Grow Marijuana: Pest Management Methods
Pest management methods are important, whether you are growing marijuana organically or not. Pests can easily become a nuisance to your marijuana plants and harvest. Assessing pest control, methods first requires an understanding of different strategies for indoor and outdoor production. If you want to keep your cannabis plants safe from pests when you grow marijuana outdoors, you may want to consider a greenhouse, which will help protect your plants from unwelcome guests.
Synthetic versus Organic
Synthetic pesticide solutions can play an integral role in restricting damage caused by pests. However, if you are an organic marijuana grower, this may not be enough. Fortunately, though, there are a wide range of organic solutions that you can consider to minimize the damage, but also to prevent those unwelcome guests from forcefully taking over your marijuana grow space. When you incorporate organic systems into your grow schedule, it minimizes the damage caused by pests and in the same token, it won’t cause any damage to your marijuana plants.
Integrated Pest Management
You can also use another organic system known as integrated pest management (IPM). This system has been in place since the 1930s to help all growers including marijuana growers to control and manage theirs pest population, reducing damage output both biologically and mechanically and everything in between. This is important when you have decided to grow marijuana organically. IPM solutions that are not organic can still minimize the pest population or even eradicate it, but it might not be as safe. And so, you may have to consider other options. Thankfully for you, there are organic pest control techniques that are effective to use if you want to grow marijuana organically in your home. Below are several examples of methods that you can use, in addition to the organic IPM method.
Foliar Sprays
If you leave those unruly pests to their reproductive measures, they will take over your garden very quickly. You don’t want to be compromised and forced into reactionary measures due to pest damage. You should be prepared instead to grow marijuana using all the resources available to you. Synthetic foliar sprays are often used to eradicate and control pest infestation. However, you don’t have to rely on synthetics only. When creating an IPM foliar spray organic system, you have two choices. You can eradicate the current pest population or you can use preventative measures to grow marijuana in a safe environment. If you already have a pest population, the concept when using a foliar spray is an introduction of a biological solution that will stop reproduction. Identify the pests and then utilize a biological control system to eliminate the existing population.
Companion Planting
In addition, you can control the pest populations by using a system called companion planting. This is a combined ecosystem inside your garden that leverages various plants in order to protect the entire garden from pests and other possible hazards. So, when you grow marijuana with other types of plants close by, it creates a protective medium as a defense against pest populations, current and future. Companion planting works best in larger bed cultivations.
Predatory Mites
Predatory mites are essential for organic marijuana grow methods that target the toughest pest control measures. This is not ideal for tight indoor grow space. It is best for greenhouse and outdoor options. It is highly effective in the eradication of the current pest populations, but the method has to be done correctly. When you use predatory insects, have them shipped to you, but make sure they are stored in good conditions to be more effective. Follow the directions from the supplier since not all applications are altogether similar across the board.
Whatever pest management methods used, make sure it gives you viable options to protect the integrity of your marijuana plants. If you want to learn how to grow marijuana organically, go to the Cannabis Training University now.
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