Morning all,
Had some updates in the queue last night but I ran out of steam before getting around to posting them. Also had a couple issues that surfaced. I had to perform an emergency surgery on the S. Harlequin. Her leaves were kind of growing around the center shoot so we had no growth coming up after her 2nd set of leaves. I kind of pulled the leaves apart and down and it exposed the new growth that was somehow sealed in. She looked a bit rough last night but seems to have recovered a bit. Will post pictures of her later.
Also saw a couple leaves on the Black Cherry Punch that caught my attention. A quick check on her revealed a couple mites. We checked all the other plants in the veg tent but didn't see any. So I decided to try something new in treating the plants for the mites since the plants were all in smaller pots. I filled up a 5 gallon bucket with water and added some Neem oil and mixed it up well. Then I cut a foam pad and gave it a slit so I could slide it around the stem of the plants. Then I turned the plant upside down (foam pad keeps the soil from falling into the bucket with the neem/water and dip the whole plant.
I dipped the three Northern Lights clones, the African Meltdown, and the Hawaiian Mayan Gold all first since I didn't see anything on any of them and they were all the smallest plants and easiest to do. Then I did the Tangie x Ghost Train Haze. Lastly I did the BCP making sure to hold the plant under the water for a minute while and swished it around trying to knock anything off the leaves. This was much easier to do on smaller plants than trying to spray. Now not sure how effective it is, but time will tell.
The last thing we did was to quarantine the BCP into my breeding tent all by her self. She will stay there until she is clear. I need to swing by the grow store and pick up some more Rapid Rooter plugs and I will cut a couple clones off the BCP, wash them til they are squeaky clean and get them rooting. IF i can get the clones rooted before I clear the few mites and eggs off the BCP, I might ditch the mom and start over with the clone. I just don't want to battle the borg like I did last summer.
Luckily we caught them early and seem to have them quarantined. I will also take the BCP outside every day and spray her with the hose or with water/alcohol mixture.
Moral of the story? Watch your plants. Check your leaves when you defoliate. Inspect your plants for little tiny white spots. The Borg is a bitch to deal with if you let them get a foot hold. Have a plan for WHEN you come across them and they are manageable. I don't think this batch will be terrible to deal with since we found them early and only on one plant.
Ok, updates to follow.....
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