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spider mites ??

I'm a first time grower , ive have a tried to do good research and im always looking for a tips and others opinions from ppl with experience . I have a decent set-up , sprayed the room down with organic pesticides for 4 days consecutive before starting the grow in a 2x4x5 size tent . The plants are now 11 days old and looking gorgous and really healthy but about an hour ago i found one little web on my healthiest plant . What is the best way to approach this ?

I already have the AzaMax "ready-to-make sprayer system" . Not sure if its too early to intoduce that in yet to the plants and if its necessarily good for killing them rather than preventing .

Really didnt expect them so quickly , thought i had the room plant safe . please help me . Open to any thoughts and opinions !!
 
B

Bleed~green

Yea I'm in the EXACT same position as you. Lookin for answers as well
 
i see , are your plants young as well ? did you try any prevention methods & have you tried anything to get rid of them sense you've noticed the mites
 
B

Bleed~green

Yea they're about 2 weeks old. Just cleaned very well. I noticed the webs last night, I'm new to this as well and don't really know what they look like so not sure if they're spider mites or not. Any help would be great. What's your setup like out of curiosity?
 

Green81

Well-known member
Veteran
Maybe you could use natural spider mite predators.. they really hunt the spider mite locating them generally on the underside of the leaves, 4-5x the speed so mites are easy prey.

G81
 

Green81

Well-known member
Veteran
Also the predatory mites are completely harmless to your young plants and its population will die once all food (spider mites) are eaten.

G81
 

RoadRash

Member
I suggest buying Safer's insecticidal soap in bulk form and making up about 10 gallons in a 20 gallon Rubbermaid container. Then dipping the plants every other day for about a week and a half.

If the plants are growing in a medium where you can't 'bring the plants to the tub', then just spraying them thoroughly.

It's important to let the plants dry out before subjecting them to a bright light again.

When I did it I had a ritual in the bath room. I would take the plants one at a time and dip them, then let them dry in the bathtub or something before putting them back under the lights.

The plants try to breathe (transpire ?) through their leaves, so if the leaves are covered with insecticidal soap and the lights are on, it's sort of like a person running up-hill but not being able to breathe.
 
B

Bleed~green

Hell yea that sounds a lot better than sprays, where can I get some of them.
 
RoadRash; thank you for the knowledge . ever heard of that method . if i were to take that route how long does it usually take drying them before placing them back in light .
 

BOMBAYCAT

Well-known member
Veteran
If you got plants from clones somewhere don't be surprised at the mites. If you do get clones please dip them and quarantine them for a couple weeks to be safe. I have hit them with Neem oil spray which is rather safe. After that I spray them with Neem every week as a preventative. The life cycle of mites is around 4 days so hit them good every 4 days for a while until you see no more mites and than use a preventative spraing. Mites will ruin your buds and they call spider mites the BORG for a very good reason as they will take over your garden. Right now I use a preventative spray made from Lavender which is similiar to Rosemary (expensive commercial product). That spray was recommended to me by CC an old IC organic person. It smells a lot better then Neem. All these sprays will harm your preditory mites if you use them.
 

Harry Lime

Active member
Veteran
i see ! first off thanks for the input , and what would you recomend using as a natural mite predator ?

I'm in the UK so don't know about US suppliers but stick 'spider mite predators' into a search engine and you'll find one your side of the pond.
 
BleedGreen; I have a 2x4x5 size tent , w/ t5 HO lights , td100x hooked to a carbon filter where im currently vegging 5 plats and i have 5 two liter bottles generating co2(with the water, sugar , & yeast method) around each plant with rubber tubing running from the cap of the bottle to the edge of the cup each plant sits in so the co2 falls right to the plant .

what's your set-up looking like
 
B

Bleed~green

Yea I think I saw a guy doing that on YouTube.im using small hempy cups right now with pure perlite, I think mine are a bit small for the dipping method and the perlite would spill id imagine. THC YouTube is a great resource as well as these forums.
 
B

Bleed~green

That's so crazy! I have the same size tent, same light and fan. I guess they're pretty popular. I'm also doing the same co2 method except I have 6 bottles on 5 plants. And my fan is pulling air through the carbon filter and I'm ducting it back into the tent thru the bottom that way I'm not just getting rid of all my co2 with the fan.
 

bad gas

Member
First, look at leaves with microscope. Compare your bugs to the ones in the Joe Fresh and Stitch's Guide to pest and plant problems.

There are several threads on how to get rid of the borg. Many good suggestions and some disagreement over the correct useage of the more gnarly chemicals.

Cilantro tea, ice-cold water, lavender tea, dish soap, isopropal alcohol are organic methods recommended which preclude the possibility of breeding super-mites. Neem cake in your soil prevents bugs. A monthly root drench of neem in veg is a preventative. Crab meal in your soil is a preventative.

You can start with my simple stuff while researching other possibilities. Hit 'em early and hard. You've failed if you miss just one. Break up their 3-day reproductive cycle.

All the info is in the various threads. Good luck! bg

P.S.: The Recycled Organic Living Soil thread has a lot of this stuff.

You've got to break up their breeding cycle of about 3 days.
 
B

Bleed~green

Yea it's goin good. Temps are stayin between 70-75, good stuff. try it out. I wouldn't imagine temps would be too much different.
 
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