I’ve never (knowingly) experienced this first hand. Have you guys? Predatory beneficials ending up in your buds? Sounds gross but it’s safer than smoking pesticides…maybe.
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Only thing I have ever found is a seed very rarely or one time a fungus gnat. All from the stores but never a beneficial bug.
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I bet they’re filthy with fungus gnats. No beneficials!
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Grower claims they’re predatory mites but IDK.
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Any have pictures?
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Looks like a fungus gnat to me
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I think you have a good guess.
We use to have florist who would call and ask if we wanted our lady bugs back. No we bought five gallons at a time.
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Interesting article. I like how they try and spin it as a good thing. If they were beneficials, it would be an easier point to sell to consumers. The truth is, plants are a part of nature, but nobody likes to willing buy the bruised apple even though the rest of the fruit is still perfect.
Working in the wholesale food service industry, it’s amazing how little people actually know about products that come over to the US. In fact, many of the lentils and dahl beans that come form East Asia make their way over with bean weevils. Those same beans end up in a number of different locations for consumption. The end result being that they aren’t harmful to the consumer (added protein anyone?).
For cannabis, I can safely say I wouldn’t enjoy opening my package from the dispensary to find any sort of crawler making its way out of the pack or terraforming my bud. Also, call this value-saver-side, but if I’m paying a premium by gram, I really don’t want to be paying for the added bug weight.
Pests over pesticides any day of the week. What does everyone think about the way people will respond? Is this something that the regular consumer will come to understand and accept, or are there methods in place to guarantee that product is sold bug free? Are there any extraction companies that have seen a bug problem in pre-process bulk at all?
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I agree with Nick. They are not beneficial or predators.
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How could you avoid this sorta thing 100% ever?
Time to process everything I guess.
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ANSWER: Run a clean facility with proper IPM protocols, incorporating cleanliness procedures including mandatory doff/don of clean, facility-specific clothes and a Shoe Inn, (see @jfoster). Many facilities simply overlook vital aspects of holistic cultivation practices. This is the end result:
You know what that little bug REALLY is? Hint: it’s not an insect… ANSWER: It’s a PR nightmare our whole industry now has to overcome!
Clean cannabis=happy consumer
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Thank you, @Growernick. Happy to chat with anyone about our time/cost saving, easy-to-use, safety-increasing automatic shoe cover dispensers.
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The worst part though is that the same producer, has the bug problem & the mould problem. They’ve done their studies & the bugs are “protein carbohydrates” that are harmless while the mould is not so harmless. So they’re recalling the mouldy bud but not the bud with the bugs in it.
That bug would have been irradiated too which is why it’s difficult to decipher its exact shape.
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I swear I nailed it: it looks like a minuscule, however very real PR nightmare…
…really for all of us in the industry! Thanks for bringing up the recalled moldy cannabis from the same facility, @Dianna.Donnelly!
The fact is, if you do this long enough - especially in the days when we were all still figuring out what we were doing with the micro-climates in our grows - you will run into issues! It’s how we deal with those issues that really matters. As we establish brands and become LP’s in a newly - legalized industry, we have to realize that we are the stewards of the image of the entire industry. All it takes is a few specks of PM or a fungus gnat or two in your flower and guess what happens??? The internet blows up with a picture of a tiny fly and cannabis professionals the world over engage in discourse about how you run a dirty grow; but, more significant to this conversation, is the fact that now all the consumers in this newly legalized cannabis market (especially the people new to cannabis) are tonight busting out their magnifying glasses and examining THEIR buds for tiny flies… as they should.
All growers need to work hard to bring clean cannabis to market…self included.
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My thought was no matter how clean your facility you simply can’t see a bug or a booger a hair or whatever might inadvertently end up in what is essentially an unprocessed raw plant with lots of irregularities. You simply can’t guarantee it happen at your facility.
We’ve accidentally sent a customer a snake in our flower pots on the ornamental side. Shit happens.
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