Bugs?! In our cannabis?! No, not necessarily. As part of our mission to growing and nurturing exceptionally good plants, we have taken a clean approach to our cultivation. Not only is our facility clean and efficient – our methods are too. Keep reading to learn more about IPM and what it means to utilize “beneficial bugs” in our precision cultivation system.
What is IPM?
IPM stands for Integrated Pest Management, it’s a blanket term that describes several different environmentally-conscious practices of controlling pests through the use of biocontrols, bioinsecticides, and biofungicides. IPM approaches pest control with techniques of prevention, reduction, and elimination. It combines the use of physical controls, resistant species, biopesticides, and least-toxic chemical controls to manage and prevent insect pests in agriculture production, with an emphasis on prevention. IPM can be, and is, frequently used in cannabis production.
IPM isn’t an organic practice but does discourage the use of pesticides. This approach seeks to use natural predators or parasites to control pests, using only selective pesticides as backup methods only when pests are unable to be controlled by natural means. Under this approach, growers will spray selective pesticides and other chemicals only when a crop needs it, which means generally fewer pesticides are used.
To reiterate, IPM isn’t a single pest control method, but rather, involves integrating multiple control methods based on site information obtained through inspection, monitoring, and reports. Because IPM isn’t a single method, it can be applied to all pests that need to be managed on either an indoor/greenhouse or outdoor crop, including:
- Insects (aphids, beetles, fleas)
- Arachnids (mites, ticks, spiders)
- Microbial organisms (bacteria, fungi, viruses)
- Weeds
- Mollusks (snails and slugs)
- Vertebrates (rodents, birds, snakes)
When most people think of pests in their cannabis garden they think of the more common varieties: spider mites, russet mites, aphids, and thrips. However, there are also soil-dwelling pests that can exist without your knowledge. Some of the soil-dwelling pests that plague cannabis plants are root aphids, fungus gnat larvae, and grubs. These pests will decrease the health and vigor of your plants by feeding on the roots – so it goes without saying, it’s just as important to control pests below the soil as it is to control those above soil. IPM can be utilized to control both above and below pests for the healthiest cannabis plants possible.
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How is IPM used in cannabis?
Another recurring problem in indoor/greenhouse cannabis production is plant diseases. Cannabis plants are especially subject to foliage disease, according to GreenHouse Grower. If you didn’t know, cannabis greenhouses and grow rooms can be quite literally hotbeds for pests and pathogens due to the warm, humid conditions, tightly packed growth, and ample crops for food. Pest problems can develop and spread rapidly in cannabis crops, so getting to the root of the problem before it occurs is a critical pillar of IPM.
In cannabis cultivation, there are two different primary growth cycles: vegetative and flower. These cycles require different IPM strategies which focus on prevention, reduction, or overall elimination depending on where the plant is in its growth cycle.
How does MJ Verdant use IPM?
For MJ Verdant, pasteurization is first and foremost in Integrated Pest Management. We prefer to use applications such as bioinsecticides, biocontrols, and bio-engineered microbes.
“It’s always been important to me to cultivate clean cannabis, far before an MRA existed with an ‘approved pesticide list,’” explains Cultivation Director Chris Gioia.
There are multiple kinds of pasteurization: heat, chemical, dry heat, and steam. We utilized all of these methods to perpetuate our cultivation cycles.
We also utilized a variety of predatory bugs on our crops to do everything from keeping our substrate clean, eliminate pests including aphids, broad mites, thrips, and more, and prevent fungus gnat larvae. The use of these bugs is carefully monitored and adapted as the needs of our crop change. Here is a summary of the predatory bugs we are using right now:
- Amblyseius swirskii (swirski mites) are used to target pets like broad mites, thrips, spider mites, and more. When the pests aren’t around A. swirskii consumes pollen.
- Aphidius colemani (parasitic wasps) are used to naturally eliminate pests like aphids from the harvest.
- Dalotia coriaria (rove beetles) are used to prevent, control, and manage fungus gnat larvae, root aphids, and thrip.
- Orius insidiosus (minute pirate bugs) are used to eliminate thrips. They are said to be the most effective because they can attack and kill all mobile stages of thrips.
- Steinernema feltiae (parasitic nematodes) are used to keep our substrate clean and the plants in exceptional health.
How do we ensure there are no bugs on the final product?
A common concern with the use of IPM is whether predatory bugs and their waste products will be present when the flowers are harvested. This is a myth.
The purpose of biocontrols utilized in IPM is to actively hunt pests to reduce pest pressure.
This means the biocontrols don’t target the flowering nodes and don’t colonize in the inner nodes of a cannabis plant. The predatory bugs utilized don’t inhibit negative effects on the plant, but they do release pheromones to repel pests and create a symbiotic relationship with the plant.
If there is no food source for the predator bugs, they will leave in search of food elsewhere. It’s also important to note that indoor predator bugs are usually very small in size and difficult to see with an untrained eye.
What about waste from the biocontrols? The waste produced is limited and not on the flowering crop itself. It is very unlikely to see signs of predator bugs near the end of the flowering cycle or in the finished product. Even when using larger predatory insects, the bugs will leave the plants when harvested and dried. Here at MJ Verdant, we actively use bioinsecticides and have specific procedures that clean our cannabis plants.
Why does MJ Verdant use IPM?
When deciding to embark on this cannabis grow journey, it was decided early on we would take an exceptionally rigorous and clean approach to our cultivation. We care about every aspect of cannabis cultivation and use precision formulas that take into account strain choices, growing substrate, water delivery, nutrients, and environmental controls.
IPM falls in line with our mission to produce exceptional cannabis and we put the health of our plants, employees, and customers at the forefront of every decision we make. We would never put something on, in, or around our plants that we wouldn’t want in our own bodies. With IPM we can safely minimize both the number of pests and pesticide applications on our plants, which leads to healthy plants with stronger immune systems that can naturally ward off pests and diseases.
IPM is also often considered more labor-intensive than conventional pest control and may require more upfront resources, however, costs generally get lower over time because the underlying cause of the pest problem is addressed.