Neem oil application for spider mites

Stoney Jake

Stoney Jake

Well-Known Member
So I found a 3 of the little rust colored devils on 2 out of the 5 of the plants in my veg room. I have read up on the subject and went out after work yesterday and bought some neem oil. I read and was told by my local hydrostore that its very important to apply this when the lights are off. Or 5 minutes before the lights turn off.
My veg room has flouros and cfls in it, will it hurt anything to apply this with the lights on.
I know its a whole different story under my HPS.
Another thing is that I have my veg room on a 24 light cycle. If I do need to change the light cycle I will, but I was wondering if it would mess with anything if I just turned the lights out at 9pm-1am(for the neem oil) for a couple of weeks then back to 24 hrs?

First time even seeing a mite so my heart sank when I saw it having read all the horror stories on here... After doing some research I feel good about being able to get rid of these suckers.

Any help would be much appreciated
 
D

Defcon9

Well-Known Member
I found some what I thought were mite eggs on a plant in my room. They were on my Thai basil, I know not the good stuff everyone here grows, but my garden is also a garden. I love to eat after I smoke so I also grow herbs in the garden to eat. Anyways, soory off topic there. I use neem oil even when I have nothing there just as a precation. I have spayed it on several plants that are under H.O. T5s with the lights on and have had no adverse effects yet. Okay not true. My plants did turn a little yellow for about 2 days after each application and then went back to green until the next application. My plants all recovered very easily from it and the insects were gone. Mine were actually gnats I think. Don't know if it was the neem or not I also let the soil get nice and dry because I was overwatering a bit on those plants.
 
H

hydgrow

Well-Known Member
Stoney Jake said:
So I found a 3 of the little rust colored devils on 2 out of the 5 of the plants in my veg room. I have read up on the subject and went out after work yesterday and bought some neem oil. I read and was told by my local hydrostore that its very important to apply this when the lights are off. Or 5 minutes before the lights turn off.
My veg room has flouros and cfls in it, will it hurt anything to apply this with the lights on.
I know its a whole different story under my HPS.
Another thing is that I have my veg room on a 24 light cycle. If I do need to change the light cycle I will, but I was wondering if it would mess with anything if I just turned the lights out at 9pm-1am(for the neem oil) for a couple of weeks then back to 24 hrs?

First time even seeing a mite so my heart sank when I saw it having read all the horror stories on here... After doing some research I feel good about being able to get rid of these suckers.

Any help would be much appreciated
Click to expand...

What if you sprayed just one of your plants under 24 and see what happens?
 
sempre verde

sempre verde

Active Member
Hey bro, if you want to get rid of them put some "no Pest strips" in your room and shange out every grow and youll never see them again. This is the only thing that will deal with them 100 %. Find at rite aid or something. Good luck. I hate those little bastards but since I started using the "NPS" I have only read about them online.
 
simpsonsampson420

simpsonsampson420

Well-Known Member
so here are a couple things about neem oil... i use it and swear by it so ill give you my personal experiences with it...

first i've used neem oil under HO satellite IV floros on a 24/0 crop with NO problems.. i didnt have any burn from the water or the oil magnifying light... no ill side affects at all.. so if you are using floros i would venture to say you'll be fine spraying during a 24/0 light schedule... just move the lights when you spray so you dont spray the lights themselves... make sure you get under the leaves and the "inside" of the plant just as well as the topside of the leafs and "outside" of the plant... like was said those little bastards live under the leaves so take time to spray well...

secondly neem oil can be root fed to your plants as well.. during the entire time i have an infestation i feed neem to my plants... ill explain what neem oil does and why root feeding is good in the next paragraph.. but i feed each plant about 6 ml per gallon of water every other feed.. you can just incorporate the neem into your regular feeding schedule... only do this if its soil though... i wouldnt recommend it for hydro...

here is how neem oil works.. neem oil is NOT a spot killer.. you wont spray your plants today and be gone of mite tomorrow... expect about a 2 week battle... neem oil works a couple ways.. first if you can spray the eggs well it covers them and suffocates them... no more eggs.. when the adults eat the neem oil it messes with their hormones... it makes it so they cant reproduce and lay eggs.. immature pests that eat the neem oil dont reach adult hood and are never able to reproduce... thats why spraying the plant well is so important.. you want to make sure the mites have no choice BUT to eat the neem oil... root feeding work very similar in that the pests hormones get fucked up when they suck the juices from your plant, but it also deters them from sucking on your plant because the neem oil tastes horrible... it also contains some trace minerals so its actually good to feed your plants,, i personally will root feed my plants every other time during and infestation, and spray them every 2-3 days.. the spray i use is 3ml neem oil per 1L of water with a few drops of biodegradable liquid dish soap... usually following this over a 2 week period.. then just go down to spraying once a week as a precaution... ill do this up to the 4th weeks of flowering.. havent ran into mold problems yet, or had neem flavored buds, or any other side affects due to the neem oil... its always worked for me.. like i said.. it just takes about a week before you see progress, 2 weeks before the infestation is gone... but its a natural way to get rid of them... if you want an immediate solution get some NO PEST STRIPS from walmart, lowes, home depot, ect.. they will work in a few hours and kill both mites and eggs... but it is a chemical strip (not a spray)... personally i dont want to think that what im inhaling was treated with a chemical... NO PEST strips work tho.. just make sure you arent in the area because they arent anything you want to breath in... also AVID and FLORAMITE are instant working sprays, but again they are chemical... chemical = instant, but it is a chemical you are using on your plant... natural = longer time fighting the pests, but its not chemical.. just depends on you...

also.. a couple smaller ways of helping slow down their life cycle and battle them is;
1) keep humidity up... they hate humidity... spraying with cold water will help by raising the humidity, spraying them off the leaf surface, and they dont like cold.. which brings me to number two..
2) drop the temps to between 65 and 70 if you can... it can take 10 days for mites to reach maturity in cooler humid temps, but as little at 2 days in warmer less humid places... each female can lay 100 eggs a day... they are 75% females anyways... in the right climate they can very very very quickly run your garden over... so until you decide how you are gonna deal with them and they are dealt with making the enviroment as unhospitible to them as you can will help slow their growth...
3) also you can use a tobacco, tobasco, garlic, cinnamon oil, peppermint oil, ect spray.. they arent pesticides, but will help deter them from your plants...

whatever way you chose is up to you... some say neem oil doesnt work and you should go with avid, floramite, or no pest strips... i swear by neem oil and wont use anything else... just make sure you get 100% neem oil from the first press... and not 100% neem oil from the second press or something that just has neem oil in it...

good luck with those bastards.. hope this helped
 
C

Chris Webber

Active Member
simpsonsampson420 said:
so here are a couple things about neem oil... i use it and swear by it so ill give you my personal experiences with it...

first i've used neem oil under HO satellite IV floros on a 24/0 crop with NO problems.. i didnt have any burn from the water or the oil magnifying light... no ill side affects at all.. so if you are using floros i would venture to say you'll be fine spraying during a 24/0 light schedule... just move the lights when you spray so you dont spray the lights themselves... make sure you get under the leaves and the "inside" of the plant just as well as the topside of the leafs and "outside" of the plant... like was said those little bastards live under the leaves so take time to spray well...

secondly neem oil can be root fed to your plants as well.. during the entire time i have an infestation i feed neem to my plants... ill explain what neem oil does and why root feeding is good in the next paragraph.. but i feed each plant about 6 ml per gallon of water every other feed.. you can just incorporate the neem into your regular feeding schedule... only do this if its soil though... i wouldnt recommend it for hydro...

here is how neem oil works.. neem oil is NOT a spot killer.. you wont spray your plants today and be gone of mite tomorrow... expect about a 2 week battle... neem oil works a couple ways.. first if you can spray the eggs well it covers them and suffocates them... no more eggs.. when the adults eat the neem oil it messes with their hormones... it makes it so they cant reproduce and lay eggs.. immature pests that eat the neem oil dont reach adult hood and are never able to reproduce... thats why spraying the plant well is so important.. you want to make sure the mites have no choice BUT to eat the neem oil... root feeding work very similar in that the pests hormones get fucked up when they suck the juices from your plant, but it also deters them from sucking on your plant because the neem oil tastes horrible... it also contains some trace minerals so its actually good to feed your plants,, i personally will root feed my plants every other time during and infestation, and spray them every 2-3 days.. the spray i use is 3ml neem oil per 1L of water with a few drops of biodegradable liquid dish soap... usually following this over a 2 week period.. then just go down to spraying once a week as a precaution... ill do this up to the 4th weeks of flowering.. havent ran into mold problems yet, or had neem flavored buds, or any other side affects due to the neem oil... its always worked for me.. like i said.. it just takes about a week before you see progress, 2 weeks before the infestation is gone... but its a natural way to get rid of them... if you want an immediate solution get some NO PEST STRIPS from walmart, lowes, home depot, ect.. they will work in a few hours and kill both mites and eggs... but it is a chemical strip (not a spray)... personally i dont want to think that what im inhaling was treated with a chemical... NO PEST strips work tho.. just make sure you arent in the area because they arent anything you want to breath in... also AVID and FLORAMITE are instant working sprays, but again they are chemical... chemical = instant, but it is a chemical you are using on your plant... natural = longer time fighting the pests, but its not chemical.. just depends on you...

also.. a couple smaller ways of helping slow down their life cycle and battle them is;
1) keep humidity up... they hate humidity... spraying with cold water will help by raising the humidity, spraying them off the leaf surface, and they dont like cold.. which brings me to number two..
2) drop the temps to between 65 and 70 if you can... it can take 10 days for mites to reach maturity in cooler humid temps, but as little at 2 days in warmer less humid places... each female can lay 100 eggs a day... they are 75% females anyways... in the right climate they can very very very quickly run your garden over... so until you decide how you are gonna deal with them and they are dealt with making the enviroment as unhospitible to them as you can will help slow their growth...
3) also you can use a tobacco, tobasco, garlic, cinnamon oil, peppermint oil, ect spray.. they arent pesticides, but will help deter them from your plants...

whatever way you chose is up to you... some say neem oil doesnt work and you should go with avid, floramite, or no pest strips... i swear by neem oil and wont use anything else... just make sure you get 100% neem oil from the first press... and not 100% neem oil from the second press or something that just has neem oil in it...

good luck with those bastards.. hope this helped
Click to expand...

Can use neem oil as u decribed here during the flowering stage?
 
G

+GROWTH

Active Member
wow, thanks for taking the time to write that Simpson. I have a good infestation, just purchased the killing soap and neem oil, going to give your routine a shot. cheers
 
simpsonsampson420

simpsonsampson420

Well-Known Member
Chris Webber said:
Can use neem oil as u decribed here during the flowering stage?
Click to expand...
sorry its been so long.. but yes.. you can use neem oil during flowering...

BUT

there are a few stipulations..

first, i wouldnt use it much past week 5 or 6 as a spray... 6 at the most.... you can continue to root feed with it all the way through until flush (if you flush)... but like i said, i wouldnt use it as a spray much past week 5 or so...

secondly, since you have to saturate your plant with the spray it is VERY important you have a LOT of air movement and a LOT of air exchange... the air movement is to help keep mold/mildew spores from landing and growing on your buds and also to keep the evaporated moisture moving away from your plants... the air exchange is to ensure the humid air is moved out of the grow room.. again to reduce the risk of mold/mildew....

i would suggest doing the best you can to have the infestation under control before or early into flowering... and if you cant get rid of them by week 5 you may want to start looking into a chemical miticide....
 
D

Discgolferman

Active Member
simpsonsampson420 said:
sorry its been so long.. but yes.. you can use neem oil during flowering...

BUT

there are a few stipulations..

first, i wouldnt use it much past week 5 or 6 as a spray... 6 at the most.... you can continue to root feed with it all the way through until flush (if you flush)... but like i said, i wouldnt use it as a spray much past week 5 or so...

secondly, since you have to saturate your plant with the spray it is VERY important you have a LOT of air movement and a LOT of air exchange... the air movement is to help keep mold/mildew spores from landing and growing on your buds and also to keep the evaporated moisture moving away from your plants... the air exchange is to ensure the humid air is moved out of the grow room.. again to reduce the risk of mold/mildew....

i would suggest doing the best you can to have the infestation under control before or early into flowering... and if you cant get rid of them by week 5 you may want to start looking into a chemical miticide....
Click to expand...
Great stuff!! Now can I use bio neem or does it have to be neem oil?

Thanks again
Discgolferman
 
simpsonsampson420

simpsonsampson420

Well-Known Member
i know its been a while since i have gotten back...

but yea.. bio neem should work just the same and with the same application ideas

from what i understand its almost identical.. but i think bioneem has some extra additives and the such to affectively treat additional pests without them building up a tolerance..

some pests have been known to build a tolerance to neem oil after several applications... usually it comes from the original infestation not being completely irradicated and over generations of them they grow a tolerance....

if you have an infestation make sure to thoroughly take care of the problem and clean the infected area to make sure you dont have a reinfestation...
 
B

burnbig420

Active Member
simpsonsampson420 said:
so here are a couple things about neem oil... i use it and swear by it so ill give you my personal experiences with it...

first i've used neem oil under HO satellite IV floros on a 24/0 crop with NO problems.. i didnt have any burn from the water or the oil magnifying light... no ill side affects at all.. so if you are using floros i would venture to say you'll be fine spraying during a 24/0 light schedule... just move the lights when you spray so you dont spray the lights themselves... make sure you get under the leaves and the "inside" of the plant just as well as the topside of the leafs and "outside" of the plant... like was said those little bastards live under the leaves so take time to spray well...

secondly neem oil can be root fed to your plants as well.. during the entire time i have an infestation i feed neem to my plants... ill explain what neem oil does and why root feeding is good in the next paragraph.. but i feed each plant about 6 ml per gallon of water every other feed.. you can just incorporate the neem into your regular feeding schedule... only do this if its soil though... i wouldnt recommend it for hydro...

here is how neem oil works.. neem oil is NOT a spot killer.. you wont spray your plants today and be gone of mite tomorrow... expect about a 2 week battle... neem oil works a couple ways.. first if you can spray the eggs well it covers them and suffocates them... no more eggs.. when the adults eat the neem oil it messes with their hormones... it makes it so they cant reproduce and lay eggs.. immature pests that eat the neem oil dont reach adult hood and are never able to reproduce... thats why spraying the plant well is so important.. you want to make sure the mites have no choice BUT to eat the neem oil... root feeding work very similar in that the pests hormones get fucked up when they suck the juices from your plant, but it also deters them from sucking on your plant because the neem oil tastes horrible... it also contains some trace minerals so its actually good to feed your plants,, i personally will root feed my plants every other time during and infestation, and spray them every 2-3 days.. the spray i use is 3ml neem oil per 1L of water with a few drops of biodegradable liquid dish soap... usually following this over a 2 week period.. then just go down to spraying once a week as a precaution... ill do this up to the 4th weeks of flowering.. havent ran into mold problems yet, or had neem flavored buds, or any other side affects due to the neem oil... its always worked for me.. like i said.. it just takes about a week before you see progress, 2 weeks before the infestation is gone... but its a natural way to get rid of them... if you want an immediate solution get some NO PEST STRIPS from walmart, lowes, home depot, ect.. they will work in a few hours and kill both mites and eggs... but it is a chemical strip (not a spray)... personally i dont want to think that what im inhaling was treated with a chemical... NO PEST strips work tho.. just make sure you arent in the area because they arent anything you want to breath in... also AVID and FLORAMITE are instant working sprays, but again they are chemical... chemical = instant, but it is a chemical you are using on your plant... natural = longer time fighting the pests, but its not chemical.. just depends on you...

also.. a couple smaller ways of helping slow down their life cycle and battle them is;
1) keep humidity up... they hate humidity... spraying with cold water will help by raising the humidity, spraying them off the leaf surface, and they dont like cold.. which brings me to number two..
2) drop the temps to between 65 and 70 if you can... it can take 10 days for mites to reach maturity in cooler humid temps, but as little at 2 days in warmer less humid places... each female can lay 100 eggs a day... they are 75% females anyways... in the right climate they can very very very quickly run your garden over... so until you decide how you are gonna deal with them and they are dealt with making the enviroment as unhospitible to them as you can will help slow their growth...
3) also you can use a tobacco, tobasco, garlic, cinnamon oil, peppermint oil, ect spray.. they arent pesticides, but will help deter them from your plants...

whatever way you chose is up to you... some say neem oil doesnt work and you should go with avid, floramite, or no pest strips... i swear by neem oil and wont use anything else... just make sure you get 100% neem oil from the first press... and not 100% neem oil from the second press or something that just has neem oil in it...

good luck with those bastards.. hope this helped
Click to expand...

im i supporter of neem as well.. great post ...+rep
 
guappy17

guappy17

Member
simpsonsampson420, i'm in my first grow right now...about a month in. i have little white spots on my leaves (not on every plant, just a couple of my 12) and if you look close you can see some white balls on the bottom of the leaves. my friend looked at them and said it was spider mites, so i was charged with the task of getting rid of those bastards. after reading up on different methods i decided i wanted the neem oil cause i'm trying to keep it organic in my grow room. so i got the stuff yesterday and mixed it up as the directions said and i soaked all 6 of the plants on that side of the room (6 white widow on one side and 6 bubble gum on the other side). i'm in a 24 hour light cycle so i didn't turn off the lights when i sprayed the plants. today they are all kind of droopy and any of the leaves that normally would have taken a couple days to need to be pruned were ready to be pruned this morning when i went in. is this normal? should i be worried? also, i haven't flushed the plants and wasn't planning on flushing them. should i? one more thing, in the other 6 plants, it appears that 4 have a magnesium deficiency from what i have read. the leaves have some rusty spots on them and they are curling upward to the lights a lot. so i got some calcium and magnesium when i got the neem oil yesterday and i was wondering if i should put the cal-mg in with my nutrient cycle or the plain water cycle?
 
S

spindles

Active Member
Thanks for the informative posts, I have seen some fan leaf damage (but found no bugs, will by a scope today to be certain) and ordered some neem oil. I feel a lot less panicky with some real information under my belt, will go back and rep where applicable for some great posts.
 
I

infdjedi

Well-Known Member
Damn bro... only 2 weeks away and spider mites? There is a chance that the infestation will not get bad enough before you are ready to harvest.. but of course you do not want to take that chance. You might want to try something like this:

http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?sku=DDSK700&AC=1

Says you can use it up to 1 day before harvest on fruits and veggies. The thing about NEEM spray I have heard (when you use it this late in flowering) is it gives your buds that awful neem taste/smell. I guess if I were in your shoes I would watch the garden VERY carefully everyday to see if they are expanding. If they are, I would use the DR. DOOM fogger.
 
tftx22

tftx22

Member
simpsonsampson420 said:
secondly neem oil can be root fed to your plants as well.. during the entire time i have an infestation i feed neem to my plants... ill explain what neem oil does and why root feeding is good in the next paragraph.. but i feed each plant about 6 ml per gallon of water every other feed.. you can just incorporate the neem into your regular feeding schedule... only do this if its soil though... i wouldnt recommend it for hydro...
Click to expand...
Alright I've done a fair amount of reading, and found something hard to believe. I have a small infestation and they refuse to go away. I've been foliar and root feeding as you suggested. The plants don't mind it at all, true. But, how does it work. You didn't explain. I had a journal post about the biodegradation of oils in soil. The roots tend to grow around and through them but can't uptake it. So my question is, am I wasting my money? It does keep insects out of my soil, but as far as the plant breaking neem oil down into it's smallest components and up again into neem oil-ish stuff. What are the smaller components it breaks up. Is neem oil considered an amino acid. I know little about biochemistry but enough to grow. I read that the plant can direct-convert amino acid proteins to amino acid protein within the cell walls. I don't rightly know entirely what that means but I imagine it's good because I use "Amino Aide" 5-0-0 ferts on my plants. I don't know what it does but it cost me an arm and a leg, off topic but on this topic. Anyone know what Amino's do and how I can cheaply obtain them without paying $45 for a liter bottle, I've only read good things about them.
 
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