Bug eggs put me in my place. Thought I was pro. Help

**biffx** · 08-24-2012, 10:53 PM

Hey I am now to this whole forum thing, but I must admit that I do need help with this situation. I have grown in the bast before but have never ran into anything like this before. Any help i get will be greatly appreciated!

Long story short I found eggs on my plant one night showing my good friend. At first I was like dude! You got all your damn crumbs on my plant. Well he wasnt eating anything. i was still convinced they were crumbs, Smelt like doughnuts. But quickly realized that these crumbs were rolling around in between my fingers as I was trying to get them off.

At that point I knew I had some sort of bug in my beloved Stacy

(My plants name). SO I got out the old soap and after that has worked for me for ever so man yeas and gave her a good sprayn'. Seemed to work. (All this is 100% organic home made fertilizer, i dont want to use chems if I can help it. I dont like using soap, but it works well in a jam)

Now almost a month later there everywhere just like over night!!! Sprayed the plant again. Not in the sun, i know how to avoid burn spotts. Seemed ok for about 48 hours. Now there back again!

I have pics, I just saw that there is another little white bug fly thing that I just saw land on the plant. Couldn't get a pic of it. Too fast.
There was also another issue I had, may still be having it. Little dark grey beetle things that jump or fly for a split second when touched. They were hanging out under a little plant that I had rescued from another friend. He had no where to keep it so he stashed it in an overgrown garden. He offered it to me, to i took it. Had to transplant it, lots of root rot. This is the plant that had thousands of these things under the pot. I got rid of them by just keeping the pot elevated off the ground. I just see one or 2 here and there now. There too fast as well for me to get a pic. I need a real camera. lol What are they? I see 4 different bugs. Im new to this area and there are so many bugs in my new location.

Well like I said any heal would be great. Here are some pics.
A lil bit of badness.jpg black spot, some come rite off.jpg burn from something.jpg hollow bug bodie.jpg little black bug.jpg little striped bug.jpg More eggs.jpg not cookie crumbs.jpg Sad girl eggs.jpg saved from roots rotted.jpg Stacy.jpg
Thanks!

**monkeybones** · 08-24-2012, 11:24 PM

i dunno man, this is why i don't grow my medicine outdoors. seems like an easy headache to avoid

i'd release a swarm of ladybugs onto the plants. GL

**Carmarelo** · 08-24-2012, 11:41 PM

Long story short, it looks like you have whiteflies.

**Coho** · 08-25-2012, 02:13 AM

Whiteflhy..hose with azamax and put yellow sticky traps up.

**Vindicated** · 08-25-2012, 05:33 AM

I think using the soap was smart. If you keep spraying them with soapy water and hand rubbing the leaves, their number's won't get out of control, and natural predators should come in and help you out. If that sounds to risky and you rather spray them with something else, the first thing I'd try is a pyrethrin based insecticide. I like this over neem based products, because it kills on contact and acts a repellent. After a few days, follow it up with the soap and water spray, then in a week or two, go ahead and use a horticultural oil like neem oil, seame oil, or tee tree oil.

The oils kill by suffocation just like the soap, but they also help control mold and mildew, help the plants heal, and makes the plant unpleasant to eat. The exception being neem. If you apply it every other week, after several applications it gets absorbed, and any pests still consuming it go sterile.

If you don't like the idea of using oils, which can cause toxicity in some strains (looks like nutrient burn), then alternate between pyrethrins and food grade Diatomaceous Earth.

**Vindicated** · 08-25-2012, 05:36 AM

Also see what you can do to improve the overall health of the plant by reviewing your watering and feeding habits. I usually find that healthy plants don't get a lot of bugs. While sick and stressed plants seem to attract pests. Think of this as an early warning that something isn't right.

Another thing that can cause an outbreak is spraying your entire yard. Even if you treated your plants perfectly, if you kill off the natural predators in your yard, you'll run into problems.

One more thing I've done that seems to work great against flying insects... covering the ground around your plants with aluminum foil or emergency blankets. You need to use enough that's wider then your plants, but it's really effective. Something about the way light shines and bounces off the foil scares and confuses flying insects.

**biffx** · 08-25-2012, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by Vindicated

I think using the soap was smart. If you keep spraying them with soapy water and hand rubbing the leaves, their number's won't get out of control, and natural predators should come in and help you out. If that sounds to risky and you rather spray them with something else, the first thing I'd try is a pyrethrin based insecticide. I like this over neem based products, because it kills on contact and acts a repellent. After a few days, follow it up with the soap and water spray, then in a week or two, go ahead and use a horticultural oil like neem oil, seame oil, or tee tree oil.

The oils kill by suffocation just like the soap, but they also help control mold and mildew, help the plants heal, and makes the plant unpleasant to eat. The exception being neem. If you apply it every other week, after several applications it gets absorbed, and any pests still consuming it go sterile.

If you don't like the idea of using oils, which can cause toxicity in some strains (looks like nutrient burn), then alternate between pyrethrins and food grade Diatomaceous Earth.

Thank you all for your timely response!

What you said about sick and healthy plants does make an alarm go off in my head. I didn't have any issues till I made that rescue. Since then I have been plagged with those damn weird beetle things under that one pot, now in the soil in the rest of them, Now I see lil clear worms in the soil of my little fresh baby Bushy. A new addition is these damn little flys. They look like house flys but half the size. Im never doing a plant rescue again!

Not worth it. SoooooOOooo not worth it!fly.jpg
Bottom left you can see my baby Bushy. She is now starting to get these vermin. That lil plant is so healthy, if it was any more healthy I would be sick! jk lol. I'll try the keeping an eye on the plants, Pest sticky strips, soap and water with manually taking all the eggs off the plant for now. I dont like using chems. But if I have to bring the fight to them, i will. Looks like im in a war!

Thanks again everyone!
I'll keep all of you up to date.

**biffx** · 08-28-2012, 10:43 AM

Well Some other bugs came into the picture as well. Cucumber beetles, Some kinda weird light brown colored spiders and plant hoppers.
Here is the messed up part....
It rained here, got a good one too. All of the bush around me is starting to come back to life and I see no sign of ANY bugs in or on my plant as of yet after this rain.
Were all the bugs just starving or just really thirsty? If you look at the ground u can see that I was in a major drought.
This is a new area for me and I never seen this behavior before.
Is this normal?

**huth420** · 08-29-2012, 11:57 PM

If its real spiders you see then they came to help your ass. Outdoors spiders are to mary jane as diamonds are to a girl. Theyll help you level out your insects

**biffx** · 09-07-2012, 07:48 AM

Here are some more pics. I found another bug grub looking thing. i dont know what it is. I think my plants are being sucked dry or there roots are under attack. Let me know what you guys think.

And if it is root monsters, how do i fight them in a natural way?

CIMG2105.jpg