Pest Management Strategy: Advice Needed

[BakedARea]

I am currently in veg, growing outdoors and organic. I have been using neem oil sprays occasionally. I have used Dr. Bronner's Hemp Peppermint soap with it as well. I would like to incorporate BT sprays soon to minimize any possible caterpillars. I am curious how long between treatments or how far apart from each other should I spray. Are there any other organic preventative pest treatments you would recommend? Thanks

 

[Hrenklin]

You can give and evening spraying of 3% hydrogen peroxide at lights out once a week or so

 

[The Celt]

Hey mate, for foliar spraying, BT is likely your best bet and outdoors, spray in the late evening and every couple days if you have bugs, otherwise just when you see them

 

[BakedARea]

You can give and evening spraying of 3% hydrogen peroxide at lights out once a week or so

Thanks. I actually tried H2O2 a few weeks ago with some of the soap to help with a couple mildew issues. The white flies hated it! Nipped the mildew issue quickly but didn't really consider using it more as a preventative. Another member told me a couple times about it so not sure why I forgot about it. LOL. Thanks for the reminder.

Hey mate, for foliar spraying, BT is likely your best bet and outdoors, spray in the late evening and every couple days if you have bugs, otherwise just when you see them

Thankfully so far, no bugs have been seen except beneficial species a few times. I just don't want anything to take a foothold after what happened to me last year. This year, I am being MUCH more diligent and keeping an eye on all the plants everyday and looking underneath as much as possible. If I use BT say this evening, could I use an application of neem and soap tomorrow? Or should I wait for a few days in between? I also do foliar sprays with nutes and compost teas occasionally so I need to do that in between IPM applications. It just concerns me that I am putting too much stuff on the leaves. Maybe not though.

 

[The Celt]

The BT is just bacteria so could actually be added to your compost tea when you’d spray it.

I have great faith in BT and will always keep some on hand after this years troubles with gnats and thrips in my grow tent. Took a few soil drenches and a few foliar sprays over about 2 weeks and not a thrip to be seen and only the odd gnat as usual.

At one point, I couldn’t open the tent without getting gnats in my face.

 

[Bnelly]

Excuse my noobness but what is BT? You said its bacterial?

 

[The Celt]

Bacillus thuringiensis, sold as Mosquito Dunks. They get eaten by pests, not intentionally, and release a toxin that kills the insect/larva but is harmless to everything else

 

[Bnelly]

Bacillus thuringiensis, sold as Mosquito Dunks. They get eaten by pests, not intentionally, and release a toxin that kills the insect/larva but is harmless to everything else

Thank you! Thats quite amazing how it wont harm anything but the pests. I just started using Agromagen for the spider mites I found. Glad to know yet another way of controlling them.

 

[corinth]

Is 3 or 4 small thrips a major concern in a vege cloning room? Running 2 inline fans and a hurricane in a decent room. Seen a few of what i believe are thrips so i sprayed mammoth bc on em all and defoliated as needed. Should i be worried about 3 or 4 thrips across a 6 x8 floor space?

 

[skirk]

I never approach my outdoor plants and vegetables without my spray bottle of Natural Guard Spinosad Soap.

 

[BakedARea]

I never approach my outdoor plants and vegetables without my spray bottle of Natural Guard Spinosad Soap.

Do you use the ready made solution or do you get the concentrate? I've been trying really hard to only use OMRI certified or organic certified products. My concern would be that if that spray falls on the soil it would start killing off beneficials in the soil. I'm not sure how strong that chemical is.

 

[skirk]

Do you use the ready made solution or do you get the concentrate? I've been trying really hard to only use OMRI certified or organic certified products. My concern would be that if that spray falls on the soil it would start killing off beneficials in the soil. I'm not sure how strong that chemical is.

I use the ready made. No problem for beneficial bacteria in your medium, but keep away from flowers because the neurotoxin that eliminates pests is also deadly to bees.

 

[BakedARea]

Tonight all the plants and the rest of the garden got a mixture of neem, BT, and Dr. Bronner's Hemp Peppermint soap. We shall see how it goes. I saw a few other users (not here) combine and had great results. I figured I'd give it a shot. I'll be doing another preventative treatment in 5-7 days. I think I will keep that up for the next couple months until I start seeing buds. When I start getting buds, I will need to figure out another method for preventative treatment. Last year, I had more worms in my buds than I would like to admit. I DO NOT want to see that happen again. What do you all do to prevent budworms? What species are normally causing that? I have a lot of white butterflies around my garden. Are those cabbage moths?

 

[The Celt]

If caterpillars getting in your bud are a problem, not sure where they hatch, but if it’s on the ground, I wonder if the bands they put around trees would work on the main stalk of our girls?

 

[BakedARea]

If caterpillars getting in your bud are a problem, not sure where they hatch, but if it’s on the ground, I wonder if the bands they put around trees would work on the main stalk of our girls?

I did a little more research last night on local pests. Cabbage moths and cabbage loopers are common here. The loopers are like inch worms. The cabbage moths are a generic term for a variety of species of green caterpillars. Most common are the ones from the beautiful white butterflies that are so common around many gardens. They lay eggs under the leaves and that is where the destruction begins. Last year, I got lazy and didn't pay close enough attention to the damage being done. I was scared to spray pest control so late in flower. What I should have been doing is preventative care for a much longer period of time. In any case, the BT will kill the caterpillars if they munch on the leaves. I thankfully have not seen any caterpillar damage on any of my cannabis plants. I have seen though, MANY of those beautiful white butterflies flying around a lot. I learned about a good trap plant for them, nasturtiums! People will plant them in small pots surrounding their garden and it's a first line of defense. The butterflies are attracted to them and will tend to make that their first pit stop. I already have planted throughout my garden anyway. Also, planting garlic cloves is another deterrent from what I have seen. I have some garlic planted but not near any of the cannabis plants. I'll be planting some in small pots near them this coming weekend. Can never have too much garlic!