Ok, I'm a first time grower, frugal by nature and broke, and a bit of a moron, so I need to know what to do now.
I am growing in my closet (yes, where my clothes are) on a 30" shelf with about 27" height. I can take out a shelf to add about a foot in height, but its a rental and I hesitate to do anything to "damage" the place. I have a total of 163 watts cfl at 2700 and am using Jobes houseplant spikes and african violet food.
I have two plants, one started from clone, the other from seed. (I first put the seeds in a towel on Oct 24 and purchased a clone on 10/28.) While the clone was obviously advance of the seedling, I took them both from 24/24 to 12/24 on Thanksgiving.
They seemed to be doing ok and both went into flower, though not much yield. Then it got cold here in town so their temp must have dropped to below 60 degrees (35 degrees outside), I let them dry out, all sorts of neglectful things. About a week ago the clone started to loose a lot of its lower leaves and I started to see tiny webs on the stems of the clone only. The seed started plant is a lot less developed, but (even though inches away) seems to be green and at least web free.
So I finally figured out that positively have spider mites. I sprayed them with Permetrin (already had from the 99.99 cent store) and removed the dead leaves not just from the plant, but from the closet. The clone has lost about 75% of its sunleaves and those that are left are basically above my cfls
So, now what. Should/can I return them to veg for a while to try to restore vigor? Or is that likely to shock them worse. If so, for how long minimum. Or should I just let things be and continue at 12/12 for the next month while spraying as needed.
While any suggestions are welcome, I simply can't spend $ on treatment or a different setup. Thanks.
I am growing in my closet (yes, where my clothes are) on a 30" shelf with about 27" height. I can take out a shelf to add about a foot in height, but its a rental and I hesitate to do anything to "damage" the place. I have a total of 163 watts cfl at 2700 and am using Jobes houseplant spikes and african violet food.
I have two plants, one started from clone, the other from seed. (I first put the seeds in a towel on Oct 24 and purchased a clone on 10/28.) While the clone was obviously advance of the seedling, I took them both from 24/24 to 12/24 on Thanksgiving.
They seemed to be doing ok and both went into flower, though not much yield. Then it got cold here in town so their temp must have dropped to below 60 degrees (35 degrees outside), I let them dry out, all sorts of neglectful things. About a week ago the clone started to loose a lot of its lower leaves and I started to see tiny webs on the stems of the clone only. The seed started plant is a lot less developed, but (even though inches away) seems to be green and at least web free.
So I finally figured out that positively have spider mites. I sprayed them with Permetrin (already had from the 99.99 cent store) and removed the dead leaves not just from the plant, but from the closet. The clone has lost about 75% of its sunleaves and those that are left are basically above my cfls
So, now what. Should/can I return them to veg for a while to try to restore vigor? Or is that likely to shock them worse. If so, for how long minimum. Or should I just let things be and continue at 12/12 for the next month while spraying as needed.
While any suggestions are welcome, I simply can't spend $ on treatment or a different setup. Thanks.