Ladybugs Found Their Way To My Garden Of Mothers

At the time that I find myself sitting down to write this article, it’s mid-March.

We still have a bit of snow left in the part of Ontario, Canada where I live.

This means that I don’t live in a climate that is warm enough or receives enough sunlight consistently to grow cannabis outside, year round.

At Best One Cannabis Crop Can Be Grown Outside (here) Per Year

As a result, growers who plan to grow outside have just started their seeds or will be getting ready to receive clones in the next 2 weeks.

For those new to the cannabis growing culture, a clone is a cutting that’s been taken from a more mature cannabis plant. The cutting is “rooted” and once a root is established, the newly rooted stem can be transplanted into a larger container and grown as an exact duplicate of the original plant that the stem came from.

The Original Plants, That Provide The Cuttings, Are Called Mothers

In the photo (below) you can see some of my mothers.

These mothers were once tiny clones themselves.

There are a few reasons why growers like to work with clones. This is because they:

• will be the same gender as the mother plant (female, unless the plants become stressed);

• will save the grower time as the grower dosen’t have to risk whether a seed is going to sprout (or not) and they also don’t have to wait for a viable seeding to become established. (This alone, can add a few weeks to a growing cycle);

• can be brought to harvest a little bit quicker which means a quicker turn around on crop rotations and ultimately more yield potential in a calendar year.

At this point, we are all waiting for all the snow to melt

Even the Ladybugs (who have emerged from their winter hibernation from somewhere) are anxious to get to work.

The sweet skunky aroma is like a homing beacon to them

Ladybugs are one of the few creatures that are welcome in a cannabis garden when it’s still in a vegetative-state.

They will eat all kinds of pests but they are really prized for their love of feasting on spider mites.

Thankfully, my garden doesn’t have any mites so the ladybugs will have to keep hunting.

Hypothetically, if I did have a mite problem, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy ladybugs and release them into my garden to try and save it. An infestation of mites often means that an entire crop must be destroyed.

I thought that it was pretty amazing that these ladybugs found their way naturally onto my cannabis hedge.

A good example of permaculture in action, working with nature rather than against it.

In the close-up photo (above) the ladybug is looking a little sticky. LOL! No doubt!
(She probably can’t remember why she crawled out on that leaf in the first place... I almost can’t. Lol!)

I welcome your comments and I invite you to follow me on my journey...we will be saving ladybugs!

~ Rebecca