at bay for a week or two at a time. But it can't be use the last 20-30 days. I'd rather not put any chemical pesticides on my ladies. But Thrips are an SOB and sevin spray is fairly safe. So it will be your best bet to get them under control.

Nematodes are the way to go. They can be purchased at most Hydro stores. They sell you a little packet of papers that have a # to call or a website and they ship them to your house. Probably easier and faster to order online yourself. I don't remember the site. Google beneficial insects or Nematodes. I found them by searching lady bugs.

I've never used skeeter ducks. I've seen them at home depot and grow stores. They look like little donuts or biscuits kinda like a urinal cake. Do you have grow shop near you? They are usually way over priced so you don't want to get stuff there that homedepot sells. But for specialized grow stuff like beneficial insects they are great. Good luck.

By the way were you referring to my set up when you said it should produce well? I'm trying to get a ball park on per plant yield with 12 plants in my grow.

Sweet'nHeavy · Oct 5, 2011

Honestly you probably aren't ever going to completely wipe out the bad bugs. You'll just have to bomb after you harvest and start anew. As for the ladybugs if they don't have enough to eat that may be why they're dying. The gnats love water so any soil near your plants in soil near your hydro setup and you won't be able to get rid of them. I don't know what soil you had your mothers in but I got gnats from foxfarms oceanforest once. Pain in my ass.

NWMED · Oct 5, 2011

And just to be redundant. Soil belongs outside! That's why I switched to hydro. There is no reason to use soil indoors. Bubble buckets are really 10x easier as far as I can tell. And 1000x less chance for bugs. I may eat my words once actually start growing with hydro. But the more I learn from everybody here. It just sounds easier and easier. RIU IS A GOD SEND!

NWMED · Oct 5, 2011

Sweet'nHeavy said:
Honestly you probably aren't ever going to completely wipe out the bad bugs. You'll just have to bomb after you harvest and start anew. As for the ladybugs if they don't have enough to eat that may be why they're dying. The gnats love water so any soil near your plants in soil near your hydro setup and you won't be able to get rid of them. I don't know what soil you had your mothers in but I got gnats from foxfarms oceanforest once. Pain in my ass.

They are little devils. I read that after they kill your crop they will actually bite people if no plants are around. Tiny little demons.

I agree 9 times outta 10 they are probably In the soil when you buy it. My soil was the local gardening shop/nursery blend. Dirt belongs outside!

a mongo frog · Oct 5, 2011

NWMED said:
And just to be redundant. Soil belongs outside! That's why I switched to hydro. There is no reason to use soil indoors. Bubble buckets are really 10x easier as far as I can tell. And 1000x less chance for bugs. I may eat my words once actually start growing with hydro. But the more I learn from everybody here. It just sounds easier and easier. RIU IS A GOD SEND!

your a little wrong with those comments. mother plants do great in soil. soilless (sunshine mix or pro mix) grows would probobly knock yours down the street.
growers grow great meds. not the medium. hope this helps.

NWMED · Oct 5, 2011

a mongo frog said:
your a little wrong with those comments. mother plants do great in soil. soilless (sunshine mix or pro mix) grows would probobly knock yours down the street.
growers grow great meds. not the medium. hope this helps.

No I didn't mean soil is no good. Maybe the ALL CAPS was a bit too much. What I meant was soil is a very high risk for bringing in pests. If you think about it its surprising that every bag isn't crawling with evil. It is not only a perfect home for plants but bugs too. It's open to the outside through most of the manufacturing process. Then shipped to a store packed with countless people fresh from the garden crawling with every critter you can imagine. I'm not an idiot or an amateur when it comes to the devil weed. I'm just a newbie to growing hydro. I Have grown exclusively in soil. But only once indoors. Strangely enough I never had near the pest outdoors as I did inside. You're are right about it growing incredible bud. The taste cant be better than soil bud. But in my very limited experience soil is no fun inside. I prefer to have the buds of my labor all to myself. I certainly don't want to share with bugs.

No offense just MHO.

KaNiZeChT13 · Oct 6, 2011

well the type of soil that i have is miracle grow mix. so its probably how i got all these damn bugs. the only soil plants i have now are the mothers. i used to have three mothers. one looked like a charlie brown tree so i threw it the flowering tent. but soon ill have the other 2 mothers in there too just because i have my new mother plants in the tiny little pots.

but on the spray thats what ive been using is the ecosmart organic stuff. ive had it for a while now i just dont spray it much because i didnt want to kill the lady bugs. but ive used it a lot for my little ones in the pots because they arent in the grow room. but it hasnt done anything to em yet so i sure hope it doesnt

im about to just go pick up some sand and see if that works. if not then ill resort to nematodes. and other than the spray shit what can i do to kill the thripps???

KaNiZeChT13 · Oct 6, 2011

and yeah your set up sounds like it would work pretty well 6oz per plant is a big goal but hell i dont see why you couldnt with that many lights

NWMED · Oct 6, 2011

KaNiZeChT13 said:
well the type of soil that i have is miracle grow mix. so its probably how i got all these damn bugs. the only soil plants i have now are the mothers. i used to have three mothers. one looked like a charlie brown tree so i threw it the flowering tent. but soon ill have the other 2 mothers in there too just because i have my new mother plants in the tiny little pots.

but on the spray thats what ive been using is the ecosmart organic stuff. ive had it for a while now i just dont spray it much because i didnt want to kill the lady bugs. but ive used it a lot for my little ones in the pots because they arent in the grow room. but it hasnt done anything to em yet so i sure hope it doesnt

im about to just go pick up some sand and see if that works. if not then ill resort to nematodes. and other than the spray shit what can i do to kill the thripps???

I feel for ya man those things suck! Are you doing new moms in soil?

Why are you waiting on the Todes? Are they too spendy? I'm stocking my garden with every beneficial insect I can afford from day one. I never want to see those bastards again! Besides they can only help not hurt so worst case scenario you spent a few bucks on bugs they don't have any pests to eat and they die. I'd much rather sweep up benny bugs in a pest free garden than fight to the death with those DON's. Is your room sealed? Or do you vent outside air? If I was you I'd do moms in bubble buckets. Especially if you are not sealed to outside air. Otherwise your hanging a neon party sign for pests. A lot of pests use soil to live or in the case of thrips to BREED the eggs and larvae use the soil as home. So the way I see it you tear down the Howard Johnson by eliminating the soil. Hang a no vacancy sign and get some scary Hell's Angels on security (Benny Bugs)
And the pests should all but disappear.

* No shit 6oz a lady? Six times 12..... Ah fuck it! I'll be one happy pain free hillbilly come harvest time! bongsmile

First NFT system. 16 in a 4x4 tent. starting to have problems

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