Pest and Disease Management: High Brix Philosophy
When it comes to war, there is the goal you expect to achieve by victory on the battlefield, in this case, the elimination of damage from pests and disease. Please note I did not say "elimination of pests and disease," but elimination of DAMAGE from pests and disease.
This philosophy differs from one based on eradication of pests quite significantly, although products designed to do so can and often will be employed to kill pests and mitigate disease with High Brix methods. However, the use of products such as miticides or fungicidal sprays are signs of desperation....failure on the part of the grower. There is value in saving the crop using safe means, which is why I would resort to using products like miticides under certain conditions.
However, there is a much better way!
Plants have their own mechanisms for dealing with pests. A super healthy plant will have bright, shiny leaves that are coated with wax. Furthermore, healthy plants with high sugar content will have more carbohydrates in leaf tissue....which along with the wax is toxic to spider mites. It greatly weakens them and their offspring to the point where you might have a few mites but really don't care because they can't do any damage.
We achieve this by trying to grow the healthiest plants possible. We're only concerned with killing mites if in danger of losing the crop. So, here's my strategy for dealing with mites:
1. Environment
Mites hate it cool and moist and love it hot and dry. If you find you have a small infestation turn the lights down, keep daytime temps between 72 and 74 degrees, and humidity around 60%, but keep the fans going!
At night, drop down to 65 and 50-60% rH.
2. If you have the kit, this is the time to spray Bug and Pest, mixed per directions. Drench and soak the plants, top and bottom. The leaves will be sparkling clean the next day and shiny as can be! The mites will be over and done too.....
Follow the spraying with normal foliar feeding in the coming week, except concentrate even more on the underside of the leaves, so as to further irritate and disturb any mites that might have survived. This would be a good time to spray stress twice a week, along with Brix.
Does the soil energy need attention? Is the plant damaged at all? Perhaps a good flushing is in order? Perhaps a good, deep root drench and microbial boost? Experience will guide you here.
If the above infestation was severe, I'd spray with a strong "Take Down" spray made of pyrethrin. I'd follow this the next day with the Bug and Pest foliar, followed 2 days later with the Take Down Spray, and again with the Bug and Pest foliar. This would be for if they formed webs and really damaged leaves. But this is highly unlikely if your plants are high brix and the environment is decent.....which it needs to be for truly excellent produce.
I can usually find a mite or two on plants that are under stress. Rarely do I see any damage from them, however.
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Now, let's talk PM.
The first thing to understand is that Powdery Mildew infestation is NOT the result of a good environment....but a bad one! This is important to realize, because this is going to guide our strategy for dealing with PM.
Powdery Mildew is everywhere, all around us. It likes moist, slightly cool surfaces....like lower leaves under the canopy. A few nights with humidity in the 80's and temps in the 60's is tempting fate for sure. Spike into the 90's and have the fans go out in a power outage and now you're probably gonna get PM.
Oh!!!! But after the disaster, I kept the rH down to 30 the whole time and I STILL got PM! What's up with that? PM, once established in the plant, will thrive in a dry environment, because it sucks all of its nutrition from the plant! So, you aren't going to kill PM with environmental extremes....but you might kill your plants.
So, let's say for whatever reason you've got a couple leaves with the dreaded white round spots on them.....PM. Here's my strategy:
1. Put the environment into "perfect" range for whatever it is you're growing. If you don't know what their favorite temps and rH are 70 at nite 78 during the day 50-60% rH is perfect. Yes, the rH is favorable to the PM...but more importantly, it's favorable to the plants, which are going to fight this off as best they can.
2. Drench the leaves, stem, everything with Bug and Pest.
3. Cut off the bad leaves and any other leaves that might be vulnerable to PM. Take lower buds if they're near the breakout. Err on the side of cutting.
4. Do they need flushing? Energy? I find PM infestations often occur after plant stress, like having them go dry with the lights on. In hydro setups, after a power outage the plants don't get watered and can go dry pretty fast....and they often get PM right after this.
Take care of the roots! I'd top dress with Root Zone and worm castings, then water this in thoroughly.
5. Foliar feed per usual, with twice weekly spraying of Stress. Repeat Bug and Pest biweekly if another outbreak occurs.
Those of us who have been doing the Mineralized/High Brix thing haven't seen any mites. I personally haven't had PM since I mineralized my first soil.
If we concentrate on making the plants healthy and disease resistant, instead of trying to kill the invaders, not only do we have better success....we can do so using perfectly natural, safe to ingest products. (wash all produce before consumption.)
) this kind of growing is pretty easy...spread out the amendment, adjust settings on the fertigation injectors to the right titration, press a button.....done.
