Harvest day, slimy bumps all over the main stems?

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The Poet

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Fellow Growers,

Having watered my 9 Satori the day before, I harvested by leaving the plants,
pots and all in the dark closet till 4-5 the next day.

I took the most 'autumnly' looking one out first and it had slimy bumps all over the stalk and stems. I could rub them off but it made my finger nails slimy.
I trashed the first plant hoping the rest would be alright.

They were all fine till I left them in the dark closet all day, damp.
Now one or two had a little slime on them but not much.
The crop is alright but the one plant, the first one I pulled was trashed.

What was the slimy bumps all over the man stems of my plants?
I've never seen this before...


Thank you...


The Poet...


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Does it look something like this? If so the slime could be honeydew from a number of different types of scale insect.
 

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Oh no lesso that pic just made my eye start twitching lol! Scale bugs are more terrifying than any creature that is basically a land barnacle has any right to be : (
And I agree, that is a laser point accurate first call for "slimy bumps".
I need to go wash my eyeballs with Avid now, bye.
 
Yes... that is it, slimy bumps. An insect?

I sprayed the bloom room with bleach and water,
1/4 cup bleach - 1 quart water, several times.
Moved the plywood on the floor and repeated,
sprayed the plywood several times, both sides. And the carpet several more times.

Never seen scale before. Out of 8 plants, one ruined and the rest alright.
Shouldn't have watered right before harvest.


Thank you Lesso...


The Poet...


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Question: Do I have to trash the soil that the 9 Satori were in?

I would think it has insects in it and as such is ruined.
Would it be bad to dump it in my old Garden?
It isn't in use now and needs complete weeding and that will take a year. I would think it would be alright as I won't be gardening this year.

Poet...

Thank you...


...
 
Trash it entirely for indoor use, and frankly even as patio pot dirt id avoid it. Not worth the risk.
If you're going to use it outdoors in a vegetable garden, you can put it in large contractor bags so that you can lay them flattish, with the dirt no more than a foot thick, and leave them in the sun on a week or more of consecutive really hot days. Bonus points if you can do this on hot asphalt. You gotta steam the lil buggers to death before doing anything with it.
Some folks would just spread it over the garden surface and lay down the black plastic over it to bake, but you KNOW you've got scalebugs and imvho the conservative approach here is to simply start over with fresh dirt.
 
Stinkyattic,

Thanks man,
I'll go pick up the pot full I dumped on the garden and trash it and the rest on
'the burn pile'.
You are right it isn't worth the risk.


The Poet...


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Another thing, I try and save money by putting plants outside.
After the equinox especially I set plants outside, 'up off the ground' 4' or so in an old trailer and let them bloom. Last year the crop was fine.
Big grasshoppers were hopping around every where but not quite that high.

But trying to save a buck by setting vegging plants outside,
doesn't look good to me any more. I'll keep them inside.


Thanks 'Lesso' and 'stinky attic' for all the help.


The Poet...


...
 
I had nothing but problems trying the indoor-to-outdoor-to-indoor thing. I am sure it works for a lot of people but I had a year long battle with bugs and occasional bud rot and powdery mildew when I tried it. Now if I put a plant outside, there it will stay. Not worth the energy savings for me between the cost of battling those issues, the loss of harvest weight and frankly the stress and frustration of cruddy grows...
 
That plywood can harbor scale too. Im not sure what part of the world youre in but where i am, scale kills a lot of tropical plants.
 
Scale wiped out my entire genetics collection (close to 30 strains, several rare or irreplaceable) many moons ago. I had taken in a prized blackberry kush from some guy who was moving and asked me to hold it for him, he swore it was 'clean', and it passed a 2 week quarantine for other bugs. I didnt find the scale until it was too late. I'm still brokenhearted about the Daddy's Girl and original Exodus Cut of UK Cheese, which I doubt I will ever see again. And now everything that comes in from ANYWHERE gets a welcome shower with hardcore systemic pesticides.
This whole thread is giving me flashbacks and I want to cry all over again.

Of all the things I ever lost,
I think I miss my Cheese the most.
 
Sinkyattic,

How did you ever get rid of scale?

If I keep spraying the bleach water around the plants...
On watering days spray the closet, the gear, the dirt, the plants themselves...
Don't let up but 'expect to see scale again' and keep on top of it.

Can I ever get rid of it?


Thank you...


The Poet...


...
 
I vacuumed, bleached, bombed (twice), and then discontinued my entire operation for 4 years.
We shall see if it worked. I'm just now starting up again. And systemic pesticides will be in heavy rotation in my mother room.
 
i ant had but 1 grow, started outside and moved them in when ready to flower! had bunch of bugs and went threw hell getting raid of them! never again!
 
Oh my God!

I just sprayed bleach again and decided to keep doing this forever.
If '1/4 bleach / water' will kill them, they can't hide around here!
My carpets old as is everything else around my house.
I have a gallon of white vinegar on my grocery list too.

What kind of 'bug bomb' can I use in the room where they were?
{I'll turn off the central air}
This is a war!


General Poet...


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Hey stinky attic,

By systemic insecticide use, do you mean spraying a 'bait plant'
it with the systemic stuff and letting it sit beside your cannabis.
Or, even better, after bombing and spraying vinegar and bleach for a week or so,
put a few 'bait plants' in your bloom room for another week or two before using the room.

That would kill a lot of bugs and not poison yourself.


Poet...



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It is a war. : / I've used the pyrethrin bombs you can get at home depot. Follow the instructions on the can closely.
It's a substance derived from chrysthantemum, plus an activator (piperonyl? Maybe? Can't recall, but yeah just pull the SDS) that makes it more aggressive to bugs.
 
I don't run systemic past the point where the degradation of the active would end within 2 weeks of harvest. So if it's a 4 week degradation period on an 8 week strain, i only apply to week 2. They stay protected for most of the degradation period, then it's a matter of watching them closely and picking any stragglers off by hand, if there are any left, which there shouldn't be unless you have a reinfestation source like a buggy veg room, house plants, dirty gardening boots, pets, that sort of thing.
Never used a bait plant. Though I've run a couple strains that I've joked are like a salt lick to bugs... there are definitely matters of taste amongst members of the insect kingdom. Snobby little a-holes! Lol
 
Stinkyattic,

Look up:
Barnacles and scales on cannabis
Identify and get rid of.
Grow weed easy.com

A very complete and reassuring article also recommending ...

From Amazon

Monterey LG6135 Garden insect spray with Spinosad
32 oz $30.10 free shipping

According to them you can drink this stuff.
It kills the little buggers real good.
A water sprayer will wash them off, just water.
{I'd do in the shower where they go down the drain.}
But then spray the plants with the Spinosad.

What do you think?


The Poet...


...
 
Never used that stuff so I can't give advice on it other than not to drink it lol.
Depending on the species of scale, you'd need a pressure washer for some! And think about it, if you spray them with water to remove them, most of them will just end up in the dirt! They are so insidious the key is to prevent them ever taking hold again.
A program of cycling between 2 or even 3 different bug killers, alternating which one you use when it's Spray Day, is ideal to start as soon as the plants are old enough to endure it.
Gently wiping the stems periodically by hand with a cotton ball soaked in insecticidal soap is also a good way to prevent them. Wear gloves because even Safer 's isn't just soap, nor safe for prolonged skin contact. And be gentle so you don't actually damage the plants own defenses by running the skin/bark/whatever thin where you've wiped
 

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