Anyone ever try high PPM CO2 for killing spider mites?

[Hookah79]

Forgot to mention was told spraying buds and leaves with ice water slows them down.Using a clean sprayer lights off preferably.I haven’t tried this personally,i would also watch for bud rot doing this.

 

[igrowone]

Still a noticeable reduction in activity. Perhaps the 10 degree temp difference did it. Or, the preds actually thinned them down. I have ladybugs coming Thursday. Harvest next week.

What do you guys think of this....... I dry my harvest in a 3x5 tent where I can keep the temp and humidity perfect for drying. Done it this way for years.

When I dry this crop, the mites are going to move to the fresh crop growing in the tent 5 feet away in search of fresh food. I will be harvesting the other crop a week later so I just need to keep the mites contained for a week or so.

I was thinking about laying a layer of fresh leaves on the floor of my drying tent. This way, any mites that fall to the floor will stay in the fresh leaves rather than migrating to the tent next door.

I can keep replenishing fresh green leaves on the floor of the drying tent for a week (from the other crop that is still growing strong). As for mites that climb to the top of the drying buds.... I can vacuum those.

Anyone else think that's a decent idea?

sticky traps or more economically duct tape
seems as if it could put down a barrier impervious to the little devils
provided they don't fly, seems like they can do about everything else

 

[Ringodoggie]

They are the fastest creature on earth but I don't think they can fly. LOL

 

[Ringodoggie]

Well, I just released 3000 lady bugs in a 4x4 grow room. LMAO

Even though lady bugs are cool it was still creepy to cut open the bag and have them come swarming out of the bag all over my hand and arm. It was just like the scarabs in the "Mummy" movie. LMAO

I released most of them in the pots and they almost immediately started crawling up the stems. I did sprinkle a few on the canopy just to see them work but most of them were released low. I probably should have waited until lights out but I have a gig tonight and I won't be here.

Since I'm not really seeing any mite activity on the other crop, I'm not releasing any in there. If this turns out to be a mistake, it's only one crop, not both.




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EDIT: I just went down to check on them and a couple hundred were huddled in the corner, shaking and fearing for their lives as if a couple mites bullied them into the corner. Pussies.

Most of them were still walking around the pots. A bunch of them were grouped at the outlets of the pots all around the moist dirt. Maybe they are thirsty.

I didn't see any on the canopy. I moved a few up top and they quickly disappeared into the leaves. Maybe the bright light or heat bothers them.

10 days until harvest.

 

[Ringodoggie]

Well, this room was still very active with the lady bugs. They are definitely not dying. Still, a bunch of them seem to be stuck going around the rim of the pots. LMAO It's like they don't know how to get off the rim and they just keep going around and around and around. LMAO Fucking Papillon. Some of them are bad machines and go the wrong way. LOL


I scooped them up and tossed them into the canopy. I will do a more thorough today. It freaks me out to even touch the plants so I bought a couple hazmat suits and some face covers and nitril gloves. I will suit up today and clean up and inspect. LOL


I vow to find a way to make these mother fuckers suffer. I am not going to give up until I can make a fucking mite scream with terror. Little cocksuckers are not going to be the fucking demon in my life.


A Painful Death to all Tetranychus urticae.


9 days left.

 

[OldSchoolGrow]

I don't really feel like reading through the entire thread....... Have you got them under control yet? Some simple answers I could propose if still needed.

 

[OldSchoolGrow]

kind of read through the thread a tad, the last couple pages at least. With only 9 days left I know the only product I would use to combat those little buggers.........

Organic, essential oils. That late into flower I would use an orange, lemon or tangerine oil. 10-30 drops per gallon of water. Doesn't effect the taste at all, upsets mites greatly, and is easy to find at a local GNC or off Amazon.

If you are testing this product, then I would recommend using only organic essential oils. Non organics have residual pesticides that can fail your flowers.

Good luck.

I also have more advice on how to eradicate them from your garden forever. If the problem persist, just ask....... Also, do you know what nutrient imbalances in the soil cause pest outbreaks? That is something to factor in as well.

 

[Ringodoggie]

Thanks so much for the advice. I would love to hear your advice on how to "eradicate them from your garden forever" for AFTER harvest.

Unfortunately, spraying ANYTHING in my garden right now is totally out of the question. Look at how crowded I am. And, my humidity is as low as I can get it at 69%. Just a tad higher and I'll be in perfect mold growing mode. LOL To spray ANYTHING, even some plain water, would probably lead to loosing the entire crop to mold or budrot.

Check this out....

 

[OldSchoolGrow]

A simple answer to get rid of the bugs, even in the smallest of cracks, is an O zone burner. Burn after every grow with no plants in the room..... They cost about 200-400$ if my memory serves me correct.


You said you released predatory mites, I have some questions:

How did you match up the species of mite, to your grow environment? Did you pick the right mites?

How many did you buy, and how many times have you released that number of predatory mites?

These two are important.

Have you used Grandevo and Venerate?

 

[Ringodoggie]

I tried to google that and I came up with ozone generators and ozone concentrators. Could not find anything on an ozone 'burner'.

May I please ask for a little more detail on that?

Thanks


And, yes, I was informed of the proper way to select the preds and did so with due diligence. Thanks again.


I am currently reading about the bio-insecticides.





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[OldSchoolGrow]

Ozone generator is what I was talking about......

The reason I asked about how you matched up your bugs, and how you released them is a big deal. When you have a problem like you do, I like to 3x the recommended amount of beneficial's.

The bio-insecticide that really helps against spider mites is Venerate. Coverage is key, wet the entire plant. PH that Venerate also, follow the instructions. Good luck.

 

[Ringodoggie]

I have a small ozone generator that I have used a few times to quickly eliminate smell during harvest if I have company coming. I will check into it.

Some reading I found...

https://420evaluationsonline.com/health-and-news/ozone

https://www.maximumyield.com/ozone-an-indoor-garden-super-tool/2/1165

https://www.cannabisculture.com/content/2000/08/25/3190/

Unfortunately, the level of ozone required to kill the mites seems to be more than enough to cause damage to the plants. 6 of one, half dozen of another. I may try it anyway.

 

[OldSchoolGrow]

It is an industry secret. Hide that Maximum yield article, are you crazy! (lol, jk)

BTW, only use in between harvests at those higher levels. Read that Maximum yield article, you can generate ozone during the plant cycle to fight bud rot. However the PPM's of ozone vary. As always, use cation.

 

[Ringodoggie]

Well, we are headed down the stretch. 6 days until harvest.

I put the ozone generator in the room overnight and OMG!!!!! when I went in this morning, I couldn't breath. I hate the smell of ozone and wow!!!. I actually got my gas mask out and put it on before I went in again.

I did turn it off.

Then, I inspected the buds right next to the generator. The fan from the unit was literally blowing right on this cola. If ozone destroys terps, this bud will be totally tasteless and odorless. LMAO

Unfortunately, it was still crawling with mites.

I am going to put the ozone generator in a plastic container with some leaves of mites. I wonder if I have a sensor to measure ozone in my Raspberry Pi or Arduino stuff. I'll report on that later.

The lady bugs are still very active. That's a whole fucked up story of it's own. LOL I keep finding them in my hair and my clothes after visiting the room. I will have to make sure I vacuum up all the live ones after harvest or I presume they will look elsewhere in the house for food.

The good (not as infested) crop is still holding up well. Really just not sure why one crop got mass infested and the other infestation never really grew. Environment is everything, I guess. Sopmeone earlier said strain may have an effect. I almost wish I could harvest this one first and get it in jars before I even disturb the infested crop. However, every day they eat more and I'm sure it's not helping the quality.

I need to get this behind me.

Fucking borg muther fukers.

The Grape Stomper buds look amazing. I have had pretty good results from Hazeman Seeds.


More soon.

 

[Ringodoggie]

Here is a shot of the ozone generator blowing right on that cola. LOL

 

[Ununionized]

You can vacuum the plants ringdoggie, and it'll bring the numbers down. You'd have to generate some kind of rig to stick on the end of the vacuum hose, probably a small piece of skinny pvc pipe, with a bunch of fair sized holes you drill in it so you can securely tape that to the end of the vacuum hose, then pass it like a wand, from below, up...up.. pass after pass,
and let the mites get sucked into that.

The hose is probably 1" or so on the end so I guess you're talking a little 14" long or 16, 18" long chunk of 3/4 pvc pipe, you'll need to tape over that open end as well to seal it, that so your passing the wand up from below, up through the leaves, combing, combing, combing, has sufficient suction through a bunch of 3/8ths or maybe 1cm holes you drill up and down the length of it,
to pull the mites off and into the vacuum.


You can also put those flea collars in the grow, the ones that have the stuff in them, that the legendary and somewhat infamous No Pest Strips have in them. That stuff is tremendously potent to critters and they're rated ok to leave on your dog, all it's life.

That stuff's a vapor - and it wafts around and the critters take a whiff or two and it's "Good Night Irene."

Ostensibly you put it in there for about 12 hours or so, even 24, then you pull them out, put them BACK into the FOIL envelope, roll down tightly and seal,

and next time you get the cooties, bust it out again.

I'll look up the name for ya but you're within 5 or 6 days it's a little late now.

It's tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP).

tetrachlorvinphos has in some recent years been subject to the same scares and warnings anything with a long name gets nowadays but they still sell them to put on dogs and cats, and have the things around their NECKS for months on end so - your chemistry fears will have to be your guide on that one but I do happen to know, that No Pest Strips, or these doggie collars are considered the nuclear option by most people who aren't afraid of a cat's, or dog's flea collar, hanging in their room for a few days.

Just like anything else of course it depends on your general purpose savvy. A lot of times, a true dollar store like dollar tree, will have the collars for $1.00 cash American but there is most certainly a dollar store somewhere near you, where you can buy one for $3.00 to $5.00

If you pay full retail they're kinda high.

 

[Ringodoggie]

I will pick up some of the collars. Like I said earlier, I plan to do some experimenting. Thanks.

When I vacuum, just just use a standard vacuum brush that's on the end of the hose. I suck the top part of the cola up and into the hose and shake it around. Then, I sweep up and under the leaves and buds. Although, as you can see by the picture, it's way too crowded to get in there and vac effectively. I mostly suck the tops off. ???? Hmm, that didn't sound right. LOL

I like your idea of the wand.

6 days. 6 Fucking days

Thanks again for the tips




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[TanzanianMagic]

Fucking borg. I have had spider mites for almost a year. The past 4 or 5 crops. I keep thinking they are gone and then I find them again.

I have managed to keep them under control with predators and Azamax but it seems like they just keep on popping up.

I am definitely not one to spray (anything, organic, natural or otherwise). I sprayed the Azamax in desperation but don't really want to do it again. And, I just sprayed the bottom leaves and not the buds at all.

Plus, my plants are VERY crowded and it's almost impossible to get good coverage with sprays.

Predators worked fair but are very expensive and need to be replenished regularly.

So, someone in another forum pointed me to an article about using high PPM (10k to 15k PPM) CO2 to suffocate them. Makes sense.

2 of my grows are in tents so I am hoping I will be able to get the PPM up that high. I have found these tents to be pretty tight. The other is in a 4x4 room and will definitely be harder but I think it's possible.

Has anyone ever tried this?

Any idea how much CO2 it would take to flood a 4x4 tent with CO2 up to 12,000 PPM? The grow store sells a 20 pound tank but it doesn't seem like enough.

Well, before I buy the stuff to try this I thought I would ask around and see if anyone has actually been successful with this method. I am at the end of my rope and will be forced to shut down my space if I can't solve this.

After I shut down, I plan to bomb the entire house with DDT, Round Up and Agent Orange. LOL These fuckers have GOT to go.

Thanks

Instead of putting more CO2 or sulfur in the air, how about feeding it to the plant/mycorrhizal fungi?

Mycos can feed plants carbon from dead roots.

The benefit is that if you stimulate fungal growth, you also encourage endophytic fungi that grow throughout the plant and are whose pectin is an anti-feedant for insects. It also takes the space of hostile fungi, like Botrytis. And they produce penicillin which also discourages non-beneficial fungal growth.

Just use a pot with a water reservoir,someting to keep the medium out of the water, supersoil, light soil, some soft fruit like banana on top, and cover that with hemp bedding or chopped straw as a carbon source and a mulch. Coco coir is also a carbon source, which is one reason fungi like it that much.

Also, as we've been growing bigger, more mature plants, they also need more sulfur and silica for more cannabinoids in bigger and more numerous trichomes.

Especially from mid-flowering onwards the plants for this reason need more sulfur and silica. Sulfur (nutrients) also helps in warding off insects. Espom salt, gypsum, Vinasse (by product of beet production) all contain high sulfur levels.

 

[Ringodoggie]

Thanks... certainly something I'll read about and try.

Down to the last few days. I am going to start harvesting Saturday.

Oddly enough, the infestation has not gotten worse. I wouldn't say that it has improved but, it seems to have stopped growing. Especially odd is that fact that I have done nothing to the 'clean' crop since the second application of predatory mites. This crop never got any lady bugs. And, it seems to have stopped spreading. This crop has mites on the leaves but I didn't see any on the buds. The other crop has them all over.

I am going to chop the 16 colas Saturday and maybe some of the other larger buds. Then, while those are hanging, I'll leave the plants and lower branches growing in hopes the mites will go from the drying buds to these plants and not across the room to my good crop.

Then, next week after I harvest the other crop, I'll come back and finish these.

And, in that week in between, I am going to blast the crap out this room with ozone. I don't really care if it ruins the popcorn that's left. It will be a good test to see what the ozone actually does to the taste and potency.

And, we'll know if ozone can kill a major infestation like this one.

I may leave these plants grow for another month just to experiment with ways to torture the mites. If I destroy what's left, all I lost was some popcorn.

I will not be happy until I know what it sounds like to hear a mite SCREAM!!!!






.

 

[OldSchoolGrow]

The ozone will only kill live mites. Any treatment needs several rounds to eliminate mites. 4 rounds spaced out over 2 days each application or greater.