Return of the spider mites

[Jimmy the vest uk]

Just started playing about with isopropyl alcohol.
I really like the fact that i know exactly what im spraying on my plants.
Took a test leaf that was infested with mites, put it under my digital microscope which has a side screen which is awesome btw then sprayed with a 1:1 mix iso and water, the mites stopped moving instantly and quickly turned into little black blobs.
So i took a test plant got the hose took her to a drain blasted her with plain water to smash off as many mite as i could then drenched her with the iso mix solution and left her to sit out of the direct light for 24 hours and she was happy.
Going to get busy with this stuff for the next 2 weeks and will get on here and let everyone know how i get on.
Wish me luck guys
Jim

So its been a long time since i said i would let everyone here know how well the isopropyl alcohol and water mix performed.
If anyone reading this has mites right now go get a small bottle of isopropyl alcohol mix it 50/50 water and spray or dip one plant first just to be safe. I had absolutely no negative signs on either of the strains i was running at the time i just took them out of the direct light for 24 hours then put them back again and they were happy.
I have a digital microscope with a little screen to the side, i took a leaf covered with mite, all moving around happy, laying eggs, making webs and just generally happy fucking me over until i sprayed them under the scope and i was amazed with what i see with my own eyes.
Every single mite stopped moving instantly, i mean instantly, so quick its unbelievable until you try yourself and if you have the same mites as me you will see the exact same thing.
I done this quite a few times just waiting to see a soldier mite move after the spray but it did not happen.
After one spray they are finished.
There is no way they can become immune as they apparently can to other pesticides.
They melt instantly.
Under the microscope they turn into little black blobs it was beautiful to watch but a bit strange to see every single one of them freeze instantly, like i felt the power of being able to destroy them after feeling beat by them for so many years but now i was far superiour.
So while i was away my parter decided to try tweak my new found process and took it upon himself to try submerge some of the smaller plants completely, pots and all. All the plants he did that to died within 24 hours.
It was something i have never seen before and hope to never see again.
They were just babys, they never had the chance to grow up and have the opportunity to grow over there neighbours you know, a chance at being the best, they was forced into a life of alcoholism from such a young age and they all died from alcohol abuse.
Thats me trying to be funny.
Basically dont submerge the root zone.
They was happy with a full dip and a light spray of the surface of the soil and the rim of the pot but you know what its like some people just cant leave things alone.
Im just lucky the bigger pots were to big to submerge in our tub or i may have lost my chosen keeper strains i worked so hard to find over past few years.
Main point is that its the best thing i have found to deal with spidermites as long as your not in flower as it will probably melt your trichomes.
Spider mites have haunted me for years, knowing now that i can kill them so easily really puts me at rest and to be honest im a bit proud of myself considering how determined i was to find something that done the job but could still give me an end product free from contamination.
I will happily admit that this all started with me watching a you tube video so really can i call it my idea? No, i cant but i can say i stuck at it searching for a healthy way to deal with spidermites without keep using some shop bought poison that i admit can work but at whos cost in the end? Anyone know about systematic pesticides?
I did think about the business opportunity this could be and i almost said to myself keep it to yourself and try make a business out of it which i still plan to do but i thought to myself all the people out there trying to get clean medicine and i wanna keep this to myself when i could potentially help lots of peoples health i said no dont be selfish do something like a volunteer im already blessed in life as it is.
Anyone wanna go use this info and create a spider mite wash and sell it feel free to do so i would love to have some involvement but either way im promoting a healthy way of dealing with spidermites so the end user doesnt have to suffer with contaminated medicine.
Thats the reason i took so long to reply, i was battling with my selfishness telling me to keep it to myself and try profit from it but in the end i decided to do whats right and help other people stop using fucked up chemicals when theres no need to and potentially help people before thinking about making some money because i know this could be big big business.
If you have taken the time to read this long ass message i hope i have been of some kind of help to you and good luck to everyone.
Jimmy

 

[PadawanWarrior]

So its been a long time since i said i would let everyone here know how well the isopropyl alcohol and water mix performed.
If anyone reading this has mites right now go get a small bottle of isopropyl alcohol mix it 50/50 water and spray or dip one plant first just to be safe. I had absolutely no negative signs on either of the strains i was running at the time i just took them out of the direct light for 24 hours then put them back again and they were happy.
I have a digital microscope with a little screen to the side, i took a leaf covered with mite, all moving around happy, laying eggs, making webs and just generally happy fucking me over until i sprayed them under the scope and i was amazed with what i see with my own eyes.
Every single mite stopped moving instantly, i mean instantly, so quick its unbelievable until you try yourself and if you have the same mites as me you will see the exact same thing.
I done this quite a few times just waiting to see a soldier mite move after the spray but it did not happen.
After one spray they are finished.
There is no way they can become immune as they apparently can to other pesticides.
They melt instantly.
Under the microscope they turn into little black blobs it was beautiful to watch but a bit strange to see every single one of them freeze instantly, like i felt the power of being able to destroy them after feeling beat by them for so many years but now i was far superiour.
So while i was away my parter decided to try tweak my new found process and took it upon himself to try submerge some of the smaller plants completely, pots and all. All the plants he did that to died within 24 hours.
It was something i have never seen before and hope to never see again.
They were just babys, they never had the chance to grow up and have the opportunity to grow over there neighbours you know, a chance at being the best, they was forced into a life of alcoholism from such a young age and they all died from alcohol abuse.
Thats me trying to be funny.
Basically dont submerge the root zone.
They was happy with a full dip and a light spray of the surface of the soil and the rim of the pot but you know what its like some people just cant leave things alone.
Im just lucky the bigger pots were to big to submerge in our tub or i may have lost my chosen keeper strains i worked so hard to find over past few years.
Main point is that its the best thing i have found to deal with spidermites as long as your not in flower as it will probably melt your trichomes.
Spider mites have haunted me for years, knowing now that i can kill them so easily really puts me at rest and to be honest im a bit proud of myself considering how determined i was to find something that done the job but could still give me an end product free from contamination.
I will happily admit that this all started with me watching a you tube video so really can i call it my idea? No, i cant but i can say i stuck at it searching for a healthy way to deal with spidermites without keep using some shop bought poison that i admit can work but at whos cost in the end? Anyone know about systematic pesticides?
I did think about the business opportunity this could be and i almost said to myself keep it to yourself and try make a business out of it which i still plan to do but i thought to myself all the people out there trying to get clean medicine and i wanna keep this to myself when i could potentially help lots of peoples health i said no dont be selfish do something like a volunteer im already blessed in life as it is.
Anyone wanna go use this info and create a spider mite wash and sell it feel free to do so i would love to have some involvement but either way im promoting a healthy way of dealing with spidermites so the end user doesnt have to suffer with contaminated medicine.
Thats the reason i took so long to reply, i was battling with my selfishness telling me to keep it to myself and try profit from it but in the end i decided to do whats right and help other people stop using fucked up chemicals when theres no need to and potentially help people before thinking about making some money because i know this could be big big business.
If you have taken the time to read this long ass message i hope i have been of some kind of help to you and good luck to everyone.
Jimmy

I like the 50/50 ISO to water too. I used it on my house plants to kill aphids and mites, and it worked wonders. I was also kinda surprised it didn't bother the plants at all. I wouldn't want to spray it on my buds personally, but some say it's ok. I don't think it would be a good idea though. What I like is that it leaves no residues, and evaporates fast.

 

[Jimmy the vest uk]

I like the 50/50 ISO to water too. I used it on my house plants to kill aphids and mites, and it worked wonders. I was also kinda surprised it didn't bother the plants at all. I wouldn't want to spray it on my buds personally, but some say it's ok. I don't think it would be a good idea though. What I like is that it leaves no residues, and evaporates fast.

Exactly its gone after you use it its amazing init.

 

[Jimmy the vest uk]

I like the 50/50 ISO to water too. I used it on my house plants to kill aphids and mites, and it worked wonders. I was also kinda surprised it didn't bother the plants at all. I wouldn't want to spray it on my buds personally, but some say it's ok. I don't think it would be a good idea though. What I like is that it leaves no residues, and evaporates fast.[/

I like the 50/50 ISO to water too. I used it on my house plants to kill aphids and mites, and it worked wonders. I was also kinda surprised it didn't bother the plants at all. I wouldn't want to spray it on my buds personally, but some say it's ok. I don't think it would be a good idea though. What I like is that it leaves no residues, and evaporates fast.

do you have any other tactics that work as well ?

 

[PadawanWarrior]

I had to spray every few days for a while with the ISO spray to rid the mites on my house plants, but I have some beneficial predatory insects in my grow rooms and they seem to be doing their job so far. I watched a Big Eyed Bug eat a spider mite a couple weeks ago with my microscope on a leaf I had picked off. I have predatory mites, rove beetles, and springtails in there now from the vermicompost also. Here's 4 days ago.

 

[piratebug]

I have to ask, why would anyone spray any kind of alcohol on a cannabis plant when even 1/10th of 1 percent of that alcohol could damage a plants ability to later produce trichomes, or if trichomes are already present destroy those trichomes and or myrcene terpenes. And as for neem oil, even trace amounts left on harvested plants can be very dangerous for many people with diabetes, and that's whether those trace amounts are either ingested or inhaled. Anyhow, I am big fan of the pirate bug, they will kill any bug and their larvae that could harm your cannabis plant. And unlike many other predatory bugs that can severely inhibit a cannabis plants ability to grow into all that they could be, or even worse hurt many humans who come in contact with them or trace amounts of their poop being left on the plant after harvest, the pirate bug to date has never been scientifically proven to harm any human like so many other predatory bugs have. For example... Springtails are very bad cause they eat cannabis plant roots, and if the infestation is bad enough they will ultimately inhibit a plants ability to grow into everything that it could have been, and if that's not bad enough, just coming in personal contact with them, or even trace remnants of their poop left on harvested plant matter can cause itchy dermatitis issues for many different individuals. And the Rove Beetle isn't any better because lots of people can get server papulovesicular rashes from just coming in contact with them, or from just handling plant matter that contains trace amounts of their poop that will undoubtedly be left on ones plants even after harvesting them. And you cannot simply wash either of those two bugs poop off your plants, as they both produce sticky poop that ain't water soluble.

 

[DaFreak]

Pirate it's easy, we do it, we see results, we report. If we saw decreased quality in finished product we wouldn't recommend it to people.

(not to mention you do it in veg and not flower, most of those leafs don't matter)

 

[Mak'er Grow]

@piratebug...well with spider mites there are 2 choices for most...burn it/them to the ground or try a few things and get what you get.
As far as using other bugs...in most area of the world most can't be found/bought as well as some of the pesticides so as a last resort effort sometimes an extreme measure is used.
I myself used an alcohol mixture after trying lots of other products and I also did a bunch of burning/trashing...cut clones, cleaned them and have been growing them since...also shut down a few months and cleaned room a few times.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

I have to ask, why would anyone spray any kind of alcohol on a cannabis plant when even 1/10th of 1 percent of that alcohol could damage a plants ability to later produce trichomes, or if trichomes are already present destroy those trichomes and or myrcene terpenes. And as for neem oil, even trace amounts left on harvested plants can be very dangerous for many people with diabetes, and that's whether those trace amounts are either ingested or inhaled. Anyhow, I am big fan of the pirate bug, they will kill any bug and their larvae that could harm your cannabis plant. And unlike many other predatory bugs that can severely inhibit a cannabis plants ability to grow into all that they could be, or even worse hurt many humans who come in contact with them or trace amounts of their poop being left on the plant after harvest, the pirate bug to date has never been scientifically proven to harm any human like so many other predatory bugs have. For example... Springtails are very bad cause they eat cannabis plant roots, and if the infestation is bad enough they will ultimately inhibit a plants ability to grow into everything that it could have been, and if that's not bad enough, just coming in personal contact with them, or even trace remnants of their poop left on harvested plant matter can cause itchy dermatitis issues for many different individuals. And the Rove Beetle isn't any better because lots of people can get server papulovesicular rashes from just coming in contact with them, or from just handling plant matter that contains trace amounts of their poop that will undoubtedly be left on ones plants even after harvesting them. And you cannot simply wash either of those two bugs poop off your plants, as they both produce sticky poop that ain't water soluble.

According to most of what I've read springtails are mostly beneficial, but there is 1 kinda I guess that eats roots. Here's what I found. There are different rove beetles too.

Dec 25, 2015


Our Friend the Springtail
Illustration courtesy of the
Texas A&M University Cooperative Extension


"Oh no! Help!" a novice gardener cried out in alarm. "I have little teeny jumping buggies in the soil of my garden! Are they killing my plants? How can I get rid of them?"

The short answer is "They're springtails. They're harmless. Don't worry about them."

Here's a more complete answer:

Not only are springtails harmless to the garden & do not bite, but their presence indicates good soil health. Their diet consists of decaying matter, fungus, & bacteria, & their activity helps keep nitrogen in the soil. A healthy garden & especially a healthy compost pile has them in abundance.

A radical explosion in their population might be an indicator that something in the organic balance is out of wack, though it probably means only that there is decaying mulch that delights them, or there are excesses of mushroom spoors which can increase springtail populations since springtails go after the mushroom spoors like kids after candy. A black variety of springtail called "snowflea" even hops around after snowfall gathering up fungal spoors from the surface of the snow.

If springtails vanish that means the microflora is probably also missing or soil is never sufficiently moist to support either springtails or microflora. In which case the plants, too, will be at greater risk.

It is sometimes recommended to get rid of them by letting the garden dry out, since they are susceptible to dessication, & tend to remain hidden except after rainfall or garden-watering. But attempting to get rid of them by drying out the garden would be equally harmful to microflora, except that the springtails would weather the drought better by moving to moist areas, possibly even inside the house, where they will accumulate in bathrooms & near kitchen sinks for the sake of moisture. They won't stay indoors if they can help it, because humidity inside houses is too low for them, & the decaying matter that makes up their diet is scarse. So they will either die off, or leave as soon as it's moist outdoors.

A large indoor infestation without an outdoor drought can be a warning-sign of mold problems inside the structure or leaky plumbing somewhere undetected. Insecticides won't get rid of them if there are condensation or moisture problems in the house, but correcting leaks & moisture problems or installing a dehumidifier does get rid of them.

Most springtails are so small (one or two millimeters) they will never be seen by the moderately farsighted. Tinier-than-average varieties are encountered in potted indoor plants, but they restrict their activity to the soil & don't spread elsewhere in the house, & are not harming houseplants.

There is one North American exception to the general harmlessness of the genus. A rounded stumpy flea-like springtail (Bourletiella hortensis) eats the delicate roots of evergreen tree seedlings, so if you are growing evergreen seedlings & had a population explosion of this flealike pest, that could be bad news.

Few are the gardeners with lots of tree seedlings, so the primary bad history for this critter is in tree farms & ornamental tree nurseries of the Pacific Northwest, where their feeding habits reduce seedling emergence or cause deformities of western hemlock, sitka spruce, & other evergreens, & cause lesions in developing bark, where harmful fungus can be established. They are most active in summer. When present & active they are easily detected by laying a white piece of paper on the soil & then blowing on or fanning the soil around the edges of the paper; if they are present in sufficient numbers to be harmful to evergreen seedlings, several will jump onto the white surface of the paper.

But if what one sees are elongated springtails (& most of the numerous species are elongated) then these are invariably harmless.

A similarly primitive hopping insect (far older than true insects) is the jumping bristletail. They're very nocturnal & feed primarily on the types of algae & lichens that grow on forest floors in leaf & needle litter. They can be very common in moist coastal forests where fallen leaves & debris are thick, which material jumping bristletails help turn into topsoil. They are rarely numerous in gardens. If there were many, you'd see them by turning over a piece of lumber or flat piece of bark. As with springtails, bristletails are harmless, & though they do eat living plant matter, it's only algae & lichens, not higher plants.

Although springtails are a sign of good healthy soil, many vendors of various pesticides nevertheless recommend getting rid of them. This is because chemical vendors don't care to distinguish between what is helpful & what is harmful, they just want to sell more of their products. Any garden pesticide that lists springtails or bristletails among the arthropods you should get rid of are lying to you about more than just that. They are lying to you about the abject safeness of their product, the primary effect of which will be to upset the organic balance of the garden creating more rather than fewer inroads for pests & diseases.

Even if there were an imaginary reason to control springtails, the method would be to clean up the leaf-litter from the garden. I'd never do this because springtail activity in leaf-litter constitute little factories for garden nutrients that help to limit the need to artificially fertilize. But if I had a phobia about springtails I'd sweep up all the leaves & that would automatically lower the springtail population.

 

[70's natureboy]

Springtails in hydro have only one thing to eat; roots. I didn't know about the iso/water mix. I would have thought it would have been harmful to the plants. It's good to hear that it isn't.

 

[Jimmy the vest uk]

According to most of what I've read springtails are mostly beneficial, but there is 1 kinda I guess that eats roots. Here's what I found. There are different rove beetles too.

Dec 25, 2015


Our Friend the Springtail
Illustration courtesy of the
Texas A&M University Cooperative Extension


"Oh no! Help!" a novice gardener cried out in alarm. "I have little teeny jumping buggies in the soil of my garden! Are they killing my plants? How can I get rid of them?"

The short answer is "They're springtails. They're harmless. Don't worry about them."

Here's a more complete answer:

Not only are springtails harmless to the garden & do not bite, but their presence indicates good soil health. Their diet consists of decaying matter, fungus, & bacteria, & their activity helps keep nitrogen in the soil. A healthy garden & especially a healthy compost pile has them in abundance.

A radical explosion in their population might be an indicator that something in the organic balance is out of wack, though it probably means only that there is decaying mulch that delights them, or there are excesses of mushroom spoors which can increase springtail populations since springtails go after the mushroom spoors like kids after candy. A black variety of springtail called "snowflea" even hops around after snowfall gathering up fungal spoors from the surface of the snow.

If springtails vanish that means the microflora is probably also missing or soil is never sufficiently moist to support either springtails or microflora. In which case the plants, too, will be at greater risk.

It is sometimes recommended to get rid of them by letting the garden dry out, since they are susceptible to dessication, & tend to remain hidden except after rainfall or garden-watering. But attempting to get rid of them by drying out the garden would be equally harmful to microflora, except that the springtails would weather the drought better by moving to moist areas, possibly even inside the house, where they will accumulate in bathrooms & near kitchen sinks for the sake of moisture. They won't stay indoors if they can help it, because humidity inside houses is too low for them, & the decaying matter that makes up their diet is scarse. So they will either die off, or leave as soon as it's moist outdoors.

A large indoor infestation without an outdoor drought can be a warning-sign of mold problems inside the structure or leaky plumbing somewhere undetected. Insecticides won't get rid of them if there are condensation or moisture problems in the house, but correcting leaks & moisture problems or installing a dehumidifier does get rid of them.

Most springtails are so small (one or two millimeters) they will never be seen by the moderately farsighted. Tinier-than-average varieties are encountered in potted indoor plants, but they restrict their activity to the soil & don't spread elsewhere in the house, & are not harming houseplants.

There is one North American exception to the general harmlessness of the genus. A rounded stumpy flea-like springtail (Bourletiella hortensis) eats the delicate roots of evergreen tree seedlings, so if you are growing evergreen seedlings & had a population explosion of this flealike pest, that could be bad news.

Few are the gardeners with lots of tree seedlings, so the primary bad history for this critter is in tree farms & ornamental tree nurseries of the Pacific Northwest, where their feeding habits reduce seedling emergence or cause deformities of western hemlock, sitka spruce, & other evergreens, & cause lesions in developing bark, where harmful fungus can be established. They are most active in summer. When present & active they are easily detected by laying a white piece of paper on the soil & then blowing on or fanning the soil around the edges of the paper; if they are present in sufficient numbers to be harmful to evergreen seedlings, several will jump onto the white surface of the paper.

But if what one sees are elongated springtails (& most of the numerous species are elongated) then these are invariably harmless.

A similarly primitive hopping insect (far older than true insects) is the jumping bristletail. They're very nocturnal & feed primarily on the types of algae & lichens that grow on forest floors in leaf & needle litter. They can be very common in moist coastal forests where fallen leaves & debris are thick, which material jumping bristletails help turn into topsoil. They are rarely numerous in gardens. If there were many, you'd see them by turning over a piece of lumber or flat piece of bark. As with springtails, bristletails are harmless, & though they do eat living plant matter, it's only algae & lichens, not higher plants.

Although springtails are a sign of good healthy soil, many vendors of various pesticides nevertheless recommend getting rid of them. This is because chemical vendors don't care to distinguish between what is helpful & what is harmful, they just want to sell more of their products. Any garden pesticide that lists springtails or bristletails among the arthropods you should get rid of are lying to you about more than just that. They are lying to you about the abject safeness of their product, the primary effect of which will be to upset the organic balance of the garden creating more rather than fewer inroads for pests & diseases.

Even if there were an imaginary reason to control springtails, the method would be to clean up the leaf-litter from the garden. I'd never do this because springtail activity in leaf-litter constitute little factories for garden nutrients that help to limit the need to artificially fertilize. But if I had a phobia about springtails I'd sweep up all the leaves & that would automatically lower the springtail population.

Love it

 

[weed-whacker]

So its been a long time since i said i would let everyone here know how well the isopropyl alcohol and water mix performed.
If anyone reading this has mites right now go get a small bottle of isopropyl alcohol mix it 50/50 water and spray or dip one plant first just to be safe. I had absolutely no negative signs on either of the strains i was running at the time i just took them out of the direct light for 24 hours then put them back again and they were happy.
I have a digital microscope with a little screen to the side, i took a leaf covered with mite, all moving around happy, laying eggs, making webs and just generally happy fucking me over until i sprayed them under the scope and i was amazed with what i see with my own eyes.
Every single mite stopped moving instantly, i mean instantly, so quick its unbelievable until you try yourself and if you have the same mites as me you will see the exact same thing.
I done this quite a few times just waiting to see a soldier mite move after the spray but it did not happen.
After one spray they are finished.
There is no way they can become immune as they apparently can to other pesticides.
They melt instantly.
Under the microscope they turn into little black blobs it was beautiful to watch but a bit strange to see every single one of them freeze instantly, like i felt the power of being able to destroy them after feeling beat by them for so many years but now i was far superiour.
So while i was away my parter decided to try tweak my new found process and took it upon himself to try submerge some of the smaller plants completely, pots and all. All the plants he did that to died within 24 hours.
It was something i have never seen before and hope to never see again.
They were just babys, they never had the chance to grow up and have the opportunity to grow over there neighbours you know, a chance at being the best, they was forced into a life of alcoholism from such a young age and they all died from alcohol abuse.
Thats me trying to be funny.
Basically dont submerge the root zone.
They was happy with a full dip and a light spray of the surface of the soil and the rim of the pot but you know what its like some people just cant leave things alone.
Im just lucky the bigger pots were to big to submerge in our tub or i may have lost my chosen keeper strains i worked so hard to find over past few years.
Main point is that its the best thing i have found to deal with spidermites as long as your not in flower as it will probably melt your trichomes.
Spider mites have haunted me for years, knowing now that i can kill them so easily really puts me at rest and to be honest im a bit proud of myself considering how determined i was to find something that done the job but could still give me an end product free from contamination.
I will happily admit that this all started with me watching a you tube video so really can i call it my idea? No, i cant but i can say i stuck at it searching for a healthy way to deal with spidermites without keep using some shop bought poison that i admit can work but at whos cost in the end? Anyone know about systematic pesticides?
I did think about the business opportunity this could be and i almost said to myself keep it to yourself and try make a business out of it which i still plan to do but i thought to myself all the people out there trying to get clean medicine and i wanna keep this to myself when i could potentially help lots of peoples health i said no dont be selfish do something like a volunteer im already blessed in life as it is.
Anyone wanna go use this info and create a spider mite wash and sell it feel free to do so i would love to have some involvement but either way im promoting a healthy way of dealing with spidermites so the end user doesnt have to suffer with contaminated medicine.
Thats the reason i took so long to reply, i was battling with my selfishness telling me to keep it to myself and try profit from it but in the end i decided to do whats right and help other people stop using fucked up chemicals when theres no need to and potentially help people before thinking about making some money because i know this could be big big business.
If you have taken the time to read this long ass message i hope i have been of some kind of help to you and good luck to everyone.
Jimmy

Have a 5 month old at home so am about to give this a go

Cheers

 

[New Age United]

Have a 5 month old at home so am about to give this a go

Cheers

That helps in so many ways brother thank you for the message. I have been using Safers End-all and it does work but I will definitely try the isopropyl next time. Again thanks for posting.