Grow Mediums Sensi Seeds Super Skunk SCROG (Autopots, AutoCobs, & Mega Crop Oh, MY!)

[BigSm0]

@HemiSync i was looking for a good thread to bomb with autopot questions when I saw your aphid problem. I fought them for 2 years. The first 6 months I was in denial.

I’m convinced most come from the soil.

 

[HemiSync]

@HemiSync i was looking for a good thread to bomb with autopot questions when I saw your aphid problem. I fought them for 2 years. The first 6 months I was in denial.

I’m convinced most come from the soil.

I agree, just thought I was safe being the soil in the tent has been there for 6 months without a problem and then boom, they are all over! I only brought into the house a five gallon bucket of soil I had mixed outside from bags that were in below freezing conditions recently. I worked with it on the other side of the house, but I guess I could have cross contaminated the tent somehow with eggs.

Did you ever try ladybugs or green lacewings? I would have gone for the praying mantis but it takes 2-3 weeks for them to hatch out.

 

[lunarman]

There is only the one autopot in this tent and yes there would be larvae in the soil. Which is why I mixed up some DE, flour, and catnip and put a layer on top. This will, kill, constipate, and or repel critters trying to go in or out of the soil. Nope, I’m not playing nice. I just hope my ladybugs survive the mailing in this weather, because then I will release about 100 a day for two weeks and they will clean it up.

Took another peek last night and they are all barely moving but still moving. Was tempted to open my outside cellar doors and drop it below freezing for a couple hours until I read this about freeze-avoidant insects;

So the house would probably lose before I froze them to death. At this point I’m just trying to give the buds the last 2-3 weeks they need to finish.

I have had a small chunk of mosquito dunk floating in my autopot reservoirs for the last couple of months as bug prevention. And in a bucket used for hand watering. I dont know if that actually prevents bugs or not but it made some sense to me. I'm going to contact their customer service and see what they say about that method. I read somewhere that you can float a dunk in a pond and that will kill all mosquito larvae.

 

[HemiSync]

I have had a small chunk of mosquito dunk floating in my autopot reservoirs for the last couple of months as bug prevention. And in a bucket used for hand watering. I dont know if that actually prevents bugs or not but it made some sense to me. I'm going to contact their customer service and see what they say about that method. I read somewhere that you can float a dunk in a pond and that will kill all mosquito larvae.

I had to laugh when I read about flour making bugs constipated, serves them right for sucking the life out of my girl. I went down this morning and it’s 51°f in the tent with the one cob off and I can still see them moving under a green light. Here’s hoping the ladybugs get here sooner than later. I’ve had plants outside at colder than this but I hate doing it to her.

 

[BigSm0]

I agree, just thought I was safe being the soil in the tent has been there for 6 months without a problem and then boom, they are all over! I only brought into the house a five gallon bucket of soil I had mixed outside from bags that were in below freezing conditions recently. I worked with it on the other side of the house, but I guess I could have cross contaminated the tent somehow with eggs.

Did you ever try ladybugs or green lacewings? I would have gone for the praying mantis but it takes 2-3 weeks for them to hatch out.

I did do nematodes and lady bugs. They all died well before the aphids did. These bugs are extremely resistant and resilient.

 

[HemiSync]

I did do nematodes and lady bugs. They all died well before the aphids did. These bugs are extremely resistant and resilient.

I’m been talking to some folks that use them on their starter plants before putting out in their commercial greenhouses and they say the biggest problem most have is they release too many at one time and ladybugs don’t like being in an environment where they are stressed by too many ladybugs in one small area. So they suggested I only release like 20-100 at a time. Apparently if there is an excess of food and there is not too many ladybugs around, they will feel more comfortable sticking around and mating.

My only other choice, the way I see it for this plant, is two drag her out into the 10° weather and see how long it takes the aphids to jump ship. Her buds aren’t formed enough to worry about but too far along to start spraying anything. This 2nd harvest was an experiment to begin with and I have enough in my personal stash to wait out another grow. I’m thinking the stress of the long reveg and 2nd bloom might have weaken the plant in some way aiding in this infestation. Seriously, in almost 4 years of growing in the same tent, I’ve never had more than a couple flies buzzing around.

Just got the notification that the bugs are out for delivery so after a calming period in the fridge, I will start warming the basement back up. I’m sealing the tent and dropping the first team into the battle zone later today.

 

[HemiSync]

Ladybugs arrived today and after a calming period in the refrigerator. I added about 40 or so to the tent. The one cob I'm using had just come on and I misted the leaves for some extra moisture for the ladybugs. I had already warmed the basement back, turned off the exhaust fan, sealed the ports on the tent, and turned off my circulation fan in the tent. Too my surprise the ladybugs hit the plant running. All of them started running up and down branches and leaves. Four hours later I even caught a few of them eating aphids. You could actually see their little wings moving as the LB ate them. So I’m leaving it like that for the night and hopefully they are still munching away in the morning.

 

[Nosias]

Super pics of the lady bugs.

 

[Recycled]

Ladybugs arrived today and after a calming period in the refrigerator. I added about 40 or so to the tent. The one cob I'm using had just come on and I misted the leaves for some extra moisture for the ladybugs. I had already warmed the basement back, turned off the exhaust fan, sealed the ports on the tent, and turned off my circulation fan in the tent. Too my surprise the ladybugs hit the plant running. All of them started running up and down branches and leaves. Four hours later I even caught a few of them eating aphids. You could actually see their little wings moving as the LB ate them. So I’m leaving it like that for the night and hopefully they are still munching away in the morning.
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Very cool. They’re little workhorses in my outdoor veggie garden in the spring.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[HemiSync]

Turn off the sound unless you like royalty free music.
https://www.theweedtube.com/ladybugs-at-work-on-aphids/

Would be nice if we could embed weedtube videos, or can we somehow?