OH NONONONONO!!!!! EGGS ON TOP OF THE TUBEROUSO BEGONIA SOIL!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I happened to notice what looks like hundreds of small white eggs throughout on top of the soil of the tuberous begonia!!!!! WTF!??!?  This has never happened before.  I can only guess that if these are in fact eggs, some critter came in with the bulb when I brought in inside in the fall, and despite being in a paper bag with no water or anything for several months, somehow the critter survived and laid all these eggs!?!?!?   Maybe if there's only one, the eggs won't be viable?  Wow, what a mystery.

So I immediately took the pot downstairs and double-bagged it to make sure everything stays inside.  Will see if anything emerges from the "eggs"....   I sure hope these aren't critters because if so, obviously I'll have to toss the whole thing, and TB has been around for quite a few years, has been a nice tradition.

Not seeing sign of any eggs etc. on anything else.... fingers crossed.

~~~~~~  See updated posted Feb 12th:  Doesn't look like they were eggs after all... (fingers crossed)

Indoor stevia flopped due to many small flying insects! Moved outside

Yikes, tons of small flying insects!!  I had noticed one a week or two ago, didn't think anything of it.  Came back from camping and now there are so many!

So, moved all three indoor stevia outside permanently.

I wonder if they came in on the stevia that I bought -- that's my theory.  (Two of the indoors stevia were mine, one was from the store.)

The plants look happy, but no way in heck do I want to risk insects for the winter, so putting a stop to this now.

Knock on wood, but everything inside looks GOOD!! Really good!

Surely I'm jinxing myself by putting this in writing, but wow everything inside looks so strong and healthy.

- tomatoes
- ground cherries
- zinnias -- some have started a flower shoot or whatever!  (not bloomed yet, just emerging)
- basil

So it would appear (knock, knock) that the possible thrip/whatever issue I was worried about in weeks past, didn't materialize.  This may be because I removed the worrisome ones early on, I have no idea.

Peas recovered from insects

Almost all of the imperiled peas recovered from their insect damage.  Planted their peat pots into the ground today.

Same tiny insect found on one of the questionable kitchen zinnias

Noticed that one of the zinnias that's been kept in the kitchen the past week or two in case it was contagious, has started to have stunted leaves once again, in its newest growth.  Had a very close look and sure enough, saw one of those same tiny long white/pale insects on top of one of the leaves.  So, put the plant out with the green bin today.

The other questionable zinnia that's been next to it in the kitchen still looks strong in terms of its new growth.

Found a small flying insect in computer room

Found a small flying insect in the computer room.  Possibly a thrip, i.e. possibly the kind of insect who damaged the plants?

I remember noticing a small flying insect in the computer room about a month or so ago but didn't do anything about it.

My theory is that these are thrips and that they came from the second bag of Pro Mix.  But I'll surely never know.

In the meantime I'm definitely not using any more of the Pro Mix bag.  Might do some kind of test later after everything has been moved safely outside.

All indoor plants looking great

Thank goodness, it seems everything left growing inside hasn't been affected by the insects I found on the stunted zinnias.

Will be running of grow room VERY soon for the tomatoes, and even some of the basil.

Sowed more peas because the last round look puny (likely the insect problem)

Sowed more peas today, in the new soil, in two six-pack peat pots.  Each compartment has two seeds, except all of the end ones have 3 seeds each.

The original round that's now in the ground looks good and strong.  But much of the subsequent rounds will probably be garbage because they look terrible / aren't growing, which I assume is due to the same insect problem with some of the zinnias.

Bought new soil

Bought new soil to use for the rest of the indoor planting. This stuff came from Metro.  I can't help but think the insects came from that second bag of Pro Mix.

So, fingers crossed for smooth sailing from here on in!

Tossed the affected zinnias :-(

Decided to play it safe and got ride of the affected zinnias by putting them into the curbside green bin pickup.  Adios... 

On the bright side, everything else is still looking great.

Insects found on deformed zinnias!

Well what do you know.  Pulled a couple of the smallest, most stunted zinnias and examined them in my hand, one at a time.  Found a critter on my palm for each of them:  tiny, long-shaped (but itty bitty) pale green or off-white in colour. 

So, I've removed all of the affected-looking plants (zinnias, one chard that looks a smidge suspicious, and one mystery four-pack that I have no idea what I planted and doesn't match any of my other seedlings.  I put all of these downstairs, on the kitchen table.  Will decide later on what to do...

I assume the same situation is the cause for the stunted peas, but haven't checked them out yet.  Guess it will be another paltry pea year, but at least several are looking decent.

What might they be?
- Thrips?  Photos on the internet seem to resemble these the most, but, they don't seem to be flying, and, the damage looks different from some of the photos I'm seeing.
- Broad mites?  But those seem to be football/pudgy-shaped, whereas the insects I found were quite long and skinny (but tiny).
- ??  what else could they be?


Where might they have come from?
- New bag of Pro Mix?  Everything I potted up earlier looks great so far -- it's the newest transplantings that used soil from the new bag that have this issue.  Actually, a few days ago I repotted the second batch of tomatoes -- and placed them on the same shelf as all the other good looking plants --------- will have to keep a close eye.......  I'm wondering if the newest tomato leaves are looking kind of curly....

- From my overwintered thyme/oregano?  But this doesn't seem likely, because those are sitting on the table, whereas the damaged plants were mostly on the uppermost shelves.