I call upon the wisdom of OG. I sit here going after some of the dried up bud’s i have harvested recently from my Big Yield x Mi5 Auto tonight, and its clear that this plant had some visitors.
I grow outside, so all the stuff i grow is going to be exposed to stuff like this, so first, lets see if you can ID these / them, and then next - what would you recommend I do for all the plants that are currently out there, that have yet to flower (but will in the next month or two)?
Ok, I don’t think its spider mites, none of the plants have any webbed area’s i have noticed, but aphid looks like it fits, all those white shells and a few black bugs as well. That might have an answer for what these are.
Auto’s. They are early and are sort of a dress rehearsal before i harvest the rest (mostly photo period plants) in the next month or two. All my stuff is grown outdoors, so its wide open to pests, just looking to see what has worked for others to counter what is part of nature.
Washing buds before drying them eh? With just plain water in a bucket? Dip n shake?
Some “oldtimers” used a Three-stage Wash. THREE separate 5-gallon Buckets; Water with a few drops of Dish Detergent, Water with a few drops of Hydrogen Peroxide, then a Plain Water Rinse. SS/BW…mister SPECIAL NOTE: You may wanna check out sierranaturalscience.com and their products. Can be used up to the day of harvest!! Good luck.
Its strange at first. But once you do it, you’ll wonder how you didn’t in the past.
I do 4 stages.
Stage 1 5g water / 1/2 cup Hydrogen Peroxide
Stage 2 5g water / 1cup lemon juice
Stage 3 5g water / 1/2cup baking soda
Stage 4 5g water
(sometimes) Stage 5 (another 5g water)
I set up 4-5 buckets, use cool water (not cold!) and gently swoosh the buds in each bucket, let em soak 5 mins, then on to the next bucket in line. Indoors 4 stages is fine, outdoors I add the extra rinse bucket.
Then, hang on a rack and use a fan to dry them for a FEW HOURS ONLY. Just wanna get the wash off, not dry / cure with the fan. When they are as "wet’ as they were before cutting, then you can hang them to cure. Just use the fan to remove the excess water from your rinsing.
The crud on the bottom of the bucket? will be FULL of those little aphid exoskeletons and other nasties you dont wanna smoke.
I noticed you mentioned you were in NY. If your outdoors are photos, they wont be done till October typically…Any autos will be on the timeline from when you planted em.
Thankfully no. I just noticed once in a while, the bud area seemed to have a rough texture, and upon closer inspection i can see those guests left behind. i will head out today, collect a few leaf samples from each plant and take a closer look, see who’s got guests, and who does not.
SPECIAL NOTE: You may wanna check out 
