2 Important Tools to use Against Bugs, Mites in particular

Hello everyone. I'm an "advanced Newbie" and I just dealt with my first triple infestation. Along the way I learned a lot. There are 2 things that I learned about that every grower should know.......

1 - This is a web site run by the FL Dept of Agriculture and the Univ of S FL Dept of Agriculture. It has valuable info on a lot of different types of pests. I suggest that you book mark it so you have it when ever you need it.
http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/

2. This is important to anyone who's fighting Mites. If you look up Spider Mites in the link that I posted and follow the first link at the bottom of the Mite page, you'll read in the last paragraph on Spider Mites that "Petroleum oil provides some ovicidal activity against spider mite eggs". This means it kills Mite Eggs.

Two of the biggest problems with fighting Mites is
1. They reproduce very fast. and
2. While you're killing the larvae & adults there are still eggs waiting to hatch.

Petroleum is the only thing that I know of that will also kill the eggs. I found 1 suffocant that's petroleum based so far, and it's made by Bonide which is a name I trust. You might be able to find it at your local nursery, but just in case here are some links....
http://www.bonideproducts.com/lbonide/b ... s/l214.pdf
http://www.arbico-organics.com/1274101.html
http://www.biconet.com/botanicals/ashdso.html
http://shop.horticultureguy.com/all-sea ... u-385.html
http://www.millernurseries.com/cart.php ... tail&p=672
http://www.arbico-organics.com/1274104.html
http://www.millernurseries.com/cart.php ... tail&p=671
http://www.plantitearth.com/pest-contro ... spray.aspx
http://www.gardeningthings.com/sm/cimpu ... id=1.21.54

This is a vital tool in the fight against Mites and you should use it every time you treat, but you should not rely on this one product, or any one product for that matter. You should spray this every time you treat but you should use something else as well. This will definately tip the scales in your favor though.

I hope this helps. Good luck, & good hunting.

have you ever heard of anyone using this:




RID Home Lice Control Spray

ACTIVE INGREDIENT:
Permethrin†. 0.50%

OTHER INGREDIENTS††: 99.50%
Total: 100.00%
†Cis/trans ratio: Max 55% (+/?) cis and Min 45% (+/?) trans
††Contains petroleum distillate

Never heard of anyone trying it. I wonder if it would work, and if it would hurt the plants?

I wouldn't use it during flowering but a very experienced friend said that it is the "best bang for the buck" for your vegging crop. He's a 60's throwback and pretty eccentric but his garden blows me away every time I see it.

The next time I get them I may try it, but I have a different plan at the moment.

The petroleum oil didn't get rid of them (they must be laying eggs somewhere I can't spray, like inside the portable A/C or something), the lady bugs still have them on the edge of extinction though. And it's starting to dry out my leaves so I have to stop using it.

I put an e-mail in to a state horticultural site run by a university here in CO asking which would be the best predatory bug to use against theis particular type of mites and if there are any predatory bugs that can coincide with lady bugs. As soon as I get an answer I'll arrange to order some of the predatory bugs that they recommend. If there's one out there that can work along side the lady bugs, I'm confident that would definately work. If not, then I hope there's one out there that really likes to eat broad mites. lol

I'll remember your suggestion if I ever get them again, but I need to get these plants into flower, they're already 3 weeks over due.

ever heard of SucraShield? supposed to kill adults, youngins and eggs, and i believe its usda organic compliant and should be safe for ladybugs, but im not 100% on that. might be worth checking out.

naturalforcesllc.com/ssfacts.asp

I may try that at some point, but very little research has been done on white mites. There are two types, Broad mites & Cyclamen mites. Every thing I read about Cyclamen mites says to just get rid of the plants so I'm hoping I have Broad mites. But they look the same so there's no way of knowing.

The CO State Univ also said there hasn't been enough research to really recommend anything, but they did say these predatory mites have been proven to feed on a wide range of pest mites so even though they haven't been proven to feed on white mites, they're still my best bet......... Metaseiulus occidentalis, Mesoseiulus longpipes, Neoseiulus barkeri, Neoseiulus Californicus, Neoseiulus fallacis, and Phytoseiulus persimilis

I guess I'll try one of them as soon as I figure out another problem that's reared it's ugly head and may kill my plants. If I get this other thing figured out, I'll try one of those predatory mites (if I can find them). If my plants die, I'll just leave the room empty for a week to make sure they all starved to death, then I'll put some new moms in there. I'll probably also bug bomb the room a few times during that week just to be sure.