spider mites

i have spider mites on one of my plants. it's only on the smaller leaves but how the hell do i get rid of them? without hurting my girls

As long as your not in flower mode get some pyrethrin base spray and knock them out.

SMC leaf wash...spidermite control. It works better than anthing else organic.

i'm flowering the plants so i need something that won't harm me during that...

You can use chemical sprays during flowering, especially for SPIDER MITES. If not your whole project can go down the wash. You have to do it with common sense. Mist (water with 2 drops of dish soap), wash/spray/mist off using a pyrethrin (water base) or like I use, diazinon, (water based insecticide) (.007%) which is so weak that it still kills, then repels, then dissippates in 3-14 days. It does not affect taste or smoke because you do a couple of fresh water rinses to keep the leaves clean before harvest. I haven't seen any light damage from the chemical use.

I have to do this because the mites go crazy on my Schroomy Dz mom

What action is EPA taking regarding home and garden use of diazinon?
As part of an agreement between EPA and diazinon registrants to phase out and eliminate all residential uses of the insecticide diazinon, as of December 31, 2004, it will be unlawful to sell diazinon outdoor, non-agricultural products in the United States. EPA is issuing a reminder notice to hardware stores and home and garden retailers to inform them of the December 31, 2004, stop sale date for all outdoor diazinon home, lawn, and garden products.

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http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/chemicals/diazinon-factsheet.htm

“The Clinton-Gore Administration continues to aggressively target for elimination those pesticides that pose the greatest risk to human health and the environment, and especially those posing the greatest risk to children,” said Carol M. Browner, EPA Administrator. “The action we are taking today is another major step toward ensuring that all Americans can enjoy greater safety from exposure to harmful pesticides.”

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http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpres...c8cdc9ea7d5ff585852569ac0077bd31?OpenDocument

Organophosphates can affect the nervous system. The effects from diazinon vary depending on the dose, but symptoms from over-exposure can include nausea, headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, and general weakness. Today’s action also represents an important step for the environment. Diazinon’s use on turf poses a risk to birds, and it is one of the most commonly found pesticides in air, rain, and drinking and surface water.

It is legal to purchase and use diazinon products according to label directions and precautions. Consumers should take special care to always read and follow the label directions and precautions. If consumers choose to discontinue use, they should contact their state or local hazardous waste disposal program or the local solid waste collection service for information on proper disposal.

Occupational Risks:
Occupational "handler" exposure to diazinon can occur during mixing, loading and application activities. Postapplication exposure may occur during scouting, irrigation, cultivation, harvesting and handling seeds. The majority of occupational risk estimates for handlers exposed to diazinon exceed the Agency's level of concern, even with personal protective equipment (PPE) and/or engineering controls. The majority of postapplication exposures exceed EPA's level of concern at the currently established restricted entry interval (REI) of 24 hours.

Ecological Risks:
Diazinon is highly toxic to birds, mammals, honey bees and other beneficial insects. It is also very highly toxic to freshwater fish and invertebrates following acute exposure. The endangered species levels of concern are exceeded for terrestrial wildlife, aquatic life and terrestrial plants.

Incidents:
Diazinon is one of the leading causes of acute insecticide poisoning for humans and wildlife. For humans, the rate of incidents is not high relative to its large volume of usage. The majority of incidents occur in the home. It also is one of the top causes of bird kill incidents.

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I would rather smoke nothing...than to smoke something I have sprayed chemical pesticides on...especially a chemical pesticide that the EPA has deemed unsafe for home use.

Would you take asprin, knowing it was tainted with foreign chemicals? Hell no... Do what you wish...but I wouldn't touch em with a ten foot pole.

I'm not killing the pot, I'm killing the mites. Yes, you can over kill anything with too much. Hell, I wouldn't smoke half the smog ridden air plants grown in most cities either. Chemicals are everywhere, water and air. Do you use tap water? It's worse too some degrees than diazinon at .007%. There are fucking pesticides in rain water, much less drinking water.

I guess it depends on what you want out of your garden...if anything will do, then go ahead.

Desiderata...could you explain to me how tap water is more dangerous than diazinon? The reason pesticides are in rain water is because of uniformed peeps like...ehem, ehem, cough, cough. You can't control what other people do, just yourself. You may decide that you dont mind possibly compromising health and environment as long as you get smoke, but I do.

Smog is another nasty element that us humans have created...ONE AT A TIME. Smog didn't just show up one day, we as a human race created it. And we as a human race are the only ones who can stop the cycle. If we keep on polluting our planet with such little regard for future generations, there will be nothing pure left for our childrens children to grow their own fruit, vegetables and herb.
You only have two hands...but if everybody used their two hands this world would be a better place. Instead we use the excuse of, "well everybody else does it..." or " Chemicals are everywhere, water and air."

no more ranting....sorry for the hijack

You could look into beneficial insects. No chemicals there maybe just a little pooh. Do a search. Here's a link that list insects and their diets:
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/goodbugs.html
Good luck, aphids killed my first grow, no wladybugs run all over the place.
Good luck

Sunnyside you are right by all means. No tap water is not as poisonous, but the diazinon kills eggs, larve, I know everything. You would not believe the eggs under the Schrommy Dz leaves. There were hundreds. I first thought they were bulbular trichomes at first.

Anyhow, I've only used it once this year because I don't want to lose my genes. I need lady bugs and I promise to pursue a purer course without diazinon. I owe the earth that committment.

Sunnyside, thankyou for bringing me to my better senses. Communication does work.

Sunnyside one more question. What is SMC leaf wash? I've used red spider mite dicoful (sp) control besides safers soap. Mites return no matter what I use, you know. I will improve I promise. I need to bath them more on a regular schedule. That's a preventive like the ladybugs. Good day gentlemen.

2buds gardenhelper site suggests 'predator mites' as being the most effective prevention against two-spotted and red spider mites "Purple Chingon."

I hope I didn't interfere/high jack you looking for a spider mite solution. The "Beneficial Insect" course of action would be a smart prevention move I believe. To remove them now is your problem at hand, I know.

depending on where you live it could be SMC leaf wash or Spidermite Control...





I cant tell you the ingredients...i forgot. I'll find out and let you know. I do know that it works great for controlling spider mites and is totally safe.

for a good source on bugs go to http://www.naturescontrol.com/

Spider Mite Predators are a good choice...they breed twice as fast! Each Spider Mite Predator sucks the juice out of about 5 Spider Mites a day, or 20 of their eggs.

If spider mite population is especially high you want to try the mite destroyers, but it takes 4-6 weeks to really get these guys going, so use Predator Mites as well for more immediate control.

You hooked me up sunnyside! This is from naturescontrol site.

FACT SHEET
Effects of Chemicals on Beneficial Insects
Many commonly used pesticides are harmful to beneficial insects long after they've been sprayed, and long after pest insects are no longer affected by the pesticide. Hard to believe, that's because beneficial insects don't get sprayed with pesticides nearly as much as pests do, so they never get a chance to build up that same level of pesticide resistance, and when they do get sprayed, because they travel around looking for food much more than pests do, they get exposed to a double-whammy dose. The best answer is to avoid use of pesticides if possible, or use those marked "S" on the table below. But if other pesticides must be used (or, have been used), please allow for the proper "wait" period before beneficial insects are introduced.
This table provides an indication of the toxicity to various beneficial insects of commonly used chemicals and pesticides under "field" conditions. It should be used as a rough guide only, as many variables can affect residue persistance, especially ultraviolet light exposure.

For instance, indoor environments with artificial lighting can take considerably longer than these figures for pesticide breakdown to occur, because artificial lighting of all types is much weaker in ultraviolet light (a major pesticide breakdown factor) than actual sunlight. If there's any question, you might try using some inexpensive beneficial insects such as ladybugs first, before using more expensive, more "targeted" controls.




PESTICIDE WAIT PERIODS FOR BENEFICIAL INSECTS (number of days)*

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trade Name Common Name Whitefly/Aphid Parasites Spider-Mite Predators Thrips/Fungus Gnat Predators Aphid Predators Pirate Bugs/Whitefly Predators

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ambush permethrin H(56) H(56) H(30) H(56) H
Benlate benamyl S H(14) H(14) S H
Botran D.C.N.A. S S S S S
Bravo chlorothalonil S S S S S
Captan S H(7) H(7) S
Decis deltamethrin H(56) H(56) H(56) S S
DDVP dichlorvos H(7) H(3) H(20) H(3)
Diazinon diazinon H(42) I(7) H(21) H(42)
Dibram naled H(7) H(7) H(7) H(7)
Dincap S S S S
Dipel B.thuringiensis H(3) S S S
Dormant Oil H H H H
Dursban chlorpyriphos H(28) H(3) H(14) H(28)
Ficam bendiocarb H(20) H(20) H(20) H(20)
Fixed Copper S S S S
Formaldehyde 37% solution H H H H H
Funginex triforine S H(7) S S
Karathane mancozeb H(7) H S H(7)
Kelthane dicofol H(14) H(4) H(30) H(4) I
Lannate methomyl H(48) H(42) H(42) H(56) H(56)
Lindane h-c-h H(56) H(42) H(42) H(56) H
Malathion malathion H(56) I(7) H(56) I(20) H
Manzate 200 mancozeb S H S S
Manzate maneb S S S S
Meta-Systax oxydem-methyl H(56) H(7) H H
Micro-naisul sulfur H(28) I I I
Nicotine H(1) H(7) H(7) H(1) H
Orthene acephate H(56) H(21) H(21) H(56) H
Parathion parathion H(56) H(7) H(56) H(56) H
Pentac dienochlor H(42) H(14) H(21) S
Phaltan dodemorph S(7) S I(7) I I
Pirimore pirimicarb I(7) I I H(14)
Plant Fume 103 sulfotep H(70) H(70) H(70) H(70) H
Pyrethrum pyrethrins H(10) H(10) H(10) H(10)
Ridomil metalaxyl S I I S
Rovral iprodione S S S S
Safers insecticidal soap H(0) H(0) H(0) H(0) H(0)
Sevin carbaryl H(30) H(14) H(30) H(30) H
Sulphur sulphur H(28) S I(7) I I
Tedian tetradifon S S S
Temik aldicarb H(49) H(21) H(21) H(49) H
Thiodan endosulfan H(70) H(30) H(30) H(30) H
Thiram thiram I(14) I(2) I(2) I(2) I
Vendex fenbutatin oxide S I S S
Zineb zineb S S S S


* H(#)=harmful for # of days. I=low residual effect. S=negligible effect.
Entire Contents Copyright 2003 Nature's Control. All Rights Reserved.

Well, diazinon is less harmful than permethrin to beneficial insects. It says I have to wait 7 days before introducing predator mites. Not bad really.

1500 lady bugs for $8!.........available June 1

100 mite destroyers for $38.50

No Mites available for Thanksgiving........priceless

Even if you don't have a problem right now...Seems like it would be worth it to let a couple thousand of lady bugs and
a few mite destroyers loose on the outdoor flower beds, especially on the opposite side of the wall near the indoor grow...
to try and destory nearby infestations that pose a threat..

ok, so I would like to weigh in here as well. I had spider mites and tried pyrethrin. It ended up burning the leaves, and didn't really kill off all the spider mites. Plus it's highly poisonous and I wouldn't want to risk smoking anything that had been sprayed with that stuff.

Then I found something else which was, in essence, dilute citric acid in a spray bottle. Killed those bugs dead. It dissolves their exoskeletons so they can't molt or something which is how they reproduce. (the molting part may be what neem oil is supposed to do, which I also tried, but which wasn't working) Anyway, they all died, but my plant was so wrecked from the pyrethrin spray that I had to take clones from the new growth and start again. (I was only vegging it at the time.)

So that's what I'd recommend. The citric acid stuff. I got it at a garden center.

As you wouldn't want to smoke raid insect killer neither would you want to smoke pyrethrin.

That's why I always spray clean water first and let it sit for a 1/2 hour so the leaves don't absorb whatever is sprayed or misted on them to kill mites. Yes, I've burned tender seedlings with pyrethrum also. I always use plenty of water with a few drops of dish soap to clean and as a wetting agent to dispserse the surface water properly over all leaf under and over. Foliar spraying is an art in itself.

ok, while I made some very valid points in this post, I clearly could have been less personally negative in doing so. I was simply very angry that someone was (in my view) advising someone else to, in effect, smoke pesticides and wanted to refute their arguments vigorously. I apologize for the negative tone of the post and I'm removing it.

Sincerely,
1st Timer

raise your humidity in your room to 80 percent,or get a no-pest strip and put in room when lights go out and turn of fans,when lights come back on remove you do this 2 days than wait 3 to 5 days and do it again..peace magic