Spider mites.... its the eggs.

I have been fighting the spider mite recently. I also happen to have a nice binocular microscope at my disposal. Maybe one of these days I will set up the camera and share some pics. Though its unlikely since I don't like to bring the microscope over by the PC where I toke.

Killing spider mites is easy. Chemicals and oils, hell, soapy water seems to knock em down fine. The problem, if you have the benefit of a microscope is easy to see: the sea of mite eggs.

I have used sprays, pesticides, azasol, they are not hard to control with repeated application, but, they come back quickly because of all those eggs, which can hatch in 3 days and can become adults in 5 days from egg under ideal conditions.

Currently, I am between cycles, was actually starting new clones and building new flowering chambers when I found they had come back. I moved 6 freshly rooted cuttings into veg in the first new chamber, and growth was slow for the first week. I had soaked them in an azasol solution.... but to no avail, after the first week I had webs!

Getting desperate, I got hot shot no pest strips and gassed them. So far so good. I have been taking samples every few days for the past week and checking them under the microscope: no live bugs.

Yesterday I pruned them back, mothers and all. My plan is to continue gassing with the strips until I see no more evidence of eggs. Then I am going to remove the strips and begin the flowering cycle, at that point I shouldn't have to worry about those and can focus on the mothers, where I will introduce ladybugs, and use azasol systemically.

I will probably then take samples from the flowering plant leaves and, if I see any bug populations growing, raise the CO2 levels up to kill their adults safely every few days until harvest.

I think its a solid plan anyway. In examining the egg fields, I noticed some other eggs. Larger, maybe half again or twice the size. Slightly brown in color, and usually a small distance from the mite egg, on the surface of the leaf. Always a single one, never a cluster. At most a couple of them per leaf. Made me wonder if I have a mite predator, but I haven't found a live one, and now, probably wont.

a much easier and successful plan, spray with mighty wash 3 times three days apart.

Upping the c02 will do nothing to them.

chuck estevez said:

a much easier and successful plan, spray with mighty wash 3 times three days apart.

Upping the c02 will do nothing to them.

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This says otherwise. I am inclined to believe Ed.

I have seen a few other references to it. Not sure I will need a whole canister for a 3x3 fairly well sealed tent. Even so, if all the eggs are gone before I even start flowering, if they don't take hold quickly, they wont have time to really infest before harvest, ladybugs should be enough to keep whatever residuals make it in at bay.... a CO2 gassing would be a last resort.

As for the wash, spraying well with water will get rid of a lot of adults, and they don't like humidity. 3 times 3 days apart should crush their population, but, I am seeing way too many eggs to think they would all hatch in that time frame. I also want to avoid anything that is going to be that invasive if the problem shows itself 6 weeks into flower.... thats going to be a lot of plant to spray.

forScience said:

This says otherwise. I am inclined to believe Ed.

I have seen a few other references to it. Not sure I will need a whole canister for a 3x3 fairly well sealed tent. Even so, if all the eggs are gone before I even start flowering, if they don't take hold quickly, they wont have time to really infest before harvest, ladybugs should be enough to keep whatever residuals make it in at bay.... a CO2 gassing would be a last resort.

As for the wash, spraying well with water will get rid of a lot of adults, and they don't like humidity. 3 times 3 days apart should crush their population, but, I am seeing way too many eggs to think they would all hatch in that time frame. I also want to avoid anything that is going to be that invasive if the problem shows itself 6 weeks into flower.... thats going to be a lot of plant to spray.

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They live just fine in a sealed room running 1500 ppm's, If you gassed them at 10,000 ppm's and held it for 2 hrs, maybe. If you never used MIGHTYWASH, try it and then look at the bugs,eggs next day in your microscope, you will see anything it hits is freeze dried. spray every 3 days,3 times and you should have a pretty good wipeout of the little bastards.
A great Idea that dbkick came up with is to use a cheap airless sprayer to maximize the coverage.

chuck estevez said:

They live just fine in a sealed room running 1500 ppm's, If you gassed them at 10,000 ppm's and held it for 2 hrs, maybe. If you never used MIGHTYWASH, try it and then look at the bugs,eggs next day in your microscope, you will see anything it hits is freeze dried. spray every 3 days,3 times and you should have a pretty good wipeout of the little bastards.
A great Idea that dbkick came up with is to use a cheap airless sprayer to maximize the coverage.

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But what is it? I have been reading up a bit trying to find what is actually IN it, and its just water. I have water coming out my tap. Whats worst, these claims of "frequency water"? Seriously? Claims don't get much more snake oil BS than that

"Mighty Wash is a ready to use “Frequency Imprinted” foliar spray. It is imprinted with special frequencies which target fleshy bodied insects"

Seriously? That sort of BS snake oil sales pitch is just insulting. Who believes this pseudoscience mumbo jumbo? Looking around elsewhere, I see Mighty Wash may also contain pyrethrum. Which yes, works. Plenty of products have that.

Anything that kills them "freezes them in place". I have seen plenty of dead bugs after a gassing or pyrenthum spray. That stuff kills em fast. I have some foggers loaded with that stuff, I am saving those, just in case.

forScience said:

But what is it? I have been reading up a bit trying to find what is actually IN it, and its just water. I have water coming out my tap. Whats worst, these claims of "frequency water"? Seriously? Claims don't get much more snake oil BS than that

"Mighty Wash is a ready to use “Frequency Imprinted” foliar spray. It is imprinted with special frequencies which target fleshy bodied insects"

Seriously? That sort of BS snake oil sales pitch is just insulting. Who believes this pseudoscience mumbo jumbo? Looking around elsewhere, I see Mighty Wash may also contain pyrethrum. Which yes, works. Plenty of products have that.

Anything that kills them "freezes them in place". I have seen plenty of dead bugs after a gassing or pyrenthum spray. That stuff kills em fast. I have some foggers loaded with that stuff, I am saving those, just in case.

Click to expand...

it's something that I have seen work many times for many people, it is less harmful than some of the other crap people spray on there plants. I have seen people try avid, then use mighty wash and it solves there problem. to me, that's all I need to know.

I most certainly approve of mighty wash, put it in an airless paint sprayer and it's very kick ass. buy that shit buy the 5 gallon jug, much cheaper that way and chances are you will need it again.

I'm taking a different approach this season and using Riptide in a atomist on a cycle timer, I dare a fucking bug to come in my room, I have half a gallon of riptide , two atomists and two cycle timers and I intend to use them as a preventative this year. gonna mix in a little fungicide just because I can.

I just bought some Quantum Apocalypse Neem. Check the site out.

http://entomo419.com/

Figured its been almost a month, time for an update.

The No Pest Strips (dichlorvos) really did the job. I used two of them, one in the mother area (which is not really well sealed off from the room, just a plastic curtain), and one in my grow chamber (3'x3'x6'). The one in the grow chamber started to worry me a bit, because I could smell it, and it is an organophosphate. I tried to limit my time in the whole area, and just do my daily work and get out.

A bit more than a week ago, I removed the strips, put them back in their original plastic bag package, and placed them both in a zip lock, and removed it from the room. I let them air out over the next few days, and got a bag of ladybugs.

I have been releasing the ladybugs every few days, 5-10 at a time. Today was the first day that I returned to find even one alive.That said, I also found a nasty spider in my mothers, I wonder if it had been killing or chasing away the ladybugs there.

As it was time to take cuttings for my second flowering chamber, I spend about 3 hours taking cuttings tonight, and pruning the mothers significantly.

What I found was encouraging. The NPS really nuked the hell out of those bastards. I took larger cuttings than I normally would, flipped them upside down, and starting from the bottom, examined each leaf. The lower leaves (middle of the mother plant) showed significant mite evidence. Lots of eggs, lots of adults, I didn't check to see if they were really alive or all dead. I suspect they were dead.

I suspect they were dead because I didn't find any mites on high leaves. Large and medium size low leaves were almost universally showing evidence of infestation. High leaves showed none, not even on large fan leaves. I cut liberally, removing any leaf that showed any trace of egg or mite, and often taking others nearby and even whole branches at the slightest hint of infestation.

Then I cut out as much undergrowth as I could, and the middle, stripping some of the main stem bare, and opening up the middle. All clippings were put in a bucket of water with a lid, and removed from the area for disposal.

No Pest Strips are definitely effective, but also seem to kill for a while after their removal from the area, which indicates the levels drop slower than I would like for places I need to spend a lot of time. I am thinking one by the mothers, and only very sparing use int he main chambers, and only up to the first two weeks after the light cycle is flipped to flowering. After that, I think I will try to stick to biological controls while I can.