Marijuana Pests & How to Solve It
One of the unavoidable hassles of growing your own marijuana is pests. Pests could be people of course, but I’m talking about the insect kind. The pests that do things like suck the juices out of the stems and eating the leaves of your plants. The pests that kill the leaves and ruin your seedlings. The pests that destroy your crop.
There are a few ways of combating pests, and they fall into “natural” or organic methods and chemical methods. I prefer using natural solutions. But it’s not always possible. So here’s what works:
- Ladybugs. For some reason at a previous residence I had ladybugs show up in the room where I was growing. I don’t know how/why they got in the room and stayed, but they did. And now I know that they must have been eating the aphids or whatever pests might have otherwise destroyed my precious cannabis plants! Because I rarely found any evidence of damage to my plants.
- Soapy water. One of the common “cures” for pests is spraying down your plants with a solution of dishwashing liquid soap, vinegar, and water. I can’t vouch for this, but many people swear by it. Supposedly it will keep away many types of pests.
- Poison. Yeah, I would avoid this - because who knows what will make it into your final product? You don’t want to smoke weed that has pesticides in it. (At least, I don’t.) However there are some products that are labeled as “good for organic gardeners” and safe for food plants which might be okay. If used, I would recommend using them before budding just to make sure no residue remains on your plants, and you don’t smoke something poisonous.
Obviously the best option would be to populate your grow area with natural pest predators. If this is possible with your grow area, you can usually get ladybugs from a local garden center. Call around - you may find a gardening supply shop, “feed store”, or similar place that has them.
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