Guide for Insects and Pest Prevention

[7 Springs Farm]

I've been learning a ton from these forums, you guys are awesome!! My friend has these little jerks nesting in alot of the lower buds of an outdoor grow and I can't find anything about them anywhere. I can't get this to link my photos but you should be able to see them in my profile. I'd greatly appreciate any help, there's some beautiful medicine in jeapardy >XD

This should link to photos

https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=62722

That is a Minute pirate bug, generally considered a beneficial insect. Adults and nymphs feed on insect eggs and small insects such as psyllids, thrips, mites, aphids, whiteflies, and small caterpillars. Beware, though, they also reportedly can bite humans as well.

 

[FarmerGiles]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned nemetodes or beneficial insects such as predatory wasps? Might be worth looking into for those who don't want to spray plants with chemicals or who are late on in flower where spraying may harm the buds.

In veg I alternate between neem and a food-safe insecticidal product called SB Invigorator and use diluted H2O2 in between to clean the leaves. Prior to growing I use three different types of nematodes and water them into the ground around the plants or in the pots. And finally I use beneficial insects, plus sticky traps to identify / reduce any pests and find this regime very effective. Outdoors beneficial some insects will and do fly away, but others, eg the slow release mite predators can be put directly on plants in pouches and preying mantis are territorial, so will often stay in the place they are hatched.

 

[MuricanWeedwolf]

Not sure if anyone suggested building bat houses? Bats not only eat insects that are a nuisance to humans (a small brown bat can devour up to 600 mosquitoes in an hour), but can provide significant agricultural pest control services. In one season, a typical colony of about 150 big brown bats in the Midwest eats 50,000 leafhoppers, 38,000 cucumber beetles, 16,000 June bugs, and 19,000 stink bugs not to mention thousands of moths such as adult cornborers, earworms, and cutworms.

For more information about bats and bat houses, visit http://www.batconn.org/

 

[MuricanWeedwolf]

sorry the link is http://www.batcon.org/

 

[Green Squall]

Tons of good info in this sticky! I'm having issue with leafhoppers and pretty much found what I need here, but do have one question...

Do you guys suggest an all purpose organic spray containing spinosad or a homemade repellent as mentioned on the first page?

I also bought a few huge basil plants I'm going to plant tomorrow which will hopefully ward off pests. Companion planting makes a lot of sense now that I've read up on it.

EDIT: Bought Captain Jacks. Organic/Spinosad based

 

[Scott64a]

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[Gantz]

Found this on instructables.

Electric Slug Fence

 

[Scott64a]

Found this on instructables.

Electric Slug Fence

DOOD... that's AWESOME!!!!

 

[therevverend]

I identified these guys today, add them to the list of beneficial insects. They're Common Red Soldier Beetles. They eat aphids, pollen, and nectar, so you want them on your ganja since there's none of that stuff on female plants except aphids. I've also noticed a drop in the leafhopper population, I'm guessing they voraciously devour the eggs and larvae. Glad I didn't flick them off my plants as is always the initial instinct when I see hungry looking bugs crawling around.

There's quite a few different morphs, this is the 'common' variety. They all have similar body structure and color but have different armor and head shape. Worth checking up on if you see something similar, they're spreading like crazy. Their season is June-August.

I have a large population of leafhoppers on my plants every year. I never spray and I don't see any actual damage that they do besides sucking a bit of sap. My plants are big and strong, no evidence of them spreading disease or stalling their growth. Nature seems to do her job, between the soldier beatles, ladybugs, bats, hunting wasps, birds, and dragonflies there's a balance outdoors that usually doesn't allow one pest to take an advantage.

It's a big difference from indoors where your plants need to be immaculate or else you get fucked hard. Of course wherever you grow it seems like there's one or two pests that have gotten out of control, either invaded from another place or lost the natural controls that keep it in check. Fungus is my nemesis, I may need to spray something organic for PM, I've been looking into Chitosan. My zucchinis already have a bad case and my cucumbers have a few leaves ghosted out along with some of the weeds and trees. Nothing you can do to stop the spores from spreading everywhere. Healthy plants is always the best protection.

 

[master kusher]

Tons of good info in this sticky! I'm having issue with leafhoppers and pretty much found what I need here, but do have one question...

Do you guys suggest an all purpose organic spray containing spinosad or a homemade repellent as mentioned on the first page?

I also bought a few huge basil plants I'm going to plant tomorrow which will hopefully ward off pests. Companion planting makes a lot of sense now that I've read up on it.

EDIT: Bought Captain Jacks. Organic/Spinosad based

praying mantis for those lizards lady bugs for aphids neem oil spray(dillute heavily) I would not spray directly on buds though. for slugs glass. Some times pests will arise, but it is up to the grow to eradicate them one way or another.

 

[biesel]

Use natural plants

Use natural plants

I found any mint planted around plants really keeps small animals and beetles away. And it spreads like crazy so it can spread itself. Also I use jewel weed as my sacrificial plants. Always in the shade of a actual plant. They will be attacked first cuz of the soft wet leaves and stems. This is especially true if you had any kind of mites outdoors. Jewel weed on the property and wild rose will turn red twisted tops when getting eaten by mites and what not. So I'm always paying attention to what's around my garden cuz soon it will be in my garden

Cuz you know nature, so basically you get a 3 to 4 weeks head start on assesing pest and how to kill them. For broads or cyclamens. It has to be sulfur and green cleaner but very toxic if used together or even same week so I use diatamaceous earth compared to the sulfur especially this late. Buy if you need them fuckers dead and gone Bonide orchard spray will kill them but it contains pirithrem but mostly were able sulfur. Do not use if any type of flower for it stays on plants for a long time so if you understand that spray orchard spray and give every 3 days for a month. Then diatamaceous earth till flower then cross ur fingers

 

[haze*ekiel420]

A nice strategy for those who Care about poisons beeing washed in the soil, is to put it in a Tetra Pack with Screw lid and Leave Open or cut a larger hole. Works perfekt with snails and One filling lasts for half the Season.

Take care

 

[Green Squall]

Can anyone identify this flying insect? They're not doing any damage, but are noticeably present whenever I check on my plants.

 

[troutman]

Can anyone identify this flying insect? They're not doing any damage, but are noticeably present whenever I check on my plants.

View Image

It's green, so I suspect it's sucking chlorophyll from your plants like an aphid does.

Kill it.

 

[Treevly]

Can anyone identify this flying insect? They're not doing any damage, but are noticeably present whenever I check on my plants.

That is a conehead planthopper. I see them often.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=conehead+planthopper&t=ffsb&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

 

[therevverend]

It's an old post but that's a katydid or bush cricket. Most of them eat leaves, flowers, or bark but many are predatory, feeding on other insects, snails, or even small vertebrates such as snakes and lizards. They have sound producing organs, make a chirping sound.

They'll suck a sap from leaves but they almost never reach high enough densities to do any actual damage. There's also a chance the one you're seeing is an omnivore, sucks sap from your leaf but then snacks on some aphids that reproduce much faster and cause much more damage.

I get quite a few crickets, leaf hoppers, katydids, little green grasshoppers, flies, and mystery insects hanging out around and on my plants. I usually leave them alone or shake the plant so they leave. I haven't noticed them cause any visible damage, slower growth, or disease. My plants are healthy enough I can spare a bit of sap. They attract birds, wasps, spiders, I see as many or more predators as I do herbivores. I see them as bait, my buddy who orders predatory mites and the like says they eat all the broad mites then starve to death. A food chain means your garden is healthy.

The only thing I worry about is caterpillars. Most of the time I remove them but the wasps and ladybugs are good about keeping their numbers low. I've seen less then five this year. If you keep the area around your patch wild, encourage birds and pollen loving insects to hang around your garden, you don't need to worry about pests. Like my soldier beetles on the last page many of the predators eat pollen when there's no aphids and leaf hoppers to munch. If you continually have nectar running near your patch area you'll almost have voracious predators screwing and munching bugs. With ladybugs and other beneficial insects you want them to be fucking and producing offspring because the young ones eat a lot more then the adults.

 

[Treevly]

For slugs, snails, and other things which must climb the trunk, try rolling a length [3"-6"?] of sandpaper with sharp grit around the trunk and fastened tightly enough so that the critter must crawl over the sandpaper, not under it. Adjust as the plant grows or perhaps use rubber bands. They will not drag their underbellies over sharp grit.

 

[Slim Pickens]

Row cover material maybe?

Row cover material maybe?

Anyone employ row covers as a barrier to pests?

I have a terrible time with aphids mainly.I find that they start appearing on my plants later in the season.Helps to plant something like an early semi-auto like Lebanese etc that matures before the aphids get busy.Problem is,I also like the longer flowering plants.

I have very little room,and also have a vegetable garden which is a likely a factor in drawing in pests.

I wonder about that woven or spun row cover material? Some of those allow 70% and higher light transmission. Whether the weave is tight enough to exclude aphids and other pests is the question I ask.

Anybody?

 

[maryjaneismyfre]

The shade netting is not small enough to exclude them, the right net is called "virus netting", but you still will not keep aphid out, they will crawl in no problem..Even in sealed rooms I find them sometimes when there is a high pest load on surrounding farms..


I smash them with beauvaria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae fungus spores and bacillus thurgensis if they appear in flower, not sure which does the trick but it causes mass aphid death and thrip and caterpillar and other..I include bacillus subtillus and others and also other foliars and also trichoderma to avoid mold from spraying flowering plants..


I would also treat the surrounding plants with spinosad and oil based sprays alternating..to keep pest load down, or other tactics..

 

[Slim Pickens]

and some people have no problem at all with their outdoor grows.

It ain't fair.