What's your IPM?

I would love to be the one to shaere a defeinitive guide on this and earn this subject a sticky, but i am not qualified to do so, however ik there are ppl here who are so i welcome your IPM schedules and tools.
I realize this info is scattered throughout the forum but i see no thread dedicated to it and imo it is one of the most important peices to the puzzle given i just started years of work over due to a mite infestation among other things.
As i start over i am committed to organice living soil method and a new space as i remodel my old space. my goal is to avoid infestations by implimenting a good IPM and while i do know the tools and the techniques i am not sure how often to apply them etc.. and the best way to learn if not by your experience is that of others. so lay it on me folks gimme the best IPM schedule and, techniques you got. maybe together we can earn this topic a sticky and win a battle in this war on pests

**** i wrote this as i was spraying down my girls/guys with some peppermint and rosemary essential oils dilluted in ph'd water/tea and started to wonder what else maybe i should do while the bugs are gone to keep em away. i don't want to add stuff like spinosad, which i have, unless someone says it is a good preventitve measure becasue i am a beleiver in less is more. i do use neem meal in my teas and soil, but not as an IPM tool specifically

**** also how the heck do i bold the thread title?

I just started a thread today about essential oils and ipm.
Like you I want to stay all organic and natural

https://www.rollitup.org/t/essential-oils-and-ipm.981541/#post-14642132

I hope this helps. So far I'm just copy and pasting

And for my IPM so far I've used nematodes for fungus gnats.
I don't know where to turn there is just so many things out there.
I have access to a ton of essential oil, my sister sells doterra oils. So I can get almost what ever I need.

bearded.beaver said:

And for my IPM so far I've used nematodes for fungus gnats.
I don't know where to turn there is just so many things out there.
I have access to a ton of essential oil, my sister sells doterra oils. So I can get almost what ever I need.

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i was gonna do nematodes to tbh, i was gonna put em in my soil ahead of time to "process" it between runs. i am using a re-ammending soil and i keep a tub of soil to the side "cooking" and the soil currently in pots. i was thinking of treating the tubs with nematodes between runs. someone once told me idk where that the organic soils etc had plenty nematodes in it already but idk, that is why i posted thi stopic, maybe we will see lol, stay tuned.
those yellow sticky traps early and drying out soil between waterings has really cut down if not almost completely eradicated my gnat issue for the last 2 months

I use sticky traps too. But as for letting my s.i.p.s (earthboxes) dry out. Almost impossible. I just got 2x 15 gallon geopots and filled them with a Clackamas coot style soil recipe I got from Black Swallow Living Soils. So I inoculated both of those with nematodes right away.

Here is a thread I started where I'm trying different organic methods of killing gnats. Both methods I've tried so far fid nothing.

https://www.rollitup.org/t/using-potatoes-to-catch-gnat-larvae.981292/#post-14641409

bearded.beaver said:

Here is a thread I started where I'm trying different organic methods of killing gnats. Both methods I've tried so far fid nothing.

https://www.rollitup.org/t/using-potatoes-to-catch-gnat-larvae.981292/#post-14641409

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yea, i always had gnats, but when i had to start over i made it my goal to not get em and i really think using the shit out of sticky traps coupled with drying your the top soil totally every time has done the job. i had em errywhere when i started to, i had em flying in front of my laptop screen it was driving me nuts, i ordered sticky traps and i went balls out with em. i set the cups on em, i reseted em accross cups and i dangled em from the lights and lined the crackes of the closet doors with em. it was ridiculous but it cut their numbers down to nothing and then letting soil dry out everytime since they have not come back. i even threw that round of traps out and have not used more yet. now this is only 2 months but it only took like 1-2 weeks to get it to where i am. now if you got a resevoir arond and shit results may vary because they need water. they will even live in your drain when nothing else is around so keep dry, keep water rez covered or far from it. good luck man i hate those m'fers

*Serenade spray once a week to prevent mold. It's a bacteria that eats fungus.
*BT for butterflies during the summer in the same spray. To prevent worms.
*Azamax once a month to prevent insects like aphids.
*Going to try praying mantis' this year to take care of some grasshopper that was a new type that caused a lot of issues and hung out on the frostier plants.
*Also airated compost tea once a week (not same day as Syranade) for overall hardening.
*Great white microbes to prevent invasive harmful bacteria and fungi.
*Worm castings to prevent harmful neematodes by adding beneficial ones.

Booyah! said:

*Serenade spray once a week to prevent mold. It's a bacteria that eats fungus.
*BT for butterflies during the summer in the same spray. To prevent worms.
*Azamax once a month to prevent insects like aphids.
*Going to try praying mantis' this year to take care of some grasshopper that was a new type that caused a lot of issues and hung out on the frostier plants.
*Also airated compost tea once a week (not same day as Syranade) for overall hardening.
*Great white microbes to prevent invasive harmful bacteria and fungi.
*Worm castings to prevent harmful neematodes by adding beneficial ones.

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so you are saying stuff like azamax for prevention to? see i wasn't sure if i should include stuff like azamax or spinosad as part of an ipm for maintenence. if anyone else can corraborate or refute this i'd be interested.
ig i felt like the less life i am killing the better, and ik some of these things don't discriminate between good and bad bugs. like i don't want to be harming my nematode, protozoa and other microbiology with my IPM

Crab Meal and Neem Meal are typically all I've ever needed for IPM. For everything else I use Spinosad.

kratos015 said:

Crab Meal and Neem Meal are typically all I've ever needed for IPM. For everything else I use Spinosad.

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yea i use neem meal as an ammendment and also in my weekly tea, i don't use crab meal atm but i use insect frass for the chitin or whatever it is.

I like the Azamax better than neem because it isn't as thick and seems to be more effective. And yes I find it's better to spray before the problem is seen. I don't think it hurts beneficials.

I use Neem Seed Meal and Crab Meal too. Both great stuff

Booyah! said:

I like the Azamax better than neem because it isn't as thick and seems to be more effective. And yes I find it's better to spray before the problem is seen. I don't think it hurts beneficials.

I use Neem Seed Meal and Crab Meal too. Both great stuff

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i didnt mean neem oil, i don't use that either. i only use the meal as an ammendment and in my teas.

Booyah! said:

I like the Azamax better than neem because it isn't as thick and seems to be more effective. And yes I find it's better to spray before the problem is seen. I don't think it hurts beneficials.

I use Neem Seed Meal and Crab Meal too. Both great stuff

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Azamax is definitely way easier to work with over neem oil, I always hated that stuff personally. Annoying to work with, smells like shit, and always manages to find its way on your clothes.

I just make a neem slurry with the neem meal if I happen to be in need for it. Just let it soak in water at a 4:1 neem:water ratio for 48 hours and foliar feed. Throw some liquid seaweed and silica into the mix and you're golden.

That sounds great. Yeah I use the Neem Seed Meal in a compost tea. BTW have you ever tasted Neem Seed Meal? Super Bitter!! No wonder insects don't like it

kratos015 said:

Azamax is definitely way easier to work with over neem oil, I always hated that stuff personally. Annoying to work with, smells like shit, and always manages to find its way on your clothes.

I just make a neem slurry with the neem meal if I happen to be in need for it. Just let it soak in water at a 4:1 neem:water ratio for 48 hours and foliar feed. Throw some liquid seaweed and silica into the mix and you're golden.

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i've never worked with the neem oil. i've used soaps and oil solutionsi've mixed myself using rosemary oil, cinimon oil and/or dr bronnors soap etc... as a foliar when i had mites, it worked to a point but i caught the problem way way late and they had webs so i ended up culling everything i have and sterilizing the entire room.
as for the smell i love the smell of the neem meal. idk if the oil smells the same but mmmm is so lol

outliergenetix said:

i've never worked with the neem oil. i've used soaps and oil solutionsi've mixed myself using rosemary oil, cinimon oil and/or dr bronnors soap etc... as a foliar when i had mites, it worked to a point but i caught the problem way way late and they had webs so i ended up culling everything i have and sterilizing the entire room.
as for the smell i love the smell of the neem meal. idk if the oil smells the same but mmmm is so lol

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Ever try habaneros to deal with those fuckers? Fill a pot with water and boil some habanero peppers in it and spray those pieces of shit, I love using this for caterpillars too when I'm outdoors. Consider what habanero peppers do to us then imagine how those little bugs will handle it, they die. You can use habanero spray up to 48 hours before harvest without any negative results.

i have never heard this. interesting. i already grow a whole plot of various super hots

I've tried hot peppers to keep rabbits away from my lettuce. They loved it and decimated my crop. I also sprayed it around my strawberries cause the squirrels kept pulling them up. Not eating them just pulling them up and letting the roots dry out.

outliergenetix said:

i have never heard this. interesting. i already grow a whole plot of various super hots

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I grow Super hots too! I think it's the oils in the peppers that must work. I might have to try that this year.