Purps Five weeks into 12.12

[razzapiggy]

I just read some information on the net that said you need TEN THOUSAND lady bugs to eat the mites if you have webbing on your plants. Coming from a lady bug dealer, I am guessing that number is quite inflated. In any case, I hope my lady bugs mate ASAP!

Most of them are chilling in the top soil, not much action towards the top of the buds... is this normal? I'm guessing loads of eggs are in my soil...YIKES.

[rhizome]

Most ACs will recirculate the room air over the cooling coils, so they don't actually introduce fresh air. It's more efficient to keep cooling the same air than it is to pull fresh warm air in from outside. Remember, most folks run their AC when it's hotter outside than in.
The window units that I own have a vented/ non-vented selection lever, but they aren't young- I don't know if more modern units still have these.

I suspect that your ladybugs are hanging out low, under your canopy because it's too hot for them up by the lamp. They'll eat once it cools down some.

You need 10,000 ladybugs to clean up how large an area? Commercial floriculture is rarely expressed in units of square feet. Certainly you need a bunch of bugs, but 10,000 seems like a lot.

Ya gotta drop your temps,man.

[razzapiggy]

Just went and saw Sicko, and boy is that movie sickening for lack of a better word. I highly reccomend it to anyone, not just Americans... the way the movie is presented is both respectable and realistic.. some of his other films are overly dramatic.

Anyhow, got home....six hours after putting the lady bugs in there... every single one is either dead or well on its way. Not a single lady bug on the plants when I arrived home, all dieing on the ground. I did spray with insecticide soap a few days ago.. maybe thats it. Well, back to putting the a\c unit....will update thurs.

[razzapiggy]

So as I already said the lady bugs all died, perhaps from the heat...perhaps from the insectiside soap I sprayed about 2-3 days ago? I am going to bomb the hell outta that room early tomorrow morning, and then try to introduce more lady bugs a few days after that. Will this work?

After a long night of work (and not quite finishing until now) the a\c unit is installed into ply wood that is covering the window. Unfortunately, I could not seal the ply would real well last night at about 3am so I put plastic over it to prevent light leaks this am.

That didn't work... the plastic fell off, and a light leak was exposed for about three-four hours this am. I used my light meter and it hardly moved when I put it near the plants...so I am wishing, and praying that it didn't fuck these ladies up. What y'all think? I'll post pictures real soon gotta get back to work.

[AR15]

In this thread someone mentioned that you should give them some water in a small dish with some pebbles. So it might be that they need water to survive, and maybe even moreso if it's pretty hot there like you're saying.

I'd wait for an opinion from one of the experienced growers though, I'm just learning. Anyways, good luck on it. Hope you can keep those mites out.

[Weedhound]

I'd strong think introducing some sort of insect or bug into a room with insecticide or bug killer anywhere in it would be a bad idea on general priniciples.

[razzapiggy]

Yeah I just woulda thought that the soap would have evaporated by now with the high heat in there... perhaps not? Would I need to wash the plants off manually in order to introduce my lady bugs? Maybe just wait a few more days? What ya guys think? I was looking foward to that army taking care of business for me. =)

[razzapiggy]

I dropped the bomb on them.... BABY! I dropped the bomb on them....

DIE BUGS DIE. Hope this one takes well.... only have like two weeks left until harvest so let's see how it works out.

[Weedhound]

KILLA!!

[razzapiggy]

Bugs are dead as far as I can tell right now (though I bet some of those fuckers have made their way to the carpet where they re-group to plan a detailed plan on how to attack me next!!!) Well, they better be prepared for my a\c, bc that room is 10 degrees cooler than it ever was... BRING IT FUCKERS! lol