Please check our Pest Control FAQ before asking a new question in this section.

J00lz - this link is broken...and I really need the FAQ!

I have thrips. Classic, eh?

try here bud, or the grow FAQ at the top.....


sr

I was going to suggest here:

Thrip hell

But thanks sr - better than "look at the top of the site you muppet".

It's not bad, as they are mostly eggs at the moment, and I've binned the offending foliage. I did spot two or three little larvae crawling around, so I guess my growroom is infected. Is soapy water any good on its own or is it pretty much a waste of time? I can't believe it to be honest - it was looking like such a good grow.

"Neem oil is a highly effective and 100% natural pesticide.
Neem oil is non-toxic to animals or people.
It is most effective when used as a preventive, meaning that you spray every crop regardless of whether or not you see a pest.

But many growers seem to be put off by its oiliness, finding sprayers clogged and plants left coated in oil. But it really needn't be so stressful..
All we need to do is to get the oil broken down and suspended in the water, then we can get it onto the plants..

Here's what to do -

Mix
-
1 litre warm water
8ml cold-pressed Neem oil
5ml liquid soap
-
Shake this in your sprayer, it should make a milky-white liquid, with no oil floating on top.
Now leave it to settle for a few seconds. If there are any oil droplets floating on the top, add a little more soap, drop by drop, (keep shaking) until the oil is gone..
-
Now you are ready to spray.
Spray everywhere, especially under the leaves where critters hang around.
Get those plants dripping wet.

IMPORTANT BIT - you must repeat this application every 3 days for at least 2 weeks.

3 weeks if you wanna be 110% sure.

This is important because Neem oil doesn't directly kill bugs (amongst other things it stops them from reproducing, feeding and moulting their skins). So in effect, it breaks their life cycle. This means you need to spray for at least the length of one life cycle. Which for spider mites in ideal conditions (like most growrooms) is around 2 weeks, sometimes a little longer.

I use this method for the first 2 weeks of 12/12. It was taught to me by a professional grower of 20 years experience. He also uses this recipe as a soil drench.

I have used it as a foliar spray for about a year now and have had no problems with mites or any other vermin, large or small. Sceptical friends have also been won over to this system. It's a good un.

Emergencies

If you are facing an infestation emergency, you can add Pyrethrum to the above mix.
Again, a tried and tested method, this will add a knockdown hit in addition to interrupting the enemy's life cycle. I challenge any nuclear-proof insect in the world to survive the twin pain of Neem and Pyrethrum. Mwahaha!

Notes on Ingredients

Cold-pressed Neem oil has much higher levels of active ingredients and is well worth the money. A good place to find this stuff is from a Pharmacy that stocks herbal remedies. (It is used as a treatment for head lice.)

Liquid Soap - plain old unperfumed, boring liquid soap. The stuff I use is golden coloured and smells faintly of coconuts. Other growers do use washing-up liquid. Personally I don't let that stuff anywhere near my plants, but many do, and if you're one of them you may find you need less than if using liquid soap. Experiment a little when you shake the mixture.

Pyrethrum is extracted from Chrysanthemum flowers. It is a highly effective and 100% natural insecticide. It is also one of the safest, bearing little threat to mammals and degrades quickly once sprayed."

http://www.overgrow.com/edge/showthread.php?t=482648

cheers matey that was nice piece of useful info, have jus discovered nasty bugs on one plant only all others seem to be fine, having removed only mildly infested one and treated others with neem it seems to have done the trick got some lurvely blueberry i have to protect . once again cheers bud-e all useful info most greatly recieved

I am a new member sorry about the last post. That was a great post regarding the neem oil. I had heard about it but really had no practical knowlege about how to use it. It is very helpful right now as I have a spider mite problem. I am on day 33 of veg. I have 10 plants growing in a 6 foot x6 foot room. I run 1 400 watt and 1 150 watt. I cut clones at the third node. They all rooted and started to grow in 11 days. They have now been in 12/12 for 5 days. As you can imagine, I would like to treat them before I go 12/12 on the main plants and remove the males. I had hoped to go 12/12 no later then 40 days. Any further suggestions or referrals to pest problem photos would be greatly appreciated.

That was a fantastic post man!! Will def try that. Spraysafe from canadian express just aint cutting the mustard.