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Russet Mite organic IPM Issues

C

Champelli_Treez

New member
Hey everyone,

This is my first post however I have been growing for about 8 years. I used to do a bunch of hydro and spray for pests using chemical pesticides such as avid, eagle, forbid, floramite, ect

I have recently switched all my rooms over to living organic no till soil and am having issues with what seems to me to be russet mites. When I first found out about my issue I dunked all the plants in a super high dilution of zerotol for about one minute. Then started spraying a micronized sulphur almost every other day for about 3 weeks in veg rotating in some pfr 97, venerate, og Biowar bio brew and even green cleaner. Then I stopped spraying sulphur and just kept hitting beneficials and started using plant therapy, em5, bio brew, and Neem.

What’s strange is that I am seeing what looks like russet mite damage to me but when I look under a scope I can’t find a single one moreover I feel I have a pretty comprehensive IPM program that I have stuck to rigorously but am still seeing damage that looks like russet mites


Here is a pic of the damage please let me know what you think
 

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thailer

thailer

Well-known member
are you looking with a handheld scope? that does look like mites but you're also spraying a lot of different products on a daily basis. so it could have a lot to do with phytotoxicity from the organic sprays. sulfur and oils shouldn't be mixed and green cleaner has oil i think. venerate shouldn't be used with fungicides like sulfur. marrone sells a fungicide but its actually a plant extract that induces a systemic health response from the plant which in turn helps with PM.

if your scope is high powered enough and the leaf is steady under the scope and you search forever with no sign on mites, quit spraying and see what happens.

what kind of compost did you use to build your no till soil? is the humidity super low or is there a fan on the leaves?

IPM is supposed to be started before you get pests and you spray on a weekly basis, typically an oil based spray like neem oil. the idea is that since you're spraying every seven days, if you bring in pests midweek without knowing it, there will be a spray scheduled within a few days helping you take hold of the situation before it gets out of control. most people with russets are having success with sulfur based sprays or they are using grandevo with beneficial predator releases.

i think you should stop spraying and see if the mites come back because even though you can't find them, with all the sprays the population might be too low to see right away. make a positive ID before you start spraying again and then pick insecticides that compliment each other well. good luck!
 
C

Champelli_Treez

New member
thailer said:
are you looking with a handheld scope? that does look like mites but you're also spraying a lot of different products on a daily basis. so it could have a lot to do with phytotoxicity from the organic sprays. sulfur and oils shouldn't be mixed and green cleaner has oil i think. venerate shouldn't be used with fungicides like sulfur. marrone sells a fungicide but its actually a plant extract that induces a systemic health response from the plant which in turn helps with PM.

if your scope is high powered enough and the leaf is steady under the scope and you search forever with no sign on mites, quit spraying and see what happens.

what kind of compost did you use to build your no till soil? is the humidity super low or is there a fan on the leaves?

IPM is supposed to be started before you get pests and you spray on a weekly basis, typically an oil based spray like neem oil. the idea is that since you're spraying every seven days, if you bring in pests midweek without knowing it, there will be a spray scheduled within a few days helping you take hold of the situation before it gets out of control. most people with russets are having success with sulfur based sprays or they are using grandevo with beneficial predator releases.

i think you should stop spraying and see if the mites come back because even though you can't find them, with all the sprays the population might be too low to see right away. make a positive ID before you start spraying again and then pick insecticides that compliment each other well. good luck!
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the response! Just to clarify I waited about 17/18 days before switching from sulphur to oils I am aware that u can’t mix sulphur and oil and are supposed to wait 21 days but felt it was ok.

I have been scoping under all the leaves showing symptoms and can’t find anything however I think I have discovered the problem. I believe it is actually Heat stress. I recently ramped up my temps and humidity to 78F and 65%-70% humidity. The ones showing symptoms are directly under lamps and since I have been battling russets when I saw Heat stress I immediately thought oh shit russets are back but I’m pretty sure it’s just they’re growing into lamps and getting a Lil fried
 
C

Champelli_Treez

New member
The no till soil in my veg is just build a soil Malibu and I did a flower room with all A1 organics and another room of Malibu both hand mixed at home using the BAS recipe to do a lil comparison.
 
thailer

thailer

Well-known member
its probably ok. just curious what else it could be besides mites. sounds like you've figured it out.

since you feel that they are gone, then do a weekly spray of something in case of flare ups. thats what ipm is all about.
 
PDX Dopesmoker

PDX Dopesmoker

Active member
Champelli_Treez said:
Hey everyone,

This is my first post however I have been growing for about 8 years. I used to do a bunch of hydro and spray for pests using chemical pesticides such as avid, eagle, forbid, floramite, ect

I have recently switched all my rooms over to living organic no till soil and am having issues with what seems to me to be russet mites. When I first found out about my issue I dunked all the plants in a super high dilution of zerotol for about one minute. Then started spraying a micronized sulphur almost every other day for about 3 weeks in veg rotating in some pfr 97, venerate, og Biowar bio brew and even green cleaner. Then I stopped spraying sulphur and just kept hitting beneficials and started using plant therapy, em5, bio brew, and Neem.

What’s strange is that I am seeing what looks like russet mite damage to me but when I look under a scope I can’t find a single one moreover I feel I have a pretty comprehensive IPM program that I have stuck to rigorously but am still seeing damage that looks like russet mites


Here is a pic of the damage please let me know what you think
Click to expand...

Russets cause the leaves to cup like that, but when I've seen russet damage before they've usually caused cupping on the part of the leaf that attaches to the stem. One of your photos shows the opposite, most of the leaf edge is turned up and in, but the base isn't.
 
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