Spider mites AKA The Borg

[Douglas.Curtis]

After watching some videos from a.e.a. (Advancing Eco Agriculture), i'm wondering if their small growers' package would be a good way to prevent bugs of all sorts.

I don't know if their systems have been mentioned here, cuz i skipped the last twenty or so pages. Their videos are darn right informative, i even got a nice little science refresher. One of the things that was new to me, is that legumes are outdone in soil generation by oats. Never would have figured that.

Yes, nutrition is the definitive answer and AEA has a lot of great info on that. I'm finding the combination of rabbit manure and a bit of Korean Natural Farming calcium are producing similar results against pests and problems.

The terpene complexity and amount of terpenes is ridiculous.

 

[Nannymouse]

We used to have chickens, cleaned out the chicken house straight onto the main veggie garden. One of the other veggie gardens is close to the pigeon barn, so that's where the cleanout always goes. Under all this is basically virgin dirt, as far as i know, only grazed by bison and such, and after that, only short annual grazing by cattle, before they're herded home for the winter. This year, we got rain...raised the best sweet corn that i've ever tasted...and i grew up in corn country, which this is NOT. Our usual problem pest over the years has been flea beetles, and that is usually after the neighboring fields are harvested, confined to brassicas. This year it was grasshoppers, not confined to our garden, it was quite the hopper year, for the area.

Aphids are a real pest in the house. I swear, the little creeps moved with the house, onto the property. So, am wondering what the problems are with the houseplants/potting mixes. My first mode of action for the houseplants will be to lighten the soil, last batch does not drain well, at all. I'm so upset with the bagged soils that we get locally, that some 'home made' mix was attempted...something is wrong, that's for sure. I'm half tempted to just go out and grab a few pails of the garden soil...but i know that there would be a ton of grasshopper and other bug eggs in it.

Only have had a little problem with mites and thrips. I dunno if the occasional foliar with a little molasses helped, but the spinosad does work for thrips. Some folks have said that it can kill thrips, too.

 

[St. Phatty]

Do the spider mites have some sort of special grippy feet, like a Gecko Lizard ?

Using tanks of Safer's works good, but I wonder - how much of that is just the action of the water washing them away ?

I used a Stainless mesh with an .015 size hole to filter mosquito larvae, for animal feed, but it was a lot of work for the amount of feed I got.

Would be interesting to try that with spider mites, if I had a designated plant to become infested and then washed the mites off of that.

 

[Loc Dog]

Do the spider mites have some sort of special grippy feet, like a Gecko Lizard ?

Using tanks of Safer's works good, but I wonder - how much of that is just the action of the water washing them away ?

I used a Stainless mesh with an .015 size hole to filter mosquito larvae, for animal feed, but it was a lot of work for the amount of feed I got.

Would be interesting to try that with spider mites, if I had a designated plant to become infested and then washed the mites off of that.

Water is supposed to drown them, used with a little dish soap, but hard to get bottoms of leaves, without fogger. Has to be done every 3 days since it does not kill eggs.

Just got something called Prevasyn which is supposed to increase effect of miticide. Basically extremely hot pepper liquid. 1 tsp per gallon to treat 350 square feet. Supposed to drive them crazy running around getting in more miticide and not interested in eating or mating, plus thins skin/shell.

I know I got 2 spot spider mites from clones, and dark back ones are local. Pretty sure they came from moths that get in and are attracted to lights.

I do not intend to use even close to flowering. The original clones do not look great due to spider mites and not knowing how they like to be fed. The cuts I took look beautiful.

 

[St. Phatty]

I'm starting some clones and about to move the rooted plants to 18/6 indoors.

This is usually when the spider mites become a problem.

Fortunately, hardware stores are catching on to the fact that Cannabis Growers buy lots of Ladybugs.

 

[Loc Dog]

I tried a little hot sauce in my spider mite mix but not as hot as prevasyn mixed 1 ml to 800 ml of water. Prevasyn comes with all kinds of safety warnings in case spilled full strength. Problem i had was using a cheap paper mask and fogging away from me, start sneezing each time I use it. They must use insanely hot peppers. Will try N95 ask to see if that works better.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Painters mask with activated filters.

 

[St. Phatty]

I tried a little hot sauce in my spider mite mix but not as hot as prevasyn mixed 1 ml to 800 ml of water. Prevasyn comes with all kinds of safety warnings in case spilled full strength. Problem i had was using a cheap paper mask and fogging away from me, start sneezing each time I use it. They must use insanely hot peppers. Will try N95 ask to see if that works better.

I just hold my breath.

What Yoga people call "Pranayama", which I guess is Hindu for holding your breath.

 

[flylowgethigh]

I'm starting some clones and about to move the rooted plants to 18/6 indoors.

This is usually when the spider mites become a problem.

Fortunately, hardware stores are catching on to the fact that Cannabis Growers buy lots of Ladybugs.

The little bastids don’t usually show their asses until my flowers are making trics. I add a little organic neem oil to the green clean, and they don’t come back as hard. Worked pretty well actually.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

The azadirachtin in neem is systemic in my experience. It also stays in the plant long after harvest, which is why it works so well and also why I recommend not using it. Should you feel you must, please be sure to let people know you used neem when you share. I'll thank you very sincerely for letting me know, and then I'll turn down the offer due to bad reactions to the azadirachtin.

Thank you so much!

 

[flylowgethigh]

Only takes a capful in a 1/2 gallon with the green clean. Makes a huge difference in my grow. Worth it IMO.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Yep, strong stuff indeed and glad you don't have issues with it. Just be super clear with people when you share.

Edit: In my experience, *everyone* has at least a low level reaction to it which is passed off as normal digestion issues, normal kidney pain, normal sore muscles from stress you don't remember or attribute to another injury in the area. It's only the ones who have extreme issues with it where these reactions are amplified and at in your face levels. But whatever... lol

 

[Loc Dog]

I just hold my breath.

What Yoga people call "Pranayama", which I guess is Hindu for holding your breath.

I have 10 different strains and lots of small to medium plants at the moment and have been drenching since I am so pissed off after 2 full grows completely ruined before realizing it was bugs. Thought probles were from too intense light from LED light, since first bad grow bleached. No terpenes, no stacking properly,, and no resin production. N95 worked much better but should have worn glasses. Did a bunch on back patio last night, and slight wind blew the fog.

 

[Loc Dog]

The azadirachtin in neem is systemic in my experience. It also stays in the plant long after harvest, which is why it works so well and also why I recommend not using it. Should you feel you must, please be sure to let people know you used neem when you share. I'll thank you very sincerely for letting me know, and then I'll turn down the offer due to bad reactions to the azadirachtin.

Thank you so much!

Have no intention of applying to flowering plants. Main concern is not losing a dozen top shelf clones. According to state of CA there is no problem using it at any stage. Page 3 listed with other organic pesticides, that are not tested for in CA the most over regulated state in the country.

https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/county/cacltrs/penfltrs/penf2015/2015atch/attach1502.pdf

No credible study ever linking neem with CHS. I do not want to come off as a-hole, but have done many hours of research, and when I search for cannabis neem harmful results at top link to 2 threads you started, which contained no credible proof. CHS sees to occur to these with incredible tolerance, that smoke insane amounts and use up all their CB1 receptors. Maybe there are a miniscule sliver of the population that may have an allergy. When I searched for neem allergy which mentioned 3 known cases of topical allergy sufferers. Hopefully 1 more treatment and will just use green cleaner, isopropyl, after that.

 

[St. Phatty]

I have 10 different strains and lots of small to medium plants at the moment and have been drenching since I am so pissed off after 2 full grows completely ruined before realizing it was bugs. Thought probles were from too intense light from LED light, since first bad grow bleached. No terpenes, no stacking properly,, and no resin production. N95 worked much better but should have worn glasses. Did a bunch on back patio last night, and slight wind blew the fog.

Well there's always the "don't worry about the chemicals" approach.

With chemistry exposure, quantity is important.

So one puff will usually cause a minimum of damage. Unless the bud is covered with Polonium or something.

Since this probably happens a lot - people confronted with buds sprayed with chemicals - does soaking them gently in water help ? Gently so the trich's are damaged as little as possible.

Perhaps the buds are still useful for edibles.

 

[Loc Dog]

Well there's always the "don't worry about the chemicals" approach.

With chemistry exposure, quantity is important.

So one puff will usually cause a minimum of damage. Unless the bud is covered with Polonium or something.

Since this probably happens a lot - people confronted with buds sprayed with chemicals - does soaking them gently in water help ? Gently so the trich's are damaged as little as possible.

Perhaps the buds are still useful for edibles.

My current plants are in early veg, but heavily infested. Would say 95% knocked back. The previous grows when infected were lame. I would not spray neem on flowering plants because of taste and smell. Would be nice if someone did testing with gas chromotograph to see what azadirachtin turns into when heated.

 

[flylowgethigh]

When I see yellow spots on the leaves, it’s the bastids. I take off the offending leaf and can spot them with a 10x glass. The earlier you spot and annihilate them, the better.

They only show. Up in flower, usually half way.

 

[Loc Dog]

When I see yellow spots on the leaves, it’s the bastids. I take off the offending leaf and can spot them with a 10x glass. The earlier you spot and annihilate them, the better.

They only show. Up in flower, usually half way.

I had 2 different types. Regular were on GG4 mothers that were neglected for 2 years due to needing a break. The 2 spot were from clones from CT. The 2 grows that were trash, I thought it was from too much light from LED's. I was looking at deficiencies and too much nutrients, The crappier looking the leaf, the more mites and eggs. I have cheap USB microscope.

 

[flylowgethigh]

I was chasing ‘defiances’ that were just SM piss too. The spots look like when a dawg pisses on a nice lawn.

 

[Hammerhead]

#1 RULE!!!
Always treat your plants as if they have pests. Doing so will cause happy and healthy plants at harvest.