Help identifying this critter

Buds Buddy

Buds Buddy

Well-Known Member
Grow Journal of the Month
May 2020 Plant of the Month
August 2022 Member of the Month
November 2022 Plant of the Year
2022
High All ! I found a couple of these bugs on my plant this morning & I thought it was a Thrip. Someone said it was too big to be one; but wasn't sure what kind of bug it is. I'm trying to figure out if it's a good or bad bug & if it's bad what to do about it since my plant is 1/2 way through flower, stacking up & building colas. I believe these bugs must have come with the used Gorilla Tent I bought. I bleached the hell out of it before use; but I guess it didn't help. I thought maybe I could use ladybugs to help solve the problem; but not sure if I can use them in a tent / indoors. I'm thinking they'd get all over the house if I turned them loose indoors. Any help would be deeply appreciated. Thanks !
DSCF1911 (2).JPG
DSCF1912 (2).JPG
DSCF1913 (2).JPG
 
In the 2nd photograph, the one that looks like a panorama shot, the thing looks like it walks the way crickets or grasshoppers might. I do not see any wings but not all insects have wings.

Bouncing around some web sites with photos of insects I noticed that the one you have looks similar to a cicada during one of its mid-life changes before it starts to climb trees to sing to the opposite sex. But I cannot find photos that would indicate I was on the right track with it being a cicada.

But, it still looks like an insect that is changing from one stage to another.

Buds Buddy said:
I thought maybe I could use ladybugs to help solve the problem; but not sure if I can use them in a tent / indoors. I'm thinking they'd get all over the house if I turned them loose indoors.
Click to expand...
I set several hundred ladybugs free in the grow room. Some on the plants still in vegetating growth and some in the flowering cabinet. Within a few days they were all gone. I did not find any in the rest of the basement nor upstairs or even dead on the floor anywhere. Even had set up water and food areas for them as per the instructions. They just disappeared.

A year or so later I took one of the pods in one of my LED lights went out. Took it back to the store since the light was still under warranty. The guy took it apart and dumped a couple of ladybugs in the trash can. Since then I have heard people mention that their ladybugs disappear and they find dead ones later in lights, the behind walls, and so on.
 
1673540686528.png


i think the article calls this a leafhopper,, a stage of one anyway,,

not positive of this info tho

this quite similar to your pic
 
nivek said:
1673540686528.png


i think the article calls this a leafhopper,, a stage of one anyway,,

not positive of this info tho

this quite similar to your pic
Click to expand...
Yes, it is a Leaf Hopper. I believe it's a Potato Leaf Hopper from pics I saw. Is it possible that I brought them in from the store on a bag of potato's ? Not sure how else I would get that type unless they like the flowers in my yard too.
Anyway, Trying to find a quick fix. Fastest Zon delivery of Nematodes & Lady Bugs is the 20th - 24th. Checked locally, but no one has either.
I have some stuff called ECOWORKS that suppose to kill leaf hoppers & other pests. I was debating using Peroxide & Water Mix for the Soil Larvae.... but that would be hard to flush since I grow in a 5 gal. SIP Bucket. I have Neem Oil, SNS 209 & 217 on hand also.
Think any of these things would help ?
 
Canachris said:
Get yourself some of those yellow sticky traps. Worked for me last summer
Click to expand...
Farmers Almanac & some Video's say just the opposite. But my guess is they are talking about outdoors where they are plentiful. Yellow attracts them so they say not to put them by your plants. But since I'm in a tent where they are limited.... I could see it helping.
 
Been plagued by critters as most have at some point. I believe it’s hard to keep ladybugs unless you’ve got crop diversity…. that is different non 420 plants always in bloom, serious plant count and exceptional enviro. Even then 4 ladybugs is perhaps enough to do the job but we want to see 30 ladybirds working on each plant and that just doesn’t happen imho. yep my ladybugs ran off to join the circus too

don’t think nematodes will have enough time to get started on a plant in flower, but I always keep 1 soil bin populated and then add a cup or 2 to each bucket as pot are filled up

bugguide dot net can help identify with mug shots. My hydro shop has them in 8 1/2 by 11 sheets and I cut them down but a fresh yellow sticky trap to monitor who or what has moved into the garden is kinda first line of defense

SIP does complicate things a bit. I’m trying Neem seed meal in my soil mix. I’m also adding both SNS 203 & 209 to my feed water on young plants

the rice hulls that I use for top dress are known to harbor soil mites so doing new routine of soaking rice hulls with combo of Spinosad, Neem Oil, BTk and cal-mag.

and couple pops with SNS 203 or 209 foliar in veg so combo of foliar sprays and spraying top layer of soil

you can always spray the top crust of your SIP soil, if there’s any larvae stage under there they’ve either gotta eat your ipm and or crawl thru it

I’ve got soil mites in my SIP right but they don’t attack the plant. I can treat them and they kinda die off and go dormant but when water is sprayed on top of soil they seem to repopulate. Usually every time I kill off a generation, the replacement crew that hatches will be much tinier in size

prevention is the best cure but critters don’t always get the memo…
 
013 said:
Been plagued by critters as most have at some point. I believe it’s hard to keep ladybugs unless you’ve got crop diversity…. that is different non 420 plants always in bloom, serious plant count and exceptional enviro. Even then 4 ladybugs is perhaps enough to do the job but we want to see 30 ladybirds working on each plant and that just doesn’t happen imho. yep my ladybugs ran off to join the circus too

don’t think nematodes will have enough time to get started on a plant in flower, but I always keep 1 soil bin populated and then add a cup or 2 to each bucket as pot are filled up

bugguide dot net can help identify with mug shots. My hydro shop has them in 8 1/2 by 11 sheets and I cut them down but a fresh yellow sticky trap to monitor who or what has moved into the garden is kinda first line of defense

SIP does complicate things a bit. I’m trying Neem seed meal in my soil mix. I’m also adding both SNS 203 & 209 to my feed water on young plants

the rice hulls that I use for top dress are known to harbor soil mites so doing new routine of soaking rice hulls with combo of Spinosad, Neem Oil, BTk and cal-mag.

and couple pops with SNS 203 or 209 foliar in veg so combo of foliar sprays and spraying top layer of soil

you can always spray the top crust of your SIP soil, if there’s any larvae stage under there they’ve either gotta eat your ipm and or crawl thru it

I’ve got soil mites in my SIP right but they don’t attack the plant. I can treat them and they kinda die off and go dormant but when water is sprayed on top of soil they seem to repopulate. Usually every time I kill off a generation, the replacement crew that hatches will be much tinier in size

prevention is the best cure but critters don’t always get the memo…
Click to expand...

Neem meal (cake for the euros) amended or fed through a worm bin is what Clackamas Coots swears by.. He’s got a lot to say about it if you’re interested. The basic is the neem tree is an ancient medicinal tree highly regarded in the oldest civilizations still around. I believe in India it is the 2nd most sacred plant/tree they have. It boosts all kinds of immunities and helps ward off all kinds of pests. Villages were formed around it, etc. you get the point lol.

In regard to soil mites, I may have to reread but I don’t think they’re a negative in our uses. Especially if you’re going for organic/living soil. They provide a lot of aeration, carbon (other nutrients on death), and can help ferry organic matter, bacteria, fungus, and nutrients around the soil making it easier for bacteria and fungus to access it to break it down and also spread to different areas of the container. I view most (can’t say all) in the soil critters as a positive. It’s an indication you’ve got a good environment that life wants to be in.

I don’t even worry about fungus gnats anymore. If you’ve got a good environment and healthy soil going, at worst they’ll be a nuisance, and at best they do all the same things soil mites do as well.
 
prevention is the best cure but critters don’t always get the memo…

perfect summary
 
Thanks Keffka,

I’m not running worm bins yet but may add that feature before long. You know pre-digested Neem meal makes incredible sense too. I recall a certain gardener who used pre-digested rock powders in soil mix

for my los runs I purchased ladybugs, rove beetles & soil mites but they eventually died off. Now that I’ve removed the los then nuked everything and went with new soil I’m pretty confident the 50 pound bale of rice hulls is where this latest crew of soil mites migrated in from.

yes sir totally agree - soil mites do not appear to harm the plant, leaned that the hard way too cuz I did my best to kill them but in the end the only dead thing was my plant from too much sprays & chems

don’t think I’ve ever had a critter free run but maybe one day huh?
 
Hey Buds, I get a few leaf hoppers here in Hawaii, but it seems they don't damage the plants much at all. My main bugs right now are aphids, leaf miner, and flea hopper... and not very many of any of those. They're all easily controlled with a solution of neem and Bronner's peppermint soap. Sometimes I add a very small amount of pure orange essential oil into the solution (limonene).
 
Back
Top Bottom