I have been lurking on the forum for a week and when I saw this thread, I had to join and be able to post. It has probably been 25 years since I grew this kind of plant and might not again till they have the medicimal laws in my state. Back then NL was about the best strain around. I mainly wanted to check out what is new, like with the LED lights, and the new strains that have been made over the decades. So many of you guys are so inventive, and I'm impressed. I felt I needed to give you help back. There are plants in nature that produce certain alkaloids that keep insects from eating them. One of these plants, is the coffee plant. The alkaloids are the most concentrated in the seeds so that insects won't eat the seeds and thus the plant will be able to reproduce. Those seeds are the coffee beans. The drip system like they have at Starbucks does not brew out all the alkaloids. Starbucks gives away for free, large bags of used coffee grounds. You can rebrew the used grounds to make a tea. If you want a lot of this tea, one way to make it would be to take about 3/4 of a pound of used grounds, put it in an old panty hose and let that hang in a 5 gallon bucket of water. After it has steeped for a week and the water has turned dark, this tea can be used as a direct contact spray to kill any kind of scale insect, mealy bugs, aphids, white flies, and even spider mites, on ANY plant. I have used this spray on 400 different species of plants with no sign of toxicity. The used grounds can be used as a mulch or incorporated about 10% into the soil. The alkaloids will kill any of these insects in the soil for around 4 to 5 months. In your cases, this may be all the time you need to finish a crop. Every time you water, more alkaloids are given off to kill any of these insects in the ground. As I alluded to, I have not tried this on your type of plant, BUT, I have found that they also will work systemically on short plants but it doesn't seem to translocate up to the top of plants that are 3 feet or taller, or at least not for woodier plants. I would bet that it would kill, or at least repel all these insects for 4 to 5 months just being incorportated into the soil. Try it and report back. You may ask, will this mess up the pH of the soil? USED coffee grounds are not very acidic because most of the acid is brewed out from the first brew. I tested several bags from Starbucks, and they all were right around 6.2, which most people's potting soil should be around 6.5 to 6.75 anyway. You may ask, can I use new coffee? Yes, but it is acidic and there are a couple of somewhat harmful chemicals that also get cooked out that aren't present in the used grounds. Another qulaity of the used grounds is that it has an organic Nitrogen rating of around 4.5, so if you use the spray, you are also slightly fertilizing the plants. If you incorporate it into the soil, you are also fertilizing the soil as well. Maybe not enough to manipulate your plants, but at least it would help. I hope this helps everyone a lot and I hope it is worthy of a first post.
For blades wanting a very economical source for diatomaceous earth,(DE). Most livestock feed supply stores either carry it in #50 bags or can get it for around $35.00 out the door. A common brand is Perma Gard. Be sure it sure it says "Food Grade" whatever your source. It should have the ORMI listed label as well.
When I had a black mold and fungi issue in my apartment I was told by many that tea tree oil helps kill mold. I was thinking adding 2 drops of tea tree oil per liter of water then spray on all hard surfaces in your grow room. Kind of along the lines of a natural "Lysol". What do ya guys think?
Tea oil is a very powerful fungicide - about on par with neem and karanja oil. Widely used by organic farmers around the world. LD2
I had never heard of neem or karanja before, but I knew about tea tree oil for years. I wonder if you could use the Tea tree oil on the plants themselves too besides just the walls. However I am glad to hear someone else knows the wonderful benefits of tea tree.
I just treated my plant with a combination of Neem oil, and 3 drops each/gallon of Tea Tree Oil, Peppermint Oil, Eucalyptus Oil, Lavender Oil, and Rosemary Oil. These are 100% pure essential oils and all have been shown to have fungicidal/miticidal properties. I add a few drops of Castile organic soap as a surfactant a.k.a. a wetting agent so the solution coats the plant without leaving droplets. If interested, a google search on Neem and Karanja oil is an interesting and informative read. Welcome to Grasscity! chunk
ive heard neem oil is a great preventative measure against pest and mold but i used the soap/water method to clean my plants because i couldnt get a hold of neem quick enough they seem to be doin great now though
Yes you can. Mix 1 tablespoon of tea tree oil with 2 tsp. of Dyna-Gro Pro-TeKt (liquid silica) which will emulsify the oil so that it can be mixed with tepid water. Add this mix to 1 gallon of tepid water and add a couple of drops of the purest soap you can find which is almost always Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap to function as a surfactant. Better yet would be to use aloe vera juice (add 1/4 cup to your tea tree oil gallon) or yucca extract (about 1 tablespoon to the 1 gallon of your mix). HTH LD2
Thanks Chunk and LD2 think I will take a stroll to the Health food shop today and see if they have some more essential oils, so I can have them on hand just in case. Also going to go online browsing for some good organic soap like you guys said. Better to be safe then sorry I just dont want my 4 new baby mj's feeling like shit and getting sick , like I do when I come in contact with mold Edit: I went on Dr Bronners site and they actually sell a tea tree oil liquid soap. How ironic is that haha.
Hey corto, i got an organic pesticide you can add to that! If you mix diatomaceous earth with your soil mix it can prevent most soil pests. And if you already have soil pests you can mix it with warm water, stirring constantly, and poor over your soil(same with hydro). I took this excert straight from wikipedia: "Diatomite[diatomaceous earth] is also used as an insecticide, due to its physico-sorptive properties. The fine powder absorbs lipids from the waxy outer layer of insects' exoskeletons, causing them to dehydrate. Arthropods die as a result of the water pressure deficiency, based on Fick's law of diffusion. This also works against gastropods and is commonly employed in gardening to defeat slugs. However, since slugs inhabit humid environments, efficacy is very low. It is sometimes mixed with an attractant or other additives to increase its effectiveness. It is most commonly used in lieu of boric acid, and can be used to help control and eventually eliminate cockroach and flea infestations. "
Actually, that's not quite accurate on the DE - it's effect is mostly on soft-bodied insects, due to its myriad sharp edges. This is negated when it gets wet. DE is fossilized diatoms. Once wet, it sometimes dries out to where there's sharp edges again, but not usually. I have to re-spread it around my gardens after a good rain. I farm organically, and use it a lot. *Not trying to be argumentative, just trying to be helpful/accurate*
Thanks for contributing to the thread. Here's an easy recipe against aphids and insects that mess with your plants. for 1/2 gallon water for 10 days place in a bowl with water (open) - a cup of powdered cayenne pepper (or jalipeno or the hottest pepper you can get) - 1 cup chopped garlic (garlic is optional, pepper works alone) - a few drops of organic soap (liquid) After 10 days it will be very foul smelling. If you put it on your hands it'll smell and you will be skunky in a sewer like way. The bugs will be burnt if they taste. Haha, use as foliar spray (strain cause pieces will clog your sprayer). I use it pure It won't hurt the environment or the plant. Apply in late afternoon or evening. Not the best for guerilla (rain washes off) if you can't apply often. It's cheap and works. Takes 10 days to do it but you can boil it.
Corto Malteze Lavender flower teas, extracts and oils are widely used by the Biodynamic Farming groups around the world. Basically the varieties are classed into 2 groups by the Lavender industry - culinary and medicinal varieties. The differences are in the specific Terpines and Ketones contained in the different groups. Spanish Lavender falls into the medicinal group meaning that it has a high camphor component and it's this one that separates it from the French cultivars (culinary). Camphor adds a fungicide factor to the pesticide levels in Lavender in general. For a tea ready in less than 2 days simply take about a cup of the fresh flowers and add about a quart of hot water (160F - 180F) and you do not want to use boiling water. Let this steep for 36 - 48 hours and strain to remove ALL of the plant material. Add enough clean water to get up to 1 gallon of Lavender tea. If you're using dried Lavender flowers the only difference in the process is that you'd want to let the flowers soak for 3 - 4 days. This is a concentrated tea and the suggested rate of application is 2 oz. to 1 gallon of water and spray your plants on every leaf, branch, stalk, etc. If you go with Lavender oil (not extract - a different process) then you would add 1/2 tsp. to 1 gallon of water. HTH LD
Thanks Lumper dogs. Yeah the farmer I know mentioned 10 days with red hot peppers. That's his recipe. Than spray directly. I read about boiling on the web (gardening sites) but I don't boil. If a mod can edit it out or if you read this let sit, don't boil. See you buddy.
Thanks for the lavender tips LD. I'm using dried french lavender. It does seem to work well, but only for a few days. I have some type of herbavore in my veggie garden that has retreated due to bi-weekly lavender sprays. Next time i will look for Spanish lavender.............MIW
good to read all this organic talk. i try to make my whole property attractive to beneficial insects and birds while making it not so attractive to pests. a fence and a dog keep the deer out and they can do enormous damages. put up some bird feeders and a few bird houses. a pair of sparrows with 6 young will catch and consume thousands of insects per day, all they do is catch bugs all day. early spring addition of beneficial nematodes in the garden will kill larvae of damaging cutworms, grubs, beetles eliminating the need any insecticides later. they don't kill earthworms and beneficial larvae. if the soil has a lot of earthworms and you are seeing ladybugs and birds hanging around you have done a good job of creating an organic setting where your plants can grow without being attacked. i've had indoor plants invaded by aphids, fungus flies and whiteflies. nothing i tried got rid of them until i set the plants outside and the bugs got eaten up in a few days by natural predators. j
Is there a brew that I can brew up that kills powder mildew? I'm in the third week of flowering, my plants are outdoors and there's powder mildew on alot of maple trees around my house. I think its starting to get my plants too. Im going to make the nettle slurry because there are plenty by the creek on my property, is there a proven mildew killer and won't let it come back and won't hurt my flowering girls?