SgtStadanko
Member
Today I thought I would share some excellent natural pest control methods, one of which I have been using for years in a vegetable garden. Since I like to eat my veggies without any chance of getting sick or dying, these methods seem totally transportable to our "babies".
This has seen a small mention here at rollitup, and I'm going to try to answer most of the questions you might have.
Pests can be a pain in the ass during any time in the growing cycle, but is always worse during the flowering cycle. Not only do we risk our crops, but we risk applying a substance on the plant that, when ingested or smoked, can cause serious harm. I had a neighbor that had an amazingly beautiful single plant on his patio that had buds on them the size of his forearms...just days before he harvested, he rang my doorbell in a panic and said most of his buds were turning a gold color. You probably already guessed they were worms, most of which had eaten through the main cola stem leaving the sticky bud completely separated from the plant (unknowingly) for about 3 days before he realized the change in color was not part of the life-cycle. They were already dried and pretty much ready to smoke right off the plant. With a big worm coiled inside each bud.
If we rewind this scenario back 4 weeks, to the original moth that laid the egg, most pest control methods, natural or otherwise, would work well. Four weeks out from harvest, most pesticides dissipate or are totally untraceable. Pyrethrum is probably the most widely used poison, and between the dissipating affect and washing your plant with a light spray before harvest, most people say you're fine. Most people don't smoke their vegetables.
But what if your deeper in the flowering cycle (two or even a week from harvesting) and you come home one day to find your closet or back yard infested with Aphids? I once had an aphid infestation from a neighbor nursery's commercial rose garden decend on my garden one fall that had to of taken all of 3 days to notice, but by the time I did notice, they were 1/16 of an inch thick on every leaf in my garden. Matter of fact, I didn't notice until I saw the wilt. If your crop depended on removing every pest in the next 4-6 hours, but you wanted to smoke your crop two weeks later, would you spray? Probably not. You would reach for detergent based naturals (Dawn and Joy are the best) and give your plants a bath. Because these pests lie on the underside of the leaf, this is a difficult task. Detergents make the plant undesirable to your plant more than they kill the pest. If you're infested, you are going to find that poison looking better than Rosie O'Donnel after half a bottle of Jack.
As your wingman, I refuse to let you do that (her).
We have two natural choices: Nicotine and Sabadilla.
Quoting:
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Nicotine Botanical insecticide. Pure nicotine is a tobacco extract highly toxic to warm-blooded animals. The insecticide usually is marketed as a 40% liquid concentrate of nicotine sulfate, which is diluted in water and applied as a spray. Dusts can irritate the skin and are not normally available for garden use. Nicotine is used primarily for piercing sucking-insects such as aphids, whitefiles, leaf hoppers and thrips. Nicotine is more effective when applied during warm weather. It degrades quickly, so can be used on many food plants nearing harvest. It is registered for use on a wide range of vegetable and fruit crops. [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Sabadilla Botanical insecticide. Sabadilla is obtained from the seeds of a lily-Like plant and acts as both a contact and stomach poison for insects. It is not particularly toxic to mammals, but does cause irritation of the eyes and respiratory tract. A mask should be worn when working with this insecticide. This. material deteriorates rapidly upon exposure to light and can be used safely on food crops shortly before harvest. Sabadilla generally is used as a 5 to 20% dust or as a spray.
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My choice, because it works and because its the most harmless of the choices, is the Nicotine. I've used it before, and it works damn good. I Don't make Nicotine Sulfate, but just nicotine. Nicotine Sulfate is powerful and if you choose to make and use that, wash it off your crop before smoking!
But I am going to show you how to make your own Nicotine Extract spray (Not Nicotine Sulfate) which you can spray on your crop, indoors or out, which will not only kill your bugs, it potentially doesn't need to be washed from the growing crop unless you are in the last week or so. I'll discuss this later...don't fixate on this part yet.
In a previous post on this subject, there was the following comment: "but do you really want an addictive carcinogen in your bud? Plus it would most def fuck with Ph and kill beneficial bacteria."
His first point is wrong, but the second point has merit...Lets discuss the first point. Nicotine is not a carcinogen. Tobacco and chemical found in tobacco have carcinogens when burned. Nicotine is not one of them, and if you ask your doctor if Nicotine patches or gum cause cancer, he will tell you no. Mine did, as I used the gum to quit smoking and then found out I liked the gum. For 12 years. I actually asked my specialist if the gum was bad for me...flat out he said No Way, but it would increase my blood pressure. No Cancer Risk. None. Told me its used for studies on Alzheimer's disease. But Tobacco... Cigarettes contain tobacco (tobacco contains nicotine for the high) and other chemicals to keep them lit and make them burn pretty (good cigars don't use additives) that contain tons of chemicals and additives. These cause cancer. The "Plus it would most def fuck with Ph and kill beneficial bacteria" part is correct to a very small extent, but no more than any other spray, in fact less so if my personal hypothesis is correct. (But I will personally commit to running soil samples this year with two common poisons, my Nicotine Spray, and Sabadilla, because I'm 100% organic and this is interesting to me and post the science later) This argument can be said more about Natural Soap Sprays than anything else in regards to PH. Nicotine will not mess up you PH. But Since it is a poison, it will kill pests. It will kill earthworms if you spray it on them. It will probably kill microbes because they are living beings too. But we are not going to soak our soil with them, we are going to spray the leaves. Hydro farmers can work to negate the effects by keeping the dripping solution from their tanks, plants in pots are watered heavily before I spray so that the drippings are diluted well below the ability to kill even aphids. So I theorize that one inches below the soil there is no trace of nicotine at all or any noticable effects on microbes and earthworms. PH will not be affected. But I'll prove ALL OF THAT later scientifically on another post. On to the mixture!
Earlier I put potentially don't have to wash from your growing crop. If you're indoors or in your back yard, and can wash your plants a couple of days from harvest, then have at it if it will provide total piece of mind. I worry about wetting leaves and foliage late in the outdoor season because the cooling weather + wet leaves leads to fungus. But keep in mind there are oudoor growers who are remote and might not have the resources to simulate shower or bathe his plants prior to cultivation. They sometimes wash their buds post harvest. Decide based on the application and what you heard here or on other sites, but I personally have no fear of ultra trace amounts of nicotine on my or my patients plants.
Create a great day for yourself and everyone around you!
E.D.
This has seen a small mention here at rollitup, and I'm going to try to answer most of the questions you might have.
Pests can be a pain in the ass during any time in the growing cycle, but is always worse during the flowering cycle. Not only do we risk our crops, but we risk applying a substance on the plant that, when ingested or smoked, can cause serious harm. I had a neighbor that had an amazingly beautiful single plant on his patio that had buds on them the size of his forearms...just days before he harvested, he rang my doorbell in a panic and said most of his buds were turning a gold color. You probably already guessed they were worms, most of which had eaten through the main cola stem leaving the sticky bud completely separated from the plant (unknowingly) for about 3 days before he realized the change in color was not part of the life-cycle. They were already dried and pretty much ready to smoke right off the plant. With a big worm coiled inside each bud.
If we rewind this scenario back 4 weeks, to the original moth that laid the egg, most pest control methods, natural or otherwise, would work well. Four weeks out from harvest, most pesticides dissipate or are totally untraceable. Pyrethrum is probably the most widely used poison, and between the dissipating affect and washing your plant with a light spray before harvest, most people say you're fine. Most people don't smoke their vegetables.
But what if your deeper in the flowering cycle (two or even a week from harvesting) and you come home one day to find your closet or back yard infested with Aphids? I once had an aphid infestation from a neighbor nursery's commercial rose garden decend on my garden one fall that had to of taken all of 3 days to notice, but by the time I did notice, they were 1/16 of an inch thick on every leaf in my garden. Matter of fact, I didn't notice until I saw the wilt. If your crop depended on removing every pest in the next 4-6 hours, but you wanted to smoke your crop two weeks later, would you spray? Probably not. You would reach for detergent based naturals (Dawn and Joy are the best) and give your plants a bath. Because these pests lie on the underside of the leaf, this is a difficult task. Detergents make the plant undesirable to your plant more than they kill the pest. If you're infested, you are going to find that poison looking better than Rosie O'Donnel after half a bottle of Jack.
As your wingman, I refuse to let you do that (her).
We have two natural choices: Nicotine and Sabadilla.
Quoting:
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Nicotine Botanical insecticide. Pure nicotine is a tobacco extract highly toxic to warm-blooded animals. The insecticide usually is marketed as a 40% liquid concentrate of nicotine sulfate, which is diluted in water and applied as a spray. Dusts can irritate the skin and are not normally available for garden use. Nicotine is used primarily for piercing sucking-insects such as aphids, whitefiles, leaf hoppers and thrips. Nicotine is more effective when applied during warm weather. It degrades quickly, so can be used on many food plants nearing harvest. It is registered for use on a wide range of vegetable and fruit crops. [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Sabadilla Botanical insecticide. Sabadilla is obtained from the seeds of a lily-Like plant and acts as both a contact and stomach poison for insects. It is not particularly toxic to mammals, but does cause irritation of the eyes and respiratory tract. A mask should be worn when working with this insecticide. This. material deteriorates rapidly upon exposure to light and can be used safely on food crops shortly before harvest. Sabadilla generally is used as a 5 to 20% dust or as a spray.
[/FONT]
My choice, because it works and because its the most harmless of the choices, is the Nicotine. I've used it before, and it works damn good. I Don't make Nicotine Sulfate, but just nicotine. Nicotine Sulfate is powerful and if you choose to make and use that, wash it off your crop before smoking!
But I am going to show you how to make your own Nicotine Extract spray (Not Nicotine Sulfate) which you can spray on your crop, indoors or out, which will not only kill your bugs, it potentially doesn't need to be washed from the growing crop unless you are in the last week or so. I'll discuss this later...don't fixate on this part yet.
In a previous post on this subject, there was the following comment: "but do you really want an addictive carcinogen in your bud? Plus it would most def fuck with Ph and kill beneficial bacteria."
His first point is wrong, but the second point has merit...Lets discuss the first point. Nicotine is not a carcinogen. Tobacco and chemical found in tobacco have carcinogens when burned. Nicotine is not one of them, and if you ask your doctor if Nicotine patches or gum cause cancer, he will tell you no. Mine did, as I used the gum to quit smoking and then found out I liked the gum. For 12 years. I actually asked my specialist if the gum was bad for me...flat out he said No Way, but it would increase my blood pressure. No Cancer Risk. None. Told me its used for studies on Alzheimer's disease. But Tobacco... Cigarettes contain tobacco (tobacco contains nicotine for the high) and other chemicals to keep them lit and make them burn pretty (good cigars don't use additives) that contain tons of chemicals and additives. These cause cancer. The "Plus it would most def fuck with Ph and kill beneficial bacteria" part is correct to a very small extent, but no more than any other spray, in fact less so if my personal hypothesis is correct. (But I will personally commit to running soil samples this year with two common poisons, my Nicotine Spray, and Sabadilla, because I'm 100% organic and this is interesting to me and post the science later) This argument can be said more about Natural Soap Sprays than anything else in regards to PH. Nicotine will not mess up you PH. But Since it is a poison, it will kill pests. It will kill earthworms if you spray it on them. It will probably kill microbes because they are living beings too. But we are not going to soak our soil with them, we are going to spray the leaves. Hydro farmers can work to negate the effects by keeping the dripping solution from their tanks, plants in pots are watered heavily before I spray so that the drippings are diluted well below the ability to kill even aphids. So I theorize that one inches below the soil there is no trace of nicotine at all or any noticable effects on microbes and earthworms. PH will not be affected. But I'll prove ALL OF THAT later scientifically on another post. On to the mixture!
- One good Cigar or bag of natural Chewing Tobacco. No additives no preservatives...100% tobacco. I prefer an Arturo Fuente Maduro, cut in half. Smoke the first half while staring at your garden. Save the other half. A good cigar is one that is NOT bought in a gas station going by the name of Swisher Sweets. These have additive compounds. Go to the cigarette store and buy a $5 cigar of the Natural Chewing Tobacco. It's my recipe so I get to smoke half the cigar!!!!
- Slice it, Split it, Chop it up to about 1/2 oz of per quart of water. I make about 2 quarts from my half a cigar, but if I needed to make 2 gallons I would just go with the chewing tobacco.
- 1-2 oz per quart of propylene glycol. This is a wetting agent, and is optional, but it really really is the reason my juice sticks to the plant. I use it in place of Soap, which is the traditional wetting agent used to make stuff "stick" to the leaves insted of flowing off. If you want to use Ivory Dish soap (Specifically) as your wetting agent, you may, and will also get the benefit of a 1-2 punch
- Optional but Effective, depending on how close to flowering you are: 1 teaspoon of Tabasco Sauce per quart of water.
- I use all of the above (Tobacco, Soap, Propylene Glycol, and Tabasco) on my plants and add other ingredients based on what other pests I want to control.
- Peppers keep squirrels and birds and some curious deer away
- Garlic and Onions pureed in the mix (3-4 cloves, one small or 1/2 big onion) will keep all slugs and snails away...I make a specific mix and spray everything (Fences and yard and area surrounding my garden) with this.
- Cloves and Mint are a natural Aphid Deterrent....Try making a Mint/Clove Tea Mixture and spraying on your garden regularly. Your pot will taste great I bet!
Earlier I put potentially don't have to wash from your growing crop. If you're indoors or in your back yard, and can wash your plants a couple of days from harvest, then have at it if it will provide total piece of mind. I worry about wetting leaves and foliage late in the outdoor season because the cooling weather + wet leaves leads to fungus. But keep in mind there are oudoor growers who are remote and might not have the resources to simulate shower or bathe his plants prior to cultivation. They sometimes wash their buds post harvest. Decide based on the application and what you heard here or on other sites, but I personally have no fear of ultra trace amounts of nicotine on my or my patients plants.
Create a great day for yourself and everyone around you!
E.D.
The plant that I sprayed more heavy looks dead, brown leaves, tips curled downwards. The one that got less sprayed looks similar, but a bit better. I just flushed them with brita filtered water. Was the solution too concentrated? What can I do?