balaclavaman9
Member
Hi there
First of all, I'm a complete noob at growing weed. I have talked to several people and done some research and this is the set up I'm using:
*Unknown seed type (it was in the bag of weed I got once)
*Once germinated, I plant the seed in a Jiffy Pellet, and then when the roots are reaching out of the Jiffy Pellets I transplant the entire pellet with plant into a large pot, filled with Bloom Potting mix (all purpose) mixed with Dynamic Lifter.
*I have been growing it outdoors and bringing it in at night (until now)
*I live in Australia
*the plant is probably about 1.5 - 2 months old by now, and has about 5 or 6 layers of leafs, and is about 5 inches high.
*My cat attacked the plant a few weeks ago and ripped off one of the large top leafs, but we rescued the rest of the plant (with the help of some seasol) and it has grown a lot since.
I try not to water it too much or too little..
NOW TO TELL YOU ABOUT MY PROBLEM!
Yesterday I went to water it after being away for 3 days to find hundreds (maybe even thousands) of tiny TINY TINY white-ish little insects. They were so small, probably smaller than a pin head. They were not moving fast, but just crawling. They were hard to spot at first, and I only noticed that they were some sort of insect because they were moving. There were a few crawling up the stem and around the actual plant, but 99% of them were crawling on top of the dirt, and just underneath the dirt. They were also crawling all over the rim of the pot.
I took a small bit of soil with some of the insects to my local hardware store (plant department) and showed them. The two guys working there said they are mites, and recommended I buy Yates Insect & Mite Killer (active constituents: 285g/L Potassium salts of fatty acids). It says that it is a soap based spray, and I told him it was a tomato plant (lol) so it should be fine for my weed plant.
I bought it, and mixed up about 15ml per litre and sprayed it all over the plant (underneath leaves, all over the pot plant etc.) then went on to full on drench the soil with it until it was dripping out the bottom - thats what the directions said to do.
At first glance it looked like I had destroyed the little fuckers, but then at closer look I could still see some. I left it over night to see if it would slowly kill them. I checked this morning and still could see some, but probably only 40% of what was there to begin with.
I then doubled the dose to about 30ml per litre and gave it a good spray, but didn't drench it, because I don't want to drown the plant.
They are still there, but as I said not anywhere near as many as when I first saw them.
I thought maybe the guys at the plant store were wrong, and they might not be mites, but maybe Root Aphids, or even Hypoaspis Miles! I went and bought a weak magnifying glass (all I could find at this time of night) and came home and inspected the plant. I noticed some light yellow marks on the leaves which don't look good, not many though. But you wanna know what really got me??
I was inspecting the plant, and looked under a leaf, and right under in close to the stem was a light brown spider-looking creature just sitting there!!!! But it doesn't look like the little things, because its about 5x the size!
I got some tape to stick it to and when it fell off the leaf it went down a web!. so yeah... I guess this guy is some sort of spider. But what I wanna know is, is he an adult spider mite and the little white ones babies? Or is he just a random spider hanging out on the under side of the leaf, and the little white things are root aphids or hypoaspis miles?
As I said, the little ones are TINY, but I could see they definitely have legs, and at the front either antenas of two long legs. These insects are about the size of a grain of salt and I would describe them as creamy or white coloured. They dont seem interested in the leaves or stem, just the soil and the rim of the pot.
I figured I probably got the infestation due to bringing it in and outside all the time, so now the poor plant is strictly and inside plant, relying on the sun (all I have are flurescent light bulbs that go in normal light fittings and lamps, and they would be useless right???)
So please people.. I need help identifying what these things are and knowing how to save my poor plant. I've heard of mixing some cigarettes into water and completely drenching the entire plant and soil until run-off. Any thoughts?? I guess I need to know what they all are first..
I'll post some pics asap, but the little white things are too small to see in a photo and I need to get batteries for my camera.
I reaaaaaaallllly want to wipe them out... all of them.
Thanks, and my sincere apologies for how long this post is. I appreciate your patience and help.
First of all, I'm a complete noob at growing weed. I have talked to several people and done some research and this is the set up I'm using:
*Unknown seed type (it was in the bag of weed I got once)
*Once germinated, I plant the seed in a Jiffy Pellet, and then when the roots are reaching out of the Jiffy Pellets I transplant the entire pellet with plant into a large pot, filled with Bloom Potting mix (all purpose) mixed with Dynamic Lifter.
*I have been growing it outdoors and bringing it in at night (until now)
*I live in Australia
*the plant is probably about 1.5 - 2 months old by now, and has about 5 or 6 layers of leafs, and is about 5 inches high.
*My cat attacked the plant a few weeks ago and ripped off one of the large top leafs, but we rescued the rest of the plant (with the help of some seasol) and it has grown a lot since.
I try not to water it too much or too little..
NOW TO TELL YOU ABOUT MY PROBLEM!
Yesterday I went to water it after being away for 3 days to find hundreds (maybe even thousands) of tiny TINY TINY white-ish little insects. They were so small, probably smaller than a pin head. They were not moving fast, but just crawling. They were hard to spot at first, and I only noticed that they were some sort of insect because they were moving. There were a few crawling up the stem and around the actual plant, but 99% of them were crawling on top of the dirt, and just underneath the dirt. They were also crawling all over the rim of the pot.
I took a small bit of soil with some of the insects to my local hardware store (plant department) and showed them. The two guys working there said they are mites, and recommended I buy Yates Insect & Mite Killer (active constituents: 285g/L Potassium salts of fatty acids). It says that it is a soap based spray, and I told him it was a tomato plant (lol) so it should be fine for my weed plant.
I bought it, and mixed up about 15ml per litre and sprayed it all over the plant (underneath leaves, all over the pot plant etc.) then went on to full on drench the soil with it until it was dripping out the bottom - thats what the directions said to do.
At first glance it looked like I had destroyed the little fuckers, but then at closer look I could still see some. I left it over night to see if it would slowly kill them. I checked this morning and still could see some, but probably only 40% of what was there to begin with.
I then doubled the dose to about 30ml per litre and gave it a good spray, but didn't drench it, because I don't want to drown the plant.
They are still there, but as I said not anywhere near as many as when I first saw them.
I thought maybe the guys at the plant store were wrong, and they might not be mites, but maybe Root Aphids, or even Hypoaspis Miles! I went and bought a weak magnifying glass (all I could find at this time of night) and came home and inspected the plant. I noticed some light yellow marks on the leaves which don't look good, not many though. But you wanna know what really got me??
I was inspecting the plant, and looked under a leaf, and right under in close to the stem was a light brown spider-looking creature just sitting there!!!! But it doesn't look like the little things, because its about 5x the size!
I got some tape to stick it to and when it fell off the leaf it went down a web!. so yeah... I guess this guy is some sort of spider. But what I wanna know is, is he an adult spider mite and the little white ones babies? Or is he just a random spider hanging out on the under side of the leaf, and the little white things are root aphids or hypoaspis miles?
As I said, the little ones are TINY, but I could see they definitely have legs, and at the front either antenas of two long legs. These insects are about the size of a grain of salt and I would describe them as creamy or white coloured. They dont seem interested in the leaves or stem, just the soil and the rim of the pot.
I figured I probably got the infestation due to bringing it in and outside all the time, so now the poor plant is strictly and inside plant, relying on the sun (all I have are flurescent light bulbs that go in normal light fittings and lamps, and they would be useless right???)
So please people.. I need help identifying what these things are and knowing how to save my poor plant. I've heard of mixing some cigarettes into water and completely drenching the entire plant and soil until run-off. Any thoughts?? I guess I need to know what they all are first..
I'll post some pics asap, but the little white things are too small to see in a photo and I need to get batteries for my camera.
I reaaaaaaallllly want to wipe them out... all of them.
Thanks, and my sincere apologies for how long this post is. I appreciate your patience and help.
