Spider Mites Still Alive After Neem/Soap spray.

Canadian Joe

Canadian Joe

Well-Known Member
Well last night I sprayed Concern Insecticidal Soap mixed with some Dr Bronners Peopermint soap and looking through the leafs with a microscope all I see is dead spider mites everywhere. I do see eggs so hope the soap kills them too. I had this Consern insecticide soap for a while and never used it. It says it has agricultural oils in it as well. I know these mites are resilient so probably won’t work next time. Trying to stay organic this year.
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
For the past few weeks i've mixed 300 mg citric acid into a liter of water (this concentration is from a study), followed by 5 ml neem oil, and some dried yucca extract. The plants actually seem to like it. For a .05% citric solution, which is what a lot of commercial products go for, you just up it to 500 mg/liter, which is a good starting place for treatment (though you can use much higher doses successfully too). This is a really good weekly ipm spray.
 
Canadian Joe

Canadian Joe

Well-Known Member
Rurumo said:
For the past few weeks i've mixed 300 mg citric acid into a liter of water (this concentration is from a study), followed by 5 ml neem oil, and some dried yucca extract. The plants actually seem to like it. For a .05% citric solution, which is what a lot of commercial products go for, you just up it to 500 mg/liter, which is a good starting place for treatment (though you can use much higher doses successfully too). This is a really good weekly ipm spray.
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Thanks for the info. Does this kill the spider mite eggs? Seems the Consern organic soap insecticide I posted above wiped out the mites but I still see the eggs on the leafs under the scope, whether they are alive or dead is the question.

I noticed things like Mammoth Cannacontrol and the PureCrop1 mentioned all have Citric Acid in the mix and some type of oil so I see what you mean about making your own mix. I do want to stop the next generation of eggs from hatching.
 
Canadian Joe

Canadian Joe

Well-Known Member
Rurumo said:
For the past few weeks i've mixed 300 mg citric acid into a liter of water (this concentration is from a study), followed by 5 ml neem oil, and some dried yucca extract. The plants actually seem to like it. For a .05% citric solution, which is what a lot of commercial products go for, you just up it to 500 mg/liter, which is a good starting place for treatment (though you can use much higher doses successfully too). This is a really good weekly ipm spray.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. Does this kill the spider mite eggs? Seems the Consern organic soap insecticide I posted above wiped out the mites but I still see the eggs on the leafs under the scope, whether they are alive or dead is the question.

I noticed things like Mammoth Cannacontrol and the
xtsho said:
I've never added oil when I use citric acid. I do use oils as a preventative. I'll make a mix of potassium silicate, canola, and a little sesame oil as a foliar to use as a preventative against insects and PM. I prefer sesame oil over neem as it doesn't stink and it's a dual use product since I always have it on hand for cooking. For an active infestation I've just always used straight citric acid mixed with water.
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What is your Citric Acid mix ratio per gallon?
 
W

waterproof808

Well-Known Member
Canadian Joe said:
Well last night I sprayed Concern Insecticidal Soap mixed with some Dr Bronners Peopermint soap and looking through the leafs with a microscope all I see is dead spider mites everywhere. I do see eggs so hope the soap kills them too. I had this Consern insecticide soap for a while and never used it. It says it has agricultural oils in it as well. I know these mites are resilient so probably won’t work next time. Trying to stay organic this year.
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You have to repeat treatments every few days to break the adult-larval lifecycle and get all the newly hatched mites.
 
Canadian Joe

Canadian Joe

Well-Known Member
waterproof808 said:
You have to repeat treatments every few days to break the adult-larval lifecycle and get all the newly hatched mites.
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I was wondering if I was going to have to do this a few times. All the adults appear to be dead and gone. Guess I’ll be spraying again in a couple days. Normally I do it once a week as preventative. The Neem oil I sprayed earlier in the week with Dr Bronners didn’t do anything for the spider mites but the Concern and Bronners Peppermint soap did the job
 
lemmis

lemmis

Well-Known Member
Homemade garlic spray with hot peppers. Look online for recipe. This kills spider mites on contact,(the pepper part, garlic part helps keep bugs off to begin with). Spray early evening as applying in direct sunlight can burn foliage.
 
bk78

bk78

Well-Known Member
Canadian Joe said:
Finally killed the spider mites with Southern AG Conserve with Spinosad. I gave them the Spinosad Shlong balls deep which did the trick. Gonna have to watch in a few days to make sure no eggs bring a next generation.
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Where did you find this in Canada? To my knowledge it was on the list of banned insecticides here.
 
Canadian Joe

Canadian Joe

Well-Known Member
bk78 said:
Where did you find this in Canada? To my knowledge it was on the list of banned insecticides here.
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I got it on Amazon and had it shipped to my brothers house in Bellingham and he brought it to me when he came to visit. I thought Spinosad was banned here for Commercial cannabis grows only. I’ve always grown indoors and luckily have never had bugs so this outdoors growing has been a challenge but a welcome one. I’ve read that the PMRA currently has Spinosad under re-evaluation so it’s status may change. It has organic status in the US although a few states have banned it for Commercial grows. I don’t plan to use it except during veg. I see a few sellers on eBay.ca selling Spinosad if your looking for it.
 
Rob Roy

Rob Roy

Well-Known Member
Canadian Joe said:
Crap, it says it doesn’t take care of the eggs. Maybe the Dr Bronners Peppermint soap I added with it does. Outdoor is a battle.
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Spray every other day for 10 days or so. Gets all age classes of mites, eventually there will be none (or alot fewer) left to lay eggs. Then spray periodically to keep ahead of future infestations.

If your outside plants are mite infested, you can hose some off with a water hose sprayer and followup with your bug killer of choice. Don't forget to get UNDER the leaves and the stem / branches too.



For inside mite problems...

Don't work in an outside garden or be around outside plants and wear the same clothing into your grow room. Mites love it when you let them hitchhike indoors from outside.

I've used habanero pepper spray, citric, neem, sulfur and many commercial mite killers. Some do better than others, some in too high of a concentration will kill mites, but also burn your plants. I prefer habanero, because it can be used on seedlings and younger clones without burning the plant.

Small plants can also be rinsed under a kitchen faucet or bathtub faucet, before spraying too. Rumor has it, mites don't like a water spray.

Good luck!
 
7CardBud

7CardBud

Well-Known Member
I have been battling mites for a few weeks now and it looks like it will require weekly maintenance. I'm pretty much doing what Rob Roy said. I use a sprayer and come at the plants from under the leaves. Then spray with a mix of neem and essential oil mix. I also cover the ground below the plant with DE to help kill what I spray off the plant and to help create a barrier for new mites crawling onto the plant.
 
StonedGardener

StonedGardener

Well-Known Member
7CardBud said:
I have been battling mites for a few weeks now and it looks like it will require weekly maintenance. I'm pretty much doing what Rob Roy said. I use a sprayer and come at the plants from under the leaves. Then spray with a mix of neem and essential oil mix. I also cover the ground below the plant with DE to help kill what I spray off the plant and to help create a barrier for new mites crawling onto the plant.
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If your plants are not in flower , you can spray with a slurry of diatomaceous earth
( food grade ). Kills those f-ers fast ! It has worked every time for me when dealing with arthropods ( bugs with exoskelton). If ya try it, make sure to keep slurry agitated so the suspended solids don't precipitate out in bottom of reservoir and plug off suction hose. I have a 1.5 gallon plastic sprayer ( 12$) . I just constantly shake it up and down while spraying.
 
Canadian Joe

Canadian Joe

Well-Known Member
StonedGardener said:
If your plants are not in flower , you can spray with a slurry of diatomaceous earth
( food grade ). Kills those f-ers fast ! It has worked every time for me when dealing with arthropods ( bugs with exoskelton). If ya try it, make sure to keep slurry agitated so the suspended solids don't precipitate out in bottom of reservoir and plug off suction hose. I have a 1.5 gallon plastic sprayer ( 12$) . I just constantly shake it up and down while spraying.
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I wonder how well that would spray out of the Hudson Atomizer. I’ve not tried powders before.
 
7CardBud

7CardBud

Well-Known Member
StonedGardener said:
If your plants are not in flower , you can spray with a slurry of diatomaceous earth
( food grade ). Kills those f-ers fast ! It has worked every time for me when dealing with arthropods ( bugs with exoskelton). If ya try it, make sure to keep slurry agitated so the suspended solids don't precipitate out in bottom of reservoir and plug off suction hose. I have a 1.5 gallon plastic sprayer ( 12$) . I just constantly shake it up and down while spraying.
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Might try that next week. My plants are still real small, since a groundhog mowed them down last month. I could make a DE slurry in a 5 gallon bucket and dip them.
 
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