Sunny Organics
Well-Known Member
i recently moved some plants outdoor, topdressed them with neem to see if pests stay away. i heard keeping neem leafs as mulch from the trees itself helps keep pests away.
Neem oil & How to use it!!!!
- Thread starter metalmilitia777
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Allan421
Well-Known Member
I'm fighting with Hemp Russet Mites. Evil little bastards. A buddy with an aphid issue (not known to me at the time or he would have had a different protocol for entering the workroom) delivered some aphids to me. I think the russet mites were tagging along for the ride.
I've used neem at 3 TBS/gal three times (every three days) and now the ladies look worse than ever. I've taken care to get them thoroughly wetted and not cook them under light.
Does neem need rinsing off between applications? I have read that it does not and also that it does not plug stomata.
I've also read that critters can not build immunity to neem as one function is as a suffocating oil.
Do you guys agree with what I've read?
Why would the ladies still be rapidly deteriorating I wonder? I can't seem to locate any live critters with a 100x scope. Maybe it's the mite damage still progressing? I've read they inject a poison that will linger after the Spawn of Satan are dead.
I've used neem at 3 TBS/gal three times (every three days) and now the ladies look worse than ever. I've taken care to get them thoroughly wetted and not cook them under light.
Does neem need rinsing off between applications? I have read that it does not and also that it does not plug stomata.
I've also read that critters can not build immunity to neem as one function is as a suffocating oil.
Do you guys agree with what I've read?
Why would the ladies still be rapidly deteriorating I wonder? I can't seem to locate any live critters with a 100x scope. Maybe it's the mite damage still progressing? I've read they inject a poison that will linger after the Spawn of Satan are dead.
Allan421
Well-Known Member
I still have the questions above. I have not been able to find a consensus. All my ladies have expired. Clean, clean, clean some more. Restart.
TAngel444
Member
Question peeps...I purchased this brand of neem oil, organic...having a few buggy issues with my outdoor grow...been seeing a few worms that look like silk worms...otherwise my baby is really healthy. Can I put my babes in the shade and how should I use the organic spray and how often? 3 week into flower...Thankx
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My Name is Mike
Well-Known Member
That won't work. You need cold pressed neem oil. That bottle is cheap marketing garbage. It doesn't contain main ingredient that makes neem oil effective against certain bugs which is azadirachtin.
To answer your other question. You have to be careful this late into flower. Spray only on leaves top and bottom. DO NOT get it on your buds. I suggest doing it lights out.
TAngel444
Member
Thank you Mike...I will order the right stuff and do it the right way....
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
If you are seeing worm-like critters you don't want to use neem oil. Those are caterpillars and what you want is a bacterial product called bTK that is specific for caterpillars. There is no way you can spray the leaves on your plants without getting it all over your buds and neem will make it all taste like crap. Seriously like crap and you'll ruin the hell out of your smoke. Same with most sprays so I'd rather take the damage to some than ruin everything.
The bTK won't do that and can be washed off easily. When the 'pillars eat it it wreaks havoc in their guts and they die a gruesome death. That makes it even better! lol
If you've seen any little white butterflies around those aren't butterflies, they're moths that lay their eggs on buds but mostly things like broccoli and cauliflower but I've heard they like pot buds too. We've used the bTK on our veggies and it worked really well. We spray when we start seeing some of the moths show up and as long as rain doesn't wash off the spray when the eggs hatch the young eat it and don't live long enough to do damage. The wife used fine netting over them this year so we didn't spray.
Most garden or hydro stores should have it and probably places like Walmart etc too.
Good luck!
The bTK won't do that and can be washed off easily. When the 'pillars eat it it wreaks havoc in their guts and they die a gruesome death. That makes it even better! lol
If you've seen any little white butterflies around those aren't butterflies, they're moths that lay their eggs on buds but mostly things like broccoli and cauliflower but I've heard they like pot buds too. We've used the bTK on our veggies and it worked really well. We spray when we start seeing some of the moths show up and as long as rain doesn't wash off the spray when the eggs hatch the young eat it and don't live long enough to do damage. The wife used fine netting over them this year so we didn't spray.
Most garden or hydro stores should have it and probably places like Walmart etc too.
Good luck!
SilentJay
New Member
This guy’s right, neem isn’t going to solve your caterpillar/moth problem. Go grab yourself some Monterey BT (which stands for bacillus thuringiensis btw...BTK was a famous serial killer I’m pretty sure lol..that whole “Bind Torture Kill” thing, no?) at Lowe’s, Home Depot, or it’s like $20 on amazon. I’d do it sooner rather than later though before those things burrow themselves into your buds and start eating and shitting all up in there!If you are seeing worm-like critters you don't want to use neem oil. Those are caterpillars and what you want is a bacterial product called bTK that is specific for caterpillars. There is no way you can spray the leaves on your plants without getting it all over your buds and neem will make it all taste like crap. Seriously like crap and you'll ruin the hell out of your smoke. Same with most sprays so I'd rather take the damage to some than ruin everything.
The bTK won't do that and can be washed off easily. When the 'pillars eat it it wreaks havoc in their guts and they die a gruesome death. That makes it even better! lol
If you've seen any little white butterflies around those aren't butterflies, they're moths that lay their eggs on buds but mostly things like broccoli and cauliflower but I've heard they like pot buds too. We've used the bTK on our veggies and it worked really well. We spray when we start seeing some of the moths show up and as long as rain doesn't wash off the spray when the eggs hatch the young eat it and don't live long enough to do damage. The wife used fine netting over them this year so we didn't spray.
Most garden or hydro stores should have it and probably places like Walmart etc too.
Good luck!
TerrapinBlazin
Well-Known Member
Just a thought, but this thread was originally posted before spinosad became mainstream, and I suggest that anyone and everyone that doesn’t know about it look into it as an alternative to spraying neem oil on the plant. Anyway, I’ve also read that spraying neem oil on the plant is a likely culprit for cannabis induced hyperemesis, and I’ve always avoided it. I spray my plants with spinosad using a HVLP sprayer for caterpillars outside and thrips and spider mites indoors and have also tried to get nematodes established in the soil. I’m not sure how that’s worked yet, so my next step is to start amending my recycled soil with neem cake. I’ve read a lot of promising reports on that for controlling spider mites and fungus gnats, but that also won’t help with caterpillars. As the previous poster mentioned, Bt is another good one for caterpillars, but I highly recommend spinosad as a highly effective non-toxic all purpose bug blaster. It’s also good to cycle through different treatments so nothing develops a resistance to any one control measure.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
It takes many generations of exposure for bugs or disease to develop resistance to anything so that doesn't really matter. If you kill all the bugs then down the road new bugs get in the new ones will not have ever seen that spray so they would have no resistance to it. For thrips and mites I use Safer's End All insecticidal soap with 10ml/L added canola oil to suffocate the little bastards. Nothing develops resistance to suffocation, ever. lol
If you are spraying often and never get rid of the original crop of bugs then you could eventually have some that develop resistance but that would still take a long time to happen.
TerrapinBlazin
Well-Known Member
I’m just repeating what I’ve read in several places about the resistance. I wondered if that info was accurate and I like your explanation of how it works. I’m glad that it’s not very likely to happen. I’ve only had spider mites come back again on me once and a second blast of spinosad got rid of them. Hopefully once I start adding that neem cake to my soil I won’t see them anymore period.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
Neem cake in soil won't do squat against spider mites or thrips. It'll help with fungus gnats, root aphids or any other pest that spends part of it's life cycle in the soil but the first two do not. They live their whole existences in the canopy so plant sprays or predator bugs are needed to get rid of them.
Most sprays don't kill the eggs from mites or thrips so a solid program of spraying every 3rd or 4th day for 4 or 5 treatments must be followed to get rid of them. Even the day after spraying eggs can hatch but it takes a few days before those ones are mature enough to lay more eggs. The higher the temp the faster they mature too. Getting every tiny bit of the plant wet with the spray is another key part. Half-assed efforts get half-assed results. lol
TerrapinBlazin
Well-Known Member
Well it will be worth it just to get rid of those annoying fungus gnats. I read that spider mites do occasionally lay eggs on the debris on the ground so I thought they might still develop in soil, especially since I compost and recycle mine, although I dunno what they would eat since they like chlorophyll. If they don’t spend any time in the soil I wonder why there are so many predatory nematode products marketed for eliminating spider mites. I guess I got taken in by some marketing. I’d like to think I’m a quick learner but I don’t even have a solid two years of growing under my belt. It’s nice to get some straight facts. I just had my first big battle with thrips and spider mites this summer. To be honest I think I got rid of the worst of them by moving the badly affected plants outside for a cold snap and leaving them out there.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
For sure some mites and thrips will end up in the soil but they'll right away be trying to find their way back up into the canopy. Thrips jump when startled and likely end up all over. It's not part of their life cycle tho so soil treatments aren't effective against them like they are for things like fungus gnats. Gnats, mites and other pests are often in bags of soil brought home from the store too so should always be kept far away from the grow room or will just keep re-populating your plants.
When the weather turns cold mites hibernate usually in leaf litter etc so would for sure be down in the soil then too. When I finished up the last harvest I had mites in I kept any plants out of the grow room and set the heater for 75F and left it for a month. That way the mites stayed active and in less than a couple weeks were all likely dead but I didn't need the space so gave it a whole month. Any eggs would have hatched and the new ones quickly die off of thirst and starvation. Their screams of agony warmed my cold, cold heart.
Fun fact: When mites are preparing to hibernate they turn red. I was seeing some like that as I was letting the room get really cool the last couple weeks of flowering. Googled that shit and who knew. Thought a whole new breed of mites had invaded!
Must have worked as I haven't seen a mite since and it's been over a year.
TerrapinBlazin
Well-Known Member
Right on! All very informative. I’ve learned more about bugs in the past couple days from your posts than I did throughout my whole battle with the trips and spider mites researching shit online. Interestingly enough this all happened during the perlite shortage, when I had to buy a bag of soil from Lowe’s because all my vegging plants were rootbound and all my good soil was tied up in flowering. Right after I brought that soil in thrips showed up in my veg tent. I thought the thrips would be the end of it and then the spider mites showed up in both tents because I had flipped one of the bigger plants by that point. I bought some of those beneficial nematodes, and I don’t think they worked because I’ve had fungus gnats show up since. Spinosad has worked really well, and now I’m not as worried about having to rotate in other treatments. I’ll keep that in mind about the mites hibernating, although I haven’t seen any mites or thrips in either tent in close to a month.