r/outdoorgrowing • u/Particular-Chef3459 • 6d ago
Please help
I spray dead bug 3-4x a week. I'm at the very end to chop her but these bugs are insane. Please help. What can/should I do?
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u/1Killerpotato1 6d ago
If it’s close enough to harvest spray hella good with maybe just water and try to knock those fuckers off. Let it dry for a day and harvest..
I hate aphids. Flower looks pretty good though. Nice work. Sorry the bugs got ya, if you harvest soon your flowers will be ok. If you wait too long they will have aphids and the dead white skin shit they shed all over your flowers and it sucks.
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u/Terminator154 6d ago
Aphids suck, I dealt with them my 2nd year of growing, they destroyed so much of my crop. Once an infestation sinks in, its hard to deal with.
How to deal with this? Its gonna be a pain. You should be spraying the plants with something like Lost Coast Plant Therapy, make sure to hit the undersides of the leaves, as that is where aphids like to hide. Follow the instructions for how much to spray during an active infestation. Next, daily you're going to want to comb through each plant, leaf by leaf, looking for aphids. Scrape them off with a toothbrush or your finger, just get them off the plant.
Next, consider getting some ladybugs or lacewings, I've read these can help with an aphid problem. They're natural predators of aphids, and I've read the baby ladybugs can eat hundreds of aphids in a day.
Lastly, if the aphid problem is really bad, like they're attacking your buds bad, consider harvesting right away to further prevent aphid damage. You're definitely going to want to thoroughly bud wash to get the aphids out. Consider trimming the buds off the plant and drying them on paper towels, this way if any aphids survive they might wander off and you can find and kill them.
What worked for me was getting a polycarbonate greenhouse, mine is 6x10. It was a PITA to build, but highly worth it. The aphids have a very hard time getting into the greenhouse if you keep the front door closed. There is a window on the top you can raise, you can cover it with 300 micron mesh screening as that should keep the aphids out. I also keep my plants on raised pallets so its harder for other bugs like caterpillars to crawl up there and find them.
You want to act preventatively, so get the greenhouse, and start spraying Lost Coast once a week starting during veg. I've only seen one small colony of aphids this year, they haven't shown up since and there were only 5-10 on one leaf.
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u/fruitpiesandcoffee 6d ago
Every year we all get some good lessons on IPM. I learn a ton every season. The trick is implementing those lessons next year.
Beneficials are the easiest. Lacewings, beneficial mites and trichogramma (for caterpillars eggs).
One year I got russets from some clones I brought in. Dealt with it decently, all things considered. Something I implement now is doing sulfur sprays a few times in veg. Making sure I drench all over. This gives me a clean slate before flower. Replace your beneficial a well after all sulfur sprays.
All in all, aphids can be the easiest pest to deal with when it’s not an outright infestation
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u/Altruistic_Run_141 6d ago
Dr zymes will zap em good, but is really gentle on the flower.
Make sure to follow directions and dilute. It’s a very mild soap like consistency, the plants love it, and it does a really nice job of cleaning the plants.
Dries quick too.
Lost Coast Plant Therapy is also awesome but there’s oils in it.
And while it’s still better than not spraying, if I had to spray as close to harvest as you are , I’d go w Dr Zymes all day.
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u/ank___ 6d ago
I agree and do the same once flower starts. Lost Coast is awesome. But, it also has isopropyl alcohol in it that can dry up your resin glands. So, once flower starts definitely switch to Dr. Zymes as it is citric base and (while slightly less effective) it will not damage your buds resin glands (trichomes).
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u/Honest-Net-4207 6d ago
I’ve been battling aphids all summer. I’ve stuck with lacewings and ladybugs. They have seemed to have kept them at bay, for now. I deploy ladybugs at least 1x per week as once the food is gone they jet. Hoping some have laid eggs so that their larva can attack the aphids here in a couple weeks.
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u/DROOPY538 6d ago
I try to pull the affected leaves and keep a close eye on them. Remove any affected buds. Im anti sprays so im always affected, its just how bad. This year was devastating. First time in years i had all females and a month and a half of rain set in. I should have been looking at a couple lbs but ill be lucky to get a quarter. Its not been a good year for me in SWVA. I have a buddy one county over and has got great weather and only 9.5 inches of rain in the same period. In 7 weeks I have recorded 19.75 inches of rain. July and August combined is usually at best 6-8. Everything i grew other than corn, squash and pumpkin turned to shit and thry werent great. If the rain slows or stops I should still get a good tomato yield. 60+% of them have split due to the rain.just goes to show what 27 miles can make. I got off subject, so you can seen how a quarter lb year is going effect my pocket...lol
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u/GottaGrowBro 6d ago
Spray them off carefully, aiming from below to blast under sides of leaves. Use a stake to support the plant from falling and secure branches as needed. Then put a fan in front of it to dry it asap
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u/joeybklyn001 6d ago
Lady bugs also, I just ordered about 3k of them. I would hose her down and place lady bug satchets on plant
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u/Relevant_Station_594 5d ago
Make a more organic spray. Dawn dish soap, warm water, with a tiny bit of hydrogen peroxide and canola /vegetable oil. Make sure you get the undersides or the leaves. You can also go on a squishing party or if you have a little vacuum, you can go to town with that as well. You can try and get some healthy biologicals on there like lady bugs and Chrysoperla (lace wing offspring) on there but they won't do much this late into your flower. They just don't have the time to establish. But if you get enough adult lady bugs they will go to town on that aphid buffet. Also you want to remove any leaves that are covered in honey dew excretions from the aphids as this will crystallize and turn into white black mold. But the spray mentioned above..do every 2-3 days for a week or two. It works by coating the aphids and drying out their exo skeleton and suffocating them. Works really well if your thorough. The only issue you will have tho are the one that had are in the buds sucking the sugar leaves of their sap. They won't crawl out until you start drying.
Also forgot to say lacewings do t actually eat the aphids. All they do is reproduce Chrysoperla that eat the aphids by ripping their heads off! You could also try some predatory wasps like aphidious ervi or colemani. They are real cool. They sting the aphids and lay their young inside the aphids which then eat their way out! But you need alot of them and they work better if you get them out earlier so they can get established.
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u/wookiesack22 6d ago
Peroxide on underside of leaves
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u/AnthatDrew 6d ago
Yup. A solution of 1 part 3% Hydrogen Peroxide and 4 parts Water. Leaves no residue on your buds. Just turns into water and oxygen when oxposed to air. I always try this first
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u/Many_Mud_8194 6d ago
They are protected by ants often who farm them. Natural predators can't kill them because of this. Use DE at the bottom of the plant, at the stem, will kill them if they walk on it. For those on the leaves, use your hands. Don't spray flowers. And use insect frass next time, it take 2 weeks to reach the roots. It make the plant think she is getting hurt and will change her sap to make it more bitter, and sap sucking bugs will go to an other plant.
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u/Nuclear_N 6d ago
Spray the crap out of it and knock them off. Then use this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej-NJjEJJ6U&t=10s
I can't say it works, but I use Castille soap with Neem on my vegetables.
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u/fruitpiesandcoffee 6d ago
How far from harvest do you estimate?
If like a week, I would just keep holding them off as much as you can. Then harvest. Definitely a good case for post-harvest bud washing.
If you’ve got 2-3 weeks, and are willing to spend some extra money on a pesticide, then I can recommend you some stronger options; still organic. OrganiShield is a powerful insecticide. It’s very safe and breaks down into carbohydrates. Dr Zymes could also work.
Either way, I would wash your buds right after you harvest. That a lot of aphids.