Thank You!!! Im gonna try my best to keep it GREEN!!!Use good soil
Maintain an absolute sterile growing area
Do not wear "street" clothes into the growing area -especially shoes
Do not pet your dog/cat and then go into the grow area.
Do not let animals in the grow area.
Grow during the winter when outdoor pests are dormant
If possible, keep plants separated (as opposed to jamming as many as you can fit)
Observe your plants close up several times per day, if possible. Look for anything suspicious and take appropriate actions immediately
As far as using bugs to kill other bugs...If you get a mite infestation, for example, then not even an army of beneficial insects is going to get rid of them. By then, it's too late, anyway, because you should have been on top of the first signs of them before they became infested. Oh, and ALL bugs poop -beneficial or not. That's all I'm going to say.
I rarely use chemicals because of my strict adherence to cleanliness, but when I have, it's been something with Spinosad in it (Captain Jack's Dead Bug). I have used diatomaceous Earth when the plants are in a vegetative stage, but never when they are flowering.I've never applied any chemicals to a flowering plant -ever.
Outdoors, you do what you can to work with Mother Nature, but indoors, you should have complete control.
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" -someone
I have always just used the frass in mixes and topdressing with it from time to time but I am going to have to try a tea after reading this. I like frass a lot for multiple reasons but find myself using neem more often than the frass. Currently only growing kale plants, so not super motivated to do much beyond water only, but maybe I'll play around with it a bit more.Make a tea with Insect Frass and water it into your soil weekly.
Spray it on your leaves in veg if you really want to be protected.
Dude, yeah, I think the malted barley with the frass would be really good. I think you're on the right track, like combining them would lead to a better response.I have always just used the frass in mixes and topdressing with it from time to time but I am going to have to try a tea after reading this. I like frass a lot for multiple reasons but find myself using neem more often than the frass. Currently only growing kale plants, so not super motivated to do much beyond water only, but maybe I'll play around with it a bit more.
Any thoughts on frass and malted barley being used together? Would the chitin from the frass combined with the barley enzymes make for a stronger anti pest response from the plant (SAR something maybe)?
Sorry OP for rambling about frass in your thread. Seems like some solid advice above already. One thing I would be sure to have going in your favor would be quality compost/ewc. I think having a good assortment of beneficial microbes will be your initial defense against everything. Best of luck on the grow though.