Why does sulphur work on russet mites?

[PDX Dopesmoker]

It seems to do the trick, but I don't know why. I've read about the how and why of some other products that do & don't work, but I haven't ever seen an explanation for the functionality of wettable sulphur. The container I buy the stuff in says its a fungicide, but I'm pretty sure russets aren't a fungus.

 

[Elmer Bud]

G `day PDX

Mites and ticks are arachnids .
So sulphur fcks with spiders some how ?

I have used avamectin and breauveria brassianna to send them to their promised land .
Had infestations of them for years and never knew . Not bad enough to kill my plants but certainly caused me to chase my tail looking at other reasons why my plants weren`t flourishing .

Best of luck .

Thanks for sharin

EB .

 

[opiumo]

I've used rosemary oil against spider mites in the past, found it really effective

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

G `day PDX

Mites and ticks are arachnids .
So sulphur fcks with spiders some how ?

I have used avamectin and breauveria brassianna to send them to their promised land .
Had infestations of them for years and never knew . Not bad enough to kill my plants but certainly caused me to chase my tail looking at other reasons why my plants weren`t flourishing .

Best of luck .

Thanks for sharin

EB .

Yeah that happened to me the first time I saw them too. I was dumb enough to bring in a clone that was infected so it was when I saw the problem progress from that plant to the others that I realized I wasn't dealing with a nutrient issue.
Ever since then I have a problem with russets every summer, but a few successive sulphur sprays with 3 day separations keeps the mites in check for a long time. Once the plants start making resin the russet mites stop being a problem too, so the last couple years I did preventative spraying at the end of July and that was enough that I didn't see any more mite damage the rest of the year. The year before that I timed it wrong and had mites on some plants in the early flowering stage, so I dumped dry diatomaceous earth on them and let it sit there for a couple weeks before trying to clean it out by spraying the buds with water a bunch of times. There was still little diatomaceous earth in the flowers after they were done and dried, but otherwise it worked out OK.
I got a sample of Miticide Green, which is some kind of preparation of soybean oil, sent to me and I tried it a little earlier in the summer and that seemed like it might have been effective too, but I don't understand how or why that one works either. They're still giving out free samples on their website if anyone is interested. Its not out of the question that the stuff was completely effective and that I'm now spraying prophylactic sulphur on phantom mites.

 

[Oliver Pantsoff]

Sulphur got rid of my BM's, and it was the only thing that worked. I used the 3 day treatment plan. Before my OGs would yield small lil buds, now they grow colas of greasy OG funk..BMs were the worst thing I've faced in the last 17 years of growing.

OP

 

[troutman]

If you use enough Sulphur it will work on you too.

The stuff is poisonous in large doses.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

If you use enough Sulphur it will work on you too.

The stuff is poisonous in large doses.

Marijuana is is poisonous in large doses, so is water. If I ever decide to author a murder mystery novel, the victim might be bludgeoned to death with a block of ice.
The LD50s I just read about for sulphur were all big numbers and there isn't any significant warnings on the label other than don't get it in your eyes and wash your hands after spraying, so whats the stuff do to you and whats a better alternative?

 

[xxPeacePipexx]

It breaks down the Keratin killing the insect. There's a good reason for it being referenced as "Brimstone" even though we don't know everything about how it works as a fungicide.

 

[thailer]

i couldn't find much info on how wettable sulfur is effective. the mode of action or MOA is unknown unlike other pesticides which tell you how it kills. https://www.irac-online.org/modes-of-action/

all the info i could glean from the burnable sulfur is that the rate of sulfur in the air had to be quite high to be effective and it acted like a gas chamber suffocating them. this only worked with one round of spider mites but other times it hasn't IME including the wettable sulfur. people seem to still find it effective for russet mites tho.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

It breaks down the Keratin killing the insect. There's a good reason for it being referenced as "Brimstone" even though we don't know everything about how it works as a fungicide.

Chitin is the stuff insect shells are made of. Fungus is made of chitin as well. If destroying chitin is what the sulphur was doing then that would it explain how it functions against fungus as well as invertebrates.

 

[Grapefruitroop]

Hi y all!
Has anyone experienced some phytotoxicity spraying sulphur?

I was also concerned on the runoff in the pot.....should be completely avoided?

 

[ozza]

It clogs their breathing holes

 

[ozza]

Hi y all!
Has anyone experienced some phytotoxicity spraying sulphur?

I was also concerned on the runoff in the pot.....should be completely avoided?

I have root drenched other plants for Mealy Bugs before and it did not worry the soil.

 

[mikeandnaomi]

Fermented garlic spray + cayenne = $0 works !00% of the time ...

 

[green-genes77]

Hi y all!
Has anyone experienced some phytotoxicity spraying sulphur?

I was also concerned on the runoff in the pot.....should be completely avoided?

I wouldn't worry too much about runoff. Phytotoxicity can be expected in hot weather. If it's going to be 90 or above within a couple days of spraying it, plants may suffer damage. Yucca rinses at dusk or dawn can help alleviate this a bit. Probably the most important step you can take besides this is to not spray oil based products on your plants for a week or two before or after sulfur.

 

[green-genes77]

This is one of those questions that you can get a dozen different answers for in this industry. Someone recently tried to convince me that it works mechanically, ripping the mites open as they crawl across it. It's possible that it acts via suffocation, but sulfur also kills a number of pests (including some spider mites) by interfering with the action of the enzyme ATP Synthase, essentially grinding the machinery of the cell to a halt.