Spider mites and raw neem oil: let's roll.

[maryjohn]

After my romance with neem oil, I stopped doing my preventive neem oil. So guess who came to visit my mother/veg bin? The Borg!

So this is day two of treatment. I sprayed some dyna grow neem oil, and will have to do so ever 3rd day for 3 weeks or so. I will let everyone know how it works out.

So far the only observation I have is that the plants do not mind a liberal tsp. and a half per quart with equivalent volume of dish soap. I use a blender.

 

[C21H30O2]

awesome MJ let us know how it goes. I recommend using a blender to mix it, seems like a simple step but I think its made a big difference in my grow.

 

[maryjohn]

Yeah something tells me the blender helps.

To be fair, I am also misting the plants quite a bit to make it more moist in there.

 

[maryjohn]

progress report: this is day 8 of treatment, 5 estimate around day 21 of borg invasion. another application of neem oil was made, and I think it was the third. I am a stoner, don't expect me to remember. I am spraying every third day for 3 weeks.

no further spread of white spots on the leaves, but necrosis is setting in where the existing wounds are. the worst affected plant looks awful. They are also not enjoying the constant misting and I think the neem oil and ultra dawn is kind of harsh for the plants. yeah, that's not a great choice of emulsifier, but I use 1 tsp per quart to 1.5 tsp neem oil. I'll get some yucca extract when I am rich.

I haven't done any checks with the magnifier, because I don't want to disturb the foliage and get eggs on me. I lean them over away from me in the tub to spray the undersides.

 

[maryjohn]

today is supposed to be a spray day but I am reluctant. I think I will switch from ultra dawn back to seventh generation dish soap, and reduce my concentration to .5%, or 1tsp per quart. All the damage seems to be from over applying the oil, not the mites.

On the plus side, I did the index card test (agitate the plant over a white note card) and not a single mite fell.

so today's spray will be: 1tsp dish soap, 1tsp neem oil, and a quart of water. i'll just do it for 2 weeks, not 3.

bottom line: neem has quite an effect on plants when used with this kind of frequency, but it also takes care of the mites quite effectively.

 

[spiral]

Hey MJ, i have used the dyna grow neem oil before. For thrips though, man do I hate those pricks. Basically the same application rates 3 days apart for two weeks, and I would mist the leaves with plain water a day after application. The neem didnt cause any damage to my plants, but it did take the full 2 weeks to get rid of the pests. Good luck with your problem.

 

[AngelKush]

hey you guys, seems like everyone I know is getting infested with mites. I am a first time grower doing organics. I just put my plants in last night. I completely sanitized the room before they went in, but after hearing all these horror stories, I guess Ive become a little paranoid. Does anyone have any tips on how to prevent infestations. Should I get some neem oil and give them treatments on a regular basis? Is there any other ways to prevent this? and what exactly promotes mites to invest, is there something that can make your room more susceptible to mites, or is it just natural for them to come in? thanks for the feed back!

 

[maryjohn]

well, it's not scientific, but when I stopped spraying preventively, I got mites.

 

[river rat01]

man, got rid of them only when i got pissed off about it and put 3 tsp neem in 1 quart.
now that got rid of em.

 

[DARC MIND]

hey you guys, seems like everyone I know is getting infested with mites. I am a first time grower doing organics. I just put my plants in last night. I completely sanitized the room before they went in, but after hearing all these horror stories, I guess Ive become a little paranoid. Does anyone have any tips on how to prevent infestations. Should I get some neem oil and give them treatments on a regular basis? Is there any other ways to prevent this? and what exactly promotes mites to invest, is there something that can make your room more susceptible to mites, or is it just natural for them to come in? thanks for the feed back!

when i first got into growing, mites never really got a hold of me but at my 4th year of growing indoors i got lazy and got mites from bringing some outdoor plants inside the grow and not using prevention methods.
IMO prevention methods, sprays, mulch, companion planting (if you have the room) work the best. infestation of any insect IMO tells me im doing something wrong and my soil/plants arnt as healthy as i would like them. Pest IME like to attack unhealthy, weak or stressed plants; overwatering, over fertilizing and or dry dusty conditions can increase mite problems.
mites can live/overwinter on fallen leaves, ground litter, under bark and or on green lush leaves, they breed more rapidly in wormer/hot temps and slow down in cooler to cold temps.

soap sprays, garlic juice sprays, oil sprays (coriander and neem oil) or most foliar sprays (mites like dry, hot conditions) will help prevent and or control mites. just be sure to spray the underside of leaves. i also heard a rye or wheat mulch helps prevent mites, though i never tried it.
here's some info from the link i posted in organic pest control
spider mites UC IPM
hope this helped

 

[AngelKush]

Thanks for all the feed back you guys. I will check that links out.

 

[orpanic]

Azamax

 

[maryjohn]

I know about some different methods guys, thanks. this thread is a bit of a diary to see how things progress. I never sprayed on dec. 8 as I feel bad for torturing my plants so. Perhaps I overapplied, perhaps it is the ultra dawn, or perhaps the frequency of application, but I have seriously fucked up my foliage.

I am just watching and waiting for new mites now.

Darc, the culprit for me is inescapable hot and dry conditions, coupled with cessation of preventive actions due to gardner invincibility delusion syndrome. The mother cab is close to baseboard heat, and humidity is very low these days.

Edit: I just did some inspecting, and looking with a pocket microscope. My mother plant with the original infestation shows no signs, but they are now hitting my plants that are in week 5 of flower. Eggs all over, and a few adults. They were in a completely different part of the house. I have moved them to the basement where the temps are getting cold at night. And I think I will wipe the fan leaves with neem oil.

This should be an example to everyone: keep up with prevention.

 

[InfectedMush]

I have beaten mites using 1L 80-85F RO water mixed with about an oz Neem oil and literally a day of going over the plants by hand killing eggs. I do not use soap, I know you all do and I have used it before but I prefer to just use warmer water and a higher concentration of neem. I had about 6 pairs of disp gloves that had the fingers covered in dead mite parts/guts. I soaked every leaf top and bottom with a direct spray. I started at the bottom of the plant and worked my way up each branch and each leaf. Sometimes the lower leaves were too webbed and i just crushed and flushed.

I sprayed the ground walls, EVERYTHING. From what I saw, they start on the bottom of the plant where the branches meet the leaves and work upward and outward. I never found any on the top side, underside only. I applied some Diametoucs (sp?) Earth and never saw from those bastards again. Must have taken over 20 hours to do it. I check and spray on a weekly basis now.

I will be damned if I let anyone, let alone a tiny bug I can barely see, fuck with my girls!

Do I get a medal?

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Do away with the dishsoap. There is no need for it, as the oil will serve as it's own surfactant. It could well be hurting your plants too.
Neem at 1tsp/gal will control and kill the borg, and won't harm the plant in any stage.
Only thing it can't do is kill eggs, so reapplication for a week or two is all that is needed. I think I read somewhere that many mites only take three or four days to gestate. If that is the case, a several week regimen should not be warranted.

 

[maryjohn]

Thanks Hoosier!

I was cruising Dyna-grow's site last night, and noticed they changed the recommendation from 1.5 tsp to one tsp, and the soap from 1:1 soap:neem tp .25:1 soap to neem.

I think maybe with my blender I can pull off what you said though, and just use the oil. I am not worried about the surfactant though. I know neem sticks. It's the emulsifier I am after. Smaller droplet size...

It's clear to me that my initial dosage, which I have always used for prevention, has either too much neem or too much soap.

 

[DARC MIND]

gardner invincibility delusion syndrome

lol oh dear,
maryjohn, when moving to the other cold room, spray the containers, soil and leaves (bottom and top) w/ neem. i never tried neem with soap IMO neem to me works fine on its own and i find it best to foliar with plain old water, after a neem bath.

i also would diversify your methods and hit the mites w/ a aersonal of DIY mite sprays, keeping leaf phyllosphere as moist as you can, avoiding the buds. i find foliar spraying with anything even water keeps mites @ bay.

 

[maryjohn]

yeah, I have been doing crazy water misting since day 1 in the mother bin. seems to help a lot

the stuff I moved to the cold room is mazar-i-sharif, and is supposed to like cold. It's in week 5, not sure I should get neem on the buds. I used a tooth brush.

other than the plant liking it, I am thinking the cold room will slow down the mites.

 

[maryjohn]

ok I sprayed the flowering plants from below, using 1tsp neem, .25 tsp soap (to help it wash off),, and a quart of water. After that i hit the buds with straight water to rinse them and raise the humidity. High temp is 60 low temp is 41 in the cab down there so far.

 

[C21H30O2]

Hey MJ, im struggling with the Borg as well. one thing that I have found useful is to use a shop vac to gently suck off a major part of the mite population. It is not a fix but works well in conjunction with other methods and works well near the end of flowering when spraying is no go.