dont know if these micro bugs are thrips? been spraying with safer insectal soap. indoor grow…the only thing i changed was buying mp4 mix instead of promix…could these have come from that?
Any good soil can have bugs. Good soil is a living mix of biological matter and can contain bugs or bug eggs. Baking the soil will kill those things but also kill the microbes that make soil useful.
Diatomaceous earth can help with critters in the soil. Cap’n Jacks Dead Bug is good. The soap should work too. Avoid neem oil for cannabis.
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Bug zapper works for me. Got an LED UV indoor bug zapper. Good for your plants too.
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@kosmc A little closer pic would help but sorta looks like thrips.
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hard to get a closer pic with phone …they are little bastards
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I hear ya. Those little pricks are a nuisance. I’m sure you’ll get there ass. Good luck
Looks like thrip damage. They’re tiny as hell, so you’d have to pull out the scope to know for sure.
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I have used neem cakes. I add it to my mix. Works great. Why not neem oil?
In the soil it will be fine. Neem on the plant leaves an oil residue that will taste bad. Certainly dont want to smoke neem.
I never saw good results using neem oit. I would spray and spray but they would always return. So all this year I have added the neem cake to the soil. I water it in too. I only add it to my water as a precaution. I started an autoflower grow this week and I make my own soil, even my own worm casting. When I put the seeds in and topped with the casting, I saw them little bugs bearly can see them. But they were there. I had added the neem cake to the soik but with seeds just going in I didn’t water the soil down fully. So I added the neem cake to the spray water. Going to suck in that tent until they sprout and I can properly water the soil. What sucks is I’m running 9 autos with fresh medium so there will be a lot of tgem until they complete their cycle. The cake will kill any new larve
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That is a Thrip. I am battling them also. Mine came inside with some composted soil; I baked in my grill for 3 hours to kill bugs but didn’t get it hot enough. I am using mammoth. I had thrips last year and this was what worked. I have them on my seedlings and not on my flowering girls so far.
The first thing I did was setup a tent outside the grow room. then I bought new soil and transplanted my seedlings into new containers with new soil. Then I started to use mammoth on seedlings when I saw thrips with my magnifying glass. Thrips lay eggs in the plant tissue that hatch in 3 to 5 days. I am fighting several batches of eggs laid at different times I believe.
It has been about 2 weeks, and I am still fighting. I am keeping numbers low so far.
Because of the fact I refuse to spray my buds, I have ordered lady bugs to help make sure my buds finish up in 4 to 6 weeks. This may cause another issue, but I will choose that over losing my girls to thrips.
Hope this helps,
Good luck, be relentless!
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Definitely a thrip. I get them often from ff ocean forest. Can be tough to get rid of 100%. Never had a bug problem again since changing to coco.
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UPDATE on my thrip issue.
I got my ladybugs and set them free in the tent. After 2 or 3 weeks of not spraying, I found an adult thrip with lady bugs on the plant too! I put my ladybugs in hibernation and started spraying again with mammoth.
I am lucky to have this issue while still in veg.
So far here is what I have done after removing lady bugs:
I put the plants in a tent outside the grow room and sprayed them liberally with Mammoth.
Vacuumed inside of original veg tent, including removing floor liner pan.
Sprayed all surfaces inside with Mammoth.
Sprayed the outside of my grow bags.
sprayed my drip tray as I moved plants back into veg tent.
Since Thrips lay eggs in the leaves, I removed all but small new leaves on all plants and discarded leaves outside.
I am going to continue spraying veg plants every other day for the next 2 weeks before putting them into flower.
The plants are looking vigorous, and I haven’t seen a thrip for about 5 days.
These are tough critters to deal with in Veg.
The problem becomes almost unsurmountable in flowering I believe.
Update
I am continuing spraying every other day, but, I found another young thrip today.
I have read that after they hatch some fall to the soil to mature before returning to the plant.
I also read bugs can get used to a spray, so I did something different tonight.
I sprayed the plants with Neem oil.
Vacuumed out about 2 or 3 inches of soil from my pots.
Sprayed the bare soil with the Mammoth spray.
Replenished the pots with fresh soil.
I will continue strict monitoring with my loupe and spraying every other day.
If I see anymore, I might mix up a bottle of Monterey.
To be continued.
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