Neem Oil and Potassium Bicarbonate AmIdoinItRight?

It says on the Neem Oil I bought to mix with mild dish soap. As I didn't have any I assumed was "mild" I decided to use Potassium Bicarbonate as a substitute. I chopped all my plants except two a I wanted to save because they have awesome genetics. However, today I looked and the other two which weren't really affected are now covered in the remaining spider mites .

Is using potassium bicarbonate as a substitute recommended?

Also how long should it take for the Neem oil to take effect?

How frequent can I apply it?

Is there anything else extremely effective and natural I can mix with it?

are the plants in veg? the dish soap is used an emulsifier and sticker spreader. if you have concentrated dish soap use less, a few drops in a gallon is often enough. if the plants are vegging or in early flower then you can spray them with pyrethrin, just dont use it after week 3 or 4. there are bombs that claim you can use them up to a week before flower, but that always makes me nervous. you can also use a horticultural oil or sevin. people like neem for spider mites because it contains a chemical that screws with their reproductive system. repeated sprays at regular intervals is the best way to treat them.

the purpose of the dish soap is 2 fold: (a) it breaks the surface tension of the water, making the oil easier to emulsify/mix in the water (also useful in small quantities for soil watering <use a specific product, like CocoWet, instead of dish soap though> as it makes the water penetrate the soil more evenly) and (b) it helps 'stick' to the leaves better - leaves have a natural waxy coating to them, water slides off .... this helps it stick.

Potassium Bicarbonate is used as a fungicide (see a product called GreenCure Fungicide). so you gave them neem + fungicide. nothing really wrong with that.

neem however is not an instant killer .... it disrupts the biologic system, but it won't kill em all. http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html

SCCA said:

are the plants in veg? the dish soap is used an emulsifier and sticker spreader. if you have concentrated dish soap use less, a few drops in a gallon is often enough. if the plants are vegging or in early flower then you can spray them with pyrethrin, just dont use it after week 3 or 4. there are bombs that claim you can use them up to a week before flower, but that always makes me nervous. you can also use a horticultural oil or sevin. people like neem for spider mites because it contains a chemical that screws with their reproductive system. repeated sprays at regular intervals is the best way to treat them.

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The biggest one is three weeks~ into flower but its a CFL grow so thats more like 2 weeks under a HID light. So are there any other inexpensive extracts or oils that I can buy and mix in that will help with killing them as well as disrupting their reproductive cycle.

i like Ed's Zero Tolerance mix, all natural but costly (still not 100% effective for me though). the ingredients are natural oils (cinnaman, clove, rosemary, thyme) and you can try a self mix ... but I would be very cautious and test on a couple leaves for 24-48hrs before applying to whole plant.

do a google search for homemade pesticide and you'll find something that fits your ingredients/style. http://www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com/natural-pesticides.html

otherwise, pick up some (a)pyrethrum spray (b)horticultural oil (c)avid (not recommended. it WILL kill everything crawling, but is not legal in several states and hard to come by because it so potent/toxic.) (d)azamax. .... there are others too, this is just a start.

personally, I like Bonide's All Seasons horticultural oil mix. cheap and very effective (can be bought at home de-pot). it is made with super lightweight oils and smothers the bugs/eggs. because it is so 'light', it evaporates within @ 72hrs. I still do a leaf clean (spray the crap out of them) 2 weeks prior to harvest to ensure no contamination, but it's been very effective for me. best part is, they cannot get immune to it like other controls (like neem). http://www.biconet.com/botanicals/ashdso.html

you can make a nicotine tea to add to neem, but its very toxic. i have made my self sick more than once by splashing the concentrate on my hands. the main issue, other than poisoning yourself, is tobacco can contain tobacco mosaic virus, im not sure if it effects cannabis. i use the nicotine spray as a last resort in cases of extreme infestation. neem, pyrethrin, or Horticultural oil are your safest bets.

i feel the frequency of application is more important for controlling spidermites than anything. one of the biggest problems with neem and hort oils is that they clog the stoma and restrict a plants transpiration. spraying daily would quickly suffocate the plant. i have used this method for years whenever i see a spidermite or leafminer. first bomb the room with a pyrethrin bomb according to the directions, 2 days later treat the plants with neem, the next day spray with water, the next day spray with neem. repeat the spray schedule for 2 full weeks. keep in mind that heavy spraying can leach nutrients out of the plant, i find replacing one of the water sprays about mid way through with a mild, balanced foliar feed can prevent this.