Caught them early

Yesterday I noticed a tiny bug that looked like a gnat flying near one of my plants. With the scrog netting in, it was hard to get up close to all of the plants and look around at them to see if there were more bugs. But today when I was watering, I noticed a few tiny bugs crawling on the stems of a couple plants.

Upon some closer inspection, it looks like they are thrips. They can wreak havoc on your plants if you don't get it under control. They can damage the leaves and infest your buds.

I think it was because I had my bags of soil sitting in my garage for a couple weeks before I used them to grow these plants. So what did I just get done doing? Well, the first thing I did was take out the netting so I can remove all of my plants. I won't miss the netting though because it was a huge hassle to water around that thing.

Then I removed all the plants out of my tent and scrubbed the tent flooring and walls with isopropyl alcohol. I took the removable flooring out and washed it in my shower and hung it up to dry. Then I moved all the plants into another room and set them all on a table where I did some major defoliation on them.

The scrog netting was making a nice canopy in the tent, but it made it very hard to keep the leaves under control and I think the bugs felt secure under the canopy. Well not anymore.

After I got done trimming up the leaves, I drenched the plants in Doctor Enzymes Eliminator. This stuff is pretty good at killing pests without harming the plants at all. The only problem with using it is that you do not want to use it when the lights are on, because it can burn the leaves.

So I will be leaving all of the plants in the dark for the next 12 hours so that the Doctor Enzymes can do its job. Then I will be putting the plants back in the tent and turning the lights back on. It will be good for my filter fan and lights to be off for a while anyways. They need some rest because they have been working hard for about 8 months straight.

Once I get all the plants back in the tent, it will be nice to be able to move them around again when I water and need to trim. The scrog netting is a good tool, but it seems like too much of a hassle for me right now with this bug problem I needed to get under control.

Six plants is a lot to take care of and I am hoping that I was able to get this bug problem under control before it got out of hand. I don't want anything to happen to these ladies, so I am hoping that it has been taken care of. Oh the joys of growing. At least I learned not to store soil prior to use. It is best to use it right when you purchase it and hopefully when you do get it, it hasn't sat out long enough to get some bugs in it.