Aaargh! First battle with bugs

I've been hit with thrips a few times and have come to accept is as a fact of life for my locale.

I've found spraying Spinosad to be effective. In the past, I've followed the directions and done multiple applications in which I drenched the plant, spraying the tops and undersides of the leaves. The latter is more important because that's where they live and where they lay their eggs. Spinosad is an organic product that is harmless to humans and can be applied to even fruiting crops just a few days before harvest and ingestion. Highly recommended.

Some beneficial bugs can be very effective in addition to sprays,

green_machine_two9er said:

Some beneficial bugs can be very effective in addition to sprays,

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nematodes ftw!

Nizza said:

nematodes ftw!

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I use nematodes, amblyseius cucumeris, and minute pirate bugs works pretty decent, then suffoilX and insecticide soaps

I’ll toss some pics up later, I haven’t seen much progressing damage so I think the soap is working. A quick check under the leaves last night and I was able to find 2 or 3 live thrips, but that was looking for a good 10 minutes. I will spray the leaves again this afternoon as the eggs are starting to hatch I’m sure. I was mortified when I first found them, I am always very careful other than this time of year with my tomatoes, peppers and other veggies getting an early start. Without ever having bugs I never really started any type of IPM but I think that will change from here out. A little precaution saves a lot of headache.

Captain Jack's Dead Bug worked for me to kill them outright. After that, I got a duster for Diatomeceous Earth, took them into the garage and dusted the heck outta them. I'd NEVER do any of that during flower, though.

It's VERY important to keep a clean environment that's free of "vectors" for bugs to come in on -dogs, cats, outdoor clothes/shoes, etc. It's always better to prevent them than it s to treat them.

Good luck!

So far the soap seems to be working. I have been mainly spraying the leaves, trying to get top and bottom. It was 3 days from the first round, and after searching I found several thrips on leaves, I had a hard time finding one yesterday, so gave them another blast of soap today. Here is the Wagyu Donutz, it had the most going by white spots. At going into week 5 I think they will make it to the finish line.

Hook Daddy said:

So far the soap seems to be working. I have been mainly spraying the leaves, trying to get top and bottom. It was 3 days from the first round, and after searching I found several thrips on leaves, I had a hard time finding one yesterday, so gave them another blast of soap today. Here is the Wagyu Donutz, it had the most going by white spots. At going into week 5 I think they will make it to the finish line.

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Throw that stuff out my man! You spraying flowers? Geeesh chalk it up.

Hook Daddy said:

So far the soap seems to be working. I have been mainly spraying the leaves, trying to get top and bottom. It was 3 days from the first round, and after searching I found several thrips on leaves, I had a hard time finding one yesterday, so gave them another blast of soap today. Here is the Wagyu Donutz, it had the most going by white spots. At going into week 5 I think they will make it to the finish line.

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Hook Daddy i don’t know how to send private messages on here can you message me please. I would like to ask you a question about drilling into my thermoelectric cooler. Thanks

FmSwayze said:

Throw that stuff out my man! You spraying flowers? Geeesh chalk it up.

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I’ve still got them going but only because the replacements aren’t ready yet and works been crazy. I haven’t had much time for the plants. They still look ok, I’m glad I kept it up. The vigor of the Wagyu Donutz is crazy, but she craves mass nutes. The BOO is super dense bushy, now I can plan ahead for that. The PBB gets dense under the canopy just days after cleaning her up, and doesn’t like nitrogen after flipping. I wouldn’t have know that if I’d killed them off, and I had nothing to take tier place, wasn’t supposed to happen. I got my peppers, tomatoes and other veggies going now, but soon the clones will be ready and so will I. And their bug free and looking good. Just to see how good they might have been.

The Wagyu donutz now.




The PBB. This one was tortured and still looks ok, neither her or the boo were intended to be here.





The BOO





The PNWHP, for failing in the sip at first and getting re-planted in an old bucket she’s doing alright.





So it’s not a total loss to continue, I’m learning the plants.

Hook Daddy said:

I’ve still got them going but only because the replacements aren’t ready yet and works been crazy. I haven’t had much time for the plants. They still look ok, I’m glad I kept it up. The vigor of the Wagyu Donutz is crazy, but she craves mass nutes. The BOO is super dense bushy, now I can plan ahead for that. The PBB gets dense under the canopy just days after cleaning her up, and doesn’t like nitrogen after flipping. I wouldn’t have know that if I’d killed them off, and I had nothing to take tier place, wasn’t supposed to happen. I got my peppers, tomatoes and other veggies going now, but soon the clones will be ready and so will I. And their bug free and looking good. Just to see how good they might have been.

The Wagyu donutz now.
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The PBB. This one was tortured and still looks ok, neither her or the boo were intended to be here.

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The BOO

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The PNWHP, for failing in the sip at first and getting re-planted in an old bucket she’s doing alright.

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So it’s not a total loss to continue, I’m learning the plants.

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In the name of science I feel that. I was really concerned about to potential of contamination from the solution you were using in flower. In addition, the potential for the pest to increase thier numbers. This article probably should be pinned since you were successful this late in flower. Bravo! Good work brother.

it is easy to think that you won the war with bugs only to find out that you just won the battle. What im saying is that all bugs have a life cycle that need to be broken and normal we only attack one of the stages. Hence multiple application over a period of time is necessary.

Seems like you might just won the battle, but you not the war.
Trips have a life cycle of 21 day so that is the minimum time it will take to get rid of them.
I never dealt with thrips but I always use beneficial insect no matter what.it is always better to use insect in preventative measures.

by2 said:

it is easy to think that you won the war with bugs only to find out that you just won the battle. What im saying is that all bugs have a life cycle that need to be broken and normal we only attack one of the stages. Hence multiple application over a period of time is necessary.

Seems like you might just won the battle, but you not the war.
Trips have a life cycle of 21 day so that is the minimum time it will take to get rid of them.
I never dealt with thrips but I always use beneficial insect no matter what.it is always better to use insect in preventative measures.

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I’ve now done three applications of insecticidal soap. I’m not claiming to have won the war, I’ve got weeks to go still so only time will tell, there are definitely eggs still hatching, that is a given. The soap only kills the live suckers. I will need at least one more application I’m sure, an inspection last night found three live thrips in about 5 minutes, so I’m sure there’s hundreds still crawling around. What I have learned from this is to run a good prevention program during veg, you can then likely ride out any bugs that arrive during flowering. Beneficial insects are great, but not a reliable daily practice indoors imo. My point earlier was not about winning the war with the bugs, but by learning a new group of strains by not giving up right away. I still may regret the decision, but for now I have more gained in knowledge than lost in time or expense, so I’m good still running them. I’ll likely toss the whole crop in the end anyhow, or maybe wash heavily then make edibles. This soap says you can spray edible crops up to the day before harvest, I’m not sure how much I trust that though.

I been listening to some professional organic growers talking pest management lately and they never talk about being pest free. Always just the pest pressure.

Hook Daddy said:

I’ve now done three applications of insecticidal soap. I’m not claiming to have won the war, I’ve got weeks to go still so only time will tell, there are definitely eggs still hatching, that is a given. The soap only kills the live suckers. I will need at least one more application I’m sure, an inspection last night found three live thrips in about 5 minutes, so I’m sure there’s hundreds still crawling around. What I have learned from this is to run a good prevention program during veg, you can then likely ride out any bugs that arrive during flowering. Beneficial insects are great, but not a reliable daily practice indoors imo. My point earlier was not about winning the war with the bugs, but by learning a new group of strains by not giving up right away. I still may regret the decision, but for now I have more gained in knowledge than lost in time or expense, so I’m good still running them. I’ll likely toss the whole crop in the end anyhow, or maybe wash heavily then make edibles. This soap says you can spray edible crops up to the day before harvest, I’m not sure how much I trust that though.

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Knowledge is key. I admire you to take the fight. I read that Thrips is pretty hard to eliminate.
I only dealt with fungus gnats so my war is coming.

I only apply beneficials when I switch to flower and are in organic soil. It's just to be on the safe side. Sometimes I get a few extra and add them to my veg tent.
I use Neem oil and various natural oils that I rotate for my veg and nematodes when needed. I been lazy and not sprayed lately and on top of that added fresh soil so I got fungus gnats at the moment, Ordered me some SF Nematodes. They also work against Thrips.

I don't think that the soap is being taken up by the plant so a good wash and you should be fine to use the material for bubble or any other concentrate.

I can highly recommend "cannabis cultivation & science" podcast hosted by Tad Hussey. Lots of knowledge on pest management and other organic approaches.

Here’s todays update. I looked for about ten minutes on all four plants and found two live thrips. They’re still there, but not gaining ground. The insecticidal soap seems to be working as advertised. The plants are developing well, I’m happy so far with the progress, especially considering the darn bugs.

Here’s the BOO. A super dense canopy on this girl, and a definite citrus smell to the stem rub. You can see the thrip damage, but it isn’t progressing at this point, it’s only a couple weeks to finish, I’m seeing it out.



A close up boo pic.




Hear the Wagyu Donutz. This girl does smell amazing, a citrus chemical smell that is intoxicating. A slight brush of a bud leaves your finger sticky. EDIT: you probably can’t hear them…. Wish you could smell them.



Here’s a bud pic




And next we have the PBB, she was tortured as a clone, not sure how she made it here.



A bud shot



And finally the PNWHP. She’s looking awesome for the garbage she’s gone through.



And a bud shot



Anyhow, I’m glad I kept on with these, learning a lot about these strains and might be a decent harvest anyhow, I’m leaning toward finding some use for these buds.