Help with these very small bugs (but lots of them)

Hello everyone. I got out my microscope camera thingy and took a couple shots. Any thoughts what these are. I think I might just harvest tonight and wash the buds. Is about ready to harvest and can’t use pesticides on it. I’m a first timer. First harvest. Most of my grow got decimated by caterpillars. This is round 2 with the various backyard pests. This is GSC autoflower from ILGM. Thanks.


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Some kind of Mite. Spinosad - Capt. Jacks. Soak the Plants, and do it again in a few days…
Plan on washing your harvest with h202. Its day of harvest safe, but wash anyway.

Those are black aphids….and you have ALOT…better get something quick or they’ll eat all your plant….lemme guess they’re stuck on a 3 finger leaf?!

Yes, mostly on the 3-finger leaves. They can cover a lot of territory on the leaf bottoms. They appear to be on some of the buds now too. I tried Captain Jacks on a strong sprayer and that worked for about a day or two. Was out of town for 4 days. Returned to an infestation. Can I use Safer Spray on these or a homemade spray of Dawn, veg oil, and water? I realize that they lay a ton of eggs (I think I saw many eggs) and need to treat multiple times until they are all gone. I may just harvest and then wash well. I’ll be better prepared for my next grow, which is only about an inch tall right now. Thanks.

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If these are in your backyard….look around the OTHER plants that are nearby….look for praying mantis…a jumping spider…a few daddy long legs…a lacewing…some lady bugs

OR

Get a pesticide like “Sevin”….read directions on it and definitely dilute it….this WILL kill them and everything else that touches your plants including pollinators (kinda shitty)

Other than that there’s maybe another option but I dunno how keen you are on taking the plants inside :sweat_smile:

@Lacewing might have some ideas to help you also

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Thanks GrizZz. No, not taking these inside. I’m determined to figure out how to grow outdoors.
If I had more time, I’d get ladybugs. They’d have a feast on these guys. But, they take a while to get settled and make the voracious babies that eat the aphids. I’ll try the safer spray and see if I can dry them out! thanks

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No worries….hope you get it straightened out

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@HappyFarmer
Don’t be afraid to spray them with a garden hose
It will knock them off …be persistent …shake the water off the bud sites

Let the plant dry and keep checking for more

All you need to do is disrupt thier life cycle
The water won’t kill the eggs but it will get the adults off …when the eggs hatch spray again …

@HappyFarmer
I am the same as you determined to grow outdoors …just remember only 3-5% of the insects on the planet are pests the rest are beneficial …
You don’t need pesticides …maybe the first few grows
But you can also find out what the Predators of the pests you have like …as in vegetation …
Plant that around your house …

Lady bugs love dill …and that’s probably in your spice cabinet …and you can germinate those an grow them …

Also Consider purchasing minute pirate bugs
They will reproduce on your plant and keep it safe for weeks

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If I had my choice of any predator insect it would be the minute pirate …they are fast
And reproduce quickly
Only drawback is until you are familiar with all their stages of life …it’s easy to confuse their larvae with aphid or springtail larve …

Always also be careful with those predators because they are capable of biting humans …they inject venom much like a fire ant …
They won’t go out of their way to bite but it’s possible

@HappyFarmer
I’ve got some pretty nice plants going outdoors.


Been lucky to have the predators here naturally …u may have them around your house too …
I’ve even found them on other plants on my yard and figured out a way to transfer them to my plant …grab some type of wild vegetation and trick the predator on to it …then take it to your plant and get a leaf in front of it …will crawl right on …
I’m also a smoker
So I took the box wrapper and trick a lacewing into that …then all I did was shove the leaf of my plant into the wrapper and it went right to the leaf …it doesn’t like crawling on something clear

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Thanks LaceWing. I’ll check out the minute Pirate Bugs. I’ve never heard of those.
Your grows look spectacular. Mine was hit hard by caterpillars and that stunted all the buds but the lowest one, that was a late bloomer. First photo is the nice flower (I still don’t know what a cola is). 2nd photo is one of the stunted flowers (there are several). 3rd photo is the entire plant that I think I’ll harvest tonight.



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By the way, the first photo from previous post was taken August 1st - Seeing the Pistils browning now and the trichromes are definitely milky. Thx

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@HappyFarmer no worries please post up your chopping session !! I’m still learning that myself
Thanks for the kind words

Without this forum I’d be reading and drooling over everyone else’s buds on here hahah …

Get yourself some live ladybugs you can get 2000 live ladybugs for 20 bucks and they are overnighted right to your door and they love aphids or brown lacewing larva work very well too just don’t try to pick up the larva they will get ya

Sorry was not stepping on toes did not read the posts up top

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@NitroGrow
Nah man I think it’s great how everyone is willing to help everyone !!!

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So, my sad tale is that I had two nice autoflower GSC plants and one was decimated by caterpillars and the other was damaged badly. So, I trashed the dead one and tried to revive the damaged plant. It had one really nice flower at the base that was immature and not affected the the little worms. The other flowers really never grew much, but stayed green. After a formidable black aphid infestation, I pulled the plug and harvested yesterday. Was in a rush, but soaked for a few minutes in baking soda and lemon juice and agitated the cuttings well. Boy was there a lot of crap and aphids on these cuttings. I rinsed and laid on a rack to dry. My whole downstairs smells like weed, just off these few cuttings. Hope there is some here to enjoy. It gets expensive to purchase the seeds, pots, nutrients - not to mention all the time loving on ones plants. Anyway, this is all I’m left with. The nice fat flower is at the bottom left on the drying rack. Next grow (which are an inch tall now) will be getting frequent doses of neem oil, safer spray, and BT to try and avoid the crazy pest challenges. I’ve learned a lot here and enjoy the humorous, helpful, and friendly community. Thanks much!

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You got something :star_struck::facepunch:t2:…good job Congrats

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