Natural Pest Solutions For Your Crops
Happy New Year A-Graders! We hope you all had the chance to catch up with family and friends over the break and enjoy some time outdoors.
The hot, wet summer weather has seen an unusual explosion of pests, causing headaches for both indoor hydroponic growers and outdoor gardeners. We have seen a significant increase in spider mites and fungus gnats over the last few weeks, which inspired this week’s hydroponic crop protection tutorial.
Know Your Pests
Knowing in advance what type of pests are attracted to your hydroponic plants, what they look like and what damage they can cause will make treatment and prevention much easier.
These insects are likely to interact with your hydroponic garden at some point. Researching these pests and their family groups will help you identify them early and choose the right hydroponic pest control solution:
- Thrip
- Whitefly
- Cabbage Moth
- Spider Mites
- Aphids
- Greenfly
- Fungus Gnats
Strong & Healthy Plants
The first and best defence against a pest infestation is a strong and healthy hydroponic plant. Proper nutrition and hydration create stronger plant cells, making it harder for pests to penetrate and feed.
Feeding your plants with a quality hydroponic nutrient range plays a major role in pest prevention by promoting stronger, healthier plant growth. Premium hydroponic nutrients provide the essential macro and micro nutrients plants need to develop thicker cell walls, stronger roots and vigorous foliage, making it harder for pests such as spider mites, aphids and thrips to penetrate and feed.
Well-balanced nutrition also helps reduce plant stress, nutrient deficiencies and weak growth, which are common factors that attract pests and disease into indoor grow rooms and hydroponic systems. Healthy, fast-growing plants are naturally more resilient, allowing them to better withstand environmental stress and recover more quickly from pest activity.
Healthy hydroponic systems support faster plant growth, stronger roots and improved resistance to common grow room pests.
Prevention
The next line of defence is prevention. A preventative pest control approach is almost always more cost-effective than solving a major infestation.
Some growers perform a weekly foliar spray using a light pyrethrum solution. Others use weekly Neem oil treatments to kill invisible larvae in their hydroponic grow media.
Hydroponic growers often add a few drops of larvicide into their nutrient tank or reservoir to help prevent fungus gnats.
The use of predatory insects is also becoming more common, with growers looking for natural hydroponic pest control methods to protect their crops. We recommend the Bugs For Bugs legends in Toowoomba, QLD, for all your predatory insect needs.
Non-Toxic Pest Control
These commonly used hydroponic pest control ingredients are non-toxic and have short withholding periods:
- Pyrethrum
- Sticky traps (great for identifying pests)
-
Neem Oil
- Soybean Oil
A-Grade Tip
A high-pressure spray bottle will take 1L of pest-control solution exponentially further than a standard spray bottle. For easy and thorough applications of foliar sprays, we recommend the Würth 360° 1L Pump Spray Bottle with Lance Extension.
This spray bottle creates a fine mist for even distribution, even when used upside down. The lance makes it easy to treat hard-to-reach areas in indoor grow rooms and hydroponic systems.
Whether you are growing indoors or outdoors, always foliar spray your plants when the grow lights switch off or after the sun goes down. This helps prevent leaf scorching and plant stress.
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