THELOADEDDRAGON'S 2009 Outdoor

hey TLD ..... sounds like a plan. good luck with that. I didn't know you could acquire "hundreds" of ladybugs .... that's pretty cool.

they sell them at the hydro shop 1500-3000 or something like that in each box. I will get three boxes.... just open the lid and a couple hundred will fly out..... close the lid really quick, and release a couple hundred more the next day..... they should mate and reproduce and keep in constant supply after that

that is really fukin cool ..... the sound of a roadtrip is starting to call pretty loud and clear ....

the risk that comes with using lady bugs as a defense against is that if you have only a couple isolated plants with spider mites on them.... lady bugs herd their food, and will move them to the rest of the plants.... so a spray would be more effective. I do have access to about 20-50 praying mantises that just hang out around my house, and are ironically more expensive than ladybugs (which eat lady bugs) so I will be releasing them into the greenhouse as well to pray on the lady bugs.....

Basically the plan is to release enough lady bugs in such a way as they drastically cut down on spider mite numbers, spray garlic spray to prevent them from spreadign (the mites), and release praying mantises to keep the lady bug population low enough that they don't start herding the mites........ (praying mantises will also eat bud pillars , they prefer the pillars over the lady bugs ) So IF I end up having any pillars invade, the spiders (daddy long legs and such) praying mantises, and garlic spray (because it repells pillars as well) should keep them at bay enough for me to just have to pluck a couple..... I have been doing all around detailed analyses on the plants daily checking for pillars on virtually every bud site, as well as keeping track of the spidermites, which I was hoping would stay contained...... also a WHOLE bunch of lady bugs (about 130 for every 200 released) will fly away on the wind etc.

I haven't seen a single pillar crossing my fingers they stay 350 ft away and around the corner in the flower garden where I have seen about 20 milling away

excellent and many thanks for the details. Question? why would you not harvest some PreyingMantis's and sell them if they are so prevalent in the "surroundings| .... I'm sure there is a reasonable harvest ratio that you could determine and supplement ur income? IDK just thinking out loud.... lol!

I thought about it...... but I also just really like having them around..... I work for money...... so bills get paid...... lol..... they are priceless to me

cool .... they are a very cool animal .... yea inspite of their treatment of mates ... but it works for them so wattev ...

the cool thing about my area is that the lady bugs show up in great numbers just as budding starts.I bet theirs at least one lady bug on every plant

yea they really go have their "season" don't they ... I'm in western Canada

madcow said:

the cool thing about my area is that the lady bugs show up in great numbers just as budding starts.I bet theirs at least one lady bug on every plant

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tahoe58 said:

yea they really go have their "season" don't they ... I'm in western Canada

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they sure do I'm in central!! you guys doing any breeding this season??

nope ..... still getting my feet wet with this new hobby ... I first grew in the late 70's but then not again until a couple years ago .... thanks for asking!

Ima be breeding (as I wrote in my indoor update) but dealing with the males is going to be a hassle!

careful wit the pollen u know it likes to travel

yeah I know.... they are indoor plants though.... miles away from my outdoor plants... they are just starting to preflower...... I will only keep pollen from a couple males the rest will be pulled as they show sex

dont forget though u can transfer pollen from one garden to another. im sure u know that but ya know just lookin out for my fav dragon

lol.... yeah.... its never going to hurt to be constantly reminded of such important factors....... this pollen collecting and breeding isn't going to be all that fun..... but getting the seeds out of it should be

I think I am going to construct the flower room..... flower males just long enough to collect pollen, and remove them and sterilize the room.....

sounds good just always check the girls b4 the boys

You have some prettier then mine there.

longlizard said:

You have some prettier then mine there.

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i like the signature....

went looking all through your threads but can't find any pics of yours...... Im sure they are nice though

just water today.... and they needed it.... they are not happy about this heat wave that came through this last week at all.... but it should be cooling off this upcoming week for them and staying cool after that perfect sunny days with highs in upper 70s to mid 80s after this upcoming Tuesday , perfect for them to fatten up to, . Busy busy busy..... being good for santa to leave a nugget in my stocking...... and to have plenty to be thankfull for for thanksgiving....