I have a bug infestation..but what the heck is it?

[Wastel]

HYDROPONICS

What system are you running? Water Farm, recirculating
What STRAIN are you growing? 1.Afghani (Nirvana) 2. El Fuego de Shiva (La Maria del Sur)
What was the establishing technique? seeds
What is the age of your plants? 31 days of 18/6
How tall are the plants? 10"-12"
What PHASE are the plants in? vegetative
What Technique are you using? ???
What substrate/medium are you using? RockWool cubes in Hydroton hydro-planters
What is the Water temperature? 23°C (ca.74°F)
What color are your roots? White, no slime
What Nutrient's are you using? Advanced Hydroponics Dutch Formula (Grow Bloom and Micro)
How much of each if using multiple? According to AH scheme 50%strength
What is the TDS/EC/PPM you are using? EC= 0,65 (beginning with EC=0 osmosis water)
What is the pH of the "Tank"? 5.8-6.1
Are you sure your calibration is correct on your equiptment? Yes, i calibrate them weekly
When was your last watering? 3pm
I water twice a dy first 30min after lights on at 6:30am and second at 3pm
What is your water temps? 74°F
When was your last feeding change? none so far
How often do you clean your system: every 2 weeks
What size bulb are you using? 182W OSRAM 6500k Dulux LSR = 14.000 lumens
What is the distance to the canopy? 11"-13" (very hot LSRs)
What is your RH Factor(Relative Humidity)? at frist 40-50% since i discovered infestation i use a humidifier and achieve 60%
What is the canopy temperature? 22°C (ca. 71°C)
What is the Day/Night Temp? day 71°F night 65°F
What is the current Air Flow? 1200 cfm dimmed to 600 cfm
Is the fan blowing directly at plants? no
Is your water HARD or SOFT? SOFT
What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned off of or pinched NO
Have any pest chemicals been used? If so, What and When? NEEM-oil 6 an 4 days ago
Are plant's infected with pest's? Some are. both straines are affected.


I'm pretty sure it's the most hated spidermites. . I see the damage they did to the leafs.


I think i found some eggs and/or young trichomes?!?. But i have not seen 1 (one) adult mite so far.
The magnification is 100X though. These must be the tinest mite there are.


Is this a dead adult mite? If yes, at a magnification of 100X what kind is that?


The overall growth of the plants is astonishing for me beeing a 1st time grower. They seem to be healthy. After using Neem-Oil twice i have not seen any new signs of mites on the leafs. I just don' want to be surprised by a super-tiny-super-agressive mite strain that sits and waits for me to drop my guard..

some pics of my garden







Any advice will be muchly apreciated. Please consider that certain or better many americna brands of pest-control remedies are not available in germany. If you have reccomandations please name the active ingredient.

(EDIT I could not upload pics with the original post. It gave me an error telling me to remove urls. Once i had posted the text only, i had to edit the post and add the pics.)

 

[baccas125]

Pics would help alot.

 

[KABBAGE]

looks like mites to me.... lil white spots on the leaves are an indication they are chewing on yer plants. look on undersides of plants for mites and eggs. I usually squeeze the leaf where there is a considerable amount of mite damage.... if my fingers have lil orange/brown stains on them, I got mites, BAD!

 

[MynameStitch]

Ya, that is mites ya got there.

lol Kabbage, he did look on the underside of the leaves
He has a picture of them with the eggs with his microscope.
Neem should help rid of them, get some safer soap and some sticky traps if you see more damage starting, or repeat neem every 7 days.

 

[Stoned Cold]

I've been amazed at the apparent strain dependancy with these little bastards.
What would one do about spidermites on a plant that is within a week of harvest?
I can't imagine a coat of neem this late would be a healthy thing.(?)

 

[MynameStitch]

Ya, you can't use neem on a plant, that is one question I can't answer. Some people use a piece of a sticky trap in the jar with a leaf on it to attract the mites from the buds to the leaf.........

Others will put the buds in a air tight jar and let them die,

Or the best thing to do is put lady bugs in the jar with the buds and let them eat them buggers.

 

[Stoned Cold]

Good ideas! Thanks muchly Never thought about using ladybugs.

Another Q I had is; do you think mites can contribute to trichome production?
I'm not sure if they're just naturally attracted to the trichomed covered plants, or if they've actually triggered the defense system that IS trichome developement.
Just a thought anyways!
Thanks again!

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

trust me there useless.

 

[MynameStitch]

Lady bugs are a great organic way of getting rid of mites, they eat the hell out of them, how can you call them useless??
Especially when they are in a bottle with nugs and you got mites, they have to stay in the area and you got 100% kills on them bastards. When your grow room is big though, it will be hard for them to rid them, so when they are in a smaller room or enclosed room they work excellent.
Lady bugs sniff out them mites!

Stoned Cold: That is a good thought dude, really; I never did stop and think about why mites love the plant; cause mites can affect any plants, but you see them on plants that have some kind of resin production, so the cannabis may attract them, but they may be more attracted in flowering, since cannabis don't normally have trichs in veg, but they may be attracted by the smell, I have noticed stinky plants have more chances of mites attracting to them, but never thought about the trichs possibly also attracting to them

Very nice thought indeed bro

That would have to be proven by collecting data on peeps who get mites and what strains and how far into flowering/veg and collect the ratio of what mites happen what and try to get all details like was the plants sticky, was the plants stinky, was the plants sick, and such and have to get it all down to find out which all plants had in common when mites attacked to see if there is a link.

Mites will attack any plant, but I know for sure they thrive a lot better on certain plants.

 

[Berry_Coughin']

lady bugs are gravy.....praying mantis are also very helpful

 

[Stoned Cold]

Stitch: Thanks I think what I'm going to do is take a pepsi challenge. Maybe I can isolate 2 lines with mites, and no treatment. Then keep the same 2 lines treated (neem/ladybugs etc.).

Ultimately, the mites don't really eat much mass, so if they could trigger the plants defense, building trichs, than in a controled environment they could be beneficial.(?)


DH: lol...nice pic! Lookin' like some real gangbusters!

 

[KABBAGE]

I recently had a rather large mite infestation a while back, lady bugs were not an option, neem and safer did next to nothing cept slow them down. I eventually came across a product called VENDEX - it's a mitacide. Obviously not as plant friendly as the organic sprays and treatments, but MAN O MAN! This stuff put a hurting on the lil bastards. Like I said, I battled these things for a very long time and have always been reluctant to venture into using such products (mitacides, pest strips etc) but using this stuff, 3 applications over 6 days, and the borg were eradicated. I used it as a last ditch effort, and wouldn't suggest it in any other instance.

 

[JJScorpio]

If you're real close to harvest and don't have a lot of plants you can wet a paper towel and wipe the leaves and the crotches of the stalk.

Supposedly you're supposed to be able to use neem right up until a few days before harvest but I wouldn't want the smell on the buds. Wiping the plants by hand is probably you're best option.....

 

[baccas125]

If there still not in flower i would get yourself a small bottle of Floramite along with a bottle of sturrip-m if you can find it. I know hidhut.com sells small samples of florimite for under 30 bucks. You spray that stuff once and it last 21 days kills adults and eggs. The sturrip-m is a mite phermone that draws the mites to the Floramite. Floramite is the final solution for the spider mite.

 

[Wastel]

Thanks to all for your advices.

baccas125,
unfortunately there is no floramite in germany. I would have bought it, that's for sure... For now i keep em under control with Neem-oil.

 

[OsWiZzLe]

Good ideas! Thanks muchly Never thought about using ladybugs.

Another Q I had is; do you think mites can contribute to trichome production?
I'm not sure if they're just naturally attracted to the trichomed covered plants, or if they've actually triggered the defense system that IS trichome developement.
Just a thought anyways!
Thanks again!

Journal Article

Some physiological effects of spider mite infestation on bean plants
Journal European Journal of Plant Pathology
Publisher Springer Netherlands
ISSN 0929-1873 (Print) 1573-8469 (Online)
Issue Volume 77, Number 5 / September, 1971
DOI 10.1007/BF02000007
Pages 154-167
Subject Collection Biomedical and Life Sciences
SpringerLink Date Friday, August 05, 2005
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Some physiological effects of spider mite infestation on bean plants
J. J. H. Storms1

(1) Present address: Instituut voor Plantenziektenkundig Onderzoek (IPO), Binnenhaven 12, Wageningen, the Netherlands

Accepted: 14 May 1971

Abstract Using autoradiography it was shown that saliva ofT. urticae injected into the plant was transported to the growing regions. Indications were found that the two-spotted spider mite has an active phosphate metabolism. A local mite infestation on a bean plant caused an increased transport of phosphates to the top leaves and the roots.
At the same time an increase of P transport towards the infested leaf was ascertained. It appeared that this was not caused by a wound reaction but by a physiological influence of the mite via their saliva secretion into the host plant. A mite population in bean interferes with the equilibrium of the growth promoting substances present in the plant. Under certain conditions a slight infestation of mites (1–4 per cm2) causes a growth stimulation. A heavier infestation (more than 10 per cm2) causes growth inhibition. Using thin layer chromatography an indole compound was found in the mites. In bean plants infested with mites the amount of gibberellin appeared to be markedly increased.

 

[Stoned Cold]

Some physiological effects of spider mite infestation on bean plants
J. J. H. Storms1

(1) Present address: Instituut voor Plantenziektenkundig Onderzoek (IPO), Binnenhaven 12, Wageningen, the Netherlands

Accepted: 14 May 1971

Abstract Using autoradiography it was shown that saliva ofT. urticae injected into the plant was transported to the growing regions. Indications were found that the two-spotted spider mite has an active phosphate metabolism. A local mite infestation on a bean plant caused an increased transport of phosphates to the top leaves and the roots.
At the same time an increase of P transport towards the infested leaf was ascertained. It appeared that this was not caused by a wound reaction but by a physiological influence of the mite via their saliva secretion into the host plant. A mite population in bean interferes with the equilibrium of the growth promoting substances present in the plant. Under certain conditions a slight infestation of mites (1–4 per cm2) causes a growth stimulation. A heavier infestation (more than 10 per cm2) causes growth inhibition. Using thin layer chromatography an indole compound was found in the mites. In bean plants infested with mites the amount of gibberellin appeared to be markedly increased.

'71, huh? Guess the idea isnt exactly 'groundbreaking', but I sure as hell am excited to see some evidence in favor of my theory! Thank you very much for this article, made my morning/day!

So, if anyone is interested in seeing some studies, or wants to help me figure out how to employ/deploy mites for optimal benefits, let me know!


Right now I've got a Rushmans Toxic Lemon plant that is COVERED in trichs/mites. I mean the stalk, the petioles, the fan leaves, ALL thickly frosted. Granted, this is a child of Killer Queen, I've NEVER seen so many trichs, and it's like the mite-mecca!

 

[Wastel]

Under certain conditions a slight infestation of mites (1–4 per cm2) causes a growth stimulation.

So now we start to fraternize with the Borg.
Not as long as im captain of the Enterprise. "The line must be drawn here!"

 

[MynameStitch]

lol see stoned, ta U agree with ya 71' but still there is still some evidence

Great thought stoned, very good one indeed bro