Avocadocumentary--Part 9: Leaf Phase II!

[ru]

For those of you who came in late, it's a new year! Avobaby's resolution is to get branches, while Potatobob's is to...not get any more bugs. Last week I discovered to my horror that aphids had gotten to Potatobob. I'm still not sure how exactly they got there either, unless they were already on it when I got it and were woken up by Potatobob's sprouting. Either way, this was not good, and required rectification. I first thought I could get away with using the forceps from my old dissection kit (you know you've converted from biology to botany when your old dissection kit is now used for botanical surgery) to pick them off a la hungry bird, but there were a lot there, and they had a thing for hiding in the leaf whorls where I couldn't get at them. There were also some weird grub things which I plucked off. Both the grub things and the aphids were really starting to get to me (particularly what happened when I pulled them off, which I'm not going to go into), and eventually I was so nauseous from the proceedings that I abandoned the forceps idea and hit them with my insecticidal soap. They got another hit today. That'll teach them to bother Potatobob.

Anyway, on to Avobaby pictures!


Looks like Avobaby's going into a new growth spurt!



First, a full-body photo. Is it just me, or has Avobaby's stem gotten thicker? It certainly seems a little stronger--it didn't wobble nearly as bad when I took it down to take pictures. I think it has the sense to stiffen up before putting out more leaves.



See? Leaves coming! <3 <3 <3 This makes me really happy, not only because leaves are spiffy and we like more, but because it means that Avobaby is still growing. I guess it just wanted a break to rest up and fortify itself before putting out more. You can see where the bud is splitting and where the leaves-to-be are going to come out. More on this development as it happens!



Since I figured out how to competently work the macro function on the camera, I also took a picture of Avobaby's lower end. You can definitely see where it's starting to grow bark, or some avocado equivalent. I suspect it'll creep upwards as Avobaby continues to grow. I think it must be something like the avocado equivalent of Getting Hair in Strange Places. Aww, my little Avobaby is growing up so fast. <3 <3 <3



On a different note, my comment on the current weather:

WTF. NO SERIOUSLY WTF. WTFOMGOMGWTF. IT'S THE BEGINNING OF JANUARY AND IT'S 70 DEGREES OUT.

THE APRICOT TREES ON CAMPUS ARE BLOOMING.
THE CHERRY TREES IN DC ARE BLOOMING.
MY LUNGWORT IS STILL ALIVE.
MY FRICKIN' DAYLILIES ARE COMING UP.

WEATHER STOP IT OMGARGH THIS IS NOT GOOD. JAPANESE MAGNOLIA, DO NOT START. DO NOT SUBMIT TO PEER PRESSURE. YOU ARE ABOVE THE INFLUENCE.

Comments

[peppermintberry.livejournal.com]

Well, I didn't get a good look at them, because I was more concerned with getting them off, and they were making me gag. They were pretty big compared to the aphids...maybe a centimeter long, were kinda diamond-shaped, and sort of a fleshy-tone. Oh, and they were accompanied by some sort of stringy, cobwebby type stuff. I kind of wondered if they were some sort of scale bug, as they were pretty flush to the stem, and I remember something about how scales are soft as juveniles. Any ideas?