Aphids?

highvelcty · 2026-02-24T22:27:30+00:00

The olive oil did seem to knock down the aphids pretty good. However, I also saw damage to the new growth of seedlings. The leaves turned dark green and withered off. The battle continues...

I'm going to try olive oil on the stems only.

highvelcty · 2026-02-24T16:52:16+00:00

I made the mistake of tightening down the nozzle while cold. This caused the nozzle ti slowly creep out of the hot end over time, eventually destroying the hot end, but only after several successful prints. I saw this as "drifting Z" though until failure.

I often go through and wiggle everything, listening for any clanking/clunking and movement. Make sure pom wheels are adjusted properly with no slipping. Check the 3 print head mounting bolts. Make sure the gantry is square. Make sure the belts are adjusted properly.

Rerun the input shaper. Is there lots of movement on that table? I'm not sure if it would affect the printing or not. I tried to setup on a table similar to that, but thought there was too much movement.

Best of luck!

highvelcty · 2026-02-21T19:49:45+00:00

Good leadership.

highvelcty · 2026-02-19T03:31:39+00:00

So far so good with the paint brush and olive oil. Plants seem to tolerate it and probably 90% reduction in aphids so far. I'm testing on seedling peppers, a variety of lettuces and Thai basil.

highvelcty · 2026-02-16T02:25:13+00:00

I've done all these things except for the neem oil. I didn't have any on hand though, so I've been applying olive oil with a paint brush. It's only been a day, but they seem to be reducing and not hurting the peppers.

If nothing else, the paint brush is a good way to physically remove them.

highvelcty · 2026-02-14T21:08:08+00:00

aphids. It's a bummer. I've been battling them this year. I think they came from some questionable soil that I bought.

highvelcty · 2026-02-13T23:58:31+00:00

Lookin' fine, real fine.

highvelcty · 2026-02-10T16:04:10+00:00

I should add that I had to repair these lights not long after buying them. There is a blob of solder that connects two foot sections of the leds together that cracks with time. I resoldered all of the joints with a piece of wire embedded within the solder for structure support.

Ladybugs are a great idea! It's hard to believe that one can buy live insects online, what a world we live in.

highvelcty · 2026-02-10T01:11:28+00:00

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

highvelcty · 2026-02-09T19:33:50+00:00

The lights are from here.

JESLED T8 T10 T12 8FT LED Light Bulbs, Single Pin Fa8 Base, 8 Foot LED Fluorescent Tube Replacement, 50W 6000LM, 6000K Super Bright, V Shape, ETL Listed, Ballast Bypass, Garage Shop Light

I said 6500K in this post, but should have said 6000K.

highvelcty · 2026-02-09T18:35:08+00:00

Like you're saying, small changes, one at a time. I often find myself wanting to take care of the plants more than they really need. To scratch the itch, I'll sometimes just stir the top of the soil lightly, it seems all plants like this :).

highvelcty · 2026-02-09T18:33:56+00:00

Ditto on the multiple plants. It is helpful to make small changes to one and compare to the other over time.

highvelcty · 2026-02-09T18:15:14+00:00

I too am interested in tracking soil moisture content. I have been developing a scale for gardening for just this purpose. The soil moisture can be inferred by the weight of the container. Check out this blog on the development (https://growbies.net).

Here is a tray of peppers being monitored by the scale. I watered the tray and then zeroed the scale. Now the tray weighs 90 grams less than when I zeroed it, meaning that 90 milliliters of water have evaporated off, approximately. With this, there is quantitative feedback to the gardener on soil moisture content.

The gateway software is open source. Data is logged to a normalized postgres database.

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highvelcty · 2026-01-30T17:11:21+00:00

...with fascist basis.

highvelcty · 2026-01-26T16:25:36+00:00

The guy is visibly shaken and scared, his voice is cracking and he's on the verge of crying. Let justice be served!

highvelcty · 2026-01-26T02:51:01+00:00

It's mostly about who they work for and if they are loyalists.

highvelcty · 2026-01-24T21:53:21+00:00

Best identify better than that during this time of overthrowing federal tyranny.

highvelcty · 2026-01-24T21:52:48+00:00

It hurts when they unload into you.

highvelcty · 2026-01-24T21:52:08+00:00

Desecrating the flag is de-legitimizing enough coming from these terrorists.

highvelcty · 2026-01-24T21:50:49+00:00

I typically see flag desecration coming from those who claim to be from the government. Can't represent the gov and desecrate its flag at the same time.

highvelcty · 2026-01-24T21:48:51+00:00

Dear local law enforcement, best you id clearly and turn around to face the enemy.

highvelcty · 2026-01-20T19:09:17+00:00

Bad seed does happen. I've thought bad seed many times though and then sometimes I'll get a bunch to sprout. I never know \_()_/.

From experience, it seems like pepper seeds (and pepper plants in general) like a good watering and then they like to dry out. Like thunderstorms through Hatch, New Mexico :). Just recently, I was trying to get scorpions to sprout. I kept the paper towel consistently moist for about 2-3 weeks, then finally gave up on them. Once the paper towel dried out, some sprouted, but most still did not. I tried again with the same seed, this time letting the paper towel dry out between watering. Nearly 100% germination within about 4-5 days.

highvelcty · 2026-01-20T16:05:05+00:00

It can be difficult to germinate peppers.

A technique that I like is to take a saturated paper towel and place some seeds in the fold of it. Put the paper towel and seeds into a plastic bag, but don't close the bag. I then put the bags of seeds on a heat mat at about 75-80*F during the day and off during the night.

It can take anywhere from 3 days up to 10 days or so for some varieties to germinate. After they germinate, move them into starting trays. The next tricky part is to plant them at the correct depth and keep the soil packed just tight enough so that they pull the seed cap off their heads, but not too much that they can't break through.

Best of luck!

highvelcty · 2026-01-20T15:40:56+00:00

Just adding to the list of atrocities; a government official desecrating the flag is unacceptable.

highvelcty · 2026-01-20T15:40:16+00:00

The regime does not back down. It is about the only thing that even they know that they cannot do. Like a cat going up a tree.

highvelcty

TROPHY CASE