IPM

tstick

Well-Known Member
Use good soil

Maintain an absolute sterile growing area

Do not wear "street" clothes into the growing area -especially shoes

Do not pet your dog/cat and then go into the grow area.

Do not let animals in the grow area.

Grow during the winter when outdoor pests are dormant

If possible, keep plants separated (as opposed to jamming as many as you can fit)

Observe your plants close up several times per day, if possible. Look for anything suspicious and take appropriate actions immediately

As far as using bugs to kill other bugs...If you get a mite infestation, for example, then not even an army of beneficial insects is going to get rid of them. By then, it's too late, anyway, because you should have been on top of the first signs of them before they became infested. Oh, and ALL bugs poop -beneficial or not. That's all I'm going to say.

I rarely use chemicals because of my strict adherence to cleanliness, but when I have, it's been something with Spinosad in it (Captain Jack's Dead Bug). I have used diatomaceous Earth when the plants are in a vegetative stage, but never when they are flowering.I've never applied any chemicals to a flowering plant -ever.

Outdoors, you do what you can to work with Mother Nature, but indoors, you should have complete control.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" -someone
 

Racky

Well-Known Member
Use good soil

Maintain an absolute sterile growing area

Do not wear "street" clothes into the growing area -especially shoes

Do not pet your dog/cat and then go into the grow area.

Do not let animals in the grow area.

Grow during the winter when outdoor pests are dormant

If possible, keep plants separated (as opposed to jamming as many as you can fit)

Observe your plants close up several times per day, if possible. Look for anything suspicious and take appropriate actions immediately

As far as using bugs to kill other bugs...If you get a mite infestation, for example, then not even an army of beneficial insects is going to get rid of them. By then, it's too late, anyway, because you should have been on top of the first signs of them before they became infested. Oh, and ALL bugs poop -beneficial or not. That's all I'm going to say.

I rarely use chemicals because of my strict adherence to cleanliness, but when I have, it's been something with Spinosad in it (Captain Jack's Dead Bug). I have used diatomaceous Earth when the plants are in a vegetative stage, but never when they are flowering.I've never applied any chemicals to a flowering plant -ever.

Outdoors, you do what you can to work with Mother Nature, but indoors, you should have complete control.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" -someone
Thank You!!! Im gonna try my best to keep it GREEN!!!
 

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
A weekly neem spray is a good foundation. 5ml neem oil per liter of water with something to emulsify it, like yucca extract or Dr. Bronners soap (shake it up until it turns milky). I've never really had an issue pop up while diligently doing weekly neem sprays during veg (not in flower.) Southern Ag Garden Friendly Fungicide goes well with it, and the two together are a good inexpensive organic IPM program.
 

NewGrower2011

Well-Known Member
I like to use neem in my soil mixes for the various benefits it provides which includes an IPM aspect. I also use Southern Ag's Garden Friendly Fungicide in various capacities, including using it in my cloner/dome at the start.
 

loco41

Well-Known Member
Make a tea with Insect Frass and water it into your soil weekly.

Spray it on your leaves in veg if you really want to be protected.
I have always just used the frass in mixes and topdressing with it from time to time but I am going to have to try a tea after reading this. I like frass a lot for multiple reasons but find myself using neem more often than the frass. Currently only growing kale plants, so not super motivated to do much beyond water only, but maybe I'll play around with it a bit more.

Any thoughts on frass and malted barley being used together? Would the chitin from the frass combined with the barley enzymes make for a stronger anti pest response from the plant (SAR something maybe)?

Sorry OP for rambling about frass in your thread. Seems like some solid advice above already. One thing I would be sure to have going in your favor would be quality compost/ewc. I think having a good assortment of beneficial microbes will be your initial defense against everything. Best of luck on the grow though.
 

CaliRootz88

Well-Known Member
One of the sprays I use is a essential oil blend with Dr.Bronners Soap (to emulsify the essential oils.

I get my oils from build a soil, has rosemary, peppermint, eucalyptus, and more!


Since im getting the oils from the essential blend I like to use Dr Bronner's Unscented.



I use 3.7MLS of oil and 14MLs of Dr Bronners Soap per gallon of soultion.
Works amazing. Smells great.

I also use PureCrop1 and Dr Zymes as needed or rotation for IPM (Integrated Pest Management).

Hope this helps.
 

youraveragehorticulturist

Well-Known Member
I have always just used the frass in mixes and topdressing with it from time to time but I am going to have to try a tea after reading this. I like frass a lot for multiple reasons but find myself using neem more often than the frass. Currently only growing kale plants, so not super motivated to do much beyond water only, but maybe I'll play around with it a bit more.

Any thoughts on frass and malted barley being used together? Would the chitin from the frass combined with the barley enzymes make for a stronger anti pest response from the plant (SAR something maybe)?

Sorry OP for rambling about frass in your thread. Seems like some solid advice above already. One thing I would be sure to have going in your favor would be quality compost/ewc. I think having a good assortment of beneficial microbes will be your initial defense against everything. Best of luck on the grow though.
Dude, yeah, I think the malted barley with the frass would be really good. I think you're on the right track, like combining them would lead to a better response.

Malted barley seems to help plants uptake more of whatever else you use it with. Whether it's the enzymes in the barely, or the barley feeding the microbes, so there's more of them to break down whatever else is around, or however it works.

I've been messing with a product called "Earth Juice Catalyst" (which contains barely, yeast, molasses and kelp) in my earth worm/compost tea as microbe food. Then after that brews for awhile I add the frass.

I learned about it here
 

youraveragehorticulturist

Well-Known Member
Anyway, I never tried it on spider mites. But I did have thrips. They were a gross pain in the ass, but they didn't seem able to kill my plants, so I was like "Fuck It, I've got thrips now."

Unrelated to the thrips, I starting using more compost tea, malted barely and fulvic/humic acid to try and stimulate my plants to uptake more nutrients for Higher Brix. I read somewhere that Chitin is another "Organic Bio Stimulant" so I tossed the frass into the compost tea. Just looking for better buds.

But that shit wiped the thrips out in like 2 applications, completely as a bonus.
 
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