Pest Management. One of the most critical aspects of maintaining a healthy cultivation space.

CHALLENGE
Efficiently mitigate grow room pests.

SOLUTION
Implement a Koolfog cannabis fogging system.

BENEFIT
Cannabis plants flourish.

Why is effective cannabis pest management so important?

When it comes to maintaining the ideal growing environment, an organic IPM (integrated pest management) plan is essential. The development of cannabis pest infestations can be quite devastating for a cannabis grow facility. A solid IPM program saves cultivators time and money by mitigating crop damage and loss. Adequate IPM helps stabilize ecosystems, while providing natural alternatives to traditional synthetic pesticides, creating a safer work environment for employees and plants.

Balancing Cannabis Pest Management within Microclimates

A balanced microclimate and ecosystem prevents unwanted pests from overpopulating and doing vast damage within a garden. With traditional pesticide usage, this balance is frequently disrupted by killing both the pest and its natural predator, unintentionally causing the pest to become resistant to the pesticide used. The chance of resistance increases within improper cannabis pest management strategies. Alternatively, IPM applies a pesticide at the right moment in a pest’s life cycle, when the pesticide will be most effective. Typically, those looking for alternatives to toxic pesticides utilize natural essential oils. Essential oils help activate natural defense mechanisms within plants, while disrupting the offending pest and preventing them from taking over.

A promising peer-reviewed study published in 2012 by the Entomological Society of America shows how “The selection of EOs (essential oils) as botanicals for pest control restricts products to extracts containing several hundred well-known compounds with a long history of human use, predictable toxicology, efficacy, and environmental fate. This long history allows one to make an educated choice from the 139,000 known plant secondary metabolites, eliminating the uncertainties inherent in considering the many other classes of botanical insecticides. The development of EOs as plant protection products is especially suited to organic farming as well as to integrated pest management. They are natural in origin and biodegradable, have diverse physiological targets within insects, and, consequently, may delay the evolution of insect resistance. As a result, EOs have been embraced by the public and organic growers as an alternative or complementary approach to synthetic pesticides.”

How a Koolfog Cannabis Fogging System Combats Pests

Introducing a high-pressure automated fogging system is a precise process. Operating at pressures of 1000 psi+, Koolfog produces a dense fog with billions of micron-sized water droplets that can completely penetrate a flowering canopy, reaching into the furthest crevices. IPM agents can be infused directly into the fog on a schedule. When combined with effective IPM agents such as hydrogen peroxide-based additives or various essential oil blends, cannabis pests can be eliminated. According to the University of Connecticut’s Integrated Pest Management Program’s website “Horticultural oils (or essential oils) are most effective against many soft-bodied pests including aphids, adelgids, spider mites, scale insects, greenhouse whiteflies, mealybugs, plant bugs, lace bugs, and some caterpillars.”

The high-pressure fog system can be designed for small or single compartment cannabis growing facilities, screen houses and shade houses, or larger-scale greenhouse operations with multiple zones. Sitting underneath cannabis facility control systems, growers output fog at constant pressure levels, pulse output, or output using variable pressure control and staging.

Additives can be accurately measured during this process and automatically delivered, reducing labor requirements and increasing cannabis pest management efficiency.

Cannabis plants flourish.

Cannabis Fogging Is An Efficient & Safe IPM Solution

Maintaining healthy plants is essential in managing potential infestation and controlling pest populations. A well thought out work-flow for foliage and soil sustenance will help healthy plants fight off pests. In a similar manner to that of a human immune system, plants have their own defense that becomes stronger as they built up immunity to pests and diseases. An effective cannabis pest management plan minimizes threats so that plants have better quality, smell and flavor, with bigger yield.