Humans aren’t the only organisms who love marijuana. Growers know the other ones all too well: spider mites and broad mites, thrips, aphids, root aphids, whiteflies, powdery mildew, fungus gnats, and gray mold have visited most growers’ plants at one time or another.

They can ruin a crop, or lower its harvest value and quality, in a very short time.

The battle against marijuana pests often does just as much damage to plants as the pests can, if not more. Some growers use poisons such as Avid and Eagle 20. These poisons are government-prohibited for use on legal marijuana crops, because they harm consumers. They also harm growers and anybody who comes in contact with them.

Ethical growers seek non-poisonous pesticides and fungicides, but are faced with a confusing, dizzying array of products and unproven product claims. Many so-called natural marijuana pest control products contain Neem, horticultural soap, sulfur, spinosad, pyrethrin, or herbal extracts.

Azamax, made by the Scotts Miracle-Gro company General Hydroponics, contains Neem extract, is very expensive, and doesn’t always work well. Sulfur burners work well against powdery mildew and mites, but are dangerous and messy to use.

Most non-chemical products used to fight aphids, thrips, mites and other insect pests must be applied every 1-3 days for 21 days or longer due to the hatchling cycle that can see you kill off all adults, but not eggs, so a new set of babies hatches a few days later, and you have to spray and spray and spray again.

It takes work to mix foliar spray and root drench in an effort to save your marijuana plants, and many growers try Azamax and other expensive control products and find they don’t work well, harm plants, and are very expensive to use.

That’s why we were fortunate to discover Sierra Natural Science (SNS), a California horticultural product innovator with actual chemists and botanists on staff. For 30 years, SNS has been making holistic, safe, natural, effective products that help cannabis growers and growers of food plants protect their crops.

SNS told me they started their family-run business with a commitment to make all-natural products that work extremely well but aren’t toxic to plants, growers, consumers. Their foundational commitment is supplemented by dedication to science, organically-sourced plant-produced compounds (phytochemicals), and the most modern/sanitary manufacturing processes, quality control, and packaging protocols so their products stay fresh and effective longer.

It isn’t enough to know that plant-derived compounds such as rosemary oil included in SNS formulas can deter spider mites, thrips and other cannabis attackers. SNS has to properly source and process source organic rosemary, thyme, peppermint, alfalfa and other safe compounds from the highest-quality providers, and work with the materials when they’re at their freshest.

Some people would think you can just buy rosemary oil and other essential oils, put them into water, and spray them on plants. But it doesn’t work that way. That’s why SNS uses a customized, proprietary distillation and refining system that they call “The Dragon” to extract essential oils and other materials from organic plants known to have anti-pest and fungicidal properties.

Their scientists explained you must have extensive botanical knowledge and product goals so you know which plant-derived products work for specific applications. You have to source organic plant materials and properly extract compounds from them. That’s what SNS does, and it’s how they ensure batch consistency, interdiction effectiveness, and shelf life.

Before I discovered Sierra Natural Science products, I had bad results when I used so-called natural products on my cannabis plants. I recall a Neem-product so thick it gummed up my plants leaves, interfering with their ability to transpire. When I used to use Azamax, the extreme oily viscosity of the product wrecked my expensive pH meter bullet probe, costing me big money and leading to inaccurate foliar spray pH readings that harmed my plants.

There are other problems with pesticides and fungicides. In most legalized cannabis states, state regulators generate lengthy lists of natural and chemical pesticides and fungicides that can or can’t be used on marijuana. The federal government also has a say in which products can be used on consumable agricultural crops.

Grower don’t need to worry about those lists if they use SNS–the company has such high standards for product formulas, ingredients, and manufacturing techniques that its products are exempt from EPA regulation. They’re designated “minimum risk pesticides” that pose little to no risk to human health or the environment, and are exempted from the requirement that they be registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide (FIFRA) Act.

Such exemption comes because SNS did the hard work to create totally safe products made from Nature. They even went the extra mile by instituting a heavy metals testing program.

And because SNS products are exempt from EPA registration, legal cannabis growers who are required to report use of EPA-registered pesticides and fungicides can use SNS products and save time and money because reporting isn’t necessary.

Not only that, cannabis crops grown using only SNS products for control of pests, molds and mildews won’t contain harmful pesticide or fungicide residues that cause state cannabis regulators and dispensaries to trash buds due to toxic contamination.

Cannabis Pest Control Products With Long Shelf Life

If you’ve ever tried to brew your own compost tea, or used so-called natural pesticides and fungicide products, you’ve probably experienced fermentation or spoilage. I’ve thrown away numerous batches of compost tea that I made myself, or purchased from a grow store, along with batches of root zone beneficial microbes and other products because they’d gone bad.

The smell of rotten eggs isn’t what you want to smell when you open a newly-bought bottle!

SNS scientists explained why competing brands often fail that way. Raw materials can’t all just be thrown into solution together at the same time, stirred, bottled, and shipped, they said. Instead, the product’s components must be carefully added to solution in a certain order, at the right temperature, and with the right carrier materials. Otherwise, spoilage happens.

Because I grow marijuana indoors and outdoors in a region where aphids, thrips, spider mites, budworms, powdery mildew and botrytis (gray mold) are commonly found in the environment, I’ve fought many battles to protect my marijuana plants.

No product, not even the ones growers should never use such as Avid and Eagle 20, will work all the time to stop all pests and pathogens. How you apply these products (such as time of day, particle size of spray or fog, parts per million concentration and pH of your foliar spray, and at what intervals you apply them) affect how well products work.

I’ve tested SNS against Azamax, Naturalyte, Safer, Safari 20SG, Captain Jack’s Deadbug Brew and other competing brands, and have seen the obvious superiority of the SNS products, not just in stopping pests and pathogens, but in ease of use, plant safety, and cost/benefit ratios.

For example, I had three adult clones from the same motherplant infested with weird white aphids that looked like furry, science-fiction dinosaurs. I sprayed one plant with Azamax, one with horticultural soap and Neem, one with an SNS product. I followed the manufacturer’s instructions for spray dosage, timing, and day intervals. Of the three sprays, the SNS did the best to immediately shrivel the adult aphids, their eggs, and hatchlings.

Now let’s take a brief look at some of several SNS products that deter and/or kill marijuana attackers:

SNS-203 is a concentrated anti-pest formula used as a foliar spray and as a soil drench to kill and repel fungus gnats, root aphids, thrips, whiteflies, and similar pests. It contains pure rosemary and clove extracts specifically made for horticultural use. SNS-203 also attacks fungi and algae that provide food for some marijuana pests. It kills marijuana pests directly by deleting their body fluids… turning them into crispy critters. Use SNS-203 in pure hydroponics systems such as deep water culture.

As you may have had the bad luck to find out, root aphids are vicious and hard to kill. I recommend dosing your plants with SNS-203 as a preventive whether you suspect you have root aphids or not. It’s one of few products marijuana growers can use to stop root aphids.

SNS-209 is a systemic pest control formula that enters plants and makes them taste bad so marijuana pests won’t want to eat them. The bad taste comes from rosemeric acid, which doesn’t harm your plants or you. This formula doesn’t kill pests on contact, it just makes plants unappealing to them. You feed it to your cannabis plants from start of growth and continue for 2-3 weeks. Then discontinue use and administer the product again every 2-3 weeks. It can stay in your hydroponics reservoir and works fine with hydroponics nutrients.

SNS-217 comes as a ready-to-use and a concentrate targeted specifically to destroy spider mites. Whereas many spider mite interventions, including Azamax, require multiple applications and don’t always kill mites and their eggs, SNS-217 does kill both!!! It’s wickedly and wonderfully devious how SNS-217 uses natural ingredients to dehydrate and kill adult mites while coating their eggs so that they never hatch. This is a foliar spray you need to lay on heavy. You can use it frequently and safely, even in bloom phase, as a fixer or a preventive.

SNS-244 is a potent fungicide that comes as a ready-to-use and a concentrate. It’s designed to kill fungi and mildew, and can be effective against powdery mildew and even gray mold. Not only does it stomp fungi and mold spores, it also strengthens your marijuana plants so they can better resist fungi and molds.

Sierra Natural Science is one of few “good people” companies serving the marijuana grower market. As we’ve noted in other articles, there are way too many scammers in our industry. When we contact a manufacturer of a product or products sold in grow shops and ask for customer support, technical information, and solid proof their products are properly made and perform well, if they ignore us, we know it’s because their products suck, and they don’t want anybody asking questions about them.

In contrast, the people at Sierra Natural Science are friendly, transparent, grower-centered, scientifically-minded, and committed to making products that stop mites, aphids, whiteflies, thrips, powdery mildew, gray mold and other cannabis enemies in the safest, fastest, most cost-effective ways possible.

The SNS team is made up of honest people who work passionately to innovate safe, natural products that help marijuana growers guard their plants to ensure clean, huge harvests. They know how important organic, safe materials are, especially for organic marijuana growers.

They enjoy talking to growers and are happy to explain how best to mix and match their products to protect your crops the most.

Some final notes on using SNS products:

  • You can use them for longer, and more safely, in bloom phase than you can use any other interventions.
  • Some SNS products can be used to spray down grow room equipment and other materials to eliminate pests, molds, and mildews.
  • Always use reverse osmosis water in your cannabis garden and especially when creating foliar sprays using Sierra Natural Science products.
  • Please note that foliar spraying against marijuana pests is best done at the end of your lights-on cycle, or an hour before the cycle starts. If you’re growing outdoors, do foliar spraying an hour before sunrise or when dusk arrives.
  • Don’t do foliar spraying when lights are on or when plants are in full sun.

I love the attractive natural smell, efficacy, and easy usability of Sierra Natural Science, and your marijuana plants will too. When you no longer see sap-sucking insects or crop-ruining outbreaks of powdery mildew or botrytis gray mold, you’ll be glad you used Sierra Natural Science formulas. Check out this YouTube video for more information about these excellent marijuana plant protection products…