So confused. Ready to give up. RAs? Bulb mites? Seed of chunky?

Thank you for anyone who even looks at this thread. I’m so depressed and ready to quit

Little background:

Experienced grower
-10 Gallon pots
-pro mix medium
-advanced nutrients
-pretty sure at one point I was battling RAs


—botinigard es
—promis
—sns203
—rootpack from capulator (think I should have used the foliar pack)
—beneficial nematodes

After each run. Thoroughly clean everything. Bombs. Bleach. Vinegar peroxide and even one of those ozone generator things.

I used this regimen for veg and leading to first week flower. Continued to use sns203 periodically throughout flower.

Going on my third round with my current problems. During veg my plants would look nice and healthy, lucious and green. First couple of weeks into flower the problems would start religiously. Leaves yellowing early on and looking rusted. By the time it came to harvesting my plants would never fully mature. I would let them go for an extra week or two and still wouldn’t finish. I’m familiar with my strains from previous grows. I’ve had great grows for a long time prior to these last two. I’m almost convinced it’s not RAs. I’ll tear up the root ball looking for black specs crawling but nothing??

I do have a few fliers in my room. But they look more like gnats. What I think the cause of my problems are these little white mite looking things that crawl around the sides of my pot. It’s like a cluster of them. I’ve tried green clean,purecrop1, and mighty wash on them. And didn’t even put a dent in them. They’re still there. I showed a pic to an real experienced grower and he thought they were mites.

My yields are down by 40% and quality has greatly diminished. I’m ready to give up. Can they be bulb mites? Soil mites? Maybe I do have RAs? But I brought the big guns for them.

Please if anyone can help. Here are some pics










Kinda feel I was dealing with what these guys were dealing with in this thread. But I didn’t find a definitive answer

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=242996&page=13

Welcome.

Don't give up.

The 3rd pics is a fungus gnat and they like moist soils. I hang
fly tape around my plants and many do get stuck on them.

The other pics look like mites. Which kind I'm not sure.

troutman said:

Welcome.

Don't give up.

The 3rd pics is a fungus gnat and they like moist soils. I hang
fly tape around my plants and many do get stuck on them.

The other pics look like mites. Which kind I'm not sure.

Click to expand...

Thank you Troutman. Just feel like I’m never gonna win this battle. I’m not sure if I should start another run. Or shut it down for awhile. These “mites” are just on my pots and near my soil. I’m convinced they are the problem

Diatomaceous Earth can help with lots of insects including mites.

Uses For Diatomaceous Earth – Diatomaceous Earth For Insect Control

Some people use neem oil.

troutman said:

Diatomaceous Earth can help with lots of insects including mites.

Uses For Diatomaceous Earth – Diatomaceous Earth For Insect Control

Some people use neem oil.

Click to expand...

I’m familiar with DE. It can only help

The main thing is don't give up. Fight them and learn in the process.

So next time you'll be ready for war if and when they show up.

I agree. I’m hoping someone can shed some light on these bastards.

Never. I repeat. Never get genetics from an outside source. Get a mom from seed. And don’t outsource for babies. Hard lesson learned

I'm sure others will help out with comments. Just hang in there.

I only grow from seeds and know outsourced clones can be problematic.

There is a good possibility that your problem lies with pH and lack of nurtients. Possibly over watering.

Also if you bomb, spray, clean and bugs are still showing up you have to get to the root of that problem. Is it the soil you are bringing in? Is the area clean?

Some pics of the plants would help more than the insects.

Don't give up, this forum has the best of the best, we will help you turn it around!

Not the best pics but those just look like hypoaspis miles to me. They like to eat fungus gnat larvae. Good guys not pests.

Also how old are your bulbs? Old bulbs kill yield and prolong harvest date.

As Scrappy said on the white bugs, those are friendly soldiers.

https://youtu.be/9SLMT9DOgdY

i used to get these white oribatid mites. they show up from over watering in any type of style of grow and also are found in compost. theres thousands of composting mites and many look similar.

maybe advanced nutes reformulated their bottles that you use? i heard they do that from time to time. it would really help to get a pic of the plant.

I'll second the overwatering.

You really need to let your pots dry out before rewatering.
Not only do harmfull bugs like wet soil, you're depriving your roots also of oxygen.

If your pots take longer than 3-4 days to dry, make sure your potting mixture has good drainage and consider giving less water at a time

Buttercup726 said:

Going on my third round with my current problems. During veg my plants would look nice and healthy, lucious and green. First couple of weeks into flower the problems would start religiously. Leaves yellowing early on and looking rusted. By the time it came to harvesting my plants would never fully mature. I would let them go for an extra week or two and still wouldn’t finish.

Click to expand...

1. Check inside your grow tent for light leaks. Just sitting in a closed grow tent for 10 minutes will show you any light leaks.

2. Nutrient deficiencies lead to a delay in growth.

From mid-flowering onwards, weed needs more:

Potassium - branching and stacking buds, overall health
Silica - resin and an anti-feedant for insects
Sulfur - terpenes, which also act to confuse insects
Calcium - for cell growth

Basically the absence of these nutrients in flowering will slow growth, reduce resistance to insects and infections at the same time.

Buttercup, how long have you used advanced nutrients? Two friends and myself had problems with advanced nutrients. We ran advanced nutrients 3 different ways and we all had problems.

Show some pics of your plants..?

Definitely need some plant pics.

Those mite are Hypoapsis Miles... Soil mites... They are beneficial and destructive to other bugs in the soil.


I'd suspect and look for Hemp Russet mites.
before suspecting russets though... Let's see some plant pics. I hadn't read any of the other comments before making mine. I just saw the original post.

Thanks for all help!! A lot of good info here.

I’ve been using advanced for years now. Kinda feel like I can close my eyes and still not mess that formula up

I hope they are the beneficial mites. Maybe I’m overthinking it. Or maybe it really is RAs.

As for my bulbs. Every two runs I replace them. I use hortilux.

I will try to take pics today and update the thread. Thanks guys

Im far from a great grower and I had gnats early on in my first 2 grows. I figured out that I was over watering. I figured out to not over water, let my soil dry between watering. Not bone dry but the top inch or so should not be constantly wet. Its hard to not want to love your plants to much but the soil has to dry out between watering. Write down how much and how often you water then cut it by 25% to start. Stick to it for at least a couple weeks. I would venture to say there should never be gnats on your grow soil because your not keeping it too wet to allow gnat larvae to survive. Kind of like standing water and mosquitoes eh?


Once I figured it out I have never seen a gnat since.