Can't you get predators any more ? 20 odd years ago I had mites and I bought predators from Holland. A pot of sawdust that contained predator eggs / larvae . Invisible to the naked eye. I hung lots of yoghourt pots on branches , poured in a small amount of the sawdust into each, and within a day you could see small black predator insects marching up the leaves. They ate all the mites and their eggs, and then each other.
Spider mites - What now?
- Thread starter fartoblue
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IvcusLongDankus
Well-Known Member
If you want to do it naturally then you could just go with some ladybugs. Ladybugs are generalist predators. They love aphids more tho. Predatory mites is something you also wanna look at
fartoblue
Well-Known Member
Its something I will definitely look at for my future grows, but as I am nearly 5 weeks in for this one I want them nuked.
Roger A. Shrubber
Well-Known Member
depends on how far the infestation has progressed...if it's just beginning, then they probably haven't gotten to the point they need to "commute"..of course, it might not be spider mites....i was just looking at those pics again...that actually looks more like thrip damage to me, than mite damage...but you would probably see thrips, little green fly looking bugs, have a wicked looking tail, looks like a sorpion stinger....makes no difference really, one is as bad as the other, and the steps to get rid of them are the same....just odd looking damage for mites...
danjac82
Well-Known Member
No sprays
at this point of flower I’d say use dawn dish soap and water. Tablespoon to a gallon of water and mix well. Use a sponge or soft cloth to wipe the fan leaves and as many smaller leaves you can get without getting the buds soapy. Practice on a leaf without a bud below it that the soapy water could end up dripping on. Dip sponge or cloth in soapy water and squeeze it out so there’s just enough to get the leaves a little sudsy but not drip off them or the sponge. Once you get that it’s a breeze. Do this twice a week. I also have mites at day 46. I’ve knocked down most of the population last two weeks.
danjac82
Well-Known Member
T
its too late for lady bugs and sprays are a no go also.
rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
i bought one of those USB microscopes for pretty cheap on ebay. it's zoomable and you can also take a snapshot of what you are looking at. makes checking trichomes super easy too.
have you started to think about how you got pests in your room? i got mine from clones i bought at a dispensary, should have quarantined them in hindsight.
Roger A. Shrubber
Well-Known Member
it's not what you're spraying at this point, it's that you're spraying....anything that gets sprayed will get on your buds...do you want to smoke bud with a few mites in it? or do you want to smoke buds with fewer mites in it, but that now also has neem oil, or dish soap, or hot pepper sauce, or pesticide residue?....
i'm really not trying to be an asshole, but you're just kind of wasting your time. mites have legs, if you don't cover the entire plant with spray, they'll go to the parts that aren't covered, and stay there till whatever you use loses effectiveness....you're just forcing them off of your leaves into your buds...
danjac82
Well-Known Member
I agree that no sprays should touch the buds for the same reason you mentioned so I’m on board with that. That’s why I do what I do with the soap. It doesn’t get on the buds and yea I’ll end up smoking a few mites. No issue here. What I’ve noticed through trial and error is that plants hit twice a week with dawn water stay healthier and don’t get as much leaf damage as a plant wiped with just water. If I leave a plant untreated with anything has significant more leaf loss , eventual webbing and yield can suffer. I wipe the entire leaf surface bottom and top. The dawn gets them and they’re really not running anywhere. Small sugar leaf don’t take on more damage. They’re not leaving to the buds (maybe a few)..they’re dying
Roger A. Shrubber
Well-Known Member
if it's working for you, keep it up.
danjac82
Well-Known Member
It will work for anybody. Tried and true if you’re meticulous about it.
3rd Monkey
Well-Known Member
DE, even though I'll get shit for it, use the DE. If you want to go this route, I will explain how to use it.
whitebb2727
Well-Known Member
It is safe to use in bloom.
It is made from a bacteria that is harmless to humans.
Its actually interesting. The bacteria can only be found on an island where a rum distillery was.
I've used it on everything from cannabis to veggie garden. If usimg it outside use it late or early. It is toxic to bees for 30 min after application.
I actually documented using it in one of my grow threads. Two foilar applications and mixed it with my water twice for systemic.
Ive used it a number of years now with no ill affects.
BDGrows
Well-Known Member
Ah yes, the classic little mother fuckers commonly referred to as Spider Mites... Being that you're 5 weeks into bloom, I wouldn't spray anything on your buds. And has already been stated; you need to DOUSE the entire plant with it being that they'll take refuge under leaves to hide. The best way I've seen people do this is to literally dip the entire plant in a neem oil solution. Another possibility would be to use a sulfur bomb but I don't know if that will affect the end result or leave residual sulfur in your product. Another solution, if you're running CO2, is to suffocate them by cranking it up and completely sealing your tent and turning off your fans. I've run into similar problems before and I tried predatory mites, ladybugs, every type of bug that supposedly eats them and nothing solved it. I got so desperate as to use a vacuum to suck them off of the buds. The best advice I can give is to ride it out, get a vacuum, and at the end of this grow bleach EVERYTHING. Spider mites are one of those problems which happen to most everyone, it's shitty, but its a learning experience.
- BD
- BD
Jefferson1977
Well-Known Member
I love the dry ice/c02 idea. That and temperature - both won't add any sort of residue to the buds. And low temperature does work.
TheGreatSouthern
Well-Known Member
I couldn't say exactly what size room you could treat, as I don't know what the minimum concentration of co2 in the general body of air would work. On the few occasions I have had to do it I've aimed for 100% co2. So you would find out how much co2 gas weighs per m3, multiply by the internal volume of your grow room, buy that much dry ice and use that amount for each treatment.
Not many people seem to do it, and I don't know why because I've used it twice in two different and heavily infested grow spaces and it worked 100% effectively, spider mites never came back and no adverse effects on plants whatsoever. Using poison often times doesn't kill everything and the mites that survive develop a resistance.
I did speak to one guy who used this method and he reckons 30% concentration works fine just as long as the grow space is good and hot, like 30 degrees C hot.
Budzbuddha
Well-Known Member
You can do a bud wash at harvest .... removes bugs , hair , dust , leprechaun jizz.
5 gallon bucket of hot water ...... dip the buds on stem ... drip hang them .
Lots of guys do it , gets the goddamn cat hair of the triches.
5 gallon bucket of hot water ...... dip the buds on stem ... drip hang them .
Lots of guys do it , gets the goddamn cat hair of the triches.