I am looking into all this wonderful knowledge and sit here and ask myself before I do the deed, I should probably avoid pests as much as I possible can as that could ruin an entire grow. So for all the experts what do you do to avoid pests that you've found to work? I want some stuff I can implement quite easily, and maybe someone can come in here and help explain all the different species I could encounter.
Start from seed, NEVER import a clone. Keep your environment right, 75 degrees 40-50% humidity. Filter your intakes or go with a sealed room. Change clothes when going into your grow room from outside, especially if you we're doing gardening work. I do none of that and haven't had a problem. Growing organically is a pest control in its own way. I get insect damage every once in a while, but none of it is fatal, or really even that bad at all. You would need a book to explain all the species of pests. Most common is fungal gnats, and next is probably spider mites, followed by thrips I think. Gnats are relatively harmless, spider mites and thrips do some damage and can kill your plant if the infestation is bad enough. But mites leave a plant once it is harvested, for the most part at least. And my thrip infestation wasn't bad (thanks roots) and a simple hot pepper spray got rid of all my thrips and usually does the trick for mites too.
Maintenance is key. Order cold pressed organic Ahimsa neem oil from neemresource.com and spray your plants up until 3rd week of flower every week or two - whether they need it or not. You will need an emulsifier to break the oil down; oil and water don't mix. If you do ever get mites - Keep in mind their reproductive cycle which is almost identical to fleas on our pets. The adult-egg-larva cycle must be broken. Failure to follow-up results in the plethora of posts about this or that doesn't work - they came right back!!! No shit, Sherlock. Spray - repeat 72 hours later and again and again for a total of 4 sprays. That will kill the overwhelming majority. Spinosad may be the better choice for eradication and that is because it does not degrade from light & air as do botanical compounds. Because they do not degrade Spinosad's bacteria culture remains active for several days. With an application every 72 hours with Spinosad you'll be successful. You can achieve the same results with Neem oil you just need to be thorough in distributing the solution completely over the entire plant from the soil to the top. Bottom and top. At night or immediately before light's out. Spraying during the day period is worthless. Completely and totally worthless. You'll get less than 25% eradication. Einstein Oil is worthless. Pre-mixed Neem products like those from Monterey Garden Products are equally worthless. Azamax and Azatrol are not Neem oil or even close. Dyna Gro Neem Tree Oil will work but has 1/3 compound levels that you find in the organic oils. (1500 ppm vs 4500 ppm) Those ratios are the same with the meals from the pressings. The method of extraction is critical - you want cold-pressed oils and not the crap are processed with solvents. The 2 sources for the organic oils are NeemResource.com, KIS Organics (which sells the Neem Resource oil) and a grower in Florida, Neem Tree Farms. With proper maintenance you can avoid disaster. J
1)Keep all grow areas as sterile as possible. 2)If you can help it never ever except a clone or plant from anyone. If you do, quarantine it and treat with Bonide, Neem oil, or both for that matter alternating treatments every 4 days before introducing them to your grow area. 3)And what Jerry said MGB
What can I use to safely prevent said pests? Check out these threads, they should help. http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1164969-organic-pest-management.html http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/335656-natural-insecticides-fungicides.html
Thank you, luckily I have a little wisdom retained about essential oils and pesticides. I watched a video saying slugs stay away from copper, but thats more gardening related. Thanks again though everyone, anyone else want to chime in with anything go ahead!
As far as mites go, lavender and rosemary work extremely well. I'm happy to say I've been completely stress free since I started using them, as that was the only issue I've ran into where I'm at. Good luck, hopefully you'll show off the ladies when it's time.
To be honest the best way that ive found is scotch bonnet pepper habanero peppers . Their cheap i got a couple handfulls like 25 peppers for 2.70 at local grocery store. chop up about 4 peppers real fine.( dont touch eyes or face cause it will burn) simmer in a couple courts of water dont boil. For about 20 min. If you can put ur face over steam and cry its ready. Let cool and before the lights come back on spray the whole plant and the whole top layer of soil. The capsaicin in the peppers will kill any bugs. Spider mites dust mites those little white things some people get. Like this guy lol and some spider mites. It will not harm the plant they actually love it. Have to repeat every day for 4 days
IPM......Integrated Pest Management and vermicompost are a good place to begin. etd.pdf (application/pdf Object) [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFGQR5ERaPQ"]Vermicompost a Living Soil Amendment - YouTube[/ame]
Planting dill, cilantro, garlic or crysanthemums in your garden will help repel pests very well on their own too.
I've read somewhere that the seeds are the most potent part when using the jabanero as a pesticide. Anybody have any experience and care to clarify?
These are all some great ideas man! I am going to add them all together and I will tell you how it goes.
I believe the seeds are the most potent part. I have used this on my plants and must say the plants did love it as johnny said. When I made mine I chopped up the peppers into tiny pieces and as for the seeds cut them in half, it is a bit of work to chop up but well worth it. I am going to grow out my own habanero peppers this year and use those I think I may only use it if I have an infestation. For regular maintenance I believe I will mix some of the neem oil from neemresource (I used the dyna-gro brand before) and I will mix in some essential oils as I hear that is a good combination. I must say though the heat of the peppers does not bother me too much. The first batch I made up was with green habanero and the second was orange although the burn did not bother me too much when I used the orange ones my hands burned for days! Needless to say the orange are clearly hotter and I should have used gloves. But the green ones did wonders for my ladies they went from depressed looking to happy again within a day probably.
After having used the oils consistently for a few months now, use them one or two at a time, and alternate for the best results. I.e. Rosemary + Neem, then Lavender + Peppermint, etc. If you have a glass bottle you can use for a sprayer, do it. I'm pretty sure the terpines from the oils stick to plastic. Not that big of a deal, from what I've seen, just easier to keep clean.
Thanks for the heads up about the plastic will look for a glass bottle. As for the oils, that is just what I was going to do I figured it would make it tougher for any bugs to become immune to any one thing.
The stem is actually thw hottest part of the that pepper. Cut a stem and lick and tell me you dont wanna cut your tounge off lol. So if you also wanted to. You could vhop up a few stems. I personally like using the pepper cause ive done one spray and have never seen pest back
Do the peppers play any role in the taste of your buds? As in I don't want like a fruity strain tasting any what spicy ya know? Otherwise that's an awesome method and sounds the easiest!