Yeah, this is the thing that I’m struggling with right now, just because I was planning on flipping in two days, on the 15th. But now I’m thinking,”Do I really wanna flip knowing that there’s a pest thing going on?” I’m actually starting to get a little paranoid that it might be spider mites and not aphids. The leaves on one of the Diesel Therapies look all “bit up.”
Just as an aside, I think that that male that Skunk VA is using is some kind of “pest attractor” haha, because I never had issues until I started growing his gear last year. The one Diesel Therapy is definitely looking the most “bitten” or whatever. The Bodhi plants and Doc D’s stuff don’t look too bad. Yet.
I may wait a week and see what’s going on before I flip.
I read an article a while back that was written two years ago that said that CA was on the verge of a sorta uncontrollable aphid infestation. I’m thinking whoever wrote that article mighta been right haha…
Just a quick update on my last harvest. Absolutely none of the females got seeded by the stray pollen like I thought.
I think the way the pistils turned from white to red so quickly, a day or so after the pollen discovery it freaked me out lol
Just starting out! Was that the only female you ended up with?
Would love to see pics. Which genie was that from - the shorter or taller pheno? I just finally shucked & separated more of those seeds over the weekend! I only got maybe a few hundred viable ones, but I’ll be sharing them for sure after seeing Windy’s success!
I had a nasty aphid infestation earlier this year that I tried to manage little by little but it got way out of hand and especially with my plants flowering at the time there seemed to be minimal options. It was just as spring was kicking in and I happen to find a few ladybugs outside that I put into my flower room and I’ve been impressed with how well this has worked so far. I started with four ladybugs and now there is about 9 last count. They’ve really kept the aphids in check. They are not totally gone but I was thinking that is a good thing to constantly keep the lady bugs fed. I don’t know, probably not a viable option for most but it really helped my situation. Don’t forget to remove the hanging sticky traps though!
How heavy is the air movement in your tent? Like, how many oscillating (or stationary) fans do you have blowing in there? And what size fan do you use for venting? I only ask because I’ve considered ladybugs, but at the same time I feel like they’d just blow around and then get sucked up and stuck onto the carbon filter. But I’m willing to try whatever haha.
I was once told by someone working with a biological company who deals with some larger companies that a lot of the big Cannabis bros are mixing up ladybugs in 2L bottles of coke to affect their wings so that they don’t fly into the lights and die. No idea how accurate it was but it does show that is a problem they were dealing with as well. Anyways it’s the larvae of the ladybugs that are voracious predators of aphids, and not really the adults. Ladybugs seem most effective when they find your garden naturally and lay eggs so that the larvae can feast, rather than dumping a whole bunch of mature harvested adults in an area attempting to solve a problem. Not likely to happen in a monocrop situation either.
My indoor setup is kinda ghettoish, it’s an insulated closet in my garage that houses the heat pump and hot water heater. But there is a nice open 3x4 footprint where I setup everything. I have just a small 5 inch portable oscillating fan going in there that actually really moves the air well despite its size. The only venting I have is when the AC or heater kicks on. I thought initially I’d be smelling weed all in the house but it’s not been noticeable by myself or anyone else that comes over. I know this is an oddball setup compared to most all users here but it’s been working quite well so far. The only issue I’ve had so far was the ladybugs getting caught in the sticky traps so those had to come down.
Omg I didn’t realize that’s what these were. I thought some other bug got in and I had been squishing these. Asinine move on my part for not doing an ounce of research before doing this!
Makes sense and I’m def going to listen to that podcast. All I can say is from my personal experience is that it did seem to work. These ladybugs were freaks and got busy right away so maybe that’s why it worked. Maybe because it was the right timing too in the spring
Was that the only female you ended up with?
