Well, 907 hasn’t had a pleasure this week of the rain.
We lost some. Clipped anything that looked even remotely infected, tiny little caterpillars. Must be because I didn’t spray BT this week. Did spot a few dead ones but not before they did their damage.
Went through all the colas kinda bending them apart and looking all over. Went through IBG as well, she’s got a lot more breathing room she was totally clear. Panalawi is on her own I can’t even reach most of her, and she’s just starting anyway.
Yeah those little bastards! I have them too. Sprayed last night. I wonder if Spinosad works better? I heard the caterpillars are harder to kill when they get bigger with the BT. Maybe spraying both would be better. I just don’t want to kill all the bees. I don’t think it would have much of an impact on them as long as I spray right before dark.
I haven’t seen any issue using spinosad on the gauntlet. In fact everytime I feed they are buzzing around my 2 gallon jugs “bees”. I think they like the TPS Signal.
I’m pretty sure she’s taller than 10’ now @ColeLennon. On Wednesday night we had a wild downburst for 30 minutes, sounded like hail on our roof and I thought for sure there’s damage, especially to her, towering beyond any support I can provide. I left the house ~4am for work Thursday and wasn’t able to check on them until Friday morning. No storm damage to anything. Although the shitterpillars and the rain have conspired to ruin some 907 buds. Little bastards. Applied the Captain Jack’s Dead Bug Brew (Spinosad) last night in the last few minutes of dusk to all 3 plants, label rate 15mL per L. I’ll apply BT again and get on that train spraying every 3 days rain or shine. But the spinosad should cover me for a few days and I want everything dead before the BT routine fires back up again. I think I had this issue because I stopped spraying due to the intermittent rain last week. Little fuckers had just a few day window and they took it. NOT AGAIN.
@Hashpants I haven’t tried BT at heavier rates, I learned back in late June to respect labels/application rates and frequency. Does it work better? I thought quantity was relatively unimportant it was just thorough coverage that mattered most. I’m following the instructions at 5mL per liter. Here’s a link to my earlier IPM mistep: Over Applied Neem and Burned my Shit
@Ottafish the local grow shop told me not to mix them. I don’t understand why but that’s what they said. I picked up a jug of Insect Frass LABS Ferment I was cautioned that this would rapidly increase the breakdown of my organic matter and to lean towards 1/4-1/2 the low-side of the application rate until I see how things react. He said he applied the low-side and noticed N toxicity the next day. So maybe this helps in several ways, particularly releasing lots of the nutrients the plants need now, especially Panalawi. So I’ll apply a dose this morning, 1/4 low-side recommendation and we’ll see how they look Sunday. And the chitin. That should help too, terpenes and resiliance.
Regarding ripeness, the IBG is leading the pack and seems to have about 50% darkened pistils. It doesn’t look like scope time yet, although maybe this morning I’ll bring a nug in and check. 907 still has mostly white pistils and I think at least a month on the clock. That’s consistent with what @LD50 observed, she wanted to keep flowering longer than expected. They are CHONKER colas. Jeez, peeling them apart yesterday was a chore I’ve never seen anything like this before. I’m kinda surprised I didn’t find more rot than I did.
Today I’m going to do some pollination. I’m going to dust a Panalawi branch with Zamdelica Express Auto pollen from @Morde and some 907 Blue Genes lowers with NL1 and Black Domina x TKNL5Haze pollen from @Klyphman. Thanks again to those generous folks. I think this is my last pollination window with good probability of sucess so the timing of receiving the pollen is perfect. I’m not even worried about frost until end-October, so 6-7 weeks left on the clock today basically. I’ll let the lowers keep going even if the tops are ripe and harvested for the seeds.
I just got my generator and have been loving the results outside! I still need to do some heavy defoliation but seriously this stuff just the PM in it’s tracks!
Yeah I was thinking more of alternating them every 3 days. Maybe that’s still considered mixing? I got 15ml written down for the dosage for the Monteray BT. I thought I got that off the label. It probably varies brand to brand. I kinda think I may need a fresh bottle. Mine is from last year and has been sitting in the warm garage which isn’t supposed to be good for it. Off to go for a morning elk hunt boys. I need a freezer full of meat!
Just my 2 cents,you can mix Bt extra strong.It is just the bacteria to prevent caterpillars and a carrier like watered down syrup. I personally use a half cup to a gallon.It won’t affect the plants at all.I have heard they have to eat it for it to work,but I have sprayed cabbages heavily when they start to form and 3 weeks later seen eggs laid on there turn black and never hatch. Two seasons ago I lost alot due to caterpillars, last season I started spraying and since ,no caterpillars.
@Ottafish and @Hashpants my bottle of Monterey BT Concentrate specifies 2oz per 3 gallons, which is equivalent to about 5mL per L. I’ll consider upping the strength a bit and see what happens.
Good luck on your hunt!
Also watered with some frass ferment water at 1/4 the lowest suggested rate. 1oz per 4 gallons. Holy smokes that’s some strong stuff. The smell makes Alaska fish smell like a perfume. Gut turning. We shall see but didn’t quite expect the strength of the odor there.
Pollination complete I think just in the nick of time. Thank you so much for the donors, @Morde@SHSC-1@Klyphman ! Much appreciated.
frass is next level. the first time i made a root drench with it, the (loose) lid burst off the container after an overnight steep.
having Mothra’s colon explode in your face is a rough way to start the morning
is there room in that little corner for a ladder/scissor lift/crane/etc for you to access Panalawi’s tops?
watching the bugs hammer them wouldn’t be fun
I’ve had great luck with the Captain Jacks every 2 weeks, no caterpillars up to this point, my last application for the season will be this evening, that should get them into the beginning of October… after that they are on their own.
Feel you there! Hopefully it helps, they say the worse it smells the better it works. How often should I use it? I don’t want to gag through every watering, maybe every OTHER night. Complete non-fucking-starter to even open that jug inside.
Also, I’ve got a decent step stool that should allow me to spray the tops of Panalawi with the long spray arm. It’s 3 or 4 extra feet, plus the 2 feet of the long wand. If that doesn’t work I guess it’s time to get a nice ladder
So quick summary: Friday was finally the end of daily rain. Inspected all buds and chopped quite a few off the 907. Sprayed everything down with Captain Jack’s Dead Bug Brew late Friday night. Debating between sticking to that or spraying BT again. Seems both accomplish the same things but BT seems a bit safer. Conflicted. Reading more just leads to more uncertainty. I think I’m about 2 weeks out on IBG harvest and probably a month for the 907.
Received NL#1 and Black Domina x TKNL5 Haze pollen and pollinated some lowers of the 907 Saturday morning. Also dusted a Panalawi cola with Zamdelica Express Auto pollen.
Went out of town with the lady and just got back. Things are still looking good.
Looking back at the pics they really are all over the map in terms of structure. 907 is short and basically all flower with minimal branches and shoots. IBG with a structure that reminds me of modern hybrids like I ran last year. Lots of shoots and colas all over. Panalawi I guess like an equatorial I’ve never grown anything like this…
Guessing I achieved my goal of the full spread BLD-hybrid-NLD. They’re all wildly different plants. I’m so excited
the PM in it’s tracks!
I think just in the nick of time. Thank you so much for the donors, 
