Hey guys, I'm totally new to this forum and growing, and I've already found a lot of helpful information that I know will help with my plants and future grows. I'm creating this thread, though, in hopes that someone around the South Carolina area could tell me an effective (and cost-efficient) solution to ridding my plants of these persistent bugs that I'm currently manually removing up to three or four times a day. My leaves show (and I've found TONS) a fortunately low amount of spider mite damage, and I'm hoping to keep that damage low. But beside them, I check my plant several times a day, usually to find some new / different bug hanging around. So, any experienced growers in the SC area, and / or southern states, that could suggest an effective way to keep a wide variety of bugs off of my plants, I would very much appreciate the help. Thanks guys.
Hi there! Ladybugs are your best friend in a garden, they eat mites, aphids, gnat larvae, you name it. If it's bad, it's on the the menu and they leave vegetation alone. You can find places online to order a bag of ladybugs (like 1500) and you can release them in your plants. You can release half then put the other half in the fridge for a week or two then release the rest. They stick around for about a month or so, moving on as the food runs low. That's one way. Neem oil is an organic solution that will kill a lot of bad bugs. If you want a product, a lot of people swear by "Don't Bug Me" - a Fox Farms product, but I haven't tried that. Hope this helps some! Good luck.
Absolutely, man. Much appreciated. I had no idea that lady bugs would leave the vegetation alone and take care of the bugs. I'll have to start collecting them, haha. Can you find Neem Oil at any ordinary nursery or would I have to order it?
Neem is pretty common, I see it on the shelf at my local nursery with the pesticides. Hydro stores should def have it - but you know they charge a premium for it. I think I paid $9 for a small bottle, but I like having it handy! It also works as a fungicide, it's great stuff. Also, another very handy item is Diatomaceous earth, I love that stuff. It's a very fine powder like substance (natural silica), and it has very sharp edges. It's harmless to us, but devastating for bugs. As they crawl over it their bodies get torn to shreds, and they die or go away. This makes an awesome top dressing for the plants, keeps gnats from laying eggs, mites & aphids are toast in this stuff, great to spread around the stalk. Google it for more info, it really does a great job, and it's not too expensive but can be hard to find, it's really old school LOL Nowadays with sprays and bombs this old technology gets forgotten about. Good luck with your grow partner