Got bloody black spidermites!

[Mr Nice Guy]

Hey all

 

Just looked at my plant which is 2-3 weeks into flower and noticed some black bugs pretty sure they are mites.... Not alot tho and they are not moving much....

 

Anyway I remember reading somewhere a few days ago about some mix you can make with milk soap and water and you spray your plant and it suffocates the bastards but dosn't hurt the plant..... Can someone please tell me the reciepie or something? Or something else I can make until I can get some neem oil..

 

Thanks alot

[Guest BudWaver]

Sorry I cant help ya with the recipe...but if they are mites and you want them all to die...its called MITE RID...from your hydroshop....

 

Best product on the market in my opinion....works every time

[Luke Skywalker]

Also works at developing resistant mite populations and poisoning growers... That stuff is nasty... I wouldn't use it on a food crop, so I certainly wouldn't use it for a smoking one...

 

I'm intrigued as to the actual identity of these pests you appear to have mr nice guy, can you make a few more descriptions of the symptoms for us? I mean, little black bugs which your pretty sure are spidermite? Are there any stippling, little white dots on the surfaces upper and undersurfaces of the affected leaves? and do you see any fine webbing when you spray the leaves with fine water mist from a bottle? Only a couple more, how big are they, like 1mm... or smaller, or bigger? And have you got any pics of the offending beasts? This can assist id a lot.

 

For treatment, I've always found the white oil or similar products to be good, and if you've got it really bad, give wettable sulphur a go too, although this has to be done with a 4 week witholding, as it's a bitch to get off... rinse rinse rinse if you do go down the Sulphur route, and make sure you get it all off before flowering and harvest... it tastes like crap and does you no end of harm if you dont.... But as to the main response, White oil... I've written this a few times, but I've used it for my herb, vege and mj garden plants, and they all respond excellently to it. The key to getting it to work is to apply it over a correct period... You should make one application one day, thoroughly soaking the whole plants foliage, undersides and tops. Now when you do this, it can be benificial indoors to raise the lights a bit, maybe 10-20 cm above normal, just to cool the plants whilst being treated as white oil can cause problems in high temps... And that applies to outdoor growers too. Then after five to 7 days, when the second generation of mites is coming thru from their eggs, the second application is made to eradicate these... by this time the first application should be worn away, but still discouraging feeding. This is repeated again in another 5-7 days, which should be just eliminating the last generations... which will be weak... This has usually eliminated mites for me, and if not, it's because I wasn't doing it right.

 

But yeah, id those insects first before doing anything... you need to get a mag glass at least to positively id them if you've never seen before... If you need any more advice just ask.

[pipeman]

I remember someone saying lemon juice gets em. or maybe just spray with plain water and try to keep humidity high until you can get some mite rid or similar. Mites don't deal well with high humidity.

 

sorry I don't know much about pest control. as demonstrated by my own heavily infested crop.

[pipeman]

Also works at developing resistant mite populations and poisoning growers... That stuff is nasty... I wouldn't use it on a food crop, so I certainly wouldn't use it for a smoking one...

mate I'm confused. We talked about Mite Rid on MSN a while back and you told me although not your first choice it was OK?

[Luke Skywalker]

Depends on the brand... if it's just an azadaractin type, it's okay, but if it contains difocol or such, it's nasty as fuck and shouldn't be used... Another one is called Kelthane, that's about as bad as they get too...

 

The azadaractin type mite rid, (should have said this first) is fine as far as I know, these are neem oil chems... Still, I don't like using anything harsher than absolutely necessary... And I still reckon the Whiteoil is the best cure...

 

Hope that clears up the confusion.

[Guest BudWaver]

If people are worried about it...dont use it during flowering....and it lasts7 days on the leaves of your plants before being rendered null and void....

 

By all means try other alternatives especially during flowering....

 

Mite Rid works very well

[pipeman]

ah OK. yeah, thats the one I got and is the one sold in most hydro shops from what I've seen. So I'll be using it tomorrow

[Mr Nice Guy]

I have a very shitty magnifying glass but they arn't bigger then 1mm... Only on about 1/4 of the plant atm... Think I will just goto big w tommorow and buy some neem oil.

[Luke Skywalker]

Just another note, I always double the "withholding period" on any insecticide or fungicide I use... makes sure there is nothing left...

 

Check out the "prevention" thread in taz's sig... those dichlorovos strips are really good.