Welcome guests?

[fly poster]

My grow is going really well, I have had a problem with fungus gnats that I have managed to stay on top of.
I left my window open, and the zip to my tent undone for a few hours ( window is shielded from the light), and have a few new residents. Hover-flies, and harlequin beetles. gonna be a lot more careful for my next grow, and have a sterile environment. My question is: are they OK for my plants, and if so, can they live alright in the confines of a tent, or should I set them free?
I have a park on my doorstep, so get lots of insect visitors.

Cheers.

ETA: 4th week flowering. 12/12.

 

[CannabisDog]

Insects are general bad for your grow there are some exception like lady bugs, but your best to keep insect out of your grows they can carry other spores and mold to your plants and growing medium.

 

[FreezerBoy]

What sort of media are you using? Bugs love moist media:soil, rockwool etc. I know they make "covers" for rockwool for just this reason. Maybe it could work with soil too.

 

[pinecone]

Insects are general bad for your grow there are some exception like lady bugs, but your best to keep insect out of your grows they can carry other spores and mold to your plants and growing medium.

There are several schools of thought on bugs. One school of though is to keep all bug out and to use whatever "tools" you need to accomplish this. Another school of thought is to allow bugs, monitor populations, and resort to the least toxic of the bug reduction tools when you notice a population getting out of control. Yet another school of thought is to allow all bugs in and to try and establish a balanced ecosystem so have predators, but also bad bugs to support the population of predators. In the last case you might have spider mites, but also predatory mites, lady bugs, and rove beetles to eat them.

I made a conscious decision to introduce bugs into my indoor garden by using some decomposing leaf material from outside as mulch. I don't regret this decision one bit. I have a bunch of critters working away breaking down organic matter and presumably eating each other under mulch, but I don't have any visible signs of spider mites, fungus gnats, thrips, or root aphids. I doubt that it would be possible for a fungus gnats to get established in my grow now as the larva would get eaten before they could turn into mature gnats.

Anyway - bugs aren't always bad.

Pine

I pulled this piece of stem out from under the mulch: The pictured bugs are some sort of soil mite that feed on decomposing organic mater - or feed on bacteria that feed on decomposing organic matter. I'm sure I have some other bugs that eat these guys.