Hey Mainah! I think you're right. This plant honestly looks like it will blow away the yields of my previous grows in almost 1/4 the space. Idk what that's about but I'm cool with it lol. Are y'all into sci-fi movies? The new remake of Dune looks insane!!
I love Dune! I have the original on dvd and I’ve read the entire series. Can’t wait to see the remake and see how they handle all the special effects.
I have yet to read the books. I haven't actually read a novel or a piece of fiction in way too long! I watched the old 80's movie with my dad as a kid.
Sup everybody! So I've got a little bit of a two-parter garden update. First up, I have what appears to be a somewhat rare pest issue. It's hard to find much on the internet, but I think this might be scale? I have managed to snap a few picks of them over the last couple of weeks. It's a bit hard to tell how much damage they are causing. I haven't really done anything except pick them off when I see 'em, which I have only seen I think 4 of them. There was one in the middle of the stem on the largest cola. The branch is very purple in the section where I found it latched on (you can see green sections above and below the purple) and the leaves on that cola seem to be fading out a bit early. I am not too worried about it, but I thought it was pretty interesting and wanted to share it. I occasionally do fieldwork at a university research farm where there are hemp research plots (CBD, fiber, and seed), so it's possible that I brought this strange bug into my grow on my clothes or something. Guess I need to be a bit more careful!
Here is what the plant looks like today. I think we are on day 35-ish of 12-12. I gotta say I am really damn impressed with this 135-watt quantum board. It's crazy how far LEDs have come in just the past couple of years. I really f-ed up by not setting up a second trellis net or something. I installed a few bamboo stakes to help keep things upright, but I may look into yo-yo's or something if the colas start leaning too much. See the early fade happening on that main cola that was hit with the scale.
I sometimes find them on my comfrey. AFAIK they are very resilient little fuckers. They say to remove the infected plant parts and kill them with a cotton swap soaked in alcohol or neem, I dont think a neem foliar would be enough. Also, the ones you see are adults but I bet if you take a loup and check you will find smaller baby ones (they are tiny about 1/16 of an inch). I also will find these white waxy deposits which I think are egg sacks so get rid of those if you find any.
Scale is no beuno. I deal with it on a daily on tons of crape myrtles. Never seen them on cannabus plants. Look up scale on crapes
Perhaps they are less rare than I initially thought they were. According to Planet Natural, ladybugs and lacewings are scale insect predators. Idk if it would be a good idea to release flying beneficial insects in a tiny 2x2 tent. I imagine them getting cooked on the LED's or caught in the fans lol. How to Control Scale Insects | Planet Natural Scooby after you mentioned the white egg sacks, I wonder if what you're referring to is their "honeydew". I have seen some white specs almost like flakes of dandruff on some leaves. I have also seen a few flying gnat-like insects, I wonder if these are the males.
I think the flakes might be hatched eggs/cocoons. The yellow dots in the right pic are the babies. I wonder if there are any nametodes or fungus that would kill them, I think i remember reading about some kind of predatory fungus that kills insects but I dont remember where.
I’ve had success using isopropyl and a q-tip on pests when there’s just a few and it didn’t bother the plant at all. It takes a couple times to get them all usually.
I've got some catching up to do =) great stuff going on in here, going to get caught up and stay updated!
Ok, I haven't quite seen anything like that. After trying to snag some pics of the "white flakes" I mentioned before I am not convinced they are anything related to the insects. After digging a little bit more, I think I may be dealing with an armored scale rather than a soft-bodied scale. Scale Management Guidelines--UC IPM Scales--UC IPM. Know Your Enemy: Armored Scale Biology & IPM Armored Scale Insects & Control I have the feeling there are many more that I just haven't seen yet. Found a couple more on a different cola. And here is one of the gnat things. I don't think this is a fungus gnat. I've seen more than my fair share of those in the past lol. Yep, I have seen dabbing them with ISO recommended a lot. Apparently horticultural oils work well as suffocants. Of course its a little late in the game for that, but another good reason to keep an oil spray in rotation in veg as a preventative.
About the parasitic fungus idea -- the term "mind control fungus" returns some wild results about different fungal parasites and how they affect host behavior. Pretty cool stuff. Dr. Allison Justice has recently been posting on instagram about these parasitized grasshoppers in her hemp fields. The disease will cause the grasshoppers to climb up and die and the top of plants where the spores will get good aerial dispersal.
Hey, these are the white waxy deposits on my (sad) comfrey. On second look they also dont really look like what I posted before. The weird part is that there are also a bunch of smaller waxy particles next to the big lumps. I still think its from the mealybugs I have running around.
Thanks for sharing, that is really interesting. I'm surprised to see pests affecting comfrey! Such a tough plant. My main issue is with grasshoppers lol. Are these plants growing outdoors in the ground?