I am 2.5 months in to my first grow and I had a lot of issues with pests at first. I was short on funds and tried some cheap fixes to avoid extra costs. I wanted to give some info on the things I learned and used to help eliminate my problems. I am a month pest free now!
Like many post and threads have stated, prevention is the best way to deal with pests. Good ventilation, a sanitary grow room, and sanitized soil will prevent most problems. If you do have a problem, here are the things I did.
Gnatrol (BT-i) is amazing for fungus gnats. I pre-treat my soiless mix with gnatrol before use and have not had any fungus gnats since. It can also be applied to pots with no affect to the plant. Gnatrol is readily available online. I use Ebay to get mine.
I had a thrip issue for a few days and I used a homemade spray to eliminate them. It is a super simple mix that when applied every week or at the signs of pests seemed to work well.
Here is my recipe:
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of dried hot pepper (habanero, etc.)
1 teaspoon of dish soap
1 liter of water
1. Mince 4 cloves of garlic (smaller the better) and simmer that in vegetable oil on as low a temp as possible for 10 minutes. Do not burn.
2. Mix water, hot pepper flakes, dish soap, water and garlic (oil it was cooked in as well). You could blend if you wanted.
3. Let sit in fridge for a day to let everything mix well.
4. Spray mix on foliage of plant focusing on the undersides of leaves.
Thats it! Has worked wonders to prevent most pests that attack foliage and make them not want to stay if already there. Just keep it refrigerated when not using.
Hope this helps some folks that have had similar issues. Good luck growing.
Like many post and threads have stated, prevention is the best way to deal with pests. Good ventilation, a sanitary grow room, and sanitized soil will prevent most problems. If you do have a problem, here are the things I did.
Gnatrol (BT-i) is amazing for fungus gnats. I pre-treat my soiless mix with gnatrol before use and have not had any fungus gnats since. It can also be applied to pots with no affect to the plant. Gnatrol is readily available online. I use Ebay to get mine.
I had a thrip issue for a few days and I used a homemade spray to eliminate them. It is a super simple mix that when applied every week or at the signs of pests seemed to work well.
Here is my recipe:
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of dried hot pepper (habanero, etc.)
1 teaspoon of dish soap
1 liter of water
1. Mince 4 cloves of garlic (smaller the better) and simmer that in vegetable oil on as low a temp as possible for 10 minutes. Do not burn.
2. Mix water, hot pepper flakes, dish soap, water and garlic (oil it was cooked in as well). You could blend if you wanted.
3. Let sit in fridge for a day to let everything mix well.
4. Spray mix on foliage of plant focusing on the undersides of leaves.
Thats it! Has worked wonders to prevent most pests that attack foliage and make them not want to stay if already there. Just keep it refrigerated when not using.
Hope this helps some folks that have had similar issues. Good luck growing.