IDENTIFICATION AND TREATMENT
No matter the preventative measures you engage in, a pest population will infiltrate your crop eventually. For you growers with larger gardens, keep your eyes on weak plants! Pests infect one plant first, build up numbers and launch an offensive on every nearby edible object. I once was visiting a compatriot's grow underneath a 4 season porch with 24 plants. The plants on the left were doing very well, but the farther to the right the garden went, the more destroyed his crop had become. Some species of boring worm had successfully attacked a sick plant in a corner. When he discovered the infiltration point, the plant was essentially dead where it stood, worms crawling through almost the entirety of its stalks. From that plant, the worms spread quickly enough to destroy 15 of his 24 plants. Most insects lay thousands of eggs during their lifespan of weeks. If ten pests lay 100 eggs and their offspring each lay 100 eggs, your pest population has jumped from 10 to 100,000. This can occur in DAYS. Pay special attention to sickly plants, the evolutionary process dictates vulnerability to preying organisms. Men greater and wiser than I have adamantly stated that using chemicals on plants destined to be inhaled should ALWAYS be used as a last resort. Commercial and chemical pesticide have the creatures they eradicate listed on the label. Remember if you do choose to use chemicals that you will be lighting this stuff on fire and inhaling the smoke. If you have to use a nuke, allow enough time for the radiation to die down capeesh? Use these long before harvest. This article will focus on organic and non-toxic pest control.
There are four methods you can employ to combat pests.
-Repression: If the means to exterminate your particular bug isn't immediately available, there are usually countermeasures you can take to slow infestations or decrease numbers of current pests. Taking these countermeasures during treatment further increases the effectiveness of the method you choose to utilize.
-Predators: The internet has opened up the world to the grower for specific predatory insects that will dine or destroy others voraciously. Most predators identified in this article are so specialized the specific pest is completely defenseless.
-Manual removal: Exactly what it sounds like. Picking the things off, crushing eggs, removing branches that have colonies in place. If caught early enough, manual removal can control pests sufficiently they will not fully infest your plants.
-Spray: When applying pesticide in a spray, ensure you use a spreader sticker. This is any type emulsifier that aids the pesticide in sticking to the leaves and commercial products are readily available for purchase. When your plant is budding this is especially necessary because the leaves of your plants are developing coatings of resin that will shed what you are spraying. If not purchasing a product, a teaspoon of dish soap per gallon of water will work fine. Jorge Cervantes tells us that any type of spray applied to plants will slow its growth temporarily as it will clog the stomata on the underside of leaves. Spraying water 1-2 days after application of a spray can help to clear stomata and aid the plant in resuming vigorous growth.
Lets get to the beasts shall we? The prevention sections will be all but useless to the outdoor gardener, however the treatments will be equally effective. Pests are listed alphabetically and predators are identified by exact species to avoid any confusion.
Aphids
Prevent: Aphids are most present indoors when lots are present outdoors. The aphid CAN fly when looking for a new home. Sticky traps placed on the floor near plants and hanging near the top will help discourage their forays indoors.
Identify: Aphids are usually grey but can range to any color. Regardless of their color, aphids will feast on any part of your plant by biting into leaf, stem, and bud alike while sucking the life out of the plant. Once attached, the aphid becomes stationary and fairly easy to spot. A 10x magnifier will be sufficient for positive identification. Female aphids do not require mating to reproduce and will excrete a live female offspring between 3 and 100 times every day. These offspring are hungry! Ants parading around the base of your plant can also be a sign of aphid infestations. Ants naturally farm aphids to feed off their excretions. Aphids suck sap from reaching your plant's tissues causing leaves to wilt and turn yellow. After infestation has progressed you may notice buildup of aphid excretion called honeydew. APHIDS WILL TARGET WEAK PLANTS LIKE NO OTHER PARASITE!
good. Looking good to me.
Like the cob link you posted, kinda worth trying if you have 5 plants worth to cure.
I think I could run a drill bit through...
oh yeah, I also trimmed (backbuilt ? ) the the foldy brown limb on plant #1 in the screen.
Looking good and the back building looks interesting.
Some lesson should come from this.