60's Hippy
Member
Just a few years ago I could count on stable weather conditions for a tent grow. Not anymore. January was a roller coaster of 60 mph Santa Ana wind conditions driving humidity down into the low teens, nights in the low 40's, and the occasional days nearing 90 degrees. I am fed up with the noise from the indoor grow tent, so this year I started a tent out in the tool shed. Had to add a humidifier with controls, and a small air conditioner for the occasional 90 degree day, and a small heater with controls. Last year I ran a HID side-by-side with an equal wattage "blurple" LED. (the HID won). This year I am trying a LED with a veg switch (blue light). Produces really tight nodes, but the HID still wins. Oh yeah, the Mars Hydro blurple burned out 6 led's in one grow season. Turns out cheap LED's are really not that cheap. And then there are the bugs. Did you know that So Cal is Ground Zero for insect infestation? I was lucky to be home last July 6 when we experienced 115 degree heat, shattering all previous records. I scrambled with shade cloth and barely managed to save my outdoor plants. A week later after treating bud worms to some BT, I tried something different. I tented my outdoor plants with Ag Fabric bags. Drawing the drawstring tight around the trunk. Worked great! Kept out ALL the bugs. I was able to go on vacation and come back 10 days later to find not a single bug in the buds or leaves. The plants were not huge, yielding about 1/2 lb cured bud per plant, but I was able to complete the last 40 days of flowering without any pesticides. That is huge for an outdoor grow in urban So Cal.
I really just needed to rant...
I really just needed to rant...