Spider mites AKA The Borg

[Hydro-Soil]

*sigh*

Please don't use it in flower.

Set up a preventative routine with azamax, azatrol or neem soon... so you don't have to keep using the floramite.

Stay Safe!

 

[pinecone]

If I'm feeling particularly motivated or it is the season for spider mites (late summer, early fall) I will thoroughly spray my plants 3-4 times over a 2 week period in late veg or early flower with a neem based solution. This spraying is preventative. Other times I'm lazier I will opt to give my plants a good look over in veg, but not spray prophylactically.

Recently in the course of doing one of these routine inspections I discovered spider mites. No big deal - spider mites don't scare me. I find they they are easy to deal with without potentially harmful chemicals. Upon discovering the mites I immediately started spraying with a neem based solution. I sprayed 4 times over the course of about 2.5 weeks and they were gone, or knocked down below noticeable levels for the remainder of the grow.

With the exception of my first spider mite infestation, which I didn't notice and destroyed my crop, I've followed this procedure for dealing with spider mites in my grow with a 100% success rate. Using NPS, Forbid, or Avid to control spider mites is just unnecessary and lazy IMO as they can easily be controlled with neem oil.

Pine

 

[Mia]

If I'm feeling particularly motivated or it is the season for spider mites (late summer, early fall) I will thoroughly spray my plants 3-4 times over a 2 week period in late veg or early flower with a neem based solution. This spraying is preventative. Other times I'm lazier I will opt to give my plants a good look over in veg, but not spray prophylactically.

Recently in the course of doing one of these routine inspections I discovered spider mites. No big deal - spider mites don't scare me. I find they they are easy to deal with without potentially harmful chemicals. Upon discovering the mites I immediately started spraying with a neem based solution. I sprayed 4 times over the course of about 2.5 weeks and they were gone, or knocked down below noticeable levels for the remainder of the grow.

With the exception of my first spider mite infestation, which I didn't notice and destroyed my crop, I've followed this procedure for dealing with spider mites in my grow with a 100% success rate. Using NPS, Forbid, or Avid to control spider mites is just unnecessary and lazy IMO as they can easily be controlled with neem oil.

Pine

You have some friendly spider mites.

 

[pinecone]

You have some friendly spider mites.

Well - I'm not the only one. Lots of growers are using similar methods for spider mite control. They just aren't posting here because they don't have spider mite problems.

Pine

 

[Mia]

Well - I'm not the only one. Lots of growers are using similar methods for spider mite control. They just aren't posting here because they don't have spider mite problems.

Pine

Well that's nice and I'm all for natural methods but saying people are lazy if they don't abide by your particular advice is both ignorant and condascending. Also your method has its limitations...

 

[pinecone]

Well that's nice and I'm all for natural methods but saying people are lazy if they don't abide by your particular advice is both ignorant and condascending. Also your method has its limitations...

If you are not practicing integrated pest management (IPM) you are being lazy. Any reasonable IPM program for cannabis is going to involve prophylactic neem (or Azatrol-max) applications in veg and/or early flower time according to the mites life cycle (if it is hot you spray more frequently). How many people are skipping this and going right for the poisons? Franky I'm disgusted by the number of growers that treat their crops with chemicals and sell them to unsuspecting customers. Shame!

Pine

 

[Mia]

If you are not practicing integrated pest management (IPM) you are being lazy. Any reasonable IPM program for cannabis is going to involve prophylactic neem (or Azatrol-max) applications in veg and/or early flower time according to the mites life cycle (if it is hot you spray more frequently). How many people are skipping this and going right for the poisons? Franky I'm disgusted by the number of growers that treat their crops with chemicals and sell them to unsuspecting customers. Shame!

Pine

Agreed.
But there are also responsible ways to use chemicals.
And natural doesn't always equal safer. Take hemlock for instance.

 

[George Jetson]

*sigh*

Please don't use it in flower.

Set up a preventative routine with azamax, azatrol or neem soon... so you don't have to keep using the floramite.

Stay Safe!

@Hydro-Soil ... Thank you for the advice. Their not in flower, but I wanted to make sure they were "cured" before moving to a clean flower room. I've been told to use a multi pronged attack, so I used Azamax and then Floramite 3 days later. I prefer neem oil, but was a bit worried because I would rather not use anything during flower.

 

[pinecone]

I've been told to use a multi pronged attack, so I used Azamax and then Floramite 3 days later. I prefer neem oil, but was a bit worried because I would rather not use anything during flower.

Azamax is derived from neem oil. They both rely on the same active ingredient. Spraying one of these things in early flower is better than ever applying Avid or Forbid IMO.

FYI an IPM approach for spider mites in an indoor cannabis cultivation would have you:
(1) Setting an action threshold - probably any spider mites visible upon inspection.
(2) Monitoring - you have to check plants thoroughly periodically.
(3) Prevention - neem or Azamax-trol can be spayed for prevention. The use of a silica product can also be considered a preventative. Some people have also had success with diluted fermented lavender extracts. Spider mites are not going to mess with plants that have been sprayed with neem (Aza) recently - and if they do they will be fucked. I'm lazy and don't always do this, but then again my control methods are the same as the prevention so I'm not sure that it matters.
(4) Control - Once your monitoring indicates you are above the action threshold you have to take measures to control. The IPM principle is to start with the least risky effective method of control. For spider mites you would start with neem or Azamax-trol and advance to the other stuff if it wasn't effective (prytherin, Avid, Forbid, ect). Of course it will almost always work if applied correctly, so there would rarely be a need to advance.

This is the EPAs writeup on IPM.

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/ipm.htm

Pine

 

[truecannabliss]

Spray babies (clones or seedlings) with Floramite or Forbid and you wont have any mites after that.....dont use either on larger plants or at any stage of flowering.
Peace

 

[Buddle]

Azamax is most successful when mixed with Penetrator(wetting agent) and applied with a fogger.Penetrator is added to H2O first.I use 15 ml per quart water then I add the Azamax.4 tsp per quart. Reapply 10 days after first tx...then again at 21 days after first tx.
The foggers aren't cheap..Agway has them for 225.00+ but nothing provides a better coverage.Very effective..Good luck.

 

[m3th0ds909]

Spray babies (clones or seedlings) with Floramite or Forbid and you wont have any mites after that.....dont use either on larger plants or at any stage of flowering.
Peace

Why can't we use floramite on large plants my plants go into flowering on 03/12/12 so they are definitely larger than clones or seedlings. I am not asking because i disagree, im asking because i just noticed mights under a few of my leaves, no webs yet, and i want to get rid of them before flowering (in 4 days) and i want to use something powerful like floromite but I dont want to contaminate my buds with chemicals that arent supposed to be there around this time.

 

[farmdalefurr]

http://naturescontrol.com/mite.html#tt

take a look at that.

i just applied that "triple threat package" (500x) to my entire grow. im in the beginning stages of a mite problem, first one ive ever had.

im tired of using sprays that dont work. dr. doom spider mite knockout, azamax, azatrol, neem, liquid ladybug. i have used one thing that seemed to help, somewhat, Mighty Wash from NPK Industries. but if your going to be spraying every 3-5 days, Mighty Wash @ $18/L will run up quite a large amount of $$$.

 

[Granger2]

The last time [don't I wish], or most recent time I had Spider Mites, I used Spinosad followed by Azamax. It's very important to use a wetting agent with Spinosad. I like Coco Wet.

As far as safety goes, both are OMRI approved and OMRI sez they can be applied on the day of harvest. Not something I would do, but points to low toxicity.

I have never used it on buds, and can't see myself ever doing that, except maybe up thru 2nd week of 12/12. With Spinosad at maximum dilution rate [2 oz/gal], I've never seen any phytotoxic effects of any kind with dunking foliage or drenching roots and medium to full saturation [for Root mofo Aphids].

Works well. I mix up 4 gal in a 5 gal bucket, put a towel over the medium to avoid spilling it, turn plant and container upside down, and dunk in bucket. Gives 100% coverage.

Three dunkings 36 hours apart [with same bucket of spinosad] takes Spider Mites out. Usually, I use the same bucket twice, then mix fresh Azamax for the 3rd treatment, then, since I've got it, I do a 4th dunk in 2-3 days. By doing it every 36 hours, you take out the new hatchlings before they lay eggs, or very many eggs.

If the plants and containers are small, its easy to do, and takes little time, and makes a mess on the floor [important to spray the floor anyway], but I don't have spray all over the reflective surfaces and glass.

I have been watering with 1 tsp of Azamax monthly. Someone posted that it works to prevent mite infestation. Azadiractin, the active ingredient in Neem which is extracted to make Azamax and Azatrol, gives some systemic action for approx a couple of weeks. The smell seems to keep mites away. Using a very light dose like this has no apparent effect on aromatic qualities of the finished product that humans notice. I don't use it after 4 weeks of 12/12.

And yes, it's disturbing what some growers use on what they are selling, especially for medicine. Bayer Tree and Shrub claims to be effective on insects for 12 months. It's a systemic so people are smoking and eating it.

Azadiractin has a short lived systemic effect, but Neem has been used in Ayurvetic medicine for hundreds of years. Good luck. -granger

 

[truecannabliss]

Why can't we use floramite on large plants my plants go into flowering on 03/12/12 so they are definitely larger than clones or seedlings. I am not asking because i disagree, im asking because i just noticed mights under a few of my leaves, no webs yet, and i want to get rid of them before flowering (in 4 days) and i want to use something powerful like floromite but I dont want to contaminate my buds with chemicals that arent supposed to be there around this time.

I just prefer to do when smaller so the plant is not covered in the substance (floramite or forbid) directly prior to flowering.
That being said i would still spray before flowering if i needed to but i might spray with water 10 days later (once all the mites are dead) to clean the plant off.
Peace

 

[takkada]

good luck .

 

[Frosy]

aargh! just got to week 7 of flowering, noticed the little bastards starting to take control on a few plants. What's the best course of action here? Neem oil, or Azamax? All suggestions appreciated....

 

[medicalmj]

aargh! just got to week 7 of flowering, noticed the little bastards starting to take control on a few plants. What's the best course of action here? Neem oil, or Azamax? All suggestions appreciated....

At this point I'd use Mighty Wash. No residual like any of the essential oils (SNS 217, Ed Rosenthal Zero Tolerance etc). I still give em a water spray couple hours before harvest.

 

[Dr. Purpur]

Essential oil mixture

Essential oil mixture

Im still at least 4 weeks from harvest on my earliest plants. All plant crosses that have Blue Crush in them are being attacked by Spider mites,

I just went to the health food store and bought Aroma therapy 100% essential oils of Lavender, rosemary, and peppermint. In one half gallon of water I put 40 drops of each and two tablespoons of castille Peppermint soap, and a cup of 99% Alcohol. I also added some liquid kelp extract for healing properties. I sprayed the plants under all leaves thoroughly and misted the soil well too.
Ill let you know how it works. It definately is aromatic in that garden now

 

[-Capfan-]

Hate spider mites!