when to worry about indoor bug problems?
- Thread starter ribless
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KlosetKing
Well-Known Member
these will work indeed, but can i suggest another option? Ive really been pushing the word on Diatomaceous Earth recently. Fine powder, completely harmless to humans, pets, plants, but absolutely devastating to soft bodied insects (mites, ants, aphids, etc). basically heres how i did it for my aphids, and it solved it in less than 24 hours:
watered my plants. next morning i look at soil and see the infestation. i wait a day (this allowed the top 1/8" or so to dry as to not clump and moisten the powder) and sprinkle a light coating all over the soil. you can drown the soil if you really want, wont do any damage, but its rather unnecessary and if you have fans like i do you probably want to keep any dust in the air to a minimum.
next morning, all aphids are gone completely and haven't showed back up since. i wouldn't expect it to work this well all the time, i got lucky. but getting lucky like that also shows how well this stuff can work, so keep it in mind.
to answer the original question though, agreed with above poster. watch for bugs all the time. i inspect my soil once a day, but with only 3 plants and a tendency to go into the room and watch them frequently (during lights on of course) i notice changes in soil and foliage just about as quick as they can happen.
jondamon
Well-Known Member
i have reseached diatamacious earth before. it will work well as a top coating on your medium but has to keep being reapplied after every watering. so therefore would use alot. HOT SHOTS NO PEST STRIPS along with sticky traps will keep a 1200cu ft grow room safe enough for 4months at a cost of around 10GBP or approx 15USD . if anything appears in your medium this is where a spray of your plants and the top of your medium will kill anything it touches or is ingested by. As it is a bacteria that likes moisture rich conditions so keeps working while your medium is still holding water.
thnx for the experience about using DIAT earth
J
KlosetKing
Well-Known Member
oh i totally agree (thought i clarified that). but again, you may just get lucky like i did and cure it up in one treatment. it really depends on the infestation, the amount applied, and the type of insect. TBH i only prefer it because i don't like having even more foreign items in my closet (i already have too much junk in there as it is) and i don't really want strips lying around, and there's no way in hell i would drop a bomb in there during a grow (but would between grows). anytime on the input though, at least you have researched it. many people out there don't even know about the stuff, and have a small enough infestation like i did to treat it with such and not worry about it again.