Best product for russet/broad mites

[sshz]

No, not a computer programmer. SSHZ stands for Super Silver Haze, a strain I was widely known for at the beginning when I started growing- 30 years ago.

I'm pretty sure no matter how many predators you put in the room, they won't eradicate the issue. Each mite can lay 1000's of mites in a matter of a few weeks.

Again, my suggestions: 1)cool the room down as much as possible, this will slow down the breeding schedule and give you a chance to get control. Even reduce light intensity if necessary, hopefully below 7-0 degrees. 2) remove the worse of the sun leaves, that have the most eggs on them. 3) each morning go in with a spray bottle and wet down all leaves underneath- the mites hate water. Try to spray hard enough to knock them off the leaves. Do it early so the plants, leaves and buds have a chance to dry before the dark period. 4) Look at Pure Crop 1, it will not damage your plants/buds and will kill mites well. Google it to learn more about it.

When the crop is done (good or bad)- contact me and I'll give you a summary on room/pot cleaning, what to use, and how to go about it to be rid of them. This is the time to use all the nasty chemicals like Avid, Floramite, etc., not when you have active plants.

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

sshz is correct in saying the predator mites won't work as a knock down treatment. I've had success using green lacewings for initial knock down, then predator mites to hold them in check. A more effective method I've used recently is full plant water dips for knock down, then predators. Just two water dips spaced three days apart (breeding cycle) will knock the hell out of those mites. Introduce the predators after the two dips and I'd bet my money on you.

 

[IngFarmer]

Ok thank you everyone!

 

[SeedySimon]

Broad mites reproduce rapidly in the right conditions and should be taken seriously, some home-made sprays can maybe slow them but won't stop them. Neither does Neem. When you are starting with predatory mites just now after you already noticed a heavy infestation it is too late, because the predatory mite population needs time to build up and the broad mites already got a big head start.



Since I keep many mother plants it is important for me to completely get rid of any mites. When you spray just one time, it is nearly impossible to kill all mites/eggs. Therefore one treatment is not enough. My way: spray different acaricides three times in an interval of a week. Three times to also kill the subsequent generations of mites, different acaricides to not let them develop any resistances. Then use predatory mites for after treatment. Abamectin, which was already mentioned by indabonga in this thread, worked exceptionally well for me due to its systemic effect. Vertimec is an example of a commercially available acaricide with Abamectin.
Same treatment applies to spider mites, by the way, and has proven to work many times. I used to buy clones from shops or get them from friends for a long time, so unluckily I have to say I am quite experienced when it comes to mites.



However, it depends on how you grow. If you keep mothers and want to get them 100% clean I recommend you my way. Otherwise, with plants in the veg phase or early flower I would spray Vertimec once and then use predatory mites. Since you wrote you already ordered your predatory mites - you would have to check the product info, I am not sure, but I think that Vertimec can be applied without wiping out the predatory mite population in your garden. Concerning your question of recovery: It can take 2-3 weeks until you a clear improvement after treatment on plants that were heavily damaged by mites. You will also note the infestation at the crop, a heavy mite problem can easily cause yield losses of 50%.


Take care & good luck with your mite problem. Let us know how it went.

 

[Wendull C.]

Abamectin is not systemic. It is translaminar.

 

[SeedySimon]

Abamectin is not systemic. It is translaminar.

Seems you are right. Actually I even did a - admittedly rather quick - research about that before writing my post and it seems Lawson and Dahlsten (2003) got it wrong.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14650518

Anyways, what I wanted to point out is that with Abamectin you get an effect for a longer period because it is moving into the leaves and then absorbed by sucking mites. A good coverage of the leaves with the spray is important though (since it is not systemic but translaminar, thanks for correcting that Wendull).

 

[art.spliff]

Narayan Reddy on Organic Farming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4twP3I4zwGM

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Abamectin is not systemic. It is translaminar.

I don't think cannabis reads the lists of systemic and non-systemic chemicals. It absorbs and retains many molecules tested as 'safe' on other plants.

There's a reason abemectin is not allowed in commercial cannabis production.

 

[SeedySimon]

Yes. And yet in my experience strong chemical acaricides are the only way if you want to completely get rid of mites on your mother plants.

 

[Wendull C.]

I don't think cannabis reads the lists of systemic and non-systemic chemicals. It absorbs and retains many molecules tested as 'safe' on other plants.

There's a reason abemectin is not allowed in commercial cannabis production.

Yes, though that makes no difference in the distinction between the two ways said chemicals work.

 

[Wendull C.]

Seems you are right. Actually I even did a - admittedly rather quick - research about that before writing my post and it seems Lawson and Dahlsten (2003) got it wrong.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14650518

Anyways, what I wanted to point out is that with Abamectin you get an effect for a longer period because it is moving into the leaves and then absorbed by sucking mites. A good coverage of the leaves with the spray is important though (since it is not systemic but translaminar, thanks for correcting that Wendull).

I didn't mean it to correct you brother, just to point out the distinction between the two ways the chemicals work inside the cannabis plant.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Yes, though that makes no difference in the distinction between the two ways said chemicals work.

When it's still in the plant at harvest, I really don't care what the difference in the chemical is. I care it's there, and that it causes issues with the animals which use it.

This is why it's not allowed in any commercial cannabis production facility.

 

[hellfire]

If you go the route of poison look up the half life of the chemical you are using, take clones, take clones of the clones, things like putting them in the sun may break down some of these toxins or spraying with some peroxide, just a thought. If you do not flower until awhile after the half life has diminished and you have clones of clones from bigger plants you should be erring on the safe side of exposing yourself in your smoke.

Now that being said organic products exist out there for these pests. Someone in this thread mentioned Marrone products like Venerate and Grandevo. Another thread mentions things like PFR 97, Certis and Gowan products, Mpede, Trilogy. Some of these bioinsecticides like the Marrone products are pretty expensive but in cost comparison to translaminar and systemic pesticides they're pretty close. I know that if I have to deal with these bugs I will probably look to things like this in the future.

I've never used sulfur, I've tasted some weed and oil that has had sulfur too late in flower and it is gross. It should be used in veg and quite a few on here use it in veg for these pests with success and in an IPM.

There's also horticultural oils to consider. A site online sells JMS Style Oil by the gallon for pretty cheap, and an organic version as well.

I think iso alcohol is quite important in dealing with russets and spiders. 1:1 ratios of water to alcohol kills a lot of things and I've definitely used it on spiders before. Adding a surfactant is key, yucca or soap, and a couple drops of essential oils don't hurt either.

What I would say about predatory mites is flower is too late and too big is too much. They do not work efficiently on big plants, they are great in an IPM for veg and clones. Putting them in your domes or clone trays is where they'll help out. Or on small shelves with cups to gallons. They can only eat so much and reproduce so fast in comparison to mites, larger and bigger plants with bigger populations/infestations are going to outpace predators.

The trickiest thing about most mites is the reproduction rate. If you find your population, figure out its cycle, find a product that works and you are okay with, clean the hell out of everything, you should be able to nail it.

 

[sshz]

I've mentioned this before, once more now and never again. By the way, totally approved by the Federal Government to use on food crops up to day of harvest.

https://purecrop1.com/about

I've seen this used on entire fields of crops, deep into flowering with no effects or residue when tested after finishing. It's not cheap, but it is effective.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

This is one of the few instances I'm a fan of isopropyl alcohol, as Hellfire pointed out the combination is deadly to a lot of things. lol

 

[IngFarmer]

Ok guys, you were all right about other stuff not working but to go hard with the tough chemicals...in my country(i'm not in the US, or the UK), it was very hard getting abamectin, which is your famous avid! but FINALLYYYYY!!!...I got something which contains 0,09 grams of abamectin in 250 ml of a bottle, making all the conversions as compared to the product avid, it seems a normal avid bottle contains more abamectin than the product I got here...
now the question is , to be sure this product will really kill the devil russet mites..
1)can I spray may be more regularly, like every 3 days, the product instruction says to go once every 7days for tomatoes, which in legal terms I guess is what comes nearer to our lovely dear hemp..
2)can being over zealous, spraying more than necessary hurt the plant, I mean does too much abamectin kill the plants? because these fucking insects have fucked me up soo much that I mixed the solution a little bit more concentrated than adviced on the instruction, any experience?


thank you all soo much, this plague has fucked me up for a year now and brought me almost to zero, but hopefully the light at the end of the tunnel is nearer...

 

[indabonga]

I have sprayed 1 time abamectina (cliner by vebi)for a big infestation of 8 months.. after a month I don't see a broad mite

 

[Oliver Pantsoff]

Cleanse rooms top to bottom, wettable sulfur, and OGbiowar...Done!!! Fought BMs for a few years until I followed that regimen.

OP

 

[SeedySimon]

Ok guys, you were all right about other stuff not working but to go hard with the tough chemicals...in my country(i'm not in the US, or the UK), it was very hard getting abamectin, which is your famous avid! but FINALLYYYYY!!!...I got something which contains 0,09 grams of abamectin in 250 ml of a bottle, making all the conversions as compared to the product avid, it seems a normal avid bottle contains more abamectin than the product I got here...
now the question is , to be sure this product will really kill the devil russet mites..
1)can I spray may be more regularly, like every 3 days, the product instruction says to go once every 7days for tomatoes, which in legal terms I guess is what comes nearer to our lovely dear hemp..
2)can being over zealous, spraying more than necessary hurt the plant, I mean does too much abamectin kill the plants? because these fucking insects have fucked me up soo much that I mixed the solution a little bit more concentrated than adviced on the instruction, any experience?


thank you all soo much, this plague has fucked me up for a year now and brought me almost to zero, but hopefully the light at the end of the tunnel is nearer...

Told you so

Good to hear you got hold of Abamectin, that should do the trick.


Concerning question 1: It doesn't make sense to spray every 3 days, an interval of a week is recommendable though to kill the newly hatched mite population. And as I said earlier, best to combine your treatment with some other acaricide in order not to breed resistant mites.


About the dosage, I would stick with the recommended concentration as a higher dosage can somewhat damage your plants (nothing too serious if you don't drastically overdose, but some burnt leaves).

 

[SeedySimon]

I didn't mean it to correct you brother, just to point out the distinction between the two ways the chemicals work inside the cannabis plant.

Always good to learn something new, so your comment on that topic was highly welcome.