DrStrangeBud

General Category => Ask Dr. Strangebud => Topic started by: DrStrangebud on December 31, 2010, 06:45:09 am


Title: Thoughts on Prevention
Post by: DrStrangebud on December 31, 2010, 06:45:09 am
PPPPPP

It stands for "Proper Planning Prevents **** Poor Performance"

This area is intended for discussion of the methods to mitigate,
prevent and/or treat the main threats to cannabis plants.

This is not for diagnosis but instead how to prepare any area and
maintain it free of pests and mildews.

It would serve anyone who plans to do indoor cultivation to check out:
<http://herb.com/cea.html> (http://<http://herb.com/cea.html>) which is an article on grows
that use a Controlled Environment Agriculture outlook. Which is to say
a completely controlled space as to movement, supply, conditioning and
removal of air as well as the quality of the air; growth medium, lights
and the other essential aspects of an indoor grow. But prevention is the
number one platform upon which one will need to plan the construction
or modification of the space.

As an example of the extreme end of preparation, I recently setup a
double room meant to facilitate the reservoir, holding room and control
room on one side and a 12X12 grow area on the other side.

I painted the entire floor and applied a thin layer of Diatomaceous Earth
then covered it all with thin plastic, 1/2" floor foam then pond liner in that
order. The pond liner served in place of trays or tables. Special construction
was applied easily to tilt the foam and pond liner frame in order to get a
total drain in one corner in case of flooding during a flush.

My entire motivation for the paint (special order for moisture and mildew),
plastic and foam was prevention. Prevention for a cold floor, crawling insects
(the Diatomaceous Earth cuts the crawlers up and dries their corpses up),
moisture (once again the Diatomaceous Earth is actually a very strong
desiccant) and the black pond liner absorbed heat (except for the halo
shaped mylar rings around pots) keeping the floor above 65' K.

The pond liner wrapped up about 1.5 feet and was "spliced" with tape to
the wall plastic which was taped on seams and also taped to the ceiling
plastic. Except for the exhausts and intakes, there was very, very little
novel exchange of air. If you farted the room bulged.

Point? The point is that if you want to grow indoors you must "in your
own way" eliminate the possibilities of disaster. If you respond to the
various diseases and pests you are too late. You MUST anticipate and
this is what should be stressed. The above example was a huge success
with only one small exception: microscopic exam right after a neem
application showed a single dying larva. 8 grows later, the room is going
strong.

This area is about the plan...not the remedy.