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sillydog last won the day on December 28 2016

sillydog had the most liked content!

About sillydog

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    Goat Squal --> Illinois Valley
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    clonal propagation, breeding, the woods, self-sufficiency, existentialist philosophy, horticulture, trees, science, the sea, weed, SHO / rosin / hash, dogs, psychedelic music (apparently), fruit trees, radical thought, mushroom hunting, farming, rural living, bowling, TED talks, Science in Action

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  1. How are you? It's been awhile since you've been here. The clones you donated are in flower. I'm sure you'd love to see how they turn out. I'd like you advice on some of them since I never grown some of the strains before

  2. sillydog

    What am I doing wrong???

    Doing better yet? New pics?
  3. sillydog

    Pest: Root Aphids

    I've heard the sand trick from others who seem to know their stuff.
  4. sillydog

    Pest: Root Aphids

    Funny thought: the grape problem was eventually "solved" in France by replacing most vines with European cultivars grafted onto American "foxy" cultivars. Has anyone tried grafting onto a less susceptible rootstock, or are all cultivars equally susceptible? I've noticed a difference in how much the HRM love certain plants vs. others. For instance, one hears about grafting a regular hops scion onto a weed rootstalk...what about the other way around? Heard a horror story recently about a friend in a soil-based commercial situation up in PDX who recently spent $18,000 on beneficials trying to get rid of RA once they were flying...the whole operation ended up moving and starting over from seed. He seemed to think that once they were flying, it was all over, but don't don't know if imidacloprid was ever used. Seems to me these might be the worst pest ever, just edging out bulb mites. May no one find these anywhere, ever.
  5. sillydog

    New chicks,...... and a frustrated cat

    wing feathers!
  6. I think your onions are going to get crowded out
  7. sillydog


    Hooray for baby chicks. They grow so fast!
  8. sillydog

    Pest: Hemp Russet Mite

    Amazing summation of the info out there, and thank you most especially for the predator and genus info. While the HRM seems to have been rampant since at least 2010 in California, Michigan and points between, there remains little solid information about it out there. These mostly anonymous internet postings are made and not always followed up by people who are very reasonably freaking out. Some things I've noticed from rotating my control methods after pruning to growing tips: They REALLY prefer the underside of the leaf and the center of the plant until control is effective, then they head for growing tips if they can Azatrol + iso killed most adults, but doesn't touch the eggs. Dips was very effective on adults. citric acid seemed mildly effective on eggs and reasonably effective on adults - is listed as the active ingredient in Dr. Zymes Horsetail + nettle tea seems useful as foliar on babes, but who knows? A friend had good luck w/ adding an insane amount of DE to soil prep outdoors Spinodaid didn't seem to have any effect I finally found a living A. swirskii on an infected plant it looked like a hollywood creature under a 100x scope with the killing action. I think if enough living adults were introduced, they would be effective, but my trial packages were mostly DOA. I would try again. Grandevo slows 'em down, but does nothing to the eggs. I think is a useful preventative with plenty o' silica -- it seems to make them appear drunk and eventually kill, but with eggs poppin'.... However, big + : can be safely used up 'til day of harvest and is apparently made from bacteria and dried wine must pyrethrin + neem oil + hort oil was appears to have been nearly 100% effective on several badly infected plants, but only when applied excessively, to the point of some actual leaf damage, even under low light (clogged pores, I think). Seems to be the only thing I've tried so far to actually halt hatching. Hort oil alone might do it for continued egg suppression once adults are dead and dying. They are so small, it's impossible for a regular droplet to penetrate though all that hair, esp near veins, and they seem to stick their heads right into the epidermis sometimes and sort of hibernate there. I think extra iso and dr. bronners wherever possible helps penetrate to their hiding spots and breaks droplets up fine enough to effect them. I have yet to try the imidcloprid I got or abamectin, cuz there's a line there, you know? I'm almost there, but not quite until I am convinced there is actual control at the other end. From my reading, it didn't seem that harsher chemicals were always that much more effective -- that the control was more cultural and preventative-based. But, people have beliefs about these things...the sort I'm surely not immune to. Then again, I've not quite won yet...the eggs, physical smallness and reinfection really are the crux of the problem. I suspect they are actually killed by many things if you can get it in them. I also spray my hands with alcohol whenever I touch an infested leaf or move between plants. I also dip my thumbs and snips habitually in ISO whenever I touch something that doesn't seem right. I also hit the trimmings with an iso spritz when going out of area for disposal or adding any badly infected material to the temp bucket. Three things listed I wonder about: sucrashield (no longer made, but still available online) pfr-97 met-52 Borg.
  9. No, you didn't mention or I didn't remember. Wow! The work pics look fantastic!! As do the others. Nothing quite like a well-trained plant.... Bare bulbs? Seriously? Pruning and training is my favourite part before harvest. Where I worked last Summer, I was the designated person for putting fallen limbs back on...long story.
  10. sillydog

    Grow Hack: Predatory Mites on the Attack!

    Well, that price might reflect their viability...I have yet to see a single living predator, and even dissected a packet. Is there a way to check viability before leaving the store or would I just be taken for a jerk?
  11. sillydog

    Mycorrhizae and the roots ~

    Another wonderful and informative post! When do you innoculate? When first potting up rooted cuttings? Into first seed media? How about when potting up? Looked up a bit on predatory fungus, and dang: https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Nematode_trapping_fungi I should note, cuz I've done it: systematic over-watering kills mychorrizal fungi, among other things.
  12. Sounds like plain ol' corn (aka maize) as a companion plant might be effective with proper timing: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22962997 That said, I've not seen any creeping around yet. I wonder if some are poking around my car as we speak....
  13. I've just read about it, but it makes sense. In scholarly articles, a complicated mix of pollen, egg yolk, yeast extract, honey and amino acids ( http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10526-012-9502-y) is made and, I think, hung as little feeding stations in the canopy. I had the crazy idea of keeping a male in the Vegetorium on a rotating basis. Even crazier aside: is there such a thing as dope stud service? In the meanwhile, I was going to get bee pollen from the coop, grind it up in a mortar and pestle combined with a bit of corn starch or somesuch, put it in a little something to diffuse it, and shake it over the plants. For other predators that visit the soil, others just throw chunks of bee pollen on the surface with varying levels of success. It might be a bit too dry in a room that isn't on the verge of a pm outbreak for them to breed. I don't know. At $1.50/pak, I might not care that much.
  14. I don't know how true this is, but there's some logic: it is said that grandeveo is compatible for use with predator mites and may be used up 'til day of harvest. I suspect not if you plan on trying to keep them alive and breeding, but it's a minor point if the sachets remain reasonably priced. Will you dust with bee pollen to keep them going?
  15. sillydog

    Grow Hack: Predatory Mites on the Attack!

    I picked up A. swirskii on the same day for like $1.50 a pouch at Ladybug in Medford and was shocked they had 'em on hand. Was that why they had 'em in stock?