and this is what alerted me to the problem - these plants were extremely healthy and communicate better than any crop i've had prior, i swear they had a signal for everything!
here's the "oh shit, there's something in my pants" signal:
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see how the tips of the leaves are pointing up like that? if those were roots, it would be similar to the tips of the laterals curling up from aphid bites. or at least that's the thought process i was having.
here's the bud on day 10:
View attachment 291346
and the same plant, day 26:
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you can see the plant is less stressed, it's SAR is fully engaged from the tea. However root aphids really took a toll on the nutrient uptake from the roots. This is the most badly damaged plant in the garden, most likely the vector for the RAs. She's the only one whose colony didn't take a drastic hit from the teas, gonna give her another dose and see if that doesn't knock them out.