California Wildfires and resulting smoke

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PDiddyDank

Well-Known Member
Hey all,

Here in N. Cal, there are three fires around me that are burning an accumulative 800,000 acres of brush and wilderness. These fires have been burning for over a week now and everyday has been incredibly smokey with reduced visibility (1/4-1/2 mile visibility). It sounds like they won’t have these fires contained for several more weeks. And just as luck has it, my gals are halfway through flower and are receiving reduced sunlight, have some ash that has fallen on them and are in a smokey environment. One good thing though is that there has been very little structure loss and minimal airborne fire retardant used (bc it’s so smokey), so I don’t think the ash is contaminated ..

I’m hoping this smoke won’t have a drastic impact on my yield/quality, but maybe that’s being optimistic? Has anyone else experienced this before (or currently)? If so, how did things turn out for you? Am I going to have some “Hickory Kush” by the end of harvest? :weed::joint:
 

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PDiddyDank

Well-Known Member
a mongo frog said:
Pretty sure in 2017 in your area millions of people expiereced that. Im hearing lots of crops are gone. super sad.
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Yeah, that was a crazy year. There were a lot of structures and infrastructure that was burned, so I’m sure the VOC and other contaminants found in the ash were much higher than this fire.
 
topcat

topcat

Well-Known Member
My plan is to simply "dust" off the plants with a leaf blower daily, until this all subsides. Get used to this, I fear it is the future. Lightning in California? Rain in August? Who'd have thunk it?
 
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PDiddyDank

Well-Known Member
topcat said:
My plan is to simply "dust" off the plants with a leaf blower daily, until this all subsides. Get used to this, I fear it is the future. Lightning in California? Rain in August? Who'd have thunk it?
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Ha, yeah, I’ve been doing the same thing with a leaf blower. Done it twice so far, but it seems the ash isn’t falling anymore, so that’s a good thing. Let’s see how this week goes! And good thing my flowers aren’t fully ripened/sticky or that ash would of got stuck to them no doubt.
 
topcat

topcat

Well-Known Member
I want to dust before dark, because once dew hits the leaves, that ash turns to mud and sticks. Hell, do it a couple times a day.
 
Davmalk

Davmalk

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I’m right there with you. I’m in the North Bay Area and dealing with the LNU Lightning Complex fire. There hasn’t been a lot of sunlight in the last two weeks just smoke, smoke and more smoke filling the air and my plant is in the third week of flowering.
 
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Erbski

Member
PDiddyDank said:
Hey all,

Here in N. Cal, there are three fires around me that are burning an accumulative 800,000 acres of brush and wilderness. These fires have been burning for over a week now and everyday has been incredibly smokey with reduced visibility (1/4-1/2 mile visibility). It sounds like they won’t have these fires contained for several more weeks. And just as luck has it, my gals are halfway through flower and are receiving reduced sunlight, have some ash that has fallen on them and are in a smokey environment. One good thing though is that there has been very little structure loss and minimal airborne fire retardant used (bc it’s so smokey), so I don’t think the ash is contaminated ..

I’m hoping this smoke won’t have a drastic impact on my yield/quality, but maybe that’s being optimistic? Has anyone else experienced this before (or currently)? If so, how did things turn out for you? Am I going to have some “Hickory Kush” by the end of harvest? :weed::joint:
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The aftermath of these fires, does it inckude building homes where they occured, replanting, or just leave the land be?
 
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PDiddyDank

Well-Known Member
Davmalk said:
Yeah, I’m right there with you. I’m in the North Bay Area and dealing with the LNU Lightning Complex fire. There hasn’t been a lot of sunlight in the last two weeks just smoke, smoke and more smoke filling the air and my plant is in the third week of flowering.
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What strain are you growing? I’m doing Hindu Skunk and so think it’ll be done in about 2 weeks or so. Sound like yours is a bit behind mine, so hopefully it’ll have more time to grow bigger and with less smokey smell. Word on the street is things are gonna get a bit smokier again starting tomorrow. The last two days here have been clear enough for blue skies..siiigh
 
Sativa911

Sativa911

Well-Known Member
Erbski said:
The aftermath of these fires, does it inckude building homes where they occured, replanting, or just leave the land be?
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I would think we would rise again but due to this Covid shit, who knows! :(
I too am in these fires and was wondering if my buds would be a hickory flavor lol. I was told by a friend that the smokey air might be good for our girls. Fingers crossed. Good luck PDiddyDank and everyone!
 
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PDiddyDank

Well-Known Member
Erbski said:
The aftermath of these fires, does it inckude building homes where they occured, replanting, or just leave the land be?
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They rebuild the homes and let the land grow back on its own. This literally was a “perfect storm” where there was a week long heat wave, low humidity and dry lighting that started hundreds of fires across California. There is currently 1.2 million acres of active fire here :-(
 
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PDiddyDank

Well-Known Member
Sativa911 said:
I would think we would rise again but due to this Covid shit, who knows! :(
I too am in these fires and was wondering if my buds would be a hickory flavor lol. I was told by a friend that the smokey air might be good for our girls. Fingers crossed. Good luck PDiddyDank and everyone!
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I don’t see how the smoke could be good in any way. The reduction of UV hinders plant growth and development (similar to rationing fuel on a machine), there may be contamination from ash (arsenic, lead, VOC) and an off putting smokey smell. Those that are closer to the LNU fire have it worse as hundreds of homes were lost in that fire, hence larger risk for ash toxicity. Also worth noting that the fires output CO, not CO2 which our plants consume. The smoke also can close the stomata.
 
Sativa911

Sativa911

Well-Known Member
PDiddyDank said:
I don’t see how the smoke could be good in any way. The reduction of UV hinders plant growth and development (similar to rationing fuel on a machine), there may be contamination from ash (arsenic, lead, VOC) and an off putting smokey smell. Those that are closer to the LNU fire have it worse as hundreds of homes were lost in that fire, hence larger risk for ash toxicity.
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Good to know! Do you think it will drastically change the taste?
 
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PDiddyDank

Well-Known Member
Sativa911 said:
Good to know! Do you think it will drastically change the taste?
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its hard to say. My plants/flowers don’t smell like smoke now, but that might just be because I’ve been immersed in it for so long, I can’t tell the difference. From what I’ve read, you won’t onow until you finish curing how bad the smokey-ness will be (shrug).
 
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PDiddyDank

Well-Known Member
Sativa911 said:
Nice setup! love the netting.... I'm picking a lot of worms already :roll:
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Aw man, been there, hence the netting. I fought (and won) and knew of just about every pest possible except when it came to the bud worm. Somehow it flew under my radar (pun intended). I had to throw out almost all of my colas once so caught onto what was happening. I decided I would just put up a net rather than count on bacteria like BT to take care of the buggers. All clear thus far and less worry about the bigger pests. However, the drawback is the size restriction of the net, as you see. Could got better yield if the plants were spread out more (shrug)
 
Davmalk

Davmalk

Well-Known Member
You’ve got to get netting if you live around the Bay Area. I learned that two years ago after losing a beautiful plant to bud worms. Unlike PDiddyDank I also use BT on my plants and I’ll keep right on using it until I feel it’s getting close to harvest.
 
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