Eradicate Broad Mites 100% Organically

I see lots of posts about this. There's info scattered all over the place. I've battled BMs for 4 months and have finally destroyed them thanks to the consolidated knowledge provided here by the great members of icmag:

- Wettable sulfur thru an atomizer up to wk 2 of flower. Make sure there are no trichomes. It's cheap and very effective. Wear a respirator, turn off vents, and don't enter the room for 24 hours.

- Buildasoil has an essential oil mix, it is now your best friend. Use it every other day with a drop of dr. Bronners as a surfactant for at least a week until results are seen.

- PFR-97 is a fungus that traps the mites in mycelium killing them if your rh is above 80% for 8 hours. My rh does not exceed 65% but I atomize it every 2 days anyway. Pray for rain.

These agents along with removing infected leaves daily (I ziplock them) will eradicate them as long as too much damage has not been done. Theres a point where you have to cull your plants so stay on top of it so it doesnt happen. Kill off or quarantine the most affected ones.

- Heat treat your rooms past 115F for 1 hour is said to destroy them. Make sure your plants are watered adequately. Do it 2 or 3x if you feel so inclined but make sure the whole room even the floor exceeds 115F.

- I also ordered a. swirskii, a predatory mite that eats broads, but they arent here yet and it looks like I dont need them. Theyre the clean up crew so to speak. Some members have brought forth ethical qualms with using them as when they run out of a food source they starve so keep this in mind I believe you can buy little food for them to keep them alive. Their effectiveness depends on your room conditions. The trick is finding one that thrives in your environment or deploying a variety.

- Dont use neem oil or any oil based pesticide within 30 days of wettable sulfur.

I used lots of poison before this and never will again this works and it works way better! Good luck everyone and fuck all governments that use these pests as "weed control." This will also work for russet mites.

Are bm's used as weed control in your area? that's nuts

California does not state what they use but we've seen a HUGE influx in infestations these past few years. There are states that cite that they use them, yes, it's an unfortunate reality.

Broad mites infected with Fusarium Oxysporum are said to be spread along highways.

Thats evil. Great post _tessarecting! I hope i dont ever meet the broad mite. Will these methods work for spotted mites too? What is this sulfur? Is it expensive?

If this works for broads/russets (I had both) I can't imagine anything surviving this but I don't know anything about spotted mites. Are those spider mites? Spider mites wouldnt last a day with this.

Wettable sulfur is 10 bux a bottle, needs to be atomized, I only used 30 ml in a gallon this run. Extremely cheap.

_tessarecting said:

- I also ordered a. swirskii, a predatory mite that eats broads, but they arent here yet and it looks like I dont need them. Theyre the clean up crew so to speak. Some members have brought forth ethical qualms with using them as when they run out of a food source they starve so keep this in mind I believe you can buy little food for them to keep them alive. Their effectiveness depends on your room conditions. The trick is finding one that thrives in your environment or deploying a variety.

- Neem could be used in rotation, but I did not.

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Hey there,

I know I mentioned the predatory mites starving, but it's not like I lose sleep about them starving like I would, say, a cow or a pig on a farm.. Nothing close to how I worry about feeding myself or my dog..

But I did want to mention it originally, and there are food sources available (Arbico sells Good Bug Power Meal, for instance), so people wouldn't deploy them, the predators starve out, and then the pests make a come back and the person that tried them, comes back claiming that they don't work.

Dont need more false information floating~
Lol


Swirskii's do like a RH of 70%+, keep that in mind~
Other species do tolerate lower RH, like you mentioned.
Temp ranges vary too, between species.


Oh, on the Neem - research has hinted that Neem is a "3 out of 4" (4 = worst/deadly) in terms of detriment to the health of predatory mites in general. Laymans terms - Neem might/probably will kill your predators almost as fast as your pests.

Didn't see any mention of Spinosad?

My personal battle with Broad mites went something like this:

- Found out they were there
- Changed my pants

- Flushed the most infected plants down the drain - because I couldn't burn them. Throwing them away, isn't good enough.
- Clipped off every apical meristem in the house, this is where BM's hide and reproduce, so I made 'missing' for ~10 days..

- Started daily Spinosad+Dr Bronners "death sprays" - sprayed everything. Plants, over and under, the pots, under the pots, the sides of the tent, outside the tent - everything but the damn light bulbs, essentially. And bleach-mopped the rest of the grow room, every other day. Warning: This WILL mess your plants up. But these broads/russets are the devil's work reincarnate, so a little damage to the plant is nothing compared to kicking mite-ass.

- After 10 days of Spinosad 'death sprays' (the same ~10 days there was no new apical meristems), my mites showed up. A mixture of A. swirskii and A. cucumeris, the swirskii were fast release and the cucumeris were slow-release sachets.

- I began to alternate between soluble seaweed, aloe+coconut water, and plain water foliars, to begin healing the plants and keep humidity high.
- I also would put 1/4-1/2" of water in my clone dome tray, without the lid and left the seedling heat mat on, to increase RH


Since this, my plants have went from a "stalling out" state where they completely quit growing, started to pale out and show deformities.... To now, they've returned their vigor, the deformities are subsiding and the healthy coloration is returning.

Just hoping to help~

No need for spinosad with this 100% organic and effective regemin, thanks for all the additional information.

Thanks _tessarecting & Coughie.
Either way this post is informative, good ideas and info.
By spotted mite i mean the two spotted spider mite, whom i am now aquainted with and for a time done with.

Spinosad helped me defeat the mites for sure and as far as i know is %100 natural? My bottle says for organic gardening. I used it liberally on veg plants and clones, you can use it on flowers but i wont.

Last I checked spinosad was toxic to honey bees so I never use it personally. No need to.

Neem oil is toxic to honey bees too.
Doesn't mean it's not organic.

Props for managing Broad Mites without it.
But I wouldn't hesitate to spray my indoor veg tent again.

There is a little irony in using something (wettable sulfur) that needs a respirator, the vents off and staying away for 24 hours...
But not using spinosad...
But it's up to the individual to pick the 'lesser of <insert number> of evils'

Word. I never hear about neem being a contributer to colony collapse disorder though, do / have you?

Ever heard of this stuff? The place I used to get beneficial mites is selling it

Met52® EC
Target pests: Root aphids, thrips, whiteflies, vine weevils, aphids, russet mites, two-spotted spider mites, broad mites, blemisia!
Met52® EC is a fungal spore that effectively control pests with a contact infection. This beneficial microorganism is easy to use and works fast - controlling insects in 3 to 7 days. Met52® EC offers outstanding plant protection for many crops, including greenhouse ornamentals, protected vegetables, and outdoor fruits and vegetables.

Key benefits of Met52®

No known insect resistance
Duration of action: one full growing season
Won't harm your beneficial bugs
No toxicological classification
No chemical residue or harvest restrictions

http://www.evergreengrowers.com/met52-119/met52-ec-new-formula/met52-ec.html

The local shop sells it, it's not rated for broads, interesting it works on russets, there also isn't any threads on met52 bm eradication as far as I know like there is with pfr-97, FatherEarth's work for example. https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=305657
Can't comment further than that.

I don't know anything about it...just got an email. It does list broad mites though.

That's news to me. Is it the same fungus as pfr-97? Isaria fumosorosea? That's going to have to be an experiment for someone else.

_tessarecting said:

Word. I never hear about neem being a contributer to colony collapse disorder though, do / have you?

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I haven't.

But I haven't seen 100% proof that CCD comes from straight Spinosad either.

They'll both kill a hive dead.
A dead hive is a dead hive, either way.

They still don't really know the issue, as far as I know... And my hunch is that it's not as simple of a problem, as to be fixed by the stoppage of any one particular chemical or procedure. (Or is there? Enlighten me, if there is / if you can, please)

Being a beekeeper myself, I wouldn't advocate spraying *anything* when there's *any winds* drifting from where you're standing towards the direction of your hives, whether its said to harm the bees or not. (Treatment of nosema and varroa, aside; that's direct treatment of the hive~)

Not what I was implyng and a great topic for another thread. Last I checked there were many contributers to ccd not just one you are absolutely right.

_tessarecting said:

That's news to me. Is it the same fungus as pfr-97? Isaria fumosorosea? That's going to have to be an experiment for someone else.

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Here's the Met52 MSDS

http://bioag.novozymes.com/en/products/europe/biocontrol/Documents/Met-52_GR_En_2011-03-09_v7.pdf

heat, easy, deadly, works like a charm.