6th Week Flowering and NoW I get Thrips!!! :(

[Guest]

yea so I'm bout half way through the 6th week of flowering and as I was checking out my babes progress I find symptoms in their lower growth, think; hmm, that ain't normal ... Hav a look round and find I have Thrips (early stages as far as I can see at least).

Anyways, I've put up a some sticky traps (ya no, the yellow ones lol) so hopefully they help out till I finish flowering :S ... The stupid thing is I usd to hang the traps up even if I had no pests, just in case some came along, but this time I figured I hav no pests so I took down the sticky traps... In retrospect, that was not a good idea hahaha.

Anyways, I have 2 quick question!

1 - I dry my buds in my grow room ... Will Thrips be a problem after harvest, while my buds dry? and can I still dry and process the fan leaves with Thrip damage/Thrips on them?

2 - I obviously dnt want this problem again (especially in my White Widow/Jock Horror grow!!! - which is the nxt run im doing) ... So wat can I do to sterilize my grow room b4 next crop? ... The walls, the roof and the floor are all lined with white plastic and the dehumidifier, all fans etc are white plastic. I'm growing in plastic pots too (Soil). With one plant in a white bubbler bucket (Hydro).
Any advice on sterilizing my area/preventing this happening again any time soon b4 next grow?

Advice greatly appreciated! (I'll give 'rep' to anyone who gives me a good amount of decent advice/ideas! [its not bribery, I swear] )

Cheers!

 

[Guest]

drying in the grow room is not a good Idea. I steam clean the grow room, spray with pytherins clean with clorox between crops. Never an infestation after practicing this religiously.BTW no plant goes in the room until cleared this got me some spider mites.

 

[Skrappie]

I used:

Monterey Garden Insect Spray

uses Spinosad to effectively control thrips, leafminers, fire ants, diamond-back moths, borers and more. Gardeners mix four tablespoons of concentrated liquid Monterey Garden Insect Spray to one gallon of water (or as much is needed for a single treatment) for easy foliar applications. Derived through fermentation of a naturally-occurring soil bacterium, this fast-acting insecticide is listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) and can be used on fruit and vegetable crops, ornamentals and turf.

This will have your thrips twitching in an hour tops.

 

[gladysvjubb]

 

[Guest]

cheers guys.

octodiem - why is drying in the grow room not a good idea? I've always done it in the past and neva had problems (bt ive neva had thrips lol).
I'm not drying with the lights on or something stupid like that hahaha

 

[greenisgold]

It's to late to spray, get NPS now. I have tons of exp with thrips and that is the only damn thing that works this late in the game.

 

[GreenBush 420]

gladysvjubb....
I bought those "hotshots" and stopped using because they gave off fumes. Is this a concern if the plant absorbs the toxins? I figured since the packaging said that the stupid thing shouldn't be used in an "inhabited" room it probably would be pretty bad to smoke..if it was to be absorbed into the plants.
I had the best luck with sticky traps and especially sticky mouse traps. You know, the flat pieces for the ground. I have a problem with gnats, not mites, but the little bastards seem to hang out under the plant and on the soil more than in the air. I think they breed in the soil so you have a better chance of killing them on the soil. I had two mouse traps covered in several days compared to several weeks of the hanging traps.
Most insects don't want to be in the direct light all day, so focus on the areas you know they will go.....and mercilessly kill those bitches!!!!
IMHO of course....

 

[Bumble Buddy]

I'm wary of those Hot Shot no pest strips, I think that they deposit pesticide on nearby surfaces, including plants, through vapor deposition; thats the same as spraying your plants with pesticide.

 

[1love1earth]

for me, I'm looking at some form of preventive measures in my grow room, and had really been considering the hot shots, but plants absorbing (or vapor drying on them) the chemicals, and then me smoking that kind of worries me a tad.

Does anyone have a definative answer on the NPS and safety of smoke afterwards? I'm not saying someone won't say "I used them and didn't get sick", but the effects of exposure are likely more "long term"...

If these really aren't safe to use around plants, what can be used instead? Just looking for 1 or 2 products to cover most all of the negative life forms that could arise. I've already baked my organic soil just to be safe.

Sorry to hear about the problems, hopefully it all works out OK in the end for you.

 

[Skrappie]

You guys should wise up and use something that works.

Monterey Garden Insect Spray will Kill the thrips within hours, not chemically oriented and its safe. I know NPS are the norm, but they take forever, don't kill them all, and are really ineffective.

Try something different instead of the same ol thing that barely has ever worked.

just my two pennies.

 

[1love1earth]

real tempted to use something like this:

http://www.greenfire.net/hot/P083.html

spinosad is the active ingredient, now mites aren't mentioned, but I hope it'd be covered...

 

[Pirate138]

Should have used Neem Oil every 2 weeks. Great preventative for pests.

 

[Skrappie]

1love, That product is similar to Monterey, I'm being a broken record, and I'm new to this forum, but Comparing products who's active ingredient is spinosad to one of the NPS is like really thinking over using a HID vs floros in your grow. Except in this case, there is no reason not to use the better product, ever.

Products that contain Spinosad lock up the target insects nervous system, you can actually see the ones that don't die right away seize and start to lock up before they die.

Its also safe for everything else expect target insects.

 

[Guest]

Skrappie - I've used the NPS before when I had fungus gnats and have neva had them since (I only got thrips after I took the sticky traps down) ... Also, in late budding ANY form of spraying is BAD ... Even if its safe for humans, moisture sprayed on, around and into buds greatly increases the chances of getting mold! -Which is worse than having thrips in my opinion! haha. Thanx for ur input tho.

Cheers for ideas everyone, will see wat I can do

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Active ingredient in Hotshot Pest Control Strips is Dichlorvos.

Dichlorvos is an insecticide that is a dense colorless liquid. It has a sweetish smell and readily mixes with water. Dichlorvos used in pest control is diluted with other chemicals and used as a spray. It can also be incorporated into plastic that slowly releases the chemical.

Dichlorvos is used for insect control in food storage areas, green houses, and barns, and control of insects on livestock. It is not generally used on outdoor crops. Dichlorvos is sometimes used for insect control in workplaces and in the home. Veterinarians use it to control parasites on pets.

Ref: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

 

[-ShutterBug-]

Should have used Neem Oil every 2 weeks. Great preventative for pests.

And there's the answer. Ding Ding. +1

 

[Guest]

Thats all well and good bt neem oil on my pants every 2 weeks; those are hours I jst dnt hav right now.

The sticky traps I use dnt sound like those NPS things, these traps jst hav a strong adhesive, the insects are attracted to the bright yellow colouring of them and when they land on them or fly too close they get stuck - really stuck! lol ... gota b careful not to touch ur plants with the strips coz they'll rip the leaves right of no problem!

Cheers for input fellas

 

[TGT]

I just use three or four No-Pest Strips in the garden from beginning until end - well, I take them out the last three weeks of bud just to be safe. It has not failed me yet. Crummy thing is I hear they are going to take them off the market soon here in Canada. If so I'm stocking up on a couple dozen box loads or so.

TGT

 

[-ShutterBug-]

I just add it to the feedings takes all of thirty seconds tops, so hours I'm not so sure about that. But stoners will be stoners, and if putting up traps is what you want to do, then by all means use that "time saving" move. All funning aside I hope it all gets worked out for you. Keep on bretheren, keep on.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

If anyone is worried still about the ingredient on Hot Shot bug strips, they can go to the site I referenced and find that it is totally deactivated with H2O (probably why it isn't used as an outdoor pesticide). So if one is worried about it, a rinse before consumption should suffice.