How do outdoor growers keep their plants clean and bug-free?

tstick

Well-Known Member
I'm a pretty old guy and I can remember throwing jars of seeds into drainage ditches along the roadsides in my rural, country farming community. If anything was still there at the end of the Summer, then that was the grow. Most of the time, nothing came of it. Sometimes we got a few small plants. There was always the risk that the farmers were spraying shit on their crops and the runoff water was going into those drainage ditches. We didn't even question it....wouldn't have even cared, tbh.

We would get bales of weed from Mexico and sometimes, the entire plants, including the root ball were in those bale. I saw spiders, red mites and many unidentified bugs. We sorted the bales as best we could and cleaned up a lot of that refuse.....and smoked that shit. :)

When I really became serious about growing the best quality weed that I could, there was no question that it would be in as "laboratory" of an environment as I could create....and that meant indoors! And I've done fairly well at it over the last 12 years or so. But even at that, I've run into some thrips and fungus gnats and the typical indoor pests. So, how on Earth, do you outdoor growers keep your plants dirt and bug-free? Or do you? I've read about bud washing, but I can't even imagine that being "the" answer. Even if you use predator bugs to kill the bad bugs, they ALL poop on the plants, regardless. And if you spray peppermint oil or other things like that, then that has to eave some kind of residue. Even rainwater that's taken from areas near a city, is dirty.

And the other thing is that every region has its own array of outdoor pests and climate challenges! It's never the same thing from place-to-place. One place has slugs. The next place has grubs...some places have weevils....etc. And then you have places where the outdoor humidity is like 90% all the time....or 20% all the time! Some places are really windy. Some places have huge temperature variance between night and day. You could be an expert grower in Florida and yet not know anything about growing in North Dakota!

Give me some more education, please.
 

green_machine_two9er

Well-Known Member
Growing the plant to optimal health is the first key step to outdoors You can’t have a hungry neglected hungry plant that won’t attract bugs, but a healthy plant will resist lots pest and disease just by having natural defenses optimized.
Then there are your spray regimens. For me I spray every time I get a chance. Nothing crazy just horticultural soaps, and bio-fungicides alternated. I like def guard for fungicide and SuffoilX for my soap. Easy enough to keep plants clean if you are in the garden everyday. Then of course keeping the ground clean of weeds. I like lifetime landscape fabric
 

Nizza

Well-Known Member
I don't know if you saw that thread where the guy built an outdoor post and mesh area. That seemed pretty legit to me, being able to keep caterpillars and animals away is huge. It seemed fairly economical to set up and if you added predatory insects they are less likely to escape . I think it was bk78's thread
 

go go kid

Well-Known Member
you pray 6to the ganja gods big time and hope for the best. try looking for outdooor strains, you won't get so much punch to your gear, but at least you get some bud at the end of the season. you still need to keep an eye on it.
companian planting works well. look it up

 

go go kid

Well-Known Member
if theres ca zoo near you, get some lion or big cat shit. it wards off vermin. works wonders, or get some fox shit from the country. its black n sticky and stinks
 

green_machine_two9er

Well-Known Member
Lady bugs are only a flagship. Never should be used in treatment as they actually are really good at allowing their prey to keep an established population. So I watch for the wild ones diligently and know if I see one I better start looking closer. Also buying ladybugs and sending different subspecies to work in their non-native environment supposedly not great for the eco system on the big picture. Suzanne wainwright, the bug lady, had a very informative podcast on the subject which changed my tune for sure. There are better predators for every pest than lady bugs
 

Side ways Onion

Well-Known Member
When it comes to growing outdoors, go 100% organic is my experience. Top notch Plant heath and regular inspections are critical to fighting pests and diseases. Only grow as many plants as you can manage, depending on your enviroment you might like keep your trees shorter due to wind, I do.

I grow 8 Sativa Ladies outdoor in 55gal bags in living soil and never have large pest infestations, but the same goes for my veg boxes.

My go to physical barrier is spread lavender flowers and rosemary onto the mulch around trunk to prevent access and if I need to spray, which is very seldom, I spray an organic "pesticide" I make from garlic and chillies.

I also thought bud washing was a crazy and then I tried it. Outdoor plants have worm shit, bird shit, insect shit, ash from fires, industrial smog and many other wind born nasties all over them. Bud washing really works, I now wash my Sativa flowers after ever outdoor organic grow every season, try it and see the difference in the taste, smell and look of the washed flower.
 

formularacer

Well-Known Member
Lady bugs are only a flagship. Never should be used in treatment as they actually are really good at allowing their prey to keep an established population. So I watch for the wild ones diligently and know if I see one I better start looking closer. Also buying ladybugs and sending different subspecies to work in their non-native environment supposedly not great for the eco system on the big picture. Suzanne wainwright, the bug lady, had a very informative podcast on the subject which changed my tune for sure. There are better predators for every pest than lady bugs
They seem to work fairly well in the yard, have noticed the difference when I use them. Chinese Mantis are not native either. But with the influx of insects that are not native the native only policy really doesn't hold.
I would release Button Quail to eat the squash bugs that was the plan but they like there cage too much and just don't care about squash bugs.
 

Funkentelechy

Well-Known Member
They seem to work fairly well in the yard, have noticed the difference when I use them. Chinese Mantis are not native either. But with the influx of insects that are not native the native only policy really doesn't hold.
I would release Button Quail to eat the squash bugs that was the plan but they like there cage too much and just don't care about squash bugs.
I've found Green Lacewings to be much more effective than Ladybugs. Lacewings also eat a broader array of harmful insects than Ladybugs. They are native to most of North America, although I'm not sure if the Lacewings sold as predators are of the same subspecies as the native Lacewings.
Check them out some time, I like them. I love Button quail! I feed my quail leafhoppers from the garden and they love them. Squash bugs secrete volatile compounds to deter things from eating them(they smell weird when you squish them), maybe your quail don't like the way they taste because of this.
 

DMChiz

Well-Known Member
Over time you will find strains that do better in your area. Grow those.
Wise counsel.

I’ve just ordered seed and focused on outdoor specific pedigree

Also second having a good regimen of plant wash. Used Lost Coast this past season and it was good. Will just have to be more diligent in using even early in veg to keep things at bay.

Otherwise, every climate is different and has its own unique challenges. Know the environment I guess in the end.
 

BrassNwood

Well-Known Member
I'm a pretty old guy and I can remember throwing jars of seeds into drainage ditches along the roadsides in my rural, country farming community. If anything was still there at the end of the Summer, then that was the grow. Most of the time, nothing came of it. Sometimes we got a few small plants. There was always the risk that the farmers were spraying shit on their crops and the runoff water was going into those drainage ditches. We didn't even question it....wouldn't have even cared, tbh.

We would get bales of weed from Mexico and sometimes, the entire plants, including the root ball were in those bale. I saw spiders, red mites and many unidentified bugs. We sorted the bales as best we could and cleaned up a lot of that refuse.....and smoked that shit. :)

When I really became serious about growing the best quality weed that I could, there was no question that it would be in as "laboratory" of an environment as I could create....and that meant indoors! And I've done fairly well at it over the last 12 years or so. But even at that, I've run into some thrips and fungus gnats and the typical indoor pests. So, how on Earth, do you outdoor growers keep your plants dirt and bug-free? Or do you? I've read about bud washing, but I can't even imagine that being "the" answer. Even if you use predator bugs to kill the bad bugs, they ALL poop on the plants, regardless. And if you spray peppermint oil or other things like that, then that has to eave some kind of residue. Even rainwater that's taken from areas near a city, is dirty.

And the other thing is that every region has its own array of outdoor pests and climate challenges! It's never the same thing from place-to-place. One place has slugs. The next place has grubs...some places have weevils....etc. And then you have places where the outdoor humidity is like 90% all the time....or 20% all the time! Some places are really windy. Some places have huge temperature variance between night and day. You could be an expert grower in Florida and yet not know anything about growing in North Dakota!

Give me some more education, please.
I've been growing outside in Southern California for 50 odd years. 4 harvests per year outside are possible here once I got things figured out. Mother nature takes care of all but 2 things that I really have to stay on top of.
Powdery Mildew.
Caterpillars.
Weekly spraying with high PH water will control the PM
Caterpillars weekly spraying when in flower with BT thuricide.

BT is a highly selective biological that only kills caterpillars and is destroyed by sunlight in a day or 2. Won't harm the ladybugs I find on patrol or the praying mantis I find in the tops of my girls.

1733377514753.png

Caterpillars will decimate an unprotected crop infesting and shitting in the buds as they chew the best buds loose to dry in the fall sun. Lost my first good grow to the little bastards as I simply didn't know any better. After harvest and trim they started to drop from the drying buds on their silk. Just a few at first. A couple per hour. By day 2 it was dozens per hour. By day 3 it was clear I was in deep shit and it was all ruined.
 

MrBeach

Member
The title of this thread made me laugh, because the answer is: you don't! You just manage it the best you can. Plenty of good advice on that in this thread already. Do you wash an apple before you eat it? I sure do. All my outdoor bud gets washed at harvest.
 
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