Amy Gardner's First Journal - Outdoor - Critical Cure & Chaos In The Forest

Guys, it’s simple; she’s in the Southern Hemisphere, and lives upside down from us. This things float in the Upside Down that would float up here. It’s basic science, really. :p
Oh she lives on the bottom side of flat earth.... That makes sense now......
 
You guys crack me up!:rofl:

Yes - it’s a waste paper basket. It’s been there for weeks - took you so long to notice! I ran out of spots to put some of the larfy small and popcorny buds for drying. So I put a couple of nails into the frame and jammed the basket onto it. It works really well :). There’s nothing in it in those pics because the MB didn’t have much of that going on. I did peg a big branch to it that had nothing to hang it off tho. And there’s some buds drying in it now because I trimmed some off one of the remaining girls to get rid of a little rot - and had some ok bits, worthy of drying.

And there we have the history of Australia condensed into one sentence. Lol
Right on Bear! Although it was the British who really wrecked the place - and whether they’re European is an open question!
:Namaste:
 
Good to know you're fighting off the suckers. I never rrally got the taste of mite damage and I hope it's not gonna happen. You could try introducing some lady bugs next time around, they're quite good as the integrated mite management. If used early they can take care of the problem... but once you know they're around, you'd be probably best off with a preventive treatment. It's always better than scouting for eggs.
 
introducing some lady bugs next time around,
Cheers Conradino, we have some lady bugs around the garden. Other predators as well. Haven’t seen the ladybugs for a while tho...
I think the predator population is partly why these little plants are not getting overrun.

They’re too close the the ground really and were stressed a lot when young so their resilience isn’t very good. Once I pull them up, I’ll treat the soil with Eco-oil to hopefully deal with any remaining mites and eggs.
preventive treatment.
what kind of preventive treatment do you suggest? (Apart from growing Brixy plants that pests don’t like! ;) )

:Namaste:
 
Okay - mite update!
So now I’m in a relationship - with a very small Borg settlement. Nothing I can’t keep in hand I don’t think. It’s totally fascinating and at some level it’s unpleasant having the purpose of delivering their demise - in other words, to be killing them.

Yesterday I spotted, and squished, 2 adults - so similar to the day before. Then down low on the other little plant which I haven’t treated yet, I found 2-3 leaves with some youngins. I simply took some of these leaves off because they’re too close to the ground anyway.

I kept a leaf with about 5 on it for a little experiment. Here they are, all these ones were moving about.



Then I gave the leaf a spray with the Rosemary oil concoction.



30 minutes later, one of them - a smaller one - was still moving, though not as quickly. And at least 2 of them didn’t seem to move at all for the 2 minutes I watched. This is them several minutes apart.


I continued to check over the afternoon. I can confirm that 2 of them definitley died. And the others were very slow for sometime, eventually looking as active as they had been. So, like many natural solutions it’s not an immediate and total eradication but they certainly don’t like it. Repeat applications are recommended, as with most control and eradication methods.

I found some info that added peppermint oil to the list of useful oils for this as well so when I made a fresh batch yesterday I added peppermint oil to the mix as well and gave the plants another hit yesterday afternoon. I’m about to go out to the garden and check on them.

At this stage I’d say that the rosemary oil (possibly with peppermint too) solution can work if the situation is caught early but that it will take repeat spraying maybe everyday - maybe twice a day even. Not ideal, but I’d rather be spraying rosemary than something more toxic. It’s clearly a little bit toxic to the mites, and apparently not very toxic to the good predator bugs. Plus, it’s not really toxic to me at all in such tiny doses - it’s nice to be spraying them with something I don’t mind getting on me! I know it’s not ideal to be spraying oils at all while in flower, but I think when it’s spray or have mites... well, no brainer! WIll report back later...
:thumb:
 
You could try spinosad. Organic but systemic and one of a few things you can safely spray in flower. Oils will slow them down too and if you mix both you'll have very effective treatment.
 
Hey thanks everyone! This is an eventful end to a busy season isn’t it!?:battingeyelashes:

Yep C, - spinosad is on the list of this doesn’t work (don’t have any on hand - but maybe I should :hmmmm:) @BigBearNTexas, yes the concoction includes a drop of dishwashing liquid (plant based) - I do that with all my foliar sprays because I’ve read that the spray doesn’t adhere very well without it. It’s good to know it’s contributing to knocking them out. :thumb: Based on what you say, I could probably use a little more.

This morning’s inspection didn’t turn up any live adults - yay! And only few younger ones on one leaf. This time I decided to do the test while leaving the leaf on the plant (I have just under a pound of various bud in jars from my summer efforts so I may as well take this opportunity to test this out! Nothing to lose!). I can now spot them - even the larval ones - with my naked eyes... so that’s a good thing to have learnt ;)

I photographed 3 mites, then sprayed, then checked the leaf 2hrs later and those 3 mites were still in exactly the same place. I’m going to check every 2hrs (approx) today and see what happens...
:Namaste:
 
I jut put my first tincture into a dark spot, for a month. It’s a very small batch, to see how it goes. It’ witha very low proof alcohol (vodka) so I’ll simmer half or more of it off when its done (I think). I used AKGramma’s method described here

Here’s the project - measure and all shook up (now in the back of my filing cabinet - in case I forget ;) ).



I think the CBD Critical Cure buds look weird in that frirst photo. I’m going to have to pull them all out for inspection. I didn’t notice anything when I was doing it, but sometimes photos show things you haven’t noticed. Does anyone else think they look a bit off? It’s weird light so maybe it;s just that. What does one look for to spot early signs of mould?

:Namaste:
 
I think alcohol will kill the mold, especially after a month! Mold on dried buds is usually grey and dusty.

In terms of mites, I ran a test last year of diatomaceous earth vs neem oil. I think they both worked eventually, but of course, neither are good in flower! If I get mites again I'll test spinosad as well. Your leaves don't look near as overrun as mine did, though I didn't get pic of the month for my entry.
 
Your leaves don't look near as overrun as mine did, though I didn't get pic of the month for my entry.
Eeeiw that photo of yours was amaaaazing!!:eek::eek::eek::p

This Eco-oil stuff we have will be my go to if I ever spot them again - particularly in veg. I have surmised that the mixture with peppermint and Rosemary seems to work well. I am just about to check again now, but the ones I sprayed yesterday morning havent moved (much - one of them not at all) and I haven’t sprayed again since. I think the essential oils need repeat spraying to be truly effective - and from what Bear said, it sounds like a mild soap spray could work just as well. The Eco-oil is a miticide and claims only one application is needed. In the future I may just go that route - seems easier!

I’m going to harvest the 2 little ones this afternoon - noticed this morning that the baby Ice is covered in amber and suddenly has no new pistils (that seems to have snuck up on me). And the GTxNL#1 that has been the recipient of all these experiments is almost done pushing out new pistils as well, so I think i’lL just take both of them together today.

Mold on dried buds is usually grey and dusty.
Thanks - I’ll get them out for a careful inspection - there’s 6 ounces of that so it’ll take me a while! I’ve just ordered a black light torch too, apparently mould shows under blacklight... so we’ll (hopefully) see.

I have some awesome bug shots to share. Will take the last pic of my experimental leaf now and get them up! :cool:
 
My mite wars are about to be over. But before they are, the latest experiment report:

Yesterday morning I applied the spray made with 1.5tsp Rosemary oil (medium quality, from the health food store), 1drop of Peppermint oil (super duper high quality - hence only one drop!) and 2 drops of plant based dishwashing liquid in 3/4liter of water. I chose this leaf that had 3 on it to track:


Over the next 24hrs or so, the bigger one seemed to stop moving (i nudged it once with my little fingernail before the last pic to see if it would wriggle, it didn’t). I’m pretty sure that one is dead, and maybe the little ones. You’ll notice a third little one popped into the frame on the later shots. It was moving around and the others weren’t.


I’ve also read they have rest periods but I don’t know how long they are - so I guess they could just be resting (although that’s a long rest for something wth a very short life-cycle!).

If I get these mites to deal with again and don’t have the Eco-oil available I’d use the technique again but do it the way Conradino suggested, and use spinosad with some essential oil action added (and the dish liquid if needed).

In the end it’s not a Borg style takeover situation and I think the predators have been keeping this mite population low for a while. These plants were stressed so I’m not really surprised they were susceptible.

This morning while checking them over, I realised the trichs on the GTxNL#1 (the one with he most mites, that I’ve been photographing) are looking like this vvv, so I’m harvesting her in about 10 minutes, along with the little Ice next door, whose trichs are even more overripe!



Mini harvest here I come!
 
Before I get to that harvest I have to post these 3 unidentified bugs! I’m going to need @Pterostychus in here for this, to help us with what these are, or might be. We share a fascination :love: with tiny bugs & insects etc, although I do not have the knowledge Pterostychus does. Hopefully he/she will drop some insect knowledge on us for these beauties...Or @Fede maybe (if you’re still around?)

... well this first one isn’t exactly beautiful...

I think this is a flea beetle, but it’s more circular than the others I’ve seen





This one is some kind of tiny wasp I think, and I think it is beautiful...





Last but not at all least is this funky munky! :eek::D

I really hope someone can tell up what this is. I’m hoping it’s a predator. It wasn’t around today so it’s not hanging around munching the plants...




Let the identifications begin!! :surf:

:circle-of-love:
 
Fresh smoke! :yahoo:

I know squat about the bug kingdom but the shape of that one looks predatory, doesn't it? It looks familiar, like it's going to flip and disappear - a flying hopper of sorts. I bet that kind of bug is why your mites aren't thriving. Hop over, snatch an egg, yum. :slide:
 
I've had a crew of these critters helping me clean up any pests I might have in the veg room. This time of year, they wake up from the heat and crawl out of the cracks they've been hibernating in. They can be a real pest around the house (they bite) but they prefer it in here where the humidity and warmth and eggs are. Win/win.


 
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