Nailed it. Spraying Avid and Eagle 20 on all your plants, then selling them to unknowing consumers, yeah, that type of person is who no one needs to listen to. 50 lights worth of neurotoxins out to the public, without a single concern!
I have posted here, and shown with pics and a harvest, mites can be beaten by non toxic methods. Not easy nor fun to do, but 100% can be done, I did it and saved a harvest. Were buds 100 % no…but were Buds 100 % safe…YUP!!!
@desertgrown and @jetdro you said it much better than I. 
It’s not always easy, but for me it comes down to an integrity thing. I do my very best to put out the most pure product I can.
When I started working for my current employer, one of my first hurdles was cleaning up one of the warehouses which had spider mites. The warehouse had seven flowering rooms, one harvested every 10 days. So at any given day, I had several flowering rooms which really couldn’t be sprayed. I can honestly say beneficial insects made it possible. Without them, I don’t know that I could have gotten a handle on pests. 
Since many of us are on lock down, I’m voting for a lifting of the ‘like’ restrictions lmao! But yeah, I’ll come back and like posts in about four hours lol.
I’m sorry, I forgot to reply to this. My suggestion would be to make sure you keep up on your spraying as long as possible. When you are ready to flower, put in a good supply of Persimilis. If you can afford it, and it makes you feel safer, put two rounds of predators in. Once the buds start frosting up, it does hinder the mites’ movement on the plant. When I was ridding the warehouse of mites there were times when a population would pop up in mid flower. I did do some spraying of neem and essential oils to get populations in check, but you have to be really careful not to burn the pistils (and make sure neem is emulsified - super important imho). Hth.
Topic cleaned… please let’s keep this on topic now…
I am all for using predators on insects/mites, even nematodes, if it’ll help rid my area of the unwanted pests. I’ve been a natural pest predator advocate for years.
The biggest problem I believe most growers have with using predators is that they don’t understand how to use them or when. Also, insecticides are often less expensive than purchasing live bugs and insecticides can be used right away with results becoming noticeable quicker than with the predators.
This instant gratification can lead to growing and preducing toxic cannabis that no one should consume. Especially those who use cannabis for medical reasons and those with any type of compromised immune system. These people deserve to have access to cannabis that has no residues on it or contaminates in it whatsoever.
I don’t believe they are asking for too much, do you?
The only way to achieve this is to continue to educate growers on the hidden dangers of the products they use. Mother Nature has a cure for every ailment. Nature takes better care of itself than we ever could. Educating people on the vital importance of using natural predators vs chemicals on the plants they intend to consume should be a hot topic, but it’s not quite there yet.
I’ve been trying to learn more about predators, and I think you are 100% correct. There is a little bit of a learning curve (like most anything) on the how/what/when/where.
It didn’t take long to crunch the numbers on a commercial scale to see that bugs work for free - people, not so much lol. Pay someone to spray + pesticide + equipment multiple times a week, or release bugs and let them do their thing.
Again 100% on point imo regarding patients/customers/etc deserving a clean product. My opinion, but I think we have enough cancer in the world. If putting out a clean product helps the people and/or environment, I’m all for it.
So here’s one thing that came up as we learn about predators. Koppert has the patient on those little plastic sachets. They push them like crazy, and they do putthe predators where they need to be. However, in a large scale setting it was nearly impossible to put out and replace all those little sachets - let alone all the plastic and whatnot that was going into the landfill. That’s how we learned about the little cardboard, reusable cups that I posted a picture of. Then we buy the predators in bulk and refill cups as needed.
@Grapefruitroop this might be a good option for you to add more predators and maybe save a little coin. We had originally made our own holders out of dixie cups and paper clips, but we were later told the paper clips are too thin and not attractive to the predators by an entomologist. So, you could make your own, but make sure the cup/holder is a width and material which would be attractive to the beneficials.
And on another note, we picked up some beneficial attractor plant seeds from johnnysseeds.com for the outdoor season. Maybe it will help, maybe not. If nothing else it will be a fun experiment. 
Yes I think this is one of the reasons as well, instructions on pesticide bottles are easy to understand, compared to working out sq ft of area for predator numbers lol.
I think once you use them, you realize they are worth there money in the longevity of protection they give. They work well for me keeping the fungus gnat levels to almost 0. They have waves that gradually rise in numbers with the fungus gnat population, and then decrease again once the food depletes. I have had mine going over a year now.
Have you guys ever taken a magnifying scope and watched what the predators do to the mites? They are mite destroyers for sure! They kill by locating and eating the other bug alive and they have voracious appetites… eating bug after bug, like they never get full!
Has anyone used the stuff Ed Rosenthal advocates?
Call me crazy, lazy (or both). but this has been working great for me. A little twist on @JoeCrowe method, I submerge (inverted) clones and vegging plants in a 6 gal bucket of plain water mixed with 48 oz of 3% H2O2 and swish them around for a couple minutes. It kills mites only, but the agitation washes off most of the eggs. Next day I repeat the swim, using Safer’s Soap instead. Usually this is good enough. If not I spray with H2O2 solution again. Once they’re flowering in the tent, I shower them w/H2O2 solution B4 lights out, using my tree sprayer, every other day for a week. I think the plants like the shower & it kills PM too. Done! No residue, and no mites for the past 3 months. Just my $.02
I had one go head first into my 100x scope…,we are damn lucky they are not the size of a cat or we would all be FOOD. Scary little monsters, that earned the Borg moniker.
Now I see the point in not using chemicals on a flowing plant, now what’s the harm in using say forbid or floromite while still in veg? The stuff only stays in the existing plant material and then only for 14 days. So with that said you should be able to use that then veg another 3 weeks before flowering and all should be well as there would be plenty of new growth and well past the life of the chemical. Not trying to do anything but gain knowledge here. When I used it it was only on an empty room and some very very small clones that vegged a month before flip
wait are you spraying flowering plants with h2o2 as an ipm or only when you have mites?
found this and thought it pertinent enough to post for discussion.
http://blogs.evergreen.edu/fieldstudy-weacol19/files/2018/03/Rearing-Protocols.pdf
Small Scale Rearing of Lacewings, Predatory Mites,and Entomopathogenic Nematodes
This is the most succinct small scale production technique I have found. It uses easily accessible feeding materials, as well as inexpensive materials to create enclosures. It could likely use some adaptation to efficiently store the containers, however for my purpose this method should do well.
Yes, Intermittent Pest Management. When I see mites, I spray!
where do you get potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate?
If you’re in the US, always check ebay for stuff like this. Here’s the best price for the lowest quantity of each to suit your needs:
Potassium Sorbate:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Potassium-Sorbate-1oz-Wine-Making-Mead-Fermentation-Stabilizer-Food-Grade/321496185773?hash=item4adaaa7bad:g:MrsAAOSwv0tVf014
Sodium Benzoate
There’s cheaper Sodium Benzoate, but it’s located in Lithuania.
Trying to remember how that stargate lot beat these things… some kind of pulse weapon might work 
