Growers ask me every day “Aarr Kellz what’s your secret to controlling pest in your garden?” Well my Earthlings, here at Spaceship Earth Farms we hate pesticides. The stuff is in everything and the last place we want it is on any Cannabis we cultivate. The following is a foodgrade method of controlling bad stuff on your babies that you don’t want there. If you are asking questions like “How can I prevent floramite from eating through latex gloves when I am spraying?” then please pay attention closely and change your ways before you poison someone or something you care about.
Consider this like a baking recipe. It should pretty much be followed “to the T” with no ingredients left out or substituted.
You’ll want to start off by getting a bottle of Flying Skull “Nuke em” – The stuff is expensive, but safe and amazing. We have been using it for a couple years now without any issues. Not only is it outstanding at controlling spider mites and powdery mildew, but it is organic and made entirely with food grade ingredients that you would find in a loaf of bread. The smallest size I have seen for sale is an 8 fl. oz. concentrate that makes up to 2 gallons of ready to use spray.
Next you definitely want to invest in a Root Lowell Commercial Portable Sprayer/Atomizer if you are growing in a space bigger than 4×4. These sprayers are worth the money. They turn the Nuke em into almost a fog like mist that covers all sides of the leaf and plant surfaces it is sprayed towards. This is very useful for targeting spider mites and pest that like to hide and lay eggs on the underside hard to reach crevasses of the leaves.
I like to wait until it’s nighttime in the garden to spray the plants as I prefer to avoid interrupting the garden light cycle. . You can spray them during the daytime, but you must turn off the lights after spraying for 15-30 mins until they are dry to avoid burning.
One thing that I think is very important, but a lot of growers seem to miss, is the importance of flushing your plants with plain water before you spray them. Make sure they get enough water to achieve a healthy run off from the pot and then let them sit at least an hour before spraying. If plant food has been slowly building up in your soil, soiless or hydro growing medium, this flushing step will help the plant from the stress of nutrient/water lockup. It will also help to hydrate the plants and prepare them for treatment while easing their stress from the initial insect or mold attack, promoting a speedy recovery.
I think it’s best to spray every 3 days if you are under attack and trying to get the garden back to a pest free condition. Spider mite eggs take about 2-3 days to hatch and mature so waiting a full week between applications if you are under attack may leave you in a constant state of war. If you hit them with 4 applications in 12 days then I think it’s safe to then switch to once a week, but you be the judge. The conditions of every garden are different.
Ultimately preventative maintenance is the key to a healthy pest-free garden. Be very clean and make sure the proper temperatures, humidity levels and air circulation are achieved and you will be ready to tackle any pest that want to try to harm your ladies.
That’s pretty much how we control them here at Spaceship Earth Farms. It is very important to us not to spray anything on a plant that we would not put in our mouths ourselves. So when you obtain your cannabis from anyone or any store, make sure you DEMAND that they tell you what the grower has sprayed on it to treat it for pest. You will be very surprised at the answers you do and do not receive.
