Tip For New Out Door Growers Of Medical Marijuna

If your outdoors you will get bugs etc. That's a fact. Be prepared. Preventive maintenance and multi daily visual inspections.

I like to use NEEM oil early as a preventive tool. Then I get the concentrated form (its 1/18 the value of the already mixed bottle) TAKE DOWN (pyrethrum) by Monterey to eliminate bugs

et al spider mites. I will also use at end of veg another mixed concentrate (value again) GREEN LIGHT (spinosad) by OMRI.

I would strongly suggest you use this stuff or something with the same main active ingredient. I noticed this year - after all the preventive maintience; next to no pest etc and its

august 5th. I live in Rocklin CA - pest, bugs, worms, caterpillars - always come to town. Use products with the ingredients I mentioned. Organic and will not get you

sick like man made mixtures. Previous years I was re-active vs. prepared by being forward looking.

mikeandnaomi said:

If your outdoors you will get bugs etc. That's a fact. Be prepared. Preventive maintenance and multi daily visual inspections.

I like to use NEEM oil early as a preventive tool. Then I get the concentrated form (its 1/18 the value of the already mixed bottle) TAKE DOWN (pyrethrum) by Monterey to eliminate bugs

et al spider mites. I will also use at end of veg another mixed concentrate (value again) GREEN LIGHT (spinosad) by OMRI.

I would strongly suggest you use this stuff or something with the same main active ingredient. I noticed this year - after all the preventive maintience; next to no pest etc and its

august 5th. I live in Rocklin CA - pest, bugs, worms, caterpillars - always come to town. Use products with the ingredients I mentioned. Organic and will not get you

sick like man made mixtures. Previous years I was re-active vs. prepared by being forward looking.

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Certainly isnt a fact.

I rotate 4 or 5 organics - one spray per week - and that little prophalactic seems to be keeping them at bay. How many weeks before harvest do you give your last spray?

2nd year grower in SO CEN CAL....... have had budworms-mites
FACT you dont need insecticides..
FACT.. pay attention to the ladies and you dont wake up with surprises...

Its easy to hand pick bugs etc when you got one or two plants. When you have a dozen plus - try going without some organic pesticide and your plants will be a buffet for a variety of
bugs. If you don't use some preventative maintenance and you are growing outdoors under the sun without a green house that's lock tight - you will have issues.

I use TAKE DOWN and one day then green light the next. I wait one week and do it again. I will do this until a couple weeks pre harvest. I am speaking in terms of ORGANIC pesticide (many say they use up to harvest but I just like to be cautious and stop a couple or three weeks prior.

I always have problems with the caterpillars/moths During budding. This year i'll be using some spray on them(pyrethrum). How far into flowering do you spray your plants?

Kaendar said:

Certainly isnt a fact.

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Fact.. You are out in their environment and they will be on your plants. I thought you'd have learned by now to stop giving bad info.

If you grow outdoors you WILL have pests. You can control them and let them be a part of your ecosystem or you can decimate them with chemical or organic solutions, but to outright think you can grow outdoors and won't have to deal with them one way or another is just setting yourself up to get your crop destroyed or trying to figure out how to salvage them.

Bugs Pest Mildew Fungus - these are the things that many over look coming down the stretch.

Be wise and spray the rest of your yard - lawn, bushes. Make your back yard unfriendly to these pest.

Some error on the side of just spraying plants not knowing nearby lurks a gang of bugs, insects, bitters, suckers.

Being in Rocklin I would have to guess that your main pest is budworms?

Yes - caterpillars, budworms and spider mites. Plus I live near a natural wild life preserve so you gotta believe they fly over all the time. I just want them to know - bad things happen when they munch on my plants. Last year I get hot with budworms last couple weeks. I tore the bad parts out and still had something amazing. This year I am inspecting visually more often.

Neem oil is cool but it takes 3 days for the critters to die. That's why I use it early on They eat it and slowly exit stage left. Pyrethrum (main ingredient in TAKE DOWN by Monterrey - not a paid endorsement kills them quick.

Plus the canola oil in these products also help a bit with insects, molds and mildew.



Budworms - what do you do to prevent and take these suckers out?

If your near rocklin try this stuff at Green Acres. The bottle on GREEN LIGHT shows the bud worm.





I also use -




Here is what i use for preventive maintenance early on in the grow cycle (May, June, July)

mikeandnaomi said:

Yes m- caterpillars and spider mites. Plus I live near a natural wild life preserve so you gotta believe they fly over all the time. I just want them to know - bad things happen when they munch on my plants. Last year I get hot with budworms last couple weeks. I tore the bad parts out and still had something amazing. This year I am inspecting visually more often.

Neem oil is cool but it takes 3 days for the critters to die. That's why I use it early on They eat it and slowly exit stage left. Pyrethrum (main ingredient in TAKE DOWN by Monterrey - not a paid endorsement kills them quick.

Plus the canola oil in these products also help a bit with insects, molds and mildew.

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Awesome! I know the area you speak of. I got killed my first grow not knowing what to expect. Last season I fought back and they only got a few ozs. This season they are in trouble as I have Mantis Patrol, Im in a partially enclosed carpord, and will be out inspecting several times a day when I can. I am determined to beat them. Next season they will be a non issue.

Im spraying with bt ounce a week. A mantis had a Caterpillar in his mouth one day but I haven't seen any scene then

Kaendar is correct: it is NOT a "fact". Depends on genetics, location environmental variables, and nutrient selection. Force feeding plants with chemicals, you will likely have some insect damage. Using 100% organic nutrients outdoors, bugs were not a problem at all. That being said, the environmental variables of my area are favorable for hardy plants.

fg2020 said:

Kaendar is correct: it is NOT a "fact". Depends on genetics, location environmental variables, and nutrient selection. Force feeding plants with chemicals, you will likely have some insect damage. Using 100% organic nutrients outdoors, bugs were not a problem at all. That being said, the environmental variables of my area are favorable for hardy plants.

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Show me 1 outdoor grow where bugs aren't present. And please don't start in with the organic vs chem. We are introducing a plant that is not native to the area. Of course there are going to be pests and things that want to live in them and eat them.

In case anyone out there wants to be frugal/not feed the beast:

spraying water+dish soap on the undersides of your leaves can help prevent pests, and sulfur is a great preventative for PM. sulfur is sold at garden/hardware stores as a fungicide for roses/grapevines/etc. Pruning the insides of your plants to promote airflow can also help prevent PM. These remedies are a lot cheaper than what you'll pay for comparable products in a hydro store, and they're safer, too.

There was a thread on RIU today about a guy who had been buying from a few growers and getting headaches everytime he lit up. It turned out to be the "organic pesticides" that they had been spraying with. Those pesticides that claim to be safe for use up to the day of harvest aren't safe for cannabis. It may be alright for an apple because you (hopefully) wash an apple before eating it. PEople dont wash off their dope before lighting up.

Disclaimer: ORGANIC DOES NOT A SYNONYM FOR 'GOOD'. Organic can be a good thing, but it's often abused as a marketing buzz word. Just remember that cyanide is organic. Do you want some of that?

Are bugs just as big of a problem in the UK? I'm starting my first outdoor grow next year on unused farmland,I have something called veggiemesh which keeps pests off crops but the netting is white so I will have to paint it green if bugs are a big problem in the uk as well.
Apparently it even protects from birds and rabbits, and if I paint the mesh green it would hide the plant better.

If the veggiemesh doesn't keep the bugs at bay, the Vegemite surely will

Insects do not automatically damage plants by their mere presence. Cannabis may not be native to your area, but it is arguably native to mine. However, it is not clear that a plant being "native" to an area has anything to do with triggering insect damage. As for organic vs. chemical, that is indeed relevant to the matter of insect damage. In my experience outdoors, insects will feed on chemically grown plants, period. Of course, you can control this with pesticides. Really, the choice of chemical or organic on outdoor cultivation depends on your objectives. All else being equal (medium, light, environment, etc.), maximum commercial weight production requires chemicals.

Since my objective is not commercial, I have used a variety of organics and never had an insect problem under their use. But the trade-off is, you now have an animal problem. The only time I have had animals bother a chemical plot is at first planting since they will sometimes dig up ground that has been disturbed, even if they don't smell food.

Notes:
1. Greenhouse is not outdoor growing.
2. I never reuse a plot.
3. All plots have had adequate sunlight.

Kaendar said:

Certainly isnt a fact.

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Its so hot out where i am i cant find any bugs at all. I did find a bit of an aphid problem on the bottom of the leaves on my sunflowers but they are all dead, hence i guess not a problem anymore. They totally looked fried, I will see if i can find another leaf with dead ones on the bottom and take a pic. But I also am not completly sure that the heat is deterring the bugs. And not 100% sure that I dont have bugs, but I dont have signs of any on my cannabis plants, or tomatoes. I have found praying mantis shell thingys left over on my fence though, Im sure that is a good sign.

angryblackman said:

Show me 1 outdoor grow where bugs aren't present. And please don't start in with the organic vs chem. We are introducing a plant that is not native to the area. Of course there are going to be pests and things that want to live in them and eat them.

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Im gonna stick my head in them and double check for any pesty bugs. There is def some flying around in the porch lights and stuff in the evening, and lots of flies. But I havent found any bite marks or squirlie marks or dots of any kind so far on my leaves and stems. Last year my tomatoes got hit with a bit of hook worm problem but me wifey stopped them and added them into our compost barrel. They had a huge impact on our fruit yield though. My tomatoes this year are producing daily, yummm. Thanks for the challenge "Angry". Im sure i will find em now, I just needed the extra boost of a challenge.