Preventative Schedule should be followed to successfully avoid common indoor garden problems . I make a weekly chart and follow it . All plants in veg get sprayed weekly . There are many products that are an "all in one product" , by this I mean they are effective for insects and mold . Spraying them weekly is the way to go , nothing worse than getting 3 weeks into flowering to figure out you got mold blooming everywhere or that your harboring an army of spider mites . At this point it is critical to not have any problems , a major problem in flowering can cause diminished harvests and late maturity.
Here are some simple sprays that are commonly used by indoor gardeners .
1.Neem Oil Formulations made of neem oil also find wide usage as a bio-pesticide for organic farming, as it repels a wide variety of pests including the
mealy bug,
beet armyworm,
aphids, the
cabbage worm, thrips, whiteflies, mites, fungus gnats, beetles, moth larvae, mushroom flies, leafminers, caterpillars, locust,
nematodes and the
Japanese beetle. Neem oil is not known to be harmful to mammals, birds, earthworms or some beneficial insects such as butterflies,
honeybees and
ladybugs. It can be used as a household pesticide for
ant,
bedbug,
cockroach,
housefly,
sand fly,
snail,
termite and
mosquitoes both as repellent and larvicide (Puri 1999). Neem oil also controls
black spot,
powdery mildew,
anthracnose and
rust (fungus).(cutnpasted from Wikipedia)
2.Pyrethrum , the best known botanical pesticide ,is extracted from the flowers of the Pyrethrum Chrysanthemum . Pyrethrins,Cinerins and Jasmolins are the active ingrediants in natural pyrethrum and kills insects on contact.Pyrethrum is also combined with rotenone orryania to ensure effectiveness . A broad spectrum, pyrethrum kills aphids, white flies ,and spider mites, and insects including beneficials.It is very effective to control flying insects , but they must receive a killing knockdown dose or they may revive and fly away .(retyped from The MMJ bible)
3.Sulfer-Elemental sulfur is one of the oldest fungicides and pesticides. Dusting sulfur, elemental sulfur in powdered form, is a common fungicide for grapes, strawberry, many vegetables and several other crops. It has a good efficacy against a wide range of powdery mildew diseases as well as black spot. In organic production, sulfur is the most important fungicide. It is the only fungicide used in
organically farmed apple production against the main disease
apple scab under colder conditions. Biosulfur (biologically produced elemental sulfur with hydrophilic characteristics) can be used well for these applications.
Standard-formulation dusting sulfur is applied to crops with a sulfur duster or from a dusting plane. Wettable sulfur is the commercial name for dusting sulfur formulated with additional ingredients to make it water
miscible.
[36] It has similar applications, and is used as a
fungicide against
mildew and other mold-related problems with plants and soil.(from Wikipedia)
4.
Milk-Skim milk not whole milk can be mixed with water at a 10/1 water to milk ratio to fight Powdery Mildew . It changes the PH of the leaf surface making it inhabitable for mildew to grow.
