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Pest Troubles
Well this isn’t going to be a long one, just going to talk about what each bug does, what are its symptoms and how to prevent and kill them.
White flys:
They look just like tiny months, and lay eggs on leaves and or top of the soil. They are a pest in big numbers and are not very hard to get rid of, they can cause damage by sucking sap from the plants. Here are some ways NOT to get them: Do not overwater your potted plants. Allow the soil to dry between waterings and provide good drainage. Another one is to put sticky traps up when you think you may have them, that way when they get stuck you can identify them.
if you already have white flys, you can use insecticidal soap, this will help stop them from flying so it wont infect other plants.
It also stops them from laying new eggs. If you use the soap reapply weekly.
If insecticidal soap does not work too well, there is some other options that are stronger called PERMETHRIN dust, Which can be used during flowering and is safe on ediable plants.
Here are some other good things to use to rid of white flys: PERMETHRIN and biffen (both are safe to use on ediable plants),
Spreader sticker ( hich allows to apply the spray to a wider area)
Nylar ( works well for inhibiting there growth and development)ORTHENE FOGGERS works well for a small area and are safe on the plants.Other poducts you can try are:
Chemicals
Hot Pepper Wax,Safer Yard & Garden Insecticide (which can be used right to the day of harvest),GNATROL( used in hydro in the water as well as soil),Doc's Neem Pest Soap,Safer Sticky Stakes,TR-11000 Pyrethrum.
Symphilids
Small pests that are tan to white colored and look like centipedes. They are very deadly to the plants, because they burrow down into the roots and damage them by feeding of them. Your plants leaves will begin to die off. They are found mostly in soil composites that have not been cleaned, like soil that has additives in them such as animal manure.
(I know it will smell funny but sterilizing the soil in the oven for 30 min can kill any pests in the soil, heat to 350 for 30 min.) They are easy to tell if you have them, because they come to the top soil when your plant is being watered, if you find you do have them, use Fungus Gnat Killer (“B.T." a non chemical,biological control) in the powdered form. One application should kill it, just to be safe repeat every 7 days to kill off the larvae. Tobacco juice kills them as well! And nematodes.
Picture 2 shows the Symphilids look like..
Fungus Gnats
Fungus gnats like to feed on roots of the plants and organic matter. Adults and larvae live in moist, shady areas. The adults lay there eggs on top of the soil, near the base of the stem and takes about 4 days to hatch. The larvae will start by eating the root hairs of the plant then working their way up the plant, Fungus gnats like to eat organic matter so they will be stealing away nutrients from your plants, so its best to get rid of them completely.
If plants are outdoors, check the soil of plants before taking them back indoors for adult gnats or their larvae.
Prevent indoor entry of gnats by making sure there is no open windows open without screens on. Aug is a bad time for them as they are worst that time of the year.
Put sticky traps on the soil surface to trap the gnats
Put potato slices on the surface of the soil. The larvae like it and will be drawn to it.. After about 4 to 5 days, remove the potato slices with the larvae. To get rid of them you can do a lot of things like either use a NO pest strip, neem oil or putting sand on the surface of the soil will suffocate the eggs and get rid of them as well. Tobacco juice kills them, and works well for re-occurrences!
They can be in or on the soil and can fly. In order to get rid of them you can use neem oil, sand on the surface again kills them, and no pest strips catch the ones that fly. A chemical product called Zone works very well and is very powerful and works well in hydro!
Other Products which can be used in hydro and soil are:
Chemicals
Hot Pepper Wax,Safer Yard & Garden Insecticide (which can be used right to the day of harvest),GNATROL( used in hydro in the water as well as soil),Doc's Neem Pest Soap,Safer Sticky Stakes,TR-11000 Pyrethrum.
Picture 4 shows the fungus gnat.
Picture 5 shows there larvae (Picture contributed by: Chocobot hour)
Spider mites:
Spider mites are by far the worst pest to have, because they are the hardest to kill and can literally kill any plant. They are by far more active in warmer climates than cold ones, they also suck sup from the leaves leaving tiny white spots on the leaves from where they suck on. The damage they do is just like thrips, but with spider mites they pierce the surface of the leaves and can show tiny holesor white speckling damage, unlike with thirps they eat the surface of the chlorophyll. You can tell when you have infestation of spider mites , because you will have distorted growth, shortened internodes and petioles.
When you have bad infestation you will see webbing with larva in them. You get spider mites from either store bought soil mostly when your soil is not sterilized. Most brands do not state weather or not they are, chances are if you buy cheap soil, you have a less likely chance of the soil being sterile.Also, bringing outdoor plants indoors, or getting plants from someone else who was infected with spidermites.
Spider mites live on the plant itself and are under the leaves most of the time and are usually are so tiny you can’t see them with the naked eye. In order to get rid of spider mites one of the best ways to start to get rid of them is to use NO-Pest strips.NO-Pest strips work well and should always be used with other methods. Neem oil helps get rid of them as well. Also by raising the humidity in your grow room a lot will kill the spider mites off, by them absorbing to much humidity and will burst. You can use soap solution like Safer Insecticidal Soap to get rid of most aphid problems. Use some tobacco juice and chili pepper powder added to this for mites. (see below how to make tabacco juice)
Pyrethrum should only be used in extreme circumstances directly on plants, It starts to breaks down around a week and is easily washed away with clear water or. If your plants are in flowering and you have spider mites, using safer chemicals is your best bet. The tobacco and pepper soap solution works well and should be used daily, spraying on the underside and top leaves and later the whole plant. Since spider mites are very residual to common products, you have to find or try any number of ones untill you get rid of them. make absolutly sure you retreat as stated, other wise you will get resistant spidermites and then you have a bigger battle on your hands.Also do not allow pets that go outside alot to be around indoor plants,mites have been known to be carried in from pets to plants. PLEASE NOTE, below are ways to get rid of spider mites, but no 2 mite infestations are identical, you almost always have to use different products to get rid of them, also make a habit to check for at least a whole month after thinking you got rid of them, that way your chances of the spider mites that became resistant breeding and then having a bigger problem. Make sure you spray your plant down very good and enough and on time.
Here are some more products that may help get rid of spider mites:
Chemicals
Hot Pepper Wax,Safer Yard & Garden Insecticide (which can be used right to the day of harvest),GNATROL( used in hydro in the water as well as soil),Doc's Neem Pest Soap,Safer Sticky Stakes,TR-11000 Pyrethrum. Anything that says dicofol on the back. ( should be used in vegging or early flowering)
Tabacco Juice recipe
Take 3 strong ciggeretes soak them over night in water
Boil it for 2 to 3 miniutes, let it cool off and spray the plants 3 to 4 times a week. You can add safer soap if you like to the mixture.
(make absolutly sure you use gloves/face protection while handling and spraying)
Neem oil works very well too!!
ZBQ has an excellent thread on how to use neem oil without geting your plants to oily!!
OpenDNS :tup: Your Last resort is to use Avid.
Pictures 5 shows spider mites and there larva. Picture 6 shows spider mite damage. Picture 7 shows SPidermites larvae and spidermites closeup( Picture contibuted by sukalo)
Thrips
Thrips are really tiny, but can be seen by the naked eye. Some may have wings and some may not. Thrips reproduce rapidly, especially in tight places. That is what makes them hard to get rid of when using pesticides. The suck the sap right out of your plant with there piercing mouths, which makes the leaves look like they turned white. You can tell when you have thrips by taking a look at your leaves, the leaves will look as if there chlorophyll have been ripped right off the plant. Plants that are damaged can’t be healed thus making it harder for the plant to absorb light. SO if left untreated the thrips will kill the plants. Damage also can be seen by the greenish black specks of there poop they leave on leaves. Also the plants will show silver patchs from scar tissue. Depending on the severity at first, thrip damage might look like spider mite damage untill it increases in damage and then thrips case is for sure when you see the greenness replace with big parts of white.
One good way to repel thrips for those growing outside is to use garlic, this is a good way to keep them away before you get them. The color yellow attracts the thrips and should be advised not to have this color around your grow.. If you already have them using neem oil, and or lady bugs can get rid of them. If the infestation is bad then you need to use biological solution like, pyrethrin-like insecticides. Picture 8 shows thrips damage.
Other Products include:
Chemicals
Hot Pepper Wax,Safer Yard & Garden Insecticide (which can be used right to the day of harvest),GNATROL( used in hydro in the water as well as soil),Doc's Neem Pest Soap,Safer Sticky Stakes,TR-11000 Pyrethrum.
Picture 1 is Thrip damage
Picture 2 is Thrip Larvae (Picture Contributed by: Flatt)
Caterpillars (cutworms, cabbageworms, ect.)
chewed leaves. Damage: Most caterpillars feed on plants of some kind, they can feed on wool and hair (the clothes moth) Some are pests in gardens and yards. The leaf roller caterpillars can cause some severe damage of trees and shrubs, while others, such as cabbage loopers, and cutworms can cause severe damage to gardens.
If you find caterpillars have been eating at your plants,garden and you need to get rid of them are several non-toxic and least toxic methods to choose from.
Controls
Hand picking: Easit way to controll them is to pick them up and knock them into a bucket of soapy. If you are scared about handling caterpillars, you can use some gloves or have someone else pick them up for you.
Chemical:
BTK in dust form can be used to kill caterpillars. BTK can also be used to foliar spray your plants. One tablespoon of neem oil added to your BT mix helps stick the mix to the plants better when you are foliar spraying.. BTK is available in liquid form. Apply BTK on all of the leaves both top and underside If you decided using the dust kind,spray your plants down with water before you apply the dust Apply every week to 2 weeks and or after it rains. The caterpillars must eat the BT as they are feeding on foliage in order for the caterpillars to be rid of.
Organic ways:
Insecticidal soaps, neem, oil, and spinosad are the safest insecticides that can be used to control.. Soaps and neem are non-toxic and are great to use when you have a lot of pets and want to be friendly to nature and its animals. Spinosad works very very good in controlling the caterpillar population and is non toxic to wild-life, pets, and humans. It hardly has any impact at all on the plants.
Picture 1 shows damage from caterpillars.
Slugs and snails (Outdoor Growers)
Both slugs and snails travel by secreting a mucus or slime on which they glide. When you see the slime trail on your plants and have damage, then it was most likely caused by slugs or snails.When your garden is very moist slugs and snails can live for a long time as this is the key to them living a long time. If you keep your garden not as moist and dark slugs and snails cannot live as long. They stay away from the sunlight along with hiding around moist dark areas in the garden.They also hide in Mulches, short stubby plants, boards, and in the soil. They come out mostly at night and on cloudy days. They feed by chewing holes into your leaves and can clip the edges of leaves and flowers.Slugs and Snails are mostly pests of seedlings and herbaceous plants that are close to the ground. In order to confirm the damage was caused by slugs or snails, look for a silvery trail of mucous.
Controls
Snails can cause massive damage to gardens if given a chance. It is very unlikely you will be able to completely rid your garden of them, but try to keep the numbers down as much as possible to keep healthy and undamaged plants. Here are some ways to control slugs and snails.
Reduce slug and snail damage dramatically by watering in the morning instead of the evening.
If you do see any slugs or snails avoid putting mulches and dark hiding cover.Oak leaf mulch will deter slugs and snails.
Handpick slugs and snails at night. Use a bucket to put them into soapy water.
Lay boards down in the garden to trap slugs and snails.
Diatomaceous earth sprinkled around you’re your plants base of the stems will help keep out slugs and snails, but it can also stop other beneficial insects.
Soak the soil with wormwood tea.
Put copper wire around your garden or at the base of your.Slugs get a big shock when they touch copper Just make sure you don’t trap them inside your garden when you put copper around your garden.
Beer is good to use, because slugs love beer!. Take a container of beer and bury it in your garden with it just barly above the ground so they can drink it and drown.
And one of our favorite additives.... SALT!
Predators that like to eat snails include:snakes, toads, frogs,fireflies, predatory snails, birds, beetles. The large, black iridescent beetles you see in your yard are predators. Firefly larvae eat on slugs and snails and can literally wipe out the development of them by eating 40 to 60 snails from just 1 larve of a firefly!!
Please be kind to nature and pets and stay away from poison slug bates. If you have seen what it can do to pets you wouldn’t want to ever use it again!!!
Poisonous baits are hazardous to all living beings and animals. Slugs and snails can become resistant to baits. So its better to use other methods and stay away from chemical baits, all the while protecting nature.
Leaf miners
These Little creatures are a pain to get rid of, the miners eat and dig squiggly lines into your leaves all the while planting there larvae in them making it hard to get rid of them. They plant there eggs in the leaves in mid When they hatch they feed off of your leaves untill they get big enough to pupate. Pupation occurs within the leaf or in the soil beneath the plant. After they emerge the entire cycle will start over and you will have a bigger infestation.
Controls
Controls: Natural control for these insects is difficult. You can remove affected leaves and discard them. Chemical control is hard and is ment towards the emerging adults. Since the larvae is well protected within the leaf. Neem oil will work well.
Pictures 3-4 shows leaf miners attack
Scale (Outdoor Problem)
Scale can be found on stems, underside of branches, trunks, young trees or shrubs. They usally emerge from there eggs around March to Aug and make there homes on the plant. They pierce the cells and feed on the sap of the plant. After they have a place on your plant they devlop a very hard shell which protects them from other preadatory insects and chemical compounds to get rid of them. After they develop this hard back the secreation they drip attracts ants. Now since the ants travel over the scales thus dragging it all over your plant spreading the scale from one place to another on the plants. When the secreation falls on leaves it can make a type of mold called Sooty Mold which makes the leaves look dirty and black.
Sooty MOLD
The problem with this type of fungi is that it attracts several types of sucking insects,like Aphids, Mealy Bugs, Thrips, and Whiteflies..This mold is so dark that it affects the plant by inhibiting the light from reaching its leaves which stops photosynthesis, which in turn makes the plant die.
Control
The waxy layer that is on scales protects them from insects and other pesticides. In order to get rid of them Use a horticultural oil to kill the adult populations throughout the year. If you can combine the oil with the insecticide, such as, Orthene, Sevin, or malathion it can almost wipe out the scale population along with the sooty mold it causes!Neem soil works very well too!
You can do a few things.. more if your not nearing the end of harvest..
1) take a pack of chewing tobacco, mix it with a gallon of water, let it brew for a day.. spray the plants down as needed.. if your a cigarette smoker no worries spray em down till harvest.. watch for mold..
2) take some safers natural soap, mix it with some water so its a soapy slippery mixture, soak em down.. the idea is to suffocate the bugs in the soapy bubbles..
Miscellaneous Sick Plant Troubles
This picture is caused by temprature changing from cold to warm, cold nights and warm days.
Some varieties, like equatorial sativas, don't take well to cold weather. If you can keep the roots warmer, the plant will be able to take cooler temps than it otherwise could.
This picture is what light bleaching/ light burn looks like.
Only way to fix this is to Move the lights away from the plant!
Or make sure you dont go over 75 watts a sq foot, or your plant will have to much light and light bleaching can occur anywhere on the plant. (indica species seem to bleach easier than sativas imo.)
(Picture Provided by Boy Howdy)
These pictures is what heat stress looks like.
Only way to fix this is to Move the lights away from the plant!
And get better ventalation, and or add more fans! Heat - If the lights are too close to the plant, the tops may be curled,
dry, and look burnt, mimicking a
nutrient problem. Your hand should not feel hot after a minute when you hold it at the top of the plants.
(Picture 1 and 2 Provided by Mosfed)
This is the most common and loved nuteburn :teef:
Ahh, nute burn! Stop this by not adding to much chemical/organic nutrients to your water,foliar feeding. DONT feed more than 1 time a week, use 1/4 strength for first feeding and then go up to 1/2 strength from then on when using chemical nutrients. Its very easy to overdo it. Causes leaf tips to appear yellow or burnt. To correct soil should be flushed with three gallons of water per one gallon of soil. NEVER give nutrients to plants that are under 2 weeks of age, at this age the soil nutrients are enough to suppliment them untill 2 weeks of age or more depending on how good your soil is. Using ferts before 2 weeks will almost likley kill your plants.
Stem Problems
Stem Breakage - Everyone from time to time has had this problem or will. This is when your stem is broken. Stem breaks can come from a number of things: training, dropping something on it, animals, weather. No matter how it happened the most important thing is to not panic.
Solution - Fixing this is not really a problem. Splint it with something and tape it in place. Marijuana has a great ability to come back even after a stem break. Give her a week or so to recover before she will start to grow again. And be more careful next time!
Misc things to know!!
When your humidity is low your leaves can become shriveled. Using humidity around 40-60% is fine for vegging and flowering.
If your plants are stretching than it can be caused by a few things. Not enough light, or it’s the wrong kind of light. Stay away from incadesant bulbs they produce more heat than good. Same goes for halogens, they are worthless and cause more heat than anything else. Instead get a HPS, MH, Fluros or some compact fluros!
Hps will keep your plant short and stubby while cool fluros will keep your plant bushy, while soft white will keep your plant tall,Having a mixture will have a tal and bushy plant! Nothing wrong with having mixed spectrums!
Or just go grow outside and save energy!!
Yellowing leaves on cuttings
When unrooted clones start to yellow it means they are either not touching the rooting medium good enough, to much co2. The vast majority of the time, an unrooted cutting will begin to yellow some of it's leaves, starting with it's largest oldest leaves, because it is too close to the lights and it needs to be moved farther away. Some yellowing is normal just as the cutting begins rooting and can be a sign of the cutting using it's oldest leaves as a food source while it is forming new roots. Plain tap water that is ph adjusted is just fine until the clones have rooted. Giving any ferts will kill them untill they have been rooted.
PPM = parts per million
EC = electric conductivaty
TDS = total desolved solids
(information provided by syko2)
If you are running in hydro its good to change your water every 2 weeks to keep out bacteria growth and to keep your plants with a good supply of fresh water.
A good rule to go by for how much PPM each part of your plants growth has is as follows:
Seedlings should be around 50-150 PPM
Unrooted clones to be around 100-350 PPM
small plants to be around 400-800 PPM
large plants to be around 900-1800 PPM
Last week of flowering use plain water.
If you see dark or patchy spots on your leaves, that could mean you have mold. Check fordark patchy areas on the leaves and if you do have mold, lower the humidity and get a better ventilation setup going to prevent further occurrences.
And most important..
KEEP YOUR GARDEN CLEAN!!
I hope you have enjoyed this guide and hopefully it has helped you out or someone else has been helped by it.
