Predators

[bloodshot_eyes]

Hi Folks

 

I have a spidermite infestation on my hands. Not surprising as I brought a pot plant in from outdoors to flower it in my new wardrobe as a test. I new it would be a problem but I went ahead and did it anyway, thats me for you. Anyway its fairly late in the flowering now, been flower for about 5 or 6 weeks and with this extreme heat at the moment, the brick house has heated to the extent that under the house and now the wardrobe is pretty warm. This seems to have caused the spidermites to go apeshit. I've sprayed some Eco Oil on the leaves taking alot of care not to get any near the buds. All this does is lower numbers, the little shits are still there. I'm not willing to try anything stronger this late in the budding process so I went to my local Hydro store.

They can get in various predator bugs in lots of 5000 or so. There is one called Typhlodromus occidentalis that specialises in spider mites but there is an availability problem with this at the moment. The other option they gave me was a roving beetle called Dalotia, is more of an all round predator, eats fungas gnats, whitefly as well as mites. Anyone have any experience with this, know how effective it is?

 

Bloodshot

[freddie]

Hi Folks

 

I have a spidermite infestation on my hands. Not surprising as I brought a pot plant in from outdoors to flower it in my new wardrobe as a test. I new it would be a problem but I went ahead and did it anyway, thats me for you. Anyway its fairly late in the flowering now, been flower for about 5 or 6 weeks and with this extreme heat at the moment, the brick house has heated to the extent that under the house and now the wardrobe is pretty warm. This seems to have caused the spidermites to go apeshit. I've sprayed some Eco Oil on the leaves taking alot of care not to get any near the buds. All this does is lower numbers, the little shits are still there. I'm not willing to try anything stronger this late in the budding process so I went to my local Hydro store.

They can get in various predator bugs in lots of 5000 or so. There is one called Typhlodromus occidentalis that specialises in spider mites but there is an availability problem with this at the moment. The other option they gave me was a roving beetle called Dalotia, is more of an all round predator, eats fungas gnats, whitefly as well as mites. Anyone have any experience with this, know how effective it is?

 

Bloodshot

I used to work in the nursery industry and we changed from using sprays to using biological control. The method was called integrated pest management. I have not used them for mj but they worked wonders on what we were growing. The bug for mites is phytoseiulus something or other. It is a tiny active mite that eats about 10 times its own weight of the nasty 2 spotted mite per day I think. After they have finished they eat each other so you have to restock if you get re-infested. I am not sure if they come in quantities suitable for the home gardener. I kind of think this might be too late for you if your already at week 5 or 6. Dunno if this link is any help. If you want more details PM.

http://www.goodbugs.org.au/suppliers.htm

[bloodshot_eyes]

Cheers for the link freddie..

 

The person that the Hydro shop folk were talking to gave them some wrong info about that Dalotia. Not very well suited for mites, good for fungas gnats though. But they reckon they can get this one ion for me next week.

 

"Predator of

Twospotted mite

 

Typhlodromus occidentalis

 

Feeding on mite eggs."

 

5000 is the smallest number you can get them in but there not that expensive, better to have an infestation of those things than spider mites ey..

[freddie]

Cheers for the link freddie..

 

The person that the Hydro shop folk were talking to gave them some wrong info about that Dalotia. Not very well suited for mites, good for fungas gnats though. But they reckon they can get this one ion for me next week.

 

"Predator of

Twospotted mite

 

Typhlodromus occidentalis

 

Feeding on mite eggs."

 

5000 is the smallest number you can get them in but there not that expensive, better to have an infestation of those things than spider mites ey..

If you look at my link and click on "Bio control agents available" your chosen beast is listed under deciduous fruits, grapes and strawberries section. Hopefully it will work fine for you and I'm really glad to see home growers using these methods. It takes a few days to notice any effect so don't expect it to work overnight. Good on you for trying this and I hope other growers move toward bio control.

[bloodshot_eyes]

I just really don't want to spray nothing this late on, one of the main reasons I'm growing my own is so that I know whats on it, and I certainly don't want pesticides on my smoke. If they work good, I may actually start introducing predators as a preventative measure for every grow, cant hurt..