Integrated Pest Management: Best Practices for Indoor Cultivation

There are many effective ways to manage pests and pathogens in indoor cultivation. You have to be engaged in all aspects in order to have a shot at being consistently successful in this arena. It’s not easy. Let’s look at three of the keys to the best practices when it comes to Integrated Pest Management (IPM): sprays, air flow and room environment. 

Sprays

If I had to choose just one product to manage pests and pathogens in our indoor cultivation, it would be SuffOil-X. SuffOil is an organic, liquid dual-action pesticide and fungicide. The reason why our team at Mother Magnolia believes in the efficacy and safety of SuffOil is simple: It’s an OMRI listed organic product with a simple oil-based formula that just plain works! Here’s why we love it. 

The two most common pests and pathogens we deal with month after month are powdery mildew and aphids. 80% of SuffOil is a highly refined horticultural mineral oil that suffocates aphids and mites on contact. It also is effective in killing any latent eggs on the leaf surface. 

Similarly, the mineral oil creates a thin membrane on the leaf surface that inhibits mold spores from taking root and establishing. We have seen a dramatic drop in the amount of powdery mildew in our grow rooms since we introduced Suffoil into our lineup. 

Let’s look at the other two techniques we use in order to control pests and pathogens besides an organic spray. 

Air Flow

First, it is mission critical to have optimal air flow in indoor cultivation. To that end, we ensure that all of our rooms have plenty of fans that keep the air stirring and moving in every corner of the room. This keeps the environment optimized so that powdery mildew can’t get a foot hold. 

Room Environment

Secondly, we keep our temperature and humidity dialed in to ensure the powdery mildew has the least favorable environment for spores to develop. This means keeping our dehumidifiers and HVAC dialed in for an optimal VPD. We tend to run our rooms on the warmer / drier side of the scale durning the final quarter of flower to ensure that the room environment works to keep pathogens in check. 

Learn More About Integrated Pest Management

Want a deeper dive into how we manage pests and pathogens? Watch our short YouTube breakdown on IPM best practices here. While you’re there, subscribe to the Mother Magnolia channel for more cultivation insights. For a full structured approach, check out our complete online cultivation course, where we cover IPM and every other key aspect of commercial growing.