forScience
New Member
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.
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.