Should I be aggressive or play it safe...?

mizmazzle

Member
I have some bag seed sativa that is 8 weeks into flower. I am only growing one plant, so normally I just control any insects by wiping them off with my fingers. I get some mites that I am controlling fairly well with this this method. Lately though I am seeing what looks like aphids. They hang out on the buds and I don't like this. I can't wide em away like the mites.

My question in this....how do I go about dealing with them? Im am not sure how much longer I have in flower...probably like 2-4 weeks more. I don't have access to the "organic" pesticides cause I live in a small south american town.

I have also used home made methods like:
Soapy water
garlic, pepper, soap, water mixes
Tobacco teas...


Im not sure how far into flowering these treatments are. Should I try and ride out the bugs til harvest, or should I attack em with some of these homemade concoctions a few times this late into flower....

This is a critical time in my grow....any advice would be greatly appreciated
 

Trichy Bastard

Well-Known Member
Well, my stance is to use the least toxic methods first, then move harsher from there. Another great thing is you might be able to order some lady bugs off the internet for pretty cheap. They will mob up those little aphids in no time and hopefully establish in your area and keep working for years to come... Watch for ants as well- they tend to "farm" aphids for food. So if you have ants then they are possibly doing this- there is a great non toxic method to rid ants called "Terro liquid ant bait". It is only borax soap and syrupy sugar water. If you can't find it you can probably make it yourself. The nice thing is that it's non toxic to humans and pets- but when the ants eat it it doesn't kill them for a couple days, leaving enough time for them to feed it to the whole colony, and most importantly the queen- and then they just dissappear forever after a couple days (at first they go crazy eating the stuff). Maybe I got off track and it's just aphids- but I don't see why you can't mix one of the methods you described and just lightly rinse it off afterwards. Do you really wanna smoke dried aphids next month- not to mention the destruction they can cause your plants...
 

mizmazzle

Member
I like your point here. Im not worried about the toxicity of the above mentioned remedies, I just wasn't sure what it would do to the quality of the buds....I was just working with my girl and it looks like the mites are starting to spread quite a bit. I don't have webs or anything yet. I tried to clean the leaves that I could and cut off a few of the more populated ones. I just don't want to damage what I have so close to the end you know?
 

Trichy Bastard

Well-Known Member
Yes, for sure bro.. The only question is that if the remedy will ultimately cause less damage than the perpitrators... I wonder if you could try something like bagging the bad areas and flooding with concentrated co2 for 5-10 minutes in the bags. I don't know if you have a tank for something like that- but you could make some with this recipe:
1 gram of baking soda reacts with 15 ml of vinegar (or other 5% acid) to produce 291 cc of CO2. In kitchen measurement terms, 1 cup of vinegar reacts with 1.2 tablespoons (3.6 tsp.) of baking soda to produce 1.2 gallons of CO2, or one gallon of vinegar would react with 1.25 cups of baking soda to produce 20 gallons of CO2. Both white vinegar and baking soda are inexpensive, and using more baking soda than the minimum amount given above does no harm.

I am not sure if high co2 for a short amount of time would hurt the plants- but this recipe came from a website on how to humanely kill your pet hamster- lol I suppose the aphids would die too...

So maybe you could mix it into a plastic soda bottle with an air tube leading to the bag... It's just an idea- but maybe sometimes I get "too creative" ;)
 

mizmazzle

Member
That is definitely the most creative solution I have heard yet. hahaha....I think I am gonna try and wait it out. The bugs are not bad right now....just a the site of em makes me nauseous though. I just wish I had a time frame for when Im gonna cut em down. Could be 2 weeks, could be 5....Im not sure. Thats the confusing and tricky part of this situation. Two weeks I would just ride it out....five could be a disaster.....Have to admit this is the funnest stress ive ever had....hahah
 

dandan625

Active Member
You can find ladybugs at ace home and garden or similar stores. I opened up a tub of them once no knowing what they were and lady bugs started poring out. I panicked and shoved the top back on and CRUNCH.... sorry little girls :(
 

mizmazzle

Member
yeah...none of that is an option for me.....I live in a very small s. american town.....no mail order or nothin like that gonna make it here
 

Trichy Bastard

Well-Known Member
Sorry bro ;) bet it's a cool place otherwise... Well, I think you have the right idea- if those little buggers r causing too much harm- then try some of the remedies you listed, I can't really think of anything else. I don't think "tobacco tea" is gonna hurt anything at any phase...
 

Cooter@666

Well-Known Member
1 part ISP Rubbing alcohol 2 parts water in a spray bottle....those little critters on your plants will die instantly. I use this concoction with great success, you might want to test it on a small section of the plant first and see how the plant reacts to it.
 
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