Pests - how serious?

[yak22]

Hey all. I am in the middle of my first grow. I have a few autos inside and a few outside trying to get a feel for what I want to continue doing after this first one.

With that said, I have been fighting fungus gnats, but I have managed to significantly reduce the numbers, so Im less worried about them at the moment. But really, it seems there is always 'something' on my plants outside. I come out to half eaten leaves, tiny holes in leaves, etc. But there doesnt appear to be a huge number of any critter when I shake the plants or whatever.

How seriously do I need to take these pests if there is no infestation? Im curious if I even need to worry so much about them if there doesnt seem to be any major impact on the plants.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Am I being paranoid?

 

[sidfinch]

My first grow was outdoor and at least in my area, we get all kinds of pests. The worst imo are the caterpillars/moths.

Look up IPM (integrated pest management), basically a weekly treatment plan. The idea is that it's preventative, treating before infestations occur.

I'm rotating between mammoth control, tweetmint, dr zymes and lost coast plant therapy. I am seeing more moths now and sprayed BT last night.

And this is after using insect netting as a barrier. You still should pre-treat and do as much visual checking as possible. Nothing beats squishing a few of those bastards.

 

[yak22]

Thanks for the info. I'll do more research. I guess Im really just wondering how concerned I should be on a scale of 1-10. I feel like Ive elected to wage war, yet it may be a whole lot of effort over something that really wont matter in a few more weeks.

 

[sidfinch]

Fungus gnats are usually just an annoyance. Get the yellow sticky traps and use a mulch layer, they like bare wet soil.

Observation is key, stay vigilant.

 

[yak22]

So, Ive found that I now have what I can only guess are 'lawn gnats' due to the neighbor's sprinkler system going haywire and causing serious standing water. That said, when I go out to my plants and shake them, there are almost always some of these little guys that fly off. They dont appear to be doing any damage, but really, I have no idea.
But, I had a bit of a win that I wanted to share. Something red stained part of the vinyl siding on my house near where my 3 plants outside are. So I tried a few things like simple green to clean it off. Nothing worked. I decided to try Mother's VLR for cars. Its a bit like Armor All. First, it took off the red staining like it was nothing, second, it seems to attract and kill these little gnats. Just thought I'd share.