I want to preface this by saying that by being a human being, as well as an adult, I take 100% responsibility for my actions, including what makes it into my garden.
I received cuts from someone here too. Again, that person was just trying to help me out and any fingers that need to be pointed are solely at myself for allowing whatever made it into my garden.
I scoped the cuttings upon receiving them. They took a month and a half or more to root and were basically on the brink of death before showing any signs of rooting. I put them in some cups with soil under a small light, still in quarantine. A week or so later, my friend's place where I was quarantining had a busted water pipe, so I came and hurriedly scoped them again before moving them to my main op. I had managed to limp Blue Dream, Blueberry and Chem '91 to rooting and they looked to be on the upswing. I was quite pleased with myself, for a moment haha. After 3 days or so, the cuttings looked to be growing, but the growth almost looked like reveg. I thought it was because they had been to the brink of death and back, so I didn't really think much of it, but I also saw what looked like microscopic bites on the lower leaves. Just to be on the safe side, I busted out my microscope again. At 60x, I didn't see anything. At 100x, I saw these tiny bubbles that looked like eggs. My first thought was spider mites, but upon further inspection, I saw these nasty little fuckers that look almost wedge shaped and white, almost translucent. Prior to this, the worst pest I had encountered was spider mites, so my dumb ass literally sat there and thought, "whew, whatever it is, at least it isn't spider mites" hahaha. Boy would I love if it had been spider mites now. I felt alright, but then I was hit with this nauseous feeling. I immediately recalled my homie telling me about the Borg years ago that he had gotten from some cuts from a friend. I googled russet mites and sure enough, that is exactly what I had. I started checking other plants in my walk-in closet that I utilize as a seedling/cutting room and I couldn't see to many russet mites, but there were quite a few eggs. In 3 days, they had spread like wildfire.
Compared to some of the pictures of horrible infestations that I saw online, I had seemingly caught it really early, but this was ultimately the route I chose as well. I started to treat everything with sulphur, but I thought that I might fight an uphill battle, just to have them creep back in and rear their ugly heads again at some point down the road after I got complacent. I trashed three full rooms and my walk-in closet full of seedlings/cuttings. I had several plants that were just about to be harvested and 6+ seed crops that would be harvested over the next few weeks. It all went to the city dump, one town over, just to be sure that I wasn't hanging on to any of those little fuckers. I was physically/ mentally sick for a few days to a week. I had just trashed everything I had worked tirelessly to build. I have cleaned all of the rooms ridiculously well and I am waiting for a month and a half or two, just to be on the safe side. I keep telling myself that it will be nice to start fresh with all new cultivars, but some of the cuts that I hunted from seed definitely still hurt, if I focus on it too much.
On a positive note, I have way more time to spend with my loved ones. I even have the freedom to take a vacation if I wanted to haha, but I am not really trying to drag my family around with everything going on in the world. I will be back to planting and better than ever in no time.
I wrote all of that before I saw your post and I wasn't going to ever speak on it or name any names either, but again, no matter what or where anything came from I AM 100% RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT MAKES IT INTO MY GARDEN. I have love and appreciation for you brother. I still appreciate you trying to hook me up. Again, I have soooo many dope seeds that I will be growing in the near future and hopefully be finding new and different mothers/studs to work with. I will be starting with only my own creations for the first few months, just to continuously scope everything and be certain that no stragglers are waiting in the wings to make a comeback.
@AlienAthena No matter what the case, I hope everything goes as well as possible for you! Positive vibes...
~nugzz
