Open Pollination Project

[ChocolatChunk]

Alright so this journal has to be updated with some actual content again for the fans all 3 of you lol
My purple diesel girl going to get cut up and cloned but also going to adjust the 12 and 12 schedule to a 14 on and a 10 off and then in a few days to 16 on 8 off then 18 on and 6 off within 2 weeks to start a reveg ugh oh plot twist didnt see thst coming myself. I am not going to question myself but trust in my instinct. French macaron going for a clean up next and then I am repotting thisbig girl she was almost touching the top of the tent so she is big for a tent but thats what we do for big yields big girls hehehe
Heres some of the clones im going to transplant in a quick look of my homemade cloners.
My friends I borrowed is now going for a peroxide run just like a half a botyle in a gallon and gonna put some dechlorinator in the water to get the bleach out because I use microbes in my cloners.
But am going to change that amd try running sterile water cultures and using synthetic bloom fertilizer in light ratios maybe a light touch of GA3
In my soilless mix seed cells Im gonna use homemade alternative clone gel, go step by step on how and we will make comparisons to a couple name brands and a new honey cloning compound with a special basiana strain of fungus.
They have a dry inoculant and I will be soon purchasing to inoculate all of my green crops. My yellow aero cloner is flawed and will be a micro geenery for spinach, lettuce, swiss chard, toy choy(a baby bok choy ready for harbvest in 30 days) and maybe some herbs but in a sterile dwc with a lot of aeration.
I'm gonna clean my flood cloner and upgrade the manifold with 360 degree sprayers to spray all the cuts and hope to create more robust and perfused root development.
Managed to get some cuts from the purple diesel that I just killed so she still lives on them are the bigger growing clones in the black and yellow machine.
Her sister is a bit larger and is going to be a old plant hopefully I will reveg her if she lets me just to see how many times she will do it for me. They were both the same age as eachother its a blessing to open more room in the veg she took up a lot of light and height and not in my way anymore so it was a relief to do this but sucks to know its only cause I broke her sister.
Aye' she was a good plant, never talked back to me and never made me feel any less of a human. Sorry girl, I took a cut of you to live on incase you have a different pheno. It almost brings a tear to my eye. Gets them a bit watery. I spent a year getting her there and to the dust she returns.

 

[Stunger]

For being here its funny to say I never made the casting tea I just always put in the substrate but have been considering it more now that I see the benefits and know the benefits. Have you foliar applied a strained worm tee? Have heard it helps in the veg.

I did make a casting tea as a foliar spray but I abandoned it as the particles clogged up the sprayer. But have a jug that catching the worm wee that drips out of the worm farm, so each day I add it to their waterings.

It is good to hear the mushrooms are there too and I find very good for depression I have similar haunting childhood experiences no child wishes upon I get bad nightmares and the cannabis helps with that but when I dont get stoned for some time my dreams are so insane. I had a normal life but turned out not so normal and bipolar depression diagnosed the mushrooms definitely help free anxiety and help me be my self and fits almost like the studies they have been doing concluding they are micro dosing the elderly who are afraid to die and no longer have that fear therefore a more comfortable passing. Very bitter sweet.

I have read a number of articles affirming where people have been able to process their depression in a way that helps them from otherwise being burdened with it, by using magic mushrooms or LSD.

If you have an interest in fungi the best book you can possibly get for the study is Paul Stamets Growing medicinal and Gourmet mushrooms.
You will see there is a mushroom for every ailment.
I watched a lot of his speeches and he is a remarkable human being for all his studies but one of the videos he tells his story on how he overcame a stuttering problem by a heroic trip of mushrooms.

That sounds great one. Probably similar to that book called something like 'Teaming with microbes' another classic.

I want to get a panama red I heard panama is a pretty wild place.

When I went overland as a youngster down thru Central America, I was going to go via the Darien Gap to get into Columbia/South America, but heard too many stories of predation and attack by muggers, so ended up buying an old yacht that had been submerged on a sand bar with another backpacker, we repaired it then sailed it back to Europe for the adventure. The things you do when you're young eh!

He then pulled out a mushroom from in the taller grass and said this see when you squeeze it and it turns blue that means its special.

Yep, that's what I'd like to locate! haha.

It sure has been interesting getting to know a little about you and your home. I love the sea life and want to get into marine biology so mayhbe one day I will visit on a study or just to visit I sure want to adventure and try new things bring seeds and bring back seeds of local plants that can be of use or just interesting to me. Do you fish? There is tons of bait in your compost it sounds like lol

I do enjoy fishing. As I kid I did a lot of trout fishing, even tying my own flies with feather and fur to catch them, it was a great way to get away. But nowadays I am not near any trout waters so I go rock fishing in the sea, mostly catching snapper. I'll probably go this weekend with my brother if the weather holds up, it is a nice way to catchup, get some fresh air, and have a toot or two!

 

[ChocolatChunk]

I heard compost tea a number of times is good the truck is to brew in some panty ho's
I have been considering making a tea with everything I have and reporting results to see a side by side difference of tea fed plants sprayed and just regular fertilized plants not sprayed.
Curious to see and show what organics are capable of.
I tried spraying DE flour and it did the same thing would clog sprayers and when dried on the leafs almost a light chalkiness.
I do on spray calcium carbonate in a rate of 1 tbsp per gallon and have had good results.
When cal carb evaporates it evaporates as co2 and makes the plants grow fast. I also like to hit them with nitrofying bacteria which can be found in pond or aquarium supply for a lot cheaper than the garden geared brands. It is the same bacteria or similar to what is found natural growing on pea plant roots and is why it is a good fixation crop to plant every other year to help correct the soil. Im sure you know about the peas.
It is a dream of mind to make a boat not anything big like that but thats a pretty cool story it sounds like you have had wuite the adventures in your days. One of my uncle liked to travel south and central America backpacking he would bring back some cool things I remember this party foam in a tall can like hairspray would be. It was fun to play with as a kid.
Now I like to play with pumps, timers drills and shit lol
Would be nice to come do some shroom hunting on the Island I would definitely get my adventure check to many their home isnt much to adventure but someone new to a new land it is a whole other world.
Sound like you know how to have a good time good luck on the sea with your brother that sounds like a great time. My brother is getting a college education when he comes bavk sometimes we hang out and I showed him my plants had him help me a little and gave him a bunch of seeds and actually ordered a pack of sticky nicky bc thats his name that is doing pretty decent right now and am gonna get it transplanted soon.
We fished as kids but not together much just as a family bc theres a 10 yr age difference but he understands why I was a pot head now to deal with bad headaches and its funny he told me how he was experimenting with acid and mushrooms at school.. Blew my mind and got me in trouble bc my mom thought I smoked in her house but realized it wasn't me but him. Hahahaha
Gonna take him fishing for trout and salmon as he has never caught a fish over 5 pounds and I think it would bring him much excitement and a good memory. Plus if I show him how to clean the fish and process the eggs for bait and make a couple different recipes he can know how to never be hungry if he can catch fish.
A big fish once got his little fish and almost had it in could have been a big pike could have been Larry we call him the lunker largemeouth bass.
That was a funny memory I have nobody got any big ones that day but we caught pissing sunfish haha they like to trickle sometimes when you squeeze them to get the hooks out. My friends and I would squirt eachother when we would go fishing lol the dumb funny things you do as kids.
Hopefully the weather holds up for ya that sure sounds like a good time thats how I would spend my life if I was able to and I am gonna just not yet. Soon wanted to get into fly fishing myself for fishing my whole life Im surprised I haven't taken upon it but I never knew it was a thing till my teenage years and even then I didn't fish so much but did more then than I do now which isucks but I.make time when I can and when I shouldn't to go and still not catch anything somwtimes it still beats moping or hearing a person complain etc. The saying a bad day on the water is still better than a good day in the office to me still holds true.

 

[Stunger]

I heard compost tea a number of times is good the truck is to brew in some panty ho's
I have been considering making a tea with everything I have and reporting results to see a side by side difference of tea fed plants sprayed and just regular fertilized plants not sprayed.

Hey CC, I did actually get a couple of handfuls of castings from the worm farm and mix them in with their watering can water yesterday, gave it a nice rich soupiness to it!

I tried spraying DE flour and it did the same thing would clog sprayers and when dried on the leafs almost a light chalkiness.
I do on spray calcium carbonate in a rate of 1 tbsp per gallon and have had good results

I would be a little wary of it damaging a sprayer as it is quite abrasive stuff.

to many their home isnt much to adventure but someone new to a new land it is a whole other world.

Funny how that works isn't it. I think maybe when it is somewhere new, that you can partake in it in a totally fresh way that the known doesn't quite offer.

Sound like you know how to have a good time good luck on the sea with your brother that sounds like a great time.

I did work on a fishing trawler for a while when I lived in Sydney. And crossing the Atlantic cured me of sea sickness as we had the eye of a hurricane pass right over us, it was amazing how the shrieking wind stopped and you could have put a napkin on the deck and it would have blown off, but yet, the waves stayed the same, about 120 feet from trough to crest. But with fishing with my brother we just fish from the rocks not from a boat, and this year we've tried drone fishing which has been good.

Blew my mind and got me in trouble bc my mom thought I smoked in her house but realized it wasn't me but him. Hahahaha

That is funny!

That was a funny memory I have nobody got any big ones that day but we caught pissing sunfish haha they like to trickle sometimes when you squeeze them to get the hooks out. My friends and I would squirt eachother when we would go fishing lol the dumb funny things you do as kids.

They must somehow hold some water inside themselves to piss it out. Birds don't piss, that's why their shit is acidic with the uric acid combined in it. But fish use their gills to get rid of it which is one reason why they need to keep water over them.

Hopefully the weather holds up for ya that sure sounds like a good time thats how I would spend my life if I was able to and I am gonna just not yet. Soon wanted to get into fly fishing myself for fishing my whole life Im surprised I haven't taken upon it but I never knew it was a thing till my teenage years and even then I didn't fish so much but did more then than I do now which isucks but I.make time when I can and when I shouldn't to go and still not catch anything somwtimes it still beats moping or hearing a person complain etc.

Actually, the weather has turned and it looks rainy and windy for the week ahead, no good for fishing by the look. But also too, our daughter came down with Covid during the week, so not good for me to catch up with my brother, there will be a good chance we'll get hit with it too. She came down with it on Wednesday, super low energy, sore head, sore eyes, sore legs, a slight fever, but by today she seems almost fully back to normal. I think young kids have very few receptors that the virus needs to lock onto so they don't tend to be as affected as adults.

The saying a bad day on the water is still better than a good day in the office to me still holds true.

Yes true! I also like, "No one ever went to their deathbed wishing they spent more time in the office".

Anyway, hope your garden going well. I am growing 4 plants and today it seems my star girl is crapping out, like fusarium wilt or something, but no apparent sign of it, just several stems appears to be dying, my other 3 plants are in the same soil and get the same water and they're looking quite lush. It'd be nice to understand what the problem is for next time. Have a good one.

 

[ChocolatChunk]

Hey I did something I thought of because of your shrimp in the soil. I put a freeze dried krill into the bottom of my pots for these seedlings that just hatched. Forget what plant they come from lol woops.
Them girls are probably loving that fresh brew of worm poo
But yeah no more DE in the sprayers it jacked it up up on me never misted the same again. The girls loved being misted when I had them in a dry attic. I spray all the regular plants because its a bit dry inside have a humidifier going time to time to help mostly a wintertime thing to help not get a bloody nose in my sleep happened a lot as a kid and been around more humidity keeping plants they let alot out for sure and having a few fish tanks so havent really had any which is good.
One of these days Im gonna make my way around the world. If the opportunity is right. It sure is funny to feel like we seen everything where we live but theres quite a bit to find if you get adventurous.
Definitely want to travel there and greenland would be cool also finland but im afraid I wouldnt want to go back home.
Yea little bro smokes its weird but cool its like hanging out with a friend.
You nearly brushed a death mid ocean though thats a story to tell! Im sure it wasnt the first glance of having your life flash in front of you.
Had a dream of a hugh tidal wave hitting land just destroying everything it was crazy woke up all sweaty like it felt I was under water huge gasping wake up sweating bullets.
Thats an interesting fact about fish how the ammonia goes through their gills you say? I know a few species like gold fish or carp will pass through what they eat after a 2 hr digestion because they lack the lengthy digestive systems like most species of fish. So thats why they arr good for aquaponics its alot of food being converted to waste almost instantly for 2 hrs thats impressive. Its no wonder why they grow to the sizes they get to. Some of my koi will live longer than me.
Thats unfortunate about the weather even more unfortunate about the covid. Sorry to hear that I hope you all beat it fast good point on the younger generations being quicker to recover. Still a serious thing to have I had when first came out and yes that all the tiredness and aches pains fever chills couch mucus.. I smoked so much weed it would help me feel better by alot. I drank a bottle of jagermeister in a day and some whiskey.
A lot of antioxidant vitamins helped tremendously the D3, c, a, e and drank me a fair amount of tea I'd say.
Wake up drink, dab and smoke a bong lol
I smoked to get hungry but forna few days felt like the worst flu ever just wanted to rest because I felt like hell. Smoking helped me cough it out from my lungs but hurt pretty bad. Its deep in there and had gotten some mucinex or other decongestion meds to help purge it out when I smoke. Because it did not want to leave. Very tough on respiratory system. Had some rosemary and thyme and green tea oils and others cinnamon, clove, cedar all diffusing. But the peppermint was good in the palm to huff right in the nose a few drops of peppermint oil in the palm and cup your hands and breathe in through the nose and mouth for the throat.
I used a lot of my tincture in the tea too but eat lots of greens and other antiocidant rich fruits and vegetables more vegetables bc sugar feeds viruses so honey is good but not a lot you are a wise man who has a family though and probably know these things. But for anyone who is reading they ought to know what is good to do.
Thats a new one to me but I like it "No ones ever went to their deathbed wishing they'd spent more time in the office" priceless.
Or you unrelated but you will never see a hurse with a trailer hitch.
Sorry to hear about your star girl I had a plant crap out on me again just got choked out had too many leafs covering on in the middle.
I have just read about this mosaic hopps disease its been affecting many growers and is possible to transmit through a seed so I have a fear I might have introduced it. Theres a new strain of a fungus being used as a pesticide that might help since it enters the plants outer cell membrane and live on it to stop insects and molds from being a problem.
Beauvaria Basiana.. Its effective foe aphids and other sap suckers like mites. It kills the bugs so ends certain bug troubles but also provides defense against mold like powder mildew.
This hopps disease though worries me but this species of fungus if commercialized might be a game changer for farmers and gardeneers around the world.
I made a mixture of clineptilolite, unscented cat litter clay non clumping, some lava and pumice stone for cactus, sand and rinsed crushed florida coral with shell matter. Topped over a screen at the bottom of the pot then some hay and then compost with some chicken poo, a krill and some organic banana peel. Then my mix fluffed and enriched with some compost to see how these girls go start to finish in 1 gallon pots.

 

[ChocolatChunk]

i love the cat on the bag because he looks so stoned hahahaha
But y'all Inhave been waiting to put up this Gavita Plasma light sonam very excited about this and we shall see the power of plasma!
The dream pie seedling looking good and almost forget.
Hello my name is Dr. Grinspoon
Paiging Dr. Grinspoon
Come in Dr. Grinspoon

 

[ChocolatChunk]

Beast mode

 

[ChocolatChunk]

this company foldger's... The slogan is the best part of waking up is foldger's in your cup. Well the best part of waking up now is Dr G in the foldger's container lol

 

[ChocolatChunk]

interesting to know anyone considered in areas suffering from aphids or white flies and scale or mealy bugs leaf miners and other chewer and sucker like mites even too possibly? ... So basically anyone can benefit from this newly researched strain of naturally occuring soil microorganism.

Heard from.the manager at the stote the Beauvaria Basiana is effective against mites too. Good to know if I can grow this strain in a sterile environment and powderize it that would be good to add in with teas and use with other microbial products. I like to sprinkle a granular myko during transplant. Have always seen the results and the roots really do benefit so the plants never grew better. In fact ever since I started growing a few plants at a time as far as I can remember have been adding some granules to the transplant hole. Not even a lot a little goes a long way. I like the Reverend and his TLO True Living Organics style of gardening. He makes 4 holes down sides of pots and blasts a squirt of concentrated organic slur and covers then waters in. The plants go ape sh!t bananas.. Well the roots do first and then the plants go nuts. I tried this before with dry additives and it works very well.

 

[ChocolatChunk]

Baby dream pie doing good havent given any water for a week in the tray but grew nice hoping for a nice gal. And a confession. I Said I was gonna gradually adjust the light cycle in the tent well I said how about 24/7 revert fill up the roots in the 10 gallon and replanting French after getting some cuts and flipping them back to 12 and 12 in a few weeks after signs of reveg. The Blue Dream is stunning and gave her a little super crop before her main cyme. She got her pebble pie pie'd all over her and the French Macaron both new strains should be pretty tasty. One only hopes though. Gonna update on the Garlic Cakes and those girls any day now too.
For youbsativa heads out there Dr. Grinspoon growing fast in the coffee can DWC.

 

[Stunger]

Hey CC, sorry been waylaid

Heard from.the manager at the stote the Beauvaria Basiana is effective against mites too.

That sounds great as a foliar treatment. So my plants have been the cleanest for pests this grow, after adding more Neem, chitin sources and malted barley. But in saying that, they're probably going to arrive now!

For youbsativa heads out there Dr. Grinspoon growing fast in the coffee can DWC.

That'll be interesting, I have heard great praise of it, have you grown it before?

 

[greenjeans]

But have a jug that catching the worm wee that drips out of the worm farm, so each day I add it to their waterings.

Hey Strunger - I thought I had read somewhere that this was not the same as Compost Tea and should not be used on plants. Maybe check this out...https://unclejimswormfarm.com/re-use-worm-leachate-worm-tea/

 

[Stunger]

Hey Strunger - I thought I had read somewhere that this was not the same as Compost Tea and should not be used on plants. Maybe check this out...https://unclejimswormfarm.com/re-use-worm-leachate-worm-tea/

Hey GJ, that's an interesting view and link, and it makes sense too, in the way different approaches do. The author, Uncle Jim holds that view, but I have seem many others attesting the opposite, that giving a diluted leachate has been beneficial for their gardens.

I should say that each day's worm leachate I currently use is probably little more than a cup poured into a 10L watering can. Over the winter I save it so at the start of the grow I have plenty to give, using up to 20% of the volume, but once the reserves run out I am usually down to about a cup produced daily. I have been using it for at least 3 years seemingly without any issues and as long as the plants continue to respond well to it and look healthy I'll imagine I'll continue with it, but it is a very good point that if the worm farm or leachate goes septic it could be negative for the grow, however I'd like to think that mine is a positive influence. You raise a good point. Thanks.

 

[greenjeans]

Yeah - I don't know one way or the other - I don't have much run off. My bedding seems pretty wet so I'm not sure why it doesn't leak out. I'm going to give making Compost Tea a go this year. Since I have started feeding my worms a slurry of Alfalfa pellets they are going crazy and now that I have my Compost Trommel running I'm hoping for bucket loads.
You might enjoy this old thread I tried to revive....https://www.420magazine.com/community/threads/question-for-you-vermicomposters.461169/

 

[Stunger]

I am glad that you revived that thread it is a good one to have!

I think I get regular run off because I tend to save mostly chopped banana and melon skin/rind and l Ieave it in a bowl of water that I use to scrap off the porridge pot residue from the morning's breakfast. Here in NZ, porridge refers to oat flakes that are boiled in water for a few minutes, I think traditionally Scottish. But I once read that oats help make worms randy so instead of dropping them dry into the mix, one day I changed to giving them the water and pot scrappings of the daily porridge. Previously I would give everything 'dry', and about once a week I'd give them a 'flush' but I haven't done that for a long time, they just get the water they do with the chopped up fruit skin and everything seems to ebb and flow in a nice balance.

It is funny the different views that can be taken at face value and entrenched. On the above thread @Blew Hiller gives potato amongst his nutritious offerings, and potato I read once was not good for worms, and obviously no one told his worms that and they're doing just fine, so maybe I should start giving that too, it always seems waste not to. Cheers.

 

[Stunger]

Actually, I just remembered. Only last week I was watching a YouTube clip of someone using banana skins that he'd soak in a jar of water for several days and then pour as a fertiliser on his plants, he and others who posted thought it worked well, which at the time I thought that seemed encouraging for my worms diet and that I was adding their leachate to the plant's watering.

 

[ChocolatChunk]

Interesting topic GJ and Stunger. I just watched a worksop while I was demoing a room the other day. A 2 hr discussion about compost and a brief discussion on vermi-composting. Basically the farm needs food but can be alright without being fed and dry is the key. Adding dry scrap is the key and letting the worms eat it completely is also important. Even if you have to save your scraps. The nice thing about having the bin is you can seed a new worm farm with the vermi-compost.
They added that adding ready compost is also a good thing to add to create a more diverse micro biome.
Im due to start mine here any day now. The big thing they mentioned was that you need to have it be loamy and breatheable thats also a key point.
If you cannot breathe in it the worms cannot either same applies to having new compost you can. Add them but should let natural ground worms find it and decide when its cool enough to enter.
My friends they save the worms are the answers to soil remediation along with good proper compost to destroy pathogens and soil pests through healthy sterilization in composting and providing the right ratio of microbes and nematoads.
Thats the 1 thing my mix is lacking is more composted material and critters like worms and nematoads.
It sure is a big learning experience.
Haven't experienced mites for 2 yrs on my girls but have been keeping a tight watch. I use aspirin to systemically repel them if they come around but also did add predatory mites last yr and they helped with the gnat population but so did watering less, and bring vigilant on controlling and killing them.
But see why I say I need more nematoads lol..
Gonna get mosquito bits and make a tea with it. I use a product called gnatrol it's a fungus that eats the larvae so I use it if I see any larvae especially in newly transplanted clones and newly started seedlings because they have more sensitivity.
But I feel a more well balanced potting soil is really the answer for me.
Funny to hear the oat thing about making worms get off more lol. I know red wigglers are perfect because they breed fast and eat fast.
Maybe thats why I like oats though I have Scot in me.
Stunger, I have not grown Dr. Grinspoon yet but have wanted to for years. I decided to buy the seed from 2 dif. Companies and the 1 from attitude had a hard time and the one from white widow rocks is the one living now. Been training since it was a sprout tying down to keep shorter lol
They say either it's the classic pod bud pheno with the sweet sativa tastes or its a more chunky citrusy cut. Which I like but not what they picture so I might need to order another seed again but am trying to work with what I have for now. My friend says I dont need any more seeds and my lady says the same thing hahahaha
We are running this DWC a lucas formula with microbes and using a chitosan formula from the makers of HYGROZYME called HYSHIELD also running a little hygrozyme once a month.
This was me the other day breaking a sweat.

 

[ChocolatChunk]

man you only have 2 eyes so protect them. I had a bracket swing doen right in the eyes and good thing I had my glasses on. Almost scooped my eye out last year in my buddies woods had a stick get jabbed up in my eye got it really good. The tear duct is still healing in the corner and if I rub my eye with it closed it agitates it so have to rub my eye gently now if I got some dust on it.
You also cannot get your fingers back so be careful working everyone!
Had to clean up after a guy who was in construction with me a few years ago took off his thumb and a cpl fingers on a table saw.
They jumped all around and ran into the bedroom with tools and the hallway. Luckily happened in the garage but his blood was everywhere and was already drying for a day before I could start cleaning it. That sucked.
Spend a day doing that. Not fun and was seeing blood everywhere still when I went home. The boss told me about cleaning up after a guy who blew his brains out and that I could only imagine was much worse so I had a walk in the park for cleaning what I did.
Everyone have a nice day! Sorry for the disturbing story
~CC

 

[Stunger]

Interesting topic GJ and Stunger. I just watched a worksop while I was demoing a room the other day. A 2 hr discussion about compost and a brief discussion on vermi-composting. Basically the farm needs food but can be alright without being fed and dry is the key. Adding dry scrap is the key and letting the worms eat it completely is also important. Even if you have to save your scraps. The nice thing about having the bin is you can seed a new worm farm with the vermi-compost.
They added that adding ready compost is also a good thing to add to create a more diverse micro biome.
Im due to start mine here any day now. The big thing they mentioned was that you need to have it be loamy and breatheable thats also a key point.
If you cannot breathe in it the worms cannot either same applies to having new compost you can. Add them but should let natural ground worms find it and decide when its cool enough to enter.

They're all good points. In the first couple of years with my worm farm when I was trying to abide by the recommendations of having to do various things including a weekly flush to keep them happy. I'd get periods, when from probably too must moisture that lots of springtails would appear. But I don't do flushes now and I don't get them any more, and everything seems to run very smoothly. When we cook with pumpkin, I blend up the skin and they absolutely love them. By the second day when I peel the cardboard 'bedding' back, there is quite a noise from them all writhing around feeding. I almost enjoy watching them as much as my plants, haha.

Haven't experienced mites for 2 yrs on my girls but have been keeping a tight watch. I use aspirin to systemically repel them if they come around but also did add predatory mites last yr and they helped with the gnat population but so did watering less, and bring vigilant on controlling and killing them.

I haven't heard of using aspirin against mites, do you put that in the watering or as a foliar spray? Just 1 tablet? I have read that predatory mites work well. I have heard of people mashing up onion and spraying that to get rid of mites but it isn't something I have tried. But so far in this grow, I feel the plants are surprisingly clear of pests, makes me wonder if it is just the weather, or from the Chitin/Neem amendments I have given had this year.

man you only have 2 eyes so protect them.

Too right. I am not a golfer, but years ago I was invited to come along on an early evening bash around the course. At one of many points, my ball went into the bush on the side, and in the half light I focused on reaching for the ball and I didn't see the pointy stick that jabbed my face a fraction from my eye, quite lucky my eye didn't get skewered, but on reflection it was a really dumb thing to do.

 

[greenjeans]

I almost enjoy watching them as much as my plants, haha.

Mine hope I find another project so I will quit checking on them - they think I'm creepy!!!