OK, so we were discussing mites on another thread. The mods grumbled about staying on topic there. So I will start this thread here. This is critical information, especially now that broad mites have adapted to dine on cane berries in the USA and are now spread from coast to coast (as of 2016). Spider mites, especially 2 spotted spider mites are also a serious problem with growers inside and out. They can multiply and devastate a grow in a matter of days, especially on hot days.
So post your methods for identifying and dealing with these little microscopic fâers.
Identifying spider mites on your plants: the leaves will look like someone spray painted them with a fine mist. What has happened is that spider mites will suck the juices out of plants leaves. That leaves an empty white space where the green chlorophyll was, and it appears as a white speck on the leaf. They do this repeatedly drilling holes on the leaves and the specks add up to look like spray paint. If you turn the leaf over you may see tiny specks moving around. A 10x lens is usually enough to see them with. I use a 30x lens to look for them though. They look ugly, and have the shape of a grain of short grain rice with two black spots on either side. They lay green shiny round eggs that are about half their size all over the undersides of leaves. You can Google âtwo spotted spider mitesâ for information and photos of them.
I keep a good healthy ammount of DE in my pots, never even had a fungus gnat in my pots. I did see some spider mites treated with de by an old hippy once too. Got a hand pump garden foger (for sevens dust) filled with DE and went to town on the plants. let the dust sit for 2 days and rinsed the plants, never saw another mite.
Had bad aphids last summer and used an organic spray that one can spray on vegetables and eat next day (or same day)âŚseveral brands out there.
The one I used had neem oil as main ingredient.
I bought a small hand sprayer at local hobby store and cut store bought organic spray by almost half dilution with water.
I diluted the store bought organic spray so I could do more spraying sessions closer together to get the eggs and also less film of spray on leaves (at full strength coats leaf with thick film that can effect some leaves adversely). I found the diluted spray worked well to kill aphids.
Avoid spraying buds and avoid spraying close to harvest. I spray up under all leaves (thus small hand sprayer for pressure to spray upside down).
I took my plants out of grow area and sprayed in tub. Never spray plants while under lightsâŚwill burn them badly. Then wait to dry before returning to grow area.
After all signs of aphids gone (about two weeks) I took plants back to tub and sprayed down with plain water to wash any residue and dead bugs away.
There are organic sprays one can make but posted this just for ease and rapid response. Avoid sprays that also kill fungus and molds and research still out on possible dangers of smoking neem residue so something to consider when using store bought sprays even when organic.
Also, cover top of soil so spray doesnât drip down into soil while spraying (I used small plastic garbage bags).
mine looked worse than thisâŚhad bad infestation that kinda crept up on meâŚno more, âin and outdoorâ, for me.
didnât have a close up but here are two pics of the poor infestedâŚall that leaf damage from aphids.
Can you unleash ladybugs and lacewings indoors? I let some loose on my plants when they were in veg just to kill anything that may have been out there and havenât had any major bug problems, but I am an outdoor grower.
Yes @Meesh , one can buy ladybugsâŚnot sure about lacewings (apparently they send less ladybugs than advertisedâŚmy friend called and they said the larger than actual number was because they supposed to breedâŚlol). A friend of mine that grows for a dispensary bought some for aphids and they worked.
Interesting read, but aphids are not mites. Aphids are easy to get rid of in comparison. I had aphids earlier this year. One dose of neem and they were gone. I also added a swath of Tanglefoot at the base of my plants. Reason being that ants farm aphids, as well as mealy bugs and scale. So you do not want ants on your plants! Tanglefoot stops ants from running up and down the stem. Also aphids, scale crawlers and mites. Mites move a lot more and a lot faster than you might think. Tiny as they are.
Back to mites, you have to eradicate every one of them and their eggs. Or they bounce back. Ladybugs and lacewings will eat mites. Predator mites will also eat broad and spider mites. They may help control them. However they will not eat them #all#. Similar issue with soap and oil sprays. They kill 80-90%, but not 100%. So if I am more than 45 days from harvest, I reach for Avid (abamectin) myself. Avid is proven to kill 100% of mites. Spider mites, broad mites, hemp russet mites, cyclamen mites, and bamboo mites. Avid needs to be used with a non-ionic activator, such as an agricultural spreader/sticker (soap) spray. It will kill all stages of mite larva and nymphs and adults. It will not kill mite eggs, but the soap/spreader will do that on contact. The soap will also kill any hatched mites on contact. Avid is trans-laminar. That means it will permeate the leaves and mites dining on them from either side will croak. So I do not have to cover all surfaces of the plant to be effective with Avid. Avid has a short half life of about 8 hours. Avid is also photo sensitive. Light breaks it down. So I spray in the evening or just before lights out.
I rotate my mite spray regime depending on what I see. No sign of mites? I alternate spraying every 10 days regardless with refined neem oil spray, and then a blend of peroxide, soap and Listerine in water. With refined neem I use 2 TB per gallon of water. Refined neem does not need a spreader. Refined neem also has the aza removed. The peroxide blend is 1 cup 3% hydrogen peroxide, 1/2 tsp ag non-ionic soap/spreader and 1/4 cup of old school gold Listerine. These are both contact sprays, so I saturate every surface of the plant for it to be effective. If I am spraying with neem, I spray when it is 70 degrees or below. Otherwise leaf burn can occur. Again, these are contact sprays and will kill all stages of mites and eggs on contact. Oil kills bugs by smothering. Soap kills bugs by lowering the surface tension of water and drowning them. Peroxide will kill mites on contact but not eggs. Listerine is 30% alcohol, and that and the thyme oil in it also helps to kills bugs on contact.
If I see signs of mites? If I am more than 45 days from harvest I spray the entire plant with Avid. I apply Avid at a rate of 1/4 tsp per gallon of water with 1/2 tsp of non-ionic ag soap-spreader as an activator. If I am under 45 days to harvest. I spray every few days rotating the neem oil and peroxide spray right up until harvest time. Mites cannot build any immunity to oil, soap, peroxide or or alcohol. I could also rotate with Axa-Max or other refined aza blend to kill mites. Aza works slower than Avid, but it is on the list of allowed miticides for commercially grown cannabis in the state of Oregon. Note that Avid is not on the list of allowed miticides on commercially grown cannabis in Oregon. I do not grow commercial weed though. I could also use pyrethrins to kill mites, and that is also allowed in Oregon for commercial grows
Wow, thanks man. Copy/pasted and savedâŚgood stuff to know man if I ever need it (hope I wonâtâŚkinda careful after my aphid ordeal so strictly indoors for me (and no more, âin and outâ) so less likely but still possible)!
Yes, indoors can be better, if you stick to a protocol. It can be worse if you get an infestation indoors. I root clones indoors. They are small. I can dunk whole plants in a gallon bucket of bug potion. That keeps them free of mites, aphids, white fly, PM, and thrips. Outside I use a 4 gallon backpack sprayer.
I am amazed to see large growers on You Tube. They let people into their grow areas in street clothes. Bring the bugs in with you! Mites and other bugs can spread fast so prevention and control is key.
Iâm two weeks into flower and it looks like russet mites to me. Has any one used sulfur? Also whereâs the best place in California to order predator mites from. Any other tips to get this thru. Or should I throw them outside to finish and let nature control them.
Whatâs funny is I think my outdoor rosemary is where it came from! I released some predator mites and Iâm gonna get some lacewings also. Under 60-100 scope I can see milky white dots. I think these are eggs but I havenât seen a mite for sure yet.
Here they are now. I had just watered also so theyâre a little droopy. The paler one is a jungle spice and seems to be the most affected. Thanks for the advice and any more is appreciated! Also this is 5 weeks into flower.
I seriously doubt it, never had the reverse effect⌠Rosemary oil (extracted from leaves of the rosemary plants) can be sprayed easily onto the leaves, or you can put the oil into your watering/feed regimen @ 2 drops of oil per gallon. This practice will kill the spider mites. ⌠Rosemary essential oil effectively gets rid of pest and does not harm the Phytoseiulus persimilis the beneficial predatory mite.
Ok cool. I used the Californicus mite because of temps and humidity that they like. I was wondering about spraying EO I have peppermint and lavender also, but I will get rosemary. I have foliared in flower and if itâs light mist and then fans are good I havenât had problems. Thanks again for the help!
