diatomaceous earth any good for mites?

[gunnaknow]

I was wondering if diatomaceous earth is any good for treating mites. I read that it can be mixed into water with a little soap and sprayed onto plants. It's meant to cut up the cuticle of bugs and cause them to dry out and die. I don't know if it is very effective though, has anyone tried it for mites? Thanks.

 

[10k]

DE does help kill all forms of pests, however it IS NOT an effective treatment for spider mites aka THE BORG

 

[gunnaknow]

Are you going on personal experience 10K, or is this just what you've heard? Also, do you know why spider mites are called the borg? I always thought that it was because spider mites adapt quickly, like the borg in star trek.

 

[dr-dank]

Perhaps a newish member can offload core here...

See the sticky in this secttion entitled "the borg".

Yes, mites are among the most persistant and difficult to rid pest. I have not had them lateley, and I do own a bag of DE, but I can say I would never, ever, rely on just DE if I were infected. DE cuts up the exoskeletons, but they have to come in contact. If you top water, a PIA also.

Perhaps as a preventitive, but at best you are only going to catch the ones that migrate from plant to plant via a soil vector. Many will be content to stay put and ley pregnant eggs, and others may use a leaf bridge.

Anything less than 100% kill is asking for stronger ones in the near future.

I am in a small closet space and would go the no pest strip route, whith ventilation off at night, for several days. Some say they are mighty toxic and the label says not to use in a space that is occupied more than 4 hrs or such. You have to be the jusge there, Sold at home depot and the like, 6 bones each. I would use 3-4 at a time.

Depending on how far into flower you could go floramite or avid. Both expensive but sometimes avaialble in small quanities from hudro or online. These do are some nasty things and should be applied with gloves, mask, etc.

HTHs

 

[dr-dank]

Says a security token is missing when I tried to edit my sucky spelling. sorry

And I meant to offload 10k, not core.

PS> I supply myself, else would be compelled to wage an organic fight with neem, tobacco, pyrithrins, etc., which is going to be more work and also an issue in late flower as neem tastes like crap.

 

[zachrockbadenof]

we have had mites... they suck big time.. we have tried all the organic'[s, neem oil,hot pepper, with a cigarette mixture,cloves, made a DE paste, covered the sides of the buckets, we bombed,no pest strips, and on and on.. nothing worked until floramite.. best 200 quid ever...

 

[krk]

No pest strips work for many of us....get them at the hardware store.All dead in two days...last for 2 months...

 

[10k]

Are you going on personal experience 10K, or is this just what you've heard? Also, do you know why spider mites are called the borg? I always thought that it was because spider mites adapt quickly, like the borg in star trek.

I have been fortunate to not have allowed the borg to get past my shields, thank God.

Keeping things sterilized between cycles and never bringing in cuts from clone sellers or friends is one of the best ways of keeping the cloaking devices up and running...this is how the borg offload and assimilate more and more grows. Never pumping outdoor air into the space at all or at least without it running through filtration first also helps keep them from offloading into your grow.

Keep the shields up by always having clean clothing on and never bringing anything indoors when it's time to harden off any youngsters and never wearing the clothes which were worn outside working the gardening or lawn mowing etc....cough...

One of the worst ways the borg sneak into ones indoor grow is by way of hitchhiking onboard cats & dogs. The borg will always find a way if you let your shields down.

Yes spider mites are called the borg because, just like star trek, they will assimilate the entire grow and are very hard to get rid of once they've gotten a foothold on the grow

beam me up

 

[gunnaknow]

DE cuts up the exoskeletons, but they have to come in contact. If you top water, a PIA also.

Perhaps as a preventitive, but at best you are only going to catch the ones that migrate from plant to plant via a soil vector. Many will be content to stay put and ley pregnant eggs, and others may use a leaf bridge.

I think you misunderstood me dr dank. I was talking about spraying the DE on the leaves, not putting it in the soil. Then the mites can't avoid coming into contact with the DE.

What about the use of predatory mites? Obviously not with DE because that would kill the predatory mites as much as it killed the borg. I read that the predatory mites stop breeding on a short photoperiod so they are only used during veg but what if I was growing a strain that flowered on 17+ hrs of light?

 

[10k]

gunnaknow...
Please read the borg sticky thread for just about everything a person would want to know about battling spider mites.

Predatory mites are a great weapon, but like de, they usually don't win the war by themselves.

You'll probably need to go with chemical warfare.

see this link...
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=66865

hth

 

[dr-dank]

I think you misunderstood me dr dank. I was talking about spraying the DE on the leaves, not putting it in the soil. Then the mites can't avoid coming into contact with the DE.

What about the use of predatory mites? Obviously not with DE because that would kill the predatory mites as much as it killed the borg. I read that the predatory mites stop breeding on a short photoperiod so they are only used during veg but what if I was growing a strain that flowered on 17+ hrs of light?

Never heard of a foliar application for DE. At best it would be a mild deterant, at worst a light blocking compund that also clogges leave stomatta.

Read the sticky, go chem, as 10K said.

Cheers

 

[midwestganja]

Just to clear some things up, I recently got some DE, and there are foliar instructions on it for spraying leaves.

Just fyi.

Peace