Organic Pest Control?

Ok so I have been looking around for good pest controls that have NO CHEMICALS and I have had no luck in finding one yet (or at least one that sounds good). Does anyone have any recommendations?

You totally read my mind. I was about to post this exact title. So check it,
Ladies in Red Organic Pest Control

I'm sure a anyone with netflix has seen Growing OP, but is it a bit theatrical to release lady bugs indoors? Is it reasonable in a tent/closet? A tent in a closet? Does anybody keep them in an aquarium and feed them and not regret it? Do you feed them soggy raisins as a last resort?

Point is I ordered some already. You can pick them from home depot. I'll let you know how they arrive.

http://www.ladiesinred.com/



Also if you go to any hardware lowes or walmart or homedepot you can get neem oil. Use it three times in a row to break reproductive cycles of anything. It's even a popular organic contraceptive in india.

I have been using garlic which contains sulfur, which, besides being toxic to pests, is also an antibacterial and antifungal agent. Finely Chop or blend 3 whole bulbs of garlic and mix with 10 litres of water, put in a garden sprayer and spray every 4-7 days. There are some garlic products already available if yiu do not wish to use your own such as garlic wonder. Another alternative is neem which is a native tree to India and Pakistan but is available all around the world. Neem is not only an insecticide but also a fungicide, nematicide and bacteriacide. Using 500g of seed per 10 litres of water grind into a fine powder add to water, leave over night, strain the following day and put in a garden sprayer. Again there are already products out there such as bioneem, margoan-o, biotrol and nimex.

Hope this helps and If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask.

I'll second the neem and garlic suggestion. I'll up the ante with a few more things you can add to a spray:

Cinnamon
Rosemary
Clove
Chilli Peppers (you'll need to pH buffer your spray with this one)
Diatomaceous Earch (DO NOT USE IN FLOWER - VERY HARMFUL IF INHALED. Food grade is safe to eat though. Can also be sprinkled around your grow.)

In my experience, predator bugs are only useful outdoors. They will never wipe out an infestation completely, which is absolutely essential indoors, as they will only help to keep populations under control. And they are completely useless if using bug killing poisons.

Also, giving your girls a nutritional silica supplement (I like Dyna-Gro ProTekt) will go long way towards prevention. The plants use silica to reinforce their cell walls, effectively causing the bugs to wear out their mouth parts with every bite. Silica does not effect the finished product negatively in any way.

I use liquid seaweed or http://www.sbproducts.co.uk/
They both seem to work well and they feed the plants too

neem oil is the very best................stops them breeding, eating, hatching, flying..........suffocates them and dehydrates them.......lovely

Azamax is what I use. It covers sooo many bugs it's crazy.
http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/azamax.html

smokey2117 said:

Azamax is what I use. It covers sooo many bugs it's crazy.
http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/azamax.html

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isnt azamax made from neem?

you know.

technically lead could be considered organic,
so depending on the size of your pest........

Yes Azamax is made from neem. It is hot pressed neem oil I think, which actually degrades the neem. I have used a lot of stuff and tbh the stuff that works the best is Neem Oil.

A surprise to me was when I used Mighty Wash on a plant that was finishing with bugs on it. My buddy at the grow store told me to use Mighty Wash because it was safe up to the day of harvest. I did just that and it washed off everything. Bugs, webs, a few mildew spots. I let it dry and harvested 3 days later and everything was still clean. This is my new choice when I am getting close to harvest. You can't spray neem within 2-3 weeks of harvest because it can impart a bitter taste and smell to your herb. If you have used it before, you know what it smells like... Garlic and Ass Jam. I wouldn't like it either if I were a bug. I hate getting it on my hands, let alone being covered by it.

Be sure to use a surfactant or wetting agent with it. You can go buy a normal surfactant at a grow store, or be smart and just get some normal antibacterial dish soap as a substitute. Any dishsoap will do, I just like the antibacterial ones. It makes me feel like the plant is cleaner, it doesn't hurt the plant at all, and it works great.

Ultimately, if you spray enough times with Azamax, Neem, Garlic, whatever, you will get your problems under control. Most people just don't want to take the time to properly spray down their plants. I have friends that have tried Neem without success, and I always ask them if they spray every 2-3 days and if they completely drench the plant. They never have done it right, and come watch me go to town and say that it is too much work, lol. I would much rather do it right and get it done, than dick with it for 3 months fretting about it and trying to vacuum off the mass of webs and mites. I have had an outbreak happen and after one proper spraying, the problem was fixed. I sprayed again like I was supposed to to kill of any eggs every 3 days, but after the first treatment I couldn't find anything under the fan leaves.

The great thing about Neem oil also is that it cover SO many different problems. I use it for Mildew and Mite prevention, which most of us do. The Mighty Midwest Mildew is a sonuvabitch. It will pretty much do away with any insect( even beneficials,) it is a fungistat vs Powdery Mildew, Bud Mold, etc. Basically it is everything that I need in one really cheap bottle.

I use 1oz of Neem Oil, 1/3 tsp of Dawn Antibacterial Dishsoap per gallon of water. Do not try to be cute and help the Neem stay emulsified in the water by using hot water. Hot water kills off some of the beneficials in the Neem Oil. This is why the Hot press neem products such as Azamax do not work as well as Cold Pressed neem oil. Note, I said "as well." I can never kill off everything with Azamax, I just find it to be not as effective as Neem Oil and it takes longer.

If you can deal with the smell for a couple weeks and want to do it properly, I would use the neem. After everything is under control, I normally use it ever 2-4 weeks if I get busy and don't have problems until a Sativa enters the room and I get a 101st Airborne combat drop of a million mites that find my sativas even though nothing else in the room is showing problems.

i dont think you are supposed to use antibacterial soap with neem............apparently stops it working properly, you can buy small bottles of proper emulsifier from a good neem oil supplier.....use as preventative by spraying plants as you put in flower

Lady bugs came thawed and instructions said they could be stored in the fridge for 2 weeks. Opened a pouch outside, let a some go, kept a few in the terrarium. They swarm like crazy and I wouldn't consider using them indoors ever again.

The ones living in the terrarium are already mating, so I'm already going to see how easy it is to breed them. Got a couple wet cotton balls, leaves and a wet raisin in there.

ClosetSafe said:

Lady bugs came thawed and instructions said they could be stored in the fridge for 2 weeks. Opened a pouch outside, let a some go, kept a few in the terrarium. They swarm like crazy and I wouldn't consider using them indoors ever again.

The ones living in the terrarium are already mating, so I'm already going to see how easy it is to breed them. Got a couple wet cotton balls, leaves and a wet raisin in there.

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Those lady-bug larvae are voracious eaters... non-stop bug munchers they are! They're really were the action is at. The adults look like lazy decorations in comparison.

If you can manage it, gather up some lady-bug larvae and stick them in your grow space.

Here is a mixture that works I found on another site thanks Jaykush.
Lavender Tea for Mites
not sure on the lavender oil, i have only used plant material. from memory that stuff is pretty expensive though. lavender is a good plant to have around, for growing purposes like this, and for using.
Quote:
Please explain more. You have me interested.

simply take some lavender sprigs( sticks with flower buds on them) and strip the flower buds off. take a 1 liter bottle, add a 1/4 cup or so of lavender flower buds. let soak for 48 hours, then strain the plant material out well. dilute 1:50 and spray your plants lightly on infected areas, make sure to get under the leaves. repeat in 5 days. so far everyone i have told it to and has tried it has had success in killing mites, coot said even the eggs die which is pretty cool.
Keepem green dirrtyd

dirrtyd said:

Here is a mixture that works I found on another site thanks Jaykush.
Lavender Tea for Mites
not sure on the lavender oil, i have only used plant material. from memory that stuff is pretty expensive though. lavender is a good plant to have around, for growing purposes like this, and for using.
Quote:
Please explain more. You have me interested.

simply take some lavender sprigs( sticks with flower buds on them) and strip the flower buds off. take a 1 liter bottle, add a 1/4 cup or so of lavender flower buds. let soak for 48 hours, then strain the plant material out well. dilute 1:50 and spray your plants lightly on infected areas, make sure to get under the leaves. repeat in 5 days. so far everyone i have told it to and has tried it has had success in killing mites, coot said even the eggs die which is pretty cool.
Keepem green dirrtyd

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ok i have a huge lavender plant in my pepper garden, just to get this straight. i take the flower bud and remove the flowers and soak them in water for 48 hours?

I second the Mighty Wash. I had mites pretty bad. Early in veg and 1st week flower, I used Pyrethium bombs, azamax, ect. Spent like 100 bucks on shit to put on them. Sure enough 10 days later they were back and i wasnt about to use any bombs on them. However the mighty wash wiped them all away, and knock on wood, they are still gone. One piece of advice, I might recommend washing it off after a little while, or doing it with the lights off. It left a shiny resadue and burned many of my fan leaves under the HIDs. But for a one time shot, i am very impressed.

axl said:

I second the Mighty Wash. I had mites pretty bad. Early in veg and 1st week flower, I used Pyrethium bombs, azamax, ect. Spent like 100 bucks on shit to put on them. Sure enough 10 days later they were back and i wasnt about to use any bombs on them. However the mighty wash wiped them all away, and knock on wood, they are still gone. One piece of advice, I might recommend washing it off after a little while, or doing it with the lights off. It left a shiny resadue and burned many of my fan leaves under the HIDs. But for a one time shot, i am very impressed.

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For sure, I actually was quite impressed with the mighty wash. I think a good combo would be to hit it with the Mighty Wash and then a few days later hitting it with neem oil, alternating. That way you can wash the old neem off and reapply. I have heard that you should wash of neem cover plants after a few days, because the neem oil clogs the pores on the plant. I didn't have problems with the Mighty Wash burning anything, but I fully saturate and allow to dry pretty thoroughly before putting back into my room.

always a good thread to read and watch. im gonna go with the garlic / pepper solution. worked last year and inexpensive is under dramatized

As everyone knows, ladybugs are extremely helpful, but, if done indoors, you will end up with a bunch of dead lady bugs everywhere... but hey, good for your soil right?
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/460/
Hover flies can prove to be useful as well!
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/979/
Have some pesky bugs flying around your grow room... invest in some dragon flies!
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/1164/
Got something lurking in your soil, get some nematodes!
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/273/
Lacewings are also helpful!
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/803/

As you can see, the list goes on.
There are also organic fungicides that are basically just a bunch of micro organism. An example is Streptomyces which can be found in Actinovate. I just got a free sample of this stuff from my hydro store, so I'm gonna check it out. I don't really have any bugs right now, but hey... better to prepare than to get fucked!

mccumcumber said:

I just got a free sample of this stuff from my hydro store, so I'm gonna check it out. I don't really have any bugs right now, but hey... better to prepare than to get fucked!

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This is about as smart a thought as I've heard in awhile. Even if you don't have any pest issues, it will never hurt to treat your plants once or twice a month. You prevent them from coming, and you help keep the plants cleaner.