Anyone ever try high PPM CO2 for killing spider mites?

[Ringodoggie]

How about if I just leave it on for a week or 2?

I'm a little concerned about killing myself and my dog. The room has a carbon filter and is pretty well sealed. The bad news is.... the exhaust from that room vents into my HVAC system and through the rest of the house.

I have a carbon filter in the room and a 'media' filter in the furnace.

How will they affect the Ozone? I am hoping the carbon filter will do the trick but I need to read and know for sure before I blast the place with ozone in mass overdose. LOL

I don't imagine the 'media' filter will do anything but I am hoping the carbon filter does.








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[gladysvjubb]

Pick up some NO PEST STRIPS. Your mites will be gone shortly.

 

[Ringodoggie]

Lots of stories about people getting sick MIS-using the pest strips.

And, my application definitely falls within their definition of MIS-use (they are not recommended for a small closet which is essentially what a grow room is.)

I hear they work great on mites but the stories I read scared the shit of of me.

What I am reading about ozone is scaring me almost as much.

How did they defeat the Borg on Star Trek?

Got to be a way. Get out of my tiny box and think..... UV? IR? US? Do they hear? Do they smell?

I vow to find these fucker's weak spot. I am to the mites what Jean Luc Picard was to the Borg.

I will endeavor to persevere.






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[Ringodoggie]

Just because it's coming down this week, I thought I would take a couple pics.

This is the crop that did NOT get overly infested like the other crop. They started out in the same clone closet with mites but when they we separate ways, the one crop did well to fight the mites and the other did not.

The crop that got infested is a standard old school HPS 1000w setup. Air cooled hood, good intake and exhaust. Pretty basic stuff.

The crop that did NOT get overly infested was really not even supposed to be harvested. I wanted to keep a mother alive and ended up cloning her and .... well, now here they are.

I didn't have a real place for them so I bought a 5x5 tent and threw in what lights I had laying around. A 6 bulb T5 with flowering bulbs, an 8 bulb T5 with veg bulbs and a King1800 blurple LED that I bought and hated so I never used.

I love looking at the crop and seeing white light fade into blurple and then into bright white. Here's a pic that shows that nice rainbow across the crop. LOL

You can see the yellow / blurple / white rainbow. LOL

So, I don't know if the lights made a difference or if the strain made a difference or what. But, this crop didn't get hit nearly as hard as the other.


As you can see in the close-up, the leaves are barely damaged and everything is nice and frosty.

 

[Ringodoggie]

OK, now here is the crop that is under the HPS and got heavily infested.


Take a look at this close-up and look how fucked up the leaves are.

 

[Infinitelight5D]

It could be because the hps is warmer?

Btw I have seen way worse covered buds. you'll be ok

 

[Dirtyeyeball]

I know some of you might disagree but for 10yrs I have been using forbid 4f. Used only in veg this stays systematically in the plant for 6-8 weeks. It is lethal to mites and broad mites. Remember this is only used in veg. I do tend to have a problem with miners tho, my captain jacks doesn’t seem to do the trick anymore. But as for the mites I think for some guys they find it quite expensive but the worth that it has is so valuable. 1ml per gallon. I’ve literally had my bottle for almost 10 years and have not seen a mite other than when I get others clones. Just an idea. I used to be on Rollitup but it’s really going down hill on that site

 

[Ringodoggie]

I'm not sure how 'new' this is (since you have been using it for ten years) but I never heard of it. I'll do some reading. Thanks


A NEW DEFENSE AGAINST SPIDER MITES
by Roger Bryan
All rosarians know that the two-spotted spider mite (tetranychus urticae) is a serious rose garden pest. This nearly invisible insect works on the bottoms of leaves sucking the chlorophyll out of them. Spider mites can take a healthy bush to a leafless stick in a matter of days unless thwarted by constant vigilance of plant health and condition, and by an intensive spray program using Avid to kill the adult mites and Hexygon to kill the eggs and larva, or Floramite to kill all life stages. The aforementioned chemicals all work as contact or, at best, translaminar (i.e., Avid) sprays so special care must be taken to spray the undersides of the leaves – Avid, being translaminar, does penetrate the leaf structure and will move from the top surface to the bottom, but it only kills the adults. The life cycle of the spider mite – from egg to adult – is five to 20 days depending on factors such as temperature and humidity. If you don’t get all life stages when you spray, the mites will probably return, and they may have become resistant to the spray(s). But help is on the way!

Bayer Environmental Science has just announced the registration of a new miticide, based on a proprietary new chemistry with a unique mode of activity. The name of this new miticide is Forbid 4F, and its active ingredient is spiromesifin, a tetronic acid, which blocks fat synthesis so the mites dry out and die. This mode of activity, inhibiting lipid biosynthesis thus causing dessication (i.e., drying-out), is virtually the same as that of soaps and oils. That is, the MOA for Forbid 4F can be considered, for the sake of simplicity, to be MOA 6 as defined in papers elsewhere on this website, and in articles appearing in the Rose Society’s newsletter, Basal Breaks. This is great because MOA 6 has little or no potential for the development of resistance – an analogy [1] would be a flamethrower: you may miss some of your targets, but when they return they’ll be no less vulnerable to the flame.
Another feature of Forbid 4F is that, like Avid, it is translaminar. The active ingredient, spiromesifin, while not systemic (i.e., it does not move through the plant’s vascular system like, for example, Merit does), is absorbed by the plant’s leaves and will move from the tops of the leaves to the bottoms where the mites feed. This ability to move from the tops to bottoms of leaves significantly reduces the tedium of the spray process – while care should still be taken to cover the entire bush, rigorous spraying of the undersides of leaves should not be required. Moreover, according to Bayer, Forbid 4F controls mites at all life stages and offers an excellent residual of four to eight weeks for mites.

The label for Forbid 4F indicates its toxicity rating is CAUTION (be aware that the Avid label carries a WARNING designation). The label further specifies a usage rate of 2 to 4 fluid ounces per 100 gallons of spray. This equates to 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of spray – Bayer recommends, however, using the lower rate. Also, Forbid 4F may be tank mixed with sprayable fertilizers, insecticides and fungicides, although Bayer recommends a jar compatibility test. This product is available through Bayer distributors, such as Southern Ag ( Southern Ag ) in Boone , NC . A very knowledgeable contact at Southern Ag is Mike Presnell (e-mail: sagrinsct@bellsouth.net ). It will also be marketed by OHP (Olympic Horticulture Products) under the name Judo. Lastly, it’s available in 8 oz. bottles which cost $224.20 from Southern Ag. The cost per gallon of spray is about the same as Floramite, but remember this product is translaminar – Floramite is not. And, this product has a longer residual effect.

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/spiromesifen






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[OldSchoolGrow]

I will just say one thing......

Bugs come from nutrient deficiencies.

Sprays only mask the symptoms, but not the cure.

Test your soil, find out where you are out of whack. I am betting a ph above 7, and excess nitrates.

 

[Dirtyeyeball]

Any growing medium that is being top fed will be home to any bug laying eggs. I am bottom feeding, I no longer have a wet surface on the top of my growing medium therefore my problem is no more. My recommendation is to use a preventative. I use forbid because it works. I tried avid but it didn’t work well. PH and nutrient uptake have nothing to do with bugs. Marijuana is a very sweet plant and very attractive to many pests it’s our job to prevent them from being another excuse as to why our crop wasn’t the best it could of been.

 

[Ringodoggie]

I will just say one thing......

Bugs come from nutrient deficiencies.

Sprays only mask the symptoms, but not the cure.

Test your soil, find out where you are out of whack. I am betting a ph above 7, and excess nitrates.

That is so true. A weak plant sends out signals that actually attract bugs.

I am real good with my pH. Always between 6.2 and 6.8. And, I use a quality Blue Labs tester and I keep it calibrated.

I'll check nitrates.

There are so many variables and I know I am doing at least a couple of them incorrectly.

Overcrowding is a major fuckup of mine. I'm working on refining my grow. Gets a little better every year. Next year will be 50. You would think I had it down by now. LOL

Thanks again for the input.




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[therevverend]

Bugs come from nutrient deficiencies.

That is not true. You can have the healthiest most vigorous plants in the world, let a couple spider mites in the room in the summer time, and you're going to have webs two months later. Just how it is.

Of course insects are attracted to weak deficient plants. It's like ringing the dinner bell. If you map the spread of a disease through a grow room it'll always start from the weakest plants whether it be genetic, nutrient, or (other) disease caused. And when your personal life distracts you from being 100% ON top of things that's when shit'll get you.

But Spider Mites are a different category, it sounds like those broad mites or whatever are similar although thankfully I've never seen them. Where you can have the cleanest grow room in the world, every plant vigorous growing like champs, once those mites get in there if you aren't on it they'll get on top of you.

Part of it is when you're dialed in to have 100% vigorous healthy plants the moment you see a mite infested leaf it's gone. Along with the leaves around it and you're taking action to eliminate the problem. Too many people get complacent, set their timers, and let shit roll. It's nice growing that way but you'll get bitten in the ass sooner or later and go cryin' to mama...

 

[OldSchoolGrow]

That is not true. You can have the healthiest most vigorous plants in the world, let a couple spider mites in the room in the summer time, and you're going to have webs two months later. Just how it is.

Of course insects are attracted to weak deficient plants. It's like ringing the dinner bell. If you map the spread of a disease through a grow room it'll always start from the weakest plants whether it be genetic, nutrient, or (other) disease caused. And when your personal life distracts you from being 100% ON top of things that's when shit'll get you.

But Spider Mites are a different category, it sounds like those broad mites or whatever are similar although thankfully I've never seen them. Where you can have the cleanest grow room in the world, every plant vigorous growing like champs, once those mites get in there if you aren't on it they'll get on top of you.

Part of it is when you're dialed in to have 100% vigorous healthy plants the moment you see a mite infested leaf it's gone. Along with the leaves around it and you're taking action to eliminate the problem. Too many people get complacent, set their timers, and let shit roll. It's nice growing that way but you'll get bitten in the ass sooner or later and go cryin' to mama...

I disagree.

Read Tuning into Nature by Phillip Callahan.

 

[Ringodoggie]

Well, today is the day....... I am going to take only the colas today. I am going to hang them just outside the room in hopes that the mites will leave the drying colas and head back into the room where the live plants are.

I am going to put tape on the stems to trap the little bastards and maybe vac them if they gather.

I want to hear a mite scream.

 

[Ringodoggie]

Damn.... harvest is the hardest part. Is that a Tom Petty song? Harrrr vest is the hard est part. LOL

I wish you could have seen my wife laughing her ass off when I came walking in with my full hazmat suit from booties to hood with a ski mask to protect my beard. LMAO Fucking borg ain't crawling all over me. Little mother fuckers.

I got the colas harvested in both rooms. And, I got all the buds and popcorn off one harvest. I spent most of today trimming colas from the infested crop. I was amazed at how few mites there actually were. The lady bugs must have really been doing their job. I see lady bugs fucking all over the place. Conditions must have been right for them. I did not find a bunch of dead lady bugs in my buds (yet). I did clean out a few live ones while trimming but unless they are way inside the buds...

Looks like maybe 2 to 3 pounds. That's about right as I usually get a little over a pound in a 4x4 tent. This harvest is 2, 4x4's.

I still have to go back tomorrow and harvest all the popcorn and smaller buds from the mite crop.

Oh, and while I am thinking about it......

God Bless the man (or woman) who invented the rotary bud trimmer. All those decades of hand trimming every single piece of popcorn. LOL I still hand trim my colas but all the popcorn just gets zip-stripped off the branches and tossed onto the trimmer. I love this thing.


I'll keep an eye on those bare stems sticking up to see if the mites crawl up there. If they do, I'll vac or tape them.


Here's a little cola porn for ya.....






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[Ringodoggie]

Ya know, it seems to me, the best way to destroy the borg is to stop them from assimilating (AKA breeding).

The life cycle of the 2 spotted mite is only 7 to 20 days. Even at 20 days. And, even if I didn't find the infestation until it was strong...... my plants can still tolerate the damage that 1 generation of mites can do in less than 20 days.

It is the rapid growth and infestation that does the continuing damage.

So, mandatory vasectomies for male and state mandated hysterectomies for the females. Sounds easy enough.

Will salt peter stop a mite from getting a boner? Do mites get boners?

Need to get out of my box and think like a mite. What would make me NOT want to fuck another mite? Rap music? Thoughts of my Mother? I need to get inside the mite's head and.....

Be the mite.






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[Itsmychoice]

I have had good luck with preventative sprays before any flower development. Organicide, azamax, forbid, floramite in a 4 day rotation right around flip. I use high presure streams to get the best coverage in tight quarters. In the past, when mites showed late, shop vac every day and spray isopropyl and water mix, green cleaner, rosemary oil/water or flying skull nukeem on everything but the flowers until harvest. If the room is going to be empty for a day then avid in the fogger kills everything. Have not had to mess with them in a while.

 

[OldSchoolGrow]

I have had good luck with preventative sprays before any flower development. Organicide, azamax, forbid, floramite in a 4 day rotation right around flip. I use high presure streams to get the best coverage in tight quarters. In the past, when mites showed late, shop vac every day and spray isopropyl and water mix, green cleaner, rosemary oil/water or flying skull nukeem on everything but the flowers until harvest. If the room is going to be empty for a day then avid in the fogger kills everything. Have not had to mess with them in a while.

does your room glow at night?

 

[Itsmychoice]

I have done my research and am happy with the schedule of said sprays. Check the ingredients before you judge products. To me well timed preventatives are better than inhaling mites and mite shit.

 

[OldSchoolGrow]

I have done my research and am happy with the schedule of said sprays. Check the ingredients before you judge products. To me well timed preventatives are better than inhaling mites and mite shit.

I don't remember the last time I was told to suit up in a has-mad suit because of bugs. The bottle on almost all the products you are using do however. Do you respect reentry times? Do you make contact with the plants after spraying potent fungicides?


This is just crazy. I haven't sprayed anything in 2 years and I have been very happy with the results.