If you’re hashtag #blessed enough to live in a part of the country where you have the right to grow marijuana, go you! You’re one step closer to being steps away from homegrown medication. Growing marijuana is one thing but keeping your plants healthy is another, especially when it comes to marijuana pests.

How to Check for Marijuana Pests

It may take a little longer, but – in our opinion – the extra time involved in organic cannabis gardening is more than worth it, you can’t put a price on having complete control for how your plants are cared for. There’s peace of mind in being able to trust the pot you’re enjoying hasn’t been treated with harsh and dangerous chemicals, like the kind some breeders might turn to treat the bugs and diseases that may crop up from time to time.

Once bugs and molds and other annoyances have settled in, it can be difficult to get rid of them. Every diligent gardener will:

Regularly check their plant and leaves for signs of stress, bug bites, and discoloration of the buds.
Never enter the grow room directly after coming in from outdoors. This will help avoid tracking bugs from outside.
Don’t introduce other cut plants or flowers to your grow room (unless they are companion plants – more on that later) to avoid possible cross-contamination.

Of course, even the most seasoned green thumb can end up losing part of their crop to persistent pests. You don’t have to race to the home and garden section of your local hardware store just yet. Below we’ve compiled a list of popular and safe organic pest control methods, and you may already have most of the tools needed lying around the house.

Sterilized Soil

Although unlikely, there’s a chance that the soil you buy for your gardening project might contain eggs or even larvae of pests that love marijuana plants. This is especially problematic for indoor growers since there are no natural predators present inside your sterile grow room.

The good news is you don’t have to shell out an arm and a leg for sterilized soil, you can sort it out all by yourself: heat your soil up to an internal temperature of around 160 to 180 degrees F, which is high enough to kill most if not all molds, marijuana pests, weeds, and seeds.

NB: In raising the temp of your soil to such an extreme degree, you’re basically cooking it, which will kill everything that could harm your plants, but also the chemicals and nutrients that help your plant to grow. Make sure to pick up a high quality, organic fertilizer to feed your growing greens to reintroduce important vitamins and minerals necessary for a healthy harvest.

Let Your Plants Enjoy the Breeze

Setting up an oscillating fan in your grow room does double duty: for one, many bugs, specifically the winged variety, don’t like the blowing breeze, making it an effective way of keeping pests at bay.

Proper air circulation in your grow room is key to maintaining moisture levels in the air and soil. Too damp, your plant may develop root rot, or the buds and leaves can develop mold. Additionally, a gentle breeze can help guard your weed plants against problems like fungus gnats, spider mites, and white powdery mildew.

Sprinkle About Some Diatomaceous Earth

A complicated name for a simple solution, diatomaceous earth is fossil dust that you can sprinkle on top of your soil and anywhere else in your room where bugs may try to enter. It’s harmless to mammals and plants but will tear and dehydrate bugs on contact.

Grow Companion Plants

Have you ever visited a vineyard? You may have noticed rose bushes planted at the head of each row of vines. This tried-and-true trick has been used by generations of growers to keep bugs from attacking the delicate and expensive grapes.

This same technique can be used when growing marijuana – nicknamed “companion plants”, planting naturally repellent plants like geraniums or marigolds may help to keep leaf-eating insects and worms from destroying your precious pot crop.

Other plants that are popular among the cannabis cultivating crowd:

Basil – its strong scent is known to keep away thrips, beetles, aphids, and flies, and some growers swear that it can increase oil production and flavor of their marijuana plants.
Beans – the musical fruit absorbs nitrogen from the air and deposits it into the soil as nitrates, chemicals that are essential to marijuana plant growth.
Garlic – a natural fungicide that defends against pests, molds, and deadly diseases.
Mint – these plants smell great to us (and can help mask the scent of marijuana plants) but are awful to marijuana pests.
Chili peppers – it’s believed that the root system of the chili pepper plant gives off a chemical that protects marijuana plants from rot.

Use an Organic Spray Repellent

There are products on the market that, when sprayed around the perimeter of your grow space, will repel or kill bugs before they can even reach your plants, but you can make similar products at home from items you may already have lying around.

You can create basic insecticides by combining either vegetable oil and soap (combine one cup oil with one tablespoon of soap, then dilute two teaspoons of this mixture in one quart of water) or soap and water (combine 1 ½ teaspoon of mild soap with a quart of water in a spray bottle), adding other natural ingredients like neem oil, garlic, and chili powder to increase their effectiveness. Tip: spray plants at dusk or dawn for best results.

Other pungent repellents like cinnamon oil, clove oil, and coriander oil have been used to successfully keep marijuana pests at bay without causing damage to the plant, but some strains may have adverse reactions – it’s important to test on a small area to ensure you don’t harm the entire plant.

The Bottom Line

If you take care of your marijuana plants, they’ll take care of you – treating potential problems with natural and safe solutions guarantees you a healthy harvest that’s equally safe to consume. As always, the best way to start your garden is with superior quality seeds, and you can find those for sale on our website. Have a look!