Pakalolos Organics For The Win

 
Thanks for the compliment. I like to keep things looking good when my friends stop by.
 

 
I discovered that you can select for characteristics in the branches you clone. My Goblin Girl sister came off the same mother that variegated Goblin Girl came from. One of my GG sisters is showing variegation on one branch. I could clone that branch and get a variegated Goblin Girl from Goblin Girl sister. I also showed a picture a few posts back of a seedling that I popped that retained the variegation. So it is even passed on through to the seeds.

 

 
I stopped by a friend of mine today who mentioned that a lot of growers in the Seattle area are having problems with broad mites (Polyphagotarsonemus latus). It seems that the dispensary clones are passing them around. Glad I've stayed away from those dispensary clones. I learned my lesson almost 2 years ago. Never again will I buy clones from the dispensary. He said they haven't found anything to eradicate an infestation outside of using predatory mites against them.

 

 
It has been my experience for the last 25 years you could always find a friend of a friend of a friend... that would share clones with you. That UofDub cultivar seemed to be readily available and farther back it was Northern Lights #5. I even had a sativa leaning plant that was named George. I later found out that the name came for the friend of a friend that gave me the clone. I never got mites or PM from doing that. It is only when people started getting clones from the dispensaries that these type of problems became prevalent. I'm probably going to shut down my cellar for awhile to clean it up of the PM. I'll run outdoors this summer and let the cellar sit idle.
 
EDIT: If you do get a clone of Blue Orca post a picture of her in flower. I've been growing her and TO long enough to recognize them. The leaf shape is similar but there are characteristics that you can observe and differentiate them.

 

 
I'll celebrate with you here in the PNW. Happy birthday and Aloha. I loved to hang at a Hawaiian beach party. I love those islands.
 
Today was my last day at the job I've contracted with for the last 3 years and 8 months. I'm officially on unemployment and my first week starts Sunday.

 

When I first got my card for MMJ I went to the dispensaries. I had one offer to help me design my grow space so I talked to their 'gardener'. I now know why you see such issues with contaminated clones. This guy was basically clueless.
 
Once your space gets infested with these problems it is almost impossible to rid them without tearing everything down to the walls, ceiling and floors. You need to stay on top of the plants and find the problem before you become infested.
 
For example, looking under your leaves for spider mites is a necessity. Once you see those little white/yellow specks on the top of the leaves you've got a battle on your hands. If it gets to the webs you've lost. These people don't know what to even watch for. Like CC implied it's about the money and not the health of the patients.
 
I'm working to contain my PM problem. I've got many pheno hunt plants that are showing no PM even though they are within a few feet of the plants that have it. What I'm learning is you can keep it out of the buds but you have to spray daily with Serenade or Actinovate. At least this is working for me. SG1 uses a sulfur treatment but I don't have the choice. I did it once and my wife about kicked me out of the house. I seeped up from the cellar and even I found it unpleasant. SG1 does it I think 3 times.
 
I read where baking soda is good so I'm going to hit walls, ceiling, floor, lights, hood, fans with it and follow on with bleach. I'll run my 8 ladies outside and make sure the babies stay clean.
 
The last time I talked to the dispensary grower they were having to cut everything down and start over because of broad mites. This was in the fall of 2013. I haven't stepped into one of those places since.

 

Thanks CC for the information. Now that I've got more time to myself I'll be reading up on this.
 

 
I've got a harvest coming up in a week or 2. Looking forward to getting a good sample on that Nocturnal.

 

I've been having fairly good success at controlling the PM with all my plants but the tweeners. I was planning on running the tweeners outside but they seem to be the most infected with PM. It isn't bad but I don't think they'll do that good once I flip them. So I'm tossing all eight of them. I won't lose any of the cultivars so it isn't a big set back for me.
 
In the growing of marijuana sometimes it is best to cut your loses. I've got some very nice babies coming in behind them so I'll only lose a month or 6 weeks in my normal rotation. I'll go with the teenagers outside.
 
This will allow me to clean flower room 1 and 2 plus the tweeners area. I learned a long time ago that there are those moments in growing that you just have to throw in the towel. Taking care of the tweeners is becoming a PITA.

 

I always say to pay attention to your plants and they will teach you how to grow them. I've never had issues with PM until I brought those dispensary clones into my cellar. I've had bud rot issues on the outdoor girls but that is to be expected when the weather changes here in the PNW.
 
So I'm learning how to deal with PM in the cellar. I haven't eradicated it but I have learned to control it to the fan leaves. PM hasn't been showing up in my plants until they are flipped and about 1/2 through their maturity cycle. I spray them daily and this reduces the spread. Unfortunately my tweeners have been infected and I haven't been able to contain it. At one time I thought that PM was systemic but with further research I found that it isn't. PM is a fungi and like all fungi it will produce mycelium. This mycelium grows along the surface of the plant and sends haustoria (root-like structures) in the epidermal cells of the plant.
 
Now my tweeners have been hit hard with PM and I just can't control it with either Serenade, Actinovate or baking soda. I've been hitting them daily with an extreme soaking but the mycelium/haustoria is firmly established. While it is knocked down within 12 hours or so it is back. Here are my tweeners just before I chopped them.
 

 
If you look closely at the nearest plant you can see what the PM looks like on the fan leaves. Here is a better picture of that.
 

 
It is obvious that the PM is well established on the fan leaves. This is why I decided to cut my losses and toss these girls. I have some issues with my ladies in the flower rooms but they aren't too bad at the moment. These will hit 8 weeks on June 15.
 

 
I took a close up picture so you could see what I'm talking about. Notice that there is some PM at the base of the leaf. It hasn't spread out of the veins. When it is in this state I'm guessing that the mycelium/haustoria hasn't gotten a good foot hold yet. When I spray these plants it kills the fruiting portion that produces the spores and slows down the spread of PM. I still hit these daily but it is no where near what the tweeners have experienced.
 
I don't have anything else to go on but my observations so all of this may be subjective wishfulness. As long as it stays out of the buds I'll be happy. My last seed run only one of the plants showed PM in the buds. I'm crossing my fingers.