The growing large plants, outdoors, thread...

[OldRod]

Its whole wrong info about Lady Bug.
Actually lady bug are predator for mites and can eat 40 eggs and 3 adult mite per day.
Now multiple that with 50+ lady bugs and you got clear garden in couple days.
Also lady bug wont fly off of infected plant till they have enough "food".
Unfortunatelly lady bugs got burned by HPS inside, but they doing very good work in the grow room.
Every day, adding new lady bugs in grow room will resolve problem.

 

[Trinity Gold]

Acceptable losses

 

[Goodkarma]

Mites

Mites

I think I will be alright.

I started the season with a few Praying Mantis eggs. I put them outside before I even transplanted the plants out there.

Then I released a couple thousand lady bugs a couple months later.

When looking at the plants yesterday I noticed the new growth on all the plants had zero marks from the mites.

I am hoping the lower night time temperatures held them at bay. I could only find a couple on the more affected leaves.

I had never had mites before, Thanks everyone

 

[Trinity Gold]

Canada just schooled this whole thread..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqAXM1rpt8

 

[dest]

Best way to get rid of mites this late in to flower is to wipe off the bastards with your fingers; they wont really get the flowers all youhave to take care of is fan leaves. Just remember to wash your hands + arms + hair after if you are worried about tranferring the microscopic beasts.

 

[Madrus Rose]

Canada just schooled this whole thread..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqAXM1rpt8

Not much spacing in the continuous beds , they're doing some early finishing strains for sure & more of a sea of green approach . Those 3gal 1 1/2 ft tall container plants were already 3-4wks into flowering ! Have to give them an "A" for being extremely enterprising , that is one hell of a massive OD green house SOG Light Dep.


Growing in the higher up pacific Northwest they sure are at the mercy of the weather & tendency for long strings of overcast days . Their choices of genetics limited to the indigenous bullet proof early finishing beasters mostly <g

 

[jdkronyk101]

Its whole wrong info about Lady Bug.
Actually lady bug are predator for mites and can eat 40 eggs and 3 adult mite per day.
Now multiple that with 50+ lady bugs and you got clear garden in couple days.
Also lady bug wont fly off of infected plant till they have enough "food".
Unfortunatelly lady bugs got burned by HPS inside, but they doing very good work in the grow room.
Every day, adding new lady bugs in grow room will resolve problem.

old rod,
the numbers you quote above are accurate and are the same science ive used to determine that they are an unacceptable solution for a colony of spidermites.
if you had 100 ladybugs (average in a small/pack) you would only be removing 200 mites a day or 4000eggs. in a true spider mite problem/infestation that can be the population on just one leaf. meaning if you had even a mild problem on a three gallon potted plant in flower you would need more than that to contain it. now multiply that to a plant in a 200 gallon pot at half its possible size. how many leaves do you have to cover then. 1000? lets say there is only 5 mites on each leaf? thats 5000 mites. meaning your 100 ladybug colony could polish off the adults in 25 days or so.
now consider that the ladybugs are not effectively reproducing. their population will only decrease over that time without reintroduction. a ladybugs lifecycle is 20-30 days total. of which only a quarter of which is its adult phase. meaning your ladybugs must be reintroduced every 5-10 days for effective control of an already existing problem.
thats 100 bugs per plant every 10 days minimum for just a small outbreak to achieve control.
not to mention the fact that things that eat also shit...
online ive found ladybugs sold live at 1500 for $9.99 plus shipping. so although not that effective they are affordable. i have worked for one of the main predator wholesalers for over 10yrs and ladybugs are their last recommendation for effective control.heres their own quote "Ladybugs: Sometimes Effective Against Mites " doesnt really sell me. and they are just being honest. their own recommendation is 1500 for preventive meds on a very small project(and that is aphid prevention).they do not recommend them for mites.for larger projects they recommend 18000, or up to 72000.and triple that 72000 for an acre or more(again for prevention of aphids).

and about the not flying away till they are full myth... the predator wholesalers recomend that you glue the ladybugs wings to their backs with sugar water so they cant fly for up to a week, otherwise they will just fly away....lol

more on ladybugs here

http://www.naturescontrol.com/aphid.html#lb

the two spotted spidermite is a whole different animal...literally.
the female mite is capable of laying 200 eggs every two weeks.which can double or triple under optimum conditions(high temps/warm weather 80d.f. plus)finishing their life cycle in 5-10 days so with five mites and five days you have 1000 eggs on your plant. 70% ratio of female to male. so in five more days seven hundred mites will have laid another 200 eggs each thats 14,000 eggs in less than 10-20 days in 80deg.f. plus temps.hence the spiderweb style breeding explosions in worst case scenarios

for a reference the adult predator mite can eat apprx. 20 eggs and five adults daily.with pretty much the same life cycle as the two spotted above.on average the predator reproduces twice as fast as the prey mite.but not always.
heres more on mites:
http://www.naturescontrol.com/mite.html

basically the numbers dont add up for effective control of an already existing mite problem, inside or out.When using predators to help control spider mites, it is extremely important to release the predators as soon as spider mites are observed on the plants.

now as preventive meds they both work just fine. but the case in point is two weeks from harvest. dont put any bugs on your buds you will be guaranteed to be smoking them and their feces and waste at this point.
its the very same/similar reasons that a few here have recomended you dont spray oils of any type. oils can degrade your crystals, not to mention the fact that at two weeks out you will effect your flavor.
hope that helps,
j.d.

 

[Dr. Purpur]

preditors

preditors

I had several jumping spiders appear on My Haze plant,and on the Kush as well. You know the ones that look robotic and watch You. Anyway, they tore up the spider Mites on my Haze plant. I could see them walking around devouring the Mites. Probably hundreds of Adult Mites a day. Here Ill grab a pic of one for You.

 

[Dr. Purpur]

One of My Helpers

One of My Helpers

Ok Heres Kip. He comes out to see Me sometimes. He tears up the Mites.

See How He cocks His head when I talk to him.

 

[Dr. Purpur]

checkin out the bud

checkin out the bud

 

[jdkronyk101]

yo dr. p ,
thats totally cool...
wish they sold those by the hundreds... not to mention jumping spiders are extremely fun to watch and interact with!
j.d.

 

[Trinity Gold]

Not much spacing in the continuous beds , they're doing some early finishing strains for sure & more of a sea of green approach . Those 3gal 1 1/2 ft tall container plants were already 3-4wks into flowering ! Have to give them an "A" for being extremely enterprising , that is one hell of a massive OD green house SOG Light Dep.


Growing in the higher up pacific Northwest they sure are at the mercy of the weather & tendency for long strings of overcast days . Their choices of genetics limited to the indigenous bullet proof early finishing beasters mostly <g

cannabis isn't indigenous to Canada bro..These cats have 20 green houses going and are depping them all..growing large plants in a light dep is cool but when you do a SOG like this and pack them in, the numbers are just beyond...Just 3 guys worked that whole set up..

 

[Goodkarma]

Mystery solved as to where I got the mites. I noticed the infected branches were near where I had pollinated.

The male DC was kept in a different part of the property and wasn't treated for pests as it started to bloom. I didn't want to get it wet.

Just pulled the pollen out from where it was stored and looked at it under a microscope.

Tada...mites.



And...How many eyes does that hairy feller have?

could you imagine having one the size of a pitbull, for a sentry at the garden.

 

[jdkronyk101]

The male DC was kept in a different part of the property and wasn't treated for pests as it started to bloom.

yo good karma,
the pressing question...
what did you bang that dc male with?
its solid pollen for real.
j.d.

 

[NorCalMeanGreen]

My first crack at it...

My first crack at it...

This is my first post here, so go easy on me.

Let me just say first that before I found this forum, I was kind of wandering and stumbling through the dark but managed to come through it with some new found experience and some decent plants. AFTER I found this forum, I feel like I am truly enlightened. So many fellow growers with such a precise and deep understanding of things, that I'm inspired more than ever and feel graced that you have shared your secrets with us. Thank you to all of the contributors to this epic thread.

So for me (and my partner) this year has been interesting... powdery mildew, thrips, aphids, neighbors! Lots of bamboo stakes (never again thanks to your hortanova netting), too many times of under-watering and an extremely hot full sun made this season a first of all sorts. Still dealing with so many different issues and just trying to pull off a few healthy plants. So here is what it comes down to...

17 pots - all 200 gallon smart pots with FFOF (nothing else! - I was told we didn't need anything else)
4 Hindu Skunk (bad clones)
2 Strawberry Diesel (killer strain)
1 Grand Daddy Purple (good cut)
1 Goo (killer)
1 OG (very bad clone)
7 Blue Sky Cotton Candy (not sure if the clones were bad or not)
1 "variety" pot with 3 purple skunks and a bad Chem Dog clone
EJ Grow and Bloom
EJ Microblast
Powdered Fish Emulsion
Indonesian Bat Guano
Cal Mag 7:1

These were all in my back yard with a not so great fence plus living on a corner in a pretty nice neighborhood had me visited by local law enforcement. A lot of pains this year, but with all of this new information, next year should be better is my hope. Going to shoot for at least a 7lb plant and a 15 ft fence!

https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=22920&pictureid=487844

https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=22920&pictureid=487842

https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=22920&pictureid=487817

https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=22920&pictureid=487841

They aren't going to be 5 lb plants, but I'll be happy with what I get. We ended up with some hard to care for girls because of the bad clones and we did what we could, which didn't turn out as bad as I thought, I just wish it was better. I'll post more of the buds soon... still dealing with some plants that ran out of nutrients in the soil and pH issues because there wasn't enough "other" things mixed in... lesson learned.

Oh, Butte - we're almost neighbors. https://www.icmag.com/ic/images/smilies/wave.gif

 

[OldRod]

I said 50+ lady bugs cause many have just couple medium size plants in they backyard or so.
Im telling you, I never ever had problems with spider mites outside thx to lady bugs.

Really dont know where you find life cycle of 20-30 days total when from egg to adult bug its needed 5 weeks.
On every couple days she produce new eggs, alos one lady bug can produce +/- 1000 eggs in her life.
Life time of lady bug is around 1 year.

He who start fight against catepillars/mites when he saw colony of them ... he will lose or at least have haeadache fighting with them.

First treatment against mites I do in May than July, not when I saw them.
First treatment against caterpillars I do in August and repeat it at every 15 days.

Precaution are key for success in growing.

 

[pomky]

I found that only a handful of lady bugs that came naturally to my plants stemmed the infestation of spidermites in a day, and they were riddled with them and dumped down in the bush because I thought they were lost to me.

 

[Dr. Purpur]

Hey Brother Meangreen,
Thats alot of money and effort to put out. You need to insure the clones You use are top quality before the outdoor season if possible. I do My vetting in winter, inside in a tent. I run several varieties, clone each one during veg, and put the clones seperate in the Mother closet. Bud out the plants, dry and cure, and sample them all. Pick out only the best and make multiple clones and run those outdoors. I dont rely store bought clones, nor trust seeds on a first run basis outdoors.

 

[jdkronyk101]

I said 50+ lady bugs cause many have just couple medium size plants in they backyard or so.
Im telling you, I never ever had problems with spider mites outside thx to lady bugs.

Really dont know where you find life cycle of 20-30 days total when from egg to adult bug its needed 5 weeks.
On every couple days she produce new eggs, alos one lady bug can produce +/- 1000 eggs in her life.
Life time of lady bug is around 1 year.

He who start fight against catepillars/mites when he saw colony of them ... he will lose or at least have haeadache fighting with them.

First treatment against mites I do in May than July, not when I saw them.
First treatment against caterpillars I do in August and repeat it at every 15 days.

Precaution are key for success in growing.

then i would say we completely agree that they work great as preventive medicine ... still though i hold strong in the belief that in no way are they a solution for a guy who found them this week in his garden... like i said your numbers are correct. but the guy mentioned is in a much different situation at a week or two to harvest.
and their life cycle can last up to a year you are correct, but we usually apply them as adults and depending on when your local store put them in the fridge, a worst case scenario is one to two months of effective service.best case is about three to four. you can buy the eggs , but they are more commonly sold as live adults who have set for months in your local garden center fridge.or just on the counter by the register. that said...

actually its pretty hard to get a bad mite infestation outside period. alot of times the plant itself grows faster than the mites for most of the season.not to mention the sun is much more powerful and penatrates so much farther(mites hate direct light) .so a few bugs could do it as there is no real problem to solve only prevent. also the larval stage of the ladybug, is super aggressive. but again they wont solve the problem... they prevent it...
the question asked was :
" i see mites and im two weeks out what do i do?" and i hold true to my answer:
i completely agree with your use of the ladybugs and how.
but at two weeks out no predator will be effective period. predators work best as preventive meds . and with any serious mite problem on already flowering herb ,preventive medicine is a day late and a dollar short.

lastly its funny how our egos in these forums get in the way of the fact that most of us use the exact same science, and research the same things, yet we seem to sit and argue points that defend exactly what the other guy or gal is saying...

love you all,
keep it real tom,maad,tg,hl,ganja d,fill, doc p, all of the latest round of pics are killing it for real. hats off and good luck to tom and his circle, i cant wait to hear you chime in again.we used your sunshine # 2 as a male choice this season, and am very pleased with its uniform growth as its fairly homogenized... best of luck all we are almost there,
j.d.

 

[Madrus Rose]

cannabis isn't indigenous to Canada bro..These cats have 20 green houses going and are depping them all..growing large plants in a light dep is cool but when you do a SOG like this and pack them in, the numbers are just beyond...Just 3 guys worked that whole set up..

Upon reviewing the Utube Vid again it sure was a massive series of greenhouses for a gorilla site. That 3 guys worked the entire site would be just about right & keep em busy fulltime . They didn't have to import much lumber having plenty from the trees they felled to set up the orginal site ...plenty of lumber in Canada and with the lake right there , plenty of water to
Make a nice ad for pure Blend Pro & GH , lol.

Pretty amazin..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqAXM1rpt8

* Cannabis an indigenous plant to Canada ? lolol.... No TG , was not trying to say that ...but rare to see canucks attempting to grow Hazes or longer finishing SD's /etc up in those latitudes, especially in a SOG OD light dep set up. <g Strains locally bred for more specific performance for that clime & season . For instance the indoor grows mostly up in Canada for a time were almost 65% all M39 or related crosses/versions of good ol' NL5 x Skunk1 . Very stable, sturdy , easy to grow & faster finish ....and of course --->the beaster yield!

Yah , am aware of how enterprising the canadians are & great workers. Had many work for me , & some very lovely women down from BC and they were fine company & many friends to this day . Having a string of 5-10houses to manage was not uncommon up in BC , knew a few that ran those dialed in grows.

tx for posting

PS: What happened to Breeder Steve ? He was working with the canukian breeders up in BC for a while there ...